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For a resource on John Winthrop from the Gilder Lehrman Collection 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 the complete document by answering questions in an argumentative writing style to fulfill the...

Background The American Revolution, a byproduct of events both on the North American continent and abroad, unleashed a movement that focused on egalitarianism in ways that had never been seen before. Even John Adams commented on these changes in a letter to his wife Abigail. He wrote, "We have been told that that our Struggle has loosened the bands of Government everywhere. That Children and Apprentices were disobedient—that schools and Colledges were grown turbulent—that Indians slighted their Guardians and Negroes grew insolent to the Masters. But your Letter was the first...

Essential Questions To what extent does the Bill of Rights provide a "blanket of protection" for American citizens? Why do many Americans believe that the Bill of Rights is especially relevant today? Objectives Students will be able to: Identify the parts of the Constitution and their purposes Explain the first ten amendments and how they affect people today Describe the rights and responsibilities of American citizens Historical Background At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, delegates analyzed, argued, and debated the new Constitution. George Mason, a Virginian,...

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Overview Approximately 200,000 African American men served as soldiers during the Civil War. This lesson seeks to teach fifth grade students not only the skill of analyzing a primary source but also the methods that were used to entice free Blacks to serve in the Union Army during the war. Students will read and then rewrite a recruitment broadside and then will create a visual that contains four reasons why African Americans should fight in the Civil War. Introduction On March 21, 1863, Frederick Douglass asserted that “a war undertaken and brazenly carried on for the...

Click here to download this two-lesson unit. This unit was created in partnership with World101 from the Council on Foreign Relations .

Click here to download this four-lesson unit.

Introduction The accounts of African American slavery in textbooks routinely conflate the story of enslaved men and women into one history. Textbooks rarely enable students to grapple with the lives and challenges of women constrained by the institution of slavery. The collections of letters and autobiographies of enslaved women in the nineteenth century now available on the Internet open a window onto the lives of these women and allow teachers and students to explore this history. Using the classroom as a historical laboratory, students can use these primary sources to...

Materials "Memorandums of Conversation," National Security Archive, George Washington University Notes and Excerpts from Nixon’s Meeting with Mao, February 1972 , National Security Archive, George Washington University "Nixon and Kissinger’s Meeting with Mao Zedong," February 21, 1972 , National Security Archive, George Washington University "Nixon’s Trips to China," February 22, 23, 24, 1972 , National Security Archive, George Washington University A Poem for Two Voices (PDF) Lesson Activities Select appropriate excerpts from the documents provided below for your students....

Overview Students will examine posters and broadsides from the 1800s to examine attitudes about slavery in the United States at that time. Materials Overhead or copies for all students of the poster packet (PDF) Poster Inquiry Sheet for each student (PDF) Chart paper Essential Question How can the posters and broadsides of the 1800s help us to understand various attitudes towards slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War? Introduction During the 1800s, people used public notices such as posters and broadsides to advertise slave sales, rewards for missing slaves, anti...

Background Slavery played a prominent role in America’s political, social, and economic history in the antebellum era. The "peculiar institution" was at the forefront of discussions ranging from the future of the nation’s economy to western expansion and the admission of new states into the Union. The public discourse in the first half of the nineteenth century exposed the nation’s ambivalence about slavery and race. Politicians were increasingly pressured to make their opinions known, and Abraham Lincoln was no exception. Objectives Students will: Read the letters and speeches...

Overview At one time in our country’s history we stood divided as a nation over the issue of slavery. It was Abraham Lincoln’s ideology and sense of purpose that helped to unite our country and set us on a path toward realizing the principles of the Declaration of Independence. "All men are created equal" are words that Abraham Lincoln took literally, from a moral and economic standpoint. After all, as Lewis Lehrman argues in his book Lincoln at Peoria , Lincoln felt slavery was grounded in coercion. It was an involuntary economic exchange of labor. In commercial terms, slavery...

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Overview Through a simulation, in which Canadians try to seize the state of Maine, students will gain an understanding of the circumstances surrounding the Battle of the Alamo, February 23–March 6, 1836, between approximately 200 Texans and 4,000 Mexicans. Background San Antonio, the second most populated city in Texas (Houston is the first), is home to the beautiful Riverwalk, Spanish Missions, and one of the most famous clashes in the history of the United States. In 1836, Texas was part of Mexico. Tensions were high between American colonists and native Mexicans, due to...

Background The American women’s suffrage movement has always been identified with its two founders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, whose strong, enthusiastic leadership defined the movement. When they retired from active participation in the cause, the loss of that personal connection naturally affected the movement’s future. The transition was not an easy one. As the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the organization that Stanton and Anthony had led, headed into the twentieth century, it lost the dynamism and direction of the nineteenth...

LESSON 1 Objectives Students will Read and understand primary source writings from two key documents that encouraged settlers to go west and that established congressional support of what would eventually become the transcontinental railroad. Use a graphic organizer to guide them as they read and analyze the legislative acts. Materials Excerpts from Homestead Act of 1862 , Our Documents , www.ourdocuments.gov . Graphic Organizer for Homestead Act of 1862 Excerpts from Pacific Railway Act of 1862 , Our Documents , www.ourdocuments.gov . Graphic Organizer for Pacific Railway Act...

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 significance. Through a step-by-step process, students will acquire the skills to analyze any primary or secondary source material. Overview Students will understand the history and significance of several of America’s most iconic songs: "The Star-Spangled Banner," "Yankee Doodle," "America the Beautiful," and "America (My Country ’Tis of Thee)." The...

Click here to download this two-lesson unit. This unit was created in partnership with World101 from the Council on Foreign Relations .

Click to download this five-lesson unit.

Unit Overview Over the course of three to four lessons the students will analyze five primary source documents. These documents are the abridged transcripts of speeches by five of our country’s first ladies: Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, and Hillary Clinton. All of the speeches address the subject of rights: women’s rights, human rights, or both. Students will closely analyze these primary sources with the purpose of not only understanding the literal message but also inferring the more subtle messages. Students’ understanding will be determined...

Entertainment is always a national asset. Invaluable in time of peace, it is indispensable in wartime. —Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1943 Background Music during World War II had an unprecedented impact on America, both on the home front and on troops serving overseas. Unlike World War I, which occurred in the pre-radio era, by December 1941, virtually every American household, 96.2 percent, owned radios. Never before had recordings of songs and live musical performances been broadcast to so many millions of Americans, both to those supporting the war at home and to troops serving...

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. The lessons are built around the use of visual evidence and critical thinking skills. Students will understand the significance of several iconic American symbols: the Flag of the United States of America, the Statue of Liberty, and the Great Seal of the United States. The iconic symbols of America are those objects that create an...

Click to download this three-lesson unit :

Click to download this three-lesson unit.

Background At the beginning of the Civil War, as the number of dead increased daily, a force of opposition to the war efforts began to intensify in the Congress and in the voices of the American people. Abraham Lincoln, in an effort to silence the Southern sympathizers, or "Copperheads," suspended the writ of habeas corpus, a clause of the Constitution that forbids unlawful imprisonment. The suspension of this clause was first mandated only in the state of Maryland due to its proximity to the capital, but in September of 1861 Lincoln ordered the suspension within all the Union...