Separation of Powers and Executive Orders using Primary Sources
Instead of teaching the concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances, the students can see how the power of the President to use executive
orders have played out in three different moments in history.
This assignment will provide the students with a “hands on” experience by making a poster and a campaign button in support of his/her favorite candidate
Independence and the Opening of the West: Thomas Hart Benton
Students will examine "Independence and the Opening of the West" by Thomas Hart Benton. They will analyze its content, use visual thinking strategies and draw conclusions about the art work.
President Truman recalls many of the successes and problems of the Potsdam Conference and the postwar world in his diary entries and letters to his wife, Bess Wallace Truman. Students are given the opportunity to examine these unique documents and argue about their validity as primary sources while learning about the Potsdam Conference.