Social+Science

 Leonard Bernstein Collection includes manuscripts, photos, recordings, and correspondence from one of 20th-century America's most important musical figures. See a photo gallery and timeline of Bernstein's life (1918-1990). Read an essay, "Professor Lenny." Learn about Bernstein's work and accomplishments as a composer, conductor, pianist, writer, and teacher.(Library of Congress) []

Creating the United States offers primary documents related to the creation of the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Learn about the beliefs on which the American republic was founded, the forging of the federal government, the formation of political parties, the election of 1800, views of slavery, and more. Connect particular phrases and ideas in the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights with texts that preceded them. (Library of Congress)  [] Democracy and Human Rights Democracy and Human Rights features publications about the U.S. government, democracy, and human rights. Learn about the intellectual history of democracy and what makes the U.S. government unique. See how our federal, state, and local governments are organized; how our executive, legislative, and judicial branches operate; and how nongovernmental organizations influence government policy. Read about the origins of human rights, women in politics, the civil rights movement, and elections. (Department of State) []

Outline of U.S. History presents 15 chapters on U.S. history: early America, the colonial period, independence, formation of a national government, westward expansion and regional differences, sectional conflict, the Civil War and reconstruction, growth and transformation, discontent and reform, war, prosperity and depression, the New Deal and World War II, postwar America, decades of change (1960-1980), new conservatism and a new world order, and bridge to the 21st century. (Department of State) []

Country Background Notes provides factual descriptions of the world's independent states, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Learn about the people, history, government, political conditions, economy, geography, and foreign relations of China, Georgia, Pakistan, Russia, and some 200 other nations and areas of special sovereignty. Descriptions are regularly updated. (Department of State) []

Educational Resources features lesson plans that invite students to examine George Washington's annotated copy of an early draft of the Constitution, compare Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence to the final document, determine which of 12 amendments they would ratify to produce a Bill of Rights, identify techniques Jefferson used in a letter persuading Congress to purchase his library, and investigate Waldseemuller's 1507 map (the first to use the label "America"). (Library of Congress) []

Historians on America looks at 11 developments that altered the course of U.S. history: the trial of John Peter Zenger and the birth of freedom of the press, the Constitutional Convention (1787), George Washington's concept of a limited Presidency, the Common School movement, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, the Interstate Highway System (1939-1991), the GI Bill of Rights, the Marshall Plan, Brown v. Board of Education, Gideon v. Wainwright, and the Immigration Act of 1965. (Department of State) []

How the United States Is Governed examines federal, state, and local governments in the U.S. Elections and the electoral process, nongovernmental organizations and institutions that influence public policy, and how the U.S. system of government is similar to (and different from) other forms of democratic government are also described. (Department of State) []

U.S. Institute of Peace: Publications features analyses and policy recommendations on current international affairs issues, particularly on the prevention and resolution of conflict. Recent publications focus on Iran's internal politics and influence in the Middle East, Iraq's Interior Ministry, civilian casualties in Afghanistan, democracy in Egypt, why we should still study the Cuban Missile Crisis, the conflict in the Niger Delta, Bosnia and the EU, peace prospects in Lebanon, and more. (U.S. Institute of Peace) []

Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869 features 49 diaries of pioneers who traveled westward across America to Utah, Montana, and the Pacific between 1847 and the meeting of the rails in 1869. Maps, photos, and published trail guides are included. Essays focus on the California Trail, the Mormon trail experience, trail guides, and maps and their use by overlanders. (Library of Congress) []