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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: New Frontier, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A speech and an essay that alternately praise the acquisition of foreign territory by the U.S. and that raise questions about the costs and value of these imperialistic adventures.
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Progress, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Eighteen primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the industrial, racial, and technological progress of the late-nineteenth century.
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Unit Plan
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Power: Taming the Octopus: The Image of the Octopus

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Six versions of the octopus, a pervasive image in late-nineteenth-century America, that illustrate the extensive and corrosive power held by corporations over American political and economic life. Reading guide with discussion questions.
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Big City Politics, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Ash Can School artist John Sloan's painting Election Night captures the exuberance of urban politics in the early-twentieth century, and artist Henry Glitkencamp's illustration Voting Machines suggests its corrupting power. Both pieces...
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Manifest Destiny and Beyond: Theodore Roosevelt and the Strenuous Life

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Theodore Roosevelt's speech to a Chicago men's club in which he advocates a vigorous and assertive relationship between America and other parts of the world.
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Website
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Two Wars, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912

For Students 9th - 10th
A political cartoon depicting a Union and a Confederate veteran united in support for the Spanish-American War. A painting entitled Twelve-Inch Gun depicting elegant officers and ladies aboard a battle ship, civilizing gentility and the...
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Article
Hartford Web Publishing

World History Archives: The Butcher of Congo

For Students 9th - 10th
An extremely informative review of a non-fiction book, King Leopold's Ghost, by Adam Hochschild. The review contains specific quotes from the book and accurate historical research.
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Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: Manifest Destiny, Continued: Mc Kinley Defends u.s. Expansionism

For Students 9th - 10th
Enhanced by an introduction and commentary, read a speech given by U.S. President William McKinley to a delegation of Methodist church leaders in 1899 in which he defined the United States intervention in the Philippines as the proper...
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Online Course
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Open Course Ware: European Imperialism: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Access university-level course materials compiled for course on European imperialism.
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: Three Theories Explaining Imperialism [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about three theories of Imperialism and how actions by the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were driven by one or perhaps all three of the theories.
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Article
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Islamic History Sourcebook: Death of General Gordon

For Students 9th - 10th
Written from a contemporary historical perspective from the era of imperialism, this site offers a brief overview of the events of the British defeat at Khartoum in 1885. Includes some quotations from General Gordon's personal diary, and...
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Primary
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: Robert Clive

For Students 9th - 10th
This site is provided for by the Fordham University. Read an excerpt from Clive's speech to the House of Commons regarding the rule of the East India Company over India. Offers excellent perspective on the imperialistic, superior...
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Article
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: On Colonies and Colonization

For Students 9th - 10th
British economic philosopher John Stuart Mill's article from the Fordham University dealing with the economical benefits of colonization in other countries. This writing illustrates not only arguments in favor of imperialism, but also...
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Primary
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: Letter to Sir George Grey

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the Fordham University provides a letter to the man that consented to act as arbitrator between the Boers and an African tribe, the Basutos, from the tribe's chief. It concerns hostilities, the background of such...
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Article
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: How I Found Livingstone, 1871

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the Fordham University provides a primary account of Sir Henry Morton Stanley's first meeting with Dr. Livingstone.
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Primary
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: Fei Ch'i Hao

For Students 9th - 10th
Fordham's Modern History Sourcebook offers a Chinese Christian's account of the Boxer Rebellion in China.
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Primary
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: When the Allies Entered Peking

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the Fordham University provides one Frenchman's account of the allied intervention in the Boxer Rebellion, especially the Allied battle for and entry into Peking.
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Primary
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: Yao Chen Yuan

For Students 9th - 10th
This site, which is provided for by the Fordham University, gives a Chinese Christian's account of his journey to deliver letters during the time of the Boxer rebellion.
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Article
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: John Hobson Imperialism 1902

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the Modern History Sourcebook of Fordham University provides John A. Hobson's critique of Imperialism, from an economic point of view.
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Handout
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook

For Students 9th - 10th
A rich Fordham University site of primary source material that include full-text, and multimedia sites. There are additional study and research guides such as Modern History in the Movies.
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Article
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: Manifest Destiny: Many Shades of Manifest Destiny

For Students 9th - 10th
A discussion of the other guises of Manifest Destiny, including imperialism, yellow journalism, the idea of the white man's burden, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Roosevelt Corollary.
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Website
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: United States and Asia

For Students 9th - 10th
Overview of U.S. foreign policy and relationship with Asia during an age of expansion and Imperialism.
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: The Birth of an American Empire

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this Curriculum Unit, learners will consider "The Birth of an American Empire" in 4 Lessons. The unit also includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
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Website
Schools of California Online Resources for Education

Score: White Man's Burden

For Students 9th - 10th
Teachers: Lesson from SCORE that explores the Expansionist/ Anti-Imperialist debate at the turn of the century. Organized as a U.S. history unit, content includes information about the debate, as well as numerous resources, online...