Using primary source documents, this teaching unit focuses on the role monuments and memorials play in the culture. Teacher background materials include a unit overview and unit context, correlation to National Standards for United States History, unit objectives, a lesson plan list, and historical background on commemorative sculpture in the United states. Six lessons include: (1) "Commemoration in the American Democracy"; (2) "An Enduring American Image--'The Minutemen'"; (3) "The American Pantheon"; (4) "Icons of the West"; (5) "Soldiers of the Civil War"; and (6) "The Creation of a National Shrine--The Lincoln Memorial." Each lesson includes a variety of ideas and approaches for implementation, student resources in the form of primary source documents, handouts, and a bibliography. (MM )