03: The New Nation

03: The New Nation

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Shays' Rebellion - Scene: Taking the Oath
Shays' Rebellion - Scene: Taking the Oath
What teacher has the courage to put this do now in front of students. Look at this site, read the description and click on each of the people involved. The question is this - should the insurrectionists of 1/6 have to take an oath in support of the government?
Shays' Rebellion - Scene: Taking the Oath
From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 13 March 1789
From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 13 March 1789
Jefferson's famous quote about political parties is in a letter which says a great deal more - this is that letter. This shows how a quote can be taken out of context to prove a point, yet be invalid
From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 13 March 1789
To John Adams from Samuel Osgood, [14 January 1784]
To John Adams from Samuel Osgood, [14 January 1784]
21st century Americans confounded by presidential election results that have broad sections of sparsely populated sections of the country choosing the president will find a kindred spirit in confusion here with John Adams Even in 1784 he doubted that a country this size could survive
To John Adams from Samuel Osgood, [14 January 1784]
Whiskey Rebellion Festival
Whiskey Rebellion Festival
230 years ago, a rebellion in western Pennsylvania prompted the federal government to suppress it with the largest army since the Revolution, a force larger than was at the Battle of Yorktown. Today, people in the region celebrate it with a festival. Where are the Jan 6 festivals going to be held?
Whiskey Rebellion Festival
Whiskey Rebellion Festival - Our First Tar and Feathering - YouTube
Whiskey Rebellion Festival - Our First Tar and Feathering - YouTube
On one hand, these nice people might think they are teaching others about history, giving them insight into the past. One the other hand, they are making a brutal act of violence and torture a joke. This can be shown to students to show that it raises more questions than it answers. This does not show what tarring and feathering was like. This makes us wonder why people can think this is okay
Whiskey Rebellion Festival - Our First Tar and Feathering - YouTube
To George Washington from Charles Lee, 11 April 1788
To George Washington from Charles Lee, 11 April 1788
Charles Lee complains to Washington about people who do not pay their taxes. He also complains about state legislatures passing laws to make it easy for people to get out of paying back their loans or paying back with money that is worth less than the money they borrowed. This evidences another reason for the Constitution - one that is ignored by the taught narrative canon
To George Washington from Charles Lee, 11 April 1788
Agreement with James Hemings, 15 September 1793
Agreement with James Hemings, 15 September 1793
By this document, Thomas Jefferson "freed" James Hemings, the older brother of Sally Hemings and half-brother to Jefferson's wife, Martha. Anette Gordon Reed points out that this document is unenforceable in a court - it would not stand up as a matter of law or equity. Nonetheless it worked, and James Hemings was freed. He later took his own life
Agreement with James Hemings, 15 September 1793
From Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway, 24 April 1788
From Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway, 24 April 1788
In this letter to a married woman Jefferson was smitten with in his time in France, he writes to her of a painting he's seen that he thought was "delicious". The painting portrays the biblical story of Sarah presenting her husband Abraham with a slave girl, Hagar. This seems oddly coincidental given Jefferson's subsequent relationship with Sally Hemings
From Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway, 24 April 1788
Mapping Early American Elections
Mapping Early American Elections
Using primary source data to create detailed voting maps, this site provides the maps and several essays for teachers to read to learn more about the era so they can craft better lessons and projects
Mapping Early American Elections
Quelling the Whiskey Rebellion and taking a stand for the future
Quelling the Whiskey Rebellion and taking a stand for the future
Using letters, historical drawings, and presidential proclamations, students will determine the process by which the federal government ended the Whiskey Rebellion. After reviewing a drawing of the Famous whiskey insurrection in Pennsylvania, students will read excerpts of letters and proclamations from President George Washington, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Students will discuss which course of action recommended by the letters best suited the national government and its goal to create a stronger union in perpetuity
Quelling the Whiskey Rebellion and taking a stand for the future
Whiskey Rebellion publishing of of excise tax collectors names
Whiskey Rebellion publishing of of excise tax collectors names
On May, 31, 1794, and again in early June, General John Neville took out ads listing names and addresses of county excise officers and calling on all distillers to register stills before the end of June. Almost immediately, the whiskey rebels moved to close tax offices and punish the collectors and collaborators, stoning and setting houses on fire, burning barns, and destroying crops.
Whiskey Rebellion publishing of of excise tax collectors names
Eligibility for Membership - The Monticello Association
Eligibility for Membership - The Monticello Association
Put this in front of students (or teachers) - and ask them if they notice anything in particular. It may take a while, but there's a reason why the eligibility is limited to the direct descendants of his daughters -
Eligibility for Membership - The Monticello Association
“Life Among the Lowly, No. 1” by Madison Hemings (March 13, 1873) – Encyclopedia Virginia
“Life Among the Lowly, No. 1” by Madison Hemings (March 13, 1873) – Encyclopedia Virginia
Madison Hemings told a reporter about his mother Sally Hemings and his father, Thomas Jefferson, in 1873. This is the text of that interview. Historians at the time, and many later and still a few today reject this story and deny that Jefferson fathered any children outside of his marriage
“Life Among the Lowly, No. 1” by Madison Hemings (March 13, 1873) – Encyclopedia Virginia
Balance Sheet of the United States - 1784-1786
Balance Sheet of the United States - 1784-1786
This is a spreadsheet of the monies requested of the states and a record of what they have paid. Worthwhile to share with students for a "think" and "wonder" activity to launch to a little research. Some of the money requested by the federal government were its own bonds - that is what they will find when they look up "indentures" - what is "specie"?
Balance Sheet of the United States - 1784-1786
To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Banneker, 19 August 1791
To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Banneker, 19 August 1791
Banneker was a free African-American almanac author, surveyor, landowner and farmer who had knowledge of mathematics and natural history. In this letter he asks Jefferson to wean himself of prejudice - Jefferson wrote a friend later that he doubted than Banneker's work was really his own
To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Banneker, 19 August 1791
Biographies · George Washington's Mount Vernon
Biographies · George Washington's Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon has published biographies and descriptions of some of the people enslaved by George and Martha Washington and the Custis family. These are easy to read and therefore accessible to students. The system of slavery however, is very difficult to understand.
Biographies · George Washington's Mount Vernon
Database of Mount Vernon's Enslaved Community · George Washington's Mount Vernon
Database of Mount Vernon's Enslaved Community · George Washington's Mount Vernon
With drop-down menus to search by event type, person, skill, location, and more, this database can be used for a "free-range" primary source exercise. Have students search through the data base for five minutes, and after coming up with a hypothesis, spend a half hour looking for evidence to prove it
Database of Mount Vernon's Enslaved Community · George Washington's Mount Vernon
Constitute
Constitute
The goal of the Comparative Constitutions Project is to collect data on the formal characteristics of written constitutions, both current and historical, for most independent states since 1789. Characteristics include aspects of both form and content of these documents.
Constitute
To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 6 September 1789
To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 6 September 1789
Jefferson explains to Madison that he did not believe that one generation had the right to bind subsequent generations to it's laws. This would throw Jefferson out of the group of "Founding Fathers" that some use for the own political ends today
To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 6 September 1789
History of the United States by William Grimshaw 1821
History of the United States by William Grimshaw 1821
This history of the United States written in 1821 might give insight into how the Revolutionary generation thought of the Revolution. Teachers could grab a paragraph from this to compare and contrast with current texts. This is the history of the United States that Abraham Lincoln read
History of the United States by William Grimshaw 1821