U.S. History of Religious Toleration

This lesson is part of the AFT’s Civic Fellows initiative.  In addition to focusing on the important content knowledge and dispositions that are necessary for active participation in democracy, these lessons also emphasize key approaches to civic learning: knowledge with skills; the power of deliberation and controversy; equitable civics, and teaching through Inquiry Learning.  This particular lesson emphasizes knowledge with skills as students learn about the history of religious toleration while practicing reading primary source documents and pulling evidence from them.  It also emphasizes Inquiry Learning by centering the learning around the question of the United States’ relationship to religious toleration.