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Archiving Early America: Historic Documents:
http://www.earlyamerica.com/index.html Archiving Early America is a compilation of eighteenth-century newspapers, maps, magazines, and portraits. The site also includes the "Town Crier," a series of four discussion forums and bulletin boards about early America allowing participants to swap facts and ideas about a variety of subjects. Visitors can also search through all issues of The Early America Review, an online magazine of eighteenth-century U.S. history. Several of the articles on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin can be adapted for the classroom, as can the site's selection of thematic crossword puzzles.
Benjamin Franklin: Glimpses of the Man:
http://www.sln.fi.edu/franklin/rotten.html [link unavailable as of 6/13/00] The Franklin Institute Science Museum's web site on Benjamin Franklin highlights his contribution to each of his numerous professions. A short movie, Glimpses of the Man (requiring a Quicktime plugin), illustrates some of this founding father's accomplishments. The page devoted to Franklin's achievements as a statesman offers links to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The site's designers have included pages of resource materials and enrichment activities appropriate for use in the classroom. The former lists online and library resources related to Franklin, while the latter contains five activities geared primarily toward students in grades 4-8.
Discovering Lewis and Clark:
http://www.lewis-clark.org This multimedia web site on the expedition of Lewis and Clark is a prototype and workshop for a CD-ROM. The site highlights a nineteen-part overview of the journey written by Harry Fritz, a history professor at the University of Montana. The overview, filled with moving pictures, sound files, journal entries, and a clickable map, allows students to trace Lewis and Clark's expedition while learning about the Native Americans, geography, and wildlife the explorers encountered along the way.
Erie Canal Online:
http://www.syracuse.com/ features/eriecanal/ A service of Syracuse OnLine, this web site provides a multimedia history of the Erie Canal, completed in 1825 to link Albany with Buffalo. Particularly useful for students is the "Life on the Erie Canal" section, which traces the journey of a fourteen year old girl during the nineteenth century. Students can also follow the 1996 trek of two journalists along the canal in a canoe. Visitors to the site can access a map of the area, view a canal timeline, and listen to the Erie Canal song.
Fort McHenry: Birthplace of the National Anthem:
http://www.bcpl.lib.md.us/ ~etowner/patriots.html In addition to providing a modern look at Fort McHenry, this site discusses the 13 September 1814 Battle of Baltimore, during which poet Francis Scott Key was inspired to write "The Star Spangled Banner." Visitors can access "The Hidden World of Fort McHenry" for highlights of some of the fort's 30,000 artifacts. This archaeological record not only provides an idea of what the fort looked like in Key's day, but also gives students insight into military life during the early republic. On a related subject, a free teacher's manual and video about "The Star Spangled Banner" can be obtained through the History Channel's web page, http://www.historychannel.com
From Revolution to Reconstruction: Historical Outlines:
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa The creators of this web site, maintained by the University of Gronigen (Netherlands), have assembled numerous outlines of U.S. history and embellished them with links to historic documents, original essays, and other web sites. Under the "Documents" section, the index for 1776-1800 includes presidential inaugural and farewell addresses, as well as writings related to the Bill of Rights, amendments to the Constitution, and other similar documents. The "Biographies" index presents information on American historical figures, while the "Presidents" section infuses biographies with actual documents and writings pertaining to each president.
George Washington's Mount Vernon:
http://www.mountvernon.org This site features a virtual tour of George Washington's mansion, as well as a section devoted to the archaeological record discovered on the grounds. Visitors with questions about archaeological evidence discovered at Mount Vernon can e-mail the archaeology department. Educational resources available on this site include biographical information, a quiz, an image gallery, and a section devoted to Washington's views on slavery. "George Washington: Pioneer Farmer" gives students a chance to see the innovations Washington made to eighteenth-century agriculture; classroom activities revolve around designing improvements for the farm.
Independence National Historical Park Online:
http://www.nps.gov/inde/visit.html The historic landmarks of Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park comprise the focus of the site. The landmarks, each of which has its own page complete with pictures, include Independence Hall (site of the drafting of the Constitution in 1787), Christ Church (where four signers of the Constitution are buried), Franklin Court (a "ghost steel" outline of Benjamin Franklin's house), Congress Hall (meeting site of the U.S. Congress from 1790-1800), and Old City Hall (the residence of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1791-1800). Also included on this site is a map of historic Philadelphia.
Lewis and Clark Online:
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark PBS's comprehensive web site on Lewis and Clark serves as a companion to Ken Burns's documentary Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery. The authors of the site have created lists of the supplies, equipment, and preparations necessary for the trek, as well as a section devoted to the numerous Native American cultures with which the explorers came into contact. Visitors can also access portions of Lewis and Clark's actual journals, a handful of historic maps, a timeline of the journey, and interviews with modern experts. In addition, the site provides related classroom activities by award-winning educators. The "Language Chain" game gives students a chance to discover the difficulties Lewis and Clark encountered while attempting to communicate with Native Americans.
Lewis and Clark: Online Base Camp:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ lewisclark/index.html National Geographic's Lewis and Clark web site is an interactive adventure site focusing primarily on the geography of the expedition. Although most of the site is geared toward middle schoolers, "Go West Across America" caters to elementary school students. Featuring children's book illustrations in motion, this section provides a simplified version of the expedition. Students "register" as members of the journey and help Lewis and Clark make decisions about the trek. Simple journal entries assist students in their decisions, while a map shows them where they have been. The site also includes a place for students to submit their own expedition stories, an activity that can be incorporated into the classroom.
Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/s0.html Compiled from the holdings of the Library of Congress, the Temple of Liberty explores the various designs submitted by the public for both the original Capitol building in 1791 and its nineteenth-century extension. Students can access several of the rejected plans, as well as the winning design, its facade, floor plan, and interior decoration. The site also includes a section on early prints, engravings, and lithographs of the finished building, as well as advertisements and merchandise using the Capitol building as a logo. The authors have also compiled sketches for proposed symbols of the new country before the eagle was ultimately selected.
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello:
http://www.monticello.org Monticello's official web site gives visitors the opportunity to learn all about the country's third president and his Virginia home. The "Day in the Life" section profiles Jefferson's daily routine, habits, and activities, and provides pictures of Jefferson's own inventions scattered throughout the house. The "Matters of Fact" section includes the results of the Jefferson-Hemings DNA testing, an extensive bibliography and list of Jefferson quotations, and lesson plans involving riddles, recipes, and games pertaining to Jefferson and Monticello. Students may e-mail questions to "Thomas Jefferson," to which he will respond via e-mail in an eighteenth-century style.
U.S. Founding Documents Online:
http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/ Emory University's School of Law maintains this web site, which provides many documents related to the founding of the United States. Of particular note is its section on the Federalist Papers, a collection of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison in 1787 and 1788 as a means of garnering support for the proposed Constitution. In addition to reading all eighty-five essays, visitors have the opportunity to use the site's search capabilities, which will look for entered keywords found in the Federalist Papers. Additionally, http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/conpict.html contains scanned originals of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.
You Be the Historian:
http://www.si.edu/organiza/museums /nmah/notkid/ubh/00intro.htm This exhibit, part of the Smithsonian Institution's online museum, presents students with pictures of some late-eighteenth-century artifacts found in Thomas and Elizabeth Springer's home in New Castle, Delaware. After examining the artifacts and creating their own interpretation of life in the early republic, students can learn what historians have said about the items. This site also includes "What About You?", which allows students to imagine what an archaeologist fifty years from now could learn about them from their houses. The site designers have included a teacher's guide suggesting ways in which to incorporate this site into a lesson and classroom activity.
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