US History

--Rachel Yarnell Thompson
This retrospective on the Marshall Plan for post-World War II Europe offers an assessment of a successful U.S. reconstruction program that benefited both the donor and the recipients.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6706/6706316.pdf

--Susan Hoffman Fishman
The attempted escape of more than seventy slaves aboard a ship called the Pearl spotlights issues of morality and law, slavery in a democratic society, and the inherent challenges in deciphering history.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6705/6705261.pdf

--Benjamin Justice
Martin Scorsese’s movie joins a long list of films that have attempted to cater to the public’s fascination with history. Although promises of historical accuracy may woo movie goers to the theater, the author argues that big budget films should not pass fiction off as fact.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6704/6704213.pdf

--Theresa McDevitt
African American women played key roles in the Civil War, providing valuable military intelligence to the Union army.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6705/6705254.pdf

--Michael Hussey and Lee Ann Potter
During World War II, the Library of Congress went to extraordinary lengths to protect the nation’s founding documents in case of an attack on the capital.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6705/6705248.pdf

--Lee Ann Potter
The letter featured in this article offers insight into the mutual respect shared between author John Steinbeck and former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Although Steinbeck’s opinion on the Vietnam War varied, he was a strong supporter of Johnson’s position on the war at the time the letter was written.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6704/6704196.pdf

--Charles F. Williams
The Constitution gives Congress—not the president—the power to declare war, but Congress has used that power only five times.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6703/6703128.pdf

--An Information Section Prepared by the Staff of Social Education
This special section provides resources and teaching tips for addressing the war and helping students deal with unfolding events.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6703/6703126.pdf

—Lee Ann Potter, Karen Needles, and Marisa Wilairat
The purchase of the Louisiana territory provides teachers with a perfect launch of classroom discussion on how the government funded this acquisition.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6702/6702100.pdf

--National Museum of the American Indian
This lesson plan offers insight into the Cherokee experience during the native group’s forced nineteenth-century relocation by the federal government in what became known as the “Trail of Tears.”

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6807/6807466.pdf