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
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.
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: 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 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...
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...
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.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Reading Guide: John C. Calhoun
An essay by the South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun, outlining his belief in a "concurrent majority" and the power of individual majority groups to determine whether to follow a particular law that had been passed.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Triumph of Nationalism: House Dividing: America, 1815 1850
A collection of forty-four primary resources including historical documents, literary texts, visual images, and maps, illuminated and contextualized by notes, thematic questions, and text-specific discussion questions for classroom...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: America in 1850: John C. Calhoun
Collection of primary resources on Nationalism, John C. Calhoun on the Clay Compromise Measures, and U.S. Senate, March 4, 1850. Thematically organized with notes and discussion questions.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Toolbox: America in 1850: Daniel Webster
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards including Daniel Webster, Speech to the United States Senate, March 7, 1850.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: America in 1850: Henry Clay
Collection of primary resource material includes Henry Clay's, "A General Review of the Debate on the Compromise Bills," U.S. Senate, July 22, 1850. With questions for discussion.
University of Groningen
American History: Documents: Excerpts From "The Fugitive Slave Act"
This site titled, "From Revolution to Reconstruction," provides excerpts from the text of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, part of the Compromise of 1850.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Compromise of 1850
Overview of the Compromise of 1850, it's provisions, and discussion of the regional differences that characterized U.S. sectional conflict during the 1800s.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Whig Party (United States)
Wikipedia offers detailed information on the United States Whig Party. Includes info on the creation, growth and end of the Whig Party.
Tom Richey
Tom richey.net: The Mexican War and the Compromise of 1850 [Ppt]
Presents key ideas for examining America's involvement in the Mexican War, westward expansion and the concept of Manifest Destiny, the Compromise of 1850, and the individuals involved in these issues.
US Department of State
Biographies of the Secretaries of State: John Caldwell Calhoun (1782 1850)
Short bio on John Calhoun, former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, Secretary of War and Vice President, who served as Secretary of State for less than one year before returning to his position in the U.S. Senate.
US Department of State
Biographies of the Secretaries of State: William Henry Seward (1801 1872)
Brief biography on William Henry Seward who was appointed Secretary of State by Abraham Lincoln on March 5, 1861, and served until March 4, 1869. Seward carefully managed international affairs during the Civil War and also negotiated the...
University of Virginia
Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: Millard Fillmore: Life in Brief
Read a brief biography of Millard Fillmore's life. Hyperlinks to additional information about his private and political life.