Explore Resources

Explore why the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution and its enduring impact on defining our rights. In this interactive lesson from WGBH, students develop a written argument in response to the question “How does the Bill of Rights establish and continue to define the rights we have as Americans?” They gather evidence from videos featuring historian Ben Weber and from primary source documents. This resource was originally developed for the Writing in U.S. History collection, the Calderwood Writing Course: U.S. History.

Explore  the motivations for the Louisiana Purchase, as well as the terms of the purchase and its consequences. In this interactive lesson from WGBH, students develop a written argument in response to the question “Do you agree that the Louisiana Purchase was a ‘most splendid’ event?” They gather evidence from videos featuring historian Ben Weber and from primary source documents, images, and maps. This resource was originally developed for the Writing in U.S. History collection, the Calderwood Writing Course: U.S. History.