Explore the origin of political parties in the United States. Learners work in groups to read and analyze copies of the "Report on Manufactures" written by Alexander Hamilton. Then, they complete a worksheet comparing the Federalists to...

The Election of 1912: an election with four competitive opponents. Pupils get to know the candidates with informative reading passages that provide context to the election. Then, the class engages in a debate and answers questions as one...

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates saw two primary political candidates debating seven different times about one of the most important social movements in United States history. Middle and high schoolers read an article that describes the...

At 69 years old, Ronald Reagan was the oldest man ever to be elected president in the United States. After reviewing a thorough history of Reagan's presidency, pupils read the main pro and con arguments to determine if he was a good...

Students explore the U.S. political system by completing several worksheets. In this government election instructional activity, students define and describe the two main political parties in detail to one another. Students read a piece...

Fourth graders investigate differences between the ideology of the Northern and Southern states in 1856. For this states' history lesson, 4th graders examine the needs for slaves in the Southern agricultural economy, and compare it to...

Fourth graders investigate the Civil War by researching the state of Virginia.  For this US History lesson, 4th graders identify Abraham Lincoln, James Chestnut and Fort Sumter, and discuss their roles in the start of the Civil...

These words are tough! Very advanced English language learners or native speakers will still be befuddled by some of these vocabulary words. For each of the six sentences provided, learners must choose the correct word to complete the...

Students discover the political parties of our country by participating in a role playing activity.  In this U.S. Government instructional activity, students visit several different classrooms that each represent one of the...

Young scholars research the events that led to the Civil War and the Reconstruction. For this Civil War history lesson, students study images of Robert Smalls and research his role in the Civil War. Young scholars review the South...

In this ESL American Presidents instructional activity, students read a table of information about the presidents, their vice presidents and party, then answer a set of 20 questions.

Students analyze voter preferences in past elections, and then write letters to a presidential candidate, recommending winning strategies drawn from their research.

In this Internet research skills worksheet, students respond to 15 short answer trivia questions. Students may use reference sources if they don't know the answers.

Excerpt from an 1854 speech in which Lincoln praised the ideal of equality and the principle of "free labor". Spelling has been modernized and paragraph numbers added.