On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, the presidential oath of office was administered for the seventieth time, the fifty-eighth such ceremony in a location in Washington, D.C, the fifty-second at the United States Capitol, and the seventh on the west front of the Capitol; but even more historically, for the first time in American history it was taken by an African American.

A prompt that a student, educator or researcher can paste into a chatbot in order to explore the assumptions behind their questions. I hope educators and students may remix this to contextualise it to different contexts.

This resource is a guide to Reconstruction events and elements. It can serve as a refresher, study guide, or introduction to the period.

This is a lesson plan about Reconstruction and the use of the veto during this period. It investigates how members of Congress and President Andrew Johnson utilized their Constitutional powers to shape the Reconstruction Era. 

Four Antarctica researchers describe how they keep warm while working in extreme cold, taking lessons from adaptations of wildlife.

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
● Identify key events of the Civil Rights Movement and their place in time
● Explain the significance of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution in relation to the
expansion of rights for African Americans and how they laid the footing for the Civil Rights Movement
● Summarize central ideas of short, dense text
● Apply Tier 2/academic and Tier 3/domain-specific vocabulary associated with the Civil Rights Movement

Suggestions and resources for hands-on activities to teach elementary students about rocks and minerals.

What exactly does the president do in the White House? Most citizens understand that the President of the United States is the leader of the country, but they may not be able to explain all the duties and powers that come with that position. The Constitution specifically lists several presidential responsibilities. Other presidential roles have developed as our country has grown and changed. Learn about the requirements to become president and how the president carries out some of the major duties of this important position, as well as some historic examples.

In this activity, students will identify and draw conclusions about the relationship between the legislative, executive and judicial branches by critically analyzing primary sources. Using the scale, they will decide whether the United States government more appropriately fits the concept of "separation of powers" or "shared powers." They will formulate an opinion about each document and place it on the scale accordingly, and support their opinions with specific evidence from the primary sources.

Although many people think of the White House as a symbol of democracy, it is also a part of our country’s history of slavery. From the start of White House construction in 1792 until emancipation took effect in Washington, D.C. in 1862, enslaved men, women, and children labored at the Executive Mansion. The stories of these individuals, working under the oppressive institution of slavery in the “People’s House,” demonstrate a stark contrast to the ideals of freedom and democracy that the White House has long represented.

Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience (Second Edition) gives instructors, students, and general readers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of African Americans’ cultural and political history, economic development, artistic expressiveness, and religious and philosophical worldviews in a critical framework. It offers sound interdisciplinary analysis of selected historical and contemporary issues surrounding the origins and manifestations of White supremacy in the United States. By placing race at the center of the work, the book offers significant lessons for understanding the institutional marginalization of Blacks in contemporary America and their historical resistance and perseverance.

Atop the Dome of the U.S. Capitol stands a statue more than 19 feet tall, cast in bronze. Her name is Freedom. American artist Thomas Crawford sculpted Freedom from plaster at his studio in Rome, Italy. Crawford created three designs. The statue was shipped across the ocean in five pieces and assembled by an Italian craftsman for temporary display on the Capitol grounds. Then the pieces were to be taken apart and cast into bronze.The U.S. government hired Clark Mills, who owned a foundry in Washington, D.C., to make the bronze castings. A foundry is a factory where metal is melted for casting. However, the artist who assembled Freedom covered the seams between the five pieces in plaster, hiding them from view. He refused to take his work apart unless he received a pay raise. Only one man knew what to do. His name was Philip Reid.

Students will consider the arguments made by members of the Continental Congress regarding whether or not to sign the Declaration of Independence. They will also have the opportunity to analyze each section of the Declaration to understand its meaning and consider the consequences of signing the document.

Welcome to the White House 360 Virtual Tour! This immersive experience will bring you inside the halls of the White House and provide access to all the public rooms on the Ground and State Floors. It will also allow you to examine the rooms and objects even closer than you would in person.

This feature was made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

This footage shows the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence as they are loaded into an armored truck at the Library of Congress, taken to the National Archives Building in a procession down Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, and carried up the building's steps. President Harry S. Truman and Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson speak in a ceremony at the National Archives Rotunda on the historic importance of the documents.

The so-called "Fifth Page" of the US Constitution -- also known as the Transmittal Page -- has never been publicly displayed. On the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the US Constitution the Fifth Page was displayed at the National Archives in Washington, DC. The Fifth Page has received the same care as the more famous documents in the Charters of Freedom and is encased in the same type of state-of-the-art oxygen-free encasement as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution pages one to four, and the Bill of Rights.

In this Inside the Vaults video short, Chief of Reference at the National Archives Trevor Plante literally takes viewers inside the Archives vaults to see some of his favorite rarely-displayed documents. They include:
• The original text of the "Virginia Plan," Edmund Randolph's proposal for a national government that included three co-equal branches: "supreme legislative, judiciary and executive";
• A printed copy of the Constitution with George Washington's handwritten annotations;
• The final printed copy of the Constitution, which was delivered to the Constitutional Convention September 13, 1787, approved by vote on September 15, and then signed on September 17; and
• The state of Pennsylvania's ratification copy of the Constitution — unlike the four-page version of the Constitution on display at the National Archives in Washington, DC, the entire text is on one enormous sheet of parchment so it could be more easily transported.

Inside the Vaults includes highlights from the National Archives in the Washington, DC, area and from the Presidential libraries and regional archives nationwide. These shorts present behind-the-scenes exclusives and offer surprising stories about the National Archives treasures.

Come see the U.S. Constitution on permanent display at the National Archives in Washington, DC. September 17 is designated as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787.

Here we present the Constitution, as it was signed in 1787, along with the 27 Amendments.

How did those at the Constitutional Convention arrive at the compromises included in the document, and how did they try to convince others to support or reject the Constitution? Click on our popup annotations to learn more about the conversations and concerns being discussed at that pivotal time, as addressed by the authors of The Federalist Papers: John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. Follow the links to Congress.gov to read the full text.

How has the Constitution been interpreted over the years? Our Supreme Court Ruling annotations provide brief descriptions of landmark decisions that have set the precedent for U.S. policy throughout its history. The links will take you to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, where you can read the original decisions handed down by the court.

Additional popups offer brief histories related to this document, changes that have been made by later amendments, and a list of all the signers along with links to their short biographies!

Direct quotes are italicized and links are in blue.

This Annotated Constitution was conceived by the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, researched and written by Joshua Zampetti and Samuel Holliday, and published by Joshua Zampetti. The Clarence J. Brown Graduate Internship provided the funding for Zampetti’s work on this project.