Slave Narratives Assignment

You can access an electronic copy of the assignment (with embedded links), here.

Reconstruction, III

1. On what grounds were impeachment proceedings against Andrew Johnson begun?
2. What was the result of the impeachment trial in the House and Senate?
3. From the section "The Heritage of Reconstruction," what is the legacy of Reconstruction? Sum it up. Success? Failure? Both?

Daniel Inouye, 1924-2012

The second longest-serving Senator in U.S. History and decorated WWII veteran Daniel Inouye has passed away.

Reconstruction, II

For your consideration:

1. What "shocked" and "disgusted" Republicans in Congress in December, 1865?
2. The abolition of slavery through the 13th Amendment put an end to the 3/5 Compromise. Why, then, would many Republicans be concerned about the political consequences of this new reality after the war?
3. What made a clash between Congress and the President inevitable?
4. What does the 14th Amendment do? Why did Republicans push for it even though they had passed a Civil Rights Bill?
5. What happened in the fall of 1866 that really began Congressional Reconstruction? (Politics!)
6. Who was Thaddeus Stevens?
7. What did The Reconstruction Act do?
8. What were the new conditions for readmittance to the Union laid down by Congress?
9. What was the purpose of the Fifteenth Amendment?
10. Who were the Redeemers?
11. Define: The Union League
12. Define carpetbaggers and scalawags

STOP AT "THE KU KLUX KLAN"

Reconstruction, I (465-472)

1. What were the four large questions that faced the nation after the Civil War?
2. What were some other questions? (Apart from the big four.)
3. Summarize the range of reactions to Emancipation across the South, on the part of former slaves and masters, from pages 466-469
4. Define The Freedmen's Bureau. What were its successes and failures?
5. "[Andrew Johnson] was the wrong man in the wrong place and the wrong time." Explain.
6. Define: 10 percent plan, Wade-Davis Bill, Black Codes

The Civil War, III

Some questions:

1. What does Kennedy mean with the lines "...his death could not have been better timed if he had hired the assassin."
2. Why, over time, did many Southerners come to believe that Lincoln's death was a disaster for the South?
3. Reading the section "The Aftermath of the Nightmare," what to you are the most important legacies/consequences of the war? Be specific.
4. When watching films in class, which do you prefer: taking notes on your own, or completing questions that I have prepared in advance (Movie Sheets)? Why? Which is more enjoyable, and, more importantly, which helps you learn best?

The Civil War, II

1. Why were the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg so important?
2. What was Sherman's March?
3. Who were the Copperheads?
4. Describe the presidential election of 1864. Key issues, players, etc.
5. Describe the fighting between Grant and Lee at the close of the war.

The Civil War, I

Tonight's reading opens right where the film ended, on the eve of the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas). This was the first major battle of the war, and confirmed for many observers that it was going to be a long  and bloody conflict, not the 90 day war that many had hoped for.

Here are some questions from your reading on 435-445:

1. What were the major consequences of the First Battle of Bull Run? (436)
2. Who was George McClellan, and what were his major strengths and weaknesses as a commander? (436-437)
3. What are some of the ironies of Lee's successful Peninsula Campaign (437-438)?
4. What were the six components of the Union's Total War plan? (438, above "The War at Sea")
5. What is "blockade-running"? (438)
6. Describe the historical importance of the battle of Antietam, with a particular focus on its relationship to the Emancipation Proclamation (440).
7. Explain this quote from page 441: "..where he could he would not, and where he would, he could not."
8. What helped convince many Northern soldiers of the necessity of ending slavery? (441)
9. What did the 13th Amendment do?
10. How did the Emancipation Proclamation change the war? (441-443, "public reactions" to "blacks battle bondage")
11. Describe the role of both slaves and freedmen (former slaves) in the war effort, North and South (443-444).

Historiography

Girls,

Instead of a long reading about Civil War historiography, I've decided to assign the Wikipedia entry on historiography. To be more specific, I'm assigning the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry on historiography. You may read more if you'd like, but not less (the second paragraph begins "The research interests...," so stop there).

I need to be sure you know what historiography is. If you really don't get it, please come see me.

Take a Breather, Girls.

No homework tonight. Take a break and we'll slow down a little next class (Friday and Monday) so we can do some contextual stuff.  I'll change up the Assignment Page accordingly. Do some Yoga or something. Here is an enjoyable video of baby sloths:

Towards the War, I

We shift gears again tonight, this time towards national politics in the 1840s and 1850s. Here are some questions, for your consideration:

1. What is Manifest Destiny?
2. What was the Liberty Party?
3. How did the Mexican-American War breakout?
4. What were Lincoln's spot resolutions?
5. What was the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
6. Who were the Conscience Whigs
7. What was "most ominous of all" about the Mexican-American War?
8. What was the Wilmot Proviso?

"The Burdens of Bondage"

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Break! Here are some questions for the next reading, 348-357:

1. In what ways did slaves resist their masters?
2. How did slave rebellions affect the psychology of the South?
3. Define: American Colonization Society
4. What motivated the early Abolitionist movement?
5. Who was William Lloyed Garrison?
6. Define: American Anti-Slavery Society
7. Who was Frederick Douglass?
8. What were the intellectual arguments behind Southern defenses of slavery?
9. How did the growing Abolitionist movement complicate politics in the North?

"The South and the Slavery Controversy," I

Tonight you read about the rapid expansion of slavery in the Deep South in the 19th century. Here are some questions, for your consideration:

1. Why was the Deep South called the Cotton Kingdom?
2. What role did cotton play in the economic relationship between Great Britain and the United States?
3. Describe the "Planter Aristocracy."
4. Why was the plantation system economically unstable (consider everything from "slaves of the slave system" to "the white majority").
5. Read the section called "The White Majority": what does it tell you about Southern Society before the Civil War? Do the statistics change any of your previously held assumptions?
6. Who were the so-called "mountain whites"?
7. Look at the maps that show the growth of slavery from 1820-1860. Jot down your observations.
8. Describe the social spectrum of free blacks in the United States, North and South. 

THERE WILL NOT BE A READING QUIZ ON TUESDAY.

Don't forget about your Missouri Compromise maps! A map quiz in which I ask you to identify the  24 states in 1821 and which are slave and free is on the horizon, as in, Tuesday!

A Simple Question: 232-238

All you need to do for homework tonight, girls, is be able to explain the Missouri Compromise. I'll fill in the holes in class.

Here is the map of the slave trade from class:

Colonial Slavery

Here are some questions from 62-70:

1. Where did most of the 11 millions Africans who were brought to the New World as slaves end up?
2. What happened in the 1680s that made slavery more entrenched in the British colonies?
3. What is The Royal African Company?
4. Where did most slaves in North America come from?
5. What is the middle passage?
6. What are the slave codes?
7. What were some distinctions between slavery in the Deep South and slavery in Virginia?
8. What made slavery in the Chesapeake region unique among slave societies in history?
9. How was Colonial Southern society structured?

Here is the video from Class:
http://youtu.be/xzDAbXQbEzM

Rick Perry

for anyone that was in my class today... this is the guy who i was talking about
(i knew it wasn't rick santorum!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAJNntoRgA

"The Silence"

Your first reading in Unit 2 comes from Joseph Ellis' Pulitzer Prize-winning Founding Brothers. In a chapter he calls "The Silence," Ellis writes about the first debates over slavery in Congress, in 1790. For this reading, there will be no questions. Find somewhere comfortable and quiet to read this, make notes in the margins if you like, but above all, come to class next week ready to talk about this. If it becomes clear to me that people have not held up their end, we will have a quiz.

Click here for the reading, and please print it out and bring it to class.

Review Sheet for Unit 1

Get your Unit 1 Review Sheet, right here.

'A' Day: Test on Tuesday
'B' Day: Test on Wednesay

Last Reading of Unit 1!

First of all, as part of your homework, I'd like for you to begin organizing your notes and documents. Make sure you have everything, and bring everything to class. Here are some questions from the reading:

1. Describe the Election of 1800. What happened? Was it important? Why? Why did Jefferson refer to it as a revolution?
2. Why did Napoleon suddenly decide to sell Louisiana?
3. Why did Jefferson find it so hard to accept the deal for Louisiana?
4. Why was the Louisiana Purchase so significant?
5. What was the Corps of Discovery?

The 1790s Draw to a close.

Your reading is quite short, so no specific questions. Review the parties (handy chart helps), and get a sense of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.

From Washington to Adams: 190-197

There is a lot going on in this reading, folks. So pay attention and get after it. Here are some questions for your consideration:

1. Go back to Washington's Neutrality Proclamation. What was happening globally that forced Washington's hand?
2. Define: Jay's Treaty. Pay particular attention to why it was so controversial.
3. Define: Washington's Farewell Address. What precedent did Washington establish for future presidents?
4. Why did things get so nasty politically after Washington's departure?
5. What were the issues in the campaign of 1796?
6. Define: The XYZ Affair. Why were the French so angry with the USA in the first place?
7. Adams could have become a Federalist superstar if he had pursued war with France. What held him back?
8. Define: Alien Laws and Sedition Act.

The Emergence of Political Parties, and The New Nation, Continued

Check out the video above for an explanation of what happens in a tie in the electoral college. Here are some questions for your consideration, from 186-191:

1. How did the first political parties take shape? Who were the major figures and issues around which parties were formed?
2. What were the first parties called?
3. How did the French Revolution affect American politics? How did the two parties view it?
4. Washington wanted to stay out of European conflict, but what made that very difficult for him to do?
5. What was the Neutrality Proclamation, and who was Edmond Genet?

Launching the New Ship of State: 181-184



Not a president...but



Here are some questions for your consideration:

1. How are amendments to the Constitution proposed?
2. What is the Bill of Rights? What are some things it/they does/do?
3. What was the point of the 9th Amendment?
4. How did Hamilton plan on reviving public credit and what is assumption?
5. How can debt be a good thing? Put this into the context of your reading.
6. What is a tariff? What is an excise tax?

Ratifying the Constitution: 174-178

S-T-E-E-L-E-R-S!

Here are some questions for the nest reading, found on pages 174-178:

1. How did the federalists convince some anti-federalists to support ratification of the constitution? Give an example.
2. Define: The Federalist.
3. Elaborate on the section titles "A Conservative Triumph." What does this mean? Think of question 6 from the last reading.
4. How was the principle of republican government preserved in the United States Constitution?

"We, the people..."

Your next reading takes you into the Constitutional Convention, convened for the express purpose of revising the weak Articles of Confederation. What happened, of course, was something much more than that. Here are some questions for your consideration from pages 170-174:

1. What was the Virginia Plan?
2. What was the New Jersey Plan?
3. What was the Great Compromise?
4. How did the common law legal tradition influence the length of the Constitution? How is this different from other constitutions?
5. How did the institution of slavery impact the making of the Constitution?
6. In what ways is the Constitution essentially a conservative document (as in, not radical), and in what ways was it innovative? How did it attempt to resolve the tensions left over from the Revolution? To reconcile with the Spirit of '76?
7. What was the main point of disagreement between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists?