Gilded AgeAll 5 grade bands · K-2 through APFree download

1884

Lesson plan.

Grover Cleveland vs James G. Blaine — Democrat Grover Cleveland ended 24 years of Republican presidential dominance by narrowly defeating James G. Blaine in a notoriously mud-slinging campaign. 'Mugwumps' — reform Republicans — defected to Cleveland over Blaine's corruption record. The election turned on New York, where a Protestant minister's anti-Catholic slur ('Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion') alienated Irish Catholic voters days before the election, likely costing Blaine the state and the presidency. Cleveland won New York by just 1,149 votes.

The 1884 U.S. presidential election sent Grover Cleveland (Democratic) to the White House. Grover Cleveland took 219 of the 401 electoral votes to James G. Blaine's 182. Grover Cleveland led the national popular vote with 48.85%. The race falls within the Gilded Age era; the lesson packets below dig into its central debates, with Political corruption among the major themes.

What is in each packet

Cover

Cycle metadata + band eyebrow

Lesson plan

Instructor — timing, materials, standards

Reading

Sized to grade band (K-2: ~250 words → AP: ~650)

Background

Curated cycles — 5-7 vocab terms + primary-source excerpt

Student worksheet

K-2: 3 questions → AP: 8, mixed format

Answer key

Instructor — rationale on every item

Discussion prompts

3 prompts tied to era

DBQ (AP only)

Long-essay + 5-point rubric + second source

Download by grade band

K-2
Story
4 pp
20 min
Free
Classroom packet
One email unlocks every packet.
300 PDFs across 60 cycles and 5 grade bands. We send a short note when new packets or curriculum-aligned versions ship — that's it. No spam, no list-sharing.
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3-5
Reading
5 pp
35 min
Free
Classroom packet
One email unlocks every packet.
300 PDFs across 60 cycles and 5 grade bands. We send a short note when new packets or curriculum-aligned versions ship — that's it. No spam, no list-sharing.
Enter your email
One email per browser. Stored only to notify you when new packets ship.
6-8
Reading
6 pp
50 min
Free
Classroom packet
One email unlocks every packet.
300 PDFs across 60 cycles and 5 grade bands. We send a short note when new packets or curriculum-aligned versions ship — that's it. No spam, no list-sharing.
Enter your email
One email per browser. Stored only to notify you when new packets ship.
9-12
Source
8 pp
75 min
Free
Classroom packet
One email unlocks every packet.
300 PDFs across 60 cycles and 5 grade bands. We send a short note when new packets or curriculum-aligned versions ship — that's it. No spam, no list-sharing.
Enter your email
One email per browser. Stored only to notify you when new packets ship.
AP
DBQ
12 pp
105 min
Free
Classroom packet
One email unlocks every packet.
300 PDFs across 60 cycles and 5 grade bands. We send a short note when new packets or curriculum-aligned versions ship — that's it. No spam, no list-sharing.
Enter your email
One email per browser. Stored only to notify you when new packets ship.

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