Curated OER
The Age of Reform
Students are introduced to a variety of reform movements within this lesson. They explore the beliefs and motivations of each group. Connections are made from these movements to present day situations and happenings.
Annenberg Foundation
Antebellum Reform
Scholars investigate the Antebellum period in the United States in an engaging lesson. Groups analyze technological, religious, economic, and social changes occurring during the time period prior to the Civil War. Using their new...
Curated OER
Introduction to Reform Movements of the 1800s
Eleventh graders consider the impact of reform movements of the 19th century. In this Progressive Reform instructional activity, 11th graders examine documents and images associated with women's suffrage, prohibition, and labor reform....
Curated OER
Antebellum Revivalism and Reform
A gold mine for American history teachers, this presentation cascades through the middle of the 19th century with the central themes of moral and social reform. Between the blossoming Mormon church, the tightening of the Temperance...
PBS
Women's History: Parading Through History
Want to teach your pupils about debate, effective speech techniques, propaganda, and the women's movement? The first in a sequential series of three, scholars analyze real propaganda images from the the historic women's movement, view a...
Curated OER
Activism and Social Reform in America from 1800-1850
Students discuss idea of social status, examine antebellum social reform movements, and compare and contrast experiences of activists who sought to improve workers' lives, end slavery, reform immigration laws, and establish voting rights...
Curated OER
Antebellum North Carolina
Eighth graders examine pictures & documents relating to the Hayes Plantation (Edenton, NC). They also use various maps of North Carolina to help them analyze how James Cathcart Johnston used, modified and adapted to the physical...
Curated OER
Examining Slave Auction Documents
Students compare the social and cultural characteristics of the North, the South, and the West during the antebellum period, including the lives of African Americans and social reform movements such as abolition and women’s rights.
Curated OER
Manifest Destiny
Complete with maps, photographs, and historical documents, this presentation would be a great resource throughout a unit about mid-19th century America. Manifest Destiny, Texas Independence, the Oregon Trail, and the Mexican War are...
Annenberg Foundation
Slavery and Freedom
How do nineteenth-century texts by African American and Native American writers contribute to the country's ideals of freedom and individuality? Learners explore the topic by watching and discussing a video, reading biographies, writing...
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Slave Narratives: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and the Columbian Orator
Young historians practice in-depth, quality analysis of primary source texts in this three-lesson unit, which examines excerpts from the slave narratives of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Caleb...
Curated OER
Whose God?
High schoolers investigate religious freedom in the U.S. They watch and discuss a Bill Moyers NOW video, take a Freedom of Religion quiz, write an essay, and participate in a mock trial and debate.
Curated OER
The Literature of Upheaval
In groups, 8th graders read different documents and answer questions on the Civil War period. Students read documents by Thoreau, Stowe and Frederick Douglas.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Women of the Antebellum Reform Movement
This collection uses primary sources to explore women in the antebellum reform movement.
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Women of the Antebellum Reform Movement
This primary source set uses documents and photographs to tell the story of several women reformers of the early 1800s.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Antebellum Reform
Nineteenth century United States saw the creation of reform movements: temperance, abolition, school and prison reform, as well as others. This unit traces the emergence of reform movements instigated by the Second Great Awakening and...
Henry J. Sage
Sage American History: Social and Cultural Issues in the Antebellum Period
Article covering Antebellum social and cultural movements including education reform, literature, Seneca Falls, immigration, and religion.
Other
Binghamton: Appeal of Moral Reform to the Antebellum Northern Women
This site discusses how women were involved in the moral reform of the 1830s and 1840s. Links to original documents.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Reforms to Human Health
From a chapter on "Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses," this section explains the different reforms aimed at improving the health of the human body and describes the various factions and concerns within the temperance movement.
University of Virginia
Virginia Center for Digital History: United States Expansion, 1800 1860
An essay that looks at issues affecting Americans leading up to the Civil War. These included economic changes that led to new ideological, social, cultural, and political issues that further divided the nation along moral and regional...
Virginia Tech
Dhr: How Did Abolitionism Lead to the Struggle for Women's Rights?
Online learning experience consists of a self-contained module focussing on abolitionism and the struggle for women's rights. The module includes an introduction outlining the module objectives and historical questions, background...
History Teacher
Historyteacher.net: The Antebellum South: Quiz (1)
This 10-question multiple choice quiz is immediately scored and tests your comprehension of slavery in the South during the mid 1800s.
History Teacher
Historyteacher.net: The Antebellum South: Quiz (2)
This 10-question multiple choice quiz is immediately scored and tests your comprehension of slavery in the South during the mid 1800s.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Women's Rights
From a chapter on " Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses," this section explains the connections between abolition, reform, and antebellum feminism and also describes the ways antebellum women's movements were both traditional and...