Guided Readings Guided Readings: Conflict over Ratifying the Constitution Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12 View these Guided Readings as a printable PDF.
Guided Readings Guided Readings: Federalists and Jeffersonians Economics, Government and Civics, World History Reading 1 Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts He has made His peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. —Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia ...
Guided Readings Guided Readings: Impact of the Revolution on Women and African Americans Government and Civics 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Reading 1 I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Henry Knox on the British invasion of New York, 1776 When twenty-six-year-old Henry Knox, the Continental Army’s artillery commander, penned this letter to his wife, Lucy, on July 8, 1776, patriot morale was at a low point. The summer of 1776 was a particularly hard time as word of...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The horrors of slavery, 1805 Originally circulated in 1805 to educate the public about the treatment of slaves, this broadside, entitled "Injured Humanity," continues to inform twenty-first-century audiences of the true horrors of slavery. As evidenced by this...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Slavery in the New York State census, 1800 Government and Civics While numbers do not explain the everyday realities of slavery in the eighteenth century, they do provide a sense of the pervasiveness of the peculiar institution even in a northern state like New York. This broadside provides figures...
Spotlight on: Primary Source George Washington and the Newburgh Conspiracy, 1783 Economics, Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In March of 1783, George Washington faced a serious threat to his authority and to the civil government of the new nation. The Continental Army, based in Newburgh, New York, was awaiting word of peace negotiations between Great...
Spotlight on: Primary Source George Washington from Valley Forge on the urgent need for men and supplies, 1777 George Washington’s words in this letter represent a stirring plea for help at the darkest moment of the American Revolution. As few other documents do, this letter illustrates Valley Forge as an icon of American perseverance and...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Alexander Hamilton’s "gloomy" view of the American Revolution, 1780 Government and Civics By October 1780, in the midst of the American Revolution, Alexander Hamilton was discouraged by the apparent apathy of the American people and the ineffectuality of their elected representatives, as well as by the recent discovery of...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Thomas Jefferson's opposition to the Federalists, 1810 Government and Civics The Federalist Party evolved from the core of Federalists, like George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, who wrote and defended the US Constitution in 1787–1788. The political party advocated a strong central government and supported...