The American Vote
Progressive EraAll 5 grade bands · K-2 through APFree download

1916

Lesson plan.
Woodrow Wilson vs Charles Evans HughesWilson narrowly won re-election over Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes on the slogan 'He kept us out of war,' as Europe was embroiled in World War I. Hughes was ahead on election night — the New York Times even declared him the winner — but Wilson took California by fewer than 4,000 votes to win the presidency. Wilson would ask Congress to declare war on Germany just five weeks after his second inauguration, making the campaign slogan bitterly ironic.

The 1916 U.S. presidential election sent Woodrow Wilson (Democratic) to the White House. Woodrow Wilson took 277 of the 531 electoral votes to Charles Evans Hughes's 254. Woodrow Wilson led the national popular vote with 49.24%. The race falls within the Progressive Era; the lesson packets below dig into its central debates, with World War I neutrality 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
  • 3-5
    Reading
    5 pp
    35 min
    Free
  • 6-8
    Reading
    6 pp
    50 min
    Free
  • 9-12
    Source
    8 pp
    75 min
    Free
  • AP
    DBQ
    12 pp
    105 min
    Free