The Constitution Community
The Constitution Community is a partnership between classroom teachers and education specialists from the National Archives and Records Administration. We are developing lessons and activities that address constitutional issues, correlate to national academic standards, and encourage the analysis of primary source documents. The lessons that have been developed are arranged according to historical era.
Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
- Images of the American Revolution
- Eli Whitney's Patent for the Cotton Gin
- United States v. Thomas Cooper: A Violation of the Sedition Law
- Tally of the 1824 Electoral College Vote
Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Anti-Railroad Propaganda Poster: The Growth of Regionalism, 1800-1860
- The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
- Petition of Amelia Bloomer Regarding Suffrage in the West
- The Sioux Treaty of 1868
Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
- Fugitive from Labor Cases: Henry Garnett (1850) and Moses Honner (1860)
- The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady
- Letters, Telegrams, and Photographs Illustrating Factors that Affected the Civil War
The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)
- Alexander Graham Bell's Patent for the Telephone and Thomas Edison's Patent for the Electric Lamp
- Maps of Indian Territory, the Dawes Act, and Will Rogers' Enrollment Case File
- Petition Signed by Thomas A. Edison for Sunday Openings at the World's Columbian Exposition
- Affidavit and Flyers from the Chinese Boycott Case
- Photographs of Lewis Hine: Documentation of Child Labor
The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
- Photographs of the 369th Infantry and African Americans during World War I
- The Volstead Act and Related Prohibition Documents
- Sow the Seeds of Victory! Posters from the Food Administration During World War I
- Political Cartoons Illustrating Progressivism and the Election of 1912
The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)
- FDR's First Inaugural Address: Declaring "War" on the Great Depression
- FDR's Fireside Chat on the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program
- Documents Related to Churchill and FDR
- Message Drafted by General Eisenhower in Case the D-Day Invasion Failed and Photographs Taken on D-Day
- Documents and Photographs Related to Japanese Relocation During World War II
Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)
- Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to President Harry S. Truman
- Documents Related to Brown v. Board of Education
- Photographs and Pamphlet About Nuclear Fallout
- Memorandum of a Conference with President Eisenhower after Sputnik
- The Many Faces of Paul Robeson
- Founding Documents of the Peace Corps
- Court Documents Related to Martin Luther King, Jr., and Memphis Sanitation Workers
- The War in Vietnam: A Story in Photographs
Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
More information about The Constitution Community project is available.
