Lesson Plan The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere: Literature v. History Art, Government and Civics, Literature, World History 3, 4, 5 Click to download this three-lesson unit.
Lesson Plan The Preamble to the US Constitution, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Declaration of Independence Government and Civics K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 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...
Lesson Plan The Evolution of the US Constitution: The Preambles to the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Objective This lesson plan 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...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Calling out the militia after Lexington and Concord, 1775 On the night of April 18, 1775, 700 British soldiers began to march toward Concord, Massachusetts, to seize and destroy arms the American patriots had stored there. Warned by Paul Revere and William Dawes, minutemen confronted and...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Benedict Arnold’s 1780 treason and the execution of John Andre recalled, 1823 During the American Revolution, the discovery of General Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British was a deeply shocking revelation. In a memoir written some forty years after the war, William North, an aide-de...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Brotherton Indians of New Jersey, 1780 During the French and Indian War, the Lenni-Lenape (or Delaware) Indians of New Jersey were among the tribes that signed the Treaty of Easton of 1758. The tribes agreed not to support the French in the colonial conflict and to leave...
Spotlight on: Primary Source An African American soldier’s pay warrant, 1780 Economics During the American Revolution, Sharp Liberty, an African American soldier, served in the Connecticut Line of the Continental Army. Before the war, he had been enslaved in Wallingford, Connecticut. In 1777, he enlisted in the army,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Lord Dunmore's Proclamation, 1775 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In April 1775, John Murray, the Earl of Dunmore and Virginia’s royal governor, threatened to free slaves and reduce the capital, Williamsburg, to ashes if the colonists rebelled against British authority. In the months that followed,...
Essay The Declaration of Independence in Global Perspective David Armitage Government and Civics, World History 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ No American document has had a greater global impact than the Declaration of Independence. It has been fundamental to American history longer than any other text because it was the first to use the name "the United States of America":...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Black Patriots of the American Revolution Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Originally broadcast on October 29, 2020, this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection explores unique documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection that record the service of Black soldiers in the...