We the People
Join EDSITEment in support of the National Endowment for the Humanities We
the People initiative, announced by President Bush in the fall of 2002. With
over one hundred EDSITEment lessons focused on some aspect of U.S. history, literature
or culture, and with panel-reviewed websites providing unprecedented access to
primary documents and artifacts, EDSITEment offers you and your students a wealth
of resources for studying the historical origins and core ideas and values of
the American Republic. For example, The
Federalist Debates: Balancing Power Between State and Federal Government provides
students with a richly detailed historical context for considering what has been
and continues to be a central debate in American political life: how should power
be distributed between states and the federal government? As do many other EDSITEment
lessons on U.S. history, this lesson involves direct engagement with primary historical
texts and other documents and artifacts central to the American story. Also providing
historical background for framing topics for the We
the People initiative are such EDSITEment lessons as 1)
The Constitutional Convention: What the Founding Fathers Said; 2) The
Constitutional Convention: Four Founding Fathers You May Never Have Met 3)
Jefferson and
Franklin: Revolutionary Philosophers; 4) Jefferson
and Franklin: Renaissance Men 5) The
Boston Tea Party: Costume Optional? 6) Revolutionary
Tea Parties and the Reasons for Revolution. In addition, these lessons provide
teachers with useful tools, such as interactive timelines and downloadable graphic
organizers that can help students to comprehend the concrete details of American
history. EDSITEment lesson plans designed for younger students also raise
challenging questions about the founding principles of this nation. For example,
lessons such as Declare
the Causes: The Declaration of Independence, and The
Preamble to the Constitution: How Do You Make a More Perfect Union? bring
alive the principles of democratic self-government established in the Declaration
of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, and can be adapted for older
students engaged in the study of primary documents. In Balancing
Three Branches at Once: Our System of Checks and Balances, students analyze
primary documents to demonstrate the challenges facing those forming a new government.
Finally, the continuing significance of the founding principles of the American
Republic can be explored in lessons such as The
First Amendment: What's Fair in a Free Country, which helps students to learn
about individual liberty and responsibility through the study of Supreme Court
cases. After exploring some of EDSITEment's U.S. history lessons your
students may want to try online research through EDSITEment websites such as American
Memory Project the Oyez Project, and
the Digital Classroom
of the National Archives and Records Administration, which provide unprecedented
access to historical documents and electronic archives. These and other EDSITEment-reviewed
resources on U.S. history and culture are great places for students to discover
the people who contributed to the principles of democratic self-government and
the roles they played in our nation's history. Students will then have a much
clearer sense of who “We the People” are. Online Primary
Documents on EDSITEment websites for reference: Declaration of Independence
Digital
Classroom, NARA support " U.S. Constitution Avalon
Project, Yale University Law School http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/constpap.htm
Annotated Constitution CongressLink
http://www.aboutgovernment.org/print_historicaldocuments.htm#constitution Bill of Rights CongressLink
http://www.aboutgovernment.org/print_historicaldocuments.htm#constitution Avalon
Project at Yale Law School http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rights1.htm
Emancipation Proclamation Digital
Classroom, NARA http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/featured_documents/ emancipation_proclamation/ emancipation_proclamation_transcript.html
Gettysburg Address American
Memory Collection, Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/gadrft.html EDSITEment
Lesson Plans on American History, Government, Literature, and Culture:Grade
Level 9-12Attitudes
Toward Emancipation http://edsitement.neh.gov/lessonplans/emancipation.html
Congressional
Committees and the Legislative Process http://edsitement.neh.gov/lessonplans/congress_committee.html
Critical Ways of Seeing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in context
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=447
Cultural Change (Woman Suffrage Movement) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=283
Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=440
Edgar Allen Poe, Ambrose Bierce and the Unreliable Biographer http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=442
Evaluating Eyewitness Reports (Chicago Fire, & Civil War Diary) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=281
Families in Bondage http://edsitement.neh.gov/lessonplans/families_bondage.html
Folklore in Zora Neal Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=407
George Washington: The Living Symbol http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=315
Hawthorne: Author and Narrator http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=276
Images at War (World War II posters from Library of Congress) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=273
Jazz and World War II: A Rally to Resistance, A Catalyst for Victory http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=379
Life on the Great Plains http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=265
Lincoln Goes to War http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=263
Mark Twain and American Humor http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=327
Ordinary People, OrdinaryPlaces: The Civil Rights Movement http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=353
Other Worlds: The Voyage of Columbus http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=322
Perspective
on the Slave Narrative http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=321
The
Red Badge of Courage:A New Kind of Courage http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=445
The Red
Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Realism http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=444
Regulating
Freedom of Speech (Looking at applications of the constitution) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=370
Scripting
the Past (Exploring Women's History through personal accounts) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=254
The Secret
Society and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=432
Spirituals
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=318
Voices
of the American Revolution http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=423
Walt
Whitman to Langston Hughes:Poems for a Democracy http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=428
Walt
Whitman's Notebooks: The Sweep of the Universe http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=427
Was There
an Industrial Revolution? New Workplace, New Technology, New Consumers http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=421
Was There
an Industrial Revolution? Americans at Work Before the Civil War http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=422
Washington
and the Whiskey Rebellion (Constitutional crisis & Washington's diary) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=311
What
Portraits Reveal (Presidential portraits) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=255
Who Was
Cinque? http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=308
Worth
a Thousand Words: Depression Era Photographs http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=304
Grade Level 6-8The
Boston Tea Party: Costume Optional? http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=397
Colonial
Broadsides and the American Revolution http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=390
Colonial
Broadsides: A Student-Created Plan http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=392
The Constitutional
Convention: Four Founding Fathers You May Never Have Met http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=401
The Constitutional
Convention: What the Founding Fathers Said http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=402
Edgar
Allen Poe, Ambrose Bierce and the Unreliable Narrator http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=441
Eve of
the Civil War: Factory vs.Plantation in the North and South http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=289
The
Industrial Age in America:: Robber Barons or Captains of Industry? http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=429
The Industrial
Age in America: Sweatshops, Steel Mills, and Factories http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=430
Jack London's The Call of the Wild: Nature Faker? http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=434
Jefferson
vs. Franklin: Renaissance Man http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=413
Jefferson
vs. Franklin: Revolutionary Philosophers http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=414
The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=256
Listening
to History(Looking at family history to understand U.S. history) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=299
Martin
Luther King and the Power of Non-violence http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=326
Metaphorical
Gold: Mining the Gold Rush for Stories http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=433
Not
Only Paul Revere: Other Riders of the American Revolution http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=394
On the
Oregon Trail http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=323
Poems
that Tell a Story: Persona and Narrative in the Poems of Robert Frost http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=345
The
Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=405
Revolutionary
Tea Parties and the Reasons for Revolution http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=398
The Statue
of Liberty: Bringing the 'New Colossus to America' http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=351
Voting
Rights for Women: Pro-and Anti-Suffrage http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=438
Who Were
the Foremothers of Women's Equality? http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=435
Why Do
We Remember Revere? Paul Revere's Ride in History and Literature http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=393
Women
in the White House (history of First Ladies) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=334
Women's
Suffrage: Why the West First? http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=439
Grades 3-5American
Colonial Life in the 1700's: Distant Cousins http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=411
Balancing
Three Branches at Once: OurSystem of Checks and Balances http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=222
Born
on a Mountaintop: Davy Crockett, Tall Tales, & History http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=288
Declare
the Causes: the Declaration of Independence http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=282
Dust
Bowl Days http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=300
The
First Amendment: What's Fair in a Free Country http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=339
Go
West: Imagining the Oregon Trail http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=277
History
in Quilts http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=241
I Do
Solemnly Swear: Presidential Inaugurations http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=333
I'm Gonna
Sit Right Down and Write Someone a Letter(Reading historic letters) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=294
I've
Just Seen a Face: Portraits http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=270
Jamestown
Changes http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=269
A Landmark
Lesson: The United States Capitol Building http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=302
Let
Freedom Ring: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=266
Music
From Across America http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=252
Oh
Say Can You See What the Star Spangled Banner Means http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=298
On the
Home Front http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=224
On
this Day with Lewis and Clark http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=297
The Preamble
to the Constitution: How Do You Make a More Perfect Union? http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=233
Remember
the Ladies: The First Ladies http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=337
Slave
Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=364
The
Statue of Liberty: The Meaning and Use ofa National Symbol http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=313
Thomas
Edison's Inventions in the 1900's and Today: From "New" to You http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=408
Traces:
Historic Archaeology(historic U.S. places) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=312
We Must
Not be Enemies: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=246
What
Makes a Hero? http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=251
Grades K-2Dr.
King's Dream http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=332
If You
Were a Pioneer on the Oregon Trail http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=274
Like
Father Like Son: Presidential Families (George W. Bush & John Adams) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=264
Picturing
First Families (Looking at presidential families) http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=335
Portrait
of a Hero http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=262
The President's
Roles and Responsibilities: Communicating with the President http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=383
The
President's Roles and Responsibilities: Understanding the President's Job http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=385
Reading,
Writing, 'Rithmetic in the One-Room Schoolhouse http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=319
Stars
and Stripes Forever: Flag Facts, Flag Day http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=338
Stories
in Quilts http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=242
Then
and Now: Early America http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=260
Traditions
and Languages of Three Native Cultures, Tlingit, Lakota, and Cherokee http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=378
What
is History? Timelines and Oral Histories http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=406
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