Dred Scott Dossier

American law is based on precedent, meaning that each decision is based on not only the written law, but also previous legal decisions.  That is why lawyers must spend so much time studying law and why there are extensive legal libraries.  In this activity, you will examine a historical legal case and make your own legal decision based on the facts.  Read the documents carefully, and render your decision at the end.

The Situation: Dred Scott was born a slave.  He was owned by an army doctor, Dr. John Emerson, who brought Scott with him to his work assignments.  In the 1830s, Dr. Emerson took Scott with him to Fort Armstrong in Illinois and Fort Snelling in the Wisconsin Territory.  Because of the Northwest Ordinance & the Missouri Compromise, slavery was prohibited in Illinois and the Wisconsin territory.

While living at Fort Snelling with Dr. Emerson, Scott was married to Harriet in a civil ceremony.  This was unusual because slaves were traditionally not allowed to be legally married (they usually had informal ceremonies within the slave community).  Dr. Emerson knew about this wedding.

Dr. Emerson moved back to Missouri and got married, and then summoned for Scott and his wife to join them.  They lived in Missouri and Louisiana, which were both slave states.  A few years later, Dr. Emerson died and Mrs. Emerson became Dred Scott’s owner.  Dred Scott sued Mrs. Emerson for his freedom, claiming that living in free states had made him—and his family—free and participating in a civil marriage proved that he and his wife were legally free.  Mrs. Emerson did not want him to be free, and later sold him to a man in New York named John Sanford (which is often misspelled as “Sandford”).  After appealing his case, he sued the New York man, Sanford, for his freedom.

Your Conclusion: When you write your conclusion, you must use these legal precedents to prove your ideas. (Example: “Article 1, section 2 of the Constitution proves that…” or “Because of the Missouri Compromise….”  Please write on lined paper.

Summary of Chief Justice Taney’s Decision

Chief Justice Taney’s decision in the Dred Scott case was as controversial in 1857 as it is today.  It did, however, receive the support of the other Supreme Court justices—only two disagreed.  Some say that it was firmly based on legal precedent.  Others say that he interpreted the laws to back his own point of view.  Let’s look at his decision, compare it to the laws we read yesterday, and analyze it for ourselves.

Summing it all up: In your opinion, is the Taney decision more correct, or more incorrect?  Explain your answer.

The intro: Knowing about the other side of a situation can help you strengthen your own opinion and can lend credence to your own argument.  In this project you will research an opposing viewpoint and write an essay from that point of view before constructing an essay from your own point of view and presenting this to the class.

Topics of debate could include, but are not limited to: the death penalty; book burning; censorship; saying the Pledge of Allegiance at school; prayer in schools; privileging sports over music and art in high schools; racism; abortion; gay marriage; needing a passport to enter Canada; “going green”; and so on.  You will use research in this project, so make sure to choose a subject that has ample information.

The proposal: I ask my students to submit a proposal the day after receiving the assignment sheet, detailing their chosen topic and the rhetorical tools of ethos, logos, and pathos, which we cover in the class.

The rough draft: Start writing your essay from the opposing point of view.  Have at least two pages of text ready for peer review – the revised version of this essay will be five pages, so the more you have now, the better.  Find at least three sources to use in support of your argument and list them in a works cited page.  In the next draft you must cite them.

It may be difficult to put yourself on the other side of something in which you believe, so we will spend two days on peer review after the student presentations.  Others will read what you have so far and offer suggestions on where to go from there to complete your essay, as well as offer input on how convincing the argument is and what might help it along.  Again, this is from the opposing point of view.

The in-class peer review has been the most help for students.  I drew up a sheet for each reviewer to fill out, noting places where the author used the rhetorical tools; a strength of the draft; and something that might improve the draft.  The next step will be for them to complete their five-page essay, and the last step is a reflection on their beliefs and how the project has influenced them.

The pros: The topics they chose were amazing and varied, and their approach was at times astounding.  A foreign student submitted an essay that very convincingly argues on the side of racism, while another compared Hitler’s eugenics to the Pill.  They made comments about how hard it was to come up with opposing arguments, but during the first project the majority of the students found the peer review helpful.

The cons: There’s always a student or two who tries to make a joke out of a project, or doesn’t go to the same depth as everyone else.  These students have been known to come to me sheepishly after reading others’ essays, and I was hoping that one student would be able to tone it down after the last project, he resisted.  I have yet to receive written feedback about the project, but no one commented negatively to me today.

We set up the classroom with the documents (printed from the PowerPoint, attached below) for each station taped to the walls around the room in clusters.  Students worked with a partner to complete the questions on their worksheet (included below).   The questions included reading graphs, analyzing political cartoons, and using photographs and quotes to find facts and make judgments about what was happening to the German people in the 1930s.  The PowerPoint and worksheet can be downloaded here:

The PowerPoints: learning stations_weimar republic

Worksheet: weimar_worksheet

At the end of the activity, we read excerpts from two speeches from major politicians in Weimar Germany* (the last two slides on the PowerPoint, above).  They were read without the candidate’s name.  The class then voted on which candidate they thought would best solve Germany’s problems.  The majority of students chose candidate #1, who they were then told was Adolf Hitler.  (The other candidate was Heinrich Bruenning.)  Students were generally shocked, and we had good discussions about what lead to our choices and how it must have happened in 1930s Germany.

Most of all I wanted students to think about how terrible things, such as the election of a dictator, happen.  I believe that people usually do what they think is right, as German voters did in the 1930s (and many other people at many other times in history).  Thinking that those people were unusually stupid, naive or sinister is dangerous, because it obscures the fact that it could happen here or anywhere else if people do not do their homework, read between the lines, and think for themselves.

*Note: I selected the speeches and translated them from Germany personally because I am sometimes a little wary of translations of Hitler that can be found online.

I am including the learning station documents as a PowerPoint.

Sputnik and the Space Race Learning Stations

This set of learning stations was designed for an 11th grade US History II class.  It includes oral history, photographs and newspaper excerpts about the Space Race and how it impacted ordinary Americans.  The PowerPoint slides were printed out and stapled into packets for students to use at each cluster of tables.  For some classes, I have given each group all the stations at once, but for most classes it’s nice for them to move a little bit and have a change of scenery.  I am including the student worksheet questions below.

Name:                                                                                                  US History II

Ms. Nielsen

Cold War Learning Stations

In this activity, we will use primary sources about Americans’ experiences during the Cold War to help us get a better understanding of the time period.  Specifically these documents will focus on two main topics: sputnik and nuclear war.

Station 1: Sputnik in the Media

1. How did the media react to Sputnik being launched?
2. Why do you think Sputnik was “regarded… as a threat to [American] security”?
3. According to John Gunther, what did Americans think about the Russians before the Sputnik launch?
4. Why was the successful launch of Sputnik so surprising to Americans?
5. According to John Gunther, how did Sputnik change the balance of power between the Soviet Union and the U.S.?
6. According to John Gunther, what did Americans fear?  What did Russians fear?  How did Sputnik change this?
7. In the November 4 article, who are they talking to?  What is he so worried about?
8. In the November 4 article, what suggestions does the scientist make?
9. According to the November 25 article, what was the U.S.’s “anti-sputnik measure”?

10. How do you think it was supposed to counteract Sputnik’s effects?

11. Read the quote from Russ Bimber.  Why did Mr. Bimber think the US led the world in rocket technology?  Why was it important?

12. What did the US do to combat Sputnik?

Station 2: Sputnik for Kids

1. How old was Fred Bimber when Sputnik was launched?
2. What were Fred Bimber’s parents so worried about?
3. How old was Karen Nielsen when Sputnik was launched?
4. How does Karen Nielsen describe the “excitement” about Sputnik?
5. How did Karen Nielsen’s parents react to Sputnik?
6. Look at the picture of the two boys.  Why do you think so many young Americans at that time were so interested in space-themed toys?
7. According to Connie Bimber, what did Sputnik look like from Ohio?  (Put it in your own words)

Station 3: Growing up Cold War

1. How did the Cold War affect Fred Bimber’s school?
2. What were the bomb drills like at Fred Bimber’s school?
3. How did people in Fred Bimber’s community prepare for a possible nuclear attack?  (list at least three ways)
4. How did people in Karen Nielsen’s community prepare for a possible nuclear attack?  (list at least three ways)
5. How did Karen Nielsen & Fred Bimber describe the way Russians were talked about at their schools?

Here is the packet I used to replace the textbook for Westward Expansion with the questions, as well as the unit test at the end.  I did not want to make the test too difficult, but I wanted students to have to read in order to pass it.  One of my students in particular was so used to the rhythms and techniques of textbook tests that he could spot the right answer without having done the reading.  I wanted to challenge that young man, and the other students, to take their reading seriously and answer reasoning questions rather than just recall– although there is certainly some recall of major facts and ideas.

Westward Expansion

Part I: The West before Europeans

When Lewis & Clark explored the Louisiana Territory in 1803, there were already millions of people living there, mostly Native Americans.  Many historians estimate that there were over 400 different tribes each with their own unique language and culture.  Northern tribes such as the Ojibwa and Ottawa relied on hunting, fishing and farming to get through the harsh winters.  Tribes such as the Sioux Nation on the Great Plains became dependent on hunting a single species: the Bison.  Tribes traveled seasonally, following the bison herds.  They supplemented their diet with fruits and vegetables they gathered, as well as some farming.  Other tribes such as the Haida of the Pacific Northwest had a plentiful diet of fish and plants to readily available, which freed up their people to concentrate on religion, the arts, and social matters.  Still other tribes, such as the Powhatan in New England, had by the 1800s been mostly destroyed by white settlement.  Some tribes were peaceful and lived in harmony with their neighbors, while some tribes practiced warfare as a way of life.  The tribes of North America are so diverse that the only trait that they all share is that they lived in America long before Europeans arrived.

Most white Americans, however, did not appreciate their diversity.  To them, Native Americans were all the same: “savages.”  Native Americans were shocking to whites because of their long hair or shaved heads and unusual clothing.  Unlike Europeans, most tribes dressed for the climate and did not wear head-to-toe clothing unless it was cold.  They were also not Christians and did not follow European beliefs about marriage—some tribes permitted divorce, or even more shocking, having more than one spouse.  Even their ideas about gender were strange.  Many Native American cultures believed that farming was women’s work, while white Americans believed women should stay in the home while men farmed.

White Americans were also convinced that Native American culture was less advanced because they did not fully exploit the natural resources around them.  Most tribes did not build permanent cities, but rather moved seasonally to follow food supplies or to avoid harsh weather.  They only cleared the land they needed rather than cutting down forests and filling in swamps in every direction.  Most tribes also had no written language and only basic metal-working skills.  To Europeans and their descendants in America, the white man was superior and they deserved this new continent more than the native inhabitants did.

Questions:

1) Why isn’t it correct to say that white Americans such as Lewis & Clark “discovered the West”?

2) Why did Europeans think that Native Americans were uncivilized “savages”?

3) How did European Americans and many Native American tribes use land differently?  How do you think this caused conflict?

Part II: The Backcountry & Early Settlement of the West

In the 18^th century, the land on either side of the Appalachian Mountains was considered the Backcountry, the border between civilization and wilderness.  Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky were considered “the West” until the early 1800s.  There were only a handful of roads that crossed the Appalachian Mountains, so it was very difficult to get to the West in the first place.  There were no railroads, so long-distance travel was accomplished with horse-drawn wagons, on foot, or by boat.  Because of this, many early white settlements cropped up along major rivers.

Many early settlers went to the Backcountry to find land.  Descendants of Europeans had been living on the Atlantic coast since the 1500s, so by the late 1700s most good farmland was in use, and buying land was very expensive.  Some people went to the Backcountry because they were former indentured servants in the colonies and they wanted to start a new life.  Others were recent European immigrants who could not afford to buy land in the colonies, or who preferred to live in relative isolation in the Backcountry.  For all settlers, the Backcountry offered what seemed like an endless supply of land.  The earliest white settlers in the Backcountry were squatters, people who claimed a piece of land by living on it rather than buying for it and signing a deed.  Later, ownership of the land was formalized and professional brokers sold land in the west officially.

The pattern of settlement that the original backcountry settlers followed would remain relatively unchanged for generations, whether they were settling in the Ohio Valley, the Midwest, or the Great Plains.  Once they found a piece of land they liked, settlers would cut down trees to build a fence and a home as soon as possible.  Most frontier homes were extremely simple, usually a log-cabin with one large room that the family used for sleeping, cooking, working and eating.  Walls were often drafty unless the family filled holes in the wall with mud, clay or strips of cloth.  Floors were often bare dirt, and glass for windows was almost impossible to obtain outside of the civilized East.  Living conditions were rustic, if not unpleasant, but families had little time to dwell on their home décor, as most of their time was spent working.

Most white settlers in the West were substance farmers, meaning that they only grew enough food to feed their families.  This is different than most farmers on the Atlantic Coast who grew excess crops to sell for a profit.  Western farmers had to cut down trees and pull out the stumps to clear land to plant crops.  Farming itself was hard work and children were expected to work alongside their parents in the field.  To supplement their diet, men hunted for deer and bears in the wilderness and trapped small animals such as rabbits and squirrels.  Women were responsible for not only helping their husbands farm and occasionally trap animals, but also caring for the youngest children and all animals; cooking and storing food; cleaning the house; and sewing, washing and mending clothing.  Children had many responsibilities as well, helping their mothers and fathers, and most received no formal education.

In spite of the difficult living conditions, settlers in the Backcountry were determined to lead full lives.  Most white settlers were Christians, and although there were rarely communities large enough to support a church, traveling preachers went from community to community to teach the Bible, perform marriages and baptize children.  Lucky families who lived near a town might have access to a permanent church.  When there was not a minister available, families performed informal weddings and read the Bible with their children.  Although most families lived very far from their nearest neighbor, they found occasions to socialize when they could.  Barn-raising, harvest-time, weddings and holidays were often excuses for distant neighbors to get together for music, dancing and a big meal.  These celebrations punctuated the difficult work and hardships the settlers faced, making an otherwise difficult life bearable.

Life was not all fun and games, however, and another major problem the white settlers faced was that Native Americans lived on the land they claimed long before Europeans arrived.  Some of the tribes just past the Appalachian Mountains were actually tribes who had once lived on the East Coast but had been driven out by the original European immigrants several generations earlier.  Native Americans in the Ohio River Valley were accustomed to hunting wherever they wanted, so if a deer crossed over a fence onto a farmer’s land, they followed it.  White settlers were outraged that Native Americans did not respect their ideas about land-ownership and felt entitled to shoot any trespassers on their land.  This prompted bloody feuds between whites and Native Americans, resulting in countless deaths on both sides.  Native Americans and white frontiersmen grew up hating each other, and most white settlers believed the only sure way to achieve peace was to completely destroy Native Americans or drive them further west.

White settlers too began to move further west and the area just across the Appalachians filled up.  By the early 1800s, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio contained thriving cities, and in 1828 Andrew Jackson became the first US president from west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Questions:

Use the map on the right for questions 1 – 2.  The darkest areas are the most highly populated areas.  White areas indicate fewer than two non-Native American inhabitants per square mile.  Light gray areas indicate between 2 and 18 non-Native American inhabitants per square mile.

1) In what part of the country do most Americans live, not including Native Americans?

2) Look at the way the population is distributed.  Why did the population end up that way?

3) For what reasons did white settlers travel to the West?

4) What is a subsistence farmer?  Does that sound like a good job?  Why/why not?

5) What was life like for settlers on the frontier?  Be specific.

6) How well did Native Americans & white settlers on the frontier get along?

7) Why do you think many Americans felt it was symbolic when Jackson was elected president?  What do you think it said about the West?

Part III: The Nation Expands

The United States began as the original thirteen colonies along the Atlantic Coast from Georgia to what is today Maine, extending west only as far as the Appalachian Mountains.  The US claimed land as far west as the Mississippi River, but it was inhabited by Native Americans and white Americans knew very little about it.  The first major US expansion into the West occurred in 1803 when Thomas Jefferson authorized the Louisiana Purchase for $15 million, which more than doubled the size of the US (see map).

For several decades, the US had border disputes with European nations who claimed land in America.  The Spanish controlled Florida and the Southwest.  The British were active in Canada, often encroaching on American land in the Great Lakes.  The British and the US also both claimed that they owned the Oregon Country, which includes modern-day Oregon, as well as Washington, Idaho and parts of Canada.  In 1818, the US signed the Adams-Onís Treaty with Spain.  In this treaty, the US promised to give up their claim on Texas if Spain acknowledged that the US owned Oregon.  Why would the US sign a treaty with Spain rather than one with Britain?  The US and Britain were still on shaky terms after the War of 1812, and Spain was the other major superpower in North America.  If Spain supported the US’s claim on Oregon, it would make Britain’s claim weaker.  The Oregon question was finally solved in 1846 when Britain the US signed an agreement that split Oregon along the 49^th parallel.  This gave the US access to the Pacific Ocean and avoided another war between the two countries.

The US was also in conflict with Spain—and later Mexico, after it declared independence from Spain—over territory in the West.  Texas was a particularly hot area of dispute.  Many Americans from the South moved to Texas because of its fertile farmland, and because in the 1930s the Mexican government had invited Americans to become citizens.  Once they moved to Mexico, however, the US settlers retained their language and culture, and many wanted their new home to become a part of the US.  Americans in Texas declared it an independent republic in the 1930s and many Texans wanted it to become a state, but Congress did not want to risk war with Mexico.  In February 1945, Congress passed a Joint Resolution to admit Texas as a state.  President Tyler signed it into law in March 1945, just before James K Polk was inaugurated as president.  Mexico was understandably upset and the two countries went to war from 1846 – 1848.  After the Mexican American War, Mexico and the US signed the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848.  In this treaty, Mexico recognized the US’s claim to Texas and agreed to give most of the Southwest (parts of Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada and Utah) to the US in exchange for $15 million to repay war debts.  The US completed the modern contiguous United States (the main part of the US without Alaska & Hawaii) in 1853 when it bought a small area south of the Gila River from Mexico for $10 million.

Questions:

1. In what ways did the US get new territory?

2. Which new territory was the best deal?  Explain your answer.

3. Which new territory was the worst deal?  Explain your answer.

4. When did the modern-day contiguous US get completed?

Part IV: Later Westward Expansion & Manifest Destiny

Throughout the 19^th century, white Americans continued to travel to the West.  Some purchased land to become a farmer.  Others moved to western cities such as St. Louis and Cincinnati to start businesses.  Still others were sick of urban life and wanted to find adventure exploring the new sparsely populated land in the West.  By the mid-19^th century, a new idea also contributed to Americans’ desire to go West: Manifest Destiny.

Manifest Destiny was the belief that God wanted white Americans to settle the whole continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.  Although land in the West was already claimed by Native Americans, as well as Spain (later Mexico, after their revolution) and England, Americans thought that it was their duty to spread their population to the West, brining their culture, values, and technology with them.  Art and literature celebrated this idea as well, portraying American expansion into the West as a positive, almost spiritual mission.

There were also economic motives for Manifest Destiny.  In the East, many natural resources such as timber and farmland were running out.  The nation also needed even more natural resources than ever because it was in the midst of industrializing: creating new factories and industries such as railroads and steel production.  New factories needed raw materials to produce goods, and since thousands of men worked in factories rather than on farms, they needed to buy food instead of growing it.  Industrialization required vast supplies of minerals, leather and agricultural products which could not be produced in the East, so they looked West.

Some people also wanted to go to the West for religious reasons.  Although many of the original European settlers in North America arrived to escape religious persecution in Europe, their descendants did not always give that freedom to others.  New religious groups such as Mormons had beliefs and customs that were strange to Americans in the East, and in many parts of the US they were not permitted to practice their religion or were literally driven out of town.  Mormons saw the West as a great opportunity, because they could create their own communities based on their values.  Mormons originally settled in the Midwest during the 1830s and 1840s, but their most famous settlements were founded in Utah in 1847.  Throughout the 19^th century, Americans of all religious groups traveled west and it soon became as religiously diverse as all other parts of the country, containing Catholics, Jews and dozens of Protestant sects.

Although many Americans went to the West for various reasons—economic, religious and social—many Americans did not go.  People who were very rich and successful in the East had little motivation to start a new life; they remained in the well-established eastern states.  The poorest Americans also did not go West, usually because they could not afford to go.  It cost a significant amount of money to bring supplies for the long journey and to set up a new household.  By the mid-19^th century, “the West” was in the Great Plains, the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest and took months to get there on foot or with horse-drawn wagons.  One famous trail Americans traveled was the Oregon Trail—yes, like the computer game.  Families who had enough money to buy horses or oxen, a sturdy wagon, and supplies to feed the family for months could afford to go to Oregon, buy land and set up a homestead.

Questions:

1. For what reasons did people want to go West?  (include economic, religious & other reasons)
2. What is Manifest Destiny?
3. How did Industrialization help motivate Manifest Destiny?
4. Who were the Mormons?
5. Why did some people choose not to go to the West?
6. What was the Oregon Trail?

Part V: US Indian Policy

Throughout the process of expanding westward, the US struggled with what to do about Native Americans.  In the 18^th Century Americans fought against northeastern tribes in the French and Indian War, and faced off with Great Lakes tribes in Pontiac’s Rebellion.  Once the US became a nation, Tecumseh led a pan-Indian movement to resist American encroachment.  The further west Americans moved, the more resistance they encountered.

Early on, the American government viewed Native Americans as a conquered nation, because they had lost to the British & Americans in the French and Indian War, and had allied with the British in the Revolutionary War.  According to European military tradition, the victorious country won the land of the conquered nation, so Americans felt entitled to take Native American land.  Native Americans were not bound by European traditions, so they didn’t recognize the Americans’ claim.  This led to numerous clashes between Native Americans and military officers or white settlers along the frontier.

President Thomas Jefferson adopted a different policy toward Native American tribes: the factory system.  The federal government sent Indian Agents, government officials sent to monitor relations with the Native Americans, and “factors” who were in charge of trading American goods to Native Americans in exchange for valuable furs.  This was meant to reduce corruption and prevent the sale of alcohol to Native Americans.  It was also used to get Native Americans into debt so that they would sell their land to the government to pay their debt.  Jefferson measured the success of each Indian Agent not by how they helped the Native Americans, but by “the benefits he can obtain for us.”  He was open “to obtaining lands from the Indians by all honest and peaceable means and I believe that the honest and peaceable means adopted by us will obtain them as fast as the expansion of our settlements… will require.”  This system continued for years, and many tribes were coerced into giving up their homeland, something most of them had never considered an option.

By the 1830s, member of the Cherokee nation in Georgia decided that the best way to protect their rights was to use the court system.  By the 1800s, the Cherokee had been living in Georgia for countless centuries.  Many of them had adopted a lifestyle similar to their white neighbors, owning single-family farms, wearing European-style clothing and even owning slaves.  The Cherokee were also the first Native American culture to create a written form on their language, which allowed them to write a constitution for their nation, establishing a formal structure for their government and how it would interact with the US government.  In spite of their accomplishments, white Georgians resented them and wanted control of the rich farmland they owned, and they started taking steps toward “removing” the Cherokee from their homes.

In 1830, the state of Georgia created a law that required non-Native Americans living on Cherokee land to obtain a special license.  This mostly targeted missionaries and teachers who lived on Cherokee land.  Because the Cherokee were a sovereign nation, the state of Georgia should not have been able to make laws that impacted their land.  The US government had recognized the Cherokee as a sovereign nation, because they signed formal treaties with them, just as they did with foreign nations.  The Cherokee leadership and their allies decided to challenge this law to assert their rights.  One of the missionaries impacted by the new law, Samuel Worcester, sued the state of Georgia, arguing that Georgia did not have the authority to create that law, since the Cherokee nation was sovereign.  The case went to the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John Marshall, and in 1831 the court ruled in Worcester v. Georgia that the Cherokee nation was a domestic dependent nation.  This meant that the Cherokee were a separate nation within the US who had a right to occupy their own land, but they were a part of the US and the federal government had jurisdiction over them.

Even though the Supreme Court ruled that the laws of Georgia did not apply to the Cherokee and that they had a legal right to their land, the removal plan went forward.  President Andrew Jackson, a former frontiersman widely known as an “Indian-hater,” helped create a law to forcibly relocate the Cherokee to Oklahoma, which was then barren and uninhabited.  Congress eventually approved the law, in spite of numerous protests from the Cherokee and their white supporters.  The law also blatantly defied the Supreme Court’s decision in Worcester v. Georgia, but the court was powerless to enforce their decision.  Supporters of the Native Americans were outraged by the government’s decision to ignore the Supreme Court.  Even the president would not obey the court.  John Ross, a prominent member of the Cherokee nation in Georgia, summed up the significance of that decision in a speech to the Iroquois League:
Brothers: The tradition of our Fathers . . . tells us that this great and extensive Continent was once the sole and exclusive abode of our race. . . . Ever since [the whites came] we have been made to drink of the bitter cup of humiliation; treated like dogs . . . our country and the graves of our Fathers torn from us . . . through a period of upwards of 200 years, rolled back, nation upon nation [until] we find ourselves fugitives, vagrants and strangers in our own country. . . .

The existence of the Indian Nations as distinct Independent Communities within the limits of the United States seems to be drawing to a close. . . . You are aware that our Brethren, the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Creeks of the South have severally disposed of their country to the United States and that a portion of our own Tribe have also emigrated West of the Mississippi — but that the largest portion of our Nation still remain firmly upon our ancient domain. . . . Our position there may be compared to a solitary tree in an open space, where all the forest trees around have been prostrated by a furious tornado.

Although the court had ruled that Native American tribes were independent nations within the United States, their rights would be ignored.  By forcing the Cherokee to leave, the US government set the precedent that Native American tribes were sovereign only on paper, and in reality they were controlled by the US government and had even fewer rights than white US citizens.

Some families willingly left Georgia on their own, taking their possessions with them in horse-drawn wagons.  Others refused, choosing to stay in their homes until they had no choice.  Many believed that the government would not dare to forcibly remove them.  They were wrong.  The removal of thousands of Cherokee from their homes in Georgia and their subsequent forced march to Oklahoma is now known as the Trail of Tears.  Today the routes the Cherokee took are commemorated as national historic sites.

Questions:

1. Why did Americans treat Native Americans like a conquered nation?  What did this mean for Native Americans?
2. What was the purpose of Jefferson’s policy toward Native Americans?
3. What was the case Worcester v. Georgia about?  What important decision did the Supreme Court make?
4. Think about what we learned about the Supreme Court’s power in the previous chapters.  If the Supreme Court made a decision, how was it possible that the President, Congress & the state of Georgia ignored it?
5. Read these excerpts from a speech by President Jackson and use it to answer these questions:
6. Who is the intended audience of this speech?  How do you think that will impact what President Jackson says to them?
7. According to Jackson, why is it important to move the Native Americans from their land?
8. How does Jackson describe how they will be removed and where they’ll go?  Does this sound like a good solution?  Why/why not?
9. Does President Jackson have any biases that will impact this statement?  Explain your answer.
10. Use the internet to find Robert Lindneux’s painting of the Trail of Tears.  How are the conditions on the journey portrayed in this image?  Be as specific as you can.
11. Search the internet to find statistics and facts on the Trail of Tears.  Answer these questions:

a)      How long was the journey?

b)      How many people died?

c)      What caused people to die on the Trail of Tears?

d)     What happened when they got to Oklahoma?

12. How do you think conditions on the Trail of Tears changed Native Americans’ attitudes toward the US government?

13. For a long time, the Trail of Tears was not taught in American schools.  Why do you think it wasn’t taught for so long?

14.  Do you think it’s important for students to learn about the Trail of Tears?  Why/why not?

Part VI: There’s Gold in Them There Hills!

In 1848, a deposit of gold was found at Sutter’s Mill in California.  Word quickly spread around the globe and within a year, California was swarming with “49ers,” men who went to California in 1949 to get rich mining gold.  While most 49ers were Americans, it was truly a global phenomenon, attracting immigrants from as far away as Australia and Germany.  The Chinese called California “the Golden Mountain” and many young men sailed to America with the hopes of getting rich and then returning home to start a new life.  Others moved to California to make a fortune selling supplies to the miners.  Levis Strauss left Germany with trunks full of blue denim cloth that he wanted to use to make tents for miners.  When he got to California he realized that miners needed sturdy pants more than tents, and he made history by selling the world’s first blue jeans.  Many immigrants who came to California intending to only stay a few years became permanent residents.  This mass migration to one place to find gold became known as the California Gold Rush.  Other parts of the world, including Alaska and Australia, would have their own gold rushes later.

“Boom Towns”—hastily built towns meant to meet miner’s needs—sprung up near mines throughout the West.  They included stores to sell mining gear, cheap housing, and saloons to give single miners a place to spend their money.  After the mine was exhausted and people had no reason to stay, many towns became abandoned ghost towns.  Others, such as San Francisco, are still thriving cities today.

The Gold Rush is remembered today as a time of big dreams and hope, even though most people who looked for gold did not get rich.  Mining gold is difficult and without tremendous luck, it is only profitable with a large, commercial mining operation.  Most single men or families moving to the West could not hope to compete with well-funded mining companies who had the latest technology and a large supply of workers.  Some people went home disappointed.  Others stayed in the area to become farmers or to work for a larger mining operation.  The people who got richest from the Gold Rush were actually the shop-owners who made a fortune overcharging miners for shovels and saloon-keepers who sold overpriced meals and ran crooked card games.

One important outcome of the Gold Rush is that California became a state in 1850.  To become a new state, a territory had to have a large enough population, establish its own government, and then formally apply for statehood.  The influx of non-Native American immigrants from other parts of the US and around the world increased California’s population tremendously, and many of those people were interested in California becoming a state.  In the autumn of 1850, California became the 31^st US state after one of the shortest petitions for statehood ever.

Questions:

1. What started the California Gold Rush?  When did it start?
2. From where did people come to participate in the Gold Rush?
3. Did most miners become rich in the Gold Rush?  Why/why not?

Westward Expansion Quiz (50 points)

Fill in the Blank (2 points each): Fill in the blanks using words from the word bank

1. Because of the “________________________________” theory, the American government believed that they had the right to take land from the Native Americans after they had beaten them in war.

2. President ______________________________’s policy toward Native Americans was meant to get Native Americans into debt, and then force them to sell their land to the government.  This was called ___________________________________.

3. Many white migrants from the East Coast went to the Backcountry to make a living through _____________________________.

4. The US gained control of most of the southwest because of ______________________

5. President _______________________________’s policy toward Native Americans was to forcibly move them off of land that white Americans wanted to use.

6. __________________________________ was the belief that God wanted Americans to expand the US from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast.

7. _______________________________ helped many Americans travel to the Pacific Northwest to buy land and establish farms.

8. California became a state very quickly, most because _______________________ brought more settlers to the West Coast.

Multiple-Choice (2 points each): Circle the best answer.

9. How did the United States expand its territory to the West?

(A) Buying land                                              (B) Going to war

(C) Making treaties                                         (D) A, B and C

(E) A and C only

10. How did the US gain control of the Oregon Territory?

(A) A treaty with England

(B) An agreement with Mexico

(C) War with Spain

(D) Signing the Gadsden Purchase

11. Which statement is not true about life in the Backcountry?

(A) Settlers in the West had to start from scratch, clearing land and building their own      homes

(B) Settlers were quickly able to replicate the way their lives were in the East

(C) Religion was an important part of many settlers’ lives, although most families in the Backcountry did not live near a church

(D) White settlers did not make much money; they mostly farmed to survive

12. Americans had many reasons for expanding to the West.  Which of the following is not a major reason why white Americans went West?

(A) Indian Removal: white Americans wanted to keep on eye on the Native Americans     once they were relocated

(B) Manifest Destiny: they wanted to expand the US

(C) Industrialization: they needed more natural resources

(D) Religion: religious minorities wanted to practice their religion without interference

13. How did the US government complete the modern-day contiguous United States?

(A) The government bought Louisiana from France for $15 million

(B) Americans moved West and the US gained rights to the land

(C) The US bought land west of the Mississippi from Native Americans

(D) The US negotiated a treaty with Mexico

Use this quote by Private John G. Burnett to answer questions 14 and 15:

“I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the stockades. And in the chill of a drizzling rain on an October morning I saw them loaded like cattle or sheep into six hundred and forty-five wagons and started toward the west….On the morning of November the 17th we encountered a terrific sleet and snow storm with freezing temperatures and from that day until we reached the end of the fateful journey on March the 26th 1839, the sufferings of the Cherokees were awful. The trail of the exiles was a trail of death. They had to sleep in the wagons and on the ground without fire. And I have known as many as twenty-two of them to die in one night of pneumonia due to ill treatment, cold and exposure…”

14. What does this quote describe?

(A) The California Gold Rush                        (B) The Mexican-American War

(C) The Trail of Tears                                      (D) The Oregon Trail

15. What caused most people to die during this incident?

(A) Illness & bad living conditions                 (B) Exhaustion & injuries

(C) Killed by the army                                    (D) Old age

Moderate Length Responses (10 points each): Answer each question in 5-8 sentences.  Use specific examples to support your statements.  Write your answers on lined paper.

16. What differences between Native American tribes and white settlers caused conflict?  Explain at least three examples of differences and how those differences caused conflict.

17. President Andrew Jackson famously said: “[Chief Justice] John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” Explain what Jackson was talking about (5 points) and describe what major event resulted from his decision (5 points).  Be specific. 

What do you think?  Should kids be required to say the pledge at school?

Positives: Students had a choice, and some students absolutely threw themselves into their work.  One student in my honors class brought in a diary twice as long as the minimum requirement with detailed descriptions of her character’s family and personal life, in addition to the required historical elements.  Another very shy boy in the standard-level class brought in an excellent oral history paper based on an interview with a Korean War veteran he worked with.  A few students interviewed their grandparents, several watched “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” although by far the diary was the most popular option.

Negatives: As I began teaching halfway through the year with these students, this was the first non-traditional assessment I did with them.  A handful of students did not complete the assignment and had various excuses, many of which did not hold water.  I had cautioned students that the film paper was not actually the “easiest” assignment but many students chose that, thinking it would be easy.  Two students said they could not find any of the films or any other suitable ones, and another said that the film was too boring to watch all the way through.  One student copied a synopsis of the film from Wikipedia.  These were exceptions, but I wish I had done more to support them so they could have completed the assignment as planned.

The Assignment: I am including the text of the assignment sheet I gave to students.  Feel free to modify this and use it for your own classes.  I am also including the text of a “tips” sheet that gives extra guidance and suggestions, as well as a template of the film paper.

Cold War Project (60 points)

There will be no test for chapter 26.  There will be an open-notes pop quiz, and the other portion of your assessment grade will be this project.  You will choose from one of these options:

Option 1: Oral History Project

Find an older person to interview, in person or over the phone, about one of these topics:

• The Korean War (a veteran of the war)
• Early Cold War at home (the Korean War on the Home Front, McCarthyism & blacklisting, fear of the atomic bomb, Sputnik & the Space Race, American attitudes toward Communism)
• Another topic of your choice with my permission

After your interview, you will write a 2-3 page paper summarizing their experiences during the Cold War and comparing it to what we have learned in class.  You may need to do some outside research about specific events they talk about if they are not mentioned in the book or our class notes.  Cite any outside research in MLA format.

You may interview a family member, neighbor, family friend, or older teacher.  Make sure they’re old enough to remember the events of the early Cold War—someone who was a small child during the Cold War might not have much to tell you.  If you want to do this project but don’t know anyone, I can help you find someone.

For this project, you will need to show me the questions you are going to ask before you have the interview.  I will offer suggestions that will make your interview as successful as possible.

Option 2: Cold War Film Paper

Watch one of these early Cold War films and write a 2-3 page paper explaining how this film represents Cold War themes.

• On the Beach (1959)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
• Or a early Cold War film of your choice with my approval

If you do any outside research, such as looking up information about the film on the internet, you must cite your sources in MLA format.  Any other use of such information without being cited will be viewed as plagiarism and you will receive a zero.

For both films, make sure you are watching the film from the correct year and not a later remake.  If you write about a later remake of the film, you will receive no credit.

Option 3: Cold War Diary

You will write 6 – 8 diary entries from the point of view of a person living during the Cold War.  You may write from the perspective of a real person (Dwight Eisenhower, Joe McCarthy, Ethel Rosenberg, etc) or from a fictitious person.  Each entry should be between ½ and 1 page long. Your diary entries must include the following topics:

• The “Iron Curtain”
• Containment
• The Berlin Airlift
• HUAC & the Hollywood Ten
• Mao Zedong & Communism in China
• The Korean War
• Joseph McCarthy & McCarthyism
• The Hydrogen bomb
• Sputnik

Your diaries must explain the events/people and your reaction to them.  Each diary entry must also include a date that is appropriate to the events you’re writing about.  (For example, you should not be writing about the Sputnik launch in a 1950 entry.)  Your 6-8 diary entries should span several years.  You may talk about more than one topic in a single entry, if they are chronologically appropriate.

Whichever topic you choose, your paper must be typed (size 12 font, double-spaced, with normal 1 inch margins).  Please proof-read your paper to catch typos and other errors.

Your project is due: _____________________

Tips for the Oral History Project:

• You may need to schedule more than one interview with your subject, either in person or over the phone.
• Leave yourself enough time to write the paper after these interview(s).
• Have your questions written down ahead of time, but keep in mind that as you start interviewing, these questions may change a little.  If your interviewee starts talking about something interesting, you might go off your list for a few minutes to talk about that, and then return to your question list later.

For your interview, you need to get some background information about your subject.  Start your interview with questions like:

• When were you born?
• Where were you born?
• Where were you living during the 1950s? 
• What was your occupation during the 1950s?  (they may say they were in school or a soldier—those are occupations too)

The first paragraph or so of your paper will explain this information.  For example: “Wilma Jones was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1930.  In 1951 she moved to New York City….”   

Tips for the Film Paper: Use these questions to focus your paper.  Keep in mind, not all of these questions will apply to every film.  They should provide you with guidance to interpret the film you choose.

• Does the film directly mention Communism, the USSR, atomic weapons, or other Cold War topics?
• Is there any symbolism in the film?  Do any characters represent Communists, Soviets, or patriotic Americans?
• How is the government represented in the film?  Positive or negative?
• How are foreign or unknown things represented in the film?
• What is valued in the film: conformity or individuality?

Tips for the Cold War Diary:

• Think about how the character you choose (a real or fictitious person) would be affected by the events you’re writing about.
• Make it personal: don’t just write descriptions like a textbook would.
• You may include more Cold War events or topics than are included on the list.

Cold War Film Paper Template

Likely Cold War film themes (not every film will have all themes):

• Technology: helpful or dangerous?
• Individuality vs. conformity? (be yourself, or fit in with the group?)
• Is the government good or bad?
• Are Soviets and Americans more alike, or more different?
• What are major threats to America and American values?
• What values define America and the American way of life?

I did this by making a table (with no identifying info other than what class a student was in) of how many assignments a student completed on time, and what their quiz grade was.  I graphed the resulting charts and showed them to all the classes.  Here is an example of one of those charts:

Some students needed an explanation of what the graph means.  If you have students in the class at a high enough level of math to explain it, have them help you.  If not, pull out a couple examples (e.g. “Look at this student who turned in 9/9 homework assignments on time.  What grade did they get on the test?) and explain that the graph is sloping up, meaning that the more homework assignments a student turned in on time, on average their test scores were better.  Of course there are exceptions, but are most people an exception?  No.

Positives: For some students seeing proof of the trend will help convince them to make different choices.

Negatives: Did this convince everyone to change their wayward homework habits?  No.  At least hopefully now when they

Positives: It’s short, sweet and to-the-point.  With a group of juniors, this took less than half a class period and produced some good discussion.  It also got kids asking good questions about current political campaigns.

Negatives: It doesn’t cover any particular state standards, but at the end of the year when students are in a frenzy to study for finals, a little relaxation isn’t a bad thing.

Materials:

-CD or MP3s of “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac, “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie (or any other folk singer), “Crazy” by Patsy Cline.  This can all be easily obtained on iTunes or Amazon.com inexpensively.

-Printout of lyrics for students (could be done with a partner)

Worksheet with lyrics:

1992 Election: Campaign Songs

Since the dawn of American democracy, political candidates have used music to express their views and attract voters.  Some songs, such as “I like Ike” and “High Hopes” have become a part of American lore.  Others, such as “Get on a Raft with Taft” and “Monroe is the Man” are merely [hilarious] historical footnotes.  As a class, we will listen to the campaign songs of the three major candidates in the 1992 election: William Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ross Perot.  We’ll listen to the mood, tone, and lyrics of each song to figure out how each candidate was trying to present their image as a candidate.

“Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)” – Fleetwood Mac

1. What is the mood/tone of this song?  (Don’t just write 1 word—be as specific as you can)

2. Since the candidate chose this song, what seems to be important to them?

3. What kind of “image” would this give the candidate?

“This Land is Your Land” – Woody Guthrie

CHORUS:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
Chorus

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting

1. What is the mood/tone of this song?  (Don’t just write 1 word—be as specific as you can)

2. Since the candidate chose this song, what seems to be important to them?

3. What kind of “image” would this give the candidate?

“Crazy” – Patsy Cline

1. What is the mood/tone of this song?  (Don’t just write 1 word—be as specific as you can)

2. Since the candidate chose this song, what seems to be important to them?

3. What kind of “image” would this give the candidate?

Summing it all up: If you were an American voter in 1992, which candidate would you have voted for?  Why?

I have often wondered about school lunches at the schools for which I’ve worked.  Students came to school with McDonald’s or Dunkin Donuts in hand and negotiated with friends to get a ride there after school.  Admittedly, more often than not I also came to school with a DD coffee and a bagel.  Should I have set a better example for them?  Should I have banned fast food in my classroom– or would that have had any impact?  How much does economics play into food decisions? These are tough questions, but as child obesity is on the rise, we need to try answering them.

What can/should teachers do to promote healthy eating in their schools?