Bremen District 228
EPAS Linked Reading Passages: American HistoryApplications level (score range 13-15)
Overarching Enduring Understanding: Improve
student college and workplace readiness in reading.
Enduring Understanding: Raise student ACT/PSAE
reading scores from the 13-15 range to 16 and above.
Reinforce American history content knowledge.
Created by: Colin Milton, Kristy Collins, Matt Singer, Ed Lipowski, Andy Rybarczyk
1
Table of Contents
Unit 1: Legacy of Jamestown/ National Geographic..................................... 3
Unit 2: Loyalists/ Kids InfoBits Thomas Gale .............................................. 6
Unit 3: When is violent speech still free speech?/ USA Today .................... 9
Unit 4: War 1812 / Kids InfoBits ................................................................ 13
Unit: 5 “The Fighting 54th” .......................................................................... 15
Unit 6: American History Growth of a Nation ............................................ 19
Unit 7: American History Civil War ............................................................ 20
Unit8: Teddy’s Bear..................................................................................... 22
Unit 8: Building of Modern America .......................................................... 26
Unit 9: American History World War I ....................................................... 27
Unit: 10: BOOM The USA in the “Roaring Twenties”. ............................. 29
Unit 10: Louis Armstrong ............................................................................ 33
Unit 11: The Great Depression .................................................................... 34
Unit 12: American History, World War II................................................... 37
Unit 13: The American Dream .................................................................... 39
Unit 14: Black Panthers ............................................................................... 41
Unit 15: New Frontier to Vietnam ............................................................... 42
Unit 16: A Trip That Changed History/ USA Today .................................. 45
Unit 17: President, 70, Bounced Back/ USA Today ................................... 48
Unit 18: Tuning in the Techno-Prez/ Junior Scholastic .............................. 51
2
Unit 1: Title/Source: Legacy of Jamestown/ National Geographic
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
S
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
S
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
S
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
S
Analyze how an author
or narrator uses
description, dialogue,
and action to suggest
relationships between
characters in written or
non print sources (e.g.,
films, ads)
Select phrases or
statements from a
literary text that
illustrate how a specific
character feels toward
others in the text.
S
Read portions of a
literary text, predicting
how a persons actions
or words would likely
impact a specific
situation
S
T
T
T
T
Response
Is the author positive about the
settlers start in the new world?
What does it mean to have
dreams “evaporate”?
The author describes the settlers
as “hemmed in”. What did the
author mean?
What details does the author give
to describe the risk of starvation
faced by settlers?
T
S
T
T
3
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
S
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Analyze the
reasonableness of
generalizations by
reviewing information
presented in the text
and from other sources.
S
Compose
generalizations that
include, qualifying
language (e.g., a few
sometimes) when
limited evidence is
presented by the author
or narrator.
Determine reasonable
conclusions by
organizing the text
information into general
statements that are
supported by details
from the text.
S
T
T
What hot commodity saved
Jamestown?
S
T
T
S
T
They must have known the odds were against them. Before the English sailed to Virginia in the early 1600s,
every previous European attempt to colonize the coast between Nova Scotia and Florida met with disaster.
And yet the Virginia Company's London investors found thousands willing to take the chance. As they
packed their bags, the colonists imagined long lives ahead of them in a comfortable and prosperous colony:
Gentlemen tucked pewter flagons into their sea chests, along with irons for pressing ruffles into their collars.
Maids filled trunks with petticoats and sheets. One colonist brought a set of porcelain cups, another a
miniature windmill for diversion. Their ships were filled with crates of hoes and axes, boxes of muskets and
armor, and equipment for turning a profit: jars to collect medicinal plants, crucibles for manufacturing glass,
and stills to refine that most sought after discovery--gold.
It didn't take long for the settlers' early dreams to evaporate. One after another, business schemes failed,
and those who had envisioned riches turned to praying for survival. Many colonists perished within months
of stepping ashore. Three out of four who came to Jamestown between 1607 and 1624 died from disease,
hunger, and conflict with the Indians.
4
Until recently, their tales were told only through written accounts of a literate few. Since 1994, Historic
Jamestowne archaeologists led by William Kelso have dug up a fuller story: a million artifacts that reveal in
minute detail the lives and deaths of settlers, both elite and ordinary, as they struggled to establish a colony
that would become the first permanent English settlement in North America--and the birthplace of the United
States.
"It's like finding a lost letter from the past" says curator Bly Straube. Little by little, the things the colonists
brought with them across the Atlantic joined their bodies in Virginia's strange soil, buried testaments to the
hope with which they embarked on an all too perilous journey.
A tag stamped with an archaic spelling of Jamestown once marked goods bound for the colony. Soldiers in
the remote outpost gambled with bone, ivory, and lead dice to pass the time--an activity banned in 1611 in
an effort to restore discipline.
SIFTING HISTORY
A tray of washed artifacts strained from a pit in the fort testifies to life at Jamestown between 1610 and 1640
(clockwise from upper left): English flint used as ballast in supply ships and to light fires; shells of
Chesapeake oysters that fed the colonists; wrought iron nails for building; clay tobacco pipes along with
European pottery and scrap copper reworked into ornaments for the Indians; the butchered remains of
imported pigs, Eastern box turtles and sturgeon; and coral from the West Indies, a popular stopping point for
transatlantic voyages.
PERSONAL EFFECTS
A black mineral crucifix that may have belonged to one of Jamestown's few Catholics speaks to the
colonists' Christian faith, to which they hoped to convert the Indians. Jamestown's leaders wanted to
transplant English society to Virginia. The settlement s gentlemen carried objects to display their rank, such
as a skeleton-embossed seal for impressing its owner's initials in wax, and a silver toothpick and ear cleaner
(below). A dancing boy figurine was probably a gift for the Indians, meant to display English "civilization."
FAIR TRADE
The English secured the friendship of the Powhatan Indians with trade goods such as Venetian glass and
stone beads (opposite), metal tools and weapons, and copper--which the Indians prized as a sign of status.
In return, the English received gifts: A quartz arrowhead (below, left) and deer meat and native corn, charred
cobs of which were excavated at Jamestown. But the relationship went sour when the English pressured
Indians to sell them food during a drought, and the Powhatan realized the colonists meant to take their land.
HEMMED IN
Outnumbered by the Powhatan Indians hundreds to one, the English withdrew behind palisades during
attacks, defending the fort with muskets and sharp iron caltrops (opposite, top) scattered on the ground.
Cannonballs were intended for an enemy that never came: Spain's navy.
STARVING TIME
When the Powhatan besieged Jamestown in the winter of 1609-1610, trapped settlers were reduced to
eating horses, cats and dogs, and even the black rats they unwittingly brought to Virginia aboard their ships
(jawbone below). Weakened by hunger and sickened by drinking foul water from the river and contaminated
wells, scores of English died. Survivors were ready to give up and go home, but the spring brought new
colonists and fresh supplies.
HOT COMMODITIES
A German stoneware jug from Frechen (opposite) and a brass thimble and pins from Nurnberg made their
way to the colony via London. The English came to Virginia searching for a valuable export to give them an
5
edge in the booming 17th-century economy. After trials and much error, they discovered their best bet was
growing sweet-tasting tobacco, whose popularity is reflected in scores of locally made pipes unearthed at
Jamestown (below). The Virginia Company failed, but the Jamestown colony ultimately succeeded-thanks to
a crop near as precious as gold.
Eye on Jamestown Hear what the experts have to say as you explore Jamestown in an interactive feature at
ngm.com/0705.
Source Citation:
Lange, Karen E. "What would you take to the new world?(LEGACY OF JAMESTOWN)." National
Geographic. 211. 5 (May 2007): 56(12). Student Resource Center - Junior. Gale. Vaughn. 9 June 2009
<http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IACDocuments&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=SRC4&docId=A163064152&source=gale&srcprod=SRCJ&userGroupName=cps1920j&version=1.0>.
Unit 2: Title/Source: Loyalists/ Kids InfoBits Thomas Gale
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
S
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
S
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
S
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
S
Analyze how an author
or narrator uses
description, dialogue,
S
T
T
T
T
Response
What is the main idea of this
article?
Describe what a Loyalist was in
1775 America.
How many Loyalist lived in the
colonies according to the article?
Why does the author tell us that
many Loyalists had money?
6
and action to suggest
relationships between
characters in written or
non print sources (e.g.,
films, ads)
Select phrases or
statements from a
literary text that
illustrate how a specific
character feels toward
others in the text.
T
S
T
Read portions of a
literary text, predicting
how a persons actions
or words would likely
impact a specific
situation
S
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
S
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Analyze the
reasonableness of
generalizations by
reviewing information
presented in the text
and from other sources.
S
Compose
generalizations that
include, qualifying
language (e.g., a few
sometimes) when
limited evidence is
presented by the author
or narrator.
S
T
T
Why do you think Patriots didn’t
return property to Loyalist after
the war?
T
S
T
T
7
Loyalists
Loyalists were American colonists who sided with the British during the American
Revolution. The American Revolution was a war between the colonists and the British.
In the mid-1700s the American colonies were ruled by Britain. Most colonists were
unhappy with British rule. They felt they were treated unfairly. They had no one in the
government to represent their wants and needs.
By 1775 those angry colonists decided to fight for their freedom from Britain. Those who
supported the war were called Patriots. Those who were against the war were called
Loyalists. They were loyal to Britain. The Patriots also called the Loyalists Tories.
There were around 500,000 Loyalists in the colonies. About 19,000 fought against their
fellow Patriots. Others refused to fight at all.
Most Loyalists were farmers, artists, and shopkeepers. Most had more money than the
Patriots. That is another reason they decided to stay loyal to Britain. Without British
business, they would lose money.
Other Loyalists included African Americans, Indians, and servants. These people
believed they would be treated better by the British than by Americans.
During the war Patriots took land and property belonging to the Loyalists. About 100,000
Loyalists left the country.
The Patriots won the war. They were supposed to give back the property they had taken
from the Loyalists. In most cases they did not do this. Many Loyalists were without a
home. Many left America and settled in Canada, England, and the Bahamas.
Source Citation: "Loyalists." Kids InfoBits. Thomson Gale, 2005. Reproduced in Kids
InfoBits. Detroit: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/KidsInfoBit
8
Unit 3: When is violent speech still free speech?/ USA Today
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
S
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
S
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
S
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
S
Analyze how an author
or narrator uses
description, dialogue,
and action to suggest
relationships between
characters in written or
non print sources (e.g.,
films, ads)
Select phrases or
statements from a
literary text that
illustrate how a specific
character feels toward
others in the text.
S
Read portions of a
literary text, predicting
how a persons actions
or words would likely
impact a specific
situation
S
T
T
T
T
Response
What issue does this article
address?
How does the author explain free
speech?
How many days after 9/11 did
Al Timimi call for action by his
listners?
Why does the author write about
Clarence Brandenburg?
T
S
T
T
9
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
S
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Analyze the
reasonableness of
generalizations by
reviewing information
presented in the text
and from other sources.
S
Compose
generalizations that
include, qualifying
language (e.g., a few
sometimes) when
limited evidence is
presented by the author
or narrator.
S
T
T
What is suppression of speech?
S
T
T
When is violent speech still free speech? (NEWS)(case of Muslim scholar Ali alTimimi) Turley, Jonathan.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2005 USA Today
Byline: Jonathan Turley
It is perhaps the first legal rule that children learn: "Sticks and stones can break my
bones, but words can never hurt me." It is not just a catchy phrase, but a fair reduction of
a legal principle: Words alone are generally not actionable as forms of assault or crimes.
Last week, a jury in Alexandria, Va., offered a new addendum to this childhood axiom.
Muslim scholar Ali al-Timimi was convicted of, among other crimes, incitement -encouraging followers to train with terrorist organizations and to engage in violent jihad.
10
He now faces life in prison in a case that even the U.S. attorney called "unusual" based on
speech. His appeal may now help define when violent speech crosses the line from free
expression into criminal advocacy.
Violent speech is generally protected by the Constitution. However, the line between
controversial and criminal speech has proved evasive for courts. Speech is not protected
if it advocates "imminent" violent or unlawful conduct. Speech can be calculated to incite
people, but not if it incites people in the wrong environment. Thus, screaming "fire" in a
crowded theater is actionable, but not necessarily doing so in a park.
Such contradictions reflect a long history of how we deal with violent or inciteful speech.
Under the Sedition Act of 1798, Congress made it a crime to "excite" people against the
government or otherwise bring the government into "contempt or disrepute." This law
was used by President John Adams against critics, despite its flagrant violation of the
First Amendment and condemnations by framers such as Thomas Jefferson and James
Madison.
An ally in the KKK Al-Timimi, the Islamic extremist, was relying on an unlikely ally in
free speech: an Ohio Ku Klux Klan grand dragon. In Brandenburg v. Ohio, a KKK leader
was prosecuted for giving a speech at a farm outside of Cincinnati in which he warned
that "if our president, our Congress, our Supreme Court, continues to suppress the white,
Caucasian race, it's possible that there might be some revengeance taken."
Clarence Brandenburg was convicted under a state law of criminal statements that
proclaimed the "necessity or propriety" of acts considered violent or unlawful.
Later, in reversing the conviction, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the government
could not "forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except
where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is
likely to incite or produce such actions."
The decision reflected the court's understanding that political passion often drifts toward
violent expressions. Thus, conservative columnist Ann Coulter is allowed to suggest "we
should invade (Muslim) countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
More recently, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn's chief of staff is allowed to proclaim, "I
don't want to impeach judges. I want to impale them!"
The question of what constitutes advocacy of an "imminent lawless action" has remained
a maddening ambiguity. This is precisely the ambiguity that al-Timimi stepped into
during social gatherings in Virginia in the weeks after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Al-Timimi is the spiritual adviser to many Muslims across the country. He has worked
with the government, including White House chief of staff Andrew Card, and he has been
invited to speak on Islam to the U.S. military. He is the perfect conflicted individual for
the conflicted area of violent speech.
11
On one hand, al-Timimi publicly denounced violence and called for tolerance in some
speeches. However, privately, a darker image emerged. Five days after the 9/11 attacks,
al-Timimi called for a "holy war" and "violent jihad." On Sept. 16, al-Timimi met in an
apartment with a few young men and encouraged them to go abroad to join the jihad.
Within days, some members were on their way to Karachi, Pakistan, to join Lashkar-eTaiba -- a group later put on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. Al-Timimi is quoted
by former converts (who are now cooperating with the prosecutors) as referring to U.S.
forces as "legitimate targets" if they attack Muslims in Afghanistan. (None actually
fought, but a few did go abroad for training.)
Intent of al-Timimi's words The difficult question in the case is whether al-Timimi's
statements to supporters not only advocated violent or unlawful conduct (which is
protected), but encouraged imminent violent or unlawful acts. Notably, many of his
comments have a future element to them. His reference to "legitimate targets" is premised
on the possibility of a future U.S. intervention.
Conviction in these cases risks being overturned based on unpopular speech rather than a
real imminent threat. Judge Leonie Brinkema allowed the jury to hear inflammatory
statements made by al-Timimi on the morning of the Columbia shuttle disaster. AlTimimi wrote in an e-mail to followers that "there is no doubt that Muslims were
overjoyed because of the adversity that befell their greatest enemy" and called the
disaster a "good omen." The relevance of such statements is questionable, but the
potential prejudicial impact could not be more clear.
We have come a long way since John Adams chased down critics for sedition. We have
learned that we have more to fear from the suppression of speech than from its
expression.
We are now forced to address this question by a person who engenders little reason for
sympathy. Yet, it is never about the defendants. It was not about the racist fantasies of
Brandenburg. It certainly is not about the apocalyptic fantasies of al-Timimi. It is
ultimately about us and who we are. With al-Timimi's conviction, we face that moment
of self-definition again as his articles of speech become the test of our own articles of
faith.
***
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington
University Law School and a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors.
12
Unit 4: Title/Source: War 1812 / Kids InfoBits
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
S
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
S
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
S
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
S
Analyze how an author
or narrator uses
description, dialogue,
and action to suggest
relationships between
characters in written or
non print sources (e.g.,
films, ads)
Select phrases or
statements from a
literary text that
illustrate how a specific
character feels toward
others in the text.
S
Read portions of a
literary text, predicting
how a persons actions
S
T
T
T
T
Response
Write your own title to this
article?
What details does the author give
to support the idea that the War
of 1812 earned American’s
respect?
What city did James Madison
flee during the war?
What details support the authors
idea that no side gained from the
war?
T
S
T
13
or words would likely
impact a specific
situation
T
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
S
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Analyze the
reasonableness of
generalizations by
reviewing information
presented in the text
and from other sources.
S
Compose
generalizations that
include, qualifying
language (e.g., a few
sometimes) when
limited evidence is
presented by the author
or narrator.
Determine reasonable
conclusions by
organizing the text
information into general
statements that are
supported by details
from the text.
S
T
T
What is an anthem?
S
T
T
S
T
America became independent from the British after the American Revolution. But
tensions between the two countries caused another war. In 1812 the two countries began
the War of 1812.
Britain often captured American sailors off their ships. They forced the sailors to serve on
British warships. America decided to put a stop to this. On land there were other
problems. Settlers complained that the British encouraged Native Americans to attack
them.
14
On the Canadian border many of the British troops were Canadian. Canada was a British
colony. America tried to invade Canada three times starting in 1812. They hoped to
capture territory from the British. They were not successful.
In 1814 British troops burned Washington, D.C. President James Madison fled the city
and went to Virginia. Later, British warships fired on Fort McHenry in Baltimore,
Maryland. They were trying to capture the port so American merchant ships could not
bring their goods to the people. An American named Francis Scott Key watched the
battle from a warship. He saw the bombs exploding. They lit up the night. While
watching, he wrote a poem. It was called the "Star Spangled Banner." It became
America's national anthem (song) in 1931.
U.S. troops could not save Washington, D.C. But they won other important battles. After
more than two years of fighting, Britain and America signed a peace treaty. A treaty is an
agreement.
The war ended with the treaty. Neither side gained any advantage. But the success of the
fighting made Americans feel stronger as a nation. The soldiers' strength in battle made
Britain treat America with more respect.
Source Citation: "War of 1812." Kids InfoBits. Thomson Gale, 2005. Reproduced in
Kids InfoBits. Detroit: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/KidsInfoBits
Course: American History
Unit: 5 Title: “The Fighting 54th”
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
What was unique about the
American regiment; 54th
Massachusetts?
Response
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
On which date did the battle for
Fort Wagner occur?
15
terms, acts)
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
Analyze how an author
or narrator uses
description, dialogue,
and action to suggest
relationships between
characters in written or
non print sources (e.g.,
films, ads)
Select phrases or
statements from a
literary text that
illustrate how a specific
character feels toward
others in the text.
Why do the authors mention the
establishment of a memorial in
honor of the 54th?
Explain the following statement
in your own words: “the 54th
gained distinctions for bravery
and skill.”
Read portions of a
literary text, predicting
how a persons actions
or words would likely
impact a specific
situation
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
How did the 54th inspire other
African American during/after
the Civil War?
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Analyze the
reasonableness of
generalizations by
reviewing information
16
presented in the text
and from other sources.
Compose
generalizations that
include, qualifying
language (e.g., a few
sometimes) when
limited evidence is
presented by the author
or narrator.
Determine reasonable
conclusions by
organizing the text
information into general
statements that are
supported by details
from the text.
17
18
Unit 6: Title/Source: American History Growth of a Nation
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
Write a new title for the article
that reflects its main idea.
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
What happened to Lincoln
because of his criticism of the
war?
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Why do you think John Quincy
Adams voted for the war even
though he did not support it?
Response
At the beginning of the war, how
did everyday Americans feel
about it?
Why was the land between the
Rio Grande and Nueces called
“no man’s land”?
The Mexican American War
In mid-1845, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to proceed southward and occupy the land between the
Nueces and Rio Grande rivers. The arrival of Taylor's troops in this "no-man's land" claimed by both Mexico
and the United States was almost certain to provoke an incident. In case of war, the United States was well
prepared. Although Mexico had a larger standing army, the American forces were led by West Point officers,
among the best-trained in the world, and United States artillery was certainly superior to that of Mexico. The
Mexican army, on the other hand, was poorly equipped, poorly supplied, and top-heavy with officers.
In May 1846, Taylor's men were attacked by Mexican cavalrymen who crossed the Rio Grande River. Taylor
immediately sent messages to President Polk, who informed Congress that Mexico had shed "American
blood upon . . . American soil." Polk's request to retaliate was honored, and on May 13, 1846, Congress
declared war on Mexico. Few American political maneuvers have caused so much controversy both among
Polk's contemporaries and subsequent generations of observers. In Washington, many prominent public
figures made eloquent protests against the war, including none other than former president John Quincy
Adams—the very man who had anticipated "manifest destiny" in his 1802 speech at Plymouth. Now, a
Representative and the nation's senior statesman, Adams was opposed to this war. In the end, though,
19
Adams did vote to support the war resolution on the grounds that he did not want to add to the divisiveness
already threatening the country.
Another who spoke out against Polk's conduct of the war was a young first-term Illinois Representative,
Abraham Lincoln, who demanded that President Polk identify the exact spot of American soil that had been
bloodied. Lincoln would lose his re-election bid at least in part because of this, but in fact he and Adams
could not muster up the enthusiasm for their doubts that the proponents of the war did for their certainties.
One person who did not worry about a large body of votes to support his position was a young man in
Concord, Massachusetts. Henry David Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax the summer of 1846 while his
country was conducting what he considered an unjust war. It should be said that his objection to this tax was
also linked to his objection to a government that allowed one-sixth of its population to be held as slaves. He
was not alone, though, in seeing the two issues as closely related. Thoreau's opposition to the Mexican War
inspired his classic "Essay on Civil Disobedience," in which he declared that "Under a government which
imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." His writings and war resistance later
inspired Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and many other non-violent activists of the 20th century.
Despite a spate of anti-war protest, most Americans were, at least initially, enthusiastic about the war. From
the safety of Brooklyn, New York, Walt Whitman declared that "Mexico must be thoroughly chastised."
Thousands of Americans volunteered to fight in such far-off places as Buena Vista, Matamoros, Tampico,
and Vera Cruz. American troops gave a good account of themselves in the field, but yellow fever and
malaria took a greater toll than Mexican muskets. Led by Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, as
well as Colonel Stephen Kearny, the Americans achieved victory after victory. Finally, in September 1847,
the American flag flew over Mexico City, marking the first time that American forces had occupied a foreign
capital.
Unit 7: American History Civil War
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
Write a new title for the article
that reflects its main idea.
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
When the Civil War broke out,
what was Lincoln’s reason for
fighting?
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
When slaves joined the Union
army, what were some of the
effects on the South?
Response
How did Lincoln’s views change
as the war progressed?
20
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
How did people justify owning
slaves?
The Question of Slavery
Most people would agree that the most controversial subject in America during Lincoln's life was slavery. (If
something is controversial, that means people disagree and argue about it.) Ever since Europeans settled
the first American colonies, there were enslaved people here. (Slaves--or enslaved people--were men,
women, and children who were owned as property by other people.)
Slaves had no political rights. They were bought and sold. They had to work for the people who owned
them. Their families could be broken apart. By definition, slavery involved force and violence. In the early
American colonies, then later in the new nation, the people who were enslaved were black Africans.
Many white Americans saw nothing wrong with slavery. "People have always owned slaves," they argued.
Slave owners believed that some people were better than others, and that "better" people had a right to own
others. Besides, without an enslaved population, how could they, the southerners, grow such large crops of
tobacco and cotton? Slavery was not only fair, they insisted, it was economically necessary.
Not all Americans agreed. Many believed that slavery was evil, that it was morally wrong to hold people as
property and treat them brutally. These people wanted to abolish--get rid of--slavery. They were called
abolitionists. In the 1830s, the number of abolitionists was small but growing. For them, nothing was more
important than ending slavery.
By the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president, the topics of slavery and abolition were ready to
explode. The northern states had abolished slavery. But many white people in the southern states still
depended on slave labor. White southerners did not believe that President Lincoln would respect their right
to hold slaves.
Lincoln had said that, in his personal opinion, slavery was wrong. He also made it clear that as president he
would not interfere with slavery in the South. But white southerners did not believe Lincoln's words. Fearful
that the president would attack their way of life, the southern states seceded from the nation. They formed
the independent Confederate States of America.
In 1861, the Civil War broke out between the northern states and the new Confederacy. When the war
began, Lincoln insisted that the purpose of the fighting was to reunite the Union. He said the United States
wanted to bring the South and North back together again as one country--not to end slavery. Abolitionists
were unhappy with the president's words. They wanted the president to take a stand against slavery.
Over time, Lincoln's views changed. During the war, slaves who escaped from their owners rushed to safety
behind Union army lines. Many of these escaped slaves wanted to help the Union by fighting or supporting
the Union soldiers in some other way. Lincoln realized that to fight a long and bloody war, the Union needed
all the help it could get. So Lincoln adopted a new policy: For the first time, African American men were
allowed to enlist and fight in the
How could Lincoln allow black men to fight and die for the Union and still allow these same men to be owned
as property? Lincoln realized that emancipation was the only answer. (Emancipation is the act of freeing
someone from restrictions they have had.)
21
Abolitionists also pointed out that if Lincoln took away the slave labor force from the Confederates, it would
weaken the South's ability to fight. The president came to agree with this idea. In the end, "military
necessity" was a reason Lincoln gave for ending slavery. Former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass
said this: "Strike here, cut off the connection between the fighting master and the working slave, and you at
once put an end to this [war]."
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This document declared that all
slaves living in states fighting the U.S. government were free. On paper, the words were good. But in
practice, nothing changed overnight. What the Emancipation Proclamation did immediately was to say that
the official aim of the war was to end slavery. There could be no turning back. The war to preserve the Union
became the war that ended slavery. With the North's victory in 1865, the institution of slavery at last came to
an end.
Course: Apps American History
Unit8: The Building of Modern American Title: Teddy’s Bear
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
What is the main idea of the
article?
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
What is the authors intended
message?
Response
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
Why does the author include the
section about getting permission
to use “Teddy’s” name?
22
Analyze how an author
or narrator uses
description, dialogue,
and action to suggest
relationships between
characters in written or
non print sources (e.g.,
films, ads)
Select phrases or
statements from a
literary text that
illustrate how a specific
character feels toward
others in the text.
Read portions of a
literary text, predicting
how a persons actions
or words would likely
impact a specific
situation
Why did Roosevelt feel it would
be “unfair and cruel” to shoot the
bear?
What was the outcome of
President Roosevelt’s decision
not to shoot the captured bear?
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Analyze the
reasonableness of
generalizations by
reviewing information
presented in the text
and from other sources.
Compose
generalizations that
include, qualifying
language (e.g., a few
sometimes) when
limited evidence is
presented by the author
or narrator.
Determine reasonable
conclusions by
organizing the text
information into general
23
statements that are
supported by details
from the text.
24
25
Unit 8 American History Building of Modern America
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
What is the main idea of the
article?
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
How was security for presidents
changed after the McKinley
assassination?
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Why did the scientist examine
Leon Czolgosz’s brain after his
execution?
Response
What was Leon Czolgosz accused of
being?
During what event was
McKinley shot?
President William McKinley is Assassinated, 1901
Security Concerns
On 5 September 1901, Presidents' Day, President William McKinley, who was visiting the Pan-American
Exposition in Buffalo, New York, delivered a speech that clearly set forth his position on the controversial
issue of tariffs and trade reciprocity and laid out a new direction for the GOP during his second term. As part
of his visit he had also scheduled a public reception at the Temple of Music on the afternoon of 6
September. Although the president was guarded by three members of the Secret Service, four special
agents, and several soldiers, his secretary, George Cortelyou, believed that it would be difficult to ensure
McKinley's safety at so public a gathering and asked the president to cancel the reception. McKinley
brushed aside his secretary's apprehensions.
The Shooting
26
Before the reception a crowd gathered under a blazing sun, hoping to see the president and shake his hand.
He arrived promptly at four o'clock. The public was admitted to the building two abreast and then formed into
single file. As the line moved along, the Secret Service men tried to catch a glimpse of each person before
he or she reached the president. At around seven minutes past four, Leon Czolgosz, a short, slender young
man with a bandaged hand worked his way through the line, patiently waiting his turn. When Czolgosz
reached McKinley, he brushed aside the president's hand and fired two shots from a .32-caliber IverJohnson revolver. The first shot hit a button. The second entered McKinley's stomach, felling him. After a
moment of stunned silence, the crowd pounced on Czolgosz as the president pleaded to Cortelyou, "Don't
let them hurt him." McKinley's thoughts then turned to his frail wife: "My wife, be careful, Cortelyou, how you
tell her—oh, be careful." As Czolgosz was subdued and taken into custody, the president was taken to the
emergency hospital on the exposition grounds. The doctor who performed emergency surgery there did not
find the bullet, and because of his improper medical procedures the president died a week later, in the early
morning hours of 14 September.
Swift Justice
The day after the shooting newspapers across the country revealed that Czolgosz was an anarchist, but
testimony at his trial—which was held on 23 September, just nine days after McKinley's death—revealed
little else about the assassin. He refused to take the stand, was found guilty, and was sentenced to death by
electrocution. On the morning of 29 October, while he was being strapped into the electric chair at Auburn
Prison, he declared: "I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people—the good
working people. I am not sorry for my crime." After his execution the government had doctors examine his
brain before turning the body over to his family. At that time medical science hypothesized that a criminal's
brain had a distinctive shape, but Czolgosz's brain did not support their theory.
A Cowboy President
When told of McKinley's death Sen. Mark Hanna, a conservative Republican, exclaimed, "Now that damned
cowboy is president." Czolgosz's crime had catapulted the young, energetic, progressive Republican
Theodore Roosevelt into the White House. Roosevelt carried out McKinley's plans to make the Republican
Party more socially beneficent—though without his predecessor's subtlety—and he built on McKinley's
modest successes in modernizing the presidency. The new president largely ignored the public outcry
against anarchists that followed the assassination, believing correctly that claims of a conspiracy were
mostly unfounded. He did, however, support the portions of the Immigration Act of 1903 that virtually barred
anarchists from entering the country. After the assassination of a third president within forty years, President
Roosevelt ordered the Treasury Department to assign Secret Service agents to protect the president on a
permanent basis.
Unit 9: American History World War I
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
Write a new title for the article
that reflects its main idea.
Response
Serbia was allies with which
nations?
27
intended message
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
What was Germany’s defense
plan based on?
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
After the assassination of the
Archduke, what did the Austrian
government do?
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Why do you think Serbia’s allies
joined in the war so quickly?
World War I Begins, June 28, 1914-August 4, 1914
Principal Personages
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Francis Ferdinand, Archduke, heir apparent of Austria-Hungary
Leopold von Berchtold, Count, Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary
Sergei Dmitrievich Sazonov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Edward Grey, Sir, Foreign Secretary of Great Britain
Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, Chancellor of the German Empire
Summary of Event
On June 28, 1914, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir apparent to Austria-Hungary, was shot to death,
along with his wife, by the Bosnian terrorist, Gavrilo Princip. The assassination led to an Austrian decision to
force a diplomatic contest with Serbia, which for a long time had carried on agitation among the Slavs of the
Austrian Empire and was now suspected of having engineered the plot. With the support of Germany,
Austria prepared an ultimatum to present to the Serb government. Evidently both powers expected at this
point that Russia, Serbia's ally, would stand aside, allowing for a "localization" of the conflict. Even if Russia
and its ally, France, did intervene, it was believed that the other member of the Triple Entente, Great Britain,
would remain neutral. In all likelihood, it was believed in Germany and Austria-Hungary that a diplomatic
victory could be obtained without war or, at the most, by a small war against Serbia.
Although Austria failed to produce conclusive evidence that Serbia had instigated the assassination, it
nevertheless served upon the Slav nation what amounted to a request for the surrender of Serb sovereignty.
Despite the severity of the demands and the shortness of the two-day limit, Serbia, on July 25, agreed to
comply with nearly all the terms in Austria's ultimatum. However, since the answer was at least technically
unsatisfactory, the Austrian government broke off diplomatic relations and prepared for war.
28
At this point the magnitude of the original German and Austrian miscalculations began to be manifested.
Russia, which had suffered a diplomatic setback in the Balkans in 1909, could scarcely afford another one
and began to assume a menacing attitude toward Austria. The diplomatic crisis, transformed from an
Austrian-Serbian affair to a conflict between Austria and Russia, now became a matter for European
concern since it involved members of the two great alliance systems. Both Germany and Great Britain took
steps to end the crisis through some form of conference, but these maneuvers, hesitantly put forward,
proved to be of no avail. On July 28, Austria declared war on Serbia.
The Austrian declaration of war and the subsequent mobilization, though not directly threatening Russia,
further alarmed that state, which had already been considering mobilization for some days. Both Germany
and Great Britain recognized the growing danger and attempted to find some formula which might limit the
Austrian action. However, nothing was accomplished on July 29, and on July 30, Russia decided first upon a
partial mobilization against Austria to be followed later by a full mobilization against both Austria and
Germany.
Germany, whose entire plan of defense rested upon its ability to mobilize quickly and to act more swiftly than
its potential enemies, now felt itself mortally threatened. It reacted by issuing a "war warning" to Russia
which was followed on August 1 by German and French mobilizations. Germany declared war on Russia on
August 1, and on France on August 3. On August 4, Germany began the invasion of Belgium which
occasioned the British declaration of war on the same day.
Course: Applications American History
Unit: 10 BOOM The USA in the “Roaring Twenties”.
Ideas 13-15
Question
Response
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
List 2 positive and negative
characteristics of the 1920’s.
How do these characteristics
help one understand the authors
message?
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
What everyday household
appliances became popular and
readily available to most
Americans during the 1920’s?
29
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
Why do you think the author
listed racially motivated negative
actions for this era in America?
Analyze how an author
or narrator uses
description, dialogue,
and action to suggest
relationships between
characters in written or
non print sources (e.g.,
films, ads)
Select phrases or
statements from a
literary text that
illustrate how a specific
character feels toward
others in the text.
Read portions of a
literary text, predicting
how a persons actions
or words would likely
impact a specific
situation
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
Tell us what group of Americans
seemed to have it good and what
group did not?
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Analyze the
reasonableness of
generalizations by
reviewing information
presented in the text
and from other sources.
30
Compose
generalizations that
include, qualifying
language (e.g., a few
sometimes) when
limited evidence is
presented by the author
or narrator.
Determine reasonable
conclusions by
organizing the text
information into general
statements that are
supported by details
from the text.
Is it reasonable to say that based
upon this article, not all
Americans were well-off during
the era known as the “Roaring
Twenties”. Explain why?
31
32
Unit 10: American History, Louis Armstrong
Ideas 13-15
Question
Response
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
What is the main idea of this
article?
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
How did Armstrong’s childhood
affect his later life?
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Why do you think people around
the world loved Armstrong?
What jazz technique did
Armstrong invent?
What was Armstrong’s
nickname?
Louis Armstrong
Born in New Orleans in 1901, Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential and durable of all jazz artists.
His legend is still celebrated worldwide.
Louis Armstrong is frequently regarded by critics as the greatest jazz performer ever. With both his trumpet
and his rich, gravelly voice, he made famous such jazz and pop classics as "West End Blues," "When It's
Sleepy Time Down South," "Hello, Dolly," and "What a Wonderful World." Armstrong's influence on the jazz
artists who followed him was immense and far-reaching; for instance, according to George T. Simon in his
book The Best of the Music Makers, fellow trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie affirmed that "if it weren't for
Armstrong there would be no Dizzy Gillespie." Reviewer Whitney Balliett declared in the New Yorker that
Armstrong "created the sort of super, almost celestial art that few men master; transcending both its means
and its materials, it attained a disembodied beauty." Apparently, fans all over the world agreed with this
assessment, for during his lifetime Armstrong made extremely successful tours to several countries,
including some in Africa and behind the Iron Curtain.
33
Armstrong was born July 4, 1901, in a poor black neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. His parents
separated when he was five years old. His poverty has been described as a key factor in the discovery of his
affinity for music, however, for he sang in the streets for pennies as a child. When Armstrong was 13 years
old, he fired a pistol into the air to celebrate New Year's Eve and was punished by authorities by being sent
to the Negro Waif's Home. This incident proved somewhat providential: the home had a bandmaster who
took an interest in the youth and taught him to play the bugle. By the time of his release from the facility,
Armstrong had graduated to the cornet and knew how to read music. Working odd jobs, he scrounged up
the money to continue lessons with one of his musical idols, Joe "King" Oliver.
A Jazz Pioneer
From 1917 to 1922, Armstrong played cornet for local New Orleans Dixieland jazz bands. He also tried his
hand at writing songs, but was only partially rewarded—he saw his composition "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like
My Sister Kate" published, but the company reportedly cheated him out of both payment and byline. Then
Oliver, who led a successful band in Chicago, sent for Armstrong. As second cornetist for Oliver, the young
jazzman made his first recordings. In 1924, Armstrong enjoyed a brief stint with bandleader and arranger
Fletcher Henderson in New York City. By the time jazz pianist Lil Hardin, who would become the second of
his three wives, persuaded Armstrong to work independently around 1925, he had switched from the cornet
to the trumpet. During the next few years he made recordings fronting his own musicians; depending on the
number assembled, they were known as the Hot Five or the Hot Seven. Around the same time, Armstrong is
credited with the invention of the jazz technique of scat singing—legend has it that Armstrong dropped his
sheet music during a recording session and had to substitute vocal improvisations until someone picked up
the sheets for him. Also during this period, his experimentations led him to break free of the more rigid
Dixieland style of jazz to pave the way for a more modern jazz genre.
But in 1930, Armstrong began taking yet a different direction with his career, performing with larger bands
and recording more pop-sounding songs. Jazz purists fault him for this move, but others point out that he
helped inspire the later swing sound. Nevertheless, Armstrong was still identified with jazz by the public, and
on his extensive European tours was considered an "ambassador" of the genre. When he gave a concert in
Ghana, he was considered a hero by its natives; he also performed a few times before the British royal
family. It was in England that he won the nickname "Satchmo," a distortion of "satchelmouth," which
described the extent to which his cheeks puffed out when he played the trumpet.
Unit 11: The Great Depression
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
What is the main idea of the
article?
Response
Who did the Great Depression
affect in America?
34
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
What did the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation do?
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
What were some of the effects
on the people who were
unemployed?
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Despite all the poverty, why do
you think violence did not break
out?
The Great Depression, 1929-1939
Principal Personages
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964), thirty-first President of the United States 1929-1933
Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945), thirty-second President of the United States 1933-1945
Arthur Wood, chairman of the Emergency Committee for Employment
Walter Sherman Gifford (1885-1966), chairman of the President's Organization on Unemployment
Relief
Milo Reno (1866-1936), former president of the Iowa Farmers Union, organizer of the Farmers'
Holiday Association
Walter W. Waters, World War I army sergeant, organizer of the Bonus March on Washington
Charles Edward Coughlin (1891-1979), radio priest of Royal Oak, Michigan, advocate of
nationalizing banks, utilities, and natural resources
Huey Pierce Long (1893-1935), Governor of Louisiana, Senator, Presidential aspirant, and
advocate of redistributing the wealth
Francis E. Townsend, Dr. (1867-1960), retired California physician and leader of a movement to
give a monthly pension to people over sixty-five years of age
Summary of Event
The Stock Market Crash of October 29, 1929, sent the nation careening into the longest and darkest
economic depression of its history. Between 1929 and 1933, all major economic indexes told the same
story. The gross national product (GNP), the total of all goods and services produced each year, fell from
$104,400,000,000 in 1929 to $74,200,000,000 in 1933, setting back the GNP per capita rate twenty years.
Industrial production declined fifty-one percent before reviving slightly in 1932. Unemployment statistics
poignantly revealed the impact of the Depression on Americans. In 1929, the Labor Department reported
1,499,000 jobless persons, or 3.1 percent of all employables. After the crash, the figure soared. At its peak
in 1933, unemployment stood at 12,634,000, more than one out of every four people in the labor force.
Some estimates placed unemployment as high as sixteen million. By 1933, the annual national income had
shrunk from $87,800,000,000 to $40,200,000,000. Farmers, perhaps the hardest hit economic group, saw
their income decline from $11,900,000,000 to $5,300,000,000.
35
For the first two years of the Depression, which had now become worldwide, President Herbert Hoover
relied on the voluntary cooperation of business and labor to maintain payrolls and production. But when the
crisis deepened, he took positive steps to stop the spread of economic collapse. Hoover's most important
achievement was the creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), a loan agency designed to
aid large business concerns such as banks, railroads, and insurance companies. The RFC later became a
key agency of the New Deal. In addition, Hoover obtained new funds from Congress to slow down farm
foreclosures. The Home Loan Bank Act helped to prevent the foreclosure of home mortgages. On the relief
issue, the President and Congress fought a running battle for months. The Democrats wanted the federal
government to assume responsibility for direct relief and to spend heavily on public works. However, Hoover
insisted that unemployment relief was a problem for local resources, not federal. At first, he did little more
than appoint two committees to mobilize public and private agencies against distress. Yet after a partisan
fight, Hoover signed a relief bill without parallel in American history. The Emergency Relief and Construction
Act provided three hundred million dollars for local relief loans and one and one-half billion dollars for selfliquidating public works. Tragically, the Depression only worsened. By the time Hoover's term in office
expired, the nation's banking system had virtually collapsed and the economic machinery of the nation was
grinding to a halt. Tired and haggard, Hoover left office with the reputation of a do-nothing President. The
judgment was unfair. He had done much, even establishing many precedents for the New Deal; but he had
not done enough.
What happened to the economy after 1929 left most people baffled and bewildered? The physical structure
of business was still intact, undamaged by war or natural disaster. Men wanted to go to work, but plants
stood dark and idle. Prolonged unemployment created a new class of superfluous people. The jobless sold
apples on street corners. They queued up in breadlines and outside soup kitchens. Many lived in
"Hoovervilles," the shanty towns on the outskirts of large cities. Thousands of unemployed men and boys
took to the road in search of work, and the gas station became a meeting place for men "on the bum." In
1932, a crowd of fifty men fought over a barrel of garbage outside the back door of a Chicago restaurant. In
northern Alabama, poor families exchanged a dozen eggs, which they sorely needed, for a box of matches.
Despite such mass suffering, there was little violence. The angriest Americans were those in the rural areas,
where cotton was bringing five cents a pound and wheat thirty-five cents a bushel. In August, 1932, Iowa
farmers began dumping milk bound for Sioux City. To dramatize their plight, Milo Reno, former president of
the Iowa Farmers Union, organized a farm strike on the northern plains and cut off all agricultural products
from urban markets until prices rose. During the same summer, twenty-five thousand World War I veterans,
led by former sergeant Walter W. Waters, staged the Bonus March on Washington to demand immediate
payment of a bonus due them in 1945. They stood passively on the Capitol steps while Congress voted it
down. But after a riot with police, Hoover ordered the U.S. Army to clean them out of their shanty town for
fear they were breeding a revolution.
The Great Depression was a crisis of the American mind. Many people believed that the country had
reached all its frontiers and faced a future of limited opportunity. The slowdown of marriage and birth rates
expressed this pessimism. The Depression smashed the old verities of rugged individualism, the sanctity of
business, and limited government. Utopian movements found an eager following. The Townsend Plan,
initiated by retired California physician Francis E. Townsend, demanded a monthly pension to people over
sixty-five. Charles E. Coughlin, radio priest of Royal Oak, Michigan, advocated the nationalization of banks,
utilities, and natural resources. Senator Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, led a movement which
advocated a redistribution of the wealth. All the programs tapped a broad vein of discontent among those
who felt that they had been left out of the New Deal. But Americans gradually regained their sense of
optimism. The New Deal revived the old faith that the nation could meet any challenge and control its own
destiny. Even many intellectuals who had "debunked" American life in the 1920's began to revise their
opinions for the better.
By early 1937, there were signs of recovery. Business indexes were up—some near 1929 levels. The New
Deal had eased much of the acute distress, although unemployment still remained around seven and one
half million. Suddenly, the economy went into a sharp recession that was almost as bad as 1929. Although
conditions improved by mid-1938, the depression did not finally end until the government launched the
massive defense spending of World War II.
36
Unit 12: American History, World War II
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
What is the main idea of this
article?
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
What effects did the dropping of
the bomb have on the Japanese
people?
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Why do you think the scientists
did not want to use the bomb?
Response
Give two reasons why Truman
decided to use the atomic bomb.
How many people were
immediately killed after the
bomb was dropped?
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945
Principal Personages
1.
2.
3.
4.
Harry Truman (1884-1972), thirty-third President of the United States 1945-1953
2. Henry Lewis Stimson (1867-1950), Secretary of War 1940-1945, and chairman of President
Truman's Interim Committee on Atomic Policy
James Francis Byrnes (1879-1972), special assistant to the President and later Secretary of State
William Averell Harriman (1891-1986), United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union
Summary of Event
37
At 2:45 A.M. on August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, took off from the island of Tinian
in the Mariana Islands carrying an atomic bomb. Shortly after 8:15 A.M. from an altitude of about 31,600
feet, the bomb was released over Hiroshima, Japan. It exploded with terrible fury over the center of the city,
immediately killing more than eighty thousand people and maiming thousands more. The searing heat that
resulted from the explosion set the city afire and utterly destroyed it. Two days later, on August 8, the
U.S.S.R. declared war on Japan. On August 9, over Nagasaki, Japan, at about 11:00 A.M. the United States
dropped a second atomic bomb, which killed more than forty thousand of the city's inhabitants. The
destruction of Hiroshima was a shock to the Japanese, but Russia's declaration of war was devastating. The
declaration of war removed all hope of Soviet mediation with the West to end the war. Moreover, it
necessitated that the Kwangtung Army—the force that Japanese extremists were hoping to bring home to
face the anticipated Allied invasions—remain in Manchuria to protect the region from Russian invasion.
Throughout the day and into the night, the Japanese Supreme War Council met in grim deliberation. At 2:00
A.M. on August 10, the Japanese Prime Minister asked the Emperor to decide Japan's future. Speaking
softly, Emperor Hirohito told his ministers that he wished the war brought to an end. That day Japan
announced that it would accept the terms of unconditional surrender that the Allies had demanded in the
Potsdam declaration.
The dropping of the atomic bomb by the United States was one of the most portentous events in history.
Development of the bomb had begun in 1939, after a small group of scientists persuaded the American
government that such a weapon was feasible and that Germany was already carrying out experiments in
atomic energy. The research program that began in October, 1939, ultimately developed into the two billion
dollar Manhattan Project; the project's goal was to produce a bomb before the Germans did so. Few
American political or military officials ever doubted that such a bomb, if produced, would be used. Yet before
the first bomb was perfected and tested, Germany surrendered. Only Japan remained at war with the Allies.
Early in 1945, as the first bomb neared completion, some scientists began to have doubts about using it.
The wave of horror that might follow its use and the moral burden of unleashing such an awesome weapon
might, they felt, offset any immediate advantage the bomb could provide. Several options were possible: the
United States might demonstrate the new weapon on a barren island before representatives of the United
Nations who could then warn the Japanese of its destructive power; or the bomb might be dropped on a
military target in Japan after giving preliminary warning; or the United States could refuse to drop it at all.
While the scientists pondered such choices, military officials prepared to use the bomb. By the end of 1944,
possible targets in Japan had been selected, and a B-29 squadron had begun training for the bomb's
delivery. Two weeks after President Roosevelt died in 1945, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, on April 25,
met with the new President, Harry S Truman, informed him about the bomb, and predicted that in four
months it would be available for use. Upon Stimson's recommendation, Truman appointed a special Interim
Committee to consider utilization of the bomb. On June 1, 1945, the committee recommended to the
President that the bomb be used against Japan as soon as possible, be used against a military target, and
be dropped without prior warning. By early July, 1945, as Truman left for the Potsdam Conference in
Germany to discuss postwar settlements with Great Britain and Russia, he had decided to use the bomb
once it was perfected. On July 16, in the Trinity Flats near Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first atomic bomb
was successfully tested. The United States now had its weapon, though the war in the Pacific had already
driven Japan to the brink of surrender. As early as September, 1944, the Japanese had sought to sound out
the Allies concerning peace terms. On the eve of the Potsdam Conference, the Japanese ambassador in
Moscow asked the Soviet government to mediate with the Allies to end the war. Japan could not accept
unconditional surrender, but the Japanese appeared ready to surrender under terms which would allow
them to preserve the position of the Emperor in the Japanese system.
The Truman Administration was faced with difficult problems. Total defeat and unconditional surrender of
Japan might require a costly and prolonged invasion of the Japanese home islands. The Russians, as they
had promised at Yalta in February, 1945, were scheduled to enter the Pacific war in early August. Although
their support had been eagerly sought until the spring of 1945, it now appeared less vital; indeed, Truman
now hoped to defeat Japan before Russia could effectively enter the war and gain any control over the
postwar settlement with Japan. From Potsdam, on July 26, he and the other Allies called upon Japan to
surrender unconditionally or suffer "the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland." The Potsdam
declaration did not mention the atomic bomb and did not offer Japan any terms. The Japanese government
chose not to reply to the declaration, while it waited for a reply to the peace overtures it had made through
the Soviet government. Meanwhile, for home consumption the Japanese government called the Potsdam
declaration "unworthy of public notice."
38
In the Mariana Islands, two bombs had been readied for use, and the B-29 crews were standing by. Truman
ordered the U.S. Air Corps to drop them. The age of atomic warfare had begun.
Unit 13 : The American Dream
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
What is the main idea of this
article?
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
Why do you think the author
included the story about the boys
stealing peanuts from the
warehouse?
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Why did Pele sob after many of
his goals?
Response
Why was the 1958 World Cup
important to Pele?
Why did Pele have to stay in the
game after he was injured?
A Great Revelation Was Afoot: JUNE 8-29 1958 PELE MAKES HIS WORLD
CUP DEBUT
39
The world's greatest soccer player is a child. He is sitting on the grass as if on vacation from school, not
even 150 pounds, squinting into the sunlight. "A skinny little black boy," Pele will say of himself years later.
In this and other photographs from the time of his World Cup debut, the teenage Pele offers little hint of the
man who will win three world championships and score a Ruthian 1,280 goals in 1,362 games. His shyness
and undeveloped features are products of an impoverished childhood spent in Bauru, a railroad junction in
southern Brazil. Pele grew up without shoes, and thus his precious feet are flattened and wide and much
older in appearance than the rest of him.
When he was 10 years old, Pele and his friends stole peanuts from a warehouse with the dream of cashing
them in for soccer boots. They were hiding their loot in a cave when it began to rain heavily, and they were
overtaken by a mudslide that swallowed up one of the boys. The survivors formed a team known as the
Shoeless Ones.
Pele's emergence at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden was as dramatic as any sporting event of the century.
Now, four decades later, Brazil, with its record four World Cup titles, is the undisputed leader of the world's
most popular sport, but until Pele came along, the Brazilians had not won anything.
At 17 he was the youngest player in the tournament. At that time his great talent was just a rumor
internationally. An injury to his right knee, suffered in a pretournament tune-up, kept him on the bench for
Brazil's first two World Cup games. The tension within him grew as he waited for the chance that might not
come. Then the team doctor cleared him to play, and he was inserted into the lineup for the final game of the
opening round. Within four minutes of his debut he was banging at the door of the Soviet goal, rattling the
woodwork with a terrific shot. Pele assisted on the second goal in Brazil's 2-0 win. In the quarterfinals four
days later he scored the only goal in a victory against Wales--"my most unforgettable goal," Pele would say
years later, because it set Brazil on a course for its first world title and marked his first step in becoming the
world's most famous team athlete.
In the semifinal Pele unveiled all his skills. After France tied the game at one in the ninth minute--the first
goal allowed by Brazil in the tournament--Pele grabbed the ball out of the net and sprinted back upfield for
the restart. There were still 81 minutes to play, and here was this teenager acting like a quarterback in a
two-minute drill. "Let's go! Let's get started! Let's quit wasting time!" he shouted, waving his elder teammates
into position. They stared at him, and then, together, they scored the next four goals, three of them by Pele.
Before he completed his hat trick, Pele was tackled viciously on his frail right knee. "I went down, my knee
hurting like the devil, and then rolled over to glare at the player with pure hatred," he would recall. No
substitutions were permitted in those days; had Pele retreated to the sideline, his team would have played
with 10 men and the tackler would have been rewarded. Pele would have none of that. Minutes later, when
he saw the same defender closing in on him, Pele flipped the ball over the villain's head--a "hat" move, as
the Brazilians called it--scampered around him and blasted the ball into the net before it touched the ground.
Over the three concluding rounds of the World Cup, culminating in Brazil's 5-2 victory over host Sweden in
the final, young Pele would score six of his country's 11 goals. After many of them he would sob
uncontrollably: He could not quite believe that all would turn out well. To him the game moved slowly, as in a
trance, and each time he achieved his objective it had the effect of shaking awake the barefoot child from his
feverish dream, which in fact was not a dream at all.
Source Citation:
Thomsen, Ian. "A Great Revelation Was Afoot: JUNE 8-29 1958 PELE MAKES HIS WORLD CUP
DEBUT.(20th Century Celebration)(Brief Article)." Sports Illustrated. 91. 21 (Nov 29, 1999): R36+.
40
Unit 14: Black Panthers
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
What is the main idea of the
article?
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
When no blacks won in the
election, what did the SNCC and
CORE do?
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Why do you think Carmichael
believed that he needed to form a
new political party?
Response
Over what issues did the SNCC
break away from Martin Luther
King?
What group created the black
panther logo?
Black Panthers
SNCC and Black Power
Resenting King for attracting media attention while they had done much of the hard work of running blackvoter-registration drives in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama in 1961-1965—and accusing him of over
concern with his own safety when they had risked death daily in those states—many members of SNCC had
come to believe that self-defense was not only justified but wise. More important, the failure of the integrated
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, organized by SNCC to unseat the regular, all-white delegation at the
1964 Democratic National Convention, brought around much of SNCC to a point of view already espoused
by Carmichael: blacks should stop trying to reform the Democratic Party, he said; that would be like the
Jews trying to change the Nazi party from within. Instead, he decided, blacks should form their own political
party.
Carmichael's Black Panthers
41
In March 1965 Carmichael took the first step toward his goal in Lowndes County, Alabama, where not a
single black was registered to vote, even though the population was predominantly black. As Carmichael's
coworker Cleveland Sellers explained, "We intended to register as many blacks as we could, all of them if
possible, and take over the county." Helped by the arrival in August of federal registrars sent under the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 and undeterred by the murder of a civil rights worker, hundreds of blacks in
Lowndes County registered to vote every day. In March 1966 black farmers and domestic workers formed
their own political party, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), whose symbol—a snarling
black panther—was the source of their unofficial name, the Black Panthers. By then black registered voters
in the county outnumbered white voters by a large enough margin to convince members of LCFO that they
could take over the county government. In the November 1966 elections they put up a full slate of black
candidates for county offices and expected to win. Yet stuffed ballot boxes and other voting irregularities
ensured their total defeat. While the LCFO chairman declared, "It is a victory enough to get the black
panther on the ballot," many in SNCC viewed the election results as further proof that whites would never
willingly give up power to blacks and moved further toward the belief that black separatism was the only
solution to the subjugation of the Negro race. SNCC expelled all whites in December 1966, and CORE,
which had been organizing poor blacks for community action in northern cities since 1965, followed suit in
July 1968.
Unit 15: New Frontier to Vietnam
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
What is the main idea of this
article?
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
By the end of 1967, how many
Americans were stationed in
Vietnam?
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
What is Tet?
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
What was the effect of the Tet
Offensive?
Response
42
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
Why did people stop supporting
the Vietnam War?
Viet Cong Tet Offensive, January 31, 1968-March 31, 1968
Principal Personages
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908- 1973), thirty-sixth President of the United States, 1963-1969
William Childs Westmoreland, General (1914-), Commander of Military Assistance Command in
Vietnam
Earle Gilmore Wheeler, General, Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Clark McAdams Clifford, United States Secretary of Defense, 1968-1969
Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State 1961-1969
Summary of Event
On the night of January 30, 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese military units began a surprise offensive
throughout Vietnam. They attacked thirty-nine of South Vietnam's forty-four provincial capitals, five of its six
autonomous cities, and at least seventy-one of the 245 district towns. A Viet Cong unit even penetrated the
grounds of the United States Embassy in Saigon before being killed in a furious gun fight. All over Vietnam,
cities which had previously been immune from the war were attacked, occupied, and in some cases heavily
destroyed as American and Vietnamese troops moved in to liberate them. The war had been going on since
1946, but it had never seen fighting like this. Two months later, on March 31, 1968, President Lyndon
Johnson addressed the American people on television to announce that in the pursuit of peace, he was
ordering a partial bombing halt of North Vietnam and that he would neither seek nor accept the Democratic
presidential nomination. That was Tet, two months in 1968, that changed the course of American
involvement in Vietnam.
The United States had been supporting the Saigon government of South Vietnam since Vietnam was
divided in 1954. The military situation had been steadily deteriorating during those years, and in July, 1965,
President Johnson made a fateful decision. Henceforth American troops would not only be used in a
defensive capacity of protecting American airfields but would go on the offensive. American military units
would carry the fight to the enemy in what became known as search-and-destroy missions. The new policy,
strongly backed by Secretary of State Dean Rusk and General Earle Wheeler, Chief of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, was to defeat the enemy. This aggressive policy required more American troops. In June, 1965, there
were less than sixty thousand American troops in Vietnam. By the year's end that number had grown to
184,300. A year later it had moved to 385,300 and by the end of 1967 nearly a half million American troops
were stationed in Vietnam. The war had been Americanized.
This strategy led to increased American casualties, but it did not lead to an end of the war. As Americans
continued to die and peace was not in sight, public support for the war began to decline. To stop this trend,
President Johnson orchestrated a series of optimistic statements by key civilian and military leaders late in
1967. The American people were assured that progress was being made or, in the language of the day,
there was "light at the end of the tunnel."
43
Meanwhile the United States continued its strategy of making the price of war so high that the North
Vietnamese would give up. Search-and-destroy missions and American bombing of North Vietnam
continued. However, there was a limit to the military effort the United States would make in Vietnam:
bombing of North Vietnam would stop short of provoking a confrontation with China or Russia. American
troops would be limited to a number which would not require total mobilization of the American economy,
something the American people would not tolerate. Though a limited war, this was not a small military effort.
A half million troops had been sent; 400,000 air attack sorties per year had dropped 1.2 million tons of
bombs. The enemy had lost 200,000 killed and the United States 20,000 of its own. That was the situation
when Vietnam prepared to celebrate the lunar new year of Tet.
Tet was the most important holiday in Vietnam, a time for rejoicing and traveling to see friends and relatives.
It was not a time for war but a time for truce. Yet in Saigon, General Westmoreland, Commander of
American forces in Vietnam, knew something was going to happen. The enemy had been building up its
forces, and captured documents indicated an offensive of some kind. That the offensive came on Tet was a
surprise. That it was so large and well coordinated was a shock.
Precisely what the North Vietnamese sought to gain from the Tet offensive is not clear. The captured
documents indicated that they thought large areas could be seized through popular uprisings against the
South Vietnamese government and the defection of whole units of the South Vietnamese army. In addition
to these military goals there were psychological victories to be won. A forceful attack would discourage the
United States and show the people of South Vietnam that neither their own government nor the Americans
could protect them.
Militarily, the North Vietnamese lost. Though they were able to capture several cities and to hold out in the
old imperial city of Hue for more than three weeks, in the end they held no city and there was no popular
uprising or large-scale defection. In fact, the South Vietnamese rallied to the defense of their country to a far
greater extent than they yielded to the enemy forces. Psychologically, however, Tet was a North Vietnamese
victory. They had demonstrated that there was no light at the end of the tunnel. All the American bombing
and search-and-destroy missions had not prevented North Vietnam from attacking virtually any place in
South Vietnam. It was not important whether Hanoi had won any military victories in the battles that were
fought during the Tet offensive. What was important to American officials and the American people was that
little had been accomplished during two and a half years of major American fighting, and too much remained
to be accomplished before peace would be at hand.
Tet reinforced the American public's dissatisfaction with the war. Perpetuation of the American policy would
result in more American deaths, greater economic sacrifice at home, destruction of countless South
Vietnamese towns, and the extension of human suffering over ever larger areas of Vietnam. Even then there
was no assurance of victory. North Vietnam had promised a long war and the Tet offensive showed that the
price would be high. The American people gradually concluded they did not want to pay that price.
Within official Washington, the Tet offensive sparked a major debate. Military leaders concluded that Hanoi
had been defeated and urged the President to take advantage of this victory and expand the war. Within the
Defense Department, however, was a growing number of civilian officials, among them, Secretary of
Defense Clark Clifford, who doubted the wisdom of escalation or even continuation of the way the war was
being fought. Their analyses showed that no progress had been made since the summer of 1965. They
advised the President that the policy of confronting the enemy on the field of battle had failed. It was time to
pull back and provide a shield behind which the South Vietnamese army would rebuild with American arms.
Thus rebuilt, South Vietnam would fight its own war. The policy was Vietnamization. Lyndon Johnson
rejected escalation and reluctantly accepted Vietnamization. Peace was still a long way off, but the course of
American withdrawal had been charted.
44
Unit 16: A Trip That Changed History/ USA Today
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
S
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
S
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
S
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
S
Analyze how an author
or narrator uses
description, dialogue,
and action to suggest
relationships between
characters in written or
non print sources (e.g.,
films, ads)
Select phrases or
statements from a
literary text that
illustrate how a specific
character feels toward
others in the text.
S
Read portions of a
literary text, predicting
how a persons actions
or words would likely
impact a specific
situation
S
T
T
T
T
Response
Describe three details that
support the main idea of the
article.
Which issue with China does the
author feel was overlooked at the
time of Nixon’s trip?
Describe what happened to
Nixon’s political competition
during his trip?
How does the author describe
China at the time of Nixon’s
visit?
T
S
T
T
45
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
S
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
S
Analyze the
reasonableness of
generalizations by
reviewing information
presented in the text
and from other sources.
S
Compose
generalizations that
include, qualifying
language (e.g., a few
sometimes) when
limited evidence is
presented by the author
or narrator.
Determine reasonable
conclusions by
organizing the text
information into general
statements that are
supported by details
from the text.
S
T
T
Nixon wanted China’s help to
make Russia more
accommodating with Cold War
issues. What does the author
mean by accommodating?
T
T
S
T
In October 1971, Henry Kissinger traveled to Beijing to pave the way for President
Richard Nixon's historic opening to China.
As national security adviser, Kissinger worked closely with Nixon in crafting the
diplomatic initiative that ended almost a quarter-century of silence between the United
States and China. In vintage Kissingerian style, though, some of his most delicate
maneuvering involved keeping his bureaucratic rivals in the State Department far from
the action.
46
The Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan writes in Nixon and Mao: The Week That
Changed the World that Kissinger relegated State's veteran China hand Al Jenkins to
diplomatic busy work while he and Chinese Premier Chou Enlai hashed out the core
issues: relations with the Soviet Union, the war in Vietnam and the future of the island of
Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province.
"Jenkins from the State Department was therefore sent off to talk to one of Chou's
subordinates about issues Kissinger considered less important, such as trade ..."
MacMillan writes.
Today, with the USA running a record $21.3 billion trade deficit with China, it's hard to
believe that trade was ever a second-tier issue. But China then was still an economic
backwater, suffering the self-imposed ravages of Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution.
As MacMillan shows in her chronicle of the week in February 1972 that brought Nixon
to China, the president's bold stroke -- after a lengthy Red-baiting career -- was motivated
by geopolitics. Cruising toward re-election and not yet consumed by Watergate, Nixon
wanted China's help in winding down the war in Vietnam. He also believed improved ties
with China would put pressure on the Soviet Union to be more accommodating in
managing the Cold War.
MacMillan's new book is the first to focus exclusively on Nixon's journey and the events
leading to it, beginning with two secret trips by Kissinger in 1971. She offers revealing
portraits of the main players, including Mao, a modern emperor who was near death, and
the elegant Chou. There are amusing vignettes, too, such as the occasion when an
American's casual profanity leaves his Chinese counterpart puzzling over the term "a rat's
ass."
But her account suffers from appallingly poor organization, especially in the early
chapters, which lurch between February 1972 and a series of historical digressions that
give the 344-page text a decidedly padded feel. While providing useful background on
the individuals and issues involved, these flashbacks drain the narrative of the power the
events warrant. For a writer of MacMillan's accomplishments -- she is the author of Paris
1919, an acclaimed history of the peace conference that followed World War I -- this is a
surprising and distracting flaw.
Still, though Nixon failed to enlist Mao in efforts to bargain with the North Vietnamese,
MacMillan supports her assertion that the seven days beginning Feb. 21, 1972, truly
changed the world.
From the current vantage point of the era in which Chinese cities are populated by
Starbucks, Buicks and Pizza Huts, it can be difficult to recall just how shuttered and
remote the country once was. No American president had been to the People's Republic
of China before Nixon. Mao routinely castigated the U.S. as China's enemy while the
U.S. had considered bombing China's nascent nuclear weapons program in the early
1960s.
47
Beijing was a dusty capital full of bicyclists all wearing the same formless blue cap,
jacket and pants known as a "Mao suit." There were no American diplomats,
businessmen or journalists living there. Americans wanting to know what was happening
in China were limited to peering in from the neighboring British colony of Hong Kong.
Nixon's visit was truly historic, as indicated by the throngs of top journalists from Walter
Cronkite to William F. Buckley who accompanied him. U.S. TV networks broadcast live
the president's arrival in Beijing. It was the first step toward normalization of relations
between the U.S. and China, which followed during the Carter administration. And the
first step toward the modern era, in which trade between these two countries is anything
but an unimportant sideshow.
USA Today, March 12, 2007 p04B
A trip that changed history.(MONEY)(Book review) Lynch, David J..
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2007 USA Today
Byline: David J. Lynch
Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World
By Margaret MacMillan
Unit 17: President, 70, Bounced Back/ USA Today
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
S
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
S
T
Response
Write with a new title for this
article.
48
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
T
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
terms, acts)
S
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
S
Analyze how an author
or narrator uses
description, dialogue,
and action to suggest
relationships between
characters in written or
non print sources (e.g.,
films, ads)
Select phrases or
statements from a
literary text that
illustrate how a specific
character feels toward
others in the text.
S
Read portions of a
literary text, predicting
how a persons actions
or words would likely
impact a specific
situation
S
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
S
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
S
T
T
Summarize the article in a short
paragraph.
What did Reagan do the day
after he was shot?
Why did the author tell us about
Sarah Brady?
T
S
T
T
T
T
The article describes Reagan as
quipping with his surgeons.
What does this mean? How does
this help us understand what
kind of person Reagan was?
49
Analyze the
reasonableness of
generalizations by
reviewing information
presented in the text
and from other sources.
S
Compose
generalizations that
include, qualifying
language (e.g., a few
sometimes) when
limited evidence is
presented by the author
or narrator.
Determine reasonable
conclusions by
organizing the text
information into general
statements that are
supported by details
from the text.
S
T
T
S
T
Even after a gunman tried to kill him on his 70th day in office, Ronald Reagan
maintained his sense of humor.
"Honey, I forgot to duck," the new president joked to his wife, Nancy, as he was wheeled
into the emergency room at George Washington University Hospital. Minutes later,
Reagan quipped to surgeons, "I hope you're all Republicans."
But for several tense hours on March 30, 1981, there was little to laugh at. For the ninth
time in American history, a president had been the target of an assassination attempt.
It happened just after Reagan spoke to a trade-union group at the Washington Hilton
hotel. Video cameras captured the chaos.
As the president left a side entrance, John Hinckley, the son of a wealthy Colorado oil
executive, stepped from a crowd of reporters and photographers. Six shots rang out from
his .22-caliber revolver before police tackled him.
In an instant, a Secret Service agent pushed Reagan into his limousine, which sped away.
Three others lay on the pavement wounded, including press secretary James Brady, who
suffered brain damage that would leave him in a wheelchair.
At first, Reagan didn't realize he had been shot. But as his car raced to the hospital, he
soon had trouble breathing. He collapsed just inside the emergency room, later named for
him.
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It took surgeons two hours to remove a bullet that had entered under Reagan's left armpit,
struck a rib and burrowed 3 inches into his left lung. Despite his age, 70, Reagan
recovered quickly. To prove the point, he signed a bill the next day from his hospital bed.
Hinckley admitted to the shootings, telling police he did it to impress actress Jodie Foster.
A jury found him innocent by reason of insanity. He was sent to a Washington mental
hospital, where he remains.
The shooting did not change Reagan's anti-gun control views. But it galvanized Sarah
Brady, James' wife. She launched an initiative to require a five-day waiting period and
background checks for handgun purchases. The Brady Bill was signed by President
Clinton in 1993.
USA Today, June 7, 2004 p18A
President, 70, bounced back after shooting. (NEWS)(remembering assassination
attempt on President Reagan) Stone, Andrea.
Unit 18: Tuning in the Techno-Prez/ Junior Scholastic
Ideas 13-15
Question
Work with peers to
create logical
statements about the
main idea or purposes
of simple paragraph
S
Determine which
details in a text are
essential to
understanding the
authors or narrators
intended message
S
Scan a text in order to
locate specific details
(e.g., dates, specialized
S
T
T
Response
What is the main thing we learn
about President Obama from this
article?
How does the author help
readers understand what an email
is?
51
terms, acts)
T
Identify the authors or
narrators reasons for
including specific
information in the text
S
Analyze how an author
or narrator uses
description, dialogue,
and action to suggest
relationships between
characters in written or
non print sources (e.g.,
films, ads)
Select phrases or
statements from a
literary text that
illustrate how a specific
character feels toward
others in the text.
S
Read portions of a
literary text, predicting
how a persons actions
or words would likely
impact a specific
situation
S
Use various strategies
(e.g., questioning, role
playing) to determine
plausible cause effect
relationships.
S
Examine specific
language in a text and
propose plausible
interpretations based in
part on their own
viewpoints and
experiences.
S
Analyze the
reasonableness of
generalizations by
reviewing information
presented in the text
and from other sources.
S
T
What does a president have to do
to keep his emails private
according to U. S. law?
Why does the author tell us
about encryption software?
T
S
T
T
T
T
In the article, the author uses the
word correspondence. What is
another word that means the
same thing?
T
52
Compose
generalizations that
include, qualifying
language (e.g., a few
sometimes) when
limited evidence is
presented by the author
or narrator.
Determine reasonable
conclusions by
organizing the text
information into general
statements that are
supported by details
from the text.
S
T
S
T
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama was rarely seen without his prized BlackBerry.
Candidate Obama knew that if elected President, he risked losing one of his most valued
possessions.
Why? According to U.S. law, a President's correspondence is part of the public record.
Even e-mails to friends and family could be subject to review. A President who doesn't
want personal e-mails made public, experts told The Washington Post, shouldn't send
any. Another concern is that hackers might gain access to the President's handheld device
and alter of steal privileged information.
The new President was undeterred. "They're going to have to pry it out of my hands,"
Obama told a reporter about his BlackBerry.
His persistence paid off. Security experts will allow him to become the first e-mailing
President. Obama's new device will have special encryption (converting into code)
software to keep his correspondence private.
Is this Berry cool, or a little risky? Should President Obama be able to txt his friends like
you do?
Junior Scholastic, Feb 16, 2009 v111 i12 p4(1)
Tuning in the techno-prez.(National)(president, Barack Obama )(Brief article)
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