Lesson Plan Frederick Douglass: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? 7, 8, 9, 10 Click to download this five-lesson unit :
Essay The Failure of Compromise Bruce Levine Government and Civics K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In the spring of 1861, the United States of America split into two hostile countries—the United States and the new Confederate States of America. The two opposing heads of state agreed about what was causing the rupture—the long...
Essay National Expansion and Reform, 1815–1860 Joyce Appleby Economics, Geography, Government and Civics 5, 6, 7, 8 A good way to understand the men and women who created America’s reform tradition and carried it across the Mississippi in the years before the Civil War is to look at the political heritage their parents and grandparents left to them...
Essay The First Age of Reform Ronald G. Walters Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ "In the history of the world," Ralph Waldo Emerson declared in 1841, "the doctrine of Reform had never such scope as at the present hour." [1] Not much a joiner of causes himself, Emerson had in mind a remarkable flowering of reform...
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 Social and Intellectual Legacy of the American Revolution Gary B. Nash Government and Civics 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ "We can see with other eyes; we hear with other ears; and think with other thoughts, than those we formerly used. We are now really another people, and cannot again go back to ignorance and prejudice. The mind once enlightened cannot...
Essay Prohibition and Its Effects Lisa Andersen 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in January 1919 and enacted in January 1920, outlawed the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors." This amendment was the culmination of decades of effort...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Abraham Lincoln Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Originally broadcast on November 12, 2020, this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection explores Gilder Lehrman Collection materials relating to the life of Abraham Lincoln, both before and after he...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: Women's Suffrage Government and Civics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection , originally broadcast on October 15, 2020, our curators are joined by CherylAnne Amendola, 2017 New Jersey History Teacher of the Year, and Lauren...
Video: Inside The Vault Inside the Vault: John Brown 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ On October 1, 2020, the Gilder Lehrman Collection team was joined by Nate McAlister, 2010 National History Teacher of the Year, and Colby Lewis from Hamilton to discuss John Brown in this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from...