Lesson Plan Americans All: Foreign-born Soldiers and World War I 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this three-lesson unit.
Essay Empire Building Robert W. Cherny Economics, Geography The years between the end of the Civil War, in 1865, and the end of the century witnessed rapid and far-reaching change in the economic and social life of the United States. During those years, the nation was transformed from rural...
Essay The Open Door Policy and the Boxer War: The US and China Warren I. Cohen By 1899, the United States had become a world power. It was not only the world’s greatest industrial nation, but in the war with Spain it had demonstrated a willingness to use its power militarily. It had acquired possessions near and...
Essay The United States and the Caribbean, 1877–1920 Jason Colby Between 1877 and 1920, the United States’ relationship with the Caribbean region underwent a profound change, which was closely tied to the transformation of the United States to an industrial and imperial power. Although the Civil...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Anti-corporate cartoons, ca. 1900 Art, Economics, Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ These cartoons illustrate the growing hostility toward the practices of the big businesses that fueled the industrial development of the United States. In "The Protectors of Our Industries" (1883), railroad magnates Jay Gould and...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Indian Wars: The Battle of Washita, 1868 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ The Battle of Washita on November 27, 1868, pitted US Army troops commanded by General George Custer against the Southern Cheyenne. An excerpt from Custer’s report on a return to the battlefield ten days later is presented here. The...
Spotlight on: Primary Source William T. Sherman on the western railroads, 1878 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ After Ulysses S. Grant’s election as president, William Tecumseh Sherman, known for leading the "March to the Sea" in the closing months of the Civil War, was appointed commanding general of the United States Army. Headquartered in St...
Lesson Plan Norwegian Immigration in the Nineteenth Century Geography, Literature 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Background For most Norwegians in the nineteenth century, America remained a remote and exotic place until the first immigrants began to write home. These "American letters," which traveled from the immigrants back to former neighbors...
Lesson Plan June 25, 1876: An Interpretation of an Historical Event Government and Civics 6, 7, 8 Essential Question How should events from the Indian Wars be commemorated by the federal government? Background The Battle of Little Bighorn was one in a series of conflicts that occurred during the American attempt to remove native...
Lesson Plan Alamo Simulation Geography 9, 10, 11, 12 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...