Lesson Plans

The Territorial Kansas Online lesson plans address specific requirements of the Kansas Curricular Standards for Kansas and United States History. The lessons plans incorporate documents from this web site.

This Guilty Land (Grades 6-8)
Students investigate John Brown's complex personality and controversial actions in Kansas Territory.

Rights and the Wyandotte Constitution (Grades 6-8)
Students explore the fundamental civil rights granted to Kansans under the state's constitution, the Wyandotte Constitution.

Dear Wife & children every one (Grades 6-8)
Students use one of John Brown's letters to examine his role in the 1856 Battle of Osawatomie.

Popular Sovereignty and the Lecompton Constitution (Grades 6-8)
Students examine the debate over the Lecompton Constitution as a way to understand the implementation of popular sovereignty in Kansas Territory.

The People of Kansas: Where did they come from and why did they come? (Middle and High School)
Students seek to understand the origins of emigrants to Kansas and many reasons they settled in the territory.

The People of Kansas: Who are they and why are they here? (Middle and High School)
Students study the settlement experience through first-hand accounts of pioneers to Kansas Territory.

Town Development (Middle and High School)
Students explore town development and how it was affected by the conflict over the extension of slavery into the territory.

Sectionalism and the Kansas-Nebraska Act (Middle and High School)
Students examine the impact of popular sovereignty on the creation of Kansas as a state.

Sectionalism, Popular Sovereignty, and Secession (Middle and High School)
Students investigate the sequence of national events that resulted in the Civil War.

These lesson plans were prepared by the Education and Outreach Division, Kansas State Historical Society for Territorial Kansas Online. This cooperative project of the Kansas State Historical Society and the Kansas Collection, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas was made possible with funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services--National Leadership Grants Program. This lesson plan may be reproduced for classroom use. Any other use or distribution of this lesson plan MUST CREDIT the web site www.territorialkansasonline.org, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Kansas State Historical Society, and the Kansas Collection, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas.