Spotlight on: Primary Source Rules for discharging disabled veterans, 1919 Government and Civics When World War I ended in 1918 more than 4.6 million men returned to the United States from war. The American people and the US government were unprepared to reintegrate and care for the men who returned with physical injuries and...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Franklin D. Roosevelt’s advice to high school students, 1922 Government and Civics 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 In 1922, Sharpless Dobson Green, a teacher at Senior High School in Trenton, New Jersey, wrote to influential people around the world to get their advice for his students. In his request, he explained his project: There are about 400...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Map Proves It, ca. 1919 Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Supporters of women’s rights used maps such as the one shown here to demonstrate where women were allowed to vote, when they won that right, and which elections they could vote in. The source of this map is unknown. Originally printed...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Teddy Roosevelt campaigns for a third term, 1912 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 In February 1912, former president Theodore Roosevelt stunned the country by challenging President William Howard Taft for the Republican nomination. The move was not only a rejection of his friend Taft, it also violated an unwritten...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Theodore Roosevelt supports women’s suffrage, 1912 Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 In this letter written in July 1912, during his campaign for a thrid term as president, Theodore Roosevelt informs the state and county chairmen of the Progressive Party of his plan to support women’s suffrage. The document shows the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source A perspective on the San Francisco earthquake, 1906 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a great earthquake broke loose, with an epicenter near San Francisco. Violent shocks punctuated the shaking, which lasted some 45 to 60 seconds. The earthquake was felt from southern Oregon to south of...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Eyewitness account of the sinking of the Titanic, 1912 Geography, World History 6, 7, 8, 9 Shortly before midnight on April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg roughly 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. Two and a half hours later, at 2:20 a.m., the ship sank with approximately 1500 people still on board. This...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 1911 Economics, Foreign Languages, Literature, Religion and Philosophy On March 25, 1911, a devastating fire started at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. Workers had been locked in the factory to discourage theft and prevent labor organization, and they were unable to escape when the fire...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Prescription for alcohol during Prohibition, 1923 Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math At midnight, January 16, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol took effect. The Eighteenth Amendment banned the manufacture and sale (but not the possession, consumption,...