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We the People

Materials that have been endorsed and vetted by U.S. Capitol Historical Society education team.

The USCHS education team follows ISKME's Open Educational Practice Rubric.

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African American Women Unite for Change (Teaching with Historic Places) (U.S. National Park Service)
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
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As a historic unit of the National Park Service, the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The site also is within the boundaries of the Logan Circle Historic District. This lesson is based on the Historic Resources Study for Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site, as well as other materials on Bethune and the National Council of Negro Women. The lesson was written by Brenda K. Olio, former Teaching with Historic Places historian, and edited by staff of the Teaching with Historic Places program and Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site.

Subject:
Education
English Language Arts
Gender and Sexuality Studies
History
Political Science
Reading Informational Text
Social Science
U.S. History
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
National Park Service
Author:
Brenda K. Olio
Date Added:
01/19/2022
Articles of Confederation Lesson Plan
Unrestricted Use
CC BY
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This is a full lesson plan that includes instructor script, PowerPoint slides, and student activities about the Articles of Confederation and the Continental Congress.

Subject:
U.S. History
Material Type:
Lesson
Author:
Katherine Ryan
Date Added:
05/19/2023
The Big Ideas of the U.S. Constitution
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
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0.0 stars

In this activity students will identify and define seven key ideas contained in the U.S. Constitution by making matches from the grid. They will then analyze documents that demonstrate each big idea in action.

This activity is designed to prepare students for the Constitution-in-Action Learning Lab at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It is a part of a package of pre-visit activities associated with the lab experience.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Primary Source
Provider:
National Archives and Records Administration
Provider Set:
DocsTeach
Date Added:
11/13/2020
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Conditional Remix & Share Permitted
CC BY-NC-SA
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A deep dive into Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, a Supreme Court case decided in 1954. It ended the doctrine of "separate but equal" and brought an end to racial segregation in schools. In this video, Kim discusses the case with scholars Michael McConnell and Theodore Shaw.

Subject:
Political Science
Social Science
Material Type:
Lesson
Provider:
Khan Academy
Provider Set:
National Constitution Center
Author:
Kim Kutz
Date Added:
07/16/2021
Checks and Balances in Action: Seeing the Big Picture
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
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In this activity students will analyze documents that span the course of American history to see examples of "checks and balances" between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches in action. Students will then match the documents they have examined with an appropriate description of the branches of government involved in the action.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
National Archives and Records Administration
Provider Set:
DocsTeach
Date Added:
11/13/2020
The City of U.S. Virtual Field Trip
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
Rating
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For many students, a trip to Washington, D.C. is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that opens their eyes to an exciting world beyond their classrooms. Discovery Education and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden welcome students to a behind-the-scenes Virtual Field Trip to experience the history and beauty of our nation’s capital.

Designed for students in grades 4-8, this action-packed tour features remarkable special guests and give viewers an inside look at six landmark locations:

The White House
The U.S. Capitol Building
The Supreme Court
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Subject:
History
Political Science
Social Science
U.S. History
Material Type:
Lesson
Lesson Plan
Author:
Discovery Education
Date Added:
07/21/2021
Compromise at the Constitutional Convention
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
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This activity is designed to help students understand the debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that shaped America’s legislative branch of government. The primary goal of this activity is for students to discover how a compromise balanced the needs of large states and small states and how this led to the creation of the current House of Representatives and Senate.

Subject:
U.S. History
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Author:
OER LIBRARIAN
Date Added:
12/14/2020
The Constitution and Congress
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
Rating
0.0 stars

The nation’s founders believed Congress to be the fundamental institution of the federal government, since it is the body that most closely represents the people. The framers of the United States Constitution began by creating Congress. Then they established the other two branches of government—the executive branch and the judicial branches.The Constitution gives each branch distinct powers, but it makes sure that the three are in competition. Each branch has its own ways to check and balance the powers of the other two. The separation and balance of powers has contributed to the government’s enduring vitality, providing order and stability while allowing flexibility for adaptation and change.

Subject:
U.S. History
Material Type:
Reading
Author:
OER LIBRARIAN
Date Added:
12/09/2020
The Constitution in Action: Article II (Lab Team 3)
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
Rating
0.0 stars

In this activity students will analyze the Senate Journal of the First Congress and identify how the document demonstrates content contained within Article II of the Constitution in action.

This activity is designed to prepare students for the Constitution-in-Action Lab at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It is a part of a package of activities associated with the lab experience.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Primary Source
Provider:
National Archives and Records Administration
Provider Set:
DocsTeach
Date Added:
11/13/2020
The Constitution in Action: Article I (Lab Team 1)
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
Rating
0.0 stars

In this activity students will analyze the Oaths of Senators for the Impeachment Trial of William Jefferson Clinton and identify how the document demonstrates content contained within Article I, sections 1-7 of the Constitution in action.

This activity is designed to prepare students for the Constitution-in-Action Lab at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It is a part of a package of activities associated with the lab experience.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
National Archives and Records Administration
Provider Set:
DocsTeach
Date Added:
11/13/2020
The Constitution in Action: Article I (Lab Team 2)
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
Rating
0.0 stars

In this activity students will analyze the Declaration of Intention for Albert Einstein and identify how the document demonstrates content contained within Article I, sections 8-10 of the Constitution in action.

This activity is designed to prepare students for the Constitution-in-Action Lab at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It is a part of a package of activities associated with the lab experience.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
National Archives and Records Administration
Provider Set:
DocsTeach
Date Added:
11/13/2020
The Constitution of the United States
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
Rating
0.0 stars

The Constitution acted like a colossal merger, uniting a group of states with different interests, laws, and cultures. Under America’s first national government, the Articles of Confederation, the states acted together only for specific purposes. The Constitution united its citizens as members of a whole, vesting the power of the union in the people. Without it, the American Experiment might have ended as quickly as it had begun.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Reading
Provider:
National Archives and Records Administration
Date Added:
12/08/2020
Correspondence Between Mary McLeod Bethune, President Truman and William D. Hassett
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
Rating
0.0 stars

This document was identified by teachers in our Primarily Teaching 2016 Summer Workshop at the Truman Library.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Primary Source
Provider:
National Archives and Records Administration
Provider Set:
DocsTeach
Author:
National Archives
Date Added:
07/08/2022
Draft of Motion Rule for Marbury v. Madison
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
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This document is an order to show cause in the Marbury v. Madison Supreme Court case. An order to show cause explains that a defendant is expected to appear before the judge and defend his or her actions. The document shows damage from the 1898 fire in the Capitol Building.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Lesson
Provider:
National Archives and Records Administration
Provider Set:
DocsTeach
Date Added:
12/11/2020
Engaging Students Regarding Events at U.S. Capitol
Unrestricted Use
CC BY
Rating
0.0 stars

At OSPI, part of our mission is to prepare students for civic engagement throughout their lives. We believe our schools must engage and empower students, from an early age, with opportunities to participate in civil conversations, examples of effective civic engagement, and tools to find peaceful solutions to community problems.OSPI’s Social Studies and Social-Emotional Learning teams have put together resources for educators, families, and students to help with these difficult conversations.

Subject:
Political Science
U.S. History
Material Type:
Teaching/Learning Strategy
Author:
Kari Tally
Jerry Price
Washington OSPI OER Project
Barbara Soots
Date Added:
01/11/2021
From Freedom’s Shadow
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
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Freedom for some meant slavery for others. The cruel irony of this nation’s founding and its “Temple of Liberty”—the U.S. Capitol—is that both were made possible by the enslavement of African Americans.

The labor of enslaved and free blacks helped build the Capitol. An enslaved African American man helped to cast the Statue of Freedom, which was placed atop the Dome during the Civil War.

Since the end of the Civil War, African Americans have struggled to move out of the shadows and into the Temple of Liberty as full participants.

This the online version of a traveling exhibit by the U.S. Capitol Historical Society that depicts the journey of African Americans from slavery to freedom and political representation in the U.S. Capitol. The exhibit opened February 2006 in Baltimore, Maryland at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Interactive
Provider:
United States Capitol Historical Society
Date Added:
11/20/2020
How Effective were the Efforts of the Freedmen’s Bureau?
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
Rating
0.0 stars

In this activity, students will analyze documents from the War Department’s Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands — better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau — that Congress established on March 3, 1865, as the Civil War was coming to an end. Using the scale in Weighing the Evidence, students will evaluate the effectiveness of the Freedmen's Bureau in assisting formerly enslaved persons.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
National Archives and Records Administration
Provider Set:
DocsTeach
Author:
National Archives
Date Added:
07/08/2022