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The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is the world's premier university source for market-oriented ideas-bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems. A university-based research center, the Mercatus Center advances knowledge about how markets work to improve people's lives by training graduate students, conducting research, and applying economics to offer solutions to society's most pressing problems. Our mission is to generate knowledge and understanding of the institutions that affect the freedom to prosper, and to find sustainable solutions that overcome the barriers preventing individuals from living free, prosperous, and peaceful lives. Founded in 1980, the Mercatus Center is located on George Mason University's Arlington campus.

This lesson plan from the New York Times web site utilizes the newspaper to teach high school students about First Amendment rights and the daily impact of those rights on their lives.

This lesson plan from the New York Times web site has students locate, summarize and reflect on articles in the newspaper related to First Amendment rights as well as articles illustrating the lack of such rights in other countries.

This is the official website of the Tenement Museum in NYC. I LOVE this museum, and if you have yet to have seen it, I highly recommend visiting the next time you are in the city. I have added this page mostly because of the "virtual tour" you can take of one of their tenements, which could be used as a resource for teachers who cannot take students there in person. They also have a number of primary document lesson plans available for different age ranges. Their exhibits are revealing of the lives led by immigrants in late 19th and early 20th century New York City.

Worldology.com was conceived with the objective of making history and geopolitics (the relationship and dynamic between geography and politics) more easily digestible and understandable. As one who has long been interested in this topic, I have been intrigued by the possibility of more imaginative ways to bring this field of understanding to life. This led to the idea of graphical and interactive maps to enable myself and others to more acutely visualize the evolution of nations and cultures. As the creator of Worldology.com, I have found that maps have been very useful in simplifying and deepening my understanding of historical events, along with long-standing and on-going dynamics between various nations. However, most published content about important events throughout history are not accompanied by an event-specific map. With this in mind, I envisioned an application that provided an event-specific map for key developments throughout history, along with an expanded geographical view, in order to comprehend the region-wide context. For interactivity, mouseovers were imbedded so the visitor could access more detailed information of key events, along with added graphics for further illumination. Then, you can toggle back and forth between time frames, to gain a feel of the evolution of the geopolitical landscape over time. For example, in the Europe History Interactive Map, you can click back and forth through major time periods, gaining an overview of how tribes, kingdoms, empires and nation-states fluctuated throughout time. During the Middle Ages for instance, you can simultaneously see how the Frankish Empire (Western/Central Europe), Byzantine Empire (Greece) and Rus Principalities (Russia) evolved concurrently with one another. Then, you can mouseover the information buttons to learn more. You can even switch to the "Show Borders" view in order to see modern European borders overlayed upon long-ago political entities. I hope to eventually cover the entire

The only thing that really matters at the end of it all is that our lives were filled with joy. Here are 7 ways to create more happiness in your life.

One more interesting website with lots of resources on the history of Ireland and its people; this specific site I've tagged is yet again regarding the potato blight. It some more images that could be used in the classroom.

The History Place is a privately-run website that provides content to educators on a wide variety of historical subject. I have included this section on the Irish Potato Famine, as it was one of the more compelling narratives I found on the internet.

This curriculum provides various lesson plans, activities, graphic organizers, resources, and a video to have students connect world events to their own lives and others in their community, in relation to understanding global terrorism.

An honest and (sometimes) brutal look at soldiers' lives during the Vietnam War. There is a haunting collection of war photography and an overview of the war itself. It should be noted that this site is highly biased with a Western sphere of knowledge and should be used with that understanding. Note: pictures on this site may not be used due to copyright law.

I absolutely LOVE the National Geographic Website as a social studies tool. I've specifically used it in civics classes or geography classes for students to study current events, but the options are endless. They have videos, pictures and great information.

Having grown up in Bethesda, I am well aware of the preoccupation with the ranking of U.S. schools. This article shares some insight into how two of the more popular (or circulated) ranking systems come up with their results.

Interactive Constitution! Broken down into Preamble, Articles, and Amendments, which are each broken down into the original text, and then if you click different pieces of the text it explains what they mean. You can also search the entire constitution for key words, search by topics, or search by court case

The Valley of the Shadow (also called the Valley Project) website is a part of the Virginia Center for Digital History at the University of Virginia. The material in the site documents the lives of two communities during the Civil War period; one community from the South and one community from the North. The site is an online library or an archive filled with primary resources such as letter, diaries, census records, government records, newspapers, speeches, maps, images and other materials. The site contains thousands of documents. The archive is divided into three sections: The Eve of War (Fall 1859-Spring 1861), The War Years (Spring 1861-Spring 1865), and The Aftermath (Spring 1865-Fall 1870). An example of one such document is a letter written in August, 1864 by a young militiaman to his parents telling them that he is well and that he will be sending home his pay. I have added a few lines because I find it so interesting and compelling. The letter comes from a camp near Petersburg. Dear Parents it is with the Greatest of Pleashure that I seat My self to inform you and My Brothers and Sisters that I like it well and am well feal Hartey like ite beter now than Ever I did I hope that youens Ar all well and all the Rest about [unclear: tomstorm] ile now state to you that I Received your Letter last Knight And was Glad to here from youens And was glad to here that Youenes wasened yet dissturbed By The Johneys Rebes you Stated in your letter that tha Wes moveing every thing out Of Town now if tha wold be men tha wold take In the same document but another page, the young man writes about his pay. Read this letter we ar getting Paid off to day I draw 1.20.10 that is one hundrad 20 dollars 10 cts Ile ex press 1 hundrade 10 dollars and mebbey fifteen dollars I dont want to ceep so mutch money here I cend it to you and if you want to make youse of it whi you may get the Chirldren wat ever tha want that is in the eating line And Close but you must be A littl

I ran out of room in the box above.....anyway, I am not certain what the citation rules are regarding this but I found the letter on the website that I have bookmarked, The Valley of the Shadow. Anyway, it is a great site….there is soooo much more.

According to this article, long term papers in English and History classes are being shoved out because of standards limitations. Low income, middle class, upper class students all cannot write an essay to save their lives in college and beyond. Joellen and I were highly disturbed that the undergraduates in our Civil War class couldn't deal with footnotes and basic principles of writing. Professor Kraut was also infuriated. If there is anything more risking to our nation, it's poor writing!

I agree with you on the importance of writing longer research essays in high school. The process of writing a long essay is a thorough exercise in understanding something in your own way, and it can be so satisfying upon completion. (like that student in the piece that was GLoWing...i like that feeling)

Youtube Playlist Learn about the political, social, and economic changes in the Union and the Confederacy and the Civil War's long-term economic and intellectual impact. In The Unfinished Revolution: Reconstruction and After, 1865-1890, Professor Eric Foner examines the pivotal but misunderstood era of Reconstruction that followed the Civil War, the first effort in American history to construct an interracial democracy. Beginning with a discussion of the dramatic change in historians' interpretations of the period in the last two generations, Foner goes on to discuss how Reconstruction turned on issues of continued relevance today. Among these are: who is an American citizen and what are citizens' rights; what is the relationship between political and economic freedom; which has the primary responsibility for protecting Americans' rights - the federal or state governments; and how should public authorities respond to episodes of terrorism? The course explores the rewriting of the laws and Constitution to incorporate the principle of equality regardless of race; the accomplishments and failings of Reconstruction governments in the South; the reasons for violent opposition in the South and for the northern retreat from Reconstruction; and the consolidation at the end of the 19th century of a new system of white supremacy. This course is part of the series, The Civil War and Reconstruction, which introduces students to the most pivotal era in American history. The Civil War transformed the nation by eliminating the threat of secession and destroying the institution of slavery. It raised questions that remain central to our understanding of ourselves as a people and a nation - the balance of power between local and national authority, the boundaries of citizenship, and the meanings of freedom and equality. The series will examine the causes of the war, the road to secession, the conduct of the Civil War, the coming of emancipation, and the struggle after the wa

Youtube Playlist Learn about the political, social, and economic changes in the Union and the Confederacy and the Civil War's long-term economic and intellectual impact. A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, 1861-1865 narrates the history of the American Civil War. While the course examines individual engagements and the overall nature of the military conflict, the focus is less on the battlefield than on political, social, and economic change in the Union and the Confederacy. Central to the account are the road to emancipation, the role of black soldiers, the nature of Abraham Lincoln's wartime leadership, internal dissent in both the North and South, the changing position of women in both societies, and the war's long-term economic and intellectual impact. We end with a look at the beginnings of Reconstruction during the conflict. This course is part of the series, The Civil War and Reconstruction, which introduces students to the most pivotal era in American history. The Civil War transformed the nation by eliminating the threat of secession and destroying the institution of slavery. It raised questions that remain central to our understanding of ourselves as a people and a nation - the balance of power between local and national authority, the boundaries of citizenship, and the meanings of freedom and equality. The series will examine the causes of the war, the road to secession, the conduct of the Civil War, the coming of emancipation, and the struggle after the war to breathe meaning into the promise of freedom for four million emancipated slaves. One theme throughout the series is what might be called the politics of history - how the world in which a historian lives affects his or her view of the past, and how historical interpretations reinforce or challenge the social order of the present. See other courses in this series: The Civil War and Reconstruction - 1850-1861 The Civil War and Reconstruction - 1865-1890 "The Civil War and Recons

Youtube Playlist The Civil War and Reconstruction - 1850 -1861 Discover how the issue of slavery came to dominate American politics, and how political leaders struggled and failed to resolve the growing crisis in the nation. A House Divided: The Road to Civil War, 1850-1861 is a course that begins by examining how generations of historians have explained the crisis of the Union. After discussing the institution of slavery and its central role in the southern and national economies, it turns to an account of the political and social history of the 1850s. It traces how the issue of the expansion of slavery came to dominate national politics, and how political leaders struggled, unsuccessfully, to resolve the growing crisis. We will examine the impact of key events such as Bleeding Kansas, the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, and end with the dissolution of the Union in the winter of 1860-61. This course is part of the series, The Civil War and Reconstruction, which introduces students to the most pivotal era in American history. The Civil War transformed the nation by eliminating the threat of secession and destroying the institution of slavery. It raised questions that remain central to our understanding of ourselves as a people and a nation - the balance of power between local and national authority, the boundaries of citizenship, and the meanings of freedom and equality. The series will examine the causes of the war, the road to secession, the conduct of the Civil War, the coming of emancipation, and the struggle after the war to breathe meaning into the promise of freedom for four million emancipated slaves. One theme throughout the series is what might be called the politics of history - how the world in which a historian lives affects his or her view of the past, and how historical interpretations reinforce or challenge the social order of the present. Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor o

Civil War and Reconstruction, which introduces students to the most pivotal era in American history. The Civil War transformed the nation by eliminating the threat of secession and destroying the institution of slavery. It raised questions that remain central to our understanding of ourselves as a people and a nation - the balance of power between local and national authority, the boundaries of citizenship, and the meanings of freedom and equality. This XSeries will examine the causes of the war, the road to secession, the conduct of the Civil War, the coming of emancipation, and the struggle after the war to breathe meaning into the promise of freedom for four million emancipated slaves. One theme throughout the series is what might be called the politics of history - how the world in which a historian lives affects his or her view of the past, and how historical interpretations reinforce or challenge the social order of the present.