Lesson Plan The History of the Supreme Court, 1787 to 1937 Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this five-lesson unit.
Essay Sally Hemings Gilder Lehrman Institute Exploring extraordinary Black lives of the Founding Era, such as that of Sally Hemings, can transform our understanding of American history. Born in Virginia in 1773, Sally Hemings was an enslaved woman in the household of Thomas...
Essay America the Newcomer: Claiming the Louisiana Purchase Elliott West Geography The Lewis and Clark expedition is rightly considered one of the great American stories. In May of 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off by keelboat up the Missouri River with thirty-one men, the "Corps of Discovery," on an...
Essay The Age of Jefferson and Madison Peter S. Onuf Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both played important roles in the era of the American Revolution. Jefferson was the lead author of the Declaration of Independence that launched the American experiment in republican government;...
Essay The Early Republic Joseph J. Ellis In April of 1789 the ink on the recently ratified Constitution was barely dry when George Washington began the trek from his Mount Vernon plantation to the national capital at New York. The public reverence usually accorded to royalty...
Lesson Plan Every Four Years: Introducing Presidential Elections Government and Civics 6, 7, 8 Lesson Overview The students will examine, explain, and evaluate Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution for specific information concerning the eligibility requirements and election process for the office of President of the...
Lesson Plan Native American Policy Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Background: Two conflicting policies have governed this country’s treatment of Native Americans—assimilation and removal. As the United States expanded, it became necessary to issue formal policy statements and make treaties with...
Lesson Plan The Battle over the Bank: Hamilton v. Jefferson Government and Civics 6, 7, 8 Background After months of battling and compromises, the US Constitution was finally sent to Congress by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. Through the ratification process and the first decade under the new...
Lesson Plan Analyzing the Great Compromise, 1787 Government and Civics 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Essential Question How could our Founding Fathers balance the needs of the states as we created a national government? Materials The Virginia Plan, 1787 (PDF). Source: Virginia (Randolph) Plan as Amended (National Archives Microfilm...
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...
Lesson Plan Lewis and Clark: Exploring the Louisiana Purchase Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this four-lesson unit.
Lesson Plan Our Constitution: The Bill of Rights (Grades 4–6) Government and Civics 4, 5, 6 View the Constitution in our collection by clicking here and here . For a resource on the variations between a draft and the final version of the Constitution click here . For additional resources click here . Unit Objective This...
Lesson Plan Our Constitution: The Bill of Rights (Grades 10–12) Government and Civics 10, 11, 12 View the Constitution in the Gilder Lehrman Collection by clicking here and here . For a resource on the variations between a draft and the final version of the United States Constitution click here . For additional resources click...
Lesson Plan The National Bank Debate Economics, Government and Civics 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...