By examining Lincoln's three most famous speeches the Gettysburg Address and the First and Second Inaugural Addresses in addition to a little known fragment on the Constitution, union, and liberty, students trace what these documents say regarding the significance of union to the prospects for American self-government.

PBS American Experience’s Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Dividedis a 6 episode mini-series available as a 3 DVD set. The following activity focuses on the causes and consequences of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation through an active viewing of Episode 4: The Dearest of All Things(Disc 2). There is a companion website to the series, The Time of the Lincolns, that contains a Teacher’s Guide, primary sources, and episode transcripts.

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.

Albion W. Tourg spent his lifetime (1838--1905) dedicated to fighting for equality and justice, during a period when rights for many were severely restricted or entirely denied. In this lesson, students will learn about the life and contributions of Albion Tourg through class discussion, reading, and group work.

This curriculum unit of three lessons examines the social, political and economic conditions of the southern states in the aftermath of the Civil War and shows how these factors helped to shape the Reconstruction debate as well as the subsequent history of American race relations.

In this lesson, students will analyze the United States' relations with Native Americans, including treaty relations, land acquisition, the policy of Indian Removal, and the Trail of Tears by close reading and sourcing primary source images, documents, and journals analyzing maps, and watching videos in order to evaluate if the treatment of the Cherokee supported democratic actions by writing a five paragraph essay.

This lesson draws a connection between the threat of smallpox during the Revolutionary War and the influenza pandemic during World War I. In this lesson, students will utilize educational technology to consult primary, secondary, and tertiary sources in the completion of a webquest. Writing across the curriculum is a large focus of this lesson.

A chapter from The American Yawp open source history textbook focusing on, "The Early Republic."

Why was the Emancipation Proclamation important? While the Civil War began as a war to restore the Union, not to end slavery, by 1862 President Abraham Lincoln came to believe that he could save the Union only by broadening the goals of the war. Students can explore the obstacles and alternatives America faced in making the journey toward "a more perfect Union."

In this lesson, students will use documents from 1865 to 1902 to examine the impact of Reconstruction on African American Rights. It is the student’s role to determine the extent to which this impact resulted more broadly in change or continuity for African Americans. By the end of this lesson, students will be able to evaluate the impact of Reconstruction on African American rights by analyzing documents and completing a Brief Constructed Response (BCR).

In this activity students read three letters written by African-American soldiers during the Civil War to determine why black soldiers felt compelled to join the Union Army.

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of western expansion in America as an example of how nations often develop policies that help to expand and organize their land and how expansion sometimes leads to war.  Through an examination of primary and secondary sources, students will learn how to develop arguments supported by evidence that answer the compelling question “Did Americans achieve the American Dream through Manifest Destiny?”

Discover the stories of the men, women, and children that were enslaved and lived at Vance Birthplace in the mountains of North Carolina from 1795-1865. This audio tour was completed in partnership with the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission.

Students will read "O, Captain! My Captain!," by Walt Whitman and read and answer questions about symbols and alliteration in the poem. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

This lesson will examine the economic, military and diplomatic strengths and weaknesses of the North and South on the eve of the Civil War. In making these comparisons students will use maps and read original documents to decide which side, if any, had an overall advantage at the start of the war.

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?)

This lesson plan will explore the wide-ranging debate over American slavery by presenting the lives of its leading opponents and defenders and the views they held about America's "peculiar institution."

Through the use of maps and original documents, this lesson will focus on the key battles of the Civil War, Gettysburg and Vicksburg and show how the battles contributed to its outcome. It will also examine the "total war" strategy of General Sherman, and the role of naval warfare in bringing about a Union victory.

Abraham Lincoln felt that the attempt of seven states to leave the American union peacefully was, in fact, a total violation of law and order. This lesson will examine Lincoln's First Inaugural Address to understand why he thought his duty as president required him to treat secession as an act of rebellion and not a legitimate legal or constitutional action by disgruntled states.

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.