Search

231 Items

25
Most recent
Lesson Plan

The Gettysburg Address: Identifying Text, Context, and Subtext

Government and Civics, Literature, Religion and Philosophy

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Objective This lesson is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These resources were developed to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical significance. Through a step-by-step process, students will acquire the skills to analyze any primary or secondary source material. Overview Over the course of this lesson, students will examine text, context, and subtext, as well as the types of rhetorical devices that Lincoln employed in the Gettysburg Address. The teacher should provide more...
Lesson Plan

Transatlantic Trade, A Symbiotic Relationship

World History

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Background Crates full of rice slip and slide across the floorboards as the ship rocks back and forth. The ship looks insignificant in the vastness of the ocean. Air scented with tobacco wafts through the cracks in the ceiling of the hold. A small cry breaks with the crashing of the waves as child treated like another barrel or crate full of cargo wonders about his fate. These are the sights, smells, and sounds of the transatlantic trading routes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Highly profitable triangular trade routes were established between Europe, Africa, and...
Lesson Plan

Differing Views of Pilgrims and American Indians in Seventeenth-Century New England

Economics, Government and Civics

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Background Wampanoags Much of what is known about early Wampanoag history comes from archaeological evidence, the Wampanoag oral tradition (much of which has been lost), and documents created by seventeenth-century English colonists. The Wampanoag people have lived in southeastern New England for thousands of years. In 1600 there were as many as 12,000 Wampanoag who lived in forty villages. Both oral tradition and archaeological evidence suggest that Indigenous peoples lived in the area for 10,000 years. Wampanoag means “People of the Dawn” in the Algonquian language. There...
Lesson Plan

George Pullman: His Impact on the Railroad Industry, Labor, and American Life in the Nineteenth Century

Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

9, 10, 11, 12

Background George Mortimer Pullman was an influential industrialist of the nineteenth century and the founder of the Pullman Palace Car Company. His innovations brought comfort and luxury to railroad travel in the 1800s with the introduction of sleeping cars, dining cars, and parlor cars. Like other industrialists of the period Pullman built a company town near his factory to accommodate his workers’ housing needs. He advertised it as a model community which offered his workers modern amenities in a beautiful setting. By 1890, the Pullman Palace Car Company was operating 2,135...
Lesson Plan

Celebrating Labor Day

Government and Civics

4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Essential Question To what extent have the conditions of American workers improved over the past 100 years? Background After the Civil War, the United States witnessed an accelerating movement of people westward, a rapidly increasing number of immigrants, and the large growth of urban areas. Along with these trends, the massive changes in how corporations were organized and operated and the growth of the labor movement during this period wrought significant changes in American life. The right to organize, to bargain for wages and working conditions, the equitable distribution...
Lesson Plan

Early Encounters between Native Americans and Europeans

Art

9, 10, 11, 12

Background Early European explorers to the Americas likely experienced emotions including awe at the vast “new” environment, amazement at meeting “others,” the thrill of the unknown, concern for personal safety, desire for personal reward, and longing for their homeland and those left behind. Written and pictorial records attributed to Europeans provide the bulk of the records of these early travels. European impressions of Native peoples as well as Native impressions of Europeans are frequently framed in the narratives of the explorers. Examination of these records indicates...
Lesson Plan

Examining Antebellum Elections

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Aim What can the statistics tell us about the rise and fall of the second two-party system? How did the breakdown of this system contribute to the onset of the Civil War? Overview The purpose of this lesson is to examine the antebellum era through the lens of elections and electoral politics. Although an “era of good feeling” had followed the War of 1812, signs of political dissension were appearing as early as the presidential election of 1824. The issues contested in elections and debated in the legislative sessions from 1824 to 1861 were critical ones: the direction that the...
Lesson Plan

Native American Housing

Geography

4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Historical Background American Indians (First Nations in Canada) constructed homes to conform to their needs and environment. Housing for some tribal groups was permanent, while other residences reflected the need to relocate, often to adjust for a harvest season or to follow a source of food. Housing styles reflected these needs. Significance Native American housing is frequently assumed to be represented by one or two well-known styles such as the teepee or pueblo. While these do reflect distinct tribal designs, they are not all inclusive and students should be exposed to a...
Lesson Plan

Lincoln and Presidential Power

9, 10, 11, 12

Introduction When Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States in 1860, his experience in politics and government included serving in the Illinois legislature and the US House of Representatives. He had also studied law and was licensed to practice law in Illinois at age twenty-seven. This seems like scant experience for a man who would lead a country through its greatest internal challenge. However, Lincoln found a way to draw on his life experience and his professional knowledge to lead the nation with an astuteness and skill that might have escaped a more...
Lesson Plan

Rise of the Populists and William Jennings Bryan

9, 10, 11, 12

Historical Background As the United States evolved into an industrial powerhouse in the decades following the Civil War, the growing strength of the railroads and the banks particularly, coupled with the impact of mechanization on agricultural practices, challenged the financial stability of American farmers in ways never before experienced. The late 1860s saw the birth of the Grange (a.k.a. the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry), an organization dedicated to the social and political uplift of farmers. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, farmers organized collectively, at...
Lesson Plan

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

Government and Civics, Literature, World History

8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Introduction The Cold War is the term for the rivalry between the two blocs of contending states that emerged following the Second World War. It was a series of confrontations played out on the world stage between the non-Communist states, led by the United States and Great Britain, and the Communists, led by the Soviet Union. In 1946 the former prime minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, gave a speech in Missouri foreshadowing the divide between East and West using the metaphor of an "iron curtain." The reality of this divide was evidenced in Germany in Berlin in 1961....
Lesson Plan

Every Four Years: Qualifications for the Office of President and Electing the President

Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Overview Students will examine aspects of Article II of the Constitution for specific information related to the requirements for and method of electing the president. Materials (attached) KWL Chart (PDF) The United States Constitution: Article II; Section 1 (excerpts) (PDF) The Presidency: Unofficial Requirements (PDF) American Presidents: A Reference Resource on the website of the Miller Center, The University of Virginia at millercenter.org/president Essential Question To what extent should the qualifications to become president be changed? Learning Objectives Students will:...
Lesson Plan

Osama bin Laden and 9/11

Government and Civics, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Unit Objective This unit on Osama bin Laden’s “Declaration of Jihad against Americans” is part of Gilder Lehrman Institute’s series of Common Core State Standards–based units. These units were written to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical importance. Students will begin to understand and analyze the background of bin Laden and his extremist anti-American stance against the US and its allies prior to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Students will demonstrate this knowledge by writing summaries of selections from the...
Lesson Plan

Early Contacts: Native American and European Women in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Government and Civics

4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Overview The c onclusion that encounters between European settlers and Native Americans changed the lives of both groups has been central to many historical accounts of colonial history. While the arguments made are convincing, the discussions do not directly address the lives of women. It is possible that this omission is a result of a paucity of sources. Regardless of the problems with sources, the question may still be asked: Does this assumption hold up when we look at the encounter of women of both cultures? If not, why not? Before we can consider questions such as these,...
Lesson Plan

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

World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Essential Questions How did European explorers and colonists who came to the New World for "Gold, Glory and/or God" justify their treatment of Native Americans, enslaved Africans, and indentured servants? To what extent were there discrepancies between agreed-upon political ideals and the treatment of these minority groups? Background The nations that explored and colonized North and South America during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries used a variety of approaches for subjugating Native Americans, enslaved Africans, and indentured servants. Once Jamestown...
Lesson Plan

Thomas Jefferson, Renaissance Man

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Background Thomas Jefferson has often been called a “Renaissance man,” someone who is talented in many areas. The term is often used to describe the Italian painter Leonardo Da Vinci, who not only painted the Mona Lisa , but who also made important contributions to sculpture, astronomy, physiology, architecture, and many other fields. Jefferson is well known for his contributions to American politics and government; this lesson allows students to explore some of his other talents. Materials Document I: Thomas Jefferson’s library catalog (PDF) Document II: Thomas Jefferson’s...
Lesson Plan

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871: A Story of Human Tragedy and Triumph

4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Background Ask anyone what the greatest disaster in Chicago was and probably no one will say, "The Great Iroquois Theatre Fire of December 30, 1903." Six hundred three souls perished in that fire. They probably won’t say, "The sinking of the Eastland excursion boat in the Chicago River in 1915." Eight hundred thirty-five died in that tragedy. The answer will most likely be, "The Great Chicago Fire." The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 left approximately three and one-third square miles of the city in ruins, created $192,000,000 in property damage, and took the lives of some 300...
Lesson Plan

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech

Government and Civics

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Unit Overview This unit is part of the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s Teaching Literacy through History resources, designed to align to the Common Core State Standards. These units were developed to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical significance. Through a step-by-step process, students will acquire the skills to analyze and assess primary source material. Over the course of five lessons, students will read, analyze, and gain a clear understanding of "I Have a Dream," a speech delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr., at the March on...

Showing results 1 - 25