Goodwin, Fawn, GACE Study Guide, SS1H1
GACE Study Guide
Historical Understandings
SS1H1: The student will read about and describe the life of historical figures in American
history.
a. Identify the contributions made by these figures; Benjamin Franklin (inventor/ author/
statesman), Thomas Jefferson (Declaration of Independence), Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark with Sacagawea (exploration), Harriet Tubman (Underground Railroad),
Theodore Roosevelt (National parks and the environment), George Washington (science).
b. Describe how everyday life of these historical figures is similar to and different from
everyday life in the present (food, clothing, homes, transportation, communication,
recreation).
Benjamin Franklin Contributions
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Born in Boston on January 17, 1706.
In 1729, Benjamin Franklin bought a newspaper, the Pennsylvania
Gazette.
During the 1720s and 1730s, Franklin organized the Junto, a young
working-man's group dedicated to self- and-civic improvement. He joined
the Masons. He was a very busy man socially.
In 1733 he started publishing Poor Richard's Almanack.
During the 1730s and 1740s, Franklin helped launch projects to pave,
clean and light Philadelphia's streets.
He helped to launch the Library Company in 1731. It was the nation's first subscription
library.
In 1743, he helped to launch the American Philosophical Society, the first learned society
in America.
Franklin brought together a group who formed the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751.
The Library Company, Philosophical Society, and Pennsylvania Hospital are all in
existence today.
In 1736, he organized Philadelphia's Union Fire Company, the first in the city.
In 1752, Franklin helped to found the Philadelphia Contribution for Insurance Against
Loss by Fire.
By 1749 he retired from business and started concentrating on science, experiments, and
inventions.
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In 1743, he had already invented a heat-efficient stove — called the Franklin stove — to
help warm houses efficiently. As the stove was invented to help improve society, he
refused to take out a patent.
Among Franklin's other inventions are swim fins, the glass armonica (a musical
instrument) and bifocals.
In the early 1750's he turned to the study of electricity. His observations, including his
kite experiment which verified the nature of electricity and lightning brought Franklin
international fame.
In 1757, he went to England to represent Pennsylvania in its fight with the descendants of
the Penn family.
He remained in England to 1775, as a Colonial representative not only of Pennsylvania,
but of Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as well.
In 1765, Franklin was caught by surprise by America's overwhelming opposition to the
Stamp Act.
Franklin's big break with England occurred in the "Hutchinson Affair." Thomas
Hutchinson was an English-appointed governor of Massachusetts.
Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress and worked on a committee of
five that helped to draft the Declaration of Independence.
In 1776 Franklin signed the Declaration, and afterward sailed to France as an ambassador
to the Court of Louis XVI.
He became President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania. He served as a delegate
to the Constitutional Convention and signed the Constitution. One of his last public acts
was writing an anti-slavery treatise in 1789.
Franklin died on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84.
http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/index.htm
Thomas Jefferson Contributions
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Jefferson was born at Shadwell in Albemarle county, Virginia on April 13, 1743.
He gained the Virginia bar and began practice in 1769, and was elected to the House
of Burgesses in 1769.
In 1776 Jefferson, then a member of the committee to draft a declaration of
independence was chosen by the committee to write the draft.
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In June of 1779 he succeeded Patrick Henry as Governor of Virginia.
Washington called on Jefferson in November of 1782 to again serve his country as
Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate peace with Great Britain.
In 1784 Jefferson went to France as an associate Diplomat with Franklin and Adams.
It was in that year that wrote an article establishing the standard weights, measures,
and currency units for the United States.
in 1789, he joined the Continental Congress for a while, and was then appointed
Secretary of State under George Washington.
He resigned from the cabinet in 1793 and formed the Democrat-republican party.
Jefferson again ran for the presidency in 1801 and this time he won.
He served for two terms and he did ultimately play a deciding role in forming the
character of the American Presidency. The 12th amendment to the Constitution
changed the manner in which the vice president was selected, so as to prevent arch
enemies from occupying the first and second positions of the executive.
Thomas Jefferson retired from office in 1808.
Established University of Virginia, 1810.
Jefferson died on the 4th of July, as the nation celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of
his splendid Declaration.
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/jefferson.htm
http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/tjefferson.html
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with Sacagawea
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Meriwether Lewis was born in Albemarle County Virginia on August 18, 1774
William Clark was born on August 1, 1770.
May 1804 Lewis and Clark went to explore and map the American West.
Lewis and Clark traveled by river and by land from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Oregon
coast (Fort Clatsop), and back again.
This was the first official expedition to cross the continent to the Pacific Ocean.
Lewis left Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1803, heading for Louisville, Kentucky,
where he joined Clark and his African-American servant named York, on route to St.
Louis.
On May 14, 1804, 45 men in three boats left St. Louis, Missouri, heading west on the
Missouri River.
Lewis and Clark were joined in North Dakota by the Shoshone Indian guide,
interpreter, and negotiator Sacajawea (1788-1812) and her newborn son, called Jean
Baptiste (his nickname was Little Pomp).
Lewis and Clark's journey took 2 years, 4 months, and 10 days; they covered over
8,000 miles. Their expedition was the first to describe the grizzly bear; and they also
sent a prairie dog back to President Jefferson.
Upon their return as heroes, Jefferson named Clark the Indian agent for the West, and
he appointed Lewis as Governor of the new Louisiana Territory.
http://www.savannahtah.com/resources/lewis_clark/Lewis&Clark-K-2Instructional-Unit.pdf
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/l/lewisandclark.shtml
Harriet Tubman Contributions
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Tubman was born Araminta Ross in either 1820 or 1821 on a plantation in Bucktown,
Maryland to Benjamin Ross and Harriet Greene Ross.
Tubman first ran away at the age of seven.
Tubman's childhood memories, like those of many other slaves, included numerous
beatings by her white masters for various infractions.
One beating left Tubman permanently impaired, at ten years of age.
In 1844, Harriet was forced by her master to marry John Tubman, a man who would
prove to be unfaithful to her on many occasions.
Tubman's owner died in 1849, confirming her deepest fears that she would be
separated from her family. It was at this moment that she decided to flee North to
achieve freedom.
Guided only by the brightness of the North Star, Tubman escaped to the North.
She found her way to Pennsylvania, but thought constantly about the family and
friends she had left behind. Tubman then decided to return to the South to free her
parents. She devised a plan that included the help of many freedmen such as William
Still, Thomas Garrett, Jacob Jackson, two of her brothers, Benjamin and Robert, and a
sister, Mary Ann Bowley.
By using a series of safe houses along the way, Tubman was able to guarantee a safe
passage for all that would travel in search of their freedom.
Freedom gave Harriet Tubman a new purpose in life. Tubman used the income from
her jobs to return back to the South and rescue runaway slaves who desired freedom.
Tubman was not alone in efforts. She developed close relationships with white
abolitionists Thomas Garrett of Wilmington, Delaware and John Brown. This began
the Underground Railroad.
The Underground Railroad operated in 14 northern states from Maine to Nebraska,
but its heaviest activities were concentrated in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, New
York, and the New England states.
Freed slaves were called "freights." Routes were called "lines." Stopping places were
called "stations." Those who helped the slaves along the way were "conductors." The
Underground Railroad provided shelter, food, and assistance for runaway slaves
during their flight.
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In spite of the risk of discovery, Tubman continued to work on the Underground
Railroad. In total, Tubman made 19 trips into the South and rescued more than 300
slaves prior to the Civil War in 1861.
She rescued her sister, Mary Ann Bowley and her two children in 1850. In 1857, she
rescued her parents, Benjamin Ross and Harriet Greene. Ten years later, she made her
last rescue and freed Steven Ennets, his wife Maria, and their three children.
The outbreak of the Civil War did not end Tubman's work. She earned the distinction
as the only woman in American military history to plan and execute an armed
expedition against enemy forces.
Some of her most notable expeditions were her raids on plantations along the
Combahee River in the South. Tubman also served as a spy, scout, and cook for the
Union Army.
In 1869, she married a Union Army veteran. At his death in 1899, Tubman was
granted a pension.
Tubman remained active in the fight for civil rights even after the Civil War.
Tubman opened the Home for Indigent and Aged Negroes. To raise money for these
efforts, Sarah Hopkins Bradford wrote Tubman's first biography, Scenes in the Life
of Harriet Tubman, which was published in 1869.
After a life of poverty and poor health, Tubman died on March 10, 1913 and was
buried with military honors.
http://faculty.brenau.edu/lewis/tubman.html
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Theodore Roosevelt Contributions
He was born into a wealthy family in New York City on October 27, 1858.
Before becoming President, Roosevelt was elected to other offices. He
served as a New York State Assemblyman, Governor of New York, and
Vice President of the United States. He was also a deputy sheriff in the
Dakota Territory, Police Commissioner of New York City, U.S. Civil
Service Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Colonel in the
"Rough Riders."
In April 1898, the U.S. entered into war with Spain. At this time, Roosevelt was Assistant
Secretary of the Navy.
In July 1898, Roosevelt gained fame for his charge up San Juan Hill. The image of him
charging up the hill on his horse became a historical icon.
Roosevelt was also one of the original members of the American Institute of Arts and
Letters. He was one of the first fifteen elected to the American Academy of Arts and
Letter. He also founded the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which you
may be familiar with today.
Reading and writing were two of Roosevelt's favorite pastimes. He would often read an
entire book in one day. He also wrote books, authoring over 35 on many different
subjects.
Roosevelt also established himself as historian and served as president of the American
Historical Association. He was a noted naturalist and was considered the world's
authority on large American mammals.
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In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt won the Presidency by a landslide. He summed up his
victory by stating, "I am no longer a political accident."
By the end of his first term, Roosevelt had solved many international problems. He had a
firm hand on domestic affairs and became known for his famous "walk softly and carry a
big stick" attitude of running the country. He was also very popular with the public.
Earlier Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 to maintain economic liberty,
and to eliminate restraints on trade and competition. This act came into play during
Roosevelt's trust busting activities.
During his time as President, Roosevelt steered the United States more actively into
world politics. As a result, in 1903, construction of the Panama Canal began.
The 26th President was also known for his skill in foreign policy. Roosevelt helped solve
disputes over Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and Morocco. He won the adoption of
the Drago Doctrine, which prevented the use of force in collecting foreign debts, an issue
increasingly important as the U.S. became more involved with other countries.
In 1905, President Roosevelt formed the United States Forestry Service and appointed
Gifford Pinchot as the first chief of this new agency.
During Roosevelt's time as President, the forest reserves in the U.S. went from
approximately 43-million acres to about 194-million acres.
As President, he signed legislation that established five national park units: Crater Lake,
Oregon; Wind Cave, South Dakota; Sullys Hill, North Dakota (later designated a game
preserve); Mesa Verde, Colorado; and Platt, Oklahoma (now part of the Chickasaw
National Recreation Area).
By the end of 1906, Roosevelt had proclaimed four national monuments: Devil's Tower,
Wyoming; El Morro, New Mexico; Montezuma Castle, Arizona; and the Petrified Forest,
Arizona. He also protected a large portion of the Grand Canyon as a national monument
in 1908. During his presidency, TR signed into law a total of 18 national monuments.
The Antiquities Act of June 8, 1906 had an even broader effect. Although the Act did not
create a single park, it allowed Roosevelt and his successors to proclaim "historic
landmarks, historic or prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific
interest" in federal ownership as national monuments.
Roosevelt's actions in conservation helped to impact what would one day become the
National Park Service (NPS), which was formally established on August 25, 1916.
Roosevelt left the Presidency in 1909 and went on an African safari. Soon after returning
to the U.S., he jumped right back into politics. In 1912, he decided to again run for
President, and tried to win the Republican nomination against William Howard Taft.
However, Roosevelt lost the nomination.
Between 1918 and 1919, Roosevelt remained active in politics. He
published editorials and wrote manuscripts, even though his health was
failing.
On January 6, 1919, Theodore Roosevelt died in his sleep.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/logcabin/html/tr1.html
http://www.cr.nps.gov/logcabin/html/tr2.html
http://www.cr.nps.gov/logcabin/html/tr3.html
http://www.cr.nps.gov/logcabin/html/tr5.html
http://www.cr.nps.gov/logcabin/html/tr6.html
George Washington Carver
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“1865: George Washington Carver is born a slave in Missouri on Moses and Susan
Carver’s farm. The Carvers become foster parents to George and his older brother Jim”
(Harness, 14, 15);
“1865-1877: As a very curious boy on the Carver farm, George Washington Carver
learns about plants and Nature. ‘Neighbors call him the “Plant Doctor”’ (Mortensen, 6);
“1877: Around the age of 12, George Washington Carver leaves home to attend a school
in Neosho, Missouri that educates black students; he walks the 8 miles there alone and
stays in school one year” (Mortensen, 8);
“1885: After working for many years, George Washington Carver graduates from high
school and adds the ‘W’ for ‘Washington’ to his name” (Bolden, 13);
“1891-1894: George Washington Carver studies Agricultural Science at Iowa State
College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts” and earns a Bachelor of Science degree”
(Harness, 134);
“1893: George Washington Carver exhibits his artwork at the Chicago World’s Fair. His
painting Yucca and Cactus wins the Honorable Mention prize” (Bolden, 16);
“George Washington Carver teaches Botany or plant science, at Iowa State College”
(Bolden, 17);
“1896: George Washington Carver moves to Tuskegee, Alabama by train, to become a
professor of Agriculture at Tuskegee Institute. He works there for 47 years” (Harness, 63,
68);
“1896-1900s: George Washington Carver grows (and experiments with) sweet potatoes,
peanuts, soybeans, and other plants at Tuskegee” (Bolden, 29-30);
“Early 1900s: George Washington Carver creates soap, oil, milk, cheese, and other
products from peanuts. Eventually, Carver will find 300 uses for the peanut—but he did
not invent peanut butter” (Mortensen, 15; Harness, 104);
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“1921: George Washington Carver meets with Congress in Washington, D.C. to talk
about the many uses of peanuts” (Harness, 102);
“1937: George Washington Carver forms a friendship with automaker Henry Ford. They
remain friends until Carver dies” (Harness, 115);
“1939: George Washington Carver meets President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who visits
Tuskegee. Carver recommends using peanut oil to treat the polio disease” (Bolden, 35);
“January 5, 1943: George Washington Carver dies in Tuskegee, Alabama” Quote: “All
these years I have been doing one thing…seeking Truth. That is what the scientist is
doing. That is what the artist is doing…” (Harness, 127);
“1943: The George Washington Carver Monument in Missouri is the first national park
in the United States dedicated to a citizen, black or white” (Harness, 129-130).
http://learningtogive.org/papers/paper83.html
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/gwcarver.htm
Past to Present Everyday Life: things we still use today!
Benjamin Franklin
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Electricity-Georgia Power
Poor Richard’s Almanac
Bifocals- Glasses (America’s Best)
goods/services – printing ( Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Thomas Jefferson
 Gardening ( Pike Nursery)
 Writing
 goods/services – agriculture ( Farmer’s Market)
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with Sacagawea
 diary/journal
 naturalist
 goods/services – report findings
Harriet Tubman
 slavery vs. freedom
 goods/services – safety
Theodore Roosevelt
 Teddy Bear name given in his honor
 Clothing- The cost of a cowboy outfit was $100 then. Today, this same type of personalized
cowboy garb would cost over $1,000.
 goods/services – parks (Stone Mountain)
 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Sports
George Washington Carver
 Uses of the peanut (soap, oil, milk, cheese, etc.)
 Uses of a sweet potato
 goods/services – agriculture
www.gcss.net/FirstGrade.doc