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90,976 items

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...

Classroom Resources

Study Aid: Checks and Balances

Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Checks and Balances Executive Branch carries out the laws can veto laws can call special sessions of Congress controls enforcement of laws nominates judges can pardon people convicted of federal crimes commander in chief develops...

Lesson Plan

The Cold War: Discussing the Speech of President Kennedy in 1963

Government and Civics, Literature, World History

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

Introduction The Cold War is the term for the rivalry between the two blocs of contending states that emerged following the Second World War. It was a series of confrontations played out on the world stage between the non-Communist...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Lincoln on abolition in England and the United States, 1858

Government and Civics

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

Though Lincoln spoke frequently during the 1858 Illinois Senate race against Stephen Douglas—a campaign that propelled Lincoln to the political forefront and helped shape him into a presidential candidate—very few Lincoln manuscripts...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Lincoln speech on slavery and the American Dream, 1858

Economics, Government and Civics

Through the 1830s and 1840s, Abraham Lincoln’s primary political focus was on economic issues. However, the escalating debate over slavery in the 1850s, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act in particular, compelled Lincoln to change his...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

The state of the English colonies, 1755

Economics, Government and Civics, World History

The French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years’ War, was primarily fought along the frontier between New France and the British colonies in North America from 1754 to 1763. This newspaper article, printed in the Maryland...

Site Search

90,976 items

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

Early European Imperial Colonization of the New World

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address

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

Study Aid: The Bill of Rights

Study Aid: Checks and Balances

The Cold War: Discussing the Speech of President Kennedy in 1963

Lincoln on abolition in England and the United States, 1858

Lincoln speech on slavery and the American Dream, 1858

The state of the English colonies, 1755

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