While the French were once the allies of Americans, the Napoleonic Wars saw the United States almost drawn into a war with its one-time friend. Wars in Europe threatened to draw in the early republic. A primary source-based activity including documents from the French, British, and American perspectives allows scholars to examine American options during the age of Napoleon. 

Concepts

american history, primary sources, primary source analysis, thomas jefferson, napoleon bonaparte

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Use the primary sources to explore American foreign policy options as described in the lesson plan
• Adapt a portion of the resource to discussion of the Jefferson administration 

Classroom Considerations

• Third and final installment of the The Crisis of American Diplomacy, 1793–1808 series

Pros

• Ideas for assessment and extension make the lesson plan easy to adapt
• Primary sources are curated and easy to scaffold

Cons

• Many links are no longer active, requiring teacher research to use the resource

Common Core

RH.9-10.1 RH.9-10.2 RH.9-10.3 RH.9-10.4 RH.9-10.5 RH.9-10.9 RH.9-10.10 RH.11-12.1 RH.11-12.2 RH.11-12.3 RH.11-12.4 RH.11-12.5 RH.11-12.7 RH.11-12.9 RH.11-12.10