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Lesson Plan

How Hamilton Solved the Economic Problems Facing the United States

Economics, Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8

Lesson Overview In this lesson students will develop an understanding of the economic challenges facing the newly independent United States. Those challenges included the lack of a national currency, the national government’s...

Lesson Plan

Hamilton v. Burr: The Story behind the Duel

Lesson Overview Students will develop an understanding of the tensions in the relationship between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr prior to their famous duel in 1804. They will read and analyze key excerpts from primary source...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

The Middle Passage, 1749

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

Historians estimate that approximately 472,000 Africans were kidnapped and brought to the North American mainland between 1619 and 1860. Of these, nearly 18 percent died during the transatlantic voyage from Africa to the New World....

Spotlight on: Primary Source

The Fort Pillow Massacre, 1864

8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

"Among the stories of the stormy days of the Republic, few will longer be remembered than the heroic defense and almost utter annihilation of the garrison of Fort Pillow." —Mack J. Leaming, April 1893 On April 12, 1864, fifteen...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Nat Turner’s Rebellion, 1831

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

In the early hours of August 22, 1831, a slave named Nat Turner led more than fifty followers in a bloody revolt in Southampton, Virginia, killing nearly 60 white people, mostly women and children. The local authorities stopped the...

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,...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Slave Patrol Contract, 1856

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

In the 1800s, particularly after Nat Turner’s rebellion in 1831, the legislatures of slave states passed increasingly strict laws governing the activities of enslaved and free African Americans and the interactions between whites and...

Classroom Resources

Infographic: Life in Colonial America: Climate, Commerce, and Culture

Geography, Government and Civics

K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Click here to learn more about the New England Colonies. Click here to learn more about the Middle Colonies. Click here to learn more about the Southern Colonies.

P&E Home

Programs & Events

The Gilder Lehrman Institute promotes the study and love of American history through a wide array of programs and exhibitions for teachers, students, historians, and the general public. From weeklong seminars and other professional...

P&E Home

Programs & Events

The Institute promotes and celebrates accomplishments in American history education and scholarship at every level. Deepen your understanding and appreciation of American history by participating in a program or joining the Institute...

Collection Landing Page

Visit The Collection

Visit the Collection Field Trips A field trip to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History gives students the unique opportunity to learn history from real documents, up close with no display cases! This exciting experience...

Collection Landing Page

Visit the Collection

Collection Programs Inside the Vault Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection is a zoom presentation of documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection. Join our curators and learn the fascinating stories behind...

Collection Landing Page

Spotlight on Primary Sources

Spotlights on Primary Sources Each of the Spotlights from our Collection provides explanatory text, a transcript, and an image of the featured document. Questions for classroom discussion are available to K–12 teachers. Below are some...

History Now Essay

The Battle of the Sexes

Gail Collins

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

It’s hard to explain, if you weren’t there at the time, why the "Battle of the Sexes"—the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs—was so important. The most enduring image from the event was the picture of Billie...

Appears in:

23 | Turning Points in American Sports Spring 2010

History Now Essay

The Square Deal: Theodore Roosevelt and the Themes of Progressive Reform

Kirsten Swinth

Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Progressivism arrived at a moment of crisis for the United States. As the nineteenth century came to a close, just decades after the Civil War, many feared the nation faced another explosive and violent conflict, this time between the...

Appears in:

17 | Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Era Fall 2008

History Now Essay

Winning the Vote: A History of Voting Rights

Steven Mintz

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Voting Rights on the Eve of the Revolution The basic principle that governed voting in colonial America was that voters should have a "stake in society." Leading colonists associated democracy with disorder and mob rule, and believed...

Appears in:

1 | Elections Fall 2004

History Now Essay

Women in American Politics in the Twentieth Century

Sara Evans

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

At the beginning of the twentieth century, women were outsiders to the formal structures of political life—voting, serving on juries, holding elective office—and they were subject to wide-ranging discrimination that marked them as...

Appears in:

7 | Women's Suffrage Spring 2006

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":...

Essay

The United States and the Caribbean, 1877–1920

Jason Colby

Between 1877 and 1920, the United States’ relationship with the Caribbean region underwent a profound change, which was closely tied to the transformation of the United States to an industrial and imperial power. Although the Civil...

History Now Essay

Modern Women Persuading Modern Men: The Nineteenth Amendment and the Movement for Woman Suffrage, 1916–1920

Jonathan Soffer

Government and Civics

Today we take women’s suffrage for granted, but many activists of the nineteenth century, including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, struggled their whole lives for the vote, and did not live to see it. As a presidential...

Appears in:

30 | American Reform Movements Winter 2012

History Now Essay

The Sixties and Protest Music

Kerry Candaele

Art, Government and Civics

8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Music has always kept company with American wars. During the Revolutionary War, "Yankee Doodle" and many other songs set to reels and dances were sung to keep spirits alive during dark hours. "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," Lincoln...

Appears in:

32 | The Music and History of Our Times Summer 2012

History Now Essay

Adams v. Jackson: The Election of 1824

Edward G. Lengel

Government and Civics

James Monroe’s two terms in office as president of the United States (1817–1825) are often called the "Era of Good Feelings." The country appeared to have entered a period of strength, unity of purpose, and one-party government with...

Appears in:

33 | Electing a President Fall 2012

History Now Essay

Hanging by a Chad—or Not: The 2000 Presidential Election

James Gormly

Government and Civics

When Vice President Albert Gore Jr. and George W. Bush, governor of Texas, squared off in the 2000 presidential election, people predicted it was going to be a historic election. The November results would determine not only which...

Appears in:

33 | Electing a President Fall 2012

History Now Essay

The Contentious Election of 1876

Michael F. Holt

Economics, Government and Civics

The presidential election of 1876 is better known for its controversial aftermath than for the campaign that preceded it. The basic outline of events after Election Day, November 7, 1876, is familiar. The Democratic candidate,...

Appears in:

33 | Electing a President Fall 2012

Essay

Douglass and Lincoln: A Convergence

James Oakes

In 1880, Osborn Oldroyd invited Frederick Douglass to write something for a collection of tributes to Abraham Lincoln, published two years later as The Lincoln Memorial: Album-Immortelles . Douglass was uncharacteristically brief, but...

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