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Charles Sumner on Reconstruction and the South, 1866

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

By 1865 there were sharp differences of opinion about the rights of freedmen and the governance of the defeated Southern states among political leaders in Congress and the Executive Branch in Washington, DC. Conflict among Republicans...

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Best friends divided by the Civil War, 1861

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

On April 12, 1861, Confederate officials informed Major Robert Anderson, US commander at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, that they would allow one hour for him to surrender his forces. When he refused, Confederates...

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Olaudah Equiano, 1789

Economics, World History

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Within ten years of the first North American settlements, Europeans began transporting captured Africans to the colonies as enslaved laborers. Imagine the thoughts and fears of an eleven-year-old boy who was kidnapped from his village...

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A View of Savannah, Georgia, 1734

World History

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The colony of Georgia was founded in 1732 by James Oglethorpe, a British Member of Parliament. Oglethorpe planned Savannah as a place where the poor could come to make a better life. An attempt to produce a "classless society," this...

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Stephen Austin's contract to bring settlers to Texas, 1825

Geography

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In order to settle Texas in the 1820s, the Mexican government allowed speculators, called empresarios, to acquire large tracts of land if they promised to bring in settlers to populate the region and make it profitable. Moses and...

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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....

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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...

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Civilian Conservation Corps poster, 1938

Art, Economics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Civilian Conservation Corps directly addressed two of the most pressing problems during the Depression: male youth unemployment and environmental degradation. The CCC, based on a military model of everyday life, put thousands of...

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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...

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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...

Site Search

90,945 items

Charles Sumner on Reconstruction and the South, 1866

Best friends divided by the Civil War, 1861

Olaudah Equiano, 1789

A View of Savannah, Georgia, 1734

Stephen Austin's contract to bring settlers to Texas, 1825

Statue of Liberty, 1884

Anti-corporate cartoons, ca. 1900

Civilian Conservation Corps poster, 1938

Horace Greeley: "Go West," 1871

Indian Wars: The Battle of Washita, 1868

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