Lesson Plan The Gettysburg Address Literature, Religion and Philosophy 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this four-lesson unit.
Lesson Plan Jefferson and Slavery 6, 7, 8 Background Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence invokes the ideals of democracy and freedom. Yet he remains a slaveholder for his entire adult life, and (unlike George Washington) does not free his slaves in his will....
Lesson Plan Andrew Jackson's Message to Congress Concerning the Indian Removal Act of 1830 Geography, Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 View a copy of Jackson’s Message to Congress in the Gilder Lehrman Collection by clicking here . For additional resources click here . Unit Objective This unit is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Lincoln on abolition in England and the United States, 1858 Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Though Lincoln spoke frequently during the 1858 Illinois Senate race against Stephen Douglas—a campaign that propelled Lincoln to the political forefront and helped shape him into a presidential candidate—very few Lincoln manuscripts...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Lincoln speech on slavery and the American Dream, 1858 Economics, Government and Civics 4 Through the 1830s and 1840s, Abraham Lincoln’s primary political focus was on economic issues. However, the escalating debate over slavery in the 1850s, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act in particular, compelled Lincoln to change his...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The horrors of slavery, 1805 Originally circulated in 1805 to educate the public about the treatment of slaves, this broadside, entitled "Injured Humanity," continues to inform twenty-first-century audiences of the true horrors of slavery. As evidenced by this...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Slavery in the New York State census, 1800 Government and Civics While numbers do not explain the everyday realities of slavery in the eighteenth century, they do provide a sense of the pervasiveness of the peculiar institution even in a northern state like New York. This broadside provides figures...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The massacre of American Indian allies, 1818 Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ On April 23, 1818, Captain Obed Wright of the Georgia militia ordered an attack on a Chehaw village, which resulted in the slaughter of several American Indians. In a letter written a week after the attack, Brigadier General Thomas...
Spotlight on: Primary Source A northerner’s view of southern slavery, 1821 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Aurelia Hale of Hartford, Connecticut, offered her impressions of southern life in this letter of June 11, 1821. Hale, then about twenty-two years old, had recently traveled to Washington County, Georgia, to serve as a schoolteacher....
Spotlight on: Primary Source My Country, ’Tis of Thee Samuel Francis Smith was a twenty-four-year-old Baptist seminary student in Massachusetts when he wrote the lyrics of "America (My Country, ’Tis of Thee)," the patriotic song that would serve as an unofficial national anthem for...