The Roaring 1920s: Myth or Reality??

The 1920s have been romanticized for almost a century as "The Roaring Twenties," when America dried up but still partied, money flowed like water, and The Babe and Murderers' Row held the sporting public enthralled.

But that's only part of the story. Much like the Gilded Age, what was seen on the surface only hid a deeper conflict underneath: the promoters of modernism against the forces of traditionalism. From the speakeasies to the public schools, there were very few arenas in which a fundamental clash did not occur duirng the 1920s.

Your task: attempt to uncover the truth as opposed to the myth...

1.) "The Chicago Race Riots of 1919" - we will look at this together on Thurs., 3/8, in the context of post-WWI tensions growing out of unemployment caused by demobilization. The assignment we begin in class will be due on Fri., 3/9.

2.) "The Florida Terror: Race Relations in Florida after World War I" - this PDF file is on my website. WARNING: you will be disturbed by some of the things that you read about in this lesson. Yes, they all happened in your home state, and yes, it's all true. Be thankful that I did not include any pictures. For 5 points Extra Credit, look up Billie Holliday's immortal song "Strange Fruit" on http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/strangefruit/film.html and write a 100-word response to this song and its effect as a protest song. Both of these assignments (the "Florida Terror" Graphic Organizer & the "Strange Fruit" write-up) are due on Tues., 3/20.

3.) Monterey Institute, Unit 8, Ch. 19, Lesson 58 - Both assignments due on Wed., 3/21

A.) Complete one podcast sheet (front and back) for each section (there are 5), and;

B.) Complete the Unit 8 Discussion Question ("The 1920s was a decade of tremendous tension between forces of tradition and modernity. Analyze how the United States began to modernize and how many Americans clung to 'traditional' values."...use at least 3 specific examples, and at least 500 words in length). - this needs to be emailed to me to verify word count

4.) Ch. 31 & Ch. 32 Guidebooks - both on my website and both due on Thurs., 3/22.

The Transformation of America, 1865-1900

This is the United States at night. It's such a plain picture, maybe even a little boring, but it explains so many things about our country today, and where we were just over a century ago. What would a nighttime picture of the United States have looked like in 1899, for instance (assuming there had been a satellite to take it)? Where would there not have been any light? What made all of it possible? Hopefully, some of these things will be shown to you in the next couple of weeks.

Of course, you have "American Pageant" guidebooks to give you a plethora of background information, and these guidebooks are on my McKeel webpage. You will need to complete Ch. 23 & Ch. 24 by this Friday, 1/20, and Ch. 25 & Ch. 26 by next Friday, 1/27. You will also be able to find the PPTs for Ch. 23-26 on my webpage as we continue through this material.

OTHER ASSIGNMENTS THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT:

1.) Zinn, Ch. 11 - "Robber Barons & Rebels" - questions due on Wed., 1/25

2.) Haymarket Riot - George Engel was a German immigrant who was also an avowed anarchist; he was accused of helping to plot a bombing in a crowded Chicago public square during a labor protest in early May 1886. This PDF file on my webpage allows you to read some of his testimony during his trial. Answer #1 - #4 using the testimony and other information you deem necessary. This will be due on Thursday, 1/19.

3.) The Pullman Strike - one of the more famous workers' strikes in American history; this PDF file shows George Pullman's (president of the Pullman railway car company) statement to a presidential commission that investigated the bloody dispute. Read the interview and answer the questions that follow. This should be turned in on Thursday, 1/19, with the Haymarket Riot assignment.

*It is very important with these Monterey Institute assignments that you take them seriously; there is a LOT of useful information in these units, and it is not good enough to just answer the "Consider This" questions that you turn in to me. Make sure that you view the presentations that are assigned and complete each lesson topic's activities. You are training yourself for future assessments by doing this!

4.) Monterey Institute, Unit 6, Ch. 14, Lessons 41 & 42 (we will get to the other lessons in Chapter 14 in a couple of weeks) - Lesson 41 has TWO "Consider This" questions for you to answer. (Due Tues., 1/24)

5.) Monterey Institute, Unit 6, Ch. 15, Lessons 46 through 48 (Due Wed., 1/25)

-Lesson 46 - 2 "Consider This" questions
-Lesson 47 - 1 "Consider This" question
-Free-Response Question (Part C, #4 on Page 9 of the link)
-Writing Assignment
-Discussion Question

6.) Monterey Institute, Unit 6, Ch. 16, Lessons 49 & 50 (Due Thurs., 1/26)

-Free-Response Question (Part B, #3 on Page 7 of the link)
-Writing Assignment (Nast Cartoons, #1-#3)
-Discussion Question

7.) Andrew Carnegie Document-Based Question - we'll take a look in class at several documents that shed light on Carnegie's background, business methods, worker-management relations, and philanthropy. This written DBQ will be due on Fri., 1/27.

8.) Homestead Riot Class Assignment(given on Wed., 1/18) - Due on Fri., 1/20
For the week starting on Mon., 1/30, we will begin our look at the final major conflicts between the last Native American tribes on the frontier and the United States government.

The Ordeal of Reconstruction, 1865-1877

Your class was introduced to the Reconstruction of the South on Tues., Jan. 3rd. Below are the lyrics:

Oh, I’m a good old rebel, now that’s just what I am.
And for this Yankee nation I do not give a damn.
I’m glad I fought agin’ her, I only wish we’d won,
And I ain’t asked any pardon for anything I’ve done.

I hates the Yankee nation, and everything they do;
I hates the Declaration of Independence, too.
I hates the glorious Union, ‘tis dripping with our blood;
And I hates the striped banner – I fit [fought] it all I could.


I rode with Robert E. Lee for three years nearabout,
Got wounded in four places and I starved at Point Lookout.
I cotch [caught] the rheumatism a-campin’ in the snow,
But I killed a chance of Yankees, and I’d like to kill some mo’.

Three hundred thousand Yankees is stiff in Southern dust;
We got three hundred thousand before they conquered us.
They died of Southern fever, and Southern steel and shot;
And I wish they were three million instead of what we got.


I can’t take up my musket and fight ‘em now no more,
But I ain’t gonna love ‘em, now that is certain sure.
And I don’t want no pardon for what I was and am,
And I won’t be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.

Oh, I’m a good old rebel, now that’s just what I am.
And for this Yankee nation I do not give a damn.
I’m glad I fought agin’ [against] her, I only wish we’d won,
And I ain’t asked any pardon for anything I’ve done.



•“The Good Old Rebel”, written by a former Confederate Army officer, was very popular among former Confederate soldiers who disliked the Reconstruction policies of the federal government.

•Many of these former rebels headed west to Texas and Mexico to avoid Reconstruction.

•This song exemplifies the resistance and anger that many Southerners felt toward the policies of Reconstruction.

•Your task in the next few days is to determine why Reconstruction was so opposed in the South, and which side was more to blame for the ultimate failings of Reconstruction, the North or the South.

Questions

•What were three words or phrases that showed the attitude of the rebels in “The Good Old Rebel?”

•Identify three items that the song seems to dislike.

•Identify any events that seem to be significant to the song’s narrator.

-Answer these questions as a reply to this blog entry by Thurs., Jan. 5th.


After the Civil War, the United States government began the long & arduous process of Reconstruction. The next dozen years saw former slaves reach new heights socially, economically, and politically, but not without resistance among white Southerners. Then, upon the inauguration of new President Rutherford B. Hayes in March 1877, Reconstruction abruptly ended. Was the work the federal government began to remake the South truly finished, or was the end premature?

There is a wealth of information to learn about Reconstruction, and not much class time to do it in. It is truly a fascinating topic, one that I think helps to explain race relations and regional differences still alive today in the United States. And yet, it is such a little known topic.

The following are due dates that you have in APUSH for the next week-and-a-half. Manage your time wisely, because this is a lot.

1.) "American Pageant" Guidebook for Ch. 22 due on Fri., Jan. 6th.

2.) Monterey Institute, Unit 5, Lessons 39-40: view the videos, complete all “Consider This” questions (there are only two, both from Lesson 40), and also complete the following:

a.) Chapter 13 Writing Assignment (straight from the Monterey Institute website)
b.) Chapter 13 Discussion Question (same as above)
c.) Both “Consider This” questions & the two other questions are due on Mon., 1/9

3.) Read the article saved on my McKeel website ("The American Civil War, Emancipation, and Reconstruction on the World Stage," by Edward L. Ayers) and write a precis', minimum 500 words, posted on this blog. This is due by Thurs., Jan. 12th.

4.) DBQ - "Who Killed Reconstruction: North or South?" (will not be analyzed in class; you will receive on Thursday, Jan. 5th, and it will be due on Fri., Jan. 13th. If you have questions about any of the documents, you will need to ask me before Thurs., Jan. 12th.

6.) Ch. 17-22 Exam on Tues., Jan. 10th.

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave...

Thus begins one of the most influential songs of the 19th-century, sung by Union soldiers marching off to war as "foot-soldiers of the Almighty."

But just who was John Brown?

This week, you'll find out.

Upcoming Assignments

1.) Watch Monterey Institute, Unit 4, Chapter 11, Lesson 34 - "The Approaching War"

a.) "Consider This - John Brown": How did Julia Ward Howe's song with the apocalyptic message influence religious thinking in the North and the South during the Civil War era?

b.) "The United States had been rapidly expanding westward since the Louisiana Purchase. How did American expansion influence a growing sectional crisis after 1820? Did the war with Mexico put the U.S. on an inevitable road toward the Civil War?"

-These two items are due on Wed., 11/30, at the beginning of class.

2.) John Brown - Historical Marker (Due Mon., 12/5)

-John Brown is one of the most polarizing figures in American History...but how should he be remembered? You have been hired by the West Virginia Historical Society to design a historical marker to designate Harpers Ferry as a National Historic Site. Does it show John Brown as a hero and a martyr for the abolitionist cause, or as a deranged lunatic that plunged the nation into a four-year bloody civil war?

Details to be discussed in class.


3.) Zinn, Ch. 9 - on my website. Give yourself enough time...it's very involved.

Due on Mon., 12/5


4.) Ch. 18-19 Study Guides - on my website.

Due Tues., 12/6

Manifest Destiny, and what to do with all this new land...

This is what Mexico USED to look like, before the Mexican-American War in the 1840s. This war was just one episode, albeit a major one, in America's development into a country that stretched "from sea to shining sea."


This week, we'll take a look at America's growing pains in the 1800s. From an infant nation hugging the eastern seaboard of North America to a voracious teenage country hungry for even more territory, the United States grew exponentially in the mid-19th century. Here's what you'll need to turn in this week:

1.) Watch all Monterey Institute Unit 4, Chapter 11, Lessons 32-33 presentations.

2.) Complete all "Consider This" short-response questions for the above-mentioned Lessons. (Due Thursday, 11/17)

a.) Lesson 32 - John O'Sullivan Editorial
b.) Lesson 32 - The Mexican-American War
c.) Lesson 32 - Walter Colton Diary
d.) Lesson 33 - Henry "Box' Brown
e.) Lesson 33 - THe Ostend Manifesto

3.) Answer the following free-response question as a comment on this blog (this question appeared on the 2000 APUSH exam) by Friday, 11/18:

"Assess the moral arguments and political actions of those OPPOSED to the spread of slavery in the context of TWO of the following:

*Missouri Compromise of 1820
*Mexican-American War
*Compromise of 1850
*Kansas-Nebraska Act"

4.) "American Pageant" Ch. 17 Guidebook - Due Wed., 11/16

5.) Zinn, "A People's History of the U.S." Chapter 8 Questions - Due Wed., 11/16

6.) Read Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" (on my webpage); this was Thoreau's treatise on an American citizen's obligation to protest his government's wrongful actions, and an explanation on his willingness to be imprisoned because of his refual to pay a tax in support of the Mexican-American War. As you read it, answer the following questions with well-thought-out responses (Due Fri., 11/18):

a.) Thoreau believes that people should not participate in injustice but that they do not have to actively promote a more just world. What is the difference between these two concepts, and why does Thoreau make this moral distinction?

b.) Is Thoreau's conception of civil disobedience compatible with democratic government? Why or why not?

c.) What is Thoreau's opinion on wealth and consumption? Why does he say that the rich are less likely to practice civil disobedience?

d.) What might Thoreau think about the role of government in today's society (in particular, what might he think about the modern welfare state?)?

e.) Is compromise on moral issues a necessary part of living with other people?

f.) How does Thoreau justify the moral need for civil disobedience? What principles does he rely on in his justification?

g.) Would you describe Thoreau as optimistic or pessimistic about people's ability to improve the world? Explain.


*Though I will not require it over the Thanksgiving break, you may wish to take a "preview" look at the upcoming chapters in "American Pageant" and Monterey Institute's website if you wish to be successful on the next exam. The "American Pageant" guidebooks for Chapters 18-21 are already on my website, and you KNOW what will be required from the Monterey Institute website for the next few chapters. We will move VERY fast after Thanksgiving in order to be through the Civil War by the winter holidays. The workload won't lessen, though...

The Ferment of Reform & Culture, 1790-1860

Yeah, about that...

The picture to your left is nothing new, though. People have been predicting the end times for centuries, and U.S. history is full of such instances. In this next section of APUSH, we will explore the beginnings of the Second Great Awakening in America's young experience and compare it to the first Great Awakening a century before. We will also see how higher-minded people set out to reform this nation in the wake of the religious fervor and cultural shift in the 1830s and 1840s. As you study for your next exam (coming next week over "American Pageant", Chapters 12-16), keep in mind how the reform movement grew in this time period, the role women took in the early American reform movement, and advances in public education and the sciences.

Stuff due soon:

1.) Guiding Questions and Graphic Organizer for "Irish Immigration" classroom lesson on Tues., 11/1.

2.) "American Pageant" Chapter 14 & 15 Guidebooks due by Wed., 11/2.

3.) "American Pageant" Chapter 14 & 15 Short-Response Questions (on my webpage) due on Fri., 11/4.

4.) Monterey Institute Unit 3, Chapter 10 Activities due Monday, 11/7. These include:

A.) Lesson 30: "Transcendentalism" - Consider This: "Do you think it would be possible to be as happy living in Thoreau's cabin as in emerson's elegant house?" Be sure while answering this that you show a basic understanding of transcendentalism.

B.) Lesson 30: "The Second Great Awakening" - Consider This: "Though men such as Charles Finney & Peter cartwright were leaders of religious revivalism i nthe early 19th century, notice the strong presence of women in the revival and camp meeting scenes. What ideas do you think the artists meant to express by giving women so consistently a dominant place of interest?"

C.) Lesson 30: "Millerites" - Consider This: "End-of-the-world predictions play on human anxieties and are a regular feature of history, especially at the turns of centuries. How do the preparations of the man depicted in this cartoon compare with those that many people made at the turn of the millenium in expectation of a Y2K disaster?"

D.) Lesson 30: "Alternative Communities" - Consider This: "Communal groups can be very efficient and productive when sincere and like-minded adherents are led by powerful idealists, as in the Shaker and Mormon communities. Why do you think such groups either faded away or altered their system to a more mainstream standard after a relatively short length of time?"

E.) Lesson 31: "David Walker's Appeal" - Consider This: "Did the actions of abolition extremists, like David Walker, help or hurt the antislavery crusade?" Be sure to include several pieces of evidence to back up your opinion.

F.) Chapter 10 Writing Assignment: "Great Awakening/Second Great Awakening" Comparison (be sure to use the Graphic Organizer in compiling evidence to form a coherent thesis AND write an essay).

G.) Chapter 10 Discussion Question: "How did the Second Great Awakening influence the reform movements of the nineteenth century? How did these reform movements socially re-shape the United States and allow for growing sectionalism?"

-Monterey Institute Assignments for Unit 3, Chapter 10, are due by Tues., 11/8.

Andrew Jackson & The Rise of Mass Democracy

Look at the picture to the side: what does it represent to you?

This is a depiction of newly-elected President Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson's inaugural party at the White House in 1829. The nation's capital had never seen such an event: thousands of people gathered in Washington, DC, to celebrate Andy's victory because, after all, they had received an invitation from the "People's Champion" himself! Most of them finally converged at the White House, compelling Jackson to sneak out the back door while his constituency offended their fellow more elitist party-goers, broke (or stole) the White House china and silverware, and consumed vast amounts of celebratory cider and punch. It was obvious to all observors that politics, and America itself, had changed...if not for the better, than at least for good. After all, as Jackson's detractors would sneer, would you ever see President Washington or John Adams presiding over such a scene?

For the next several days, we're going to take a look at how American politics changed as a result of the War of 1812 (otherwise known as the Second War for American Independence) and the rise of the Jacksonians. Also key to this study will be the impact of the United States' early westward expansion on the native Americans that lived on the American frontier. Your assignments for the next several days will be:

1.) Watch the presentations for Monterey Institute, Unit 3, Ch. 7-8, Lessons 20-22

a.) Lesson 20 - "The Louisiana Purchase" - Consider This - Were President Jefferson's responses to the Barbary pirates and the opportunity to buy the Louisiana Territory in harmony or conflict with his philosophy of Jeffersonian democracy?
b.) Lesson 20 - "The Aaron Burr Conspiracy" - Consider This - How did Aaron Burr's fateful duel with Alexander Hamilton affect political strategies of the early 1800s? What did Burr lose and/or gain politically?
c.) Lesson 21 - "Jefferson's Embargo" - Consider This - How did the Embargo & Non-Intercourse Acts support or challenge President Jefferson's political beliefs?

-These questions and answers are due on Mon., 10/17.

2.) Watch the presentations for Monterey Institute, Unit 3, Chapter 9, Lessons 26-29

a.) Lesson 26 - "The Election of 1828" - Consider This - The states of Virginia and Maryland were the last to adopt universal manhood suffrage. What characteristics do you think caused them to wait?
b.) Lesson 27 - "The Tariff of 1828" - Consider This - What other actions did President Jackson take that his opponents considered were outside of the authority of the presidency?
c.) Lesson 28 - "19th Century Banking" - Consider This - If the charter for the 2nd Bank of the United States had been renewed, how do you think it would have influenced the development of the West?
d.) Lesson 29 - "The Indian Removal Act" - Consider This - If Jackson had NOT been successful in carrying out his plan of Indian Removal, do you think the eastern states would have remained ethnically multiracial instead of biracial? What implications might that have had during the Civil War era?

-These questions and answers are due on Tues., 10/18.

3.) "American Pageant" Guidebooks, Ch. 12-13 - Due by Wed., 10/19

4.) "American Pageant", Ch. 12-13 Short-Response Questions (on my McKeel webpage) - don't wait until the last minute!! There are 48...

-Due Thurs., 10/20

4.) Zinn's "People's History", Ch. 7 - "As Long As the Grass Grows and the Water Runs"

a.) In 3-to-5 paragraphs, briefly summarize the chapter. Be sure to include the following words/terms, and highlight where you use them: Indian Removal, Tecumseh, Andrew Jackson, Creeks, Cherokee, Sam Worcester, Assimilation
b.) Answer the following:
1.) Explain why the United States treated natives in the manner they did. (3 to 5 paragraphs)
2.) Is there any parallel between Bacon’s Rebellion and the Indian wars preceding the War of 1812, with respect to the dynamics among the Indians, poor whites, and rich whites? If so, explain how the situations are parallel. If not, what factors are different enough so that there is no structural parallel? (3 to 4 paragraphs)

-Due Friday, 10/21