21 YouTube videos that help make learning the Constitution fun
Some of these videos we may have heard about already, some we even use. Yet there are a couple good ones in this collection that deserve to be considered.
Hamilton/Jefferson Lesson Plan
This quick comparison of letters written to George Washington by Hamilton and Jefferson provide a glimpse of the degree of animosity between the two and the tension that Washington had to navigate in order to make it possible for the young nation to survive. This is an effective activity because of the questions Stanford provides and the excellent editing of the excerpts from the letters
Living the Revolution: America, 1789-1820, Primary Resources in U.S. History and Literature, Toolbox Library, National Humanities Center
A collection of primary resources-historical documents, literary texts,and works of art-thematically organized with notes and discussion questions from National Humanities Center from National Humanities Center
The Election Is in the House: 1824: The Candidates and the Issues | EDSITEment
Four crucial elements of our election system were highlighted in the election of 1824: the nomination of candidates, the popular election of electors, the Electoral College, and the election of the president in the House when no candidate receives a majority in the Electoral College.
Ancestry Map 2000 census
This map shows how easy it is to recognize the legacy of slavery, even in the year 2000. Look at the counties that show the highest population of African Americans more than 300 years after the first slave ships arrived in the Americans
NARA - Educators and Students - United States v. Thomas Cooper
Teaching With Documents: United States v. Thomas Cooper -- A Violation of the Sedition Law
The American Remembrancer (Book)
Letters, speeches, petitions, local resolutions from the Revolutionary period through the early national. These are the sort of primary source documents that would only be available in research libraries are now all online and searchable. Teachers can have students through search words into these books and do some primary source research on their own.
The Militia Act of 1792
That whenever the laws of
the United States shall be <b>opposed or the execution thereof obstructed</b>,
in any state, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary
course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by this
act, the same being notified to the President of the United States, by an
associate justice or the district judge, it shall be lawful for the President
of the United States to call forth the militia of such state to <b>suppress</b>
such combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. And if the
militia of a state, where such combinations may happen, <b>shall refuse</b>, or
be insufficient to suppress the same, it shall be lawful for the President, if
the legislature of the United States be not in session, to call forth and
employ such numbers of the militia of any other state or states most convenient
thereto, as may be necessary, and the use of militia, so to be called forth,
may be continued, if necessary, until the expiration of thirty days after the
commencement of the ensuing session.
Anti-federalist Arguments Against "A Complete Consolidation" | EDSITEment
This lesson will focus on the chief objections of the Anti-federalists, especially The Federal Farmer (Richard Henry Lee), Centinel, and Brutus, regarding the extended republic. Students will become familiar with the larger issues surrounding this debate, including the nature of the American Union, the difficulties of uniting such a vast territory with a diverse multitude of regional interests, and the challenges of maintaining a free republic as the American people moved toward becoming a nation rather than a mere confederation of individual states.
The Monroe Doctrine: President Monroe and the Independence Movement in South America | EDSITEment
In this lesson, students will review the Monroe Doctrine against a background of United States foreign relations in the early years of the republic.
The Monroe Doctrine: Whose Doctrine Was It? | EDSITEment
Lesson explores the strong possibility that the "Monroe Doctrine" was written by John Q. Adams
The Monroe Doctrine: A Close Reading | EDSITEment
Journals of Lewis and Clark:
Original book reporting the expedition
President Madison's 1812 War Message | EDSITEment
Three lesson sequence concerning the causes of the War of 1812, using Madison's War Message as the point of focus. Any lesson could be used on its own
The War of 1812? Don't remind me - Ideas - The Boston Globe
There are many reasons to re-evaluate why the War of 1812 remains in so many curricula. This article speaks of the War's legacies through the lens of the question of whether the anniversary should be celebrated or not. Students could read this to learn of the process of historiography.
Servant & Slavery Records | Chester County, PA - Official Website
Chester County PA has transcribed Indentured Servant and Slave records and made them readily available to the public. Teachers and students will find fugitive slave records, indentured servant complaints and slave manumissions here
Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789
All 462 pages of the Continental Congress's journals, as printed in 1910. Teachers who really want to help students understand what it is like to be an historian could send them into this record and describe just one day.