Overview In the early twentieth century, President Theodore Roosevelt was a dynamic force in a relatively new movement known as conservationism. During his presidency, Roosevelt made conservation a major part of his administration. As the new century began, the frontier was disappearing. Once common animals were now threatened. Many Americans, including Roosevelt, saw a need to preserve the nation's natural resources. He wanted to protect animals and land from businesses that he saw as a threat. Roosevelt said, "the rights of the public to the natural resources outweigh private rights, and…

Background In January 1969, America’s recently elected conservative president Richard Nixon took office, young Americans were engaged in a radical and vivacious counterculture, and a devastating war in Vietnam continued amidst a diminishing degree of popular support. While President Lyndon Johnson had largely inherited the Vietnam crisis, his Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964 allowed for his complete control as the commander in chief over Congress. While Johnson relied on his advisors for support and success in Vietnam, his original hopes for a brief conflict ending in 1966 with a divided and…

Overview Students will examine primary sources including letters, a patent, photos, and diagrams to identify and describe the technological invention and development of the telegraph that evolved during the nineteenth century. Background Prior to 1830, communication across the country was limited to overland mail, which took approximately a month to reach its destination, or by the pony express, which took about two weeks. In 1837, Samuel F. B. Morse invented a faster way to communicate. His invention, the telegraph, sent messages from one machine to another along a wire. A telegraph operator…

Overview Since Japanese people began migrating to America in the mid-nineteenth century, there has been resentment and tension between Americans and Asian immigrants. In California at the turn of the century laws were passed making it difficult for Japanese to own land in America, become naturalized, or to even migrate to America. By the 1920s California had banned almost all immigration from Japan, and laws made interracial marriage illegal. After World War I and the failed attempts of America to create and join the League of Nations, there were strong national feelings of isolationism and…

Unit Objective This unit on the Battle of Gettysburg is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These resources were written to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical significance. Students will demonstrate this knowledge by writing summaries of excerpts from several key primary source documents and, by the end of the unit, articulating their understanding of the various views of the Battle of Gettysburg. Through this step-by-step process students will acquire the skills to analyze any primary or…

Essential Question Which of the two views presented below, W.E.B. Du Bois’ or Booker T. Washington’s, offered a better strategy to put our nation on a quicker path to equality for African Americans at the turn of the twentieth century? Documents Booker T. Washington, 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech, History Matters, George Mason University Excerpt from W.E.B. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, 1903, History Matters, George Mason University Marcus Garvey, "The Conspiracy of the East St. Louis Riots," July 8, 1917, PBS Procedure Select appropriate excerpts for your level of students and have them…

Unit Overview Over the course of three lessons the students will analyze two primary source documents that represent two different points of view on the Mexican-American War. The first document is a speech delivered by then President James K. Polk justifying America’s war with Mexico and asking the United States Congress for a declaration of war. The second document is a speech by Congressman Joshua Giddings during the debate in the House of Representatives that questions the President’s motives for and handling of the coming conflict. Students will closely read and analyze these speeches with…

View a copy of Washington’s Farewell Address in the Gilder Lehrman Collection by clicking here. For a resource regarding the possibility of Washington staying on for a third term click here. 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, and analyze original texts of historical significance. Students will demonstrate this knowledge by writing summaries of selections from the original document and, by the end of the unit, articulating their understanding of…

Overview Dramatic change characterized the rapid industrialization of nineteenth-century America. The economy, politics, society and specifically women were all affected. In the early stages of this economic revolution, manufacturing was moved to factories in newly developing urban areas. Young women began working in the textile industry as early as 1820. Later on as goods were increasingly produced by machines run by unskilled labor, the number of women in the industrial workforce grew. Women entered the ranks of industrial workforce as seamstresses who produced ready-made clothing in the…

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