HW for 4/14

Please read pages 303-310. Please answer these questions:

1. What were slave codes? What function did they serve? How were they applied?
2. How was slave life shaped by the slave's relationship with his or her owner?
3. Explain the debate over the actual material condition of slavery.
4. How did slavery in the cities differ from slavery on the plantation? What effect did urban slavery have on the "peculiar institution" and on the relationship between white and black?
5. How extensive was the practice of manumission in the South?
6. What was the status of the freed slave in the South? How did this compare with the status of freed people in the North?
7. Explain the characteristics of the foreign and domestic slave trade. On what grounds was this trade criticized? How did the South answer this criticism?
8. How did the slave respond to slavery? What evidence exists to show that slaves did not accept their condition without protest and, in some cases, outright defiance?
9. What were the most widely recognized slave revolts? What did they accomplish?

HW due 3/24

Please read and take notes on pages 242-248.
In addition, please write a response to this political cartoon. Your response should include an interpretation of the cartoon's message, to what it is in response, an assessment of its validity, and any thoughts you have about the cartoon. Your response should be approximately 6-10 sentences.

HW Due 3/22

Please read pages 233-242, and answer the following questions. I remind you that your work is to be your OWN in every way. Inability to do so will result in a 0 on this assignment.

1. What were the general characteristics of "Jacksonian Democracy" [its philosophy, practice, etc.]?
2. How did the spoils system fit into Jackson's "democratic" plans? What other means did he use to bring more people into the political process?
3. What role did social rank and occupation play in the growing democratization of American politics? What was the reaction in New York and Rhode Island to these democratic trends?
4. What groups were excluded from this widening of political opportunity? Why?
5. What was the effect of this growth of democracy? How did it change, or not change, the American political system?
6. How have historians differed over the nature of Jacksonian Democracy?
7. Explain how these different opinions reflect divisions over what historians feel was the role Andrew Jackson played in the era named for him.
8. Why did South Carolinians refer to the Tariff of 1828 as the "Tariff of Abomination?"
9. What was John C. Calhoun's theory of nullification as set forth in the South Carolina Exposition and Protest?
10. What was the "Kitchen Cabinet?" Who were its members? How did it come into existence?
11. What were the origins of the Calhoun-Jackson split? How did the Eaton Affair contribute to this division?
12. How did the Webster-Hayne debate fit into the controversy between Jackson and Calhoun?
13. What was the major point of disagreement between Webster and Hayne? What arguments were advanced on either side?

HW due 3/10

Please read pages 216-222, and answer the following questions:

1. How did technological developments transform the economy, create international markets, and affect the environment in the nation?
2. How did the United States attempt to account for regional differences while also striving to create an American identity?
3. Who were the leading exponents of the "National" over the "Local" or "sectional" point of view that rose after the war? What factors contributed to the growth and development of this attitude?
4. What was the "internal improvements bill?" How did it fit the nationalists' program, and what happened to it?
5. What were the general characteristics of the westward movement after the War of 1812, and what geographical factors affected the decisions of where to settle?
6. How did the advance of the southern frontier differ from the advance of settlement of the North?
7. Describe the trade that developed between the western regions of North America and the United States early in the nineteenth century.
   

HW for 2/25/10

Remember that your Jeffersonian Era Projects are due on Tuesday, Feb 23.

For Thursday, your homework is to write a one to one and a half page position paper in response to our debate topic, Thomas Jefferson was a successful president. This paper should be typed, 12 point font, Calibri font, and no modifications to margins. Your name is sufficient for title. Your paper should be double spaced.

A position paper is your opinion, which is supported well using specific examples and facts. You can base your opinion on your research and the debate.

You may email this to me, but it must be received by the beginning of your class period on Thursday.

HW for 2/5/10

Please read pages 193-200 for Friday's class. Take reading notes.

HW for 2/3

Please read pages 181-193, and take reading notes. If you prefer, here are the questions,

1. Why was education "central to the Republican vision of America?"
2. What effect did Republican ideology have on education in the United States?
3. Explain the "cultural independence" that Jeffersonian Americans sought. What means of expression did this "independence" find?
4. What were the obstacles faced by Americans who aspired to create a more elevated national literary life? What efforts were made to overcome these obstacles?
5. What sort of works by American authors were most influential? Why?
6. How did the American Revolution affect traditional forms of religious practice? What challenges to religious traditionalism arose during this period?
7. What caused the Second Great Awakening?
8. Why were the Methodists, the Baptists, and the Presbyterians so successful on the frontier?
9. What was the "message" and the impact of the Second Great Awakening? What impact did it have on women? on African Americans? on Native Americans?
10. Explain the reasons for the initial American ambivalence toward British industrialism. What technological advances helped change this attitude?
11. What role did Eli Whitney play in America's Industrial Revolution? What impact did his inventions have on the South? on the North?
12. What effect did America's transportation system have on industrialization?
13. What were the characteristics of American population growth and expansion in the years between 1790 and 1800?

HW for 2/3/10

Please read pages 172-178, and take reading notes.
If you prefer having questions to help guide your notes, you may consider the following:

1. What were the reasons for the Whiskey Rebellion? Who was it aimed at particularly?
2. How did Washington's reaction to the Whiskey Rebellion underscore the difference between the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation?
3. How did the government under the Constitution guarantee that people on the frontier would be loyal to it? What was the impact on Native Americans?
4. What diplomatic problems did the French Revolution and the war that followed pose for the United States? How did Washington and Congress deal with this problem?
5. What were the circumstances that sent John Jay to England? What were the results of his mission?
6. How did Jay's Treaty affect American relations with Spain?
7. Why was John Adams selected as the Federalist candidate in 1796?
8. What circumstances led to an administration with a Federalist president and a Republican vice president?
9. What caused the "quasi-war" with France during the Adams administration? What was the result of this struggle?
10. How did the Federalists attempt to silence those who opposed the undeclared war, and what groups did these attempts most affect?
11. What gave rise to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions? What attitude toward the nature of the federal government did these Resolutions reveal?
12. What were the key issues in the 1800 presidential election? Why is it called the "Revolution of 1800?"

Grade check

Your first homework assignment of the third marking period will be to check your second marking period grades in powerschool. You must send me an email to let me know if there are errors OR if everything is ok. This is due by 3pm on January 29.

HW due 1/13

Please read pages 168-172, and answer the following questions:

1. How did the divisions of the 1790s reflect the differences in philosophy that were at the heart of debate over the Constitution?
2. What was the view of society and politics held by Hamilton? Who did he feel should govern, and why? Which country's political system did he most admire?
3. What was Hamilton's plan for paying the nation's debts and restoring credit? To which social-economic-political group would this have appealed?
4. How did Hamilton propose to enact his programs? Who opposed him, and to what degree was he successful?
5. How did political parties rise as a result of Hamilton's programs?
6. What was the political philosophy of Jefferson and Madison? How did it differ from that of Hamilton?

Homework, due January 7

Please complete the Articles of Confederation vs. Constitution activity.
In addition, please read this document, written by James Madison (major author of the US Constitution). In it, he identifies the major problems of government under the Articles of Confederation.

Then, answer the following questions about the document:

1. Which, would you say, are the three biggest problems of the A of C, as identified by Madison? Explain your response.
2. Which of these do you think MADISON considered the biggest problems? Why do you think that?

Homework, due January 5!

Please read pages 149 (The Creation of State Governments) to 155, and answer the following questions:

1. What was it about the concept of a republican government that so appealed to Americans?
2. How did Americans propose to avoid what they considered to be the problems of the British system they were repudiating?
3. How did these new constitutions deal with the question of religious freedom? How did they deal with slavery?
4. What type of government did the Articles of Confederation create? What were its major features?
5. Why was the Confederation government organized as it was?
6. Why was there a delay in its ratification? How were the obstacles to its ratification overcome?
7. How did the Confederate Congress attempt to solve the problem of the status of western territory that the states had ceded to it?
8. Which interest groups favored which plans for the sale and distribution of land?
9. How was paper money seen as a solution to the economic problems of one element in American society? Who opposed this, and why?
10. How did the action of Daniel Shays and his followers relate to the economic problem of the Confederation period? What was the significance of the movement he led?
    

HW for 12/11

Please visit this website and read the piece "George Washington as Military Leader." Please note that this continues to the next page!

http://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/classroom/military_leader2.html

Please answer these questions about the reading:

1. What challenges did Washington face off the battlefield during the Revolutionary War?
2. Explain three ways that Washington’s understanding of military power was influenced by geography.
3. Why was the use of strategic retreat important to Washington’s success?
4. Why was Washington’s victory at Monmouth important?
5. What factors led to the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown?
6. What impact did General Washington have on the American Revolution?

HW for 12/9

Please read pages 138-149.


# Why did the British decide to launch a campaign against the southern colonies in 1778? What advantages and disadvantages did each side have in this region?
# Why did the British "Southern Strategy" backfire?
# How was Spain an obstacle to the American hopes for peace with independence?How did this affect American diplomacy before the Battle of Yorktown?
# What was the significance of the Yorktown victory for the colonists? for the British?
# What were the provisions of the Treaty of Paris in 1783? How did the Treaty affect relations among the United Sates, France, and Spain?
# Who were the Loyalists? What elements in America remained loyal to the King, and for what reasons?
# What happened to the Loyalists?
# What effect did the war have on other minorities? How was its significance to African-Americans both limited, and yet significant?
# How did the Revolution affect the way American women thought about their status? What changes resulted from this new awareness?
# What changes did the Revolution produce in the structure of the American economy?

HW for 12/7

Look at this website: http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/congress.htm

It presents to you Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence as submitted to the Second Continental Congress (and seen debated in 1776).

Your job is to identify the reasons behind each change. Generally, they will fall into one of two groups (although some will fall into both): grammatical or political.
Make a chart in which you write down the change (you can write the first three or four words then the last three or four words, with an ellipsis in between), and then identify the reasons for the change.

In this task, you will be closely reading the Declaration of Independence as well as identifying the reasons they made the changes they did. Think carefully about the Age of Enlightenment, and what affect the ideas and ideals of that time would impact the words and changes.

For Monday, you need to address all changes up to and including the paragraph that ends:
People who mean to be free. Future ages will scarcely believe that the hardiness of one man adventured, within the short compass of twelve years only, to lay a foundation so broad & so undisguised for tyranny over a people fostered & fixed in principles of freedom.

HW for 12/3

Read pages 133-138 (Iroquois and the British)

You should take outline notes on all readings, but the focus of your notes should be to compare British advantages and disadvantages with American ones.

HW for 12/1

You are to complete the following assignment for Tuesday's class.
Remember, your work is to be your own. If you have any troubles, please feel free to see me. These questions are directly from your book, and submitting work one day late results in a 10% (1 point on a homework assignment) deduction. Copying the work of another student or giving another student your work results in a zero on the assignment and potential disciplinary action. Please see the student handbook for more information. Again, if you are having any problems, please see me.

Read pages 128-133, and answer the following questions:

List the divisions within the Second Continental Congress and give the aim of each faction. How did the factions attempt to gain their ends?

What were the major arguments presented by Thomas Paine in Common Sense?

How did the pamphlet, Common Sense, address the problem of the aim of the war? What was its impact on American opinion?

What were the philosophical roots of the Declaration of Independence? What effect did the Declaration have on the struggle?

What problems did the Americans face in providing the necessary supplies and equipment for the war and in paying for them? How were these problems, at least initially, overcome?

HW for 11/17

Read 118-124 and answer:

# Why was the Tea Act seen by many Americans as a threat to themselves and their institutions?
# What were the Coercive Acts? How did the Quebec Act help to unite the colonies with Boston in opposition to these acts?
# How and why did taverns become a central institution in colonial American social life? What circumstances and events helped make taverns central to political life as well?
# What role was played by Committees of Correspondence in the American protests?
# What were the FIVE major decisions made at the First Continental Congress? What was their significance?
# What British leaders spoke out in support of the American cause? What were their reasons for doing so?
# What were the circumstances that led to the fighting at Lexington and Concord?

HW for Friday

Make sure your bring your homework that was due on Monday for a grade.

Please read 113-118 and answer:
# Why did the Stamp Act so antagonize the American colonists?
# How did actions by the Stamp Act crowd raise questions of whether protests in the colonies represented more than opposition to British policies?
# What was England's response to the American protests over the Stamp Act. Explain how the policies of Charles Townshend and of Lord North differed.
# What role did Samuel Adams play in the American protests? How did his view of the need for American independence differ from those of most other colonial leaders at the time?
# How did the Boston Massacre add to the growing tensions between the colonists and the British presence in North America?
# How did the colonial view of the nature of the British Empire differ from the view by George III and his supporters?
# What was the "political outlook" that gained a following in America and ultimately served to justify revolt?

HW for 11/9/09

Please read pages 102-107. Answer these questions:

How did the relationship between king and Parliament change during the early 18c? What role did the prime minister play in this change?

Why was the period of the late 17c and early 18c called the "Era of Salutary Neglect?"

How did British officials in the colonies carry out [or fail to carry out] their duties? What was the effect of their activities?

What was the Albany Plan of Union? Why did it fail? What did it reveal about colonial unity?

How did the French attempt to secure their hold on the vast areas they claimed in North America?

What were the causes of the "Great War for Empire" [the Sevens Years' War or French and Indian War]? Why was it given that name?

How did the Great War for Empire become a truly international conflict? What role did the French and British colonies play in this war?

What were the stereotypes that the English had about the American colonists? that the American colonists had about the British?

What role did Native Americans play in the French and Indian War?

Why did the French lose?

List the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1763.