Interactive
Curated OER

Fact and Opinion Pre-Test

For Students 3rd - 5th
In this fact/opinion activity, students complete 10 multiple choice questions. Students may click on a link to view correct answers. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Co-evolution of Plants and Pollinators

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore biological evolution and natural selection and its evolutionary consequences. They also explore how organisms are interdependent on one another.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Who Can Influence Legislators?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify four influences that affect how a Member of Congress decides to vote on a bill, and describe ways that individuals and groups influence legislators.
Primary
US National Archives

Our Documents: The Kansas Nebraska Act

For Students 9th - 10th
An outstanding, interactive copy of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the legislation that repealed the Missouri Compromise. Historical context included, as well as links to larger images, a typed transcript, and a downloadable PDF file.
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: The Kansas Nebraska Act and the Republican Party

For Students 11th - 12th
Students will learn about the political ramifications of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the founding of the Republican Party.
Unit Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Lesson3: The Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854: Popular Sovereignty

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Lesson plan focuses on the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, popular sovereignty, the political polarization over slavery, Stephen Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln. It provides four detailed activities for use with the lesson and includes...
Unit Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: The Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854

For Teachers 9th - 10th
An exploration of how the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 impacted the debate between free and slave states, and the precarious political equilibrium. It looks at how Stephen Douglas tried to avoid a national conflict in the debate over...
Handout
Nebraska Studies

Nebraska Studies: Kansas Nebraska Act Signed

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a narrative detailing the signing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and the controversy that grew from it.
Website
Digital History

Digital History: The Kansas Nebraska Act

For Students 9th - 10th
An explanation of how the Kansa-Nebraska Act in effect voided the Missouri Compromise, which had been the law that dictated the territories that could allow slavery. Read about the act proposed by Stephen A. Douglas, and see how a...
eBook
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: The Kansas Nebraska Act and Party Realignment

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Passed in 1854, it reopened the debate over the expansion of slavery in the United States.
Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: 1850 1874 Era | Lesson 1: The Kansas Nebraska Act

For Students 9th - 10th
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created a territory that stretched all the way north from the southern boundary of present-day Nebraska to include all of the remaining lands of the Louisiana Purchase.
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: The Kansas Nebraska Act

For Students 5th - 8th
Read about the essential repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which had established which states could be slave and which would be free for thirty years, with the rancorous passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. See who supported it and why,...
Handout
Civil War Home

Home of the American Civil War: The Kansas Nebraska Act

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides information on the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the consequences of its passing. From "The Civil War and Reconstruction" by Randall and McDonald.
Article
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: Politics and Sectionalism: Kansas Nebraska Act

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses what led up to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and the role Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas played in developing it.
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Kansas Nebraska Act

For Students 9th - 10th
Wikipedia offers excellent information on the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
Graphic
University of Oregon

University of Oregon: Mapping History: Kansas Nebraska Act: 1854

For Students 9th - 10th
Toggle back and forth on this interactive map to see how the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 completely negated the Missouri Compromise. Click on the map to see where slavery was permitted before 1854 and then after. Be sure to click on the...
Primary
Yale University

The Avalon Project: Kansas Nebraska Act 1854

For Students 9th - 10th
The complete text of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, called an Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
Website
Nebraska Studies

Nebraska Studies

For Students 9th - 10th
A large site that tracks the history of the Nebraska area begins with the formation of the earth, moves through the earliest human activity in Nebraska, and then through proto-historical and historical Nebraska. The Kansas-Nebraska Act,...
Handout
The History Place

The History Place: The Kansas Nebraska Act

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from The History Place talks about the Kansas Nebraska Act and the effects caused by its creation. The information is brief but very helpful for the subject.
Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: Kansas Nebraska Act

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides an overview and detailed facts about the Kansas-Nebraska Act that allowed settlers in the new territories to decide whether to have slavery.
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1844 1877: Bleeding Kansas

For Students 9th - 10th
The Kansas-Nebraska Act incited a violent struggle between pro- and anti-slavery advocates in Kansas, on the Senate floor, and eventually throughout the country.
Website
Digital History

Digital History: Civil War in Kansas [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
The Compromise of 1850 did not solve all the slavery issues in the territories, which was not surprising. Read about the Kansas-Nebraska Act, put forth by Sen. Stephan Douglas, who proposed that the issue be decided by popular...
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Fort Scott National Historic Site: Bleeding Kansas

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the effects of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In particular, the site details incidents from the period known as "Bleeding Kansas."
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: "Bloody Kansas"

For Students 5th - 8th
Here's an overview of the turmoil caused in the Kansas-Nebraska territory as a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Read about the potential of conflict between the free-soilers and the border ruffians.