Test your government students' knowledge of the National Government with this review worksheet. Posing five true/false questions and five multiple choice questions about elements of the National Government, this activity could serve as a...

Eighth graders determine how secession impacted South Carolina as well as the United States. In this American Civil War lesson, 8th graders examine selected primary and secondary sources in order to study the state's sovereignty and the...

Students read excerpts from Abraham Lincoln's speeches and letters between 1854 and 1861 and look for information relative to Lincoln's thoughts on the legal and Constitutional aspects of slavery.

Twelfth graders investigate whether Turkey will join the European Union. For this government structures lesson, 12th graders prepare for and participate in a debate over expansion within the European Union.

Students read excerpts from speeches made at the California Constitutional Convention. They predict what the state constitution say about slavery and other issues concerning race.

Links to Senator Daniel Webster's famous plea, amidst the turmoil of sectional conflict, for national unity and his support of the Compromise of 1850.

"The flag should be displayed, from sunrise to sunset, on all days when the weather permits." This website gives a comprehensive list of the days that the flag should especially be displayed. Each state and the date of admission to the...

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...

This section of a chapter on "Westward Expansion" explains why the North and South differed over the admission of Missouri as a state and how the admission of new states to the Union threatened to upset the balance between free and slave...

Learn about this document that charted a government for the Northwest Territory. View the complete text and images of the original document.

A map from 1899 of the United States showing the growth of the nation from the original States in 1783 to the admission of Utah into the Union in 1896. The map shows the Northwest Territory claimed at the end of the American...

Read excerpts of the contentious debate about slavery in the territories as the U.S. Congress tried to hammer out legislation that could be passed by both houses and signed into law by the president. Find the provisions of the Compromise...

Read an original transcript, and view an image of a report on the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This legislation admitted Missouri and Maine as states into the Union.

Here's a map to show you when states were added to the Union. It also shows territories and when they were acquired.

A map of the early United States west of the Mississippi River, showing the original territory after the Treaty of Paris 1783, the territory northwest of the Ohio River, the territory south of the Ohio River, the Mississippi Territory...

A map of the United States during the period of 1850 to 1850 showing the effects of slavery, the slave trade, and the abolition movement on territorial development. The map uses colored patterns to indicate the areas and phases of...

A map of the United States showing the territorial growth from 1783 to 1790. The map is color-coded to show the original territory after the American Revolutionary War, the Northwest Territory north of the Ohio River in 1787, the...

This PBS site offers information about the compromise that settled the question of whether slavery would be allowed in the vast area acquired from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

A map of the United States showing the growth of the nation from 1783-1867. The map is color-coded to show the thirteen original states, the territory acquired by conquest during the revolution and the Treaty of 1783, the Louisiana...

A map of the western United States showing the rapid growth of the New West between 1885 and 1912 during the presidencies from Benjamin Harrison to Howard Taft. The map is color-coded to show the States admitted to the Union before the...

A map of the United States during the period of 1850 to 1850 showing the effects of slavery, the slave trade, and the abolition movement on territorial development. The map uses colored patterns to indicate the areas and phases of...

A map of the United States during the heated presidential election of 1856, showing the States carried by the Republican Party (John Fremont), Democrat Party (James Buchanan), and the newly formed American Party, or 'Know-Nothing’ Party...

A map of the United States during the heated presidential election of 1856, showing the States carried by the Republican Party (John Fremont), Democrat Party (James Buchanan), and the newly formed American Party, or 'Know-Nothing’ Party...

A map of the United States showing the original states at the end of the American Revolutionary War (1783) and the states admitted to the Union up to 1821, with the date of admission for each new state given.