Getting to Democracy

The post-Revolutionary Period of 1781-1787, also known as the Critical Period, is the focus of a series of lessons that prompt class members to examine primary source documents that reveal the instability of the period of the Articles of...

America was founded by dreamers, and the American dream still resonates in our country today. Track the American dream from its Puritan beginnings to its optimistic descendants with a lesson that focuses on speeches by John F. Kennedy...

In an engaging activity on universal and unalienable rights, learners work in groups to establish a democratic nation and determine what principles they want to protect to ensure a democratic society. They conduct a "rights auction" in...

Boycotts and bus rides, sit-ins and speeches. The focus of this amazing resource is on those people who were willing to put themselves at risk to take a stand for their belief in equal rights for all. A must-have for your curriculum...

What makes an ideal citizen? How can we as individuals do to impact our communities in a positive way? Discuss this important concept with your class with an interactive, creative activity and follow-up role play.

Young historians analyze the 1970 Kent State shootings to discuss the role dissent plays in a democracy. After viewing a detailed PowerPoint presentation, learners express their desire for change via a medium of their choice.

Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man is the subject of a short political analysis video. High schoolers learn more about Fukuyama's view of liberal democracy and political rivalry, and why he believed that the...

"To understand the present, we have to imagine the future." In his final video in the series, the narrator discusses an array of considerations tied to globalization, such as the implications of individualism, our impact on the...

Alexis de Tocqueville wanted to establish a successful democracy in France, so he turned to the newest example of democracy available in the early nineteenth century: the young American government. Learn more about the observations from...

What would our country look like if only the educated could vote? Modern democracy is not an intellectual democracy, but a democracy by birthright — much to the chagrin of Socrates. An informative video briefly discusses the...