Each student will become an expert on an event from pre-modern American history and do research in order to contribute to a timeline developed by the class. As students complete their research, they should check with the teacher to get feedback and suggestions.
The label “pre-modern” refers to America before the year 1900. Our class is technically called “Modern United States History” and that is our un-official start date for more in-depth study than in this unit which reviews almost 130 years of history. There are a few other characteristics that separate these two time periods but most of them just help justify the label. The repeated use of “United States history” rather than “American history” is a far more important designation. The former refers to the history of this country which began in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. The latter (“American history”) refers to the history of the land itself which begins thousands of years ago with the migration of ancient peoples and the development of native civilizations. You’ll learn far more about the history of these peoples before and beyond European conquest of their land in World History as juniors.
Anyway, you probably just want to know the assignment.
The label “pre-modern” refers to America before the year 1900. Our class is technically called “Modern United States History” and that is our un-official start date for more in-depth study than in this unit which reviews almost 130 years of history. There are a few other characteristics that separate these two time periods but most of them just help justify the label. The repeated use of “United States history” rather than “American history” is a far more important designation. The former refers to the history of this country which began in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. The latter (“American history”) refers to the history of the land itself which begins thousands of years ago with the migration of ancient peoples and the development of native civilizations. You’ll learn far more about the history of these peoples before and beyond European conquest of their land in World History as juniors.
Anyway, you probably just want to know the assignment.
ON MONDAY: We will develop and discuss a timeline including all of these events. Demonstrating mastery will require that your research more than one of the options above but for Monday's activity we will have at least one expert for each event.
THE EXPERTS
THE EXPERTS
Mexican-American War Lytreill Murray Indian Removal Act Ajoun Taylor 1st Transcontinental Railroad Cory Campbell Seneca Falls Convention Cheyenne Robinson 13th Amendment Ratified Darion Mahone Sand Creek Massacre DeJuan Plummer Morrill Act of 1862 Amir Turner | Dred Scott v. Sanford Sidney Seward Annexation of Hawai'i Dawon Bausley The Panic of 1873 Nicholas Flowers Compromise of 1850 Tatyana Jett 14th Amendment Ratified Demere Nelson Louisiana Purchase Khisch Leneair Colfax Massacre Martez Larkins-Meikle | Missouri Compromise Demere Nelson Seward's Folly Carissma Hurn War of 1812 Alonte Roberson and Demario Siler Plessy v. Ferguson GJervonte Williams Impeachment of Johnson Lonnie Williams-Hakeem 15th Amendment Ratified Donetta Colbert Wounded Knee Massacre Patrick Pugh |
EXAMPLE - Provisional Confederate States Congress
SOURCE I got my information from "Apostles of Disunion" by Charles B. Dew (found in the class library at the front of the room) and a Wikipedia article about the Provisional Confederate States Congress. | SUMMARY This meeting in February of 1861 was the beginning of the Confederate States of America. States interested in seceding from the USA sent representatives to a convention in Montgomery, Alabama where they made arguments in favor of secession. These reps then drafted the Constitution of the Confederate States, elected Jefferson Davis as their first president, and even designed the Confederate flag. | SIGNIFICANCE There has been a movement in recent years to say the Civil War was more about states' rights than slavery. This event proves that is not true. Almost every speech given at this meeting focuses on one issue: slavery. The Provisional Confederate States Congress is important because it demonstrates that the cause of the war was anger resulting from the election of an anti-slavery president and the growing abolition movement in the northern states. |