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1,567 items

Spotlight on: Primary Source

The Haymarket Affair, 1886

Economics, Government and Civics

The Haymarket Affair is considered a watershed moment for American labor history, at a time when fears about the loyalties and activities of immigrants, anarchists, and laborers became linked in the minds of many Americans. On May 3,...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Phillis Wheatley’s poem on tyranny and slavery, 1772

Government and Civics, Literature, Religion and Philosophy

Born in Africa, Phillis Wheatley was captured and sold into slavery as a child. She was purchased by John Wheatley of Boston in 1761. The Wheatleys soon recognized Phillis’s intelligence and taught her to read and write. She became...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Slave auction catalog from Louisiana, 1855

On March 13 and 14, 1855, the firm of J. A. Beard & May placed on the auction block 178 enslaved men, women, and children at the Banks Arcade in New Orleans, Louisiana. They were part of the estate of William M. Lambeth, who had...

Lesson Plan

The End of the Vietnam War: Conscience, Resistance, and Reconciliation

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

Lesson Plan

The Transcontinental Railroad in Images and Poetry

Art, Literature, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

4, 5, 6

Unit Objectives Students will analyze a variety of primary sources related to the completion of the transcontinental railroad. investigate celebratory images and a poem to discover some of the key outcomes that arose from the ability...

Lesson Plan

Railroads: The "Engine" to Promote National Unity and Economic Growth

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

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Objectives Students will examine, explain, and evaluate a variety of literary and visual primary sources that describe and depict the development and impact of railroads on sectional relationships, national unity, and economic growth...

Lesson Plan

All Aboard: Making Connections with the Transcontinental Railroad

5, 6, 7, 8

LESSON 1 Objectives Students will Read and understand primary source writings from two key documents that encouraged settlers to go west and that established congressional support of what would eventually become the transcontinental...

Lesson Plan

The Transcontinental Railroad: Interpreting Images

Art

10, 11, 12

Objectives Students will be able to apply the distinction between inferring (inference) and implying (implication). analyze primary source illustrations, including paintings, political cartoons, and promotional posters. Essential...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Patriotic Postal Covers: "Lincoln & Davis in 5 Rounds," 1861

Art

Patriotic postal covers are an important part of the material culture of the Civil War era. People often collected these covers in special keepsake albums. Such decorative envelopes were used as advertisements and to promote various...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Conscientious objectors: Madison pardons Quakers, 1816

Government and Civics

In 1816, seven Quakers in Baltimore, Maryland, petitioned President James Madison for pardons after refusing to serve in the militia or pay the exemption fee. Secretary of State James Monroe requested additional information on the men...

Site Search

1,567 items

The Haymarket Affair, 1886

Phillis Wheatley’s poem on tyranny and slavery, 1772

Slave auction catalog from Louisiana, 1855

The End of the Vietnam War: Conscience, Resistance, and Reconciliation

The Transcontinental Railroad in Images and Poetry

Railroads: The "Engine" to Promote National Unity and Economic Growth

All Aboard: Making Connections with the Transcontinental Railroad

The Transcontinental Railroad: Interpreting Images

Patriotic Postal Covers: "Lincoln & Davis in 5 Rounds," 1861

Conscientious objectors: Madison pardons Quakers, 1816

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