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Spotlight on: Primary Source

Confirming governors for territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, 1901

President Theodore Roosevelt wrote this letter to William H. Hunt, the governor of Porto Rico (as Puerto Rico was known at the time), just twelve days after he assumed the presidency following President William McKinley’s...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

The Grange Movement, 1875

The Patrons of Husbandry, or the Grange, was founded in 1867 to advance methods of agriculture, as well as to promote the social and economic needs of farmers in the United States. The financial crisis of 1873, along with falling crop...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Building Mount Rushmore, 1926

Art

This September 1926 report by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum to the Harney Peak Memorial Association anticipates the construction of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Borglum’s report offers a look...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Creating the Air Force, 1924

In this July 1924 letter to aviation pioneer and publisher Lester D. Gardner, Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell prophesied the coming tide of Japanese militarism. Concerned about Japan’s growing military power in the skies,...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

J. Edgar Hoover on campus unrest, 1970

Government and Civics

In September 1970, J. Edgar Hoover composed an open letter to American students detailing his view on civil unrest at the nation’s colleges and universities and warning against the elements he believed responsible. Hoover opened with...

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...

Classroom Resources

Study Aid: Cultures of the Americas, 1200 BC–AD 1600

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

Mound Builders (Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River) Key Groups : Adena (500 BC), Hopewell (100 BC) Religion and Culture : Known as mound builders because they buried the dead in large earth mounds, these groups lived in small...

Classroom Resources

Study Aid: Major European Explorers

Foreign Languages, Geography, World History

5, 6, 7, 8, 9

View this infographic as a PDF.

Lesson Plan

The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Essential Question What lessons have been learned about space travel from the Challenger incident? What makes someone a hero? Materials "The Shuttle Explodes," January 28, 1986 , New York Times Speech on the Challenger Disaster,...

Lesson Plan

The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

Government and Civics, Literature, World History

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Unit Objective This unit is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These units were written to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical...

Lesson Plan

The Haymarket Riot

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Lesson Plan

The New Deal: Legislation & Policies

9, 10, 11, 12

Historical Background When the stock market crashed in October of 1929, American citizens faced economic challenges unlike anything previously experienced in U.S. history. By the time Franklin Delano Roosevelt became President in 1933...

Lesson Plan

Rise of the Populists and William Jennings Bryan

9, 10, 11, 12

Historical Background As the United States evolved into an industrial powerhouse in the decades following the Civil War, the growing strength of the railroads and the banks particularly, coupled with the impact of mechanization on...

Lesson Plan

Success and the American Dream during the 1950s

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Essential Question How did conformity apply as a value to the living and working choices of Americans during the 1950s? How did the notion of success during the 1950’s relate to the "American Dream"? Materials Death of a Salesman by...

Lesson Plan

Students’ Constitutional Rights in Public School

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Essential Question When may the rights of students in school be restricted? Materials Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, 1969 , Boston College New Jersey v. T.L.O., 1985 , Legal Information Institute, Cornell University...

Lesson Plan

The Role of Women in the 1950s

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Essential Question What roles were women expected to play during the 1950s? Materials Questions for The Feminine Mystique (PDF) Four Photos of Women , ProQuest K–12 "Housewife or Career Woman: The Changing Roles of Women in WWII and...

Lesson Plan

Ronald Reagan on Reducing the Size of Government

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Essential Questions How can the powers of government be divided to best run our nation in this modern era? What role should the federal government play in shaping our economy? Document Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union Message,...

Lesson Plan

Dwight D. Eisenhower's Domestic Leadership

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Essential Questions What constitutes great presidential leadership? How did Eisenhower demonstrate great leadership through his support of the Federal-Aid Highway Act (1956) and his warning about the growth of the Military-Industrial...

Lesson Plan

Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority

Religion and Philosophy

9, 10, 11, 12

Essential Questions What impact did "the Moral Majority" have on American culture and politics in the 1980s? What are the differences between primary and secondary sources? Materials Excerpt from Listen America by Jerry Falwell (1980)...

Lesson Plan

Mass Production, Suburbia & Conformity in the 1950s

Economics

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Essential Question How did conformity apply as a value to the living choices of Americans during the 1950’s? Materials Postwar Society Data and Questions (PDF) Little Boxes , written by Malvina Reynolds (1962) (Lyrics) Two Photos &amp...

Lesson Plan

The Treaty of Tordesillas: Resolving "a Certain Controversy" over Land in the Americas

Foreign Languages, Geography, World History

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

Background Imperial rivalries have often been resolved through war; however, the Treaty of Tordesillas is an important example of a rivalry that was resolved without hostilities through the demarcation of areas of influence by the...

Lesson Plan

Early European Imperial Colonization of the New World

World History

8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Introduction By the early to mid-seventeenth century, Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands were all competing for colonies and trade around the world. Beginning in the late fifteenth century, explorers, conquerors, missionaries...

Lesson Plan

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address

Economics, Government and Civics

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

View this item in the Gilder Lehrman Collection. Unit Objective This unit is part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core State Standards–based teaching resources. These units were written to enable students to understand, summarize...

Lesson Plan

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech

Government and Civics

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Unit Overview This unit is part of the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s Teaching Literacy through History resources, designed to align to the Common Core State Standards. These units were developed to enable students to understand,...

Classroom Resources

Study Aid: The Bill of Rights

5, 6, 7, 8, 9

The Bill of Rights First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people...

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