history alive! pursuing american ideals sample chapter

Contents

Letter from Bert Bower, TCI Founder and CEO 2

Benefits of History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals 3

TCI Technology 4

Program Contents 6

Program Components 13

How to Use This Chapter 14

Student Edition: Sample Chapter 2: Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals 16

Lesson Guide 24

Lesson Masters 33

Visuals 47

Placards 48

Welcome to History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals. This document contains everything you need to teach the sample chapter “Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals.” We invite you to use this sample chapter today to discover how the TCI Approach can make history come alive for your students.

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Sample ChapterH I G H S C H O O L

See the History Alive!

lesson demonstration!

http://www.teachtci.com/flash/demo-ha-pai/video.html

Welcome!

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As we began to develop History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals, I returned

to high school teaching—after a 20-year hiatus—to pilot lessons for the

program. For a month, I taught two periods of United States history at Mission

High School in the San Francisco Unified School District. During that time,

I discovered that my Mission High students were profoundly in need of an

alternative to the traditional textbook-based programs that dominate

U.S. history classrooms.

Today’s students face a barrage of realities more acute and vexing than students

of 20 years ago. Living in an age of standardized testing, high-stakes college

admissions, high school exit exams, and ever-present teenage angst, the students

I taught at Mission High had far greater educational, social, and emotional needs

than my classes in the 1980s. Many of them began the year certain that they

would hate their history class. Attendance was spotty. Aspirations were low.

I soon found that History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals gave both my students

and me a powerful reason to come to class every day. After just a month using

History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals, students began to understand how

history connects to their lives as they passionately debated issues surrounding

five fundamental American ideals: equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, and

democracy. With that understanding, they started to take an active role in their

own education. In short, the program was a lifesaver for my two demanding

history classes. I couldn’t imagine a day in the classroom without it.

My return to the classroom convinced me that today’s students need the most

interactive, cutting-edge curricular programs available. History Alive! Pursuing

American Ideals fits that requirement perfectly.

You have in your hands all the core materials you need to teach the featured

lesson. I urge you to try it out in your classroom and watch your students’

passion for history soar.

Enjoy!

Bert Bower, TCI Founder and CEO

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History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals centers on the five founding ideals from the Declaration of Independence: equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, and democracy. Each generation has struggled with these ideals. Some have made little progress toward achieving them. Others have made great progress. This program invites students to become engaged in this struggle, from establishing an American republic to the making of modern America.

The TCI program enables students to better understand the influence of U.S. history on their current lives. For example, students

• create interactive dramatizations to show how the Civil War affected Americans on both sides of the conflict.

• play the role of CIA agents to examine how the United States waged the Cold War in different areas of the world.

• assume counterculture and mainstream roles as they learn about the emergence of the counterculture in the 1960s.

History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals was created by teachers, for teachers. The program is flexible and easy to use, providing a variety of ways to meet diverse student needs and curriculum configura-tions. Teachers can

• modify instruction for English language learners, learners reading and writing below grade level, learners with special education needs, and advanced learners.

• support language arts instruction in the social studies curriculum with Reading and Writing Toolkits.

• use Enrichment Resources to help students extend learning beyond the lessons, including links to other web sites and essays related to U.S. history.

History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals will help you ignite your students’ passion for history—and re-ignite your passion for teaching it!

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Benefits of History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals

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TCI’s cutting-edge technology solutions for both teachers and students are designed to enhance teaching and learning.

TeachTCI is the most dynamic social studies technology ever created for teachers. It delivers a wealth of teaching materials directly to teachers via the Internet. Using TeachTCI technology, you can plan, present, and manage your TCI lessons all in one place. Access the technology online, at your convenience, at www.teachtci.com.

PLANHere you’ll find everything you need to conduct a memorable, knock-their-socks-off lesson—Lesson Guides, Student Handouts, Visuals, and more—in pdf format, all in one place, and organized by chapter. Other features include:

• Customized state correlations• Easy-to-use assessment tool—use TCI’s assessments or customize your own• Enrichment Resources to enhance instruction• Discussion Groups—share best practices with teachers nationwide

TEACHTCI’s state-of-the-art Classroom Presenter slideshows translate the printed Lesson Guide into a visual format that teachers can use with students. The Classroom Presenter has:

• Rich images that are the hallmark of TCI lessons• Concise, step-by-step instructions for each chapter’s classroom activity• A powerful toolbar to enhance presentations—zoom, draw, and write on slides

to emphasize important information

LEARNTCISee what your students see in LearnTCI before assigning it to them. LearnTCI includes:

• The Student Edition text• Game-like Reading Challenges in which students show what they know• A highlighter, Main Idea Viewer, in-text key term definitions, text-to-audio

features, and more

MANAGEIn one easy-to-use place, you can:

• Set up digital classes• Assign chapters• View your students’ Reading Challenge results individually and by class• Manage accessibility features for individual students

TeachTCI

Technology for Teachers

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LearnTCI—www.learntci.com —enables students to interact with content online and apply what they’ve learned in a fun and engaging way. LearnTCI motivates students to read—and they enjoy it more when it’s online!

As students read their Student Edition online, they can:

• Highlight the main ideas and then check their understanding using the Main Idea Viewer

• Click on key terms and see their definitions, right in line with the text

• Have the text read to them

Reading Challenges use game-like settings to engage students’ interest through visuals, primary sources, maps, and audio cues. Students are challenged to think about the content of each chapter in ways that stimulate learning.

Students’ Reading Challenge scores are recorded in TeachTCI so teachers can learn which topics may need reinforcement and which students may need extra help. Assignments can be monitored from any computer at a teacher’s convenience.

LearnTCI

Technology for Students

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In History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals, an Essential Question organizes each chapter and its corresponding activity. By reading the Student Edition and participating in the classroom activity, students gain a deeper understanding of the content.

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Program Contents

Era 1: Establishing an American Republic 1492–1896 Unit 1: Getting Oriented

1 What Is History?

What is history, and why should we study it?

Experiential Exercise: Students witness a staged event that they reconstruct to help them understand the challenges of interpreting and communicating information about the past.

2 Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals

What are America’s founding ideals, and why are they important?

Writing for Understanding activity: Students examine 18 placards depicting images and quotes spanning American history and then write a five-paragraph essay on whether Americans have lived up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.

3 Setting the Geographic Stage

How has geography influenced the development of the United States?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students label features on thematic maps as they learn how geography has shaped U.S. history.

Unit 2: A Nation and Its Ideals Emerge

4 The Colonial Roots of America’s Founding Ideals

How did the colonial period help to shape America’s five founding ideals?

Response Group activity: Students discuss three provocative questions about the effects of the colonial period on America’s five founding ideals.

5 Americans Revolt

Were the American colonists justified in rebelling against British rule?

Experiential Exercise: Students assume the perspectives of four groups affected by colonial rebellion—King George III and Parliament, Patriots, Moderates, and Loyalists—to debate the independence movement, using primary sources.

6 Creating the Constitution

What is the proper role of a national government?

Visual Discovery activity: Students analyze images of a polling place after three events: the Revolution, Shays’ Rebellion, and the signing of the Constitution. Students bring to live the sign-ing and read how the Constitution was ratified.

7 An Enduring Plan of Government

Does the Constitution support the ideals in the Declaration of Independence?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students participate in a game in which they analyze the Constitution to learn about its key features.

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Unit 3: The Growth of and Challenges to American Ideals

8 Changes in a Young Nation

Did changes in the young nation open the door to opportunity for all Americans?

Response Group activity: Students discuss how changes in the early 19th century opened or closed the door to opportunity for diverse groups of Americans.

9 A Dividing Nation

Was the Civil War inevitable?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students analyze a selection of primary sources related to events from 1850 to 1861 and decide whether they show a spirit of compromise or of conflict.

10 The Civil War

How did the Civil War affect the United States and its people?

Problem Solving Groupwork activity: Students create interactive dramatizations to show how the Civil War affected Americans on both sides of the conflict.

11 Reconstruction

How was the nation’s commitment to its founding ideals tested during Reconstruction?

Visual Discovery activity: Students interpret four political cartoons to understand the issues and events of the Reconstruction period.

Era 2: Industrialism and Reform 1840–1920 Unit 4: Growing Pains and Gains

12 Change and Conflict in the American West

What opportunities and conflicts emerged as Americans moved westward?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students examine primary sources to analyze how the opening of the West affected various groups of people.

13 The Age of Innovation and Industry

Was the rise of industry good for the United States?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students graph data and analyze images about industrialism.

14 Labor’s Response to Industrialism

Was the rise of industry good for American workers?

Experiential Exercise: Students play a game to experience the historical choices involved in deciding to form or join a labor union.

15 Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience

What was it like to be an immigrant to the United States around the turn of the century?

Experiential Exercise: Students discover what it might have been like to be an immigrant passing through Ellis Island or Angel Island at the turn of the century.

Unit 5: The Progressive Era

16 Uncovering Problems at the Turn of the Century

What social, political, and environmental problems did Americans face at the turn of the 20th century?

Writing for Understanding activity: Students act as muckrakers conducting primary source investigations and write newspaper reports exposing problems in American society in the early 20th century.

17 The Progressives Respond

Who were the progressives, and how did they address the problems they saw?

Visual Discovery activity: Students examine historical images to evaluate the actions taken by progressives in addressing problems of the early 1900s.

18 Progressivism on the National Stage

How well did Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson promote progressive goals in national policies?

Response Group activity: Students take on the roles of Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson to debate who deserves the most credit for promoting progressive goals.

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Era 3: Expanding American Global Influence 1796–1921 Unit 6: Building an Empire

19 Foreign Policy: Setting a Course of Expansionism

Was American foreign policy during the 1800s motivated more by realism or idealism?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students examine primary sources to analyze Americans’ views on overseas expansion at the turn of the 19th century.

20 The Spanish-American War

Why did the United States go to war against Spain in 1898, and why was the outcome significant?

Visual Discovery activity: Students examine and discuss images of events surrounding the Spanish-American War and its aftermath.

21 Acquiring and Managing Global Power

Were U.S. interventions abroad between 1890 and 1917 motivated more by realism or idealism?

Writing for Understanding activity: Students write, illustrate, and explain metaphors for U.S. foreign policy from the perspective of a region the United States became involved in and from the perspective of the United States.

Unit 7: World War I

22 From Neutrality to War

Was it in the national interest of the United States to stay neutral or declare war in 1917?

Response Group activity: Students discuss the reasons for and against the entry of the United States into war and then face off in a debate.

23 The Course and Conduct of World War I

How was World War I different from previous wars?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students analyze primary sources and technical diagrams to predict how new military technologies changed the experience of war for combatants.

24 The Home Front

How did Americans on the home front support or oppose World War I?

Experiential Exercise: Student groups participate in interviews to share the perspective of different groups of Americans living on the home front.

25 The Treaty of Versailles: To Ratify or Reject?

Should the United States have ratified or rejected the Treaty of Versailles?

Writing for Understanding activity: Students take on the roles of internationalists and irreconcilables, and then write a five-paragraph essay.

Era 4: The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression 1920–1944 Unit 8: The Twenties

26 Understanding Postwar Tensions

What effects did postwar tensions have on America’s founding ideals?

Visual Discovery activity: Students identify post-war tensions in various images and then bring to life a clemency hearing for Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.

27 The Politics of Normalcy

Did the Republican Era of the 1920s bring peace and prosperity to all Americans?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students analyze political cartoons from the Republican Era and identify each cartoonist’s point of view.

28 Popular Culture in the Roaring Twenties

What social trends and innovations shaped popular culture during the 1920s?

Experiential Exercise: Students enact a Roaring Twenties party, dancing the Charleston and learning about celebrities and popular culture of the 1920s.

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29 The Clash Between Traditionalism and Modernism

How did social, economic, and religious tensions divide Americans during the Roaring Twenties?

Response Group activity: Students debate important social issues from the 1920s.

Unit 9: The Great Depression and the New Deal

30 The Causes of the Great Depression

What caused the most severe economic crisis in American history?

Experiential Exercise: Students read about the stock market crash and discuss parallels between the classroom game and history. They then read, discuss, and analyze images to understand major causes of the Great Depression.

31 The Response to the Economic Collapse

How did the federal government respond to the economic collapse that began in 1929?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students classify statements as representing the ideologies of conservatives, liberals, or radicals.

32 The Human Impact of the Great Depression

How did ordinary Americans endure the hardships of the Great Depression?

Writing for Understanding activity: Students analyze photographs of and letters from ordinary Americans and then write a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt describing the hardships of the Depression.

33 The New Deal and Its Legacy

How did the expansion of government during the New Deal affect the nation?

Problem Solving Groupwork activity: Student groups create mural panels to show how the expansion of government during the New Deal affected Americans.

Era 5: World War II and the Cold War 1917–1960 Unit 10: World War II

34 Origins of World War II

Could World War II have been prevented?

Experiential Exercise: Students play a game of negotiation to learn about aggression and appeasement in the events leading up to World War II.

35 The Impact of World War II on Americans

What kinds of opportunities and hardships did the war create for Americans at home and abroad?

Problem Solving Groupwork activity: Students create newsreels to understand the wartime experiences of different groups of Americans.

36 Fighting World War II

What military strategies did the United States and its allies pursue to defeat the Axis powers in World War II?

Response Group activity: Students take on the roles of military analysts to examine the military strategies used to defeat the Axis powers in World War II.

37 The Aftermath of World War II

Did the United States learn from past mistakes at the end of World War II?

Visual Discovery activity: Students analyze images from the end of World War II to learn how the United States applied lessons learned from World War I.

Unit 11: The Early Cold War

38 Origins of the Cold War

How did the United States and the Soviet Union become Cold War adversaries?

Response Group activity: Students take on the role of foreign policy advisers and discuss post-war foreign policy challenges facing the United States in order to understand the development of the Cold War.

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39 The Cold War Expands

Were the methods used by the United States to contain communism justified?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students play the role of CIA agents to examine how the United States waged the Cold War in different areas of the world.

40 Fighting the Cold War at Home

How did the anxieties raised by the Cold War affect life in the United States?

Experiential Exercise: Students experience the anxiety present in the United States during the early Cold War. Students play a game to help them understand anticommunist hysteria and then learn what to do in case of a nuclear explosion.

Era 6: The Search for a Better Life 1945–1990 Unit 12: The Fifties

41 Peace, Prosperity, and Progress

Why are the 1950s remembered as an age of affluence?

Experiential Exercise: Students attend a block party in a 1950s’ suburb to learn how the United States changed in this time of prosperity and progress.

42 Rebelling Against Conformity

How did some Americans rebel against conformity in the 1950s?

Experiential Exercise: Students explore currents of conformity and nonconformity in American society in the 1950s as expressed in the arts and entertainment.

43 Two Americas

Why did poverty persist in the United States in an age of affluence?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students focus on the poverty experienced by millions of Americans who did not share in the nation’s prosperity in the years after World War II.

Unit 13: The Civil Rights Movement

44 Segregation in the Post–World War II Period

How did segregation affect American life in the postwar period?

Experiential Exercise: Students feel the sting of discrimination as two groups are treated very differently. Students learn about the challenges to segregation in the 1940s and 1950s.

45 The Civil Rights Revolution: “Like a Mighty Stream”

How did civil rights activists advance the ideals of liberty, equality, and opportunity for African Americans?

Visual Discovery activity: Students step into photographs to learn how civil rights activists advanced liberty, equality, and opportunity for African Americans from 1955 to 1965.

46 Redefining Equality: From Black Power to Affirmative Action

How did civil rights activists change their strate-gies and goals in the 1960s and 1970s, and how successful were they in achieving racial equality?

Response Group activity: Students analyze statistical data to learn about the progress of civil rights activists toward racial equality.

47 The Widening Struggle

Why and how did the civil rights movement expand?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students examine primary and secondary sources to discover how the civil rights movement expanded to involve other Americans such as women, Latinos, and American Indians.

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Era 7: Tumultuous Times 1954–1980 Unit 14: The Sixties

48 The Age of Camelot

Was John F. Kennedy a great president?

Writing for Understanding activity: Student groups analyze primary and secondary sources and write a five-paragraph essay to understand the successes and failures of John F. Kennedy’s presidency.

49 The Great Society

What is the proper role of government in shaping American society?

Response Group activity: Students evaluate the proper role of government as they learn about President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs, the decisions of the Warren Court, and the conservative challenge to the liberal policies of the 1960s.

50 The Emergence of a Counterculture

What was the impact of the counterculture on American society?

Experiential Exercise: Students assume counterculture and mainstream roles as they learn about the emergence of the counterculture in the 1960s.

Unit 15: The Vietnam War

51 The United States Gets Involved in Vietnam

Why did the United States increase its military involvement in Vietnam?

Response Group activity: Students participate in a national security meeting with President Lyndon Johnson to understand the beginnings of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

52 Facing Frustration in Vietnam

What made the Vietnam War difficult to win?

Experiential Exercise: Students engage in a game of tug-of-war with constantly changing rules to explore the frustrations of fighting the war in Vietnam.

53 Getting Out of Vietnam

What lessons for Americans emerged from the Vietnam War?

Visual Discovery activity: 5 analyze photographs of Vietnam War events to learn about the end of the Vietnam War and its aftermath.

Unit 16: The Seventies

54 The Rise and Fall of Richard Nixon

What events influenced Richard Nixon’s rise to and fall from power?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Student pairs construct a graph of Richard Nixon’s presidential approval ratings to examine the accomplishments and controversies of the Nixon administration.

55 Politics and Society in the “Me Decade”

How should historians characterize the 1970s?

Problem Solving Groupwork activity: Students create time capsules with artifacts that reflect on politics and society in the 1970s.

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Era 8: The Making of Modern America 1980–Present Unit 17: The Reagan Revolution

56 A Shift to the Right Under Reagan

Was the Reagan Revolution good for the nation?

Experiential Exercise: Students assume the roles of liberal and conservative guests on a political news show to evaluate the merits of the Reagan Revolution.

57 Ending the Cold War

Were the effects of President Reagan’s foreign policy actions mostly positive or mostly negative?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students analyze political cartoons as they learn about President Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy actions, including his efforts to end the Cold War.

Unit 18: Framing the Present

58 U.S. Domestic Politics at the Turn of the 21st Century

To what extent did George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush fulfill their domestic policy goals?

Problem Solving Groupwork activity: Student groups create Janus figures to evaluate the domestic policies of Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

59 U.S. Foreign Policy in the Post–Cold War Era

How well did U.S. foreign policy decisions meet the challenges of the post–Cold War era?

Response Group activity: Students debate U.S. foreign policy choices in the post–Cold War era as they learn about issues of ethnic conflict, humanitarianism, terrorism, and globalization.

60 9/11 and Its Aftermath: Debating America’s Founding Ideals

What debates have arisen since 9/11 about how to balance security while preserving American ideals?

Social Studies Skill Builder: Students examine primary and secondary sources and discuss the challenges the nation faced in preserving America’s founding ideals after 9/11.

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All the components of History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals fit together to deliver powerful and memorable learning experiences. These components can be purchased in print format, digital format with a TeachTCI subscription, or a combination of both.

Student Edition

• Provides considerate text that is uncluttered and easy to navigate for students at all levels

• Contains well-structured and manageable chapters to make U.S. history understandable and relevant to students

• Organizes each chapter around an Essential Question to focus student learning

• Includes powerful graphic elements that support visual learning and spark student interest

Lesson Guide

• Provides simple, step-by-step procedures for each lesson

• Lists materials and objectives for each lesson

• Includes answers to assessments and a Guide to Reading Notes for easy reference

• Provides recommendations for differentiating instruction for English language learners, students reading and writing below grade level, learners with special education needs, and advanced learners

Lesson Masters

• Contain reproducible student and teacher masters for classroom activities, organized by chapter

• Include Student Handouts, Information Masters, and assessments

Visuals

• Provide vibrant, colorful images

• Build and enhance visual literacy skills

• Offer data in visual and graphic formats to promote critical thinking skills

Placards

• Include full-color, laminated picture cards to promote critical thinking skills

• Support hands-on activities

• Tap students’ visual skills during active learning sessions

Sounds of History Recorded Tracks

• Stimulate learning with musical recordings and sound effects

• Enhance the drama and realism of many student activities

Digging Deeper Enrichment Activities

• Includes 24 complete lessons of hands-on extension and enrichment activities

Mastery Guide

• Includes pacing guides for six course configurations, chapter study guides, and a practice final exam to assist teachers in effectively implementing the program

Program Components

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Step 1

Plan Instruction

Review the Lesson Guide (pages 24–32) to familiarize yourself with the chapter objectives, vocabulary, and step-by-step procedures for the classroom activity. Be sure to review the materials list (page 24), and prepare materials as needed. Also, consider the options for differentiating instruction (pages 28–29).

Step 2

Preview the Chapter with Students

Follow the steps under Preview in the Lesson Guide (page 25) to explain to students what they will be learning in this chapter.

Step 3

Introduce the Essential Question and the Student Edition

Introduce students to Chapter 2 in the Student Edition by following the steps in the Lesson Guide (pages 25–26). These steps prepare students with a clear question to explore as well as a way to clearly organize their learning throughout the rest of the lesson.

Step 4

Conduct the Writing for Understanding Activity

This section of the Lesson Guide leads you step-by-step through the heart of a TCI classroom activity—in this case, a Writing for Understanding activity. Students examine a series of images and quotations that span American history to discover the influence of the five founding ideals of the Declaration of Independence.

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Defining and DebatingAmerica’s Founding Ideals

11Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals

2C H A P T E R

Materials

History Alive! PursuingAmerican Ideals

Transparency 2

Placards 2A–2R

Lesson Masters

• Notebook Guide 2

(1 per student)

• Information Master 2A

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student)

• Student Handout 2A

(1 per pair)

• Information Master 2B

(1 transparency)

• Student Handout 2B

(1 per student)


Overview

Students learn about the significance of the founding ideals in the Declaration ofIndependence and are introduced to the Essay Writing Program.

Preview Students respond to and discuss a “Survey on American Ideals.”

Reading Students read about and discuss the origins and significance of the fivefounding ideals: equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, and democracy.

Activity In a Writing for Understanding activity, students examine 18 placards,which contain images and quotations spanning American history, to discover theinfluence of the five founding ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Studentsthen write a five-paragraph essay on the question, Have Americans lived up tothe ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence?

Processing The five-paragraph essay functions as this chapter’s Processingassignment.

Objectives

Students will

• investigate the Essential Question: What are America’s founding ideals, andwhy are they important?

• read and analyze primary and secondary sources to understand the meaningand significance of the five founding ideals.

• write a five-paragraph essay analyzing how well Americans have lived up tothe ideals in the Declaration of Independence.

• learn and use the Key Content Terms for this chapter.

Vocabulary

Key Content Terms equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, democracy

Social Studies Terms ideal, self-evident, social class, natural rights, monarchy,dictatorship

W r i t i n g f o r U n d e r s t a n d i n g

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S t u d e n t H a n d o u t 2 A

Discovering American Ideals in Primary Sources

Work with a partner to record up to four details you observe in each placard’s photograph and caption. Decide which of the five ideals the placard relates to, whether positively or negatively, and explain how.

equality rights liberty opportunity democracy

Details we observed on Placard 2A:1. 3.

2. 4.

One ideal this placard relates to is ______________ because ______________________________________________________________________________________.

Details we observed on Placard 2B:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2C:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2D:1. 3.

2. 4.


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Step 5

Debrief the Activity

Have students create a human timeline, demonstrating their views on America’s progress toward its ideals. Facilitate the discussion by following the steps in the Lesson Guide (pages 26–27).

Step 6

Direct the Processing Activity

Students are instructed to write a five-paragraph persuasive essay on the question, Have Americans lived up to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence? This essay can be used as a baseline to measure students’ writing abilities at the start of the year.

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History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals will help you

ignite your students’ passion for history—

and re-ignite your passion for teaching it!

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2.1 Introduction

On a June day in 1776, Thomas Jefferson set to work in a rented room inPhil adelphia. His task was to draft a document that would explain to the worldwhy Great Britain’s 13 American colonies were declaring themselves to be“free and independent states.” The Second Continental Congress had appointeda five-man committee to draft this declaration of independence. At 33, Jeffersonwas one of the committee’s youngest and least experienced members, but histraining in law and political philosophy had prepared him for the task. Hepicked up his pen and began to write words that would change the world.

Had he been working at home, Jefferson might have turned to his largelibrary for inspiration. Instead, he relied on what was in his head to make thedeclaration “an expression of the American mind.” He began,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, thatthey are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, thatamong these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That tosecure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving theirjust powers from the consent of the governed.

—Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 1776

In these two sentences, Jefferson set forth a vision of a new nation basedon ideals. An ideal is a principle or standard of perfection that we are alwaystrying to achieve. In the years leading up to the Declaration, the ideals thatJefferson mentioned had been written about and discussed by many colonists.Since that time, Americans have sometimes fought for and sometimes ignoredthese ideals. Yet, throughout the years, Jefferson’s words have continued toprovide a vision of what it means to be an American. In this chapter, you willread about our nation’s founding ideals, how they were defined in 1776, andhow they are still being debated today.

In many ways Thomas Jefferson, shown here with his fellow committee members Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, was an odd choice to write the Declaration of Independence. Not only was Jefferson young and inexperienced, he was also a slaveholder. For all his fine words about liberty and equality, Jefferson proved unwilling to apply his “self-evident” truths to the men and women he held in bondage.

An early edited draft of the Declaration of Independence

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Chapter 2

Defining and DebatingAmerica’s Founding IdealsWhat are America’s founding ideals, and why are they important?

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2.2 The First Founding Ideal: Equality

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

When Jefferson wrote these words, this “truth” was anything but self-evident, orobvious. Throughout history, almost all societies had been divided into unequalgroups, castes, or social classes. Depending on the place and time, the divi-sions were described in different terms—patricians and plebeians, lords andserfs, nobles and commoners, masters and slaves. But wherever one looked,some people had far more wealth and power than others. Equality, or the idealsituation in which all people are treated the same way and valued equally, wasthe exception, not the rule.

Defining Equality in 1776 For many Americans of Jefferson’s time, the idealof equality was based on the Christian belief that all people are equal in God’seyes. The colonists saw themselves as rooting this ideal on American soil. Theyshunned Europe’s social system, with its many ranks of nobility, and pridedthemselves on having “no rank above that of freeman.”

This view of equality, however, ignored the ranks below “freeman.” In1776, there was no equality for the half million slaves who labored in thecolonies. Nor was there equality for women, who were viewed as inferior tomen in terms of their ability to participate in society.

Debating Equality Today Over time, Americans have made great progress inexpanding equality. Slavery was abolished in 1865. In 1920, a constitutionalamendment guaranteed all American women the right to vote. Many laws todayensure equal treatment of all citizens, regardless of age, gender, physical ability,national background, and race.

Yet some people—both past and present—have argued that achievingequal rights does not necessarily mean achieving equality. Americans will notachieve equality, they argue, until we address differences in wealth, education,and power. This “equality of condition” extends to all aspects of life, includingliving standards, job opportunities, and medical care.

Is equality of condition an achievable goal? If so, how might it best beachieved? These and other questions about equality are likely to be hotlydebated for years to come.

Chapter 216

In 1848, a group of women used theDeclaration of Independence as a model fortheir own Declaration of Sentiments onwomen’s rights. They declared that “all menand women are created equal.” Achievingequality, however, has been a tremendousstruggle. This photograph shows a woman,some 70 years later, still marching for theright to vote.

For much of our history, African Americanswere treated as less than equal to whites. No one knew that better than these Memphissanitation workers when they went on strikein 1968. Their signs reminded the nation thateach person in our society should be treatedwith equal respect.


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2.3 The Second Founding Ideal: Rights

“They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”

The idea that people have certain rights would have seemed self-evident tomost Americans in Jefferson’s day. Rights are powers or privileges granted topeople either by an agreement among themselves or by law. Living in Britishcolonies, Americans believed they were entitled to the “rights of Englishmen.”These rights, such as the right to a trial by jury or to be taxed only with theirconsent, had been established slowly over hundreds of years. The colonistsbelieved, with some justice, that having these rights set them apart from otherpeoples in the world.

Defining Rights in 1776 Jefferson, however,was not thinking about specific legal or polit-ical rights when he wrote of “unalienablerights.” He had in mind rights so basic andso essential to being human that no govern-ment should take them away. Such rightswere not, in his view, limited to the privi-leges won by the English people. They wererights belonging to all humankind.

This universal definition of rights wasstrongly influenced by the English philoso-pher John Locke. Writing a century earlier,Locke had argued that all people earned cer-tain natural rights simply by being born.Locke identified these natural rights as therights to life, liberty, and property. Lockefurther argued that the main purpose of gov-ernments was to preserve these rights. Whena government failed in this duty, citizens hadthe right to overthrow it.

Debating Rights Today The debate overwhat rights our government should preservebegan more than two centuries ago, with thewriting of the U.S. Constitution and the Billof Rights, and continues to this day. TheConstitution (and its amendments) specifiesmany basic rights, including the right tovote, to speak freely, to choose one’s faith, and to receive fair treatment andequal justice under the law. However, some people argue that the governmentshould also protect certain economic and social rights, such as the right tohealth care or to a clean environment.

Should our definition of rights be expanded to include new privileges? Orare there limits to the number of rights a government can protect? Either way,who should decide which rights are right for today?

Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals 17

This celebration of the Bill of Rights waspainted by Polish American artist Arthur Szykin 1949. It includes a number of RevolutionaryWar–era symbols, such as flags, Minutemen,and America’s national bird, the bald eagle.Szyk wanted his work to promote humanrights. “Art is not my aim,” he maintained, “it is my means.”


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2.4 The Third Founding Ideal: Liberty

“That among these [rights] are Life, Liberty and thepursuit of Happiness.”

By the time Jefferson was writing the Declaration,the colonists had been at war with Britain for morethan a year—a war waged in the name of liberty, orfreedom. Every colony had its liberty trees, its libertypoles, and its Sons and Daughters of Liberty (groupsorgan izing against the British). Flags proclaimed“Liberty or Death.” A recently arrived British immi-grant to Maryland said of the colonists, “They are allliberty mad.”

Defining Liberty in 1776 Liberty meant differentthings to different colonists. For many, liberty meantpolitical freedom, or the right to take part in publicaffairs. It also meant civil liberty, or protection fromthe power of government to interfere in one’s life.Other colonists saw liberty as moral and religiousfreedom. Liberty was all of this and more.

However colonists defined liberty, most agreedon one point: the opposite of liberty was slavery.“Liberty or slavery is now the question,” declared acolonist, arguing for independence in 1776. Such talkraised a troubling question. If so many Americanswere so mad about liberty, what should this mean forthe one fifth of the colonial population who laboredas slaves? On the thorny issue of slavery in a land ofliberty, there was no consensus.

Debating Liberty Today If asked to define liberty today, most Americanswould probably say it is the freedom to make choices about who we are, whatwe believe, and how we live. They would probably also agree that liberty is notabsolute. For people to have complete freedom, there must be no restrictionson how they think, speak, or act. They must be aware of what their choices areand have the power to decide among those choices. In all societies, there arelimits to liberty. We are not, for example, free to ignore laws or to recklesslyendanger others.

Just how liberty should be limited is a matter of debate. For example, mostof us support freedom of speech, especially when it applies to speech we agreewith. But what about speech that we don’t agree with or that hurts others, suchas hate speech? Should people be at liberty to say anything they please, no mat-ter how hurtful it is to others? Or should liberty be limited at times to serve agreater good? If so, who should decide how, why, and under what circumstancesliberty should be limited?

Chapter 218

Every year, millions visit the Liberty Bell inPhiladelphia’s Independence National HistoricPark. The huge bell was commissioned by thePennsylvania Assembly in 1753. Its every pealwas meant to proclaim “liberty throughout allthe land.” Badly cracked and battered, thebell is now silent. But it remains a belovedsymbol of freedom.


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2.5 The Fourth Founding Ideal: Opportunity

“That among these [rights] are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Something curious happened to JohnLocke’s definition of natural rights inJefferson’s hands. Locke had includedproperty as the third and last right in hislist. But Jefferson changed property to“the pursuit of Happiness.” The notedAmerican historian Page Smith wrote ofthis decision,

The change was significant and veryAmerican . . . The kings and potentates,the powers and principalities of this world[would not] have thought of including“happiness” among the rights of a people . . . except for a select and fortunate few. The great mass of people weredoomed to labor by the sweat of their brows, tirelessly and ceaselessly,simply in order to survive . . . It was an inspiration on Jefferson’s part toreplace [property] with “pursuit of happiness” . . . It embedded in theopening sentences of the declaration that comparatively new . . . idea that alife of weary toil . . . was not the only possible destiny of “the people.”

—Page Smith, A New Age Now Begins, 1976

The destiny that Jefferson imagined was one of endless opportunity, or thechance for people to pursue their hopes and dreams.

Defining Opportunity in 1776 The idea that America was a land of opportunitywas as old as the colonies themselves. Very soon after colonist John Smith firstset foot in Jamestown in 1607, he proclaimed that here “every man may bemaster and owner of his owne labour and land.” Though Jamestown did not liveup to that promise, opportunity was the great lure that drew colonists acrossthe Atlantic to pursue new lives in a new land.

Debating Opportunity Today More than two centuries after the Declaration ofIndependence was penned, the ideal of opportunity still draws newcomers toour shores. For most, economic opportunity is the big draw. Here they hope tofind work at a decent wage. For others, opportunity means the chance to reunitefamilies, get an education, or live in peace.

For all Americans, the ideal of opportunity raises important questions. Hasthe United States offered equal opportunity to all of its people? Or have someenjoyed more opportunity to pursue their dreams than have others? Is it enoughto “level the playing field” so that everyone has the same chance to succeed inlife? Or should special efforts be made to expand opportunities for the leastfortunate among us?

Horatio Alger, author of Strive and Suc ceed,wrote more than 100 “dime novels” in the late1800s. Many of these inexpensive books wereabout opportunity. They showed how a poorboy might achieve the American dream ofsuccess through hard work, courage, andconcern for others.


The Granger Collection, New York


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2.6 The Fifth Founding Ideal: Democracy

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, derivingtheir just powers from the consent of the governed.”

In these few words, Jefferson described the basis of a democracy—a systemof government founded on the simple principle that the power to rule comesfrom the consent of the governed. Power is not inherited by family members,as in a monarchy. Nor is it seized and exercised by force, as in a dictatorship.In a democracy, the people have the power to choose their leaders and shapethe laws that govern them.

Defining Democracy in 1776 The colonists were familiar with the workingsof democracy. For many generations, the people had run their local govern-ments. In town meetings or colonial assemblies, colonists had learned to worktogether to solve common problems. They knew democracy worked on a smallscale. But two questions remained. First, could democracy be made to work ina country spread over more than a thousand miles? In 1776, many people werenot sure that it could.

The second question was this: Who should speak for “the governed”? Incolonial times, only white, adult, property-owning men were allowed to voteor hold office. This narrow definition of voters did not sit well with manyAmer icans, even then. “How can a Man be said to [be] free and independent,”pro tested citizens of Massachusetts in 1778, “when he has not a voice allowedhim” to vote? As for women, their voices were not yet heard at all.

Debating Democracy Today The debate over who should speak for the gov-erned was long and heated. It took women more than a century of tenaciousstruggle to gain voting rights. For many minority groups, democracy was deniedfor even longer. Today, the right to vote is universal for all American citizensover the age of 18.

Having gained the right to vote, however, many people today do not use it. Their lack of participation raises challenging questions. Why do so manyAmericans choose not to make their voices heard? Can democracy survive iflarge numbers of citizens decide not to participate in public affairs?

The right to vote is so basic to a democracythat most Americans today think little about it.For much of our history, however, that rightwas denied to women and most AfricanAmericans. Their “consent” was not con -sidered important to those who governed.

Chapter 220

The stars on the official American flag sym-bolize the 50 states that make up our country.The faces on this painting symbolize the manypeoples who have come together to create ademocratic society in the United States.


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2.7 In Pursuit of America’s Ideals

“Ideals are like stars,” observed Carl Schurz, a German American politician inthe late 1800s. “You will not succeed in touching them with your hands, butlike the seafaring man on the ocean desert of waters, you choose them as yourguides, and, following them, you reach your destiny.” In this book, the idealsfound in the Declaration of Independence will serve as your guiding stars. You will come upon these ideals again and again—sometimes as points ofpride, sometimes as prods to progress, and sometimes as sources of sorrow.

Living up to these ideals has never been a simple thing. Ideals represent the very highest standards, and human beings are far too complex to achievesuch perfection. No one illustrates that complexity more clearly than Jeffer son.Although Jefferson believed passionately in the Declaration’s ideals, he was aslaveholder. Equality and liberty stopped at the borders of his Virginia planta-tion. Jefferson’s pursuit of happiness depended on depriving the people wholabored for him as slaves the right to pursue happiness of their own.

Soon after the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Indepen-dence, it appointed a committee to design an official seal for the United States.The final design appears on the back of the one-dollar bill. One side shows an American eagle holding symbols of peace and war, with the eagle facingtoward peace. The other shows an unfinished pyramid, symbolizing strengthand endurance. Perhaps another reason for the unfinished pyramid was to showthat a nation built on ideals is a work in progress. As long as our founding idealsendure, the United States will always be striving to meet them.


Summary

Throughout their history, Americans have been inspired and guided by the ideals in the Declaration of Independence—equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, anddemocracy. Each generation has struggled with these ideals. The story of theirstruggles lies at the heart of our nation’s history and who we are as Americans.

Equality The Declaration of Independence asserts that “all men are created equal.” Duringthe past two centuries, our definition of equality has broadened to include women and min -ority groups. But we are still debating the role of government in promoting equality today.

Rights The Declaration states that we are all born with “certain unalienable Rights.” Justwhat these rights should be has been the subject of never-ending debates.

Liberty One of the rights mentioned in the Declaration is liberty—the right to speak, act,think, and live freely. However, liberty is never absolute or unlimited. Defining the properlimits to liberty is an unending challenge to a free people.

Opportunity This ideal lies at the heart of the “American dream.” It also raises difficultquestions about what government should do to promote equal opportunities for all Americans.

Democracy The Declaration of Independence states that governments are created by peoplein order to “secure these rights.” Governments receive their “just powers” to rule from the“consent of the governed.” Today we define such governments as democracies.

The front of the Great Seal features a baldeagle and a shield with 13 red and whitestripes, representing the original 13 states.The scroll in the eagle’s beak contains ournational motto, E Pluribus Unum, which means“Out of Many, One.” The motto refers to thecreation of one nation out of 13 states.


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2C H A P T E R

Materials

History Alive! PursuingAmerican Ideals

Transparency 2

Placards 2A–2R

Lesson Masters

• Notebook Guide 2

(1 per student)

• Information Master 2A

(1 per class or 1 per

student)

• Student Handout 2A

(1 per pair)

• Information Master 2B

(1 transparency)

• Student Handout 2B

(1 per student)


Overview

Students learn about the significance of the founding ideals in the Declaration ofIndependence and are introduced to the Essay Writing Program.

Preview Students respond to and discuss a “Survey on American Ideals.”

Reading Students read about and discuss the origins and significance of the fivefounding ideals: equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, and democracy.

Activity In a Writing for Understanding activity, students examine 18 placards,which contain images and quotations spanning American history, to discover theinfluence of the five founding ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Studentsthen write a five-paragraph essay on the question, Have Americans lived up tothe ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence?

Processing The five-paragraph essay functions as this chapter’s Processingassignment.

Objectives

Students will

• investigate the Essential Question: What are America’s founding ideals, andwhy are they important?

• read and analyze primary and secondary sources to understand the meaningand significance of the five founding ideals.

• write a five-paragraph essay analyzing how well Americans have lived up tothe ideals in the Declaration of Independence.

• learn and use the Key Content Terms for this chapter.

Vocabulary

Key Content Terms equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, democracy

Social Studies Terms ideal, self-evident, social class, natural rights, monarchy,dictatorship

W r i t i n g f o r U n d e r s t a n d i n g


Note: TCI uses the terms “visual” and “transparency” interchangeably.

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Preview

1 Before class, prepare materials.

• Post Information Master 2A: Ideals and Definitions in the classroom ormake copies to be distributed to the class.

• Arrange Placards 2A–2R: Introduction to History about 3 to 4 feet apart,either on the classroom walls or someplace with more room, such as ahallway or the cafeteria.

2 Distribute a copy of Notebook Guide 2 to each student. Give students timeto complete the Preview assignment in their notebooks.

3 Discuss student responses to the Preview assignment. Have volunteersshare their responses with the class or have students pair up and share with apartner. This Preview is not designed to lead students to any predeterminedconclusions but to encourage discussion and debate.

4 Review the five ideals and their definitions on Information Master 2A.Tell students that each question on the “Survey on American Ideals” relates toone of the five ideals on Information Master 2A. Review each ideal. Explainthat an ideal is different from an idea: an idea can be just about anything thatpops into one’s head, whereas an ideal is something truly outstanding thatone strives for.

5 Explain the purpose of Chapter 2. Tell students that in this chapter they willlearn about the five ideals, including where they came from and why they areso important to Americans. Students will also begin the Essay Writing Pro -gram for this course by writing a five-paragraph essay in response to thequestion, Have Americans lived up to the ideals expressed in the Declarationof Independence?

Reading

1 Introduce the Essential Question. Project Transparency 2: Draft of theDeclaration of Independence. Have students locate the photograph andEssential Question at the beginning of Chapter 2. Ask,

• What do you see here?

• What are some observations you can make about the document?

• Why are parts of the document scratched out? What do the scratches tellyou about the document?

• What document is this?

• Where in the document can you find references to each of the fivefounding ideals: equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, and democracy?(Note: All of these ideals are referred to in the quotation in Section 2.1.They can also be located on Transparency 2.)

12 Chapter 2

P r o c e d u r e s

Placards 2A–2R

Information Master 2A

Notebook Guide 2


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2 Read aloud the Essential Question: What are America’s founding ideals,and why are they important? Discuss, explain, or clarify the question asappropriate.

3 Introduce the Key Content Terms and social studies terms for Chapter 2.Preteach the boldfaced vocabulary terms in the chapter, as necessary, beforestudents begin reading.

4 Have students read Sections 2.1 to 2.7 and complete the correspondingReading Notes. Use Guide to Reading Notes 2 to review the answers as aclass. (Note: You might want to assign the reading as homework.)

Writing for Understanding

1 Introduce the activity. Tell students that they will examine a series of imagesand quotations that span American history, from colonial times to today.Each image and quote relates to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence:they demonstrate either a belief in an ideal, a struggle for an ideal, or a con-flict over an ideal. The placards provide an overview of the importance of theideals throughout American history. They also preview the content studentswill study in this course. Explain that after they examine the images andquotations, they will write their five-paragraph essays.

2 Put students in mixed-ability pairs.

3 Distribute Student Handout 2A: Discovering American Ideals in PrimarySources and review the directions.

4 Monitor students as they work on Student Handout 2A. Before studentsbegin working independently with their partners, you might want to modelhow to complete the notes for one placard. To encourage students to workquickly and with purpose, consider imposing a time limit for each placardand for the entire activity. If class time is limited, students do not need tocomplete all the placards. Tell students that after a specified time, they willbecome an “expert” on the most recent placard they completed. As such, theymight be asked to share their expertise with the class.

5 Use a human timeline to debrief the activity. After the specified time, askstudents to complete their notes for their current placard and then have themremove the placard from the wall. Assign one student from each pair to bethe “expert” for that placard. Everyone else should sit down. Tell the studentexperts to organize themselves in chronological order, holding the placards infront of their chests so everyone in class can see them. Have the experts per-form the following tasks, as appropriate:

• Ask students to step forward if their placard relates to equality in any way. Repeat this for each remaining ideal: rights, liberty, opportunity, anddemocracy. Discuss why some ideals appear more often than others.


P r o c e d u r e s

Transparency 2

Student Handout 2A


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• Ask students to step forward if their placard illustrates events or ideasthat moved the nation toward the ideals in the Declaration. Ask severalstudents to explain how it shows this.

• Ask students to step forward if their placard illustrates events or ideasthat moved the nation away from the ideals in the Declaration. Ask severalstudents to explain how it shows this.

• Ask students to step forward if they believe their placard shows thatAmer icans do live up to the ideals in the Declaration. Ask several studentsto explain how it shows this. Repeat with examples of how Americans donot live up to the ideals in the Declaration.

6 Introduce the Essay Writing Program and the first writing assignment.Tell students that during the course of the year, they will learn and practicethe elements of writing a five-paragraph essay. They will write four essays inconjunction with four particular chapters and will practice key elements ofessay writing throughout the rest of the year. Project Information Master 2B:Writing an Essay About American Ideals Today and introduce the essayrequirements. (Note: The results of this assignment can be used as a baselineto measure individual students’ writing abilities at the start of the year.)

7 Distribute Student Handout 2B: Graphic Organizer for a Five-ParagraphEssay. Explain that this graphic organizer will help students organize theirthoughts and ideas for their essays. Briefly review the graphic organizer withstudents and make sure they understand what to do for each step. Give stu-dents time to complete their graphic organizers.

8 Have students use notes from their graphic organizer to write a draft oftheir essays. Have students complete their drafts either in class or for home-work. (Note: Depending on how much time you want to spend on this firstessay, you may want to teach or reinforce specific steps in the writing process,such as revising and editing. The Writing Toolkit has specific handouts youcan use to guide this process.)

Assessment

Masters for the unit assessment appear in the Lesson Masters. Unit 1 Assessmentscoring information appears after Chapter 3 in this Lesson Guide.

14 Chapter 2

P r o c e d u r e s

Information Master 2B

Student Handout 2B


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English Language Learners

Provide an alternative Preview assignment. • Before beginning the Preview, bring students’ attention to Information

Master 2A. Ask them to write each word and its definition on one of fiveseparate cards, which you provide or which they make from notebook paper.

• On index cards, create a class set of simple, clear symbols for each word.Have students match the symbols with the words and then have them drawthe symbols on their cards.

• Put students into mixed-ability pairs. Ask each pair of students to rank theideals according to how important they are to Americans. Ask, Which ideal ismost important? Least important? (Note: There are no right or wrong answers.Students should base their rankings on their own beliefs and experience.)

• Discuss and debate the following questions, using student cue cards: Which- remA emos kniht uoy oD ?tsaeL ?tsom rof dnats aciremA seod slaedi eseht fo

icans would fight and die for any of these ideals? If so, which ones? Whichones would you be willing to die for? Allow some students to respondnonverbally by choosing cards, pointing, or using short phrases. Encouragestudents who are more fluent to respond in complete sentences.

Learners Reading and Writing Below Grade Level

Option 1 Create a transparency of Student Handout 2B. Review the graphicorganizer and provide a concrete example for each step. Have students brainstormadditional evidence in small groups or as a class. List student responses on thetransparency and edit as necessary.

Option 2 - dnaH tnedutS no rezinagro cihparg eritne eht gnitelpmoc fo daetsnIout 2B, have students write a thesis statement and complete the steps for bodyparagraph 1. Modify the requirements on Information Master 2B, and have stu-dents write a paragraph that answers this question: Have Americans lived up tothe ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence? Tell students theirparagraph must include (1) a strong topic sentence that states their view and tellsthe reader what the paragraph is about, (2) at least two pieces of evidence sup-porting their view, and (3) at least two sentences explaining how their evidencesupports their topic sentence.

Learners with Special Education Needs

Concentrate on those placards with the strongest visual components. Make sure all students can view the placards well enough to complete the activity.

D i f f e r e n t i a t i n g I n s t r u c t i o n

Emerging ReaderVocabulary

ceaselessly: something thatcontinues for a long timewithout stopping

inferior: not as good assomething or someone else

pursue: to continue an activity or try to accomplishsomething over a long time

specify: to state something ina detailed way


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Advanced Learners

On April 3, 1917, William Tyler Page, a clerk of the U.S. House of Represen -tatives, wrote “The American Creed” (reprinted below) as part of an essay writingcontest. Provide “The American Creed” for students to read. Define a creed as astatement of belief. Ask students to use what they learned in this chapter aboutthe Declaration’s ideals to write their own creed for all Americans. Then askthem to think beyond the Declaration to how Americans act and behave today.Have them write a second creed that answers this question: What does Americareally stand for? Require students to write a paragraph explaining the differencebetween their two creeds.

The American Creed

I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the con-sent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation ofmany sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; establishedupon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for whichAmerican patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support itsConstitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.

—William Tyler Page, clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives, 1917

16 Chapter 2

D i f f e r e n t i a t i n g I n s t r u c t i o n

Scholastic Aptitude TestVocabulary

consensus: when everyone ina group agrees on something

tenacious: when someone isdetermined to accomplishsomething


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Online Resources

For related research materials on America’s founding ideals, refer students toOnline Resources at www.teachtci.com.

Primary Sources for Civic Learning

You may wish to have students investigate primary source documents relevantto this chapter. The “Our Documents” initiative is a cooperative effort of theNational Archives and Records Administration, National History Day, and theUSA Freedom Corps. At its Web site, www.ourdocuments.gov, you can downloadimages and transcripts of the 100 milestone documents chosen for the initiative,along with teaching tools and resources. The documents most relevant to thischapter are the following:

The Declaration of Independence, 1776 On July 19, 1776, Congress orderedan engrossed, or handwritten, copy of the Declaration on parchment. It is nowone of our treasured Charters of Freedom on display at the National Archives.

Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States, 1782 It took threecommittees to develop the winning design for the Great Seal, which is still inuse today. The seal appears on official government buildings and on the back ofthe one-dollar bill.


E n h a n c i n g L e a r n i n g


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Following are possible answers for each section of the Reading Notes.

Section 2.1

1. These ideals are found in the following phrases:

Equality: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men arecreated equal.”

Rights: “That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalien -able Rights.”

Liberty: “That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit ofHappiness.”

Opportunity: “That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit ofHappiness.”

Democracy: “That to secure these rights, Governments are institutedamong Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of thegoverned.”

2. The Declaration expresses important ideals that have inspired and chal-lenged Americans for more than 200 years.

3. The ideals were familiar to Americans of the time and had been writtenabout and discussed in the years leading up to the Declaration.

Sections 2.2 to 2.6

18 Chapter 2

G u i d e t o R e a d i n g N o t e s 2

Ideal and Excerpt from theDeclaration of Independence Definition

Influence of the Ideal in 1776 and Today

Equality

“All men are created equal.”

The ideal situation in whichall people are treated thesame and valued equally

1776: Christianity taught that all people areequal in God’s eyes. The colonists rejected theinequality found in Europe. Still, some heldslaves, and women were treated unequally.

Today: Progress has been made in expandingequality, but some argue that “equality of con-dition” needs to be provided to all.

Rights

“They are endowed by theirCreator with certain unalienableRights.”

Powers or privileges grantedto people either by an agree-ment among themselves orby law

1776: Jefferson argued in favor of natural, oruniversal, rights belonging to all humankind.

Today: Americans have many rights that arefound in the Constitution and the Bill ofRights. However, some people still argue foran expansion of rights.


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G u i d e t o R e a d i n g N o t e s 2


Influence of the Idealin 1776 and Today

Liberty

“That among these [rights] are Life, Liberty and the pursuit ofHappiness.”

Liberty can mean differentthings:

• political freedom

• civil liberty

• moral and religiousfreedom

• the opposite of slavery

1776: Liberty was extremely important to thecolonists, and they fought for freedom fromGreat Britain. However, one fifth of the popu-lation was enslaved.

Today: Americans agree that liberty providesthe ability to make choices and that limits mustbe placed on those choices. Americans debateabout where to set those limits.

Opportunity

“That among these [rights] are Life, Liberty and the pursuit ofHappiness.”

The chance for people to pursue their hopes anddreams

1776: Americans held a strong belief in opportunity from the early colonial period.Opportunity encouraged new settlers.

Today: Opportunity still brings newcomers,but some wonder whether true opportunity isavailable to all.

Democracy

“That to secure these rights,Governments are instituted amongMen, deriving their just powersfrom the consent of the governed.”

A system of governmentbased on the consent of thegoverned

1776: Americans used democracy on a locallevel throughout the colonial period. Yet somewondered whether democracy could work on a larger scale and who should speak for “thegoverned.”

Today: All citizens over the age of 18 can nowvote, yet not everyone participates.


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N O T E B O O K G U I D E


© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute 5Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals

2C H A P T E R


P R E V I E W

Survey on American Ideals

Write the following five statements in your notebook,and record the answer that best represents your viewson each. 1. All Americans are equal.

a. strongly disagreeb. mildly disagreec. mildly agreed. strongly agree

2. Some Americans have more rights than others. a. strongly disagreeb. mildly disagreec. mildly agreed. strongly agree

3. Americans have all the freedoms they deserve. a. strongly disagreeb. mildly disagreec. mildly agreed. strongly agree

4. All Americans have the same opportunities to succeedin life. a. strongly disagreeb. mildly disagreec. mildly agreed. strongly agree

5. Wealthy people have a more powerful voice inAmerican democracy than do others. a. strongly disagreeb. mildly disagreec. mildly agreed. strongly agree

R E A D I N G N O T E S

Section 2.1

Answer the following questions in your notebook. 1. Where in the Declaration of Independence can

you find references to equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, and democracy?

2. Why is the Declaration of Independence an important document?

3. Where did founders like Thomas Jefferson get inspiration for the ideals in the Declaration ofIndependence?

K e y C o n t e n t T e r m s

As you complete the Reading Notes, use these Key Content Terms in your answers:

equalityrights

libertyopportunity

democracy


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Sections 2.2 to 2.6

Copy the table onto a full page of your notebook. Thenread Sections 2.2 to 2.6 and complete the table.


N o t e b o o k G u i d e 2


Influence of the Ideal in 1776 and Today

Equality

“All men are created equal.”

Rights

“They are endowed by theirCreator with certain unalienableRights.”

Liberty

“That among these [rights] areLife, Liberty and the pursuit ofHappiness.”

Opportunity

“That among these [rights] areLife, Liberty and the pursuit ofHappiness.”

Democracy

“That to secure these rights,Governments are instituted amongMen, deriving their just powersfrom the consent of the governed.”


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Discovering American Ideals in Primary Sources

Work with a partner to record up to four details you observe in each placard’s photograph and caption. Decide which of the five ideals the placard relates to, whether positively or negatively, and explain how.


Details we observed on Placard 2A:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2B:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2C:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2D:1. 3.

2. 4.


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Details we observed on Placard 2E:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2F:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2G:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2H:1. 3.

2. 4.



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Details we observed on Placard 2I:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2J:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2K:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2L:1. 3.

2. 4.



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Details we observed on Placard 2M:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2N:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2O:1. 3.

2. 4.


Details we observed on Placard 2P:1. 3.

2. 4.



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I n f o r m a t i o n M a s t e r 2 B


Write a five-paragraph essay that answers the following question:

Have Americans lived up to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence?

Your essay must include the following elements:

An introduction, including

• a hook that creates interest in the topic of your essay.

• a thesis statement that clearly states your perspective on the essay question.

Three body paragraphs that each include

• a topic sentence that clearly states one argument supporting your thesis statement.

• at least two pieces of evidence (visual details, facts, data, examples, or quotations) that support the topic sentence. For the first two body paragraphs,use evidence from Placards 2A through 2R. For the third body paragraph, useevidence from current events or from your own experience.

• a one- or two-sentence explanation of how each piece of evidence supportsthe topic sentence or thesis statement.

A conclusion that includes

• a reworded version of your thesis statement.

• a brief summary of your main arguments.

Writing an Essay About American Ideals Today


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S t u d e n t H a n d o u t 2 B

Graphic Organizer for a Five-Paragraph EssayTopic:

Paragraph 1Introduction

Hook:

Thesis statement:

Paragraph 2Body

Use evidencefound onPlacards2A–2R.

Topic sentence:

Evidence:

Explanation:

Evidence:

Explanation:

Paragraph 3Body

Use evidencefound onPlacards2A–2R.

Topic sentence:

Evidence:

Explanation:

Evidence:

Explanation:

Paragraph 4Body

Use evidencefrom currentevents.

Topic sentence:

Evidence:

Explanation:

Evidence:

Explanation:

Paragraph 5Conclusion

Reworded thesis:

Summary:


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P l a c a r d 2 A

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute 1History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals

Getting Oriented

By 1673, when this map was drawn, European nations had estab-lished colonies in North America. They wanted colonies to increasetheir wealth and power. The people who crossed the AtlanticOcean to settle the English colonies came for a wide range of reasons—religious freedom, escape from debt, the opportunity toown land, the chance to start a new life. Some, however, did notcome by choice.

1607Colonial settlement begins in Jamestown, Virginia

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A Nation and Its Ideals Emerge

After defeating the French in North America in 1763, the British startedtightening control over their colonies. The colonists believed these actionsviolated their rights. For example, Great Britain raised taxes, limited trade,and forced colonists to house British soldiers in their homes. In 1770, acrowd began taunting some of these soldiers with snowballs. The soldiersfired on the mob and killed five colonists. Known as the Boston Massacre,this event helped fuel the resistance to British rule that led to the AmericanRevolution.

1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

1770The Boston Massacre

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P l a c a r d 2 C


The Growth of and Challenges to American Ideals

Less than a century after winning independence from Great Britain, the UnitedStates almost split in two. The Civil War divided the nation because of questionsabout states’ rights and equality. In the battle shown here, black Union soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment attack Confederate troops at Fort Wagner,South Carolina, in 1863.

Four months after this battle, President Abraham Lincoln dedicated the militarycemetery at Gettysburg with a renewed commitment to American ideals:

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a newnation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are createdequal . . . [W]e here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, thatthis nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, bythe people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

—Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1863

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1861–1865The Civil War

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P l a c a r d 2 D


Growing Pains and Gains

After the Civil War, tens of thousands of people streamed west-ward to settle the vast American heartland. Many believed it wasAmerica’s “manifest destiny” to occupy North America from theAtlantic to the Pacific. John Gast painted American Progress in1872, capturing that spirit. Trains, wagons, farmers, miners, thetelegraph—all moved west in the late 19th century. What wasprogress to these pioneers, however, meant the end of the Indian way of life.

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1872John Gast paints American Progress

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The Progressive Era

In the late 19th century, American cities rapidly progressed with the growth ofindustry. Needing more and more workers, factories hired immigrants, and even children, at low wages. Child labor was one of the problems caused byindustrialization. Many people were outraged by these problems and called forreform. This photograph shows two girls at work in a textile mill early in the20th century. Lewis Hine, the social reformer who took this photograph, urgedAmerican industry to change:

Perhaps you are weary of child labor pictures. Well, so are the rest of us, but we propose to make you and the whole country so sick and tired of the wholebusiness, that when the time for action comes, child labor pictures will be recordsof the past.

—Lewis Hine, 1911

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1890–1920The Progressive Era

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P l a c a r d 2 F


Building an Empire

In this cartoon, Uncle Sam is being fitted for a new suit of clothing. He hasgrown very large and is getting larger—a reference to the new territories theUnited States was acquiring in the late 19th century. Some Americans believedthe United States should acquire the new territories. Others disagreed. The tailor is President William McKinley, who generally supported expansion abroad.The figures on the left want Uncle Sam to go on diet medicine. They thinkUncle Sam is too large already. They are opposed to U.S. expansion.

1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

1867: Alaska acquired

1898: Hawaii annexed; Philippines,Guam, Puerto Rico acquired

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World War I

In 1914, Germany invaded neutral Belgium and attacked France. TheAllied powers of Europe fought back in what would become World War I. The United States entered the war in 1917 to support its allies.This recruiting poster echoes President Woodrow Wilson’s stirringappeal to American ideals when he explained why the United Stateschose to fight:

The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be plantedupon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish endsto serve . . . We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind.

—Woodrow Wilson, Declaration of War Address to Congress, 1917

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1917–1918 U.S. troops fight in World War I

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P l a c a r d 2 H


The Twenties

The 1920s are often referred to as the Roaring Twentiesbecause of the economic growth, social changes, and cultural events that took place during this decade. Newstyles of literature, music, dance, and clothing swept thecountry. The 1920s also witnessed a flowering of black culture called the Harlem Renaissance. Bessie Smith,shown here in the stylish dress of 1923, was the mostfamous blues singer of the decade. She was also the highest paid black entertainer of her time.

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1923 Bessie Smith gains national fame singing the blues

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The Great Depression and the New Deal

This woman and her children were impoverished by theGreat Depression, an economic collapse in the 1930s. The photograph, called “Migrant Mother,” was taken byDorothea Lange. Sadly, the woman pictured here was notalone. Millions of Americans suffered through years ofpoverty during the 1930s.

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1936 Dorothea Lange photographs “Migrant Mother”


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World War II

The United States entered World War II in 1941 to help defeat thedictatorships of Germany, Italy, and Japan. The entire nation cametogether to fight the war. Any smaller effort might have meant theend of the American way of life. As part of this effort, Americanindustry was converted to manufacture weapons, supplies, ships,tanks, and aircraft.

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1941–1945U.S. troops fight in World War II

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The Early Cold War

This photograph shows an American transport plane carrying food and suppliesto the war-torn city of Berlin, Germany, in 1948. After World War II, the commu-nist armies of the Soviet Union attempted to take control of the city through ablockade. American planes supplied Berlin’s citizens with supplies for more thana year and broke the blockade. The Berlin Airlift was one of the first incidents inthe decades-long Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.President Harry Truman stated the reasons why the United States should fightthe Cold War:

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peopleswho are resisting attempted subjugation [takeover] by armed minorities or by outside pressures.

I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in theirown way.

—Harry Truman, March 12, 1947

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1948–1949The Berlin Airlift

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The Fifties

The growth of suburbs like this one symbolized the economic boom that the United States experienced after World War II. During the war, Americans had saved more than $100 billion. In the 1950s, they spent that money on new homes, cars, and televisions. The boom created jobs and opportunities for millions.

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1950sEconomic Boom

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The Civil Rights Movement

This photograph was taken in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, at theheight of the African American civil rights movement for equal rights.Images like this one alerted the nation to racial injustice in the UnitedStates. Civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed inBirmingham for nonviolent protest. Below is an excerpt from a letter hewrote while in jail.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning forfreedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to theAmerican Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright offreedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained.

—Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963

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1963Birmingham demonstrations

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The Sixties

During the 1960s, some American youth had a very free-spiritedattitude. These young people expressed their disappointment in thetraditional ways of life through their clothing, music, food, and eventransportation, such as the painted bus shown here.

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1969Woodstock music festival held

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The Vietnam War

Etched on the polished black granite of the Vietnam War Memorial inWashington, D.C., are the names of the more than 58,000 Americans who died or went missing during the war. The Vietnam War divided the nation morethan any war since the Civil War. Some Americans believed the United Stateshad to block the spread of communism in South Vietnam. Others believed theUnited States was propping up an undemocratic government to protect its ownpower and reputation. Lyndon Johnson, one of six presidents to deal witharmed conflict in Vietnam, explained why he was committed to the war:

We fight because we must fight if we are to live in a world where every countrycan shape its own destiny. And only in such a world will our own freedom be finally secure.

—Lyndon Johnson, Address at Johns Hopkins University, 1965

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1965 First U.S. combat troops land at Da Nang

1973U.S. signs peace treaty

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The Seventies

The Fourth of July had special meaning in 1976. Not only was it the bicen -tennial (200th anniversary) of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,but it was also a time to celebrate the wisdom of the Founding Fathers inbuilding a democratic government that could withstand the massive chal-lenges the nation endured in the 1970s—political scandal, military defeat, and an energy crisis. In this photograph, a float of patriotic symbols takes part in the Bicentennial Parade in Washington, D.C.

In his Bicentennial Address at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, PresidentGerald Ford explained the importance of that day:

Each generation of Americans . . . must strive to achieve these aspirationsanew. Liberty is a living flame to be fed, not dead ashes to be revered . . .

It is fitting that we ask ourselves hard questions even on a glorious day liketoday. Are the institutions under which we live working the way they should?Are the foundations laid in 1776 and 1789 still strong enough and sound enoughto resist the tremors of our times? Are our God-given rights secure, our hard-won liberties protected?

—Gerald Ford, Bicentennial Address, July 4, 1976

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1776Declaration of Independence

1976Bicentennial

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The Reagan Revolution

Ronald Reagan became president in 1981 and set out to makegovernment smaller by cutting taxes and encouraging individualresponsibility. A former actor, President Reagan was an inspiringspeaker.

History is a ribbon, always unfurling . . . Now we hear . . . theechoes of our past: a general falls to his knees in the hard snow ofValley Forge; a lonely president paces the darkened halls, and pon-ders his struggle to preserve the Union; the men of the Alamo callout encouragement to each other; a settler pushes west and singsa song, and the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air.

It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, and fair. That’s our heritage; that is our song.

—Ronald Reagan, Second Inaugural Address, 1985

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1981–1989Ronald Reagan’s presidency

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Framing the Present

This view of the New York City skyline includes the Statue ofLiberty and two bright pillars of light representing the World TradeCenter buildings, which terrorists destroyed in 2001. On the day of the attack, President George W. Bush spoke to the nation:

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America.

America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.

—George W. Bush, Address to the Nation, September 11, 2001

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2001Terrorist attacks destroy the World Trade Center

© 2010 by Teachers’ Curriculum Institute