Honors American Cultures ~ Introduction

Welcome to your freshman year and thank you for accepting the challenge of becoming an honors student in Social Studies. According to dictionary definition, an “honors student” is a student who has distinguished him/herself by academically going above the requirements required by the average student. By choosing an honors path, you are opening yourself up to many opportunities to challenge your own thoughts and ideas and to be involved with your peers who are academically motivated. The description of this course is as follows:

Prerequisite Requirement: Successful completion of 8th Grade Social Studies with a GPA of 85% / Teacher Recommendation (Grade 9 Only) Completion of Summer assignment is Mandatory

Following the same curriculum path as American Cultures, this course provides additional opportunities to explore various time periods and groups of people with an in-depth study of America from 1865 to present. This writing-intensive course allows students to express ideas on the subject matter in both traditional and non-traditional ways. Profound discussions will relate content to current events. Historical novels provide outside information to enhance student understanding of the time periods. In addition, focus is placed on the examination of primary sources throughout the American experience. Good attendance and work ethic are necessary to be successful in this course.

This is an advanced 105 level course.

According to Texas A&M University, there are common qualities found amongst honors students. These qualities include:

•Curious & inquisitive nature

•Enjoy reading for leisure or enhancing knowledge

•Hard working - willing to study more and go above and beyond to achieve success, which isn't necessarily measured by an A grade

•Enjoy debating with others

•Motivated to do and be more

•Truly enjoy learning

•Enjoy the hard courses because you like a good challenge

You will be required to complete summer work as a prerequisite for this course. Please complete each of the three parts by the noted due dates.

Unwillingness to complete this work will exempt you from participation in the course and your schedule will be adapted accordingly.

I look forward to working with you throughout the upcoming school year as we endeavor to better understand our nation’s past and how it continues to influence us today. If you have any questions and/or concerns, please feel free to email me at btharp@mckasd.net.

B. Tharp

Social Studies Educator

Assignment Part 1: Remind Sign-up

Using the information below, sign up for the class Remind by Wednesday, May 29, 2019.

*This is your first grade! Be sure to sign up by this date. You will receive future assignments/reminds

via this system. If you have any issues, be sure to contact me at btharp@mckasd.net prior to this date.

**Parents/Guardians are always encouraged to join as well.

PLEASE DO NOT USE NICKNAMES! IF YOU ARE ALREADY SIGNED UP WITH A NICKNAME YOU WILL NEED TO TEXT ME YOUR FIRST AND LAST NAME ONCE SIGNED UP.

I will try to respond to any questions that you may have on assignments or about the class through this this remind communication during the pre-set office hours.

Assignment Part 2: Reconstruction of Post-Civil War America – due by July 10, 2019

After the American Civil War, the government had to begin the process of putting the nation back together. Upon watching the videos, please respond to the writing prompts. You may choose to restate the question or incorporate it into your answer. Please include the letter of each question with the response. This part of the assignment may be turned in digitally via email to btharp@mckasd.net or as a paper copy to the main office. Both videos can be viewed at www.tharpsplace.weebly.com. The assignment MUST include your name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjetWrsQb-E ~ The Story of Reconstruction, CBS Sunday Morning, published April 7, 2019

A. The video begins with the story of Robert Smalls. Use evidence from the video to explain how he could be considered a “hero to the cause of African Americans”.

B. What ended Reconstruction? What did this mean for African Americans in the South?

C. Revisionist historians have looked at our nation’s past in recent years in a different way than ever before, often uncovering never-before-told stories. For many decades, Reconstruction was seen as a failure. Refute (make a case that disagrees with) this statement using evidence from the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xy_MTa7k60 ~ American Reconstruction (After the Civil War), Mometrix Academy, published August 13, 2018

D. Contrast (tell the differences) Lincoln’s view of Reconstruction with that of the Radical Republicans.

E. Explain 3 examples of what you believe were successes of Reconstruction from the video.

F. Explain 3 examples of what you believe were failures of Reconstruction from the video.

Assignment Part 3: Manifest Destiny & U.S. Westward Expansion – due by the first day of school

Directions: Since our first unit will deal with America’s expansion westward after the Civil War, I ask that you read the attached article in the resource section of the packet and answer the questions as a future honors student. You may choose to restate the question or incorporate it into your answer. Please include the letter of each question with the response. Be sure to answer all parts of questions. QUALITY is important! Your responses should be in sentence/paragraph form. Responses to questions should be typed and can be emailed to me at btharp@mckasd.net or a hard copy can be brought to class on the first day of school. Work MUST include your name. Be ready to discuss summer work in class.

Background information for Manifest Destiny

A. Explain the concept of Manifest Destiny in your own words.

The Painting, Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way

B. Based on the background information about the painting, why might the artist have included the chosen scenes in the border surrounding the painting? Why might those specific people have been chosen?

C. How many distinct “scenes” or groupings of people can you find in this painting? Pick at least three and describe what you think is happening in each “scene.” Why does the artist include them?

D. The background landscape is loosely based on reality. It combines aspects of several parts of the overland journey of the pioneers. Describe the landforms you see. Why do you think the artist combined different landforms in this way?

E. The final version of this painting is installed in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Considering its location, what is the “big message” Leutze communicates? How does the content and style of the vignettes amplify this message?

Primary Source, New York Morning News, December 27, 1845. O’Sullivan

F. How does O’Sullivan support his argument that Oregon should belong to the United States? Would that same logic work today for claiming ownership of a piece of land? Why or why not?

G. Describe how elements (Providence/God, self-government/self-reliance, destiny of growth, etc.) of O’Sullivan’s argument are illustrated in the symbolic details of Leutze’s painting.

Literary Element, Letter from John C. Frémont to his wife, Jessie Benton Frémont, dated January 27, 1849.

H. From Frémont’s letter, describe the possible dangers of traveling overland to the American West. Why do you think people were willing to endure so much hardship to cross the country?

I. Where do you see evidence in the artwork of dangers similar to those Frémont described in his letter? What artistic “tricks” does Leutze use in his composition (arrangement of people, objects, light, setting, etc.) to counter those dangers?

Resources for Assignment 3

Resources can also be found at www.tharpsplace.weebly.com under the Honors American Cultures tab.

Background Information for Manifest Destiny

The phrase “manifest destiny” originated in the nineteenth century, yet the concept behind the phrase originated in the seventeenth century with the first European immigrants in America, English Protestants or Puritans. Manifest destiny is defined as “the concept of American exceptionalism, that is, the belief that America occupies a special place among the countries of the world.” The Puritans came to America in 1630 believing that their survival in the new world would be a sign of God’s approval. As their ship the Arbella neared shore, group leader John Winthrop gave a sermon entitled “A Modell [sic] of Christian Charity,” in order to prepare his fellow passengers for what lay ahead. His sermon stressed the importance of this experimental religious settlement in the new world, and how it would come to serve as an example for all settlements thereafter, stating “For wee [sic] must consider that wee [sic] shall be as a citty [sic] upon a hill. The eies [sic] of all people are upon us.” Winthrop also recalled God’s instruction in the Bible about the need to expand and prosper, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” The ideology of manifest destiny continued through the eighteenth-century as victorious America won independence from Great Britain, an event that many occasioned to be preordained and lauded by God and an example of American exceptionalism.

U.S. Territorial Expansion

The European settlers who came to America in search of a new life believed that land acquisition was crucial to their future prosperity. Following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 from France and the subsequent exploration of that western territory by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the nation’s appetite for expansion grew. The Louisiana Purchase, which tripled the size of the young country, effectively started a chain reaction for U.S. territorial expansion. The next fifty years of American history saw the nation increase its land holdings exponentially: in 1845 Texas was incorporated into the U.S.; Britain’s 1846 treaty with the U.S. gained the young nation the disputed Oregon territory; California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah were incorporated following the 1848 war with Mexico; and finally, in 1853, the Gadsden Purchase completed the last contiguous land purchase in the continental U.S., finalizing the southern borders of New Mexico and Arizona as we know them today.

John Winthrop: (1587-1649) English Puritan lawyer who led the first wave of Puritan immigrants to America in 1630.

Louisiana Purchase: (1803) purchased from France during President Thomas Jefferson’s administration, the region of the United States encompassing land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.

Meriwether Lewis: (1774-1809) American explorer, soldier, and politician. He is most well-known for his role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition, exploring the land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.

William Clark: (1770-1838) American explorer and soldier. He best known as one-half of the exploring team of Lewis and Clark. Following the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark were charged by President Thomas Jefferson in 1804 to explore the newly acquired territory west of the Mississippi River. For the next two years the expedition explored and mapped the western territory, studying plant and animal life, and establishing trade with Indian tribes.

American exceptionalism: the theory that the U.S. is inherently different from other countries.

Gadsden Purchase: the U.S. acquisition of a region in present-day Arizona and New Mexico via a treaty signed on December 30, 1853 between the United States and Mexico. The purchase’s purpose was so that the U.S. could build a southern route for the Transcontinental Railroad. This was the last territorial acquisition in the contiguous United States.

Puritans: members of a sect of English Reformed Protestantism who sought to rid the church from all Roman Catholic practices. They practiced and advocated for greater strictness in religious discipline and for the simplification of doctrine and worship. Large-scale Puritan migration from England to America occurred from 1620 to 1640.

Background of the Painting (See image on next page)

HINT: view color version at www.tharpsplace.weebly.com under the Honors American Cultures tab

Emanuel Leutze’s painting was an initial study done for a larger mural to be placed in the U.S. Capitol Building. Aside from the painting itself, small scenes within the ornate border link the pioneers to a long line of biblical, mythical, and historical figures who were considered “explorers.” On the left edge, Leutze included Moses parting the Red Sea; the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts with Jason’s ship, the Argo, sailing home with the Golden Fleece on its sail; and the Three Wise Men traveling to Bethlehem. On the right border, we see Christopher Columbus, the “Spies of Eshcol” (who explored Canaan before the Israelites journeyed there), and Hercules splitting a mountain to form the twin pillars of Gibraltar. At the bottom, portraits of explorers Daniel Boone and Captain William Clark surround a view of San Francisco Bay, the ultimate reward that awaits these exhausted pioneers.

This painting represents the concept of Manifest Destiny, the belief, popular in the mid-nineteenth century, that Americans were destined by God to settle the continent westward to the Pacific Ocean. At the top of the canvas, an eagle holds a scroll inscribed with the painting’s title, taken from a 1726 poem by the Irish poet George Berkeley. Two Native American figures appear within the border, pushed out from the center by the eagle’s powerful wings. The emptiness of the golden western landscape, which in actuality was home to Native American tribes at the time, suggests the mass expulsion of Native populations from their homelands before the Civil War.

*This painting was a study for a larger mural, completed in 1862, for the U.S. Capitol Building. The final mural features several changes the artist made, including the addition of a free African American boy in the foreground. He likely added the figure after reading Lincoln’s preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, issued September 1862.

The Painting

EMANUEL GOTTLIEB LEUTZE (1816–1868)

Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (mural study, U.S. Capitol), 1861

oil on canvas, 33 1∕4 × 43 3∕8 in.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Primary Source Connection

Pair the artwork with the excerpt below from John Louis O’Sullivan’s editorial on the U.S. annexation of Oregon Territory (at the time claimed by Great Britain) from the New York Morning News, December 27, 1845. O’Sullivan, an American columnist and editor, is credited with coining the phrase “Manifest Destiny.” The concept had existed for a long time, but when he used it in two editorials in July and December 1845 — promoting the annexation of the Texas and Oregon Territories — the phrase caught on immediately and resonated deeply with the American people.

To state the truth at once in its naked simplicity, we are free to say that were the respective cases and arguments of the two parties, as to all these points of history and law, reversed—had England all ours, and we nothing but hers—our claim to Oregon would still be best and strongest. And that claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the Continent which Providence has given for the devolpment [sic] of the great experiment of liberity [sic] and federative self-government entrusted to us. It is a right such as that of the tree to the space of air and earth suitable for the full expansion of its principal and destiny of growth— such as that of the stream to the channel required for the still accumulating volume of its flow.

Literary Connection

Pair the artwork with a letter, excerpted below, from John C. Frémont to his wife, Jessie Benton Frémont, dated January 27, 1849. John Frémont made his reputation leading survey expeditions into the West, particularly California. Jessie Frémont made her reputation as a writer, recording their travels as engaging narratives for a public hungry for information about the exotic West. The letter was published in her 1878 memoir, A Year of American Travel, which recounts her journey to meet her husband in California.

About the 11th of December we found ourselves at the north of the Del Norte Cañon, where that river issues from the St. John’s Mountain, one of the highest, most rugged, and impracticable of all the Rocky Mountain ranges, inaccessible to trappers and hunters even in the summertime. Across the point of this elevated range our guide conducted us, and having still great confidence in his knowledge, we pressed onward with fatal resolution. Even along the river-bottoms the snow was already belly-deep for the mules, frequently snowing in the valley and almost constantly in the mountains.

Resources adapted from http://americanexperience.si.edu