Lesson Plan Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Government and Civics, Literature 11, 12 Unit Objective This lesson on Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core–based units. These units were written to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts...
Lesson Plan Lincoln’s First and Second Inaugural Addresses Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Objective This lesson on President Lincoln’s two inaugural addresses is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based units. These units enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Civilian describes pillaging near Gettysburg, 1863 On July 5, 1863, Dr. William H. Boyle wrote to a fellow member of the local Columbus Lodge of the International Organization of Odd Fellows, Isaac McCauley, describing the devastation the Confederates had caused in Chambersburg,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Civil War condolence letter for General Paul Semmes, 1863 By 1863, thousands of Northern and Southern women had volunteered in hospitals to help care for sick and wounded soldiers. In cities and towns near battlefields, wounded soldiers were often placed in private homes and other buildings...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1863 Government and Civics In 1621, settlers in Massachusetts celebrated what has come to be regarded as the first thanksgiving in the New World. On October 3, 1789, George Washington issued a proclamation creating the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Poem on a Civil War death: "Only a Private Killed," 1861 Literature Approximately 3.5 million men served in the Union and Confederate military during the Civil War. Recent scholarship indicates that at least 750,000 men died. Lewis Mitchell of the 1st Minnesota Volunteers was one of those men. On...
Spotlight on: Primary Source William Cullen Bryant opposes the protective tariff, 1876 Economics, Government and Civics During the Civil War, the United States needed to raise funds urgently. It did so by raising the tariff, which taxed goods imported from other countries. In the days before the national income tax, the United States depended on the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The service of Medal of Honor recipient Dr. Mary Walker, 1864 Government and Civics A graduate of Syracuse Medical College, Mary Walker served as a doctor during the American Civil War and was the only female acting assistant surgeon in the Union Army. In April 1864, Walker was captured by the Confederates in...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Frederick Douglass’s tribute to Abraham Lincoln, 1880 Literature Despite initial differences, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln forged a relationship over the course of the Civil War based on a shared vision. Fifteen years after Lincoln’s death, Douglass described him as "one of the noblest...