Category: Incubator Ideas

Nativism in 3D

Know Nothing

Antebellum Immigration “Nativism in 3D”
Distrust, Discrimination and Destruction

Were the Irish and German immigrants welcomed in Antebellum America?  (Not really and not always).

Anti-Irish sentiment may refer to or include racism, oppression, bigotry, persecution, discrimination, hatred or fear of Irish people as an ethnic group or nation, whether directed against Ireland in general or against Irish emigrants and their descendants in the Irish diaspora.

An Anti-Immigrant movement develops. What began as the secret society – “Order of the Star Spangled Banner,” evolves into a political party  – The American Party (AKA the Know – Nothing Party)

Distrust – Immigration causes anxiety and social disorder – All immigrants did was drink and steal.

Discrimination – The issue of anti-Irish job discrimination in the United States. Some insist that the “No Irish need apply” signs were common.

Destruction – In Louisville, Kentucky, election-day rioters killed at least 22 people in attacks on German and Irish Catholics on Aug. 6, 1855, in what became known as “Bloody Monday.” In Philadelphia in 1844, for example, a series of nativist assaults on Catholic churches and community centers resulted in the loss of lives and the professionalization of the police force.

 

 

 

Henry Clay’s lessons for today

One of the ironies that besets any institute devoted to the study of the US Senate is that mulling today’s Senate is akin to contemplating a patient in a long-term coma. The Senate can’t function well without compromise — and in today’s political climate, compromising is often seen as selling out. In a far more polarized era, however, Clay found a way to make the Senate work.

David and Jeanne Heidler, authors of Henry Clay: The Essential American, have tried to make sense of Clay’s stance on slavery. They tell NPR’s Steve Inskeep that it wasn’t until he fell under the tutelage of George Wythe, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, that Clay began to think seriously about the issue

University of Tennessee

 

This post is part of the APUSH Gameday series.

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University of Tennessee “You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”

On September 10, 1794, two years before Tennessee became a state and at a meeting of the legislature of the Southwest Territory at Knoxville, the University of Tennessee was chartered as Blount College.  Tennessee has had several nicknames, but the most popular and well-known is “The Volunteer State,” a nickname earned during the War of 1812 (thousands of volunteer soldiers from Tennessee played a prominent role in this war, especially during the Battle of New Orleans).

This reputation for volunteering was reinforced during the Mexican War when the secretary of state asked for 2,800 Tennessee volunteers and got 30,000 respondents

Henry Clay Jr. (April 10, 1811 – February 23, 1847) was an American politician and soldier from Kentucky, the third son of US Senator and Congressman Henry Clay and Lucretia Hart Clay. He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1835 and served one term. A graduate of West Point, he served in the Mexican-American War and was killed in 1847 at the Battle of Buena Vista.

Curriculum Connections: (Mascot) “The Volunteers”, War of 1812, Mexican War| Henry Clay Jr., The Civil War

 

James Madison University

This post is part of the APUSH Gameday series.

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James Madison University “Knowledge is Liberty”

Founded in 1908 as a women’s college, James Madison University was established by the Virginia General Assembly. It was originally called The State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg. In 1914, the name of the university was changed to the State Normal School for Women at Harrisonburg. At first, academic offerings included only today’s equivalent of technical training or junior college courses; however authorization to award bachelor’s degrees was granted in 1916. During this initial period of development, the campus plan was established and six buildings were constructed. The university became the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg in 1924 and continued under that name until 1938, when it was named Madison College in honor of James Madison, the fourth President of the United States whose Montpelier estate is located in nearby Orange, Virginia. In 1976, the university’s name was changed to James Madison University.

I work the James Madison into my course when I cover the following topics:

Plain, Honest Men – Philadelphia 1787 In an atmosphere of crisis, fifty five delegate met in Philadelphia and forged a radically new of government through conflict, compromise, and fragile consensus.

Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution [1787-1788]The ratification debate, waged in the newspapers, through pamphlets, and on the floor of the state conventions, led to heated arguments about our new government’s structure and function.

 

 

“A Rope of Sand”

 

 

 

 

 

America’s First Constitution  – “A Rope of Sand”
The Articles of Confederation, reflecting republican fears of both centralized power and excessive popular influence, leads to conflicts among the states that threaten the existence of the young nation.

No executive leadership

No national court system

One State, One Vote

No power to TAX

Northwest Ordinance (1787)

Shays’ Rebellion (1787)

Who was La Malinche?

 Using NPR Podcasts to tell the American story

La Malinche known also as Doña Marina was a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, who played a role in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, acting as an interpreter, advisory, mistress, and intermediary for the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés. She was one of 20 women slaves given to the Spaniards by the natives of Tabasco in 1519. Later, she became a mistress to Cortés and gave birth to his first son, Martín, who is considered one of the first Mestizos (people of mixed European and indigenous American ancestry).

NPR Podcast: Who was La Malinche?  (6:50)

HOW TO DELIVER CONTENT IN THREE EASY STEPS!

1. Create a class account using the Remind.com text service.

2. Search the American Pageant’s Infinite Playlist and select the file you want to send to your students.

3. Paste the podcast link in your Remind.com text message and send!

San Diego State Aztecs

This post is part of the APUSH Gameday series.

San Diego State University “Leadership Starts Here”  San Diego State University (SDSU, San Diego State) is a public research university in San Diego, California, and is the largest and oldest higher education institution in San Diego County. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university in the 23-member California State University.

After the athletic teams were established in 1921, media referred to the teams as “Staters” or “professors”. The school newspaper tried to encourage “Wampus Cats” during its coverage of the 1923-24 school year. In the fall of 1924, Athletic Director C.E. Peterson urged the students to select a nickname and the school newspaper, The Paper Lantern, invited suggestions. Over the next few issues, names such as Panthers, Balboans and Thoroughbreds were suggested and submitted to a committee of Dean Al Peterson, C.E. Peterson and a student. In 1925, student leaders chose the nickname “Aztecs” over such other suggestions as “Balboans”. They felt the terminology was more representative of a southwest image and the selection met with no dissent. In February of 1925, President Hardy gave his formal approval to the “Aztec” nickname and teams adopted that identity within a week.

 

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I work the San Diego State Aztecs into my course when I cover the following topics:

From Pangaea to Paradise – The Americas Before European Conquest [1491] Pre-Columbian indigenous populations were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness,  rather, a vastly more populous and sophisticated civilizations that actively shaped and influenced the land around them .

The Spanish Mission System – “A Wealth of Souls to Harvest”The Spanish clergy, particularly Jesuits and Franciscans, played a critical role in settling the Southwest using the mission system.Over the centuries, this became the most effective means of “civilizing” natives.

APUSH Gameday

This year I decided to work my favorite TV show into my Advanced Placement United States History course.  College Football Gameday goes on location Every week the crew from Gameday typically broadcasts from the campus of the team hosting a featured game being played that day and features news and analysis of the day’s upcoming games.

While on they were hosting from campus of James Madison University I thought I could have some fun weaving a college’s history (founding mascots, and notable alumni) into my curriculum.  So it began, I ordered a bunch of College Polo’s from Fanatics.com using money I made selling resources on my TeachersPayTeachers site.  I will be posting info about the colleges I choose to incorporate into my course as we move through the semester.

 

US History Mission Statement

Here is a fantastic mission statement for an Advanced Placement U.S. History course. These are the words of  award winning documentary film maker Ken Burns.  I first heard the following quote on a National Constitution Center podcast about Mr. Burn’s film Prohibition.

“I am in the business of history. It is the avocation I have chosen to practice my craft of film making. Over the many years of practicing, I have come to the realization that history is a not a fixed thing, a collection of precise dates, facts and events that add up to a quantifiable, certain, confidently known, truth. It is an inscrutable and mysterious and malleable thing. Each generation rediscovers and re-examines that part of its past that gives its present, and most important, its future new meaning and new possibilities.

I am interested in that mysterious power of history, and I am interested in its many varied voices. Not just the voices of the old top-down version of our past, which would try to convince us that American history is only the story of Great Men. And not just those pessimistic voices that have recently entered our studies, voices which seem to suggest that our history is merely a catalog of white crime. I am interested in listening to the voices of a true, honest, complicated past that is unafraid of controversy and tragedy, but equally drawn to those voices, those stories and moments, that suggest an abiding faith in the human spirit and particularly the unique role this remarkable and sometimes dysfunctional Republic seems to play in the positive progress of mankind. That, quite simply, has been my creed, my mantra, the lens through which I have tried to see our shared past, to understand its stories, for more than 30 years”.   Source Link

 

Additional U.S. History Resources
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