Lesson Plan Index: History Standards

Teaching with Historic Places has developed more than 160 classroom-ready lesson plans that together range across American history. All are available on the Web. For more information on lessons plans or our program, contact TwHP. You can also view the entire collection according to location, topic, primary source, skill, U.S. History Standards, and Social Studies Standards.



 
 

Era 1: Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1620)

STANDARD 1:
Comparative characteristics of societies in the Americas, Western Europe, and Western Africa that increasingly interacted after 1450.

STANDARD 2:
How early European exploration and colonization resulted in cultural and ecological interactions among previously unconnected peoples.

Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)

STANDARD 1:
Why the Americas attracted Europeans, why they brought enslaved Africans to their colonies, and how Europeans struggled for control of North America and the Caribbean.
STANDARD 2:
How political, religious, and social institutions emerged in the English colonies.
STANDARD 3:
How the values and institutions of European economic life took root in the colonies, and how slavery reshaped European and African life in the Americas.
Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)

STANDARD 1: The causes of the American Revolution, the ideas and interests involved in forging the revolutionary movement, and the reasons for the American victory.
STANDARD 2:
The impact of the American Revolution on politics, economy, and society.
  • Standard 2A-The student understands revolutionary government-making at national and state levels.
    Independence Hall: International Symbol of Freedom (132)
    Learn about Independence Hall and about how the international influence of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution led to the designation of the building in which they were adopted as a World Heritage Site. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
    North Carolina State Capitol: Pride of the State (61)
    Discover how Raleigh became the capital of North Carolina and how the design of the capitol building reflected state pride as well as democratic ideals. (National Historic Landmark)
    The Washington Monument: Tribute in Stone (62)
    Understand why George Washington was so revered during his lifetime and beyond, and learn why it took 100 years to complete this famous monument in his honor. (National Park)
  • Standard 2B-The student understands the economic issues arising out of the Revolution.
    The Building of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (10)
    Assess the importance of America's early canal system and its economic and social effects. (National Park)
    The Octagon of Washington, D.C.: The House that Helped Build a Capital (151)
    Enter The Octagon of Washington, DC, to discover how a historic brick house offered grandeur and stability to the new capital of the United States in the early 19th century. (National Historic Landmark)
  • Standard 2C-The student understands the Revolution's effects on different social groups
    At a Crossroads: The King of Prussia Inn (119)
    Learn how transportation routes affected a local inn, how archeology revealed the inn's use over time, and how preservation efforts saved the historic site from suburban sprawl.
    The Battle of Oriskany: "Blood Shed a Stream Running Down" (79)
    Learn how New York's Mohawk Valley became the setting for a fierce Revolutionary War battle that pitted residents of the area, including the nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, against each other. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
STANDARD 3:
The institutions and practices of government created during the Revolution and how they were revised between 1787 and 1815 to create the foundation of the American political system based on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
  • Standard 3A-The student understands the issues involved in the creation and ratification of the United States Constitution and the new government it established.
    Federal Courthouses and Post Offices: Symbols of Pride and Permanence in American Communities (136)
    Learn how three buildings restored and maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration illustrate the important role the federal government played and continues to play in communities across the country.
    Independence Hall: International Symbol of Freedom (132)
    Learn about Independence Hall and about how the international influence of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution led to the designation of the building in which they were adopted as a World Heritage Site. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
    Memories of Montpelier: Home of James and Dolley Madison (46)
    Visit the Madisons' plantation home and their world of social prominence, and explore some contemporary views of slavery. (National Historic Landmark)
    The Washington Monument: Tribute in Stone (62)
    Understand why George Washington was so revered during his lifetime and beyond, and learn why it took 100 years to complete this famous monument in his honor. (National Park)
  • Standard 3B- The Student understands the guarantees of the Bill of Rights and its continuing significance.
    Lafayette Park: First Amendment Rights on the President’s Doorstep (139)
    Learn how a group of determined women selected Lafayette Park, across from the White House, to demonstrate for their right to vote, providing a First Amendment model for many others.(National Park/National Historic Landmark)

  • Standard 3C-The student understands the development of the Supreme Court's power and its significance from 1789 to 1820.
    "The Great Chief Justice" at Home (49)
    Meet John Marshall, who led the U.S. Supreme Court from obscurity and weakness to prominence and power in the early 19th century. (National Historic Landmark)
Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)

STANDARD 1:
United States territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861, and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans.
STANDARD 2:
How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions.
 
STANDARD 3:
The extension, restriction, and reorganization of political democracy after 1800. STANDARD 4:
The sources and character of cultural, religious, and social reform movements in the antebellum period.
 
Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

STANDARD 1:
The causes of the Civil War.
STANDARD 2:
The course and character of the Civil War and its effects on the American people.

STANDARD 3:
How various reconstruction plans succeeded or failed.


Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

STANDARD 1:
How the rise of corporations, heavy industry, and mechanized farming transformed the American people.
STANDARD 2:
Massive immigration after 1870 and how new social patterns, conflicts, and ideas of national unity developed amid growing cultural diversity.
STANDARD 3:
The rise of the American labor movement and how political issues reflected social and economic changes.
STANDARD 4:
Federal Indian policy and United States foreign policy after the Civil War.
Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

STANDARD 1:
How Progressives and others addressed problems of industrial capitalism, urbanization, and political corruption.
STANDARD 2:
The changing role of the United States in world affairs through World War I.
STANDARD 3:
How the United States changed from the end of World War I to the eve of the Great Depression.
 
Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)

STANDARD 1:
The causes of the Great Depression and how it affected American society.

STANDARD 2:
How the New Deal addressed the Great Depression, transformed American federalism, and initiated the welfare state.

STANDARD 3:
The causes and course of World War II, the character of the war at home and abroad, and its reshaping of the U.S. role in world affairs.

Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

STANDARD 1:
The economic boom and social transformation of postwar United States.

STANDARD 2:
How the Cold War and conflicts in Korea and Vietnam influenced domestic and international politics.

STANDARD 3:
Domestic policies after World War II.

STANDARD 4:
The struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties.
Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)

STANDARD 1:
Recent developments in foreign policy and domestic politics.
STANDARD 2:
Economic, social, and cultural developments in contemporary United States.

  • Standard 2D-The student understands contemporary American culture.
    Brown v. Board: Five Communities That Changed America (121)
    Learn about the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. (Monroe Elementary School [now Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site] is a unit of the National Park Service/Robert Russa Moton High School, Sumner and Monroe Elementary Schools, Howard High School, and John Philip Sousa Middle School are National Historic Landmarks.)
    New Kent School and the George W. Watkins School: From Freedom of Choice to Integration (104)
    Learn about the U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the integration of public schools and meet the individuals who experienced segregation, fought to dismantle the institution, and integrated the public school system of New Kent County, Virginia. (National Historic Landmark)
  • Standard 2E-The student understands how a democratic polity debated social issues and mediates between individual or group rights and the common good.
    Lafayette Park: First Amendment Rights on the President's Doorstep (139)
    Learn how a group of determined women selected Lafayette Park, across from the White House, to demonstrate for their right to vote, providing a First Amendment model for many others.(National Park/National Historic Landmark)

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