New ReviewWere unfair taxes really the cause of the American Revolution? Learners explore the complicated historiography behind the revolutionary period using authentic College Board prompts. The free-response questions from the exam feature...

New ReviewParades are a great way to celebrate. Get young historians into the festivities by asking them to create an informational float for a Freedom Parade. Picking a topic from the provided list or suggesting one of their own, class members...

New ReviewThe Civil Rights Act of 1866, which granted citizenship to all males in the U.S., resulted in the first African Americans to be elected to Congress. Class members research 11 of these men, the challenges they faced, and craft...

New ReviewSlave narratives and spirituals tell the stories of and preserve the history of generations of African Americans. A five-day interdisciplinary unit brings to life the voices and experiences of these people as class members listen to the...

New ReviewTo many the first Thanksgiving conjures images of pies and cranberry sauce. However, it actually had a lot of cod, lobster, eels, and clams—and it likely wasn't even in Massachusetts! It took a long time (and a Civil War) for the holiday...

New ReviewThe Civil War ended slavery, but what was the status of the newly freed people? Renowned historian Eric Foner explains how the Fourteenth Amendment—written to answer this question—created a foundation for the rights of all citizens. The...

New ReviewMiddle schoolers explore the history of the African-American troops that served during the American Civil War. After reading primary source documents that detail the controversies about permitting freemen and former slaves to serve,...

Need an online resource to supplement the paper textbook in your classroom? An all-encompassing website covers historical events throughout the last half of the second millenium, leading right up to the third. From the pre-Columbian...

Louisa May Alcott longed to fight in the Civil War to end the scourge of slavery, but like most nineteenth-century women, was relegated to the ranks of wartime nurses and seamstresses. Learners watch a short dramatization of Alcott's...

Why is the Kansas-Nebraska Act considered a leading cause of the American Civil War? Class members examine the actions of Presidents James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce, the repeal of the 1880 Missouri Compromise, the passing of the...

Ken Burn's epic documentary miniseries The Civil War, broadcast in 1990, was the most-watched PBS program ever. A question sheet helps viewers keep track of events in the first episode of the documentary.

Fort Sumter, the site of the Civil War's first battle, taught the Union and the Confederacy an important lesson: they would both need to take stronger steps than anticipated if they wanted to win the war. History pupils read about the...

Think back to the aftermath of an family dispute. The awkwardness of having to make up, get along, and move forward can be very difficult. The tenth lesson of a 22-part series on American history examines the Reconstruction Era following...

What factors led to the Civil War? History classes use a word bank with key figures, important events, and relevant vocabulary from a unit on the mid-19th century in the United States to fill in the blank in a passage on sectionalism.

Was the Civil War fought only due to slavery? Using an interactive web tool, scholars investigate the four main causes of the Civil War. Gathering evidence and data to support their claims, they present a final statistical breakdown...

How much have your history students learned about the Civil War? Use a straightforward review worksheet to go over the key figures and events from the 19th century, including Abraham Lincoln, Fort Sumter, and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Ever wondered why there is a West Virginia but not an East Virginia? The resource answers questions like this one and more as it takes an in-depth and detailed look at the history of West Virginia and how it became a state. Several...

Can a presidential election cause a civil war? Learners research the events surrounding the presidential election of 1860 in a lesson that explores America's history. Using maps, videos, and primary sources, they uncover, brainstorm, and...

The Battle of Fort Sumter was both the first and the least deadly battle of the American Civil War, with no soldiers lost during the lengthy bombardment. Learn more about the first shots of the Civil War with a short reading passage and...

Did you know that more than three million people fought in the Civil War? Through artifacts, graphics, and passages class members learn about the stark divide between North and South that led to the war, as well as about the events that...

Soldier's lives are often a topic when studying the Civil War, but what about the lives of civilians? Scholars use the characters from the novel Bull Run to better understand the lives of those not directly on the Civil War battlefields....

Who Am I? Scholars go online to gather clues and evidence to uncover just who was involved in the American Civil War. They use hands-on Internet activities to come to an understanding of the roles soldiers and civilians played in the...

Pupils discover the true nature and purpose of the Civil War in the eighth and final installment of an informative series. Using primary and secondary documents, history buffs merge social study knowledge with English skills to create a...

Investigate and analyze Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation using primary and secondary sources. The sixth installment of an eight-part series analyzes the meaning of Lincoln's document in relation to its impact on the Civil War.