Lesson Plan The History of the Supreme Court, 1787 to 1937 Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this five-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source Herbert Hoover on the Great Depression and New Deal, 1931–1933 Foreign Languages The stock market crashed on Thursday, October 24, 1929, less than eight months into Herbert Hoover’s presidency. Most experts, including Hoover, thought the crash was part of a passing recession. By July 1931, when the President wrote...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Civilian Conservation Corps poster, 1938 Art, Economics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ The Civilian Conservation Corps directly addressed two of the most pressing problems during the Depression: male youth unemployment and environmental degradation. The CCC, based on a military model of everyday life, put thousands of...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Photograph of a "Hooverville," 1936 Economics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ "Hoovervilles" were temporary communities that America’s homeless created to provide shelter for themselves and their families during the Great Depression. They were so named as an insult to President Herbert Hoover, who seemed to be...
Lesson Plan The Great Depression and The New Deal Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Essential Questions What should be the role of government in solving a national crisis? How effective were the responses of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration to the problems of the Great Depression? Objectives Write a Document...
Lesson Plan How to Analyze Primary Source Documents / F.D.R. & The Great Depression Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Essential Question How effective was President Franklin Roosevelt in communicating with the American public during this time of crisis? Objectives Understand the importance of thinking critically about historical events. Be able to...
Spotlight on: Primary Source George Washington would have supported the New Deal, 1934 During his first term, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to deflect opposition to the New Deal. Speaking at Gettysburg on Memorial Day, 1934, Roosevelt invoked the memory of George Washington by comparing his federal agenda with...
Lesson Plan The New Deal: Legislation & Policies 9, 10, 11, 12 Historical Background When the stock market crashed in October of 1929, American citizens faced economic challenges unlike anything previously experienced in U.S. history. By the time Franklin Delano Roosevelt became President in 1933...
Lesson Plan Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address Economics, Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 View this item in the Gilder Lehrman Collection. Unit Objective This unit is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These units were written to enable students to understand, summarize...
Lesson Plan Eleanor Roosevelt on Democracy and Citizenship Government and Civics, World History 4, 5 Unit Objective This unit is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These units were developed to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical...
Lesson Plan Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady for Social Justice: A Common Core Unit (Grades 9–12) Government and Civics, World History 9, 10, 11, 12 Objectives Students will be asked to read and analyze primary and secondary sources about Eleanor Roosevelt and the work she did to support social justice issues both in the United States and around the world. They will look at the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inauguration, 1933 Economics, Government and Civics, Literature When Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his first inaugural address on March 4, 1933, the nation was reeling from the Great Depression and was dissatisfied with the previous administration’s reluctance to fight it. Roosevelt declared that...
Lesson Plan National Security, Isolationism, and the Coming of World War II Government and Civics 11, 12, 13+ Unit Overview The two decades following the end of "The Great War" witnessed significant changes in American economic, social, and cultural life. The affluence and optimism of the 1920s were tempered by memories of the war and an...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The origins of FDR’s New Deal, 1932 Economics, Government and Civics When the nation fell into the Great Depression following the stock market crash of 1929, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was serving as New York’s governor and was responsible for shaping the state’s response to the crisis. The origins of...
Spotlight on: Primary Source "Reelect Roosevelt—Friend of Labor," 1936 Economics, Government and Civics This Democratic Party campaign poster from 1936 outlines some of the agencies and regulations Franklin Roosevelt put in place to try to solve the most urgent problems of the Great Depression. While it reminds laborers of how they have...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Campaigning against Franklin Roosevelt’s third term, 1940 Government and Civics Franklin Roosevelt’s run in 1940 for a third consecutive term as president was unprecedented. George Washington established a two-term tradition when he declined to run for a third term in 1796, and until 1940, no other president...