Find a large collection of internet resources organized around historical documents. Links to places to go, people to see, things to do, teacher resources, and bibliographies.

Here you can find the full text of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by Abraham Lincoln in September 1862, and passed into law on January 1, 1863.

Students will explore the documents that were used in shaping the United States, before, during, and after its creation. While studying these documents, students will use reading skills to interpret and analyze documents. By the end of...

A guide to dissecting official documents. Learn how to find the author of documents, the primary audience, and other important information.

This site contains a good overview of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It gives background information on women's suffrage, provides the transcript of the actual document, and allows you to view an image of the document.

An outstanding, interactive copy of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the legislation that repealed the Missouri Compromise. Historical context included, as well as links to larger images, a typed transcript, and a downloadable PDF file.

In this activity, students will identify and analyze documents related to key presidential decisions. Through close examination of the documents, students will determine which president was involved. Students will then identify the...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students solve a problem surrounding a historical question by reading primary source documents. This historical inquiry lesson allows students to use the historical thinking skills of corroboration,...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding a historical question. This document-based inquiry lesson allows students to analyze two cartoons drawn by Thomas Nast, and to chart...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Young scholars read primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding a historical question. This document-based inquiry lesson allows students to gain a more nuanced understanding of how...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding a historical question. This document-based inquiry lesson allows students to read parts of the Texas Declaration of Independence,...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students use primary source documents to investigate central historical questions. In this structured academic controversy, students examine constitutional amendments, a Black Code, a personal account...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students use primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding a historical question. This document-based inquiry lesson allows students to read two Populist speeches in order to explain why the...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students solve a problem surrounding a historical question by reading primary source documents. This historical inquiry instructional activity allows students to investigate the photographs of...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Young scholars use primary source documents to investigate central historical questions. In this investigation, students critically examine the passenger lists of ships headed to New England and...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding a historical question. In this inquiry lesson, two letters to George Washington allow students to consider the competing politics...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Nat Turner led the largest slave uprising the South would see until the Civil War. The infamy of the event has led to multiple interpretations of Turner as a historical figure. By sourcing and...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students reading primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding a historical question. This inquiry lesson allows students to explore the social and economic factors that fueled the wave of...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students use primary source documents to investigate central historical questions. In this investigation, students examine a political cartoon, a muckraker text, and the defense of a political boss to...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding a historical question. This document-based inquiry lesson allows students to explore the broad context of the women's suffrage...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Learners read primary source documents to solve a problem surrounding a historical question. This inquiry lesson plan allows students to use close reading skills to read a variety of primary source...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students solve a problem surrounding a historical question by reading primary source documents. When the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, triggering the Spanish-American War, the New York Times and...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students use primary source documents to investigate a central historical question. In this investigation, students contextualize President Theodore Roosevelt's turn-of-the-century speeches and letters...

[Free Registration/Login Required] A structured academic controversy opportunity to peruse and analyze documents to ignite a debate over the success or failure of the New Deal.