Students will study a letter from Annie Davis, a woman who was enslaved in Maryland and wrote a letter to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War to find out if "we are free." Students will examine three documents: a proposed amendment from 1861, the Emancipation Proclaimation, and the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Students will analyze these documents to compare the changing roles of minorities on American society.

This resource provides brief biographies of each of the Fathers who were delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

Students can use this interactive site from the US National Archives and Records Administration to view the electoral votes, popular votes, electors, and certificates of past presidential elections.

This is an activity which has the students interacting with a primary source document dealing with the annexation of Hawaii. This document is a petition against the United States against annexation in both Hawaiian and English.

Posters are the focus of this online exhibit. It explores the strategies of persuasion as evidenced in the form and content of World War II posters. Quotes from official manuals and public leaders articulate how the Government sought to rally public opinion in support of the war's aims; quotes from popular songs and sayings attest to the success of the campaign that helped to sustain the war effort throughout the world-shaking events of World War II.

This resource identifies and provides primary source documents associated with the Sioux Treaty of 1868.

These activity suggestions can be used when teaching about the Sioux Treaty of 1868, using primary source documents.

In this lesson, students analyze a primary source document from the 1824 election. In an extension activity, students will compose letters asking the congressional representatives their opinions on the effectiveness and necessity of the present Electoral College system.

This resource introduces students to primary source documents associated with the Battle of Concord. Associated learning activities extend students' knowledge through analysis and interpretation of the documents.

This lesson engages students in a study of the Constitution to learn the significance of "Six Big Ideas" contained in it. Students analyze the text of the Constitution in a variety of ways, examine primary sources to identify their relationship to its central ideas and debate the core constitutional principles as they relate to today's political issues.

This resource provides the details of the quiet act of defiance that resonated throughout the world, Rosa Parks is known and revered as the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement." A list of teaching activities are provided for students to analyze the documents pertaing to her arrest and a document analysis worksheet is available.

Many factors contributed to the eventual success of the American colonies as they revolted against British rule. American leadership, the timely support of international allies, and international respect and recognition played major roles in the struggle for independence. Several documents and engravings held by the National Archives help to illustrate these important factors that led to the founding of the United States.

This lesson focuses on the American Revolution, which encouraged the founding fathers' desire to create a government that would, as stated in the Preamble, insure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense.

In this lesson students use document analysis tools to explore President Harry S. Truman's statement, and discover why the United States entered into the Korean conflict.

In this lesson, students will learn about the case of Dorothy E. Davis, et al. vs. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia using primary source materials. This case predated the Brown vs Board of Education case and was brought about by a 16 year old student who complied the data about the differences between her all black school and the all white school.

Students will examine several documents related to the life of Solomon Northup, whose life story is told in his autobiography Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841 and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation Near the Red River in Louisiana.

In this lesson, students analyze primary source documents from the case of a newspaper editor who published a broadside that was sharply critical of the Prseident and therefore violated the Alien and Sedition Acts. A set of discussion questions is provided. In a series of extension activities, students will list the items in the broadside document that could be considered seditious and then examine Cooper's defense. Students will also extrapolate this case to current events by evaluating current news media.

In this lesson, students analyze a primary source document from the case of a printer who printed an essay against the government and therefore violated the Alien and Sedition Acts. A set of discussion questions is provided. In a series of extension activities, students will consider other times when the rights of American citizens have been infringed upon by the government. Students will debate whether or not the curtailment of the Bill of Rights is ever justified. They will also search current media news reports for negative comments about the current President and determine if the comments could be considered seditious.

In 1917, British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. This message helped draw the United States into the war and changed the course of history, thus a major "turning point" in history. In this lesson from the National Archives, students will analyze the Zimmerman telegraph and evaluate its significance in history.