| AP American Assignment Sheet #6
Manifest Destiny, Slavery & Abolitionism, The Civil War, Reconstruction Due Wednesday 2/11: Manifest Destiny and its legacy Homework due: Skim through chapter 17 (370-388). Written Homework due: (1) How/why was John Tyler an “un-Whiggish” Whig, and what difficulties did this cause in his presidency? (2) Briefly explain the Texas issue. (3) What forces fed into the “Manifest Destiny” surge? (4) Why did the US go to war with Mexico in 1845? (5) What were the “Spot Resolutions?” (6) Who generally supported the war/ who generally opposed it? Due Thursday 2/12: Manifest Destiny, continued. No homework is due! Due Friday 2/13: Read The South and the Defense of Slavery by Stephen Oates Written Homework due: (1) What was the Constitution’s “conspiracy of silence” on slavery? (2) What was the position of most northerners regarding slavery? (3) What proportion of southerners were slave owners?...What percentage of the population were “planters?” (4) Why did non-slave owning southerners defend slavery? (5) How and why did Southerners’ attitudes toward slavery change after the 1820s? (5) What is Oates’ thesis? WINTER BREAK!—2/16 to 2/20 You must have an AP Review Book by now. You should be taking practice multiple choice exams on your own. If your multiple choice exam grades have been below 75, you should also get the Barrons AP United States History flash cards. They work. Winter Break assignment due Monday 2/23: (1) Practice AP Exam #1 (multiple choice). Do this test by yourself (no partnering). Feel free to look up answers in your book, your notes, and/or the internet. This assignment will count as a test grade for 3rd quarter. It must be IN MY HANDS by 7:25 AM on Monday 2/23. Five points per period late penalty. If you are sick and ABSENT ALL DAY, email me the answers. (2) Abolitionism assignment (below) Due Monday 2/23: Abolitionism. Regular Homework due (because of its length, this assignment counts as two quiz grades, so please put effort into your answers): Read the packet of Abolitionist literature (“Abolitionism” is written on top) as well as the excerpt from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and the NY Times essay, “History’s Tangled Threads”. I have provided a little background for you below; please read this before you read the handouts so that you will understand what you are reading. Written homework: Answer the questions below: I. Questions for the 1st sections of the Abolitionism packet of readings (David Walker’s Appeal and 2 poems by Longfellow) (1) Look David Walker up in your textbook (or Google him)…a) what was his background? b)What does his “appeal” propose? (2) a) Explain Longfellow’s poem “The Quadroon Girl?” Please read this poem carefully…b) What is a “quadroon?” c) Who is the girl? d) What is the old man to her? e) What is going on? (3) Explain “The Slave’s Dream” (4) What elements of Romanticism can you identify in each of these poems? II. 2nd section: Two excerpts from Uncle Tom’s Cabin. First some background: Beginning on the 3rd page of this packet are 2 excerpts from HBS’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin… In the section of the novel preceding this excerpt, Eliza, who is a young slave woman with a small son, has overheard her master (George Shelby) discussing the sale of her little boy (Harry). Mr. Shelby is a “good master” but he has fallen into heavy debt and a slave trader tells him that the little boy (because he is intelligent and handsome) will fetch a good price. “Master” Shelby also reluctantly signs papers to sell another slave on his plantation, “Uncle Tom.” Uncle Tom had spent his boyhood caring for Master Shelby when he was a child…they had therefore grown up together on the Shelby plantation. When Eliza hears Shelby selling her son, she decides to run away. She also advises Uncle Tom to run, but he refuses, reasoning that if he runs away, Shelby might be forced sell Tom’s wife or his children to pay his debt. Uncle Tom tells Eliza that he could bear it better than they. I have not given you that excerpt, because Stowe uses slave dialect and it is difficult to understand until you get used to it, but understand that Stowe presents Uncle Tom as a Christ-figure—he sacrifices himself for those that he loves and he endures great suffering until he is finally whipped to death by an evil slave-owner that he ends up with. His dying words are “I forgive you,” spoken to the man who his beating him. The first excerpt that I have given you (above the line) is the famous flight scene, in which a frantic Eliza, clutching her little boy (Harry), flees the Shelby’s Kentucky plantation, with dogs and the slave trader fast on her heels. The second excerpt takes place after Eliza crosses the border from slave-state Kentucky into free-state Ohio and knocks on the door of Mary Bird and her husband Senator John Bird. Mrs. Bird is in the middle of chastising her husband because he has just returned home after voting in favor of the infamous Fugitive Slave Act (which made it a crime to help a runaway slave). Questions for the UTC section: (6) How does Stowe specifically appeal to women in these passages? (7) What does HBS want you to think of Mrs. Bird…read the descriptions of her carefully; please relate the descriptions of Mrs. Bird to cultural attitudes toward middle class white women of the mid 19th century. (8) Please comment on your impressions of these passages. (9) Google “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (there’s a good Wikipedia entry on the novel) and write a paragraph on the novel’s impact on the nation. III. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass excerpts: Frederick Douglass is arguably the most important spokesmen for African Americans in the Antebellum Era (as well as during and after the Civil War). When he escaped from slavery, he became associated with the abolitionist cause and became (with William Lloyd Garrison) a major spokesman for the Abolitionist movement. Audiences who heard this self educated black man speak refused to believe that he was a former slave; he wrote the narrative of his life for this reason. The 4 sections of the autobiography that I chose to include in this excerpt deal with the problems faced by “mixed race” children like Douglass (born of master/slave sexual relations), the story of FD’s education, FD’s explanation of how slave owners used religion to justify their behavior, and the story of the moment in FD’s life when he made up his mind to break free mentally from slavery. Questions: (9) please comment briefly on each of these 4 sections of Douglass’ autobiography. IV. Questions for the NY Times story History’s Tangled Threads: (10) Have you heard the “quilt” story before? If you have not, please Google “Underground Railroad quilts” (or click on this link) http://educ.queensu.ca/~fmc/may2004/Underground.html Either comment on what you have heard, or on the information you read online. (11) What points does Bordewich make regarding the Underground Railroad? (12) Regarding the romanticizing of history? Tuesday 2/24: Continue to discuss Abolitionism—No homework is due Due Wednesday 2/25: Use your textbook and/or the Internet to look up the following terms/events. Some of them are things that we have already touched upon, but they are important. (Written homework due=explain the significance of each): (1) Slave Revolts: explain the basics of each of the following slave “rebellions;” explain the reactions to each (a) NY Slave Revolt of 1741 (b) The Stono Rebellion 1739 (c) The Denmark Vesey Conspiracy (d) Nat Turner’s Rebellion (2) The American Colonization Society (3) The American Anti-Slavery Society (4) The Wilmot Proviso (5) The Compromise of 1850 (6) The Fugitive Slave Act (7) Personal Liberty Laws (8) The Ostend Manifesto (9) The Kansas-Nebraska Act (10) Bleeding Kansas (11) Dred Scott v. Sandford (12) The Lecompton Constitution (13) Hinton Helper’s The Impending Crisis of the South (14) John Brown (15) The Crittendon Compromise Due Thursday 2/26: In class DBQ—document analysis. Written homework: (1) How, specifically, did the US Constitution legitimize the institution of slavery in America? (2) Why, specifically, did slavery become more and more economically important to the South at the same time that it was dying out in the North? (3) How and why did most non-Southerners’ attitudes toward slavery begin to change in the mid 1800s? (4) Why do you think that slavery became the one sectional issue that, ultimately, could not be resolved through compromise? Due Friday 2/27: Read “Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation” by Stephen B. Oates Written homework due: (1) What points does Oates make about Lincoln as a person in the first part of this essay? (2) Do you see a contradiction between Lincoln’s personal views on slavery and his political views? (3) What was the slave power “conspiracy”? (3) As president, what pressures did Lincoln face during the war regarding the issue of emancipation? (4) What are Oates’ views regarding the Emancipation Proclamation? Due Monday 3/2: In class--Continue discussing Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation. Homework: Practice AP Exam #2 is due today (multiple choice only) by 7:25 AM (in my hands). 5 Points per period late penalty. If you are sick and ABSENT all day, email me your answers. It counts as an exam grade. You may work with a partner or small group, however, if you do so, please indicate on the top of your scantron the names of the students you worked with. You may also look answers up (use your notes, the internet, your textbook, an AP review book, your mommy/daddy, whatever). DO NOT simply copy answers from a friend. This defeats the purpose of taking a practice exam and will increase your likelihood of failing the AP exam in May. Due Tuesday 3/3: Read “The Ravages of War” by Stephen Oates. Written homework due: Write a reaction to this essay (one or two good paragraphs). Also skim through chapters 20 & 21 in your textbook to answer the following questions: (1) What was the importance of the Border States? (2) What were the advantages of each side? (3) How did each side finance the war? (4) What was the significance of the Morrill Tariff and the National Banking Act? (5) How did each side fill its armies? (6) Why did “King Cotton” fail the South? (7) What was the Northern Anaconda Plan? (8) Who were the Copperheads and how did Lincoln deal with them? (9) How did the Civil War era effect the power of the national government? Due Wednesday 3/4: Read “Antietam” Written homework due: Outline the author’s points regarding (1) the importance of this battle (2) the effects of the Civil War on America and Americans Due Thursday 3/5: Read “Reconstruction, America’s Unfinished Business” by Henry Bedford and text 477-485; Written homework: (1) Identify/explain: The Freedman’s Bureau, Black Codes, Lincoln’s 10% Plan, the Wade-Davis Bill (2) What were the political/legal issues of Reconstruction? (3) What did the “Radical” Republicans want? (4) How did the passage of the 13th Amendment indirectly endanger the Republican party? (5) What was Congress’ response to the return of southern legislators in 1865? (6) What steps did Congress take to rein in Andrew Jackson’s presidential power? Due Friday 3/6: Continue Reconstruction, Read text 485-497; Written homework: (1) What were the Congressional terms for Reconstruction? (2) Why did Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton object to the 14th Amendment? (3) What was the Union League? (4) In what ways can the Reconstruction Era be seen as a complete failure? (5) What arguments could be made that it was, at least in part, a success? (6) What arguments can be made that the Civil War and Reconstruction period (1861-1877) was “revolutionary” for America? Monday 3/9: Exam (Unit Review Sheet/Terms to know due today) |
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