Lesson Plans & Teaching Activities
This section contains reproducible copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States, teaching activities correlated to the National History Standards and National Standards for Civics and Government, and cross-curricular connections.
Teaching with primary documents encourages a varied learning environment for teachers and students alike. Lectures, demonstrations, analysis of documents, independent research, and group work become a gateway for research with historical records in ways that sharpen students' skills and enthusiasm for history, social studies, and the humanities.
- Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
- Expansion and Reform (1801-1868)
- Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
- The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)
- The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
- The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)
- Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)
- Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)