Ron Chernow’s history lesson on Hamilton went to Broadway—now he takes up President Ulysses S. Grant. We’ll talk about presidents past and present.
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Tag: APUSH
A Letter from Jourdan Anderson
Many of you have probably used the remarkable letter of a former slave by the name of Jourdan Anderson sent a letter to his former master. The roughly 800-word letter, which was a crafty response to a missive from Colonel P.H. Anderson, Jourdan’s former master back in Big Spring, Tennessee. Apparently, Col. Anderson had written Jourdan asking him to come on back to the big house to work. I created the timeline below from internet resources to set the historical context for my students.
Life in Tennessee 1823 to 1864
1823 General Paulding Anderson’s son Patrick Henry Anderson is born in Big Spring, TN (Wilson County)
1825 – Jourdan Anderson is born in December, some place in Tennessee.
1833 – Jourdan Anderson (age 8) becomes the slave of General Paulding Anderson and is given to his son Patrick Henry Anderson (age 10) as as playmate and personal servant
1844 – Patrick Henry Anderson (age 21) married Mary A. McGregor. She brought with her at least two servants, Amanda McGregor (age 15) and her mother, Priscilla McGregor (age 43). Patrick took several of his father’s slaves to his new home, including Jourdon.
1848 – Jourdan (age 23) married Amanda McGregor (age 19), Over 52 years of marriage theuy will have 11 children. The children born in Tennessee “seem” to have been Matilda, Catherine, Mildred (known as Milly) circa 1848, Jane circa 1851 and Felix Grundy, born on March 14, 1859. I use the word “seem” because there are no concrete records that prove Matilda and Catherine were Jourdon and Amanda’s children.
There was a Felix Grundy who served as a US Senator from Anderson’s home state of Tennessee in the 1830s who has a Tennessee county named after him
1860 – According to the 1860 census and slave schedules, Patrick Henry Anderson (age 37) has five ‘slave houses’ on his plantation totaling 32 people (19 males and 13 females) Before the start of the Civil War. P.H. Anderson had a personal estate valued at $92,000 (2.867 million in 2018 dollars)
1861 – April 12th Confederate artillery fired on the Union garrison at Fort Sumter marking the start of the Civil War ; June 8th Tennessee became the last state to secede from the Union. When the Civil War began in 1861, Jordan’s life changed very little and he still continued to dutifully work the plantation for his master with his wife.
1864 – Union Soldiers happened upon the Anderson plantation. Upon encountering Jordan, the soldiers granted him, his wife and children their freedom, making the act official with papers from the Provost Marshal General of Nashville
Upon being granted his freedom, Jordan immediately left the plantation which angered P.H. Anderson’s son Henry (age 18) to such an extent that he shot at Jordan as he was leaving, only ceasing to fire when a neighbor, George Carter, grabbed Henry’s pistol from him. Reportedly, Henry vowed to kill Jordan if he ever set foot on his property again.
Jordan and Mandy worked for a time at the Cumberland Military Hospital in Nashville under the surgeon in charge Dr. Clarke McDermont. Jordan and Mandy, with the help of Dr. Clarke McDermont, relocated to Dayton, Ohio in August of 1864
Life in Dayton, Ohio 1865 to 1905
1865 – Following his departure from the plantation, Jordan worked briefly in a Nashville field hospital, becoming close friends with a surgeon called Dr Clarke McDermont. When the Civil War ended in 1865, McDermont helped Jordan and his family move to Dayton, Ohio and put him in contact with his father-in-law, Valentine Winters, an abolitionist who helped him secure work in the town.
For the most part, Jordan’s life in Dayton was uneventful, with his time spent working with a stoic sense of quiet dignity, supporting his family and making sure his many children received a good education, something the illiterate Jordan was never given the opportunity to have. (In fact, it was noted that while still a slave, when an unspecified white girl tried to teach one of his children to read, the girl was beaten for it and forced to stop.)
The Letter
As it turns out, following the Civil War, the Anderson Plantation had fallen into complete disrepair, as is wont to happen when your entire workforce leaves pretty much all at once.
Deeply in debt, in a desperate attempt to save himself from total financial ruin, Henry reached out to the only man he knew who not only had the skills needed for the harvest, but also potentially the clout to convince some of the other slaves to return for paid work- Jordan Anderson. The letter also promised that Jordan would be paid and be treated as a free man if he returned.
He is a list of the payments requested by Jourdan from his former master and the 2017 equivalents:
Jourdan – $25.00 ($400.00 in 2017 dollars) per month for 32 years
Mandy – $8.00 ($120.00 in 2017 dollars) per month for 20 years
$11,600.00 ( $175,000 in 2017 dollars) with interest
1867 – A penniless Colonel P.H. Anderson dies of heart attack at age 44
1870 – Census records show Jordon Anderson living in Ohio with Mandy, four children (Jane, Felix, William, and Andrew). Jordan will find work as a janitor, coachman, laborer and sexton.
1905 – The Dayton Daily Journal publishes Jordan Anderson’s obituary. He was 79 years old.
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American Biographies
Inspired by the hit Broadway musical Hamilton I decided to incorporate historical actors into every time period covered in my Advanced Placement United States course. After reading NY Times critic Ben Brantley’s August 6, 2015 review of ‘Hamilton.’ I was drawn to one particular paragraph that captured the essence of the American story: “Mr. Miranda’s Hamilton, a propulsive mix of hubris and insecurity, may be the center of the show. But he is not its star. That would be history itself, that collision of time and character that molds the fates of nations and their inhabitants.”
As social studies professionals we are in the business of telling stories. History is drama. It’s full of character and conflict. Who is protagonist? Who has the starring role? What, when, and where does the plot turn? Does it have a happy or tragic ending? These are the problems historians deal with when they tell the story of America. Effective educators tirelessly weave endless narratives about America’s past into lesson plans designed to share what this collision of time and character ultimately created.
While the chronological framework of any US History course is pre-determined, stressing the importance of uncovering the life stories of individuals or groups creates the possibility of a broader understanding of the American story. As historians we should
emphasize that history is made by many nameless and faceless people—slaves, factory workers, farmers, suffragists, and others— are agents of historical change.
American Biographies companion website
M.A.P out Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny – An Expression of Our National Spirit [1848 to 1852]
Manifest Destiny, one of the most influential ideologies in American history, serves as the
justification for the nation’s territorial expansion in the antebellum era.
In the 19th century, manifest destiny was a widely held belief in the United States that its settlers were destined to expand across North America to redeem and remake the west in the image of agrarian America
Mobility – both physical and socio-economic
Availability – of federal land grants
Possibility – of starting a new life
Jacksonland
President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab
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
Washington’s Farewell Address Mnemonic
In his farewell address Washington warned against evils of political parties and the danger of permanent foreign alliances (like treaty with France).
$.A.F.E
Stay Away from Foreign Entanglements. The “$” in this mnemonic is a dollar sign because Washington encouraged commercial ties to build the economy.
Isolationism became dominant U.S. foreign policy for next 100 years. We departed for this advice…
1898 – The Spanish American and War
1917 – Attempted isolation during World War I. The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles and the U.S. did not join the League of Nations/
1945 – At the conclusion of World War II the United States joined the United Nations (1945) ending the
“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)
The Logic of Resistance
The Logic of Resistance [1770 to 1774]
Colonial reactions to perceived threats from the British help unite the colonies and provide a training ground for young colonial politicians – a formative step toward organized rebellion.
Boston Massacre
Committees of Correspondence
Boston Tea Party
Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)
First Continental Congress
Who Is Junipero Serra?
The Spanish Mission System
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. Their missions were designed to spread Christianity among, and establish control over, native populations. In some areas, they forced Indians to live in mission communities, where the priests taught them weaving, blacksmithing, candle-making, and leather-working, and forced them to work in orchards, workshops, and fields for long hours. The missions were most successful in New Mexico (despite an Indian revolt in 1680) and California and far less successful in Arizona and Texas. In addition, as Indians converted, a form of Catholicism that was unique to the Americas developed to accommodate the converts
Current Events: Canonization of Spanish missionary Junipero Serra
Junipero Serra, an 18th century Spanish missionary, will be canonized as a saint during Pope Francis’s trip. Some see Father Serra as an American hero, but his sainthood isn’t without controversy.
History Incubator 