Did Lincoln free the slaves, or did the slaves free themselves?

Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation said that on January 1, 1863, all slaves held in Southern states would be "forever free." President Lincoln himself believed that if anyone remembered his achievements as president, the Emancipation Proclamation would be what they remembered about him. However, historians have pointed out that Lincoln's proclamation did not free slaves in border states that were still part of the Union, and did not free slaves in the Confederate states unless they were liberated by the Union army. Others have claimed that the slaves themselves actually should get credit for obtaining their own freedom.

Your assignment is to use primary and secondary sources to write a one-paragraph response that answers this important historical question: "Did Lincoln free the slaves, or did the slaves free themselves?"

(The image below is Lincoln's signature on the Emancipation Proclamation. It is one of the few documents that President Lincoln signed with his full time. He usually signed, "A. Lincoln" to most documents.)

Frederick Douglass: What is the 4th of July to a Slave?

On July 5, 1852, abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass made a speech in Rochester, New York, to 500-600 members of the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society and others. The speech is known as "What is the 4th of July to a slave?" You have been studying and analyzing the speech during the last week. Today, you are going to work with a partner to answer three questions. about the speech. Make sure that you remember to cite evidence directly from Mr. Douglass'  speech.
Start your entry with your class period, and both first names and last initials (example: P1 Sammie A and Sally B)

1. Why is the 4th of July such an especially unpleasant day for enslaved people? Be sure to cite evident from the text to support your answer.
2. Who does Frederick Douglass blame for the continuation of slavery in America? Be sure to cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
3. Douglass says that he "has hope" for the abolition of slavery in the United States. On what does he base that hope? Be sure to cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

1. 

Was Nat Turner a hero or a madman?

Nat Turner led the most important slave revolt in US History. Although it was ultimately unsuccessful, it forced changes in the way slavery operated in the South, and coincided with the establishment of the abolitionist movement in the northern states. However, as the woodcut below shows, while some consider Turner to be a hero, others saw him as a fanatic, insane, and evil man. You read 3 primary sources that describe Nat Turner in very different ways.

Now you will become a historian, and explain how you think Nat Turner should be remembered. Which sources do you consider the most truthful? Why?

Your task is to write a thoughtful paragraph that answers the question, "Was Nat Turner a hero or a madman?" Make sure that you cite and explain evidence from your sources that support your opinion.

Were workers in the factories happy?

Instructions: Below are three readings about factory workers in the 1840s. Write a paragraph response that answers this question: "What were some of the grievances of  factory workers in the 1840s? Be sure to give specific examples to support your thesis."


Reading 1:

The operatives work thirteen hours a day in the summer time, and from daylight to dark in the winter. At half past four in the morning the factory bell rings, and at five the girls must be in the mills....So fatigued...are numbers of girls that they go to bed soon after their evening meal, and endeavor by a comparatively long sleep to resuscitate their weakened frames for the toil of the coming day.

The Harbinger, 1846

Reading 2:

We...agree to work for such wages per week, and prices by the job, as the Company may see fit to pay....We also agree not to be engaged in any [actions], whereby the work may be impeded, or the company's interest in any work injured....

             Work contract, Cocheco Manufacturing Company, Dover, New Hampshire

Reading 3:

Just as there is sun at noonday, [the owners], under its present hostile and unnatural state, is fast reducing [the workers] to utter dependence and slavish beggary....This talk about the continued prosperity, happy condition, and future independence of the producing class of this country...is all fiction, moonshine.

                 Voice of Industry, 1845

Was work in a mill in the 1840's dangerous?

During the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, many men and women moved from farms to cities in order to find work in factories. But was their life better as a result? Using primary sources from the hospital near Lowell Mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, write a one paragraph response that answers the question: Was work in a mill in the 1840s dangerous? Support your answer with evidence from the source provided.

Remember to start your answer with your class period and your first names and last initials (example: P1 Jamie A & Sammie B)

Lewis & Clark--The Corps of Discovery

Led by Lewis & Clark, the Corps of Discovery traveled almost 8000 miles over almost 2.5 years to reach the Pacific Coast and return to St. Louis, the first United States citizens in history to do so. During their journey, they had to make hundreds over decisions -- and one error could doom the entire expedition.

Your assignment is to visit the PBS website: "Into the Unknown." As you navigate through the site, see how far that you can go without making a wrong decision, and leading your expedition into oblivion. As you proceed, make sure that you make a note about:

1. The location
2. The dilemma, or problem, facing Lewis and Clark
3. What you decided to do
4. How did it turn out

Then write a paragraph that describes at least 3 of the situations faced by Lewis and Clark, and how each one ended. Make sure to provide as much detail as possible, including the information that you recorded above.  Don't forget to start with your class period and your first names and last initials.

Justifying Westward Expansion

The idea of Manifest Destiny was a controversial part of the expansion of the US during the middle 1800s. Your group did a close reading of four sources relating to the westward expansion of the United States. Using those sources, answer this prompt in a well written paragraph: How was the westward expansion of the United States and the taking of land from Mexico and Native Americans justified by people at the time? Be sure to effectively use evidence from the primary sources provided, and properly cite those sources.

Be sure to start your response with: your class period and first names last initials (example: P1 Annie A and Billy Z)

Reading 1:

Texas has been absorbed into the Union as the inevitable fulfillment of the general law which is rolling our population westward....It was disintegrated from Mexico in the natural course of events, by a process perfectly legitimate on its own part, blameless on ours....
California will, probably next fall away from...Mexico...imbecile and distracted...The Anglo-Saxon foot is already on its borders....All this without agency of our government, without responsibility of our people--in the natural flow of events, the spontaneous working of principles....

Democratic Review, 1845

Reading 2:

Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil. She has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced and that the two nations are now at war.

As war exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico herself, we are called upon by every consideration of duty and patriotism to vindicate with decision the honor, the rights, and the interests of our country.

Polk's War Message, 1846

Reading 3:

Now we ask, whether any man can coolly contemplate the idea of recalling our troops from the [Mexican] territory we at present occupy...and...resign this beautiful country to the custody of the ignorant cowards and profligate ruffians who have ruled it for the last twenty-five years? Why humanity cries out against it. Civilization and Christianity protest against this reflux of the tide of barbarism and anarchy.
New York Evening Post, 1848

Reading 4:

Have not results in Mexico taught the invincibility of American arms?...The North Americans will spread out far beyond their present bounds. They will encroach again and again upon their neighbors. New territories will be planted, declare their independence, and be annexed. We have New Mexico and California! We will have Old Mexico and Cuba! The isthmus cannot arrest--nor even the Saint Lawrence!! Time has all of this in her womb. A hundred states will grow up where now exists but thirty.

DeBow's Commercial Review, 1848