This online textbook is designed for grade 8 and up and covers all of North Carolina history, from the arrival of the first people some 12,000 years ago to the present. There are eleven parts, organized chronologically, a collection of primary sources, readings, and multimedia that can be rearranged to meet the needs of the classroom. Special web-based tools aid reading and model historical inquiry, helping students build critical thinking and literacy skills.

Containing more than 50 articles from the award-winning Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine and over 40 lesson plans, this multidisciplinary Educator Notebook will enrich your exploration of North Carolina and American history with diverse perspectives. This resource's link takes you to a very short form that gives you free downloadable access to the complete PDF book.

In this lesson, students understand the provisions of the Alien and Sedition Acts within their political and constitutional contexts. Students will explore the issues raised by the prosecutions under these acts and the larger constitutional issues they raised, including a comparison of antebellum political conflicts and current issues.

In this lesson, students learn about the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Discussion questions are provided. In an associated activity, students extend their understanding by studying free speech and free press issues of the 20th century. Students will look up some of these important Supreme Court cases and report back to the class.

In this lesson, students use secondary sources, maps, and charts to examine the election of 1824. Students then answer analysis questions about the case. There is an extension activity at the end of the lesson that connects the election of 1824 with current presidential politics.

This resource is designed to assist students in understanding of the Eruopean explorers, who they were, what they did, and what impact they have on the modern world.  Students will watch brief biographgical videos from Bio.com and History.com about each explorer to complete the questions on the graphic organizer.

In this lesson, students learn about the life of Henry Clay and his tenure as Speaker of the House. A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, students will consider current controversial issues and discuss which should be open to compromise and which should not.

In this activity, students analyze the Constitution and locate general references to the common defense and specific references to the Navy in the document. They will then analyze Navy documents and participate in a class discussion. As a followup activity, ask students to research current government activities related to the Navy and determine which provisions in the Constitution they relate to.

What conditions provided the impetus for the Sedition Act? Partisan animosity was strong during Adams's presidency. The first two political parties in the U.S. were in their infancy"”the Federalists, to which the majority of members of Congress belonged, and the Democratic-Republicans, led by former vice-president Thomas Jefferson and four-term Congressman James Madison, who had left the House in 1796.

This lesson covers two essential aspects of Reconstruction: the condition of the southern states at the close of the war and Lincoln's plan for restoring them to the Union. In examining the conditions of the southern states, students consider both the physical conditions (i.e., the impact of the devastation of war) and the political condition of these states (i.e., what was the proper relationship between southern states and the Union upon their surrender at Appomattox?)

In this lesson, students examine the First and Second National Banks and whether or not such a bank's powers are constitutional or unconstitutional.

In reviewing events, documentary evidence, and biographical information, students come to understand the complex nature of political decision-making in the United States. In this lesson, they consider the momentous questions facing the country during the Reconstruction debate by weighing the many factors that went into the solutions offered. Students also think critically as they consider whether and how other solutions might have played out.

What provisions in the U.S. Constitution are relevant to the debate over the Sedition Act? For this lesson, students will read brief excerpts from actual debates in the House of Representatives as the legislators attempted to work with the version of the bill "Punishment of Crime" (later known as the Sedition Act) already passed by the Senate.

What arguments were offered in support of the Sedition Act? Washington's favorable attitude toward the Sedition Act illustrates that reasonable men in 1798 could support what most modern Americans would regard as an unjust law.

In this lesson, students examine the development of new constitutions in the reconstructed South. They also consider the political and social realities created by a dramatically changed electorate. In gaining a firmer grasp of the causes for the shifting alliances of this time, students see how far-reaching the consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction era were and how much these events continue to shape our collective destiny today.

Explore North Carolina's colonial history with these digital Primary Source Sets from the State Archives of North Carolina.

This Educator Notebook provides information on Women’s History in North Carolina for teachers to use as a resource, either as stand-alone units, or integrated into standard curriculum. Included is research from museum curators and educators, and articles published in the Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine which are written for students in grades 4-12. Lesson plans and suggested activities complement many of the topics. Adaptable to multiple ages, they meet curriculum goals set forth by the NC Department of Public Instruction and connect to classes in national and world history, geography, economics, and the arts, and can be part of any unit of social studies. This resource's link takes you to a very short form that gives you free downloadable access to the complete PDF book.

In this lesson, students investigate the reasons that Reconstruction ended. They will explain the Amnesty Act and the Compromise of 1877. They will also understand how events in this period influenced later events associated with the civil rights movement.

Here is one of the strategies that we ought to be using in history and social studies classes because it lets us take advantage of a tool that students probably already possess ... namely, the story maps they've been using in English and Language Arts and Literature for years and years. When looking at stories and novels, students are often asked to focus on the "elements" of story: setting, characters, plot, and theme, among others. When we look at historical events, we're interested in the same things: where and when did the event take place? who was involved? what was the problem or goal that set events in motion? what were the key events? how was it resolved? and, for theme, so what? what's the universal truth, the reason this matters?

In this lesson, students will read and analyze the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and match or link the articles of the treaty with the causes/issues that lead to war. Students will also use maps and photographs to identify the boundary changes that took place in the United States after the treaty and relate this to how the boundaries are determined and marked today.