StoryWorks Theater’s Teaching the Constitution Through Theater develops inclusive and transformative educational theater experiences that provides students with the opportunity to examine our history and to foster a deeper understanding of the U.S. Constitution. Through content consistent with school curriculum standards, the program engages students in experiential learning and inspires them to ask complex questions about the historical underpinnings behind contemporary issues. The process creates pathways to civic engagement, creates lasting memories and instills a tangible sense of social belonging. Electionland is the story of the violent, highly partisan, disputed presidential election of 1876 and its consequences. The election takes place in the waning days of Reconstruction, as efforts to ensure Black Americans a role in political and economic life after the Civil War were unraveling in the face of growing public opposition and the resurgence of white political power in the South. In some parts of the former Confederacy, horrific acts of intimidation and violence, even murder, against Black voters marred the casting of ballots for the Republican party. On election night, it appeared that the Democratic candidate had won the popular vote. But Congress and the electoral college faced a difficult dilemma: how to turn an unfair election, when thousands were thwarted from voting, into a fair result. After three months of political maneuvering, backroom bargaining, and a Congressional process never used before or since, the Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes, became president by a single electoral vote.View the complete play Electionland on the StoryWorks Theater site. Implementation1. Electionland PerformanceClassroom watches a prerecorded, staged reading of the play Electionland, written by Jean P. Bordewich and Produced by StoryWorks Theater.2. Lesson Plan ActivitiesFollowing the six lesson plan structure, students will read aloud or act out scenes from the play. This participatory interaction with the text and the historical events promotes a high level of engagement from the students and encourages experiential learning. These activities directly correspond to scenes in the play and to specific content area standards. Throughout the curriculum, teachers will lead guided discussions and help to explain the historical context and theme of each scene. Students/actors will have the ability to share their experiences having portrayed these historical figures. Students/historians will have the unique opportunity to work with primary source materials to further their understanding of the complexities of the era and to gain insight into the critical political and legislative debates of the time. 

A crude but charming comic send-up of 1876 Republican campaign strategy. Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden and an unidentified man stand fishing on the left bank of a river, their basket overflowing with their catch. On the opposite bank stand Rutherford B. Hayes and Republican incumbent Ulysses S. Grant, obviously less successful. Grant advises Hayes, "I guess that reform bait won't work this side. Better try an anti-Catholic worm." Since both the Democratic and Republican platforms in 1876 stressed reform, Hayes's campaign sought to stir up anti-Catholic prejudice against Tilden.|Copyrighted and Pub'd by P. Jesse 116 Nassau St. N.Y.|Signed: F.G. Del.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1876-7.

Printed within image: T.J. Nicholl.|Published by The Courier Lith. Co. Bu[ffalo?]. Copyright by M. Lee.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

An illustrated sheet music cover for a song composed in honor of Republican presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes. Uncle Sam sits atop a hay wain labeled "Hayes." A large American flag with a liberty cap and a wreath appears next to him. Tied to a pitchfork on the side of the wagon is a banner reading, "A Good Honest Load of Hayes on the Way to Washington." The wagon's large front wheel is inscribed "Hard Money Wheeler Gold Basis," a reference to Hayes's advocacy of a hard currency, based on redeemability for specie. The Hayes wagon crosses a bridge over a small stream in which float bags of "Rag Money," or worthless currency. The wagon is pulled across the bridge and toward the U.S. Capitol (here naively labeled "White House") by a team of oxen, each bearing a flag inscribed with a state name. Several farmers or herdsmen accompany the oxen. Two black youths wave from a nearby fence. In the middleground is a signpost, "National Road Ohio to Washington." (Hayes went from being governor of Ohio to President of the United States.) "Honest Money Paid Here" is written in the sky above the Capitol.|Entered . . . 1876 by Oliver Ditson & Co.|J.H. Buffords's Sons, Lith. 141 Franklin St. Boston. Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. 451 Washington St., New York, Chicago, Phila.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1876-2.