Test your students’ knowledge on Thomas Jefferson and Monticello with these five interactive quizzes. The quizzes include a range of topics such as slavery, architecture, the early Republic, etc.
Thomas Jefferson and Slavery
Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote the famous line “all men are created equal,” was a life-long slave-owner. Over the course of his life, he would own 600 human beings, and at any given time there would be roughly 100 slaves living and working on and around Jefferson’s plantation and farms. This handout describes Thomas Jefferson’s views on slavery.
Japanese American Internment
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which gave the military broad powers to ban any citizen from a coastal area stretching from Washington state to California and extending inland into southern Arizona. For the next four years, more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry—77,000 of them American citizens—were removed from this area and incarcerated indefinitely without criminal charges or trial. Forty-six years and eight presidents later, on August 10, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 into law.
Civil Rights in Pennsylvania
Throughout the twentieth century, blacks in Pennsylvania employed numerous strategies to achieve the civil rights they deserved. Their efforts for to receive their rights began with a strategy of New Deal liberalism in the 1940s and 50s headed by prominent black leaders. When attempts to rewrite the laws using the established political system failed, black leaders encouraged more direct action, like boycotts and sit-ins. The movement quickly took on a black nationalist approach. Philadelphia became the perfect place for several Black Power conferences and home of the short-lived, though active, Black Panther Party.
Arguing Against Slavery
What arguments did abolitionists make against slavery? How did abolitionists propose to end slavery? These historical questions are at the center of this two-lesson unit focused on seven primary documents. In engaging with these questions and these documents, students will consider the impacts and the limits of abolition, a social movement that spanned hundreds of years.
Atkins v. Virginia (2002)
Does the Eighth Amendment prohibit the execution of prisoners with intellectual disabilities convicted of capital crimes? This case summary shows how the Supreme Court answered that question in 2002.
Caperton v. Massey (2009)
Should a state judge recuse himself from a case if one of the parties made financial contributions to the judge’s election campaign? This case summary shows how the Supreme Court answered that question in 2009.
Slavery: No Freedom, No Rights (Lesson Plan)
Examine the history of slavery in the United States. Trace the development and expansion of slavery in the 19th century and learn about the conflicts and compromises that occurred prior to the Civil War and the abolition of slavery.
From the basics about slavery to the attitudes that defended it and the efforts of those who wanted to see it abolished, in this lesson students learn about this dark part of America’s past.
** Please note: The section about the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 has been moved to a new mini-lesson called Slave States, Free States that explores the debate about the expansion of slavery. We recommend teaching this mini-lesson along with the Slavery lesson. Find it in our Geography Library.
Making Civics Real
A multimedia workshop for high school civics teachers. It includes 8, 1-hour video programs, a print guide to the workshop activities, and a website. The goal of this workshop is to give teachers new resources and ideas to reinvigorate civic education. The series presents authentic teachers in diverse school settings modeling a variety of teaching techniques and best practices in a variety of social studies courses from a 9th-grade government/civics/econ course, to a 12th-grade law course
Dealing With Controversial Issues/Social Studies in Action Library
This program examines how social studies teachers in any grade level can encourage open and informed discussions with their students while dealing with controversial issues. Topics range from stereotypes and gender–based discrimination to the conflict in the Middle East. Through clearly identifying issues, listening to multiple perspectives, and formulating personal positions, teachers explore strategies that can be used to teach challenging issues such as these in their own classrooms.