Task Time

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

This week we finished watching the video of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” In UpFront magazine, produced by The New York Times for high school students, an article on the 100 most influential people in American History listed Harriet Beecher Stowe as number 41. Her novel is credited with educating the world on the cruelty of slavery and pushed our country closer to Civil War. When President Lincoln (ranked number 1) met Harriet Beecher Stowe, he is supposed to have said “So this is the little lady who started this big war.”

While the video does modify the original story it adheres to the basic story line, showing how slaves were treated and the degradation they endured as families were torn apart. Stowe also included the positive role that many groups, especially the Quakers, played in helping slaves escape to freedom.

Mapping Secession

You also completed your map this week showing the states that left the Union as well as the Union states that were free and the border states. The border states were part of the Union but they allowed slavery. It is easy to see why the Confederacy, the new government of the South, wanted its own country. The South had a different way of life, they believed in states’ rights and they did not support Lincoln in the election of 1860. Your charts comparing the North and the South showed the sharp economic, political and cultural differences between the two regions.

PBGR Task

On Friday you started writing your persuasive essay on the events leading up to the Civil War. You have your chart, map, and graphic organizer to help you write your essay. You will have the entire class period on Monday to work on your essay. Follow the rubric and you should be successful.

Civil War Projects

For the past several years, students have had the opportunity to select a topic and a partner to work on a Civil War project. Time and again students have told me this was the assignment they will always remember from US I as it gave them the opportunity to study a topic they were interested in and to make their own work plan. This coming week we will start the process of selecting a topic, arranging for partners, and devising a work plan. You should try to pick a topic based upon your own interests. You can link just about any current interest with the Civil War.

Keep in mind that you will be required to do critical thinking and analysis of your topic, which means going beyond just describing events or retelling the story. You will be given supporting material, time in the library, and class time to work on the project. You will also have to set aside time to work with your partner after school or on weekends.

This year all projects will be power point presentations. Hopefully, our technology will cooperate and we will load the slides into slide share so everyone will have access to the final products.

Civil War Packet

You will also be given a syllabus and assignments for the Civil War. Over the next several class days you will have time to work on your project with your partner or your packet. The packet will focus on those events and documents that we all need to know to better understand this bloody conflict that still affects our country in 2008.

Fourth Quarter

This is our final quarter and I would urge all of you to stay focused on our work ahead. After the Civil War essay and project, you will have the third and final task based on the life of Andrew Carnegie. All of the work will be done in class with no added homework. As part of the task we will be watching the Biography video on Carnegie.

April 27, 1822

On this day in 1822, Ulysses S. Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. Grant was named Commander of all Union forces in 1864 by President Lincoln. On April 9, 1865 he accepted the surrender of the Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee. In 1868 he was elected President and in 1872 reelected. He died in 1885 and is buried in New York City.

The Steps to Civil War

This week we focused on the events leading up to the Civil War. Our guiding questions ask us to consider why countries engage in civil wars. What issues or differences are so extreme that fighting our own neighbor or even family member is the only way to “solve” a problem?

We started by designing a chart that compared the north and south in the mid 1800s. You looked at the political, economic, and social differences between these two regions. You should have found evidence to help answer the question raised by one of the titles in the Pathways text: were the north and the south starting to look like “Two Nations?” The north was becoming more industrialized with factories and extensive transportation and communication systems. Cities were growing. The south remained an agrarian economy relying on slave labor. The north was experiencing a series of reform movements aimed at providing a better quality of life while the south held on to its traditional ways.

We then moved on to look at specific events leading up to the war. You were given a list of 16 events that were in chronological order. You then had to provide a brief description of how each event contributed to tensions between the regions. This should help you see the connections between events. The Compromise of 1850 contained the Fugitive Slave Act which required all citizens to help return slaves to their owners. This infuriated many northerners and abolitionists. One of the people most upset by this law was Harriet Beecher Stowe. She was so moved by the plight of the slave and this harsh new law that she wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” a novel that greatly influenced people’s perception of slavery.

In addition to your text, we used Mr. Fontaine’s Wiki to help us better understand the events. His Wiki provides both text and video. Thank you Mr. Fontaine for helping us be better historians by providing us with another source.

Your graphic organizer of events will be your resource to use while writing the next PBGR task. You will be writing a persuasive essay. Be prepared!

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress has just unveiled a new exhibit on how government documents changed (editing, revising, etc) prior to their adoption. It is a reminder to all of us that revising is another stage of writing. Even our Founding Fathers, Presidents, and key government officials had to change the wording of documents as they worked towards developing a document that captured their ideas.

Newseum

This week a new museum opened in Washington, DC that features the role of the press, media and news in our country. Freedom of the press, protected under the First Amendment, has allowed the American people to be well informed citizens. The press educates the reader and also provides an opportunity for us to voice our opinions.

Our MHS “Wave” provides our school community with much needed information on events, student accomplishments, sports, and gives the school community to voice opinions. Have you taken the opportunity to write a letter to the “Wave” on an issue you think is important? In many countries, freedom of the press is not practiced and people are deprived of knowledge and opportunity to speak out. Our freedoms are only protected when we as a group practice our freedoms.

Come meet a Senator

The Redwood Library in Newport will be hosting a free lecture by former Senator Lincoln Chafee on Thursday, April 17 at 6:00 pm. The Senator will be speaking on his newly released book, “Against the Tide: How a Complaint Congress Empowered a Reckless President.” This is a great opportunity to hear first hand how the US got involved in Iraq from the only Republican Senator to vote against the war. Even though he lost his bid for reelection, Senator Chafee has high voter approval ratings and may be a candidate for Governor in the future. Hope to see you there.

Our Spring Break

Enjoy your time off this week....get outside and soak in the sun and spring flowers...read a pleasure book...keep up on current events....discuss a hot topic with a friend or family member...make plans and set goals...rest...come back refreshed and ready to have the best of quarters.


Quote of the Week

“…of all the subjects we learn in school, history is more important and influential than anything, and most of all it stays in the heart.”