Curated OER
The Brief American Pageant: Renewing the Sectional Struggle
A panorama of the mid-19th century in America, this series of images present several issues that were prevalent before the Civil War. Territorial and social conflicts were heated during this time, and one map in particular shows a...
Curated OER
The Growing National Crisis: The 1850s (1)
For this online interactive social studies worksheet, students answer 12 multiple choice questions regarding 1850s America. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Lone Star Junction
Lone Star Junction: Archives of the West: Resolution Annexing Texas to the u.s.
Read the U.S. Congressional resolution approving the annexation of the Republic of Texas to the United States. Links are provided to additional sites.
US National Archives
Our Documents: A National Initiative on American History, Civics, and Service
Our Documents is home to one hundred milestone documents that influenced that course of American history and American democracy. Includes full-page scans of each document, transcriptions, background information on their significance, and...
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission
Explore Pa History: Pennsylvania Democrats
A good look at the views of the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania just prior to and during the Civil War. Read about Democratic president from Pennsylvania, James Buchanan, and his views about the importance of slavery in the national...
PBS
Pbs: Bleeding Kansas 1853 1861
This site details events surrounding the era known as "Bleeding Kansas" due to the conflict surrounding slavery in what is now Kansas.
US National Archives
National Archives: Congress Debates the Fate of the Nation
Students will use a copy of the Wilmot Proviso and a map used by President Polk in an address to Congress to debate whether territory acquired through the Mexican War should be free or slave states. This debate in Congress served as a...
Other
Nhi: Unrestraint Begets Calamity: "The American Whig Review," 1845 1852
Scroll through this scholarly site from the National Humanities Institute to find information about the Whigs' role in the Compromise of 1850 and the end of its political clout by the election of 1852.
Other
American Anthropological Association: 1800 1850s: Expansion of Slavery in the Us
Outlines the political events prior to the Civil War as the United States expanded its territories to include new states and conflicts arose over the issue of slavery.
US Capitol Visitor Center
U.s. Capitol Visitor Center: 1820 1861: Holding the Union Together
American history from 1820-1861 is interwoven with the history of the Capitol as it was expanded to accommodate a growing government body. A timeline of significant events in the debates over slavery, the addition of free and slave...
The Dirksen Congressional Center
Congress Link: Lesson Plans
The Dirksen Congressional Center provides abundant lesson plans on all aspects of the US Congress and the US Constitution. All lessons contain time frames, objectives, and links to material, and are built around Bloom's taxonomy.
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Texas Treasures: Thomas Rusk
Thomas Rusk's Oath of Citizenship, Report from San Jacinto, and Letter on the 1850 Boundary Compromise are found here. You will see a picture of the original document, and a typed translation.
University of Virginia
Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: Millard Fillmore
Find everything you want to know about Millard Fillmore's presidency in this excellent site from the Miller Center.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Free Soil or Slave? The Dilemma of the West
By reading this section of a chapter on "Westward Expansion," students will be able to describe the terms of the Wilmot Proviso and the Compromise of 1850, discuss why the Free-Soil Party objected to the westward expansion of slavery and...
OpenStax
Open Stax: The Compromise of 1850
From a chapter on " Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s," this section explains the contested issues that led to the Compromise of 1850 and describes and analyzes the reactions to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.
University of Virginia
Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: Franklin Pierce: Domestic Policies
As Franklin Pierce became president, the question of slavery in the territories occupied his handling of his domestic policies. Read about the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the resulting turmoil in Kansas as abolitionists and...
University of Maryland
Morality in Manufacturing: The Case of Bowen and Mc Namee [Pdf]
Using primary source documents as evidence, students will create an annotated illustration depicting the situation among textile merchants in New York City while deciding in what ways do personal values influence business decisions.
Other
Henry Clay Memorial Foundation: Biography and Timeline
The official site for the Henry Clay Estate presents a biography and a timeline of important events in Clay's life. Other topics of interest: Henry Clay the Statesman, the Attorney, the Farmer, Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln. Click on...
US National Archives
Our Documents: The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 attempted to settle sectional disagreements about slavery in the volatile pre-Civil War period. The compromise, actually a series of bills, had an enormous impact on the nation's slow march to civil war. See...
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History by Era: The Age of Jackson
[Free Registration/Login Required] Read about the growth of the United States in population, economy, territory during the Age of Jackson. Named after the dynamic president, Andrew Jackson, the age encompassed much more than Jackson's...
US Department of State
Bureau of International Information Programs: History Outline: Sectionalism
Article reviews several conditions of American society that sowed the seeds of civil war, particularly slavery and sectional conflict.
Lone Star Junction
Lone Star Junction: Archives of the West: Compromise of 1850
This interesting website shows four plans of establishing the boundaries of Texas for its annexation into the U.S. This break-up of Texas lands became part of the Compromise of 1850.
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Ap Us History: Unit 4: A House Divided
This extensive learning module examines how the United States became more connected with the world as it pursued an expansionist foreign policy, became the destination for many new immigrants, and encouraged migration to the Pacific...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: America in 1850: Henry Clay: Review of the Debate on the Compromise Bills
Henry Clay's speech in the Senate in support of the Compromise of 1850 and the importance of preserving the Union.