Top 10 Moments in US History: Part 2

Top 10 Moments in US History, Part 2

As I kick off my next post in the Top 10 moments in history series, I’ll admit that I’m not someone who has read a lot about the Civil War. There are a number of books out there on the Civil War, from some great Northern and Southern historians. I encourage you to check them out. However, here are some highlights that you will need to know if you are preparing for a Praxis/US History test:

1. Presidents:

Abraham Lincoln was the president of the Union (North)(1861-1865) and
Jefferson Davis was president of the Confederate States of America (South) (1861-1865).

2. Generals:

- South: Robert E. Lee. A brilliant tactician and general who won a number of battles, even though he was often outnumbered. Lincoln wanted him to be a general of the North, but Lee stayed with his home state of Virginia and the Confederacy instead.

- North: The North suffered through a number of incompetent generals, but was most well noted for William Sherman (marched on Atlanta and burned the land as he made his march to the sea), and Ulysses S. Grant.

3. Cause of the war:

Slavery: Many historians point to the issue of slavery in the South as the primary cause of the Civil War. Virginia had first legalized slavery in the 1660s and much of the Southern agricultural economy depended on slavery.

- Other causes: some historians include economic differences between the North and South, and differences between states’ rights and limited federal government (South) vs. a more centralized federal government (North). Before the Civil War, the US was often referred to as “The United States are . . .” After the Civil War, it became “The United States is . . .” This shift in verbs signifies a bigger shift in thinking from a coalition of states and a stronger state government, to a unified nation with stronger federal powers.

4. Other events

- Missouri Compromise: 

Before 1819, the number of slave states to free states were evenly split at 11. In 1819, Missouri petitioned to become a state and enter into the balance as a slave state. The decision passed, with the agreement that Maine would also be added, but as free state.

- Dredd Scott v. Sandford (1857):

 Dred Scott, a slave, had been taken to free states and territories by his owners. Scott sued his owners for his freedom. The Supreme Court ruled that he was not a citizen, and therefore could not bring a suit before the courts. This case has been seen as one of the worst in Supreme Court history. This decision further complicated the boundaries between “free” and “slave” states and some may have feared that slavery would have a “trickle” effect into the free states and territories.

- Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863): 

The Emancipation Proclamation was a declaration that stated that all slaves in the South would now be free. This may have been a tactic to destabilize the South further by creating an army of newly freed slaves who would be loyal to the North. Notice that it said nothing about slaves in the North.

- Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863): 

One of the great American documents in US history, the Gettysburg Address repeated the ideas stated in the Declaration of Address that “all were created equal,” and that the Civil War’s purpose was to preserve that idea.

- The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments:
- the 13th amendment abolished slavery
- the 14th amendment stated that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were US citizens, including African Americans.
- the 15th amendment prohibited denying (a double negative) people the right to vote based on race, color, or previous servitude. Another way to say this: African Americans were given the right to vote.

- Industrial Revolution:

The Industrial Revolution first began in England in the area of textiles and the invention of the steam engine. In America, however, it would translate to railroads and factories, especially in the North. The North capitalized on this new technology to outmaneuver the South logistically. With the beginning of factories and improved farming methods, it’s unclear whether slavery was already on its way out, or would have been, because of technology, or if it would have continued if not for the Civil War. Regardless, slavery and its aftermath have had a significant impact on American history.

Again, while this isn’t an exhaustive account of the Civil War, these are some highlights that will hopefully be helpful as you’re working your way through an American history test, Praxis exam, or just want to know a little more about the Civil War. Please feel free to weigh in with your thoughts and comments. I’d love to hear from you!

Top 10 U.S. History Moments: Part 1

                 Have you ever wondered what some of the top moments in US History have been? This year I’ve been tutoring a lot of students in Social Studies, Geography, and US History, so I wanted to put together a top 10 list of important events for you. This is by no means exhaustive, and you may disagree with me about what events are the “most important,” but here are some pretty key events.

Introduction:  

Following an unsuccessful attempt at colonization in Roanoke (1587), the main colonization efforts in the Americas began in Jamestown by the Virginia Company (1607), in Plymouth by the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630), and the settlement of the Carolinas in the 1650s. The three areas developed in different ways and with different purposes in mind. The Puritans in Plymouth settled in the Americas primarily for religious freedom; the settlers in Jamestown initially sought gold and treasure, but developed a cash crop: tobacco; the settlers in the Carolinas developed plantations based on a Caribbean model. The Georgia colony would become primarily a colony of prisoners from Britain. In addition, some settlers came to the Americas as indentured servants, and later slaves (slavery was first legalized in Virginia in the 1660s).

               

1. American Revolution (1775-1783)

                The French-Indian War (aka the Seven Years’ War, 1754-1763) would serve as a prelude to the American Revolution. Many historians see this as an extension of a larger war between Britain and France. American colonists fought primarily on the side of the British, and tribes of Native Americans fought on both sides of the conflict. As a result, the French lost the war and gave up territory west of the Appalachians to the British. An American war hero would also emerge from this conflict: George Washington.

                Although the British won the war, they would soon feel war’s costly effects. In order to repay some of the war expense, the British taxed American colonists and kept a military presence behind to keep the peace. After all, they reasoned, the war had been fought for the colonists, why shouldn’t they do their fair share in paying for it?

                The colonists did not agree. They resented the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act (soldiers lived in people’s homes), and other acts, but the Tea Act was the final straw. While Samuel Adams gave an anti-British speech, several members of the “Sons of Liberty,” dressed as Native Americans, stormed one of the ships in the Boston Harbor and dumped the tea overboard (1773).

                Rather than seeking a compromise, the British tried to tighten the screws and bring Massachusetts under stricter British control. The other colonies saw this as an indication of things to come. Tensions escalated until April 1775 when fighting broke out between American militia and British soldiers at the Battle of Lexington and Concord. This battle would become known as “the shot heard round the world.”

The American Revolution marked a change in thinking, in government, and in political philosophy. The American Revolution was influenced largely by the writings of John Locke, a British philosopher who claimed in his Treatise on Government that human beings have certain “inalienable,” God given rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of property. He believed that no government could or should take these away. He argued that people give up some of those rights to self-govern for the good of the group. We can’t build roads, have schools, hospitals, libraries, or armies as individuals. We have to join together to create these things for the good of the community.

Locke continues that individuals make a contract with government, that government is a steward of the people and acts on the interests of the people. When government forgets that or abuses the charge it’s given, people have the right—the responsibility—to take this back and create a new government that DOES represent the people.

The Preamble to the Constitution begins “We the people . . .” recognizing this Lockean foundation. The writers of the Constitution also recognized that people, left to their own devices, would abuse power, and so the American government system was a system of “checks and balances,” where the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government had the power to keep each other in check; no one branch held all the power.

Overcoming Writer's Block

Post 1: Overcoming Writer’s Block (Sep. 15, 2015)

Have you ever gone to write something—an essay, an article, a homework assignment—and not known where to begin? You go to the piece of paper or computer screen and nothing comes out. You feel “frozen” (no, not the movie). If so, you’re not alone. Many students or writers at some point experience what’s commonly known as “writer’s block.” While this doesn’t fall in the top 10, or even the top 50, fears, writer’s block can be a significant problem for students and would be writers.

The problem lies in pre-writing.

Today I want to throw out a couple tips that may help you overcome writer’s block and help you get started.

First, part of writer’s block is a mindset. What if I don’t have anything to say? What if no one wants to listen? It probably won’t be any good anyway. It’s got to be perfect, or it’s not good enough.

No. Writing, while it can be work, can also be play.

Let’s try something. Think about this: What do you care about? What moves you? What are the things you’ve noticed today? Thought about? Wondered about? What are you curious about? What’s one of the first things you saw this morning when you stepped outside? Take a few minutes to make a list.

Have you written a couple things? Good. It wasn’t that hard to write those things down, was it? Was it related to the assignment you were supposed to work on? Who cares! The important part was starting the process.

Think of it this way. When a runner gets ready to go for a three mile jog, she doesn’t just walk out the door and start running. She walks around for a bit, lets her muscles warm up, stretches. When she starts running, she starts slower than a normal pace. In college, I jogged with a girl who would start much slower than I did initially, but she could blow past me once she warmed up. Before I met her, I had always started fast, and then couldn’t figure out why I was getting shin splints. She taught me to warm up, to ease into the running to avoid cramps, shin splints, and other injuries.

The same thing is true with writing. Give yourself the freedom to start slowly, to warm up. Here are some things that work for me:

1) Journaling.

I’ve kept a journal since I was a kid. Sometimes it’s nothing more than what I dreamed the night before, what I ate, who I talked to that day, a snatch of conversation. Sometimes, on bad days, it’s nothing more than, “I don’t know what to write,” over and over. If you’ve never journaled, I recommend starting, five minutes a day . . . about anything. You’ll be surprised the things you discover about yourself and the world around you. You’re not writing for an assignment when you’re journaling; you’re writing for you. At first, the five minutes may go painfully slow, you may not have anything you can think of to write, but stick with it. Five minutes isn’t much time, and then you can go on with the rest of your day. But what I think you’ll find is that the five minutes slip by, especially after you’ve been doing it a few times, and by being in the space for ideas to come through your brain and onto paper, you’ll find a lot more to write about than you originally expected. I can’t say enough about journaling.

2) Find when works for you.

When do you do your best thinking? Is it in the morning over a cup of coffee? At night before you go to bed? Take advantage of these moments by keeping a notepad, note cards, or an app nearby that you can jot down random ideas or ideas for a project you’re working on. This will prime the pump for when you sit down later to spend more time with a project.

3) Exercise.

                When I was in grad school, I would often go for a walk at the nearest park while I was thinking

about a short story I was writing. I’d notice the trees, the squirrels and birds, and soon I’d let my mind wander. My body would be moving, but my mind would be free to think about the story, or whatever it wanted to focus on for the day. The key here was to pay attention to where my thoughts were taking me, to let the story unfold like a mental movie. I’ve found that dishes are also a great time for this, or when I go driving in the car. What do these things have in common for me? I’m doing something physical, something I don’t have to think about or focus on, which frees my mind to be creative. It’s creativity unleashed.

I hope these ideas help and have gotten you inspired to keep reading. Thanks for reading, and please be on the lookout for future (bi-weekly) posts.

Feel free to email me or comment to begin a discussion with other members. This space is primarily designed for tutoring and helping people grow, so if you know anyone who is likeminded, please let me know! Happy writing!