Abraham Lincoln wove his words into the fabric of American history. In the 21st century, Lincoln's political language remains more contemporary than all but the most timeless of the political language of the American Founding. This course is a study of selected Lincoln speeches aiming to illuminate Lincoln's understanding of the relation of the principles of the American Founding to the most pressing issues of his day.

No specifics available.

This course is an intensive study of the Constitutional Convention, the struggle over ratification of the Constitution, and the creation of the Bill of Rights. It will include a close examination of the Federalist Papers and the Antifederalist papers.

This free weekend will feature "field trip" tours of Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg, focusing on techniques teachers can use to make a battlefield visit a central part of their Civil War curriculum. This event is open to all teachers and school librarians grades K–12, not just history teachers.

This workshop explores the American Revolution and the creation of the U.S. Constitution through the use of the National Constitution Center's innovative museum exhibits, lectures by leading scholars, interactive discussion, and visits to numerous historic landmarks.

This workshop explores the American Revolution and the creation of the U.S. Constitution through the use of the National Constitution Center's innovative museum exhibits, lectures by leading scholars, interactive discussion, and visits to numerous historic landmarks.

The America's Industrial Revolution workshop at the Henry Ford will draw together K–12 educators with leading humanities scholars and museum staff for unique enrichment exercises centered on the impact of industrialization. The workshop is designed to encourage participant curiosity and deepen knowledge on the subject, engage participants with innovative methods of transmitting enthusiasm and content to students, and empower participants to use cultural resources to enliven the teaching and learning of history. Participants will explore the diverse ways that Americans experienced social change between the 1760s and the 1920s through lecture/discussions and by visiting with museum curators at 12 of the 80 historic sites interpreted in Greenfield Village, including Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory, Hermitage Plantation Slave Quarters, 1760s Daggett Farm, 1880s Firestone Farm, a railroad roundhouse, and a 19th-century grist mill. In addition, time is set aside each day for exploration of archival sources in the Benson Ford Research Center and to work on individual lesson plans for implementation back home. The week's activities will culminate with a visit to a related National Historic Landmark, the Ford Motor Company's Rouge Industrial Complex.

The Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminars are designed to strengthen participants' commitment to high quality history teaching. Public, parochial, independent school teachers, and National Park Service rangers are eligible. These week-long seminars provide intellectual stimulation and a collaborative context for developing practical resources and strategies to take back to the classroom.

This seminar will consider two different American Revolutions. One was the struggle for American self-determination. The second was the ongoing struggle for liberty and equality enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. Participants will consider the ideological, economic, social, and political causes of the War for Independence. They will also consider the war as a political, military, and social struggle. This course will discuss critical steps made during and after the war for liberty and equality: the abolition of slavery in the North, enhancement of women's roles, and enfranchisement of unpropertied white men. Since New York figured as a critical field of conflict in both American Revolutions, the seminar will take advantage of its location in New York to visit some of the most important Revolutionary sites.

Designed for elementary social studies teachers who teach United States history and government, this intensive week-long workshop will immerse participants in early American history "on location" in Williamsburg, the restored capital city of 18th-century Virginia, and nearby Jamestown and Yorktown. 25 teachers and a returning mentor teacher will be selected for each session. Participants will be involved in an interdisciplinary approach to teaching social studies with colonial American history as the focus. Teachers will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with noted historians, meet character interpreters, and take part in reenactments of 18th-century events. They will review various interactive teaching techniques with a mentor teacher and with each other. Instructional materials in a variety of media will be provided to participants to use in their classrooms. Together with Colonial Williamsburg staff, teachers will prepare new instructional materials for use in their own classrooms.