Teaching Resources

Global History and US Foreign Policy

Over the past fifteen years, the Gilder Lehrman Institute has worked closely with master educators across the country. Many of them have developed unique lesson plans and activities related to this historical era. These resources are included here along with pedagogical videos and other general teaching tools that can be adapted for a variety of time periods and themes in American history.

1607: A New Look at Jamestown

Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

A Democracy at War: America’s Fight at Home and Abroad in World War II

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A Lesson on Détente

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence

Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

A secret agreement between pirate hunters, 1696

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels:

A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II

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A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy

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Aaron Burr, fugitive and traitor, 1804

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Alexander Hamilton’s “gloomy” view of the American Revolution, 1780

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels:

America Arms for a New Century: The Making of a Great Military Power

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American Colonies: The Settling of North America

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American Culture in the 1950s

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American High: The Years of Confidence, 1945-1960

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American Music Goes to War

Curriculum Subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

American Slavery in Comparative Perspective

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Anti-Imperialism in the United States: The Great Debate, 1890–1920

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Arsenal of World War II: The Political Economy of American Warfare, 1940–1945

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Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam

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At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor

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Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address, 2009

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Becoming America: The Revolution before 1776

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Bound for America: The Forced Migration of Africans to the New World

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Breaking from Great Britain, 1776

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations

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Bruised Egos, Battles, and Boycott: The 1980 Moscow Olympics

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Building a New Land: African Americans in Colonial America

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Carte de la Louisiane et du cours du Mississipi, 1718

Curriculum Subjects: Geography, World History Grade Levels:

Casualties and Costs of the Civil War

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Causes of the Revolution: Early America

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Charters of Freedom

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Christmas in Kuwait, 1990

Curriculum Subjects: Geography, World History Grade Levels:

Confirming governors for territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, 1901

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Creating the Air Force, 1924

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Cultural Encounters: Teaching Exploration and Encounter to Students

Curriculum Subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History Grade Levels: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

De Soto’s discovery of the Mississippi, 1541

Curriculum Subjects: Art, Geography, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Debating the Reagan Presidency

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Declaring Independence: The Origin and Influence of America’s Founding Document

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Democracy in Early America: Servitude and the Treatment of Native Americans and Africans prior to 1740

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Diplomacy and Revolution: The Franco-American Alliance of 1778

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Discontented America: the United States in the 1920s

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Discovering a mass grave in Iraq, 2003

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Divided Hearts: Britain and the American Civil War

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Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789

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Early European Imperial Colonization of the New World

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Encyclopedia of Ellis Island

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Essential Questions in Teaching American History

Curriculum Subjects: Art, Economics, Foreign Languages, Geography, Government and Civics, Literature, Religion and Philosophy, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History Grade Levels: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Examining the Middle Passage

Curriculum Subjects: Geography, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Expansion and American Indian Policy, 1783-1812

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Exploration and Conquest: The Americas After Columbus: 1500-1620

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Eyewitness account of the sinking of the Titanic, 1912

Curriculum Subjects: Geography, World History Grade Levels: 6, 7, 8, 9

Facts about the Slave Trade and Slavery

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Farewell to Manzanar: Japanese Internment Camps During World War II

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Literature, World History Grade Levels: 6, 7, 8

Florida 1513-1821

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Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

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Fourteen Points

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inauguration, 1933

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, Literature Grade Levels:

Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945

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From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776

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George Washington and the Founding of a Nation

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Give Me Liberty: The Story of the Declaration of Independence

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Guided Readings: American Foreign Policy in the 1970s

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Guided Readings: Anti-Communism at Home

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Guided Readings: Federalists and Jeffersonians

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels:

Guided Readings: Origins of the Cold War and Soviet-American Confrontation

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Guided Readings: The Atomic Bomb

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Guided Readings: The Korean War

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Guided Readings: World War I

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Guided Readings: World War II

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels:

Harry S. Truman responds to McCarthy, 1950

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels:

Henry Knox’s Order of March to Trenton, 1776

Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Herbert Hoover’s Inaugural Address, 1929

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels:

Historic Jamestowne

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How to Analyze Primary Source Documents / F.D.R. & The Great Depression

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

How We Got Here: The 70’s, the Decade That Brought You Modern Life (for Better or Worse)

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Immigration cartoon, 1916

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography Grade Levels:

Immigration Policy in World War II

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Imperialism and the Spanish American War

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines

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In Uncle Sam’s Service: Women Workers with the American Expeditionary Force, 1917–1919

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Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence

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Japan declares war, 1941

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Japanese Internment Camps of WWII

Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Jefferson on British aggression, 1815

Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Jefferson on the French and Haitian Revolutions, 1792

Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels:

JFK on the containment of Communism, 1952

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, World History Grade Levels: 13+

John Woolman

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Jonathan Sewall: Odyssey of an American Loyalist

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Keepers of the Gate: A History of Ellis Island

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Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America

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La Nouvelle France: The Making of French Canada--A Cultural History

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Landing of Columbus, 1492

Curriculum Subjects: Geography, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Late seventeenth-century map of the Northeast, 1682

Curriculum Subjects: Geography, World History Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Letter from Christopher Columbus: A Common Core Unit

Curriculum Subjects: Geography, World History Grade Levels: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Lower East Side Tenement Museum

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Major European Explorers

Curriculum Subjects: Foreign Languages, Geography, World History Grade Levels: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Major Problems in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era: Documents and Essays.

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Manifest Destiny

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Manifest Destiny: American Expansionism and the Empire of Right

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Map of the New World, with European settlements and American Indian tribes, 1730

Curriculum Subjects: Geography Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Origins of the Cold War: The Containment Policy

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Our Victorious Fleets in Cuban Waters, 1898

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Over Here: The First World War and American Society

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Peace and the Peacemakers: The Treaty of 1783

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Physicists predict a nuclear arms race, 1945

Curriculum Subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History Grade Levels: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

President Ford’s remarks in Japan, 1974

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President Truman’s Farewell Address, 1953

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Pursuits of Happiness: The Social Development of Early Modern British Colonies and the Formation of American Culture

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Questions Relating to the Roots of the Revolution

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Reagan

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Recruiting posters for African American soldiers, 1918

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels:

Richard Nixon and His America

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RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon

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Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library

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Sacco and Vanzetti, 1921

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels:

Sir Francis Drake’s attack on St. Augustine, 1586

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, World History Grade Levels:

Something Happened: A Political and Cultural Overview of the Seventies

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Spain and Portugal in the New World

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Spain in America

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Spreading the American Dream: American Economic and Cultural Expansion, 1890–1945

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Stephen Austin’s contract to bring settlers to Texas, 1825

Curriculum Subjects: Geography Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Still the Golden Door: The Third World Comes to America

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Surrender of the British General Cornwallis to the Americans, October 19, 1781

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Teaching the Revolution

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Texas Declaration of Independence, 1836

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels:

The 1919 Black Sox Scandal

Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750–1789

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The American Revolution and the French Alliance

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The British evacuation of Boston, 1776

Curriculum Subjects: Art, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

The Cold War Across Time (1945–1990): A Jigsaw with Expert Groups

Curriculum Subjects: Economics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Cold War in the classroom, 1952

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels:

The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts

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The Cold War: A New History

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The Cold War: Discussing the Speech of President Kennedy in 1963

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Literature, World History Grade Levels: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Conquest of Mexico: Past and Present Views

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Doctrine of Discovery, 1493

Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Religion and Philosophy, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy

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The Fifties in America

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The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism

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The Folly of Empire

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The Folly of Empire (Condensed Version)

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times

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The Global Effect of World War I

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Good War: An Oral History of World War II

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The Human Meaning of Migration

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 13+

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

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The Louisiana Purchase and Its Aftermath

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The Monroe Doctrine, 1823

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels:

The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton

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The New Americans: Colonial Times: 1620-1689

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The Province of Massachusetts Bay requests aid from Queen Anne, 1708

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Radicalism of the American Revolution

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The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine: A Common Core Unit

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Literature, World History Grade Levels: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

The Second World War

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The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics

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The Spanish Armada

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels:

The Spanish Frontier in North America

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The Splendid Little War

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The Stamp Act Crisis

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Literature, World History Grade Levels: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The surrender of New Netherland, 1664

Curriculum Subjects: Geography Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Survival of the US Constitution

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Treaty of Tordesillas: Resolving “a Certain Controversy” over Land in the Americas

Curriculum Subjects: Foreign Languages, Geography, World History Grade Levels: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The United Nations and the international community, 1967

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy, World History Grade Levels:

The Vietnam War: A Concise International History

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The Vietnam War: Military Statistics

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

The Wall: Growing Up behind the Iron Curtain

Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898

Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

The War with Spain in 1898

Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

Theodore Roosevelt : A Bully Reformer

Curriculum Subjects: Economics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12

Theodore Roosevelt on the sinking of the Lusitania, 1915

Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

This Affair of Louisiana

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To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order

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Treaty of Versailles and President Wilson, 1919 and 1921

Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, World History Grade Levels:

Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics

Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

Twelve Against Empire: The Anti-Imperialists, 1898–1900

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United States Expansionism and British North America, 1775–1871

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Victory Order of the Day, 1945

Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels:

War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton, and the Generals

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What Would the Founders Do? Our Questions, Their Answers

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William Jennings Bryan: Missionary Isolationist

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Women at War with America: Private Lives in a Patriotic Era

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Woodrow Wilson and the Balance of Power

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World War II: Commemorating Pearl Harbor, 1941

Curriculum Subjects: Art Grade Levels:

“Food Will Win the War,” 1917

Curriculum Subjects: Economics, World History Grade Levels: