Chapter 6 The Jeffersonians

Chapter 6 is a very long and action packed chapter.  For this reason we will be spending 3 weeks on Chapter 6.  Below are your readings and assignments for the next 3 weeks.  The Google Document of these assignments is HERE.   

In the coming days I'll be making blog posts with some explanations and helps of some things in the reading.  If you have questions as you read please talk with one another and as a last resort ask me!
Chapter 6 Assignments

Notes for Honors Students Before Tomorrow's Class!

This post is for the Honors Level class meeting online Friday at 3:00:

The following question was this weeks opportunity question: During Washington’s two terms, early signs of sectionalism appeared. What caused these divisions? Do you think they helped set us on a road toward civil war? If so, how?


We will begin class by discussing this question orally.  Afterwards I will go over the new class format and offer some advice on the pace of your reading, etc. in order to get through your assignments in this new class format.  (Basically I will suggest that you complete all your reading and assignments before Tuesday's class just like before - but just table our discussion of them until Friday.  Friday morning you can look over them again before class.) 

I have been thinking about how to conduct our opportunities in this new format.  I think that we will do them orally.  We will each pick a question to answer/teach to the rest of the class and then we will give each other feedback and discuss the questions.  (You should still try and answer all the questions before class so that you can comment on your peers answers!)  After class is over you will prepare a written answer and turn it in to me the next class.  We'll at least try it this way a couple of times to see how it goes!

We will not have our economics lesson this week, I will reschedule that. I feel like since we did not cover the Bill of Rights in class that we should go over that in more detail instead.  I will post a link to the first 10 ammendments on the blog for you to print in the morning.

We will also talk about Bartram and look back over some other PSH readings that we haven't discussed so make sure you have your PSH handy.

If I can fit it in we will also have an introductory lesson on how to examine a historical document. If we don't fit that in, there will be plenty more opportunities in the next two years!

If you can, look up the definitions of those different forms of government before we meet!

I'll 'see' and 'hear' you tomorrow!

Mrs. Amber

Notes to Clarify the Grading of Week 7's Opportunity (The John Jay Opportunity)

I wanted to clear up a couple of questions about Week 7’s opportunity. First, I greatly enjoyed reading your letters, there were very creative. I wanted to ensure you that I did not use your letters to withhold any points from your score. On the contrary, if you demonstrated to me knowledge of or understanding of this situation which was more clear in your letter than in your opportunity question I gave you additional credit on your score. I did not for anyone take points away based on your letters!

You may have noticed my shorthand notes in how I scored this week’s opportunity and wondered what in the world I meant by it! I was looking for four main points in your answer (described briefly below) and I awarded/withheld points of your score based on how well you addressed each area:

I. The first item I was looking for in your answer was a concise description of what the situation was – John Jay was the Secretary of State. Congress had given him the power to negotiate a treaty with Spain that was supposed to secure the navigation rights of the Mississippi River and the use of the port of New Orleans. John Jay was not able to secure such a treaty – Spain did not recognize our right to use the Mississippi or the port, we were in debt to them after our revolution and basically we had no bargaining power. Some of you went on to describe the second congressional vote that gave John Jay power to make a treaty that did not include these access/navigation rights.

II. The second important piece of information that I wanted to see in your answer was that you put the situation in context. You gave me some indication of when it occurred – just after the revolution. Even better if you described to me how the Treaty of Paris ensured Spain’s territory in Louisiana and further west and that it granted to Spain an extension of the panhandle of Florida cutting off any access to ports on our southern border. Another important piece of information was that there were people already beginning to move west into other territories and if they were not able to use the Mississippi they were essentially cut off from the rest of the states.

III. The third component of your answer that I was looking for was an understanding of the differing view points and interests of the northern and southern states as regards this treaty. The northern states were in dire economic straits after the war. England was blockading the coast and tightly controlling their trade and intimidating them by keeping soldiers in forts in the North West territory. (They had reasons for doing this, remember!) The Southern states wanted to have their own access to ports and harbors to take their crops to markets without depending on the ports and harbors of the northern states. For the more southern states this was a quicker more direct and efficient route. I was looking for you to tell me that southern states were agricultural based and the population was more spread out. Northern states were more merchant oriented, more dependent on fishing and trade for their economies.

IV. The fourth component I hoped to see in your answer was some indication of the disunion that occurred over this issue and what the cause/effects of this were. One area of concern the northerners had was the growing population in the western territories. If these territories became states would they upset the balance of free and slave states? The southern states were upset because the second vote that granted to Jay the power to make this second treaty they viewed as illegal because it did not meat a 2/3rds majority vote. A consequence of this was that they were very reluctant to ratify the constitution because they did not trust a government that had a power superior to that of the states themselves that seemed to overlook their interests. They saw it as larger states overpowering smaller states (population wise).

Here are the opportunity questions for Chapter 5.  I suggest you look over them all now before your reading.  I have also suggested that you divide them up - each taking two or three and then swapping answers and giving feedback on answers. 

If you prefer Google Documents the link is HERE. 

Chapter 5 the New Republic

Chapter 5

Here are your assignments for the next two classes.  This gets us through Chapter 5!  You will notice there is  a format change because of the adjustment I have made in the class.  I have divided the assignments between the Tuesday class (which are for everyone) and the Honors/AP Prep portion of the class which meets separately.

Chapter 5 Assignments

If you prefer using Google Documents the document is HERE.

You should still prepare for your reading and study in the same way as before - just not all of you will be doing the opportunity questions:

#1  Read over the chapter summary and flip through the chapter looking at what sections it is divided into.
#2  Read over and or listen to the summary available on the Online Roadmap
#3  Read with a pencil in hand to mark as you go (index card for vocab)
#4  Look over the topics we will discuss in class and take note of them even during your first reading
#5  Do the first reading - reading for understanding (some of you are using the audio for this reading, just remember to pause it).  Make sure to break your reading into 'bytes', do some form of narration/retelling, and take breaks.  You should be able to complete the reading in two days - don't scream through it all at once!
#6  Build your timeline and lists of important people (make sure you note something about them) in your notebooks
#7  Work through the content using the class topics and opportunity questions.  Go back to sections you marked that you didn't understand and look for help if needed.  Make sure that you can talk/write about each of these topics/questions.

For the Honors/AP Prep class I'm giving you all the opportunity questions at once - use both weeks to go through them.  Our first week's opportunity will be the one on Washington and sectionalism.  The second weeks opportunity is your choice - you choose which of the remaining questions you want to answer.  Spend more time on that question, but do try and spend some time with each of them! 

This Weeks Homework

Class, you will find your weekly homework check list below.  Please note the change of format for our class discussions and prepare your reading accordingly.  This will be a permanent change until further notice.

In addition to this change, please review your schedules for the following opportunities to meet with me outside of class time (Location will be at Dilworth Coffee):

WEEKLY OFFICE HOURS - I have set aside Saturday from 1:00-3:30 for one on one meetings with parents and students.  If you have questions you would like to discuss with me,  would like a special one on one tutoring/review session, or if I have requested a private meeting with you please email me with a specific time within these hours that you can arrive.  I'll schedule slots in 30 minute increments.

LITERATURE EVENING - I am offering another evening for discussing literature next week on Thursday.  I would like to meet with groups individually and this week we will focus on our novels instead of autobiographies.  I will schedule an autobiography meeting in 2 weeks with the entire class.  Here is the planned schedule - please let me know if you will be able to attend or not.  If there is a conflict let me know as soon as possible and perhaps we can work out alternate arrangements.

Washington Irving 6:30-7:15
Edgar Alan Poe 7:20-8:05
Last of the Mohicans 8:10-8:55

SKYPE CHAPTER REVIEW SESSION
I'm still working out the technical details on this, but this review is for the following students:  Kaela, Trey, Julia, Samantha, and Jonathan.  I have set aside NEXT Friday afternoon, October 7th, from 3:30-4:30 and need to know how many of you are available during this timeslot.  We will do a comprehensive review beginning with Chapter 1.  You will need your notebooks and your text book alog with a computer and webcam.  I'll email more technical details later.

Week 7

John Jay and the Mississippi River Rights

I realize that this week's opportunity is a difficult question.  There are two reasons why it's difficult for you.  First of all, you need to lift your eyes from looking just at this chapter and remember all that we have read and discussed so far in this class pertaining to the differences between the northern and southern colonies, now states. 

This needs to be a constant exercise - the going over of all that you have read and learned to see how things are related.  It is also a good idea to look forward as far as you can to what you know what is coming and ask how does what's happening right now in my reading cause, effect, or influence that?  What's coming is the Civil War and even before these states are 'United' the issues that are at the root of that war are already in place.  The differences and tensions between northern and southern states were born back in their infancy as colonies.  Do not fall into a habit of focusing only on the portion of the chapter we are currently reading!

The second reason this question is difficult for you is that I don't believe Bennett gives you all the information clearly.  I'm going to attempt to fill in the missing holes for you in this post.  Even though this is a difficult question, it is a very important one.  It was because of the controversy over this treaty that many southern states held out for so long against signing the Constitution!  They were skeptical of a union that they felt favored the interests of one group of states over another.  This controversy of John Jay's treaty was in large part the foundation for those feelings.

Before I give you the background on John Jay and Gardoqui I wanted to give you a few references to review for the differences between the northern and southern colonies/states.  Specifically you want to examine and think about the differences in the economies of northern states and southern states.  The northern conlonies/states based their economies on trade - remember the settlement patterns - they were crowded along the coast of New England with many, many harbors.  Shipping was their lifeline.  The fishing industry was also a large part of their economy.  If you remember our economy lessons they had more capital (harbors and ships) to take their resources to places where they could be sold or traded.  Their harbors were also a point of entry for goods from Europe that got distributed throughout the other colonies/states.

The southern states economies were based on agriculture.  Their main resource was land, they had a shortage of capital and they depended upon a large force of slave labor in order to make their economy work.  Their need for land meant that their colonies/states were more sparsely settled - that they were spread out and they did not have easy access to harbors to get their crops to markets.  These agriculturists also saw their future in western lands - remember that idea of Manifest Destiny - the right to all the land all the way to the sea.  (A good example of this feeling of going west is Pa in the Little House series.)

Remember these class conversations?  Can you visualize or picture how different the interests of the northerners and the southerners were?  Now let's take a look at the controversy over the Mississippi River.  I'm going to begin by laying out the setting filling in some information that Bennett does not tell you:

#1  The Revolution had ended - the colonies had won their independence from Brittain and they considered themselves states.

#2  Neither Brittain nor the states were honoring the Treaty of Paris drawn up and signed in 1783.  It was ratified by the Continental Congress in 1784.  The problem was that each state saw itself as a separate entity - they did not all think that a treaty passed by the Confederation should have more authority than laws passed by their own governing bodies.  There were two main areas in which the states were disregarding the treaty - the first was in paying back their debts.  Each state was supposed to pay back it's own debt to their British creditor, but not all were doing so.  Some thought these debts should be renounced.  Under the Treaty of Paris states also were supposed to make restitution for property and land confiscated from British loyalists during the war and they were supposed to prevent any future prosecution or harrasment of British loyalists.  This was also not happening in many states.  The Articles of Confederation had no authority to force states to abide by the treaty.  As a result Brittain had not yet pulled its forces out of the Northwest territory.  This was threatening to the infant states.

#3  In addition to occupying it's forts in the Northwest Brittain kept her Royal Navy in American waters as a constant threat.  (The fighting had stopped, the peace treaties were signed, but the hostilities were not ended!)

#4  There was more than one treaty negotiated to end the American Revolution.  Our treaty with Brittain was called the Treaty of Paris.  Brittain negotiated other treaties as well with Spain, France and the Netherlands resolving their involvement in the war.  One part of the treaty with Spain gave back to Spain the territory of Louisiana and extended the panhandle of Florida west to meet the territory of Louisiana.  If you look at a map you will see that this cut off all access to any ports along the southern borders of southern states.  It essentially landlocked them and they lost access to the important port at New Orleans.  (It was not until later that France gained control of this territory and not until the Jefferson presidency that we purchased it from Napoleon!)

#5  There were many Americans who were moving west to settle.  There were two tensions on this front.  The first was that there were suspicions that both the British and the Spanish were agitating the western indians agains these western settlers.  The other tension with this westward movement had to do with territories gaining the right to statehood (the Northwest Ordinance p 110).  This ordinance said that the way expansion would be handled was by creating new states and not making existing states larger.  It also said that slavery was banned from these Northwest territories (it was in this territory that Brittain still held occupying forces).  There was the question of slavery to be answered in all new territories and as the western population grew this question became more crucial.  This also held the possiblity of upsetting the tenuos balance of slave and non slave states in the Confederation.  Slave states did not want more free states and free states did not want more slave states.

#6  The government of the Confederation wanted to negotiate a treaty with Spain  over the southern border, but had very little power.  (The army had been disbanded and there were only about 100 soldiers at this time).  To give you more background - in the midst of the Revolution John Jay was sent to Spain to gain their help in the effort for independence.  He failed, but Spain did agree to give the Americans secret loans so they could purchase armaments.  So the young confederate states were in debt to Spain, too!  After the war was over Spain revoked the states rights to navigate the Mississippi River and closed the port of New Orleans to them.

#7  After the war there was an economic depression - especially in the northern states.  They depended on shipping.  The British were not trading with them, they British occupied American waters, and they were doing everything they could to strangle their trade.  They were becoming desperate.

Now enters Don Diego de Gardoqui!  He is acting on behalf of the king of Spain and Spanish interests and has been granted the power to negotiate with the states.  In addition to trying to turn heads and win favors with Jay and other political leaders through bribes and favors he wants to protect the rights of Spain and Spanish power in the Americas and this means New Orleans and Florida.  Spain does not recognize the right of  American states to use the Mississippi or the port of New Orleans.

The Confederate Congress votes to give Jay the power to negotiate a treaty with Gardoqui (Spain) and his instructions cover two points - southern boundries and free navigation of the Mississippi with access to New Orleans.  They gave him the power to negotiate a treaty only if it had those two elements in it.  Gardoqui works to entice Jay to forfeit navigation rights on the Mississippi or any access to the port of New Orleans in exchange for favored trading privelages with Spain.  Jay to his credit is probably less enticed by Gardoqui than he is pressured by the powerful northern states and their merchant interests.  They clamor for an opportunity to get their economy moving again.  The Mississippi really means nothing to them. 

No treaty was negotiated and Jay goes back to congress and there is a second vote to give him the power to negotiate a treaty that does not include navigation rights.  The issue the southern states had with this treaty was that the first instructions to Jay passed with a 2/3 majority vote (9 in favor) but the second set of instructions only passed with a 7 to 5 vote with southern states voting against giving Jay the power to negotiate such a treaty.  They did not accept that second vote as valid. 

Nevertheless, Jay does negotiate a treaty, and in it he forfeits America's use of their navigation rights of the Mississippi and access to the port of New Orleans (of interest mainly to southern states and settlers in western territories) for a period of 25 years.  Jay's argument is that if Spain signs a treaty that says that America forfeits use of their rights for 25 years they are really recognizing that at least they do have such a right which can be used in later negotiations.  Southerners accuse Jay of trying to split the confederation and it is such a contentious point that it keeps states from signing the Constitution after it is written.

This is not fully resolved until 1795 when Thomas Pinckney negotiates a treaty with Spain called the Treaty of Madrid!

Week 6 Homework & Opportunity

Here are your homework and opportunity handouts for this week.  For those of you who are having difficulty using scribd I'm providing links to the same handouts as Google Documents.

You can find Week 6 homework HERE

and

You can find the Chapter 4 Opportunity Review HERE.

Week 6

Chapter 4 Reflection and Choice

A Number Four Essay

It's not as hard as you think - your answers need not necessarily be long nor complicated.  They need to answer the question, they need to make sense even to someone who hasn't read the question, they need to be specific naming details, giving backround information and contain few if any general statements. 


Here is the answer that received a four on our last opportunity.  It was written by Caleb a sixth grader.  It's not perfect, but I think he's on the right track with the most important things that I expect out of you all.  I hope posting this example helps you and I appreciate Caleb allowing me to share it:

I think Thomas Paine was an agitator of war and to back that up I would say that because he wrote Common Sense urging people to fight for freedom.  And it was the best selling pamphlet in America and he donated about every penny to the Continental Army.

If I were at this point grading writing and not just content (and especially for some of you eigth and ninth graders I do take this into account a bit) I think you could take Caleb's answer and turn it into this:

Thomas Paine was an agitator for war in the years that led up to the Declaration of Independence.  He published a pamphlet titled 'Common Sense' that urged people to fight for their freedom.  Common Sense was the best selling pamphlet in America.  Instead of keeping the profit for himself, though, Paine used it to support the war effort donating nearly every penny to the Continental Army.

For some of you older students right now I hope for this answer (a second hurdle answer), but frankly would be thrilled with the first hurdle as a warm up.  The next goal is for you to be able to add to the second answer things like the date, and more specific details about what Paine wrote in Common Sense - like that his writing spoke directly against the king and even against all kings.  This is what I'm calling a third hurdle number four answer.


Even better if you could use the quote of the pretended 'Father of his people who can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul' or even just paraphrase or refer to it.  Even better still would be to compare Paine to John Adams who Bennett said helped men see their political and legal rights. He said Paine moved men's emotions AND that he used the Bible and their strong religious beliefs to stir them up against the king.  All this information and even more is on p 81 of your text.  These are components of a fourth hurdle numer four answer! 


My goal over the next two years is to encourage you and exhort you in your reading so that you can begin to form second hurdle and third hurdle answers.  My hope is that some of you can begin to approach and clear the fourth hurdle by the end of next year.


But for now Caleb's answer is the first hurdle I've placed on the track.  A few of you have come close, but he was the first to clear it.  Once most of you are jumping the first hurdle and doing it routinely we'll move on to a second hurdle answer in which I raise the bar on the difficulty of reaching a four.  To quote Jan Karon, "There is rest for the weary and the wicked don't need none."


Also note for many questions it's not really about 'what' your answer is - it's how well you answer it!  When I came up with this question I had two or three people in my mind (I didn't sit down and make a list of them all) and Thomas Paine wasn't on my short list!  If Caleb had only named Paine and given me general statements I might have given him 2 points, but he made a good argument and backed it up. 


So, don't worry about what answer you think I'm looking for.  What I'm really looking for is how well you form YOUR answer!

The Writing of Opportunities

I have finished reading and scoring Week 4's opportunities.  I cannot post any specific details about the answers yet because we have someone making up this opportunity because of an absence.

However, I am VERY pleased to tell you that we have the first '4' this week.  (We also have one student who received a 3+.)  These students have helped me to clarify exactly what makes not just a good or good enough answer, but what makes an EXCELLENT answer.  I want to share this with you so that it can help you as you prepare for this week's opportunity.

The characteristics of a 4 are as follows (Note that these may vary from question to question, but they make an excellent starting place.):

• The answer to the question is clearly and concisely stated and the answer stands alone meaning it makes sense to someone who doesn't even know what the question is.

• Specific details are given that support the answer.  General statements are not specific details.  Specific details name actual people, places, events, times, actions.

• Explanations are given of those specific details to ensure that the reader understands what they are.  In other words naming details is good, but going further to tell something about them is expected.

• Make the impact/meaning --in other words a strong conclusion.

(If this student allows I will post their answer so you can see what I mean more clearly.)

Week 5 Homework & Opportunity Review Questions

Week 5

Chapter 3 the Greatest Revolution 2

Key Factors for Change in Colonists Attitude toward Britain and the King

Franklin before Privy Council in London

This is the first question on the opportunity review sheet.  I have finished grading last week's opportunities and I would like for you to strive for more specifics and details.  I reread this week's reading this morning while waiting at appoinmets and I made a list of these factors.  I found over 22 possible reasons (and there may be more)!  Read slowly and deeply, think about your reading and strive for understanding. 

Be Active Readers -- remember I encourage you to spend 3 hours this week inside your text!

Week 3 Opportunity

Chapter 2 a City Upon a Hil - 2answers



 Here's my example essay.  Again this is not what I expect from you in terms of length or number of details and writing style but I hope it helps you have something to aim for.

French & Indian War Essay (Week 3)

French and Indian War Map

Thank you, Trey for sharing this map.  I think you can click on it to make it larger...

How many of you know how to comment on a blog?  If you do, check in to this post with a 'Got it!' or 'Hello'.  I'm trying to figure out how much technology you guys can handle and what your comfort levels are.

Opportunity Grades

I have finalized my grading scale for your opporunities.  This scale will be in effect for the first semester or until I publicize a change.  I estimate that students will take around 28 opportunities during the year.  I will calculate their grade based on their 20 highest scores.  Opportunities are a total of 25% of a students grade.

I am not going to change the difficulty of the questions, but I am giving students who achieve at least 1/2 of the points of each opportunity (a 2 or above) more grace as shown below.  I'm doing this while you are learning a new way of reading and studying.  Over the next few weeks students who recieve more than two or three of scores below a 2 either aren't doing the Active Reading style encouraged or need further assistance.  I will be seeking out those students privately. 

A+  (4)
A    (3.5)
A-   (3)
B+  (2.5)
C    (2)
C-   (1.5)
D    (1)
D-  (.5)
F    (0)

Occasionally I'm going to misword a question or write something that could be easily misunderstood.  If I see a pattern of students misunderstand a question or a portion of a question I will throw out that question/point.  If that is the case the following grading system will apply based on a 3 point scale:

A+  (none awarded unless all other answers or parts are EXCEPTIONAL!)
A    (3)
A-   (2.5)
B     (2)
B-   (1.5)
C    (1)
D+  (.5)
D    (0) - only if the student attempted to answer.  If no attempt was made an F will be given even if a point/question is thrown out.

If you have questions or concerns please contact me.

Opportunities 1 & 2

This post is to show you what my expectations were for the last two opportunities that you have taken and encourage you to dig in for the upcoming 3rd.  I thought my map might amuse you - I did not practice drawing the map as I asked you guys to do - you can tell I really don't know what Central America, South America and Canada look like - I just have a vague concept from memory.  Some indian tribes and explorers I confuse and am unsure about without looking - still!

Opportunity 1


For the last opportunity I gave you a list of possible questions - and gave you a hint to be prepared to answer not just the easy ones.  (That meant be prepared to answer the harder ones!)  As you can see below all of the information to answer this question was in the text - I've provided page numbers for your convenience.  You will notice however that all of the information is not on the same page - it's not a simple look at the question, find that part of the text and copy down the answer.  You will not have any (very few at least) questions like that in the next two years.

That's why its' VERY, VERY important that you begin to learn to read in a different way.  I know that it is possible for every one of you to read this weeks Bennett homework in one hour or less.  Very few of you (maybe none - I certainly can't) can read it once in an hour or less and be able to retain the information and answer the questions (which requires you to grasp the ideas and think about what you've read).  That's why I'm asking you to do different levels of reading.  I expect you to spend at least 3 hours each week - reading slowly for understanding/misunderstanding, scan reading for information (timeline/important people), and a deeper reading of portions of the text working through your questions. 

Please read your text slowly - break it into small bites/bytes.  After each one stop and see if you can repeat to yourself what you just read.  Then move onto the next chunk taking breaks every 25 minutes.  This is how you read the text the first time.  That 'repeating to yourself' has a special name - 'narrating'.  In order for you to learn something your brain actually goes through a physical change.  You can retain information for a short period without your brain making the effort to 'change', but then it falls out like sand in a sieve!  When you narrate (a form of paraphrasing) your brain must act on what you've read.  That acting causes a physical change in your brain which causes you to LEARN not just retain.  You then own it - you've made it yours!

This is ACTIVE reading not PASSIVE reading.

PLEASE DON'T BE A PASSIVE READER!
Opportunity 2

Week 2 Handouts

Sorry for the tardiness of these - my three year old decided to flush and apple down the toilet when we got home.  (Ok, maybe somethings are better not to know, but suffice to say my hands are just now dry enough to touch a keyboard!)

Just in case you don't know how to use Scribd, click the button on the menu bar at the bottom of the document that looks like a cloud with an arrow pointing down.  This will allow you to open the document on your computer.  You can then save it electronically or print it out!  Pretty cool, huh?

Please print this page out and place it in your Chapter 2 Tab.  Also remember to read over these questions BEFORE you do your reading!  Read it carefully it has important information about next weeks opportunity.
Chapter 2 a City Upon a Hil - 2


This is the Economics handout I showed you in class.  Please print it out and put it in your Economics tab.  Look it over, but we will discuss it in class next week.


Economics Why Bother