DocsTeach

For Teachers, Students, and History Explorers

Reasons for Westward Expansion activityAccess thousands of primary sources  — letters, photographs, speeches, posters, maps, videos, and other document types — spanning the course of American history. We're always adding more!

Borrow from an ever-expanding collection of document-based activities created by the National Archives, and teachers around the world. Copy and modify activities for your students.

Create your own activities using the online tools. It’s as simple as: (1) selecting a tool, (2) choosing your primary sources, and (3) customizing instructions. Learn more >

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by the numbers
40,154 registered members and growing...
260 activities available for visitors
2,015 activities available for members
13,016 primary source documents available
DocsTeach is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the support of Texas Instruments and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.

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The National Archives

DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper. We save documents and other materials created in the course of business conducted by the U.S. Federal government that are judged to have continuing value. We hold in trust for the public the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — but also the records of ordinary citizens — at our locations around the country.




Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, DocsTeach is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Primary source documents included on this site generally come from the holdings of the National Archives and are in the public domain, except as noted. Teaching activities on this site have received the CC0 Public Domain Dedication; authors have waived all copyright and related rights to the extent possible under the law. See our legal and privacy page for full terms and conditions.