An Introduction to Roman Architecture

Civil War (1862-1863) Prezi

The Cold War Prezi

Civil War Interactive Animations

Please note that you can control the simulation by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the screen. This will allow you to explore the campaign, the battle itself, the generals involved, etc. Each of the links below will take you to a different battle of the American Civil War.

First Battle of Bull Run [First Manassas] (July, 1861)
General McClellan's Peninsula Campaign (April-August, 1863)
Shiloh [Pittsburg Landing] (April, 1862)
Antietam [Sharpsburg] (September, 1862)
Fredericksburg (December, 1862)
Siege of Vicksburg (May-July, 1863)
Chickamauga (September, 1863)
Chancellorsville (April-May, 1863)
Gettysburg (July, 1863)
Chattanooga Campaign (November, 1863)
Sherman's March to the Sea [Savannah Campaign] (November-December, 1864)
Siege of Petersburg and Surrender at Appomattox (June, 1864 - April, 1865)

Civil War Battlefield National Parks

Many of the important battlefields of the American Civil War have been maintained by the National Parks Service to commemorate those lost and to preserve the history of our country. Below you will find links to the major battlefields that we will be studying in class.

Battle of Fort Sumter

First Battle of Bull Run

Battle of Shiloh

Battle of Antietam

Battle of Gettysburg

Siege of Vicksburg

Battle of Fredericksburg

Battle of Chancellorsville

Battle of Chickamauga

Battle of Chattanooga

Siege of Petersburg

Surrender at Appomattox Court House

Prezis Available to Study for Westward Expansion Test

The following Prezis are available for you on this website to help you study for the Westward Expansion test on Monday, May 6, 2013. To access these Prezis, scroll down, or click the quick links on the right-hand side of this page.

1. Trail of Tears
2. Trails West
3. Annexation of Texas
4. Acquisition of the Oregon Territory
5. Mexican-American War
6. California Gold Rush (and the Gadsden Purchase)

Please note that while these Prezis will aid you in studying for the exam, they should not be your only resource for preparation. You should also rely on your class notes, the study guide, do-now questions, homework assignments, and the textbook (pp. 314-401). Good luck!

The Gold Rush, 1849

Oregon Territory and the Mexican-American War

The Annexation of Texas and the Alamo

Trails West Prezi

Trail of Tears Prezi

Do-Nows for Week of 4.1.13

MONDAY:
How might the economy of America in the early-1800s have contributed to tensions between the North and the South?

Because the Northern economy was based on manufacturing and trade and the Southern economy was based on agriculture and slavery, the two regions had very different interests. Where the North was not committed to the continuation of slavery, the South saw it as a vital part of life. The South also did not rely as heavily on trade and transportation as the North did.

TUESDAY:
Why did Henry Clay draft the Missouri Compromise and what did it state?

Henry Clay drafted the Missouri Compromise as a way of settling the dispute between free states and slave states regarding the admission of Missouri as a state. If Missouri were to become a slave state or a free state, there would not longer be a balance of power in the Senate (there had previously been eleven free and eleven slave states). Clay proposed that Missouri enter the Union as a slave state and Maine enter the Union as a free state to maintain the balance or power. Also, slavery would prohibited in states made from the Louisiana Territory above the parallel 36°30'.

WEDNESDAY:
None

THURSDAY:
None

FRIDAY:
None

Good, Evil, & The Presidency: Andrew Jackson

Do-Nows for Week of 3.25.13

MONDAY:
Based on what you know about Robert Fulton's invention, why do you think that small-boat owners on the Hudson River regularly attempted to ram the Clermont's side-paddle-wheels?

Robert Fulton's steamship, the first truly efficient and operational boat of its kind, threatened to put small boat owners out of business because it was a much faster and less expensive way to travel up-river. Without operational paddle-wheels though, the Clermont could not move.

TUESDAY:
What were the three parts of Henry Clay's American System and what was the purpose of the system as a whole?

Henry Clay's American System called for a tariff on imports to encourage people to buy American-made goods. It also included a national bank (the second one, since Alexander Hamilton established the first) to promote a single currency for the nation. The third part of his plan was to improve the transportation infastructure of the United States since roads were poor and made overland trade difficult, slow and expensive. The overarching goal of Clay's system was to make American self-sufficient so that it would no longer need to rely on foreign nations for trade.

WEDNESDAY:
None

THURSDAY:
None

FRIDAY:
No School

Steam Power Video

Do-Nows for Week of 3/11/13

MONDAY:
None

TUESDAY:
What effect did the "Star-Spangled Banner" have on British and American soldiers the morning after the Battle of Baltimore? What does our nation's flag symbolize to you?

The Star-Spangled Banner flying over Fort McHenry the morning after the Battle of Baltimore was a major boost to the morale of the American troops and served to weaken the spirit of the British forces. 

WEDNESDAY:
Name three items in your everyday life that are the result of manufacturing. If you had to make these items at home, how would your life be different?

Answers will vary.

THURSDAY:
List and explain the three key factors that led to the growth of industry in New England rather than anywhere else in the early-1800s.

Power: Water-power comes from the many fast-running rivers used to run the mills.

Transportation: Major seaports like Boston and Newburyport made it easy to get raw materials and to trade finished goods via the sea rather than over land.

Labor Force: Because farming in New England is difficult, many farm girls went to Lowell to make extra money for their families.

FRIDAY:
List the four steps of the process of turning raw cotton into finished cloth. Then describe some of the dangers that faced the farm girls who worked in the Lowell Mills.

1. Water wheel
2. Carding/drawing machines
3. Spinning machines
4. Power looms.

There were many dangers that faced the farm girls that went to Lowell, Massachusetts to work in the textile mills. Not only could loose clothing and hair become caught in the moving parts of the machine, but extremities (legs, arms, fingers) could become lodged in the looms as well. In addition, mills were exceeding loud and could cause serious damage to hearing, and the fact that the windows on mill buildings rarely opened meant that cotton fibers remained in the air causing lung diseases. Also, the shuttle (the piece that flies back and forth across a power loom) could break loose and hit a mill worker causing severe injury or death.

War of 1812 Newspaper Project

LINKS:
Online Newspaper Generator
History Channel Sources

Use the above links to make your group's newspaper. When you are finished, print enough copies of your paper for each group member to have one.

Lowell Mills and the Industrial Revolution Video Sources

Innovations in the Early-1800s Project

Below is a list of inventions and inventors that changed America life in the early 1800s. You will be responsible for one (1) of these. This project is due on Monday, February 25, 2013. See your assignment sheet for more information.

Robert Fulton / steamboat

Samuel Morse / telegraph

John Deere / steel plow

Cyrus McCormick / reaper

Eli Whitney / cotton gin

Louis Pasteur / Pasteurization

Peter Durand / tin can

George Stevenson / locomotive

William Murdoch / gas light

Fredrick Koenig / improved printing press

John Walker / matches

W.A. Burt / typewriter

Barthelemy Thimonnier / sewing machine

Jacob Perkins / ether ice machine

Francis Pettit Smith / propellor

Samuel Colt / revolver

Charles Goodyear / vulcanization

Edmund Cartwright / power loom

Edward Jenner / smallpox vaccine

Alessandro Volta / battery

Joseph Aspdin / Portland cement

William Morton / inhalation anesthesia

Early American Leadership Essay

Below you will find the entire assignment sheet for your Early American Leadership Essay that is due on Thursday, February 14, 2013. I will also accept essays on Friday, February 15, 2013 without penalty, but because I do not see your class that day, it is your responsibility to find me in the building.

Thomas Jefferson's Foreign Policies

Lewis and Clark's Expedition

Above you will find the answer key for the map from class that will help you visualize the great journey taken by Lewis and Clark (as well as by Zebulon Pike). Below is a National Geographic documentary about Lewis and Clark's Expedition.

Do-Nows for Week of 2/4/13

MONDAY:
None

TUESDAY:
None (Your assignment was to finish the questions sheet on John Adams)

WEDNESDAY:
What did George Washington say about foreign relations in his Farewell Address? How did John Adams uphold or violate Washington's wishes?

 

In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned America about becoming involved in foreign conflicts. He advised the government to steer clear of permanent alliances, but to trade with and have good will toward all nations. John Adams essentially upheld Washington's wishes by not involving America in a war with France.

THURSDAY:
None

FRIDAY:
None

French Revolution Lecture Notes

Do-Nows for Week of 1/28/13

MONDAY:
None

TUESDAY:
Explain the three different Estates that existed in France before the French Revolution. What % of the population did each estate make up, what kind of people were part of each estate, and what did taxation look like for each estate? You may find it helpful to simply make a table to organize this information.

The First Estate was made up of the clergy members of the Roman Catholic Church. It made up less than 1% of the French population even though the Church owned 15% of French lands. The clergy did not pay any taxes to the French government.

The Second Estate was the French nobility and made up less than 2% of the French population. These people enjoyed special privileges (could collect rent from peasants, eldest son would inherit all property), paid little if any taxes, and engaged in conspicuous consumption, or irresponsible spending on luxury items to the point of excess.

The Third Estate was made up of the bourgeoisie or middle class (doctors, lawyers, merchants, manufacturers) and the lower class (artisans, city workers, rural peasants). This group of people formed 97% of the French population and had NO POLITICAL SAY! They also paid heavy taxes to make up for the fact that the other two estates did not pay taxes.

WEDNESDAY:
None

THURSDAY:
Why did the middle class (bourgeoisie) in France become the leaders of the French Revolution? (Specifically, what kind of people were they, and what changes in the late-1700s led to their dissatisfaction with French life?)

In the late-1700s, the French middle class (doctors, lawyers, merchants, and manufacturers) experienced a period of prosperity. Some even amassed as much money as the French nobility. They began to look at their situation and question why they had to shoulder the burden of France's taxes while having no political say when the nobility did not pay taxes and made all of the laws. The only difference between the bourgeoisie and the nobility in France was what family you were born into.

FRIDAY:
None

Do-Nows for Week of 1/23/13

MONDAY:
None

TUESDAY:
None

WEDNESDAY:
Why did Pennsylvania farmers rebel against the national government in 1791? What was the result?

Pennsylvania farmers rebelled in 1791 because George Washington and Alexander Hamilton decided to raise government revenues by taxing whiskey. Farmers in Pennsylvania planted rye grain as their principle crop, and several factors contributed to their discontent. First, the roads in western Pennsylvania were of very poor quality making travel to market difficult. Second, farmers were faced with the choice of carrying two bushels of rye grain or two barrels of rye whiskey to market at a time. A barrel of rye whiskey is the same as twelve bushels of rye grain, so this was a very reasonable option. Third, farmers in Pennsylvania did not trade with money. They bartered goods and services at needed (for instance, one farmer might trade a jug of whiskey to another for a sack of sugar). The farmers, unable and unwilling to pay the tax, rebelled and marched to Pittsburg which they would have razed if they had not been bribed with free whiskey by the townspeople. George Washington sent a massive federal army to Pittsburg and swiftly put down the rebellion. This set a precedent that the President will use force to end any internal rebellions.

THURSDAY:
Name some of the precedents that George Washington set as our first president. How have other presidents followed these precedents in their own careers?

1) George Washington served only two terms before retiring. (No president besides Franklin Delano Roosevelt ever served more than two terms.)
2) Washington approved taxes by Congress to pay off war debts. (All presidents since Washington have signed off on tax bills to raise federal revenue)
3) Washington used a federal army to put down the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. (After Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954, Dwight Eisenhower sent in federal troops to force the desegregation of schools.)
4) Washington send a federal army into the Northwest Territory to secure the borders of the United States. (James Monroe will dictate that the United States must expand across the entire continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Theodore Roosevelt will expand this to make it America's job to protect the entirety of the Western Hemisphere.)

FRIDAY:
None

Barack Obama's 2013 Inaugural Address

After you watch the following video clip of President Obama's Inaugural Address from January 21, 2013, choose any five of the following short answer questions to respond to:

1. What does Barack Obama mean by “blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword?” Why is this phrase particularly important for his inaugural address?
2. What “crises” does Obama claim have defined this generation of people?
3. What things does Obama claim must be revamped and redesigned in order for the United States to move forward?
4. Does President Obama support Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security? Why or why not?
5. Obama claims that we must put ourselves on the “long and difficult” path toward something. What is it and why must we do this?
6. Explain Obama’s stance on war and world peace.
7. What does Barack Obama say about women, homosexuals, and legal immigrants?
8. Name at least five historical events that Barack Obama connected to in his speech. Why do you think he chose these events to mention?

Challenges to George Washington's Presidency

The French Revolution

The American Revolution inspired the French to rise up in 1789 and begin a revolt of their own. By 1793, the French Revolution had turned violent and the citizens had even executed King Louis XVI. Britain, Holland, and Spain were all concerned about an unstable France and went to war. Washington's response to these events was to remain neutral and to not become involved in the foreign conflict.

 

You may choose to earn 10 points of extra credit if you watch the above documentary and answer the following prompt in a paragraph or two:

 

"Compare and contrast the American and French Revolutons in terms of causes, tactics, and effects."

Do-Now Questions for Week of 1/14/13

MONDAY:
Why do both statues by Jean-Antoine Houdon (1791) and Horatio Greenough (1840) include Greco-Roman elements? What Greco-Roman elements do you see in the buildings below?

Both Houdon and Greenough's statues include Greco-Roman elements because the sculptors wished to convey that the United States got its philosophy of government from the great civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome. The buildings above (Capitol Building and the Supreme Court) feature Greco-Roman elements such as columns, symmetry, statuary, decorated friezes, domes, and arches. 

TUESDAY:
None

WEDNESDAY:
None

THURSDAY:
What is the difference between a "strict constructionist" and a "loose constructionist" and how do these two kinds of people relate to Alexander Hamilton's plan to establish a National Bank in 1791?

Strict constructionists like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison believed that the federal government should not have any powers that are not directly stated within the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton and the loose constructionists believed that the elastic clause gave the federal government the right to broad powers needed to govern effectively. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the national government can form a National Bank, but Hamilton saw it as a way to help the government execute its given power to collect taxes.

FRIDAY:
Explain what a tariff is and why Alexander Hamilton chose this option for raising money for the federal government. Also, explain why our national capitol was moved from New York City to Washington D.C.

Tariffs are taxes on imported goods. They work for two reasons. First, they raise money for the national government, and second, they encourage people to buy things made domestically. For instance, if a foreign car costs $18,000 and an American car costs $20,000 people would be tempted to purchase the foreign car. If they buy the foreign car, $18,000 of American money is shipped overseas and disappears from the American economy. If the U.S. government places a $4,000 tariff on the foreign car though, American consumers would opt to buy the $20,000 American car to the now $22,000 foreign car. In this case, $20,000 is spent on a domestic product and so 100% of that money reenters the American economy. On the off-chance that someone still chooses to go with the foreign model, $18,000 does in fact disappear to overseas trade, but the $4,000 tariff is paid directly to the American government. By and large, this is a win-win situation for American government AND industry.

The reason that our nation's capitol was moved from New York, NY to Washington D.C. is that southern states like Virginia and Georgia that had already repaid their war debts resisted helping northern states pay off theirs until the capitol was located in a more central place. Land was taken from the states of Maryland and Virginia to create a capitol that could not be claimed by any state.

Alexander Hamilton's Financial Plan

As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton faced the first major financial crisis in American history. The Prezi below explains his plan for dealing with the economic problems of the 1790s.

 

Freedom Riders Documentary

Do-Now Questions for Week of 1/7/13

MONDAY:
None

TUESDAY:
None

WEDNESDAY:
None

THURSDAY:
One of the most famous myths about George Washington is the tale of the cherry tree. It is not true, but why do you think that someone might have created that myth about our first president?

Someone may have created a myth like this to teach children about George Washington. The fact that he confessed to his wrongdoing means that he was a very honesty and virtuous man. Washington was impressive enough without having all these myths fabricated about him, but they raise him to a "larger than life" stature.

FRIDAY:
Think about what life would be like if there were no banks. How would your life be different? What would you do with your money?

Banks are essential to a successfully functioning economy. If banks did not exist, no one's money would be safe. There would be a marked rise in crime because people would need to keep money on hand and in their homes. Without credit cards, everyone would have to pay for things in cash, and there would be no such thing as home loans. You would have to make every purchase with the cash you have (without overspending).

Do-Now Questions for Week of 1/2/13

MONDAY:
None

TUESDAY:
None

WEDNESDAY:
To understand why what we learn is so important, consider the following people:

• Theodore Roosevelt / George Bush (U.S. Presidents)
• W.E.B. DuBois (Founder of the NAACP)
• Martha Stewart / Carly Fiorina (Businesswomen)
• Jimmy Buffett (Songwriter/Writer)
• Conan O'Brien (Newscaster/Comedian)

What other career paths might a degree in the Social Studies (History, Philosophy, Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Criminology, Political Science) be important for?

Teacher, Professor, Archeologist, Museum Curator, Writer, Editor, Journalist, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Sociologist, Economist, Librarian, Records Manager, Archivist, Lawyer, Paralegal, Judge, Non-Profit Organizer, Activist/Advocate, Politician

THURSDAY:
Name the three branches of the national government of the United States. (Note: Do not simply say the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, but rather give the specific names that each of those branches has within the government.)
E.g.: The Legislative Branch = Congress (which has two houses called...?)

The Legislative Branch = Congress (Senate and House of Representatives)
The Executive Branch = President
The Judiciary Branch = Supreme Court

FRIDAY:
After watching this speech by President Barack Obama from January 2, 2013, answer the following question. Describe what the Fiscal Cliff Bill does to prevent America from going over the "fiscal cliff." Do you believe that anything else could have been done to address the situation better?

Schoolhouse Rock Videos