Educator Resources Educator Resources

This abstract of the Census from 1830 not only provides numbers, state by state, of free and enslaved persons – but students will note that there are enslaved persons in many of the states they consider “free” (sample pages at left).

Note that the terminology is historically accurate but might be offensive to students unless context is provided (this will be true for many of the documents from this era).

Nat Turner’s Rebellion led to both public debate and a tightening of laws and policies. “Nat Turner was an enslaved man who had learned to read and write and become a religious leader despite his enslavement; following what he took to be religious signs, he led other enslaved people in an armed uprising. The violence of the uprising and Turner’s ability to escape and hide for approximately six weeks following the event led to changes in laws and policies and also led to a widespread climate of fear among white slaveholders. Enslaved people in far-flung states who had no connection to the event were lynched by white mobs. The State of Virginia briefly considered ending the practice of slavery in the wake of the rebellion, but they ultimately decided instead to tighten the laws of slavery.

While the Trail of Tears and “Indian Removal Act” are not central to understanding slavery, they are critical events in the history of the country in this era; in addition, the concept of “indian removal” connects directly to tensions that rose as the nation expanded in both population and territory.

As the United States acquired Western territories, and as the power battle between slaveholding and free states continued, the land on which Native nations lived became increasingly valuable. After President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee nations were forced to move from their land, most often on foot and with the deaths of many people, into Western territories. The 1838 forced removal of the Cherokee people from their Georgia land led to the deaths of thousands of people (exact numbers are unknown, but estimates range around 4,000 - 5,000.)

“On May 26, 1836, the House of Representatives adopted a ‘Gag Rule’ stating that all petitions regarding slavery would be tabled without being read, referred, or printed….The enactment of the Gag Rule, rather than discouraging petitioners, energized the anti-slavery movement to flood the Capitol with written demands. Activists held up the suppression of debate as an example of the slaveholding South’s infringement of the rights of all Americans.”

As the nation expanded Westward, tensions rose further over whether new states and territories would permit or prohibit slavery.

“The pact set a border between Texas and Mexico and ceded California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming to the United States. …the acquisition of so much territory with the issue of slavery unresolved lit the fuse that eventually set off the Civil War in 1861.”

Students would benefit from reading an excerpt of the text of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – but in addition, the cover itself is an interesting artifact, and students can discuss its details and its possible impact upon publication in 1845. (See also text in this chart, below, from Frederick Douglass’ July 4 address in 1852.)

As new states were added to the nation, the question of how many would permit slavery and how many would prohibit it – and, therefore, which faction had more power – continued to contribute to growing tension.

This map has a range of valuable information, not only about Presidential politics, but also about population statistics and slavery. It makes a particular point of comparison with the 1830 Census, hyperlinked above in this chart.

See above; understanding the life and words of Sojourner Truth helps students to understand the complexity and intersectionality of both the women’s rights movement and the abolitionist movement.

“The years of 1854-1861 were a turbulent time in Kansas territory. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 …allowed the residents of these territories to decide by popular vote whether their state would be free or slave. This concept of self-determination was called popular sovereignty'. …Three distinct political groups occupied Kansas: pro-slavers, free-staters and abolitionists. Violence broke out immediately between these opposing factions and continued until 1861 when Kansas entered the Union as a free state on January 29th. This era became forever known as ‘Bleeding Kansas’.” (National Park Service, link at right.)

This photograph pairs with the text in the row below from the Women’s Rights Convention of 1853, when Sojourner Truth spoke to the group.

The Women’s Rights Convention: The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 is a significant event in the fight for women’s rights and for women’s suffrage, though activists at the convention itself debated whether suffrage should be the center point of their platform. In addition, the Seneca Falls Convention is now widely understood to represent some tension between the women’s rights movement and the abolitionist movement; some activists at the time felt that the right to vote should not go to black men before white women. In this collection of documents, Sojourner Truth’s speech to a smaller, subsequent convention – one held in New York in 1853 – is included, largely because of the critical role Sojourner Truth plays in demonstrating the importance of the intersectionality of both the women’s rights and abolitionist movements.

This treaty established a tenuous peace between Americans and Native Americans. As explained in Smithsonian Magazine, “The Treaty with the Delaware Nation, signed at Fort Pitt in September 1778, represents a time when the newly independent United States needed American Indian allies to drive British troops from forts and outposts west of the Appalachian Mountains. Despite the treaty’s provisions, however, conflict continued in the Ohio Territory, leading the Delaware people to look for safer lands farther north and west.”

Washington, arguably the most respected foundational leader, was very clear about not getting involved in “foreign entanglements.” It’s important to contemplate his prescriptive advice and how close (or far) America has lived up to his vision.

Article 11 of this treaty established the United States as not being considered a “Christian Nation” by a foreign country. This would play an important part in diplomatic relations, especially with “non-Christian nations.” As one of our earlier treaties, this is also important because it sets the tone for foreign policy.

This item details “Monroe’s Doctrine” in President Monroe’s annual  message to Congress. President Monroe buried a very serious global policy within the text of a routine speech. In it, he warned European powers to recognize the western hemisphere as America’s sphere of influence. His words are important to study how U.S. policy shifted in a drastic way.

This cartoon is a satirical look at presidential power. IN it there is “A satirical view of the scramble among newly elected President James K. Polk's 1844 campaign supporters, or "patriots," for "their beans," i.e., patronage and other official favors.”

Many people who were annexed by the United States tried to resist. This document shows how native Hawaiians did not want to be part of the United States.

A session held by the Anti-imperialist league, this meeting consisted of people who spoke out against the U.S. annexation of the Philippines. It represents a domestic attitude about imperial ambitions.

Simply titled, “Pacifists,” this photo shows how many Americans wanted a more democratic process to foreign involvement with the implicit understanding that Americans do not desire foreign involvement.

Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen points were statements of principles that outlined why the United States was entering the first World War. In other words, it was a clear statement of what Americans were fighting for. To many historians, this marked the end of isolationism.

This picture shows how kids were recruited to help make “victory gardens” and help win the war effort. It’s useful for demonstrating how Americans at home supported war goals.

This source shows a time when an American argued in favor of American intervention on behalf of Haiti, Liberia, and Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

These images are telegrams sent from Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady, to President Roosevelt, and his response.  According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, “in February 1939, the First Lady joined a list of prominent Americans who supported the passage of the Wagner-Rogers Bill, which proposed to ‘permit the entry of 20,000 German refugee children, ages 14 and under, into the United States’ over a two-year period and outside of the existing, restrictive immigration quota system. Though she was often outspoken on behalf of causes she cared about, this was the first time she publicly endorsed a piece of pending legislation as first lady. Eleanor Roosevelt told reporters that the bill was ‘a wise way to do a humanitarian act.’ The president never officially commented on the proposed legislation. The bill was never voted on.”

This Presidential Proclamation, which followed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, set the stage for the incarceration of Japanese Americans. Under this proclamation, even Japanese-American citizens were treated as “enemy aliens,” deprived of their Constitutional rights, and removed from their homes into internment camps for the duration of the war.

These two iconic images are most closely associated with their use during World War II, though the “Uncle Sam” character was first created during World War I. The Department of Defense refers to these images, intended to recruit soldiers to fight and women to work in the factories to support the war effort, as the “social media of the time.” The “We Can Do It” poster introduced the character of Rosie the Riveter, intended to attract more women to fill jobs left vacant by men leaving for the armed forces.

On February 11, 1945, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement. The three world leaders negotiated plans for the governance of Europe following the end of World War II.

In this draft of a speech WEB DuBois was critiquing war as a means to perpetuate supremacy. He argued against involvement.

This source shows the impact television made on foreign policy. Nixon and Kruschev debated about the merits of their respective economic types.

This satirical cartoon shows the seemingly inevitable nature of nuclear war, after getting entangled with The Soviet Union. It can be used to show how close the United States came to nuclear war and the results of brinkmanship policy.

A massive movement against the war in Vietnam, protestors took to the streets to voice their outrage in U.S. policy, arguing for less intervention in global affairs.

This meeting between the U.S. president and leaders from Egypt and Israel successfully produced the basis for an Egyptian-Israeli peace, in the form of two “Framework” documents, which laid out the principles of a bilateral peace agreement as well as a formula for Palestinian self-government in Gaza and the West Bank.