03: The New Nation

Short summary of the first proclamations of Thanksgiving by generals of the Continental Army, the Continental Congress and by George Washington as president

Jefferson writes to Madison about Shays's Rebellion, and does not appear to be too concerned with it.

Another approach to teaching history is to show students debates over it in the present. Instead of copying bullets off a slide, have them read this article to see what questions they have themselves. What was the 3/5ths compromise? Was the president of Emory wrong? Essentially, this gives teachers the chance to expose the an important element of slavery history, that it was tolerated in the north. Even 80 years later, people who opposed slavery had to ask themselves if their opposition was important enough to them that they would sacrifice the country for it.

Although many Social Studies teachers know that Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Constitutional Convention, not many know why. This timeline published by the state of Rhode Island references religious freedom and the printing of paper as two important issues that shaped the state's decision

"Runaway Advertisement for Oney Judge, enslaved servant in George Washington's presidential household. The Pennsylvania Gazette, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 24, 1796. "Advertisement. ABSCONDED from the houshold [sic] of the President of the United States, ONEY JUDGE, a light mulatto girl, much freckled, with very black eyes and bushy black hair. She is of middle stature, slender, and delicately formed, about 20 years of age. She has many changes of good clothes of all sorts, but they are not sufficiently recollected to be described—As there was no suspicion of her going off, nor no provocation to do so, it is not easy to conjecture whither she has gone, or fully, what her design is;—but as she may attempt to escape by water, all matters of vessels are cautioned against admitting her into them, although it is probable she will attempt to pass as a free woman, and has, it is said, wherewithal to pay her passage. Ten dollars will be paid to any person who will bring her home, if taken in the city, or on board any vessel in the harbour;—and a reasonable additional sum if apprehended at, and brought from a greater distance, and in proportion to the distance. FREDERICK KITT, Steward. May 23 ["

Reflecting how slavery is remembered in the 21st century, the names of the nine slaves that Washington brought with him to Philadelphia as president are carved into a wall as part of the Independence Park that includes the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. There are also footprints on the sidewalk, they represent the escape of one of those slaves One Judge

A remarkable story that is worth time to read. The story of a slave that escaped George Washington illuminates much of the context of the time.

Her father was an indentured servant who worked at Mount Vernon, her mother was a slave, making her a slave also. She became a house maid to the First Lady of the United States. When she found out she was to be given as a gift to George Washington's grandaughter as a wedding gift, she ran away to freedom. The runaway slave ad in the Philadelphia newspaper, the attempts by Washington to get her back, including using the Secretary of the Treasury, says much about slavery and the time period. Her story should be a movie

This is one of the first books to expose the horrors of slavery to the American public. It includes many stories of slaves and the one linked in this bookmark is of a women who leaps from a windows rather then be separated from her children. This story can be used or the source itself can be made available to students to understand slavery as it was portrayed by abolitionists in the early 1800s. This is published three years before the Missouri Compromise

This 3 minute video from collegehumor is a clever way to introduce the ambiguous nature of the War of 1812. It could be a good way to introduce the War because the references, funny as they are, are accurate. Why was the war fought? Where was it fought? How was it that Native Americans fought on both sides?

This lesson has students comparing an American textbook and Canadian textbook's explanation of the war

Stimulus Based Multiple choice questions

Students should know that Sedition Act convictions were a New Jersey phenomenon.

Right after the Constitution ended, Hamilton is showing us that he did not know what the future would bring. This can be used to show students that the people of the past did not know what would happen. It also shows how tenuous was founding was - and how it was not just "one founding".

This is video lecture focusing on the right to privacy delivered by a professor as part of the Teaching American History program offered through the National Endowment for the Humanities

Very interesting and unique way to look at the government and finances of the United States. Although this is massive. 8th grade students can be directed a specific sections. USI students can make comparisons with Hamilton's reports.

This hsitory behind the electoral college

This four and a half minute video is a somewhat sterile production of the National Archives and Records Administration but it is informative in the way in explains the process by which the Electoral Votes of each state are counted in each state, how they are recorded and communicated to the federal government and how they are counted there.

This could be included in a "failures of the Articles of Confederation " DBQ. But the question is - how much will students learn from the document, and how much time will be spent just trying to understand what it says? Are we teaching history, or are we teaching how to decipher?

Monticello.org offers this comprehensive history of Sally Hemmings. it includes family trees showing the relationship between Hemmings and Jefferson's wife (they were half-sisters) and the four children of Hemmings and Jefferson.

Jefferson explains why slavery is wrong, but at the same time he believes that any women who has a chided with a black man should be banished from the state

John Wayles Eppes is both Jefferson's nephew (because Eppes is the son of Jefferson's wife's sister) and his son-in-law (Eppes married Jefferson's daughter) [Yes, Eppes married his first cousin]. It is this relationship that Jefferson refers to when he considers selling negros to Eppes, because that keeps them "in the family". Teachers may use this letter for its shock value - in that Jefferson seems to casually explain the economics of slave women as compared to men.

A letter from one friend to another, talking of their loves of his books and Jefferson's own "drudging at the writing table". But Jefferson's words on religion at the end of the letter might be important also - his creed is his own.

This is the definitive study into the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. Any teacher or student looking at this information should consider the fact that Jefferson was 44 years old at the time of his first fathering of a child with Sally Hemmings. She was 14 years old

There is a deep record of research, speculation and popular depictions of Jefferson and Hemmings in popular literature, film and documentaries. If the subject ever comes up in class, or better yet, if teachers include this story in their teaching, students should be directed to this document - not as definitive per se, but as an example of exceptional historical research and scholarship