Students compare their state's constitution to the U.S. Constitution, explain how the two documents illustrate federalism, and evaluate the need for state constitutions.

In this lesson, students read and interpret eighteenth-century documents in order to make inferences about the nature and characteristics of slavery. Students will communicate findings via annotated diagrams in order to develop a comprehensive picture of slavery in eighteenth-century Virginia.

Students compare the 19th-century song "The Battle of New Orleans" to the actual events of the battle. They then assess the impact of the battle occurring after the Treaty of Ghent officially ended the war. In integrated extensions, advanced students compare the resources of the Americans and the British during the battle for a fuller picture of the battle and its impact.

Students translate the Bill of Rights into modern English and analyze Supreme Court cases involving students to answer the question, "How does the Bill of Rights affect my daily life?"

Students analyze Jim Crow laws, a state constitution, literacy tests, poll taxes and voting eligibility affidavits to evaluate how these tools enabled states, especially in the south, to avoid recognizing the rights of African Americans.

Students will analyze several eighteenth-century documents to determine colonial opinions of Great Britain's attempts to tax the colonists in the 1760s.

Students analyze data and make graphs to compare the resources of the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. They then make informed inferences about the importance of each resource and the effect of the disparity of resources on the outcome of the war.

Students work in small groups to examine various aspects of eighteenth-century courtship and marriage, and then compare courting practices, parental influence, the wedding ceremony, and wedding celebrations with similar present-day customs.

Students read the original draft of the Declaration of Independence and compare it to the final version of the document. They will identify the changes between the two versions and hypothesize why those changes may have been made. They then forecast the effects these changes had on the future United States.

Students will discuss the various types of resistance used in colonial times and compare them with the forms of resistance that take place in the twentieth century.

Students learn about the Erie Canal, the people who used it, and its economic impact. Students participate in a simulation activity to model how the canal impacted the people who used it.

Students examine images related to early manufacturing in Jamestown, looking for the connections among the objects and their relation to the settlement.

In this lesson, students will analyze primary documents and use biographical information to explore the effects of the coming American Revolution on one eighteenth-century family.

Students read biographies of lesser-known female spies Lydia Darragh, Elizabeth Thompson, and Dicey Langston, all of whom contributed to the Revolutionary War effort in unusual ways. Students then analyze the actions of these women and identify and infer the consequences of their participation both to the conflict and in their personal lives.

Students conduct multiple readings of a secondary source article to compile a timeline of Washington's slave ownership and collect information about the enslaved people he owned. They draw conclusions and generate questions about how information about enslaved people is preserved and what information could be uncovered from other sources.

Students use primary source evidence to debate and answer the question: Who freed the slaves? They use textual evidence to support claims and engage in discussion that brings to light multiple perspectives.

Students analyze photographs from Lewis Hine's collection. They then form and discuss tableaus to explore the perspectives of the photographer, his subjects, and his audience.

Students use census data from 1790 to create thematic maps in order to reveal patterns and trends that were emerging in early America.

In this lesson, students identify various forms of eighteenth-century travel and make generalizations about the people that utilized eighteenth-century modes of transportation.

As a result of this lesson, students will define eighteenth-century legal terms, depict an eighteenth-century case through role-play, and explain the justice system in eighteenth-century Virginia.