Monday, December 12, 2016

Jim Crow Contd.

Today, you'll continue work on the Jim Crow web activity.  In order to continue to make parallels between our studies and current events, please copy and paste the additional rows in this document to your web activity in their proper place and complete them as part of your work.
Jim Crow Web Activity Addendum


Friday, December 9, 2016

Plessy v. Ferguson

Today we'll start with a quiz on last night's Foner reading and then use these questions to examine the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.  That will lead us into an exploration of the kind of society that grew as a result of that decision which we'll look at in this Web Activity: Jim Crow Web

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Populism

After a short quiz, you'll work with a partner to analyze political cartoons related to the Populist Era of the late 19th Century.
Here is the assignment: Populism Cartoons
Here are your partners:

  1. Traia/Sarah
  2. Andy/Jonah
  3. Betsy/Zach
  4. David/Brittany
  5. Ben/Ashley
  6. Aaron/Emmett
  7. Rachel/John
  8. Haley/Danielle
  9. Matt F./Nicole
  10. Marissa/Wyatt
  11. Claire/Holden
  12. Matt G./ Mason

Replacement Credit Opportunity-If you are missing an assignment or if you received late credit on an assignment, you can get those points back by completing the following (if all of your assignments have been turned in on time, you can receive extra credit points for it or you can bank it for a future assignment):

  • Search for a current article or political cartoon about Populism in 2016 in the United States.
  • Read the article and/or examine the cartoon.
  • Post a link to it in the comments to this post (if a cartoon, copy the image).
  • Comment on the article or cartoon in your post. Some questions to guide your comment (comments should be a solid paragraph): What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with the point of view? Is populism an important movement in 2016? Should it be checked? What impact does it have? 


In order to get full replacement credit, the article or cartoon must be from a credible news source (BEWARE of fake news), must be at least partially about Populism in the United States (you'll find a number of articles about the current populist movement in Europe. Make sure that yours address the U.S. too), and your comment must be thorough and thoughtful.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Primary Document Assessment and Revisiting the Electoral College

Our first activity today is to do our Primary Document Assessment.
Please do the following:

  1. Close all other tabs in your browser.
  2. Open this file: Primary Document Assessment-What the Workingman Wants
  3. Make a copy and save it in your U.S. History Folder
  4. You are not to open any other tabs during this assessment (including electronic copies of the document, dictionaries, websites, etc.). I will be monitoring this.
  5. When you have finished, upload your completed assessment to turnitin.com

For our second activity, we'll be shifting our look at the Gilded Age to again consider current events, this time as they apply to the electoral college. Please complete the following:

  • Skim the short review of the elements of the electoral college and then read the excerpt from Alexander Hamilton in Federalist #68 justifying the electoral college carefully. Electoral College and Federalist #68
  • Read this NY Times Op-Ed piece from a Republican Electoral College Member
  • Scroll through some of the comments to the Op-Ed above. To get to the comments, click on the thought bubble icon with the number inside. 
  • Then make a comment on this blog post in response to the pieces you read above. Your comment will be in three parts.

A. Start with a quote from Hamilton that you see as central to the argument for the Electoral College.  What do do you think of that argument?  Was it valid in 1789?  Is it valid in 2016?

B. Do you agree with Mr. Suprun's decision? Why or why not? Use a quote from his op-ed piece and respond to it.

C. Take one of the comments (from the "Comments" section) that you found interesting and copy it here.  Then respond to that comment, using your understanding of the Electoral College, Hamilton's reasoning, and Mr. Suprun's position.

Monday, December 5, 2016

The Gilded Age: Then and Now


The Bosses of the Senate.

Today begins with a quiz on the Foner section -- hopefully these daily quizzes are helping students to read carefully!

We then shift from money in politics in the late 19th century, to money in politics in the early 21st century, by looking at this article.  Make sure to watch the short video first!

Once you have watched and read, make a comment on this blog post.  Make sure that your answer hits all of these questions. 

1) Does money in politics matter?  Why or why not?  Is money in politics beneficial to democracy?  Harmful?  A mixture?  Why 

2) What similarities do you see between the Gilded Age and today's political scene?  Are there differences? Try to be as specific as you can.

3) For further consideration read one or both of the following: A Second Gilded Age at Last?; Why We're Not in a New Gilded Age. How do these frame or change your response to #2 above?

Friday, December 2, 2016

Native American Affairs, Yesterday and Today

Today, we'll begin with a quiz on last night's Foner reading. We'll then spend a little bit of time going over the CW/Antebellum test.
Our primary activity today can be found in this document: Continuing Challenges for Native Americans.

Please note that for HW, in addition to the short Foner reading, you now are also required to begin to formalize your thinking about promises and problems by filling out this chart for the readings we have done thus far: Promises and Problems Chart (copy also in your folders). You should continue to add to it as we progress through the unit.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

The Gospel of Wealth

Today we'll start with a reading quiz on last night's Foner reading. We'll then explore the theme of promises and problems by creating a google doc and listing evidence from Foner that identifies with either term.
We'll spend the bulk of the period reading and discussing Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth and if time, Henry George's Progress and Poverty.