September 17th is Constitution Day! Here are resources from the National Archives and some of our partner organizations for teaching about the Constitution.
Tag: primary_sources
Teaching with the Records of Congress
An introductory video of educational resources available from the Center for Legislative Archives, featuring perspectives from teachers who use these records of Congress in their classrooms
Teachers Grapple with Timely Topic: The Camp David Accords 35 Years Later
Social studies teachers participated in the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum’s 2013 Summer Seminar for educators, The Camp David Accords 35 Years Later: Looking Back to Discover Future Prospects for Mideast Peace, this past July.
We Shall Overcome: Anxiety and Optimism for the March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, a quarter million people came to the nation’s capital to petition their duly elected government in a demonstration known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Frustrated by the inaction of a gridlocked Congress, the marchers called for Congress to pass the Civil Rights bill. The size of the … Continue reading We Shall Overcome: Anxiety and Optimism for the March on Washington
Letter from the Assistant Attorney General Regarding Lynching
Today we share a document just recently digitized by a teacher in our Primarily Teaching 2013 Summer Workshop in Washington, DC. Jen Johnson, a teacher at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago for the last 10 years, found it in the holdings of the National Archives last week, and scanned it so that we could add it … Continue reading Letter from the Assistant Attorney General Regarding Lynching
“Boston Five” Letter
Today we highlight a document brand new to DocsTeach. We added this 1968 letter from an attorney condemning the conviction of the “Boston Five" just this morning! Teachers at the National Archives at Boston who are participating in Primarily Teaching 2013 this week have been identifying primary source documents related to draft resistance during the Vietnam War. … Continue reading “Boston Five” Letter
Recruitment Poster for the Union Army
Today we spotlight one of the most requested documents on DocsTeach, our online tool for teaching with documents. It's a Civil War recruitment poster titled "To Colored Men!" After President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the U.S. Army began recruiting black men in earnest to fight for the Union Army. … Continue reading Recruitment Poster for the Union Army
A Baseball Patent
This is the patent application for an improvement in baseballs, from Benjamin Shibe of Bala, Pennsylvania. Benjamin F. Shibe, one of the original owners of the Philadelphia Athletics and for whom Shibe Park in Philadelphia was named, patented a cork-centered baseball on June 15, 1909. Use of this ball in all 1911 games led to … Continue reading A Baseball Patent
The Declaration of Independence
In celebration of our nation declaring its independence 237 years ago, today's spotlight is—of course—on the Declaration of Independence. The National Archives is its permanent home. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in which the American colonies set forth a list of grievances against the British Crown and declared they … Continue reading The Declaration of Independence
Agreed-upon Boundaries at the Close of the Revolutionary War
As Independence Day approaches, this week we're highlighting this 1775 "Annotated Map of the British Colonies in North America with the Roads, Distances, Limits and Extent of the Settlements." During the negotiations to end the Revolutionary War, all sides used a copy of the so-called Mitchell map. The red lines marked on the map were … Continue reading Agreed-upon Boundaries at the Close of the Revolutionary War