In this interactive lesson, students learn about the economic and political status of American women in the early 19th century as a backdrop to the first women’s rights convention in 1848. At Seneca Falls, New York, the convention’s leaders issued the Declaration of Sentiments, a statement of women’s grievances and resolutions for change. Students will analyze the similarities and differences between the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Sentiments and then answer the lesson’s essential question: How did the Declaration of Independence inspire the women’s rights movement in the United States and influence the Declaration of Sentiments? (Grades 6-12)

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From PBS LearningMedia

In this interactive lesson, students will learn how David Walker, a Black abolitionist and author of the infamous publication Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829), used the Declaration of Independence to promote his belief in radical resistance and the immediate abolition of slavery. (Grades 6-12)

Related Interactive Lessons:

Civil Rights Movement: The Declaration’s Influence | Interactive Lesson

Enslaved Women Seeking Freedom through the Courts | Interactive

From PBS LearningMedia

In this interactive lesson, students will learn about the ways in which various groups of people, including women, enslaved people, men without property, Jews, Muslims, and Indigenous people, sought to be represented in the values of the American Revolution that were embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” it set the stage for unprecedented ways to imagine building a society, based on the principles of liberty and equality, where everyone could have a voice. (Grades 6-12)

From PBS LearningMedia

In this interactive lesson, students will examine the ways in which women contributed to the American Revolution. From leading economic boycotts, to fighting on the battlefield, to leading peace negotiations, women significantly contributed to both Revolutionary efforts and Loyalist causes in Revolutionary America. Students will learn about women’s economic, political, military, and social contributions as well as the personal stories of such women as Penelope Barker, Margaret Cochran Corbin, Phillis Wheatley, and Peggy Shippen. At the end of this lesson, students will be asked to write an essay to answer the essential question: In what ways did women contribute to the Revolutionary War effort, and why are their contributions important to fully understanding this period in history? (Grades 9-12)

From PBS LearningMedia

In this interactive lesson, students investigate how Haudenosaunees and Cherokees experienced the American Revolution and how their interactions with colonists shaped those experiences. Building on their understanding of various causes of the War for Independence, students evaluate the importance of land in the conflict from Native perspectives. Students explore the essential question: how did Native nations, including the Haudenosaunee League and the Cherokee Nation, experience the American Revolution, and to what extent was land central to their experience of it? (Grades 9-12)

About the Author
Meghan Selway is a freelance educator, former museum educator, 15 year classroom veteran teacher, professional development leader for teachers, and curriculum developer. She’s worked with school districts across California, PBS Learning Media, C-SPAN Education, the California History Project, the Autry Museum, and more. Her passion is to provide teachers with the resources and support to create lifelong learners in today’s youth.

From PBS LearningMedia

Learn what life was like for young children and everyday people before, during, and after the American Revolution through the experiences of Betsy Ambler, a young girl who came of age during the war. Students explore the challenges that children and families faced and how their lives were altered by the American Revolution. By engaging in this interactive, students consider the following essential question: how did everyday young people, such as Betsy Ambler, experience the American Revolution? (Grades 3-8)

From PBS LearningMedia

In this interactive lesson, students step into the Founding Era to explore multiple perspectives and hopes for American democracy. Students identify the hopes and ideas for American democracy for different groups and individuals such as the Haudenosaunee, Phillis Wheatley, James Forten, Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington, and Benjamin Rush. They also explore the key principles of American democracy each group or individual championed and examine how each group or individual’s desires revealed the limitations of democracy during this time. (Grades 6-12)

Students synthesize their knowledge by writing a response to the essential question: What did democracy mean to Americans during the Founding Era?

About the Author: About the Author:
Passionate about fostering critical thinking, media literacy, and informed citizenship, Mary Kate Lonergan spent 16 years teaching middle and high school social studies before taking her current role, where she serves as the Social Studies Curriculum Specialist at Fayetteville-Manlius Central Schools. She emphasizes media literacy as a core element of the social studies curriculum. Lonergan is a KQED Media Literacy Innovator, acts as a Teacher Collaborator and consultant with Ithaca College’s Project Look Sharp, and served as a mentor-coach with the Media Education Lab’s MediaEd Institute. As a PBS certified media literacy educator, Lonergan has developed social studies and media literacy-centered lesson plans featured on PBS LearningMedia, including other Ken Burns films.

From PBS LearningMedia