Founding Era 9-12
Declaration of Independence in 1766 to Election of 1800
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Representative Democracy
Dylan Dimock
Description of Lesson: Students will gain background knowledge on the development of self government in the United States. As a result students will have an understanding of their beliefs, settlements, and roots of American democracy. They will then examine the development of these ideas as expressed in the Declaration on Independence.
Constitutional Convention
Whitney Coonradt
Description of Lesson:
Students will read excerpts of primary documents on both Shay's Rebellion and the Constitutional Convention and complete a reading guide. Students will then participate in a discussion breaking down arguments on both sides of each issue addressed. In conclusion, students write 3 Good Sentences on one of the decisions/issues they agreed with and 3 Good Sentences on an argument they thought was not strong or disagreed with.
The Constitution
Diane Russell
Description of Lesson: Students will study the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution. They will examine the creation of the constitution, main ideas discussed in the Constitution, and why it was important for states to ratify the Constitution. After gaining the appropriate background information students will then produce a video in which they must sell the constitution to the states (i.e. commercial, short movie, documentary).
The Articles' Baggage
Allison Altvater
Description of Lesson: Students will use prior knowledge from last night's reading, and a brief introduction to the weaknesses of the AOC to establish a basic understanding of the document. Students will then work in groups looking at primary sources that reveal strengths and weaknesses of the AOC. Students will then summarize their source and present it to the class, which eventually will form a collection of evidence that demonstrates the weaknesses of the document. Lastly, students will engage in a discussion about how current events would be altered had America continued using the Articles of Confederation.
Structure of the Constitution
Matthew Woods
Description of Lesson: 1) Open with a bell ringer and define vocabulary for lesson; 2) PowerPoint lesson- The making of the Constitution and the Principles underlying it; 3) Foldable- Principles Underlying the Constitution; 4)Worksheet- Constitution search (Homework).
Seven Articles of the US Constitution
Jonathan Grubbs
Description of Lesson: Each student will read a short section of the Federalist papers individually. Afterwards they will be split up into five groups. Two groups will examine Article I, (first group will do section 1-5, while the second group will do sec 6-10) they will compare it to articals V,VIII, IX, XII of the Articles of the Constitution (AOC). One group will examine Article II and compare it to article III of the AOC, one group will exam Articles III and IV and compare it to articals IV,II,X of the AOC. The last groups will examine Articles V, VI, and VII they will compare it to articals XIII, VI, XI of the AOC. Each person in the group will be assigned a job; Leader, reader, Illustrator, presenter, questioner. They must write down what their job entails and what they did to achieve an A for that job. The groups will then take turns presenting their articles to the class. For each article they must describe how this article fixes a problem in the Article of Confederation while still limiting the powers of the Federal Government. After the presentations, students will write a three paragraph reflection on how the constitution fixed the Articles of Confederation while still limiting the Federal Government.
Suffrage in the Federalist Era
Dylan Dimock
Description of Lesson: We will examine Suffrage during the Federalist era in United States history.
Federalists v Democratic Republicans
Dylan Dimock
Description of Lesson: We will examine the development of political parties and how the ideas of Jefferson and Hamilton were developed. Starting with Shay's rebellion through the Whiskey Rebellion we will examine the role of government in dealing with both crises.
Federalists v Democratic Republicans
Kristen Hewett
Description of Lesson: Students will be placed into groups (3-4 students) and will read selected quotes and primary sources dealing with the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties. They will analyze these sources, utilizing a primary source analysis sheet. After analyzing the quotes/sources, student groups will create a short (1-2 minute political ad stating the beliefs of their party). All students will then use the information from the lesson to create a chart showing the differences between the two parties.
Whiskey Rebellion
Daniella Stamm
Description of Lesson: There will be a 20-minute lecture providing the background to the Whiskey Rebellion (this would be a continuing lecture from Washington's Presidency the day before). Students will then answer six questions about the Whiskey Rebellion. Then have students examine Article I, Section 8, paragraph 15 of the U.S. Constitution. They will then look at a quote by George Washington regarding his observations of the Whiskey Rebellion. Finally they will examine the text from the Whiskey Rebellion Proclamation. Students will discuss these documents as a class. They will then write an essay in which they answer the essential question. They will be required to provide evidence from the documents they examined and as a result students will experience a document based summative assessment.
Bill of Rights
Kristen Hewett
Description of Lesson: After a brief discussion on the Bill of Rights students will: 1) Read the Bill of Rights; 2) Put each amendment into their own words; 3) Create a video to give examples of the rights protected by each of the amendments in the Bill of Rights; 4) Write a short essay explaining which amendment within the Bill of Rights they feel is most important and why.
George Washington's Advice
Leigh Robertson
Description of Lesson: This lesson will require students to read and analyze George Washington's Farewell Address, which was given at the end of his second term. Students will analyze the document and then have a discussion on the advice that was given in the address.
Washington's Precedents and Farewell Address
Heather Menzel
Description of Lesson: Students will learn about Washington's presidency (main events), precedents set by Washington, and what advice he gave in his Farewell address.
George Washington
Keith Walter
Description of Lesson: Students will activate prior knowledge about about Geroge Washington. Next, students will complete the web quest handout using the world wide web. After sharing what they learned, students will write an obituary for America's first president based on what they learned.
Bill of Rights and the Alien and Sedation Act
Jonathan Grubbs
Description of Lesson: The lesson will begin with a review of the first, fifth, and sixth amendment. Give students five minutes to try and recall these three amendments from memory. If they are still struggling after five minutes, allow them to use their notes to complete the assignment. After ten minutes, students should have all three amendments written down. Have a 10 minute classroom talk about these amendments. Which one do you think is most important and why? Why were these amendments added? How would you feel if they were taken away? After the discussion have students get into groups of two. Each student will receive either the Alien Act or the Sedation Act along with a corresponding vocabulary sheet. One dictionary per group should be made available to help with the vocabulary. Allow the students 20 min to read their article and complete their vocabulary sheet. Once 20 min is up, each student will have 10 min to write a reflection of what they have read, noting key points in the article. After students have written their reflection, they will have 5 min to talk to their partner about what they read in their act. After each student has had a turn to talk, open the floor for a whole class discussion for about 15 min.
Alien and Sedition Acts
Heather Menzel
Description of Lesson: Students will explore the reasoning behind and effects of the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.
Separation of Church and State
Kristen Hewett
Description of Lesson: Students will read selected quotes and primary sources dealing with the separation of church and state. They will analyze these sources as a class utilizing the SOAPS method. After analyzing the quotes, student groups will research and report upon a Supreme Court case dealing with freedom of religion. The lesson will end with a class discussion of hypothetical situations that students will support using the texts and court cases studied.
Election of 1800
Heather Menzel
Description of Lesson: Students will review Federalists v. Democratic-Republicans, learn about why Hamilton supported Jefferson in the election of 1800, and why the election of 1800.
The Age of Jefferson
Daniella Stamm
Description of Lesson: Students will study Jefferson and Madison's presidency. They will learn about domestic and foreign policies as well as discuss domestic and foreign issues that plagued the United States. Students will then examine documents from the congressional debate of December 1811 and the presidential war messages of June 1812. After examining the documents and answering a few questions students will write an essay answering the essential question. They will use the documents as supporting evidence in their paper
Living as an African American in Early America
Kelly Jones
Description of Lesson: The students will brainstorm differences economically, politically, and socially of African Americans and white Americans during the early 1800’s. They will be assigned to groups of up to four to read, discuss, and create a word document of their assigned story of a slave. After creating the word document they will choose the largest print (largest words are the most important in the document, as the size of the word decreases so does the importance in the document) word to define and discuss in their small group. After reading the excerpt, creating a word, the group will create an illustrated story board of their assigned slave narrative excerpt. Finally they will present these to the class.
African American History Supplement
Hill Pearsall
Description of Lesson: Students will be given a series of questions and primary source readings to expand their understanding of black leaders in early American history. This will be a long term project (two to three weeks) given at the beginning of the semester. Students will do this outside of class for the most part.
The Question of Female Citizenship
Dianne Russell
Description of Lesson: There will be a 15-minute lecture on providing the background to the Martin vs. Massachusetts court case in 1801. Students will then exam the treaty of Paris as well as the Massachusetts Confiscation Act of 1779 and look for any mention of rights regarding property confiscated during the American Revolution. Next students will look over the Massachusetts Confiscation Act of 1779 and determine what rights, if any, the act gave women. Students will also read arguments James Martin's attorney made supporting James' right to legally claim the property and arguments made by the Attorney General of Massachusetts citing the Massachusetts Confiscation Act of 1779 and how the property belongs to the state of Massachusetts. Students will finally read the three opinions of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. After examining these documents students will organize their findings into a chart. Once the chart is complete students will answer five questions based on their findings. Then to summarize the lesson students will be asked to answer the essential question in an essay for homework.
Women During the Federalist Era
Leigh Robertson
Description of Lesson: Students will examine the freedoms and rights available to women during the late 1700s/early 1800s and analyze the reasons why women were not fully included in our early government. Students should already have a basic understanding of the Declaration of Independence to complete the assignment.
Family Values During the Early Republic
Daniella Stamm
Description of Lesson: Students will examine advice literature on child rearing and children's literature. They will then complete a chart that will help guide them in organizing their notes taken on the readings. Once they have examined the sources they will then answer several questions regarding the sources.
Who Do You Think We Are?
Keith Walter
Description of Lesson: Students will view a short video clip about America from 1789-1853, discuss how we know who is here, compare the 1790 census to 2000 and create some graphs showing how North Carolina and the United States have changed since the founding era.
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