Lesson Plan Dawes to Burke to McGirt: Tribal Sovereignty, 1887–2020 Geography 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this three-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source Spain authorizes Coronado's conquest in the Southwest, 1540 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ This letter, written on behalf of the king of Spain by Francisco Garcia de Loaysa, the president of the Council of the Indies, acknowledges Francisco Coronado’s report of the famous Niza expedition of the previous year and authorizes...
Lesson Plan The French and Indian War Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ 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...
Spotlight on: Primary Source American Indians' service in World War I, 1920 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 More than 11,000 American Indians served with the American forces during World War I. Nearly 5,000 Native men enlisted and approximately 6,500 were drafted—despite the fact that almost half of American Indians were not citizens and...
Essay The Americas to 1620 Christopher L. Miller Geography, World History 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ At the end of the first millennium, most people in the Eastern Hemisphere had a firm sense of how the world was arranged, who occupied it, and how they had come to be where they were. Various sacred texts as well as long-standing folk...
Essay Imperial Rivalries Peter C. Mancall World History K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ When Christopher Columbus made his plans to sail westward across the Atlantic, he first set off across Europe to find sponsors. His brother Bartholomew went to the court of the English King Henry VII (who turned him down, much to the...
Lesson Plan Letter from Christopher Columbus on Returning from His First Voyage to the Americas, 1493 Geography, World History 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this five-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Doctrine of Discovery, 1493 Geography, Religion and Philosophy, World History 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ The Papal Bull "Inter Caetera," issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493, played a central role in the Spanish conquest of the New World. The document supported Spain’s strategy to ensure its exclusive right to the lands...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Columbus reports on his first voyage, 1493 Geography, World History 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Spain to find an all-water route to Asia. On October 12, more than two months later, Columbus landed on an island in the Bahamas that he called San Salvador; the natives called it Guanahani....
Spotlight on: Primary Source Bartolomé de Las Casas debates the subjugation of the Indians, 1550 Art 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ This tract, a summary of a debate concerning the subjugation of Indians, contains the arguments of Bartolomé de Las Casas, the Bishop of Chiapas, Mexico, and Juan Gines Sepulveda, an influential Spanish philosopher, concerning the...