Lesson Plan The Gettysburg Address Literature, Religion and Philosophy 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Click here to download this four-lesson unit.
Spotlight on: Primary Source A proclamation on the suspension of habeas corpus, 1862 The doctrine of habeas corpus is the right of any person under arrest to appear in person before the court, to ensure that they have not been falsely accused. The US Constitution specifically protects this right in Article I, Section...
Spotlight on: Primary Source "Men of Color, To Arms! To Arms," 1863 After the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted on January 1, 1863, black leaders including Frederick Douglass swiftly moved to recruit African Americans as soldiers. "A war undertaken and brazenly carried on for the perpetual...
Spotlight on: Primary Source George Washington would have supported the New Deal, 1934 During his first term, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to deflect opposition to the New Deal. Speaking at Gettysburg on Memorial Day, 1934, Roosevelt invoked the memory of George Washington by comparing his federal agenda with...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Spanish Armada, 1588 World History The rivalry between Spain and England grew throughout the late sixteenth century. In the 1570s and 1580s, Sir Francis Drake led English attacks on Spanish vessels and raided Spanish settlements in the Americas. In 1588, Spain’s King...
Lesson Plan Analyzing Protest Songs of the 1960s Background In January 1969, America’s recently elected conservative president Richard Nixon took office, young Americans were engaged in a radical and vivacious counterculture, and a devastating war in Vietnam continued amidst a...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Our Victorious Fleets in Cuban Waters, 1898 In 1898, the US Navy was small—especially compared to the navies of the European powers. The Navy had shrunk in the years after the Civil War, from more than 600 vessels at that conflict’s close to just forty-eight ready but aging...
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 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...
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 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 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 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 &...
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...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Civil War and early submarine warfare, 1863 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Civil War combat foreshadowed modern warfare with the introduction of the machine gun, repeater rifles, and trench warfare, and the use of trains to quickly move troops. However, one of the most celebrated tactical innovations of the...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Sergeant Francis Fletcher of the 54th Massachusetts on equal pay for Black soldiers, 1864 Government and Civics 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Francis H. Fletcher, a 22-year-old clerk from Salem, Massachusetts, enlisted as a private in Company A of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment on February 13, 1863. One year after the regiment left Boston with great fanfare,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source George Washington and the Newburgh Conspiracy, 1783 Economics, Government and Civics 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ In March of 1783, George Washington faced a serious threat to his authority and to the civil government of the new nation. The Continental Army, based in Newburgh, New York, was awaiting word of peace negotiations between Great...
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Great West Illustrated, 1869 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math The exploration and settlement of the American West coincided with the development of the medium of photography. Photographic images, reproduced in books and newspapers and available for purchase on their own, helped shape Americans’...
Spotlight on: Primary Source Indenture agreement, 1742 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Colonial Americans engaged in many forms of unfree labor, with great numbers of youths moving away from their families to become servants or apprentices. The terms of their service were spelled out in contracts called indentures,...
Spotlight on: Primary Source My Country, ’Tis of Thee Samuel Francis Smith was a twenty-four-year-old Baptist seminary student in Massachusetts when he wrote the lyrics of "America (My Country, ’Tis of Thee)," the patriotic song that would serve as an unofficial national anthem for...
Spotlight on: Primary Source A soldier’s reasons for enlisting, 1942 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ "Our country is the entire world and mankind our countrymen!!!" In April of 1942, Sidney Diamond, a chemical engineering student at City College in New York, enlisted in the United States Army against the wishes of his friends and...