Spotlight on Elementary Education

History has been shaped and influenced by the out come of ancient trials—such as the Trial of Socrates in 399B.C.—to Rosenberg Trial in the 1950s. This site offers a comprehensive look at 50 prominent court trials throughout history and its resources can be used to give young learners an introduction to the history of the modern judicial system.

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Website Reviews

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Thomas Jefferson Papers

The largest collection of original Jefferson documents in the world. Really [...] »

Heading West and Touring West

View maps of the West, while simultaneously looking into the lives of [...] »

Biddle Edition Archive
Illustration, Woodpecker, C. W. Peale, Biddle Edition Archive

Why did seven years pass between the Lewis and Clark Expedition and their [...] »

History Quiz

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Close Up on Hispanic American Heritage

Take a look at these fragments from U.S. history. What are they? Where do [...] »

In Dr. King's Words

People can identify (some of) the words of Martin Luther King Jr. Can you [...] »

Westward Expansion: Image vs. Reality

East or West? See if you can determine which region produced these images on [...] »

Beyond the Textbook

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John Brown's Raid
Painting, John Brown, 1867, Thomas S. Noble, NYPL Digital Gallery

Did Northerners all respond the same way to Brown's infamous raid? [...] »

Coal and the Industrial Revolution
Photo, At the close of the day, January 1911, Lewis Hine, Library of Congress

How can the story of coal help students understand the nature of today's [...] »

Denmark Vesey
An official report of the trials of sundry Negroes, 1822

Tried and executed in 1822, along with many other slaves, for a plotted [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
Tennessee Valley Authority

Read the act that gave way to the Tennessee Valley Authority, a major New [...] »

U.S. Air Force

From pilots to shuttle central command, how does the Air Force fulfill its [...] »

Federal Judicial Center
Photo, Harry Anstead. . . , 2000, Newhall Photography, Flickr Commons

The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency for federal [...] »

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Hawaiian Statehood
Screencap, 49th State Albums, 3 Dec 2012

Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1898. Why did it take more than 60 years [...] »