Lesson Plan The Gettysburg Address Literature, Religion and Philosophy 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this four-lesson unit.
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 Mary Todd Lincoln on life after the White House, 1870 Economics Mary Todd Lincoln’s years in the White House were a combination of triumph and tragedy. Never fully accepted by the public and vilified by the press for overspending, her tenure as First Lady was unstable at best. After the death of...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Lincoln on the execution of a slave trader, 1862 This stunning document, a refusal of clemency for a convicted slave trader, stands out among the papers of Abraham Lincoln, a man renowned for his mercy and willingness to pardon. In November 1861, Nathaniel Gordon was convicted of...
Spotlight on: Primary Source A proposed Thirteenth Amendment to prevent secession, 1861 Government and Civics In the wake of the presidential election of 1860 that brought Abraham Lincoln to the White House, the slaveholding states of the American South, led by South Carolina, began withdrawing from the nation. In the midst of this...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Abraham Lincoln, Inventor, 1849 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math On March 10, 1849, Abraham Lincoln filed a patent for a device for "buoying vessels over shoals" with the US Patent Office. Patent No. 6,469 was approved two months later, giving Abraham Lincoln the honor of being the only US...
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 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...
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...
Lesson Plan The National Game. Three "Outs" And One "Run" Overview A pro-Lincoln satire, deposited for copyright weeks before the 1860 presidential election. The contest is portrayed as a baseball game in which Lincoln has defeated (left to right) John Bell, Stephen A. Douglas, and John C....