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Handout
US National Archives

Nara: Founding Fathers: Maryland

For Students 9th - 10th
Gives biographical details on the five delegates from Maryland to the Constitutional Convention: Daniel Carroll, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Luther Martin, James McHenry, and John Francis Mercer.
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Handout
US National Archives

Nara: Founding Fathers: Georgia

For Students 9th - 10th
Gives biographical details on the four delegates from Georgia to the Constitutional Convention: Abraham Baldwin, William Few, William Houston, and William Leigh Pierce.
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Handout
US National Archives

Nara: Founding Fathers: New Hampshire

For Students 9th - 10th
Gives biographical details on the two delegates from New Hampshire to the Constitutional Convention: Nicholas Gilman and John Langdon.
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Handout
US National Archives

Nara: Founding Fathers: South Carolina

For Students 9th - 10th
Gives biographical details on the four delegates from South Carolina to the Constitutional Convention: Pierce Butler, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and John Rutledge.
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Primary
US National Archives

Nara: Japan Surrenders

For Students 9th - 10th
Find a reproduction of the official instrument of surrender signed aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.
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Website
US National Archives

Internet Archive: The Art of England: [Ruskin] Lectures Given in Oxford

For Students 9th - 10th
Access various digital copies of a published version of four lectures delivered by Victorian critic John Ruskin on the art of England. The lectures, originally published in 1883, comment on the work of a number of English artists of...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: Road to Revolution: Patriotism or Treason?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
What if you lived in the colonies during in the years preceding the Revolution? Would you be a loyalist or join the Sons of Liberty? Middle schoolers will analyze a picture of a tax collector being tarred and feathered and answer...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: To Sign or Not to Sign

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Use this instructional activity in the middle of a Revolutionary War unit. Students will analyze sections of the Declaration of Independence to answer critical thinking questions. Upon completion of the unit, students will reevaluate...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: Twelve Years a Slave

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Solomon Northup was a free man of color who was sold into slavery. Learners will read excerpts from his autobiography and analyze documents based on his life. These documents included slave manifests and census documents.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: Black Soldiers in the Civil War

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Increasing pressures on the Union army led to the recruitment of African Americans to fight in the Civil War. Students will analyze the following recruitment poster for freed slaves and decide how important the black soldiers were to a...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: Comparing Civil War Recruitment Posters

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The Lincoln administration struggled with the idea of recruiting black troops until it became a necessity for the Union army. Compare and contrast the following recruitment posters - one for recruiting black men for the Union army and...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Two reform movements that changed American history - Women's Suffrage and the Civil Rights Movement. View two iconic pictures from these movements and compare and contrast them along with answering critical thinking questions.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: Search Warrants and the 4th Amendment

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Examine an actual search warrant to see the 4th Amendment in action. Students will decide whether the warrant meets the standards of the 4th amendment.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: The Voting Record of the Constitution

For Teachers 5th - 8th
For this activity, students will analyze a primary source document to find relevant historical data and measure the degree of agreement and disagreement during the Constitutional Convention.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: Watching What?

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will hypothesize what the president and cabinet members were watching on television by analyzing facial expressions, and body language, and the physical environment. Students will learn that President Ronald Reagan and his staff...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: The Big Ideas of the u.s. Constitution

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
In this activity students will identify and define seven key ideas contained in the U.S. Constitution by making matches from the grid. They will then analyze documents that demonstrate each big idea in action.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: Reasons for Westward Expansion

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Learners will examine a variety of documents that reference reasons why Americans living in the East migrated west of the Mississippi immediately before, during, and right after the Civil War. Documents cover the mining industry, new...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: The Impact of Westward Expansion on Native American Groups

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this activity, students will examine the impact of westward expansion and settlement on Native American groups following the Civil War. Students will explore a variety of documents to get a sense of the issues faced by Native...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: Immigration to America: Stories and Travels

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity asks students to match documents to individuals based on the reasons these people came to and were living in the United States. The photographs and documents are attached to government forms in some of the millions of...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: A Call to Action: Responses to Civil Rights Violations

For Teachers 9th - 10th
For this activity, students will be introduced to the civil right activities of Harry T. Moore, former schoolteacher and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) official in Florida in the 1940s, and analyze the...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: Indian Nations vs. Settlers on the American Frontier: 1786 1788

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this activity, students will compare and contrast two documents from the Revolutionary period written by 1) a combined group of Native American tribes and 2) an American territorial governor, Arthur St. Clair. Students will analyze...
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: Landing a Man on the Moon: President Nixon and the Apollo Program

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity chronicles the Space Race from President Kennedy's call to land on the Moon until Apollo 17 - the last lunar Mission, placing particular emphasis on President Nixon's role in the space program.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: Lowering the Voting Age: Nixon and the 26th Amendment

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
This activity encourages young scholars to think critically about the history and importance of the 26th Amendment, that granted the right to vote to American citizens aged eighteen or older.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docsteach: Civil Rights Act, 1964 & Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity asks students to read, analyze, and summarize Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.