Unit Two: National Infancy to Boundless Nationalism (1783 - 1840)
local history
Arrival of white settlers – War veterans from the Sullivan Campaign returned to the Chenango Valley in
1790 (they don’t stay); permanent settlement at Sherburne site 1791. Slightly older communities in Afton
and Bainbridge. Creation of separate Madison and Chenango counties (1807)
Erie Canal (from 1817), Chenango Canal (from 1834)
Federal and Greek Revival architecture;
manufacturing (farm equipment, tanneries, textiles, cast iron)
“Burned Over” district – Protestant revival,
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (Mormon) proselytizing
ch 9-13, ch 14 (pp 305-308, 318-331), ch 15 (pp 340-362), ch 16; as assigned from The American Spirit
reading
writing
excerpts from Franklin’s Speech before the Convention, The United States Constitution,
The Federalist Papers, Hamilton’s Report on Public Credit, Washington’s Farewell Address,
Hofstadter “The Founding Fathers’, Kentucky Resolutions, Jefferson’s First Inaugural,
Randolph-Calhoun Debates on war with Britain (1812), Jefferson and JQ Adams on slavery and union
key Marshall Court Opinions, Taylor “Construction Construed”, Webster’s Reply to Hayne,
Kent and Van Buren arguments against universal suffrage, Calhoun, Clay on Tariff, Jackson Bank Veto,
Ely, “The Duty of Christian Freemen to Elect Christian Rulers, Finney “The Church Must Take Right
Ground” and “Autobiography”, Beecher “On Moral Perfection” and “Autobiography”,
Channing on Unitarianism, Emerson “Self-Reliance”, Mann “Final Report to Massachusetts Board of
Education”, David Walker’s Appeal, Garrison “Commencement of the Liberator”, Weld “Slavery as it Is”
documents essay – “Forging the Constitution” “Nationalism and Sectionalism in the Early Republic”;
brief responses
looking, listening,
doing
Spiral Questions
unit thematic essay – “A Long Way From Anywhere”
excerpts from: Amistad; art works of Stuart, Peale, Trumbull, Vanderlyn, Morse, Allston, Catlin, Bodmer,
Jarvis, Sully, Mount, the ‘Hudson River School’
p.p: Constitutional Development’, ‘The Bill of Rights”, The Wars of 1812,
early American photography
‘They Said It’, ‘Horse Feathers’, ‘Culture Shock’, ‘Poet’s Corner’, ‘That’s Good Eatin’’
What do governments do? Is there more than one way for government to do its job?
What is a ‘constitution’?
Is there more than one way to construct a constitution?
What matters most in creating a government?: ideas? money? power?
How might frontier living affect a society?
Essential
Questions
What can happen to a society when it grows large enough geographically to develop separate
regions and sub-cultures?
How much might individual personalities impact an entire nation’s history?
What does technological development do to a culture and society?
What does it mean for any society to be "successful"? How might increased wealth affect a
society?
When a people desire change in society, how can it be brought about?
Why did the Articles of Confederation fail as a plan for national government?
What are the antecedents to the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights?
What is the dual nature of the American relationship with slavery?
questions to consider
How did ‘geography’ lead to differing economic and social conditions in the United States?
Why did (and do) Americans have such recourse to “technological fixes”?
In what ways did Andrew Jackson introduce Americans to a very modern politics?
What were the causes of a generation of ‘reforms’ that bloomed in the America of this period?