Resource Links - U.S. History

Early America / American Revolution / Civil War / Westward Expansion / U.S. Constitution

General

Animated Atlas: Growth of a Nation

http://www.animatedatlas.com/movie.html

A ten minute narrated movie, divided into smaller segments, which depicts the geographic history of the United States from the beginning of the nation to fifty states. Geographic elements are interactive, as is the timeline. It will take sixty seconds to load with a 56K modem.

An Outline of American History - From Revolution to Reconstruction

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/H/1994/ch2_p1.htm

Colonial Charters and other Primary Source Documents

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/statech.htm#ma
Be sure to scroll down, each listing is a link to a document.

Early America

Farming in the Colonies

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13coloniesfarm.htm

Historical Maps of the United States

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_sites/hist_sites.html#US

Rare Map Collection - Colonial America

http://scarlett.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/colamer.html

Betsy Ross Homepage

http://www.ushistory.org/betsy

Biographies of America's Founding Fathers

http://www.colonialhall.com/biography.php

Children in Colonial Times

http://www.nps.gov/fofr/col_kids.htm

Good overview of kids' lives in the colonial era. Be sure to read about mealtimes! 

Girls on the Mayflower

http://members.aol.com/calebj/girls.html

Did you know that in colonial times both boys and girls wore the same type of clothing until the age of eight? Visit this site to see what this clothing looked like and to learn what it was like to be a child aboard the Mayflower.

Archiving Early America

http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/

This site allows you to explore early America through its newspapers, maps, and other primary sources. Be sure to visit the Gallery of Early American Portraits.

You Be The Historian

http://americanhistory.si.edu/kids/springer/

Based on photographs of objects and documents, can you figure out what life was like 200 years ago for a Delaware family? Visit this site and play the role of a historian! 

Colonial Williamsburg

http://www.history.org

Find resources here to use for research or further activities in various aspects of colonial life, including food, clothing, family, animals, politics, tools, trades, etc.You can meet the people, see the places, and experience colonial life through photos, text, and links to other references.  

Yahooligans Directory of Web Sites for Colonial Life: 1585 to 1783

http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/Around_the_World/Countries/United_States/History/Colonial_Life__1585_1783_/13_Colonies/

The Settlement at Jamestown, John Smith (1607)

http://www.nationalcenter.org/SettlementofJamestown.html
Including the famous account of Smith being saved by Pocahontas.

The Colony at Roanoke

http://www.nationalcenter.org/ColonyofRoanoke.html

Thirteen Originals: Founding the American Colonies

http://www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html
This site has many links to the different colonies. Scroll down to learn much more.

The American Colonies Chart

http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/colchart.html

Jamestown Online Adventure

http://www.historyglobe.com/jamestown/

America's Story

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/colonial

Clothing - Pilgrims

http://members.aol.com/calebj/clothing.html

A Colonial Family and Community

http://www.hfmgv.org/education/smartfun/colonial/intro/intro.html

Colonial Jobs or Occupations

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~sam/occupation.html

Jobs in Williamsburg

http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/trades/tradehdr.cfm

Schooling and Education

http://alumni.cc.gettysburg.edu/~s330558/schooling.html

Colonial Era Photos

http://www.mohicanpress.com/mo08020.html

American Revolution

Liberty! The American Revolution

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/

PBS site that has links to information, etc. about the events leading up to and including the American Revolution.

From Revolution to Reconstruction

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/index.html

The History Place- American Revolution Timeline

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/index.html

The Birth of a Nation- Award Winning 6th Grade ThinkQuest Project

http://tqjunior.advanced.org/3803/

Paul Revere Virtual Museum

http://www.cvesd.k12.ca.us/finney/paulvm/foyer.html

Boston Massacre Interactive

http://www.bostonhistory.org/bostonmassacre/game.html

Civil War

U.S. Civil War Center -- Index of Civil War Information available on the Internet

http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/

The American Civil War Homepage

http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/

Menare Foundation-Underground Railroad Resource

http://www.ugrr.org/

The Battle Of Gettysburg

http://www.gettysbg.com/battle.html

Dear Mr. Lincoln...

http://www.gettysbg.com/dearmr.html

Civil War Homepage

http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html

This site provides a comprehensive listing of links to all aspects of the Civil War,

an excellent reference bookmark for any class studying the Civil War.

Civil War for Kids

http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/civilwar/cwar.htm

Information, links, that are kid friendly

Virtual Tour of Gettysburg Battlefield

http://www.nps.gov/gett/gnmpvtour/getttour.htm

National Park site about Gettysburg

The Monitor

http://www.mariner.org/monitor/

Use this wonderful site as a resource for daily life, primary source, photos, journals, etc.

Civil War Photographs

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphone.html

Visit here for Civil War photographs. 

The Civil War at the Smithsonian

http://civilwar.si.edu/home.html

The Smithsonian in Washington D.C. looked through it archives, and in some cases, its own history as an institution, and created this online resource about the Civil War. Digitized images cover slavery and abolition, the weapons and leaders of the war, and the life and culture of the times.

The American Civil War Homepage

http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html

Index of Civil War Information available on the Internet

http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/cwc/civlink.htm#cwres

The Civil War Homepage

http://www.civil-war.net/main.html
Use links on the left side to search for your topic

The Civil War and Reconstruction

http://quaboag.k12.ma.us/library/virtual/civwar.html
1850-1877, many links to civil war information and slave narratives.

The Shrewbury Middle School

http://www.ci.shrewsbury.ma.us/Sps/Schools/Central/Curriculum/lf7.html#civw
T his site has many excellent links about the Civil War. Scroll down about half way to Social Studies-Civil War. 

Selected Civil War photographs from:

Library of Congress

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphome.html
Over 1000 pictures.

The National Archives

http://www.treasurenet.com/images/civilwar/
Arranged by subject

Civil War Maps

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/cwmhtml/cwmhome.html
F rom the Library of Congress

The Abraham Lincoln Virtual Library

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alhome.html
Thousands of documents about the life and times of the 16th president.

Band Music of the Civil War EraThe Valley of the Shadow Project

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwmhtml/cwmhome.html
T akes two communities, one Northern and one Southern, through the experience of theAmerican Civil War.

Westward Expansion

America's West - Development History (be sure to scroll down)

http://www.americanwest.com/

The American West

http://www.americanwest.com/index2.htm

Excellent overview of Western expansion. Biographies of individuals and a sizable selection of images.

 

People of the West

A Biographical Dictionary

http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/

The California Gold Rush

California's Untold Stories A Brief HistoryThe Great American

http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/

Gold RushPBS Gold RushA Virtual TourGold Rush Chronology

http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/home.html

The Homestead Act

The Homestead Act from America's Library The Homestead

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/pages/jb_0520_homested_1.html

Act of 1862The Homestead Act of 1862Today in History from the Library of Congress

http://www.beatricene.com/homestead/history.html

The Transcontinental Railroad

Transcontinental Railroad Driving the Last

http://www.blm.gov/education/railroads/trans.html

SpikePhotographic History MuseumThe Chinese-American

http://cprr.org/

ContributionCalifornia State Railroad MuseumRailroad Lines - MapHistorical TimelineThe Iron Road

http://cprr.org/Museum/Chinese.html

The Donner Party

A Donner Party Homepage

http://www.teleport.com/~mhaller/

John Sutter Sends Help

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/donner.html

Route to Hell

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/donner/route2hell2.html

Maps

http://members.aol.com/DanMRosen/donner/maps.htm

Transcript from The American Experience

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/donner/donnerts.html

Unable to Resist the Lure

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/donner/donnerts.html

Donner Memorial State Park

http://ceres.ca.gov/sierradsp/donner.html

Virginia Reed Murphy's Story

http://www.teleport.com/~mhaller/Primary/VReed/VReed1.html

Oregon Trail

All About the Trail

http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Allabout.html

Discoverers and Explorers

http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Discoverers.html

Oregon Trail Diaries and Journals

http://endoftheoregontrail.org/road2oregon/sa26diaries.html

Outfitting for the Trail

http://endoftheoregontrail.org/road2oregon/sa15outfitting.html

The Wagons

http://endoftheoregontrail.org/wagons.html

Daily Life on the Trail

http://endoftheoregontrail.org/road2oregon/sa18death.html

Photos Along the Trail

http://calcite.rocky.edu/octa/photos.htm

Trading Posts and Forts

http://endoftheoregontrail.org/road2oregon/sa13forts.html

Trail Facts

http://calcite.rocky.edu/octa/facts.htm

Trail Graves

http://calcite.rocky.edu/octa/graves.htm

Fantastic Facts About the Oregon Trail

http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Facts.html

Historic Sites on the Oregon Trail

http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Sites.html

Oregon Trail Webquest

http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us/hschool/webq/webq58/page1.htm
Online research on the Oregon Trail----them compile a list of necessities to take (and defend them). Create daily trail journal

The Oregon Trail

http://home.earthlink.net/~pknibbe/OregonTrail/

U.S. Constitution

Military Commissions Act

Updated 9/17/09