Celebrate

Freedom Week
Cory McCray
11
th
Grade
US History Since Reconstuction
Celebrate Freedom Week

Page 1: TEKS
Page 2-5: Article with Declaration of Independence
Page 6:Textbook
Page 7-11: Constitution Article
Page 12: Founding Fathers Chapter Book
Page 13: The Right of Revolution Chapter Book
Page 14-17:Time Magazine Article Series
Page 18: Textbook


















TEKS
113.41. United States History Studies Since 1877 (One Credit), Beginning with School
Year 2011-2012.
(c) Knowledge and skills.
(1) History. The student understands the principles included in the Celebrate Freedom
Week program. The student is expected to:
(A) analyze and evaluate the text, intent, meaning, and importance of the
Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of
Rights, and identify the full text of the first three paragraphs of the Declaration of
Independence;
(B) analyze and evaluate the application of these founding principles to historical
events in U.S. history; and
(C) explain the contributions of the Founding Fathers such as Benjamin Rush,
John Hancock, John Jay, John Witherspoon, John Peter Muhlenberg, Charles
Carroll, and Jonathan Trumbull Sr.











Article with Declaration of Independence


Public Broadcasting Service. Accessed April, 13, 2014.
http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/popup_declaration.html

Article Summary: This short article gives a brief history of the Declaration of Independence
noting the editors, when it was presented to Congress, who the first printer was, and when
General George Washington read it to his troops. The article also includes a transcription of the
Declaration.

Strategy and Use: Learning Log

This strategy is a perfect pre-reading, and unit-opening strategy. I will list the following
questions and have the students respond in a learning log during the first 5 minutes of class:
1. What does Freedom mean to you?
2. What do you know about the following items?
The Declaration of Independence
The Articles of Confederation
The Bill of Rights
The United States Constitution

After giving the students time to write in the Learning Logs we will discuss the first question as a
class, and then we will read the article together and examine the Declaration of Independence.
The most important part of this activity is to get the students thinking about what they already
know. This is the beginning of a unit and we will add to their prior knowledge and clarify any
confusion. Another important note is the reading level of this article is likely due to the wording
of the Declaration itself rather than the article.



Grade Level: 13
Reading Level: 13.6
Type of Strategy: Pre-reading

DECLARING INDEPENDENCE
The first draft of Jefferson's Declaration of Independencealready edited by John Adams,
Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingstonwas presented before Congress on
June 28. 39 revisions were made on the text before it was adopted on the 4th of July, 1776.

On that same day, the Declaration was sent to Philadelphia printer John Dunlap, who produced
the first printed text of the document. President of the Continental Congress John Hancock
immediately began to have copies distributed, including one to General George Washington in
New York.

There, on July 9, Washington had the Declaration read to the army. Afterwards, revelers in the
city pulled down the statue of George III, which resided in New York's bowling green, and
subsequently melted George and his horse into several thousand lead balls for Continental army
muskets.

The first official printer of the Declaration, designated by the Congress some months later, was a
woman, Mary Katherine Goddard of Baltimore. Goddard edited the Maryland Journal and had
been in the printer's trade for over ten years when Congress called upon her services.

ENDURING WORDS
A Transcription of the Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.


The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of
human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have
connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to
the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the
separation.


We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in
such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence,
indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and
transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they
are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty,
to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has
been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains
them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great
Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the
establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a
candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless
suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has
utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless
those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable
to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the
depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with
his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his
invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the
Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their
exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from
without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the
Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations
hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing
Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount
and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our
people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our
legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and
unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should
commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free
System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary
government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit
instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally
the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate
for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War
against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our
people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of
death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely
paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their
Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their
Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the
inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:
Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be
the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren.
We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an
unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here.
We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the
ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our
connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them,
as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress,
Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do,
in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and
declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;
that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection
between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as
Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract
Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States
may of right do.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine
Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Textbook





Danzer, Klor de Alva, Krieger, Wilson, Woloch. (2003). Revolution and the Early Republic. In
Danzer, Klor de Alva, Krieger, Wilson, Woloch (Eds.). The Americans Reconstruction to the 21
st

Century. (pp.44-108). United States of America: McDougal Littell.

Article Summary: The chapter that the class will study gives information on time, dates, and
places of important events surrounding the birth of our nation.

Strategy and Use: Graphic Organizer

While studying during this unit we will have a class timeline on the wall, and personal timelines
to fill in as we go. Every day at the end of the class period, the students will fill in their timelines
with the information that they gained during that days studies. Beginning with the second day,
each period will begin with filling the class timeline on the wall with the information from the
day before. This strategy will work well because the students are not expected to memorize so
many dates and places, but instead they are learning about events in time, and connecting them
new and old knowledge daily.

Our timelines will be similar to this:


Grade Level: 9-12
Reading Level: 9.1
Type of Strategy: During reading

Textbook





Staff, History.com. (2009). The U.S. Constitution. Accessed April 13, 2014. History.com: A&E
Networks.

Article Summary: This Article gives an explanation of the need for a Constitution to replace the
Articles of Confederation. It gives information on the framers, the states who opposed ratifying
it, some of the most important changes that the new Constitution made, and the order in which
states ratified it. Other important items in this article are the explanation of the Bill of Rights, the
mention of the beginning of the anti-slavery movement, and how many articles there are today.
There is also a 3 minute video that I will use in conjunction with this article.

Strategy and Use: Impact Response

This is a pre-reading strategy in which the teacher makes up certain rules that infringe on
students freedoms. This is a great vocabulary strategy and also a good way to get students
talking because looking at the Constitution can seem overwhelming, and this shows them that
although it is overwhelming, it is important for us to learn about. Pass out a list of invented rules
that infringe on the students' personal rights and freedoms. Possible rules include:
1. You may only write in blue ink. If you write in any other color, you will receive
detention.
2. The price of school lunch has been raised three dollars.
3. You cannot wear jeans to school. Anyone wearing jeans will be suspended.
Read the list aloud to the students. Ask them to write a brief reaction to these rules. Students can
share their reactions in small groups or with the whole class.
Then, tell students to draft a response to the rules. Students can work individually or in pairs. In
their responses, they should object or agree to the demands, citing reasons for their opinions.
Finally, students present their responses to the class. Begin to discuss the following:
What is independence?
How independent are you as students?
Who or what infringes on your independence?

Grade Level: 14
Reading Level: 13.4
Type of Strategy: Before Reading

The U.S. Constitution established Americas national government and fundamental laws, and
guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. It was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates
to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, presided over by George Washington. Under
Americas first governing document, the Articles of Confederation, the national government was
weak and states operated like independent countries. At the 1787 convention, delegates devised a
plan for a stronger federal government with three branchesexecutive, legislative and judicial
along with a system of checks and balances to ensure no single branch would have too much
power. The Bill of Rights10 amendments guaranteeing basic individual protections such as
freedom of speech and religionbecame part of the Constitution in 1791. To date, there have
been a total of 27 constitutional amendments.
THE NEED FOR A NEW CONSTITUTION
Americas first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was ratified in 1781, a time when the
nation was a loose confederation of states, each operating like independent countries. The
national government was comprised of a single legislature, the Congress of the Confederation;
there was no president or judicial branch. The Articles of Confederation gave Congress the
power to govern foreign affairs, conduct war and regulate currency; however, in reality these
powers were sharply limited because Congress had no authority to enforce its requests to the
states for money or troops.
Did You Know?
George Washington was initially reluctant to attend the Constitutional
Convention. Although he saw the need for a stronger national government, he was
busy managing his estate at Mount Vernon, suffering from rheumatism and
worried that the convention wouldn't be successful in achieving its goals.
Soon after America won its independence from Great Britain with its 1783 victory in
the American Revolution, it became increasingly evident that the young republic needed a
stronger central government in order to remain stable. In 1786, Alexander Hamilton (1757-
1804), a lawyer and politician from New York, called for a constitutional convention to discuss
the matter. The Confederation Congress, which in February 1787 endorsed the idea, invited all
13 states to send delegates to a meeting in Philadelphia.
FORMING A MORE PERFECT UNION
On May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia at
thePennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, where theDeclaration of
Independence had been adopted 11 years earlier. There were 55 delegates in attendance,
representing all 13 states except Rhode Island, which refused to send representatives because it
did not want a powerful central government interfering in its economic business. George
Washington, whod become a national hero after leading the Continental Army to victory during
the American Revolution, was selected as president of the convention by unanimous vote.
The delegates (who also became known as the framers of the Constitution) were a well-
educated group that included merchants, farmers, bankers and lawyers. Many had served in the
Continental Army, colonial legislatures or the Continental Congress (known as the Congress of
the Confederation as of 1781). In terms of religious affiliation, most were Protestants. Eight
delegates were signers of the Declaration of Independence, while six had signed the Articles of
Confederation.
At age 81, Pennsylvanias Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) was the oldest delegate, while the
majority of the delegates were in their 30s and 40s. Political leaders not in attendance at the
convention included Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and John Adams (1735-1826), who were
serving as U.S. ambassadors in Europe. John Jay(1745-1829), Samuel Adams (1722-1803)
and John Hancock (1737-93) were also absent from the convention. Virginias Patrick
Henry (1736-99) was chosen to be a delegate but refused to attend the convention because he
didnt want to give the central government more power, fearing it would endanger the rights of
states and individuals.
Reporters and other visitors were barred from the convention sessions, which were held in secret
to avoid outside pressures. However, Virginias James Madison (1751-1836) kept a detailed
account of what transpired behind closed doors. (In 1837, Madisons widow Dolley sold some of
his papers, including his notes from the convention debates, to the federal government for
$30,000.)
DEBATING THE CONSTITUTION
The delegates had been tasked by Congress with amending the Articles of Confederation;
however, they soon began deliberating proposals for an entirely new form of government. After
intensive debate, which continued throughout the summer of 1787 and at times threatened to
derail the proceedings, they developed a plan that established three branches of national
governmentexecutive, legislative and judicial. A system of checks and balances was put into
place so that no single branch would have too much authority. The specific powers and
responsibilities of each branch were also laid out.
Among the more contentious issues was the question of state representation in the national
legislature. Delegates from larger states wanted population to determine how many
representatives a state could send to Congress, while small states called for equal representation.
The issue was resolved by the ConnecticutCompromise, which proposed a bicameral legislature
with proportional representation of the states in the lower house (House of Representatives) and
equal representation in the upper house (Senate).
Another controversial topic was slavery. Although some northern states had already started to
outlaw the practice, they went along with the southern states insistence that slavery was an issue
for individual states to decide and should be kept out of the Constitution. Many northern
delegates believed that without agreeing to this, the South wouldnt join the Union. For the
purposes of taxation and determining how many representatives a state could send to Congress, it
was decided that slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a person. Additionally, it was agreed
that Congress wouldnt be allowed to prohibit the slave trade before 1808, and states were
required to return fugitive slaves to their owners.
RATIFYING THE CONSTITUTION
By September 1787, the conventions five-member Committee of Style (Hamilton, Madison,
William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut, Gouverneur Morris of New York, Rufus King
of Massachusetts) had drafted the final text of the Constitution, which consisted of some 4,200
words. On September 17, George Washingtonwas the first to sign the document. Of the 55
delegates, a total of 39 signed; some had already left Philadelphia, and threeGeorge Mason
(1725-92) and Edmund Randolph (1753-1813) of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry (1744-1813) of
Massachusettsrefused to approve the document. In order for the Constitution to become law, it
then had to be ratified by nine of the 13 states.
James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, with assistance from John Jay, wrote a series of essays
to persuade people to ratify the Constitution. The 85 essays, known collectively as The
Federalist (or The Federalist Papers), detailed how the new government would work, and
were published under the pseudonym Publius (Latin for public) in newspapers across the states
starting in the fall of 1787. (People who supported the Constitution became known as Federalists,
while those opposed it because they thought it gave too much power to the national government
were called Anti-Federalists.)
Beginning on December 7, 1787, five statesDelaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,Georgia and
Connecticutratified the Constitution in quick succession. However, other states, especially
Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and
lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion and
the press. In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other
states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be
immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed
by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to
ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution
would begin on March 4, 1789. George Washington was inaugurated as Americas first president
on April 30, 1789. In June of that same year, Virginia ratified the Constitution, and New York
followed in July. On February 2, 1790, the U.S. Supreme Court held its first session, marking the
date when the government was fully operative. Rhode Island, the last holdout of the original 13
states, finally ratified the Constitution on May 29, 1790.
THE BILL OF RIGHTS
In 1789, Madison, then a member of the newly established U.S. House of Representatives,
introduced 19 amendments to the Constitution. On September 25, 1789, Congress adopted 12 of
the amendments and sent them to the states for ratification. Ten of these amendments, known
collectively as the Bill of Rights, were ratified and became part of the Constitution on December
10, 1791. The Bill of Rights guarantees individuals certain basic protections as citizens,
including freedom of speech, religion and the press; the right to bear and keep arms; the right to
peaceably assemble; protection from unreasonable search and seizure; and the right to a speedy
and public trial by an impartial jury. For his contributions to the drafting of the Constitution, as
well as its ratification, Madison became known as Father of the Constitution.
To date, there have been thousands of proposed amendments to the Constitution. However, only
17 amendments have been ratified in addition to the Bill of Rights because the process isnt
easyafter a proposed amendment makes it through Congress, it must be ratified by three-fourths
of the states. The most recent amendment to the Constitution, Article XXVII, which deals with
congressional pay raises, was proposed in 1789 and ratified in 1992.
THE CONSTITUTION TODAY
In the more than 200 years since the Constitution was created, America has stretched across an
entire continent and its population and economy have expanded more than the documents
framers likely ever could have envisioned. Through all the changes, the Constitution has endured
and adapted. The framers knew it wasnt a perfect document. However, as Benjamin Franklin
said on the closing day of the convention in 1787: I agree to this Constitution with all its faults,
if they are such, because I think a central government is necessary for us I doubt too whether
any other Convention we can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution.Today, the
original Constitution is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Chapter Book





Beeman, Richard R. (2004). The Varieties of Political Experience in Eighteenth-Century
America. Philadelpia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Contributions of the Founding Fathers. http://72.21.97.140/Social%20Studies%20K-
12/US%20History/12_SSUS0201C_Contributions%20of%20the%20Founding%20Fathers.docx

Article Summary: This book gives a detailed view of politics in 18
th
century America. It explains
the differences in the way laws and rules were handled between different areas of governance
and also how some things were interpreted differently by different people. It explains the lead up
to the American Revolution and where some of our Founding Fathers came from.

Strategy and Use: Polar Opposites

This is an after reading strategy that will work well with this text. I would create a list of certain
people or places with words to describe them, and the students would work together in small
groups to fill in their sheet. This strategy encourages them to look back at the text if they are not
sure, and the book itself links some of the more obscure names with actions that the students
already know.






Grade Level: 12
Reading Level: 11.2
Type of Strategy: After Reading

Chapter Book





Nelson, Truman. (1968). The Right of Revolution. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Article Summary: This book was written in 1968 and it describes in detail some of the atrocities
that have been inflicted on African-Americans during desegregation.

Strategy and Use: Quick Writes

This is an after reading strategy that I would use close to the end of the unit. Using this text and
others that we have already used, I would have the students compare the reasons for the
American Revolution to the reasons that other important movements in America were based on
such as womens suffrage, desegregation, and anti-slavery. This is important so that the reasons
that the Founding Fathers had for Revolution are tied in to reasons that people still revolt today
based on their constitutional rights.









Grade Level: 14
Reading Level: 11.2
Type of Strategy: After Reading

Time Magazine Article Series






Article Summary: This series of articles details several important movements in American
history including suffrage, gay rights, anti-war, and more.

Strategy and Use: Word Web

Working in pairs, I would give each pair of students one of the articles. The students would then
be instructed to create a word web beginning with the word revolution. I would instruct the
students to tell us if their article describes a revolution and to give us some examples that
demonstrate whether the item does or not. After the students have completed their word web, we
would put the pairs word webs on the board, and share the article and discuss as a class. This
would tie the new information (in the articles) to the old information (about the American
revolution) in the textbook.













Grade Level: 6
Reading Level: 4.6
Type of Strategy: During

Top 10 American Protest Movements
As Occupy Wall Street enters its second month, TIME takes a look at other sociopolitical movements in U.S.
history
The Original American Protest
By Nick Carbone Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 PhotoQuest / Getty Images
The Boston Tea Party is something of a misnomer, as while it did indeed
feature tea, it was definitely not a party. On a cold evening of December
1773, protesters gathered in Boston Harbor to reject the latest shipment of
tea from the East India Company. They were speaking out against the Tea
Act, which allowed the East India Company to sell its tea at reduced cost, thus giving the British
government-controlled company an effective monopoly. As the story goes, the colonists stormed the
ships as they pulled into the harbor and chucked some 46 tons of tea overboard.
The real issue at hand, of course, was the colonists' lack of representation in the British Parliament.
That night, their cries reverberated near and far, and helped spur a movement that would see the
states gain their independence from Mother England in just a few years' time.
Civil Rights
By Nick Carbone Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 AFP / Getty Images
The more than 200,000 people who descended on Washington, D.C.,
on Aug. 28, 1963, proved that protests don't need to be violent to be
powerful. In addition to meeting with President John F. Kennedy and
members of Congress, the groups' leaders led a march from the
Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. The gathered masses
stood peaceably for hours in the stifling August heat as musicians and orators appealed for equal
rights for African Americans and, really, all minorities. Thanks to powerful words from civil rights
champions, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s famed "I Have a Dream" speech, the march went
down in history as the most convincing event in the movement that led to the successful passage of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Women's Suffrage
By Terri Pous Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 Paul Thompson / Topical Press Agency / Getty
Images
From income tax to Prohibition, the Constitution underwent a lot of
change in the early 20th century, but perhaps none was more important
or positive than the 19th Amendment, which formally granted women the
right to vote. The women's-suffrage movement in the U.S. dates as far
back as the Revolutionary War, but women's-rights trailblazers, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott, spearheaded the strong push for equal voting rights in the mid-
19th century. After the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, the rallying cry for women's right to vote
became a yell too loud to ignore. In 1920 41 years after it had originally been drafted Congress
ratified an amendment that said: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Although most of the
pioneering suffragettes died before winning the right to vote, to this day every member of the fairer
sex has them to thank.

Antiwar
By Erin Skarda Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 AP
Though antiwar demonstrations have been sprinkled throughout U.S.
history, perhaps none were more vehement than the outcries against
America's involvement in Vietnam. In the frigid fall of 1969, more than
500,000 people marched on Washington to protest U.S. involvement in
the Vietnam War. It remains the largest political rally in the nation's
history. While President Richard Nixon was said to have spent the day watching college football
inside the White House, to the rest of the world, the protests successfully proved that the antiwar
movement comprised more than just politicized youth. The November rallies were part of a string of
demonstrations that took place around the world in 1969, with groups from San Francisco and
Boston to London petitioning for peace. Despite their cries, the war went on for six more years,
ending with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.
Gay Rights
By Everett Rosenfeld Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 Fred W. McDarrah / Getty Images
The riots following the June 28, 1969, police raid on New York City's
Stonewall Inn did not start the discussion on gay rights, but they
certainly became the catalyst for a national movement. When the Mafia-
owned bar that offered a safe place for gay men and lesbians to drink
and dance was shut down as part of a citywide crackdown on
homosexual life, Greenwich Village erupted into several days of unrest. Violent police beat-downs
and open mocking of the authorities by the protesters escalated the neighborhood protest into a full-
scale rally for acceptance and equality. Prior to the Stonewall riots, the gay-rights movement had
been mostly underground; only two years later, there were organized groups in every major city in
America.
Stonewall's legacy lives on today. After the New York state senate voted in favor of same-sex
marriage on June 24, 2011, revelers from around the city congregated in front of the bar to celebrate.
Labor Movement
By Terri Pous Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 National Archives / AP
From the textile factories in Lowell, Mass., where the first labor unions were
formed, to the railroad strikes in the Southwest led by the Knights of Labor,
which thrust unions and their demands into the national spotlight there
have been many triumphant moments in labor movement history. But not
every moment was so joyous. Indeed, it's a tragedy that we have to thank, in part, for many of the
standards and workers' rights we now enjoy. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire in 1911 started as a small
factory fire, but quickly became the deadliest industrial accident in New York City history due to
insufficient fire escapes and factory bosses giving little care to fire and safety measures. In the
aftermath, a commission was formed to investigate the cause of the 146 deaths, and within a few
years, legislation was introduced to create and enforce stricter workplace-safety laws, safer factories
and shorter hours. But the movement didn't stop there. The tragedy boosted the strength of the
burgeoning union movement and went on to inform many of the rights we enjoy today, including
minimum wage and collective-bargaining rights.


Black Power
By Nick Carbone Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 David Fenton / Getty Images
From a legal standpoint, segregation was put to rest in 1964 with the
signing of the Civil Rights Act. But centuries of oppression didn't evaporate
overnight. Now free from marginalization, African Americans began to
stand up for their rights without fear, forming a cultural movement to
promote the newfound pride they took in their race. The Black Power movement was a subgroup of
the larger strides toward black equality, one that has both been praised for its activism and criticized
for its isolationism. Indeed, even the name itself was divisive. While many empowerment groups
embraced the phrase black power soon after Stokely Carmichael of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee first uttered it in 1966, others including, most notably, Martin Luther
King Jr.'s Freedom Now movement refused to adopt the slogan. Undeniably powerful, the phrase
and movement behind it helped get African Americans elected to office and admitted to colleges, but
it was also criticized for helping launch the Black Panther Party, which justified violence as a means
of gaining equality.
Antiglobalization
By Nick Carbone Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 Daniel Sheehan / Getty Images
Corporations have been spreading their wares (and dollars) globally for
decades, but that hasn't stopped a dedicated group of protesters from
railing against globalization. When the World Trade Organization (WTO)
hosted its biannual meeting in Seattle on Nov. 30, 1999, demonstrators
took to the streets just outside to protest the increasing unification of the
world's economic order, which they claimed widened the gap between rich and poor worldwide.
Though the WTO meeting was meant to launch a new round of trade negotiations, the action outside
the Washington State Convention & Trade Center (where the meeting was held) far overshadowed
what was going on inside the building. Police couldn't corral the crowd, which by even the lowest
estimate totaled 40,000, and the opening ceremonies were postponed. As then Seattle mayor Paul
Schell imposed a curfew and a state of emergency, riot police stepped in, unleashing tear gas on the
demonstrators many of whom had chained themselves together to block the roadways and
arrested some 600 people. In the end, in addition to disrupting the delegates' meeting, the protesters
had managed to make another, albeit small, mark on global business by smashing windows of
Starbucks and Nike stores throughout the city.
The Tea Party
By Erin Skarda Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 Darren McCollester / Getty Images
It all started, as most tea parties do, with tea bags. In January 2009,
before President Barack Obama's Inauguration, a part-time trader by the
name of Graham Makohoniuk posted an invitation on the Market Ticker
Forums: "Mail a Tea Bag to Congress & to Senate." The unusual request
was in reference to the historic Boston Tea Party protest, whose motto
"No taxation without representation" appealed to present-day conservatives who are concerned
about Big Government, overspending and taxation. As tea bags poured into congressional offices, the
Tea Party movement mobilized, and before long, protests sprang up across the country, focusing on
everything from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to Obama's stimulus plan. Two years later,
official Tea Party protests have waned along with theircolorful signage but that doesn't mean
the group has less clout. With big names (like Sarah Palin) and big money (from David and Charles
Koch) behind it, the Tea Party grew from a grassroots phenomenon into a powerful movement that
fueled the Republicans' return to the majority in the House in the 2010 midterm elections.
Occupy Wall Street
By Nate Rawlings Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 Andrew Burton / AP
On Sept. 17, 3,000 people assembled at Battery Park with the intention of
occupying Wall Street to protest greed and corruption in the government
and financial system. They didn't succeed at least not geographically.
Denied access to Wall Street, the protesters instead found a home at
nearby Zuccotti Park, just around the corner from Ground Zero in lower
Manhattan. During the first week of the occupation, some 300 people camped out, crafted a motto
("We Are the 99%") and organized small-scale marches to protest a system that they say bailed out
the banks and left everyone else to fend for themselves. It was a message that resonated. Within a
month, the Occupy movement gained momentum, spreading to cities across the U.S. and around the
world. Though it's hard to say at this point what, if any, long-term effects the movement will have,
efforts to silence the masses such as mass arrests, evictions from protesters' strongholds, and in
some cases, incidences of alleged police brutality have so far only served to fuel the fire. After
protesters were evicted from Zuccotti Park and other encampments across the country, Occupy Wall
Street declared November 17 a Mass Day of Action. To commemorate the movement's two-month
anniversary, protesters took to the streets in New York City and beyond to send a definitive message
It doesn't matter how long it takes, their voices will be heard.


















Textbook




Appleby, Brinkley, Broussard, McPherson, Ritchey. (2003). The American Revolution. In
Appleby, Brinkley, Broussard, McPherson, Ritchey (Eds.). The American Republic Since 1877
(pp.72-149). New York: McGraw-Hill.


Article Summary: The chapter that the class will study gives information on time, dates, and
places of important events surrounding the birth of our nation.

Strategy and Use: Pyramid Game

This is an after reading strategy that I would use to close the unit. At the beginning of the class, I
will pass out notecards to the groups with certain key words, phrases, names, and dates on them.
In their groups, I will have the students define the words, describe the people, or answer
questions about dates on the back of their notecards. As a class we would play the pyramid game
to hone in on the important facts about Americas road to freedom.











Grade Level: 9-12
Reading Level: 11.2
Type of Strategy: After Reading