Lesson Plan Debating Chinese Immigration and Naturalization, 1869-1898 Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click to download this three-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source Statue of Liberty, 1884 Literature 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ First conceived of in 1865, the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France commemorating the alliance between that country and the United States during the American Revolution as well as their mutual dedication to freedom and democracy....
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 Horace Greeley: "Go West," 1871 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune , wrote this letter in 1871 to R. L. Sanderson, a young correspondent who had requested career advice. Greeley, a great supporter of westward expansion, shared the national conviction...
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 Official photograph from the "Golden Spike" Ceremony, 1869 Economics, Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ This iconic photograph records the celebration marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad lines at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, when Leland Stanford, co-founder of the Central Pacific Railroad,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source San Francisco's Chinatown, 1880 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ The Workingmen’s Party of California pamphlet, which is representative of widespread anti-immigration sentiment, attacks President Ulysses S. Grant and calls San Francisco’s Chinatown "rampant with disease." On May 8, 1882, President...
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...
Spotlight on: Primary Source John Mosby on the silver issue, 1895 Economics In the late nineteenth century, Democrats and Republicans fought over whether the gold standard ought to be retained or if the United States should switch to a free silver system. In 1890, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was passed,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source People’s Party campaign poster, 1892 Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In July 1892, the Populist Party (or People’s Party), formed by farmers and labor supporters, held its first convention in Omaha, Nebraska. At that convention, the party created and ratified its Omaha Platform and nominated James B....