Early American History & Government

PDFs should open in a separate window where they can be easily downloaded. You can make your own copy of any Google Docs or Google Slides materials to edit as you see fit, distribute to students, or convert into whatever other formats you prefer.

If it seems like there are a LOT of Crash Course outlines, keep in mind we had a pandemic not that long ago and most of us had to throw together something that passed as “distance learning” on relatively short notice. Plus, who doesn’t love Crash Course?

These aren’t necessarily the “best” things I’ve ever done in class, but they are the easiest to share online with minimal explanation. If you figure out a way to gain massive wealth and long-overdue fame using any of these materials, please cut me in. Otherwise, I mostly just hope you find some of it useful.

Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau (Article) – PDF

Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau (Graphic Organizer) – PDF

Life Before the White Guys – A Very General Overview (Presentation – Google Slides)

Primary Sources: Images of Columbus Landing in the New World (Assignment) – Google Slides

Primary Sources: Images of Columbus Landing in the New World (Assignment) – PDF

Hip Hughes History: “The Columbian Exchange” (Video Questions) – PDF

Primary Source: “Treatment of the Indians” (Bartolomé de las Casas, 1528) – a Spanish clergyman questions his nation’s treatment of the native population in the New World (Excerpt w/ Questions – PDF)

Primary Source: “Treatment of the Indians” (Bartolomé de las Casas, 1528) – a Spanish clergyman questions his nation’s treatment of the native population in the New World (Excerpt w/ Questions – Google Doc)

Primary Source: Coronado to the King of Spain (1541) – “what I am sure of is that there is not any gold nor any other metal in all that country, and… they do not plant anything and do not have any houses except of skins and sticks, and they wander around with the cows.” (Excerpt – PDF)

Primary Source: “A Model of Christian Charity”, aka “City on a Hill” (John Winthrop, 1630) – Excerpt w/ HIPPO Assignment – PDF

Primary Source: “A Model of Christian Charity”, aka “City on a Hill” (John Winthrop, 1630) – Excerpt w/ HIPPO Assignment – Google Doc

Crash Course U.S. History #1: The Black Legend, Native Americans, and Spaniards (Student Outline) – PDF

Crash Course U.S. History #2: When Is Thanksgiving (Student Outline) – PDF

Crash Course U.S. History #3: The Natives and the English (Student Outline) – PDF

“Have To” History – The Mourning Wars (Article Only – PDF)

European Colonization: Similarities & Differences (c. 1500-1754) (Presentation – Google Slides).

European Colonization – Similarities and Differences (Student Organizer) – PDF

The Seven Years’ War (Presentation – Google Slides)

The Seven Years’ War (Student Notes – Google Doc)

The Seven Years War (Student Notes – PDF)

American Revolution CTER – PDF (explanation of CTER can be found here)

Vocab Squares: The Declaration of Independence (Assignment on Google Slides)

Paraphrasing the Declaration of Independence (Assignment on Google Docs)

Paraphrasing the Declaration of Independence (Assignment on PDF)

Countdown to Independence Timeline Assignment – PDF – I keep tweaking the instructions for this one from year to year, and this version includes two different options for peer evaluations… so how exciting is THAT?!

Primary Sources: The Docs Heard ‘Round The World (Document Activity – Google Slides)

Background to the Constitution, Part One: The Enlightenment / The Social Contract (Presentation – Google Slides)

Background to the Constitution, Part Two: The Articles of Confederation (Presentation – Google Slides)

Background to the Constitution, Part Three: Compromises at the Convention (Presentation – Google Slides)

Background to the Constitution (Student Notes – Parts 1, 2, and 3) – Google Doc

Background to the Constitution (Student Notes – Parts 1, 2, and 3) – PDF

Overview of the Constitution (Presentation – Google Slides) – This is a much more concise version of the “Background to the Constitution” stuff above.

Overview of the Constitution (Student Notes – Google Docs) – This goes with the presentation described above.

U.S. Constitution Graphic Organizer – PDF

Link to the U.S. Constitution Side-by-Side with Plain, Simple English Version

Bill of Rights Graphic Organizer – PDF

Bill of Rights Graphic Organizer (easier) – PDF

All Those Amendments Graphic Organizer – PDF

Primary Sources: Federalist #10 and #51 (w/ Questions) – Madison explains why some of the stuff in the new Constitution which might look like “bugs” are actually exciting new “features”

Primary Sources: Federalist #10 & #51 (shorter) – Madison explains why some of the stuff in the new Constitution which might look like “bugs” are actually exciting new “features” (in slightly fewer words)

Is That A Right? (Presentation / Assignment / Discussion – Google Slides)

Is That A Right? (Handout Version) –  PDF

Is That A Right? (Teacher Cheat Sheet) – PDF

Crash Course U.S. History #7: Who Won the American Revolution? (Student Outline) – PDF

Crash Course U.S. History #8: The Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, and Federalism (Student Outline) – Google Doc

Crash Course U.S. History #8: The Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, and Federalism (Student Outline) – PDF

Sentence Stems – Introduction / Founding Ideals (Presentation – Google Slides)

Sentence Stems Founding Ideals (Longer Version) – PDF

Sentence Stems Founding Ideals (Shorter Version) – PDF

Early American History Timeline Assignment (Instructions on Google Docs) – The U.S. History curriculum in my state is such that we’re expected to spend several weeks reviewing foundational documents, then do a quick recap of American history from Columbus to the end of Reconstruction. This project is the quick recap.

Early American History Timeline Assignment (Template on Google Slides) – See Above.

“Have To” History – The XYZ Affair (Article Only – PDF)

Crash Course U.S. History #9 – Where U.S. Politics Came From (Student Outline) – Google Doc

Crash Course U.S. History #9 – Where U.S. Politics Came From (Student Outline) – PDF

Crash Course U.S. History #12: The Market Revolution (Student Outline) – Google Doc

Crash Course U.S. History #12: The Market Revolution (Student Outline) – PDF

Overview: From the Constitution to the Civil War (Presentation)

Three Early Supreme Court CasesMarbury v. Madison (1803), McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) – (Assignment on Google Slides w/ Tinker v. Des Moines {1969} completed as an example)

Three Early Supreme Court CasesMarbury v. Madison (1803), McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) – (Assignment on Google Slides w/ Marbury completed as an example)

Three Early Supreme Court CasesMarbury v. Madison (1803), McCulloch v. Marlyand (1819), and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) – completed graphic organizers (Google Slides)

Generic Supreme Court Cases Graphic Organizers – PDF

Generic Supreme Court Cases Graphic Organizers – Google Slides

“Have To” History – The Second Great Awakening (Article Only – PDF)

The Age of Jackson (Presentation w/ Questions)

“Have To” History – Andrew Jackson (1767 – 1845) (Article Only – PDF)

Primary Source: Andrew Jackson on Indian Removal (1830) (Excerpt w/ Qs)  – PDF

Primary Source: Andrew Jackson on Indian Removal (1830) (Excerpt w/ Qs) – Google Doc

Two Cherokee Cases (w Background) – Excerpts from the Supreme Court’s opinions in Cherokee v. Georgia (1831) and Worcester v. Georgia (1832) and brief intro to the cases – PDF

Primary Source: King Andrew Cartoon (1832) (w/ Questions) – PDF

Primary Sources: Workingman’s Committee & Horace Mann (1830s) – PDF

Primary Sources: Workingmen for Education and Horace Mann for Libraries (shorter) – Two short excerpts from the Age of Reform which do a wonderful job explaining why education and books (ALL books) matter – PDF

Primary Source: Alexis de Tocqueville on Democracy and Wealth (1835) (w/ Questions) – Google Doc

Primary Source: Alexis de Tocqueville on Democracy and Wealth (1835) (w/ Questions) – PDF

Primary Source: Chief John Ross to Congress (1836) – Ross protests the Treaty of New Echota which provided a gilding of legitimacy for “Indian Removal” and what would become remembered as the “Trail of Tears” – PDF

Primary Source: Chattel Slavery vs Wage Slavery (1840) – PDF

“Have To” History – The Seneca Falls Convention (1848) (Article Only – PDF)

Primary Source: Declaration of Sentiments (1848) (APARTY) – PDF

Primary Sources: “Ain’t I A Woman” Speech (1851) (Two Versions w Questions) – PDF

Primary Sources: “Ain’t I A Woman” Speech (1851) (Two Versions w Questions) – Google Doc

“Have To” History – Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895) (Article Only- PDF)

Primary Source: “What, to the Slave, is the 4th of July?” (Frederick Douglass, 1852) (APARTY & Summary Assignment – Google Doc)

Primary Source: “What, to the Slave, is the 4th of July?” (Frederick Douglass, 1852) (APARTY & Summary Assignment – PDF)

Sample APARTY: “What, to the Slave, is the 4th of July?” (Frederick Douglass, 1852) – Google Doc

Sample APARTY: “What, to the Slave, is the 4th of July?” (Frederick Douglass, 1852) – PDF

Crash Course U.S. History #13: Slavery (Student Outline) – Google Doc

Crash Course U.S. History #13: Slavery (Student Outline) – PDF

Crash Course Black American History #13: The Rise of Cotton (Student Outline) – Google Doc

Crash Course Black American History #13: The Rise of Cotton (Student Outline) – PDF

Primary Sources: Southern States Explain Why They Wish to Secede (Google Doc) – Spoiler Alert: it was pretty much the reason we’d all figured.

Primary Sources: Southern States Explain Why They Wish to Secede (PDF) – Spoiler Alert: it was pretty much the reason we’d all figured.

Primary Source: Mary Chesnut Civil War Diary – 1861 (Excerpt) – An insightful southern woman’s thoughts as the war actually begins – PDF

Primary Source: Mary Chesnut Civil War Diary – 1861 (2 excerpts) – twice the insightful southern female at no extra charge – PDF

Primary Sources: Putting the Civil in Civil War (3 docs) – Three brief primary sources which remind us of just how genuinely “civil” both sides tried to be during the Civil War – PDF

Primary Source: Excerpts from Thoreau’s “Life Without Principle” (1863) – PDF

“Have To” History – Causes of the American Civil War (Article Only – PDF)

Two Lincoln Cartoons (COATS Assignment – Google Doc)

Two Lincoln Cartoons (COATS Assignment – PDF)

Primary Source: Jourdon Anderson Writes His Former Master (1865) – I can’t imagine a better example for teaching the importance of tone and good inferences – PDF