Demographic Changes | EDSITEment

Lesson 2: The Federalist Defense of Diversity and "Extending the Sphere"

Alexander Hamilton was pro-federalist, and authored a number of the papers.

This lesson involves a detailed analysis of Alexander Hamilton’s and James Madison’s arguments in favor of the extended republic in The Federalist Nos. 9, 10 and 51. Students consider and understand in greater depth the problem of faction in a free republic and the difficulty of establishing a government that has enough power to fulfill its responsibilities, but which will not abuse that power and infringe on liberties of citizens.

Lesson 3: A Debate Against Slavery

Sometimes, people will fight to keep someone else from being treated poorly. Disagreement over slavery was central to the conflict between the North and the South. The nation was deeply divided.

Lesson 4: Life Before the Civil War

Students demonstrate their knowledge of life before the Civil War, with an emphasis on differences between the North and South.

Lesson 1: Factory vs. Plantation in the North and South

Students develop a foundation on which to understand the basic disagreements between North and South.

Lesson 2: People and Places in the North and South

Students develop a foundation on which to understand the basic disagreements between North and South.

Lesson 4: James Madison: Internal Improvements Balancing Act: Federal/State, Executive/Legislative

There was general agreement at the beginning of the 19th century that the U.S. would greatly benefit from some internal improvements of a national nature, such as a nationwide network of roads and canals. But how should the funds for such projects be raised? Who should be in control of the projects—that is, who should administer them?

Lesson 2: The Monroe Doctrine: President Monroe and the Independence Movement in South America

How did conditions in Europe relate to the independence movements in South America? What reasons did President Monroe give for recognizing the independence movements in South America?

Lesson 4: Abraham Lincoln, the 1860 Election, and the Future of the American Union and Slavery

Created July 19, 2010

This lesson plan will explore Abraham Lincoln's rise to political prominence during the debate over the future of American slavery. Lincoln's anti-slavery politics will be contrasted with the abolitionism of William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass and the "popular sovereignty" concept of U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas.

Lesson 2: Slavery's Opponents and Defenders

Idyllic cartoon of slaves thanking their master for taking care of them

This lesson plan will explore the wide-ranging debate over American slavery by presenting the lives of its leading opponents and defenders and the views they held about America's "peculiar institution."

Lesson 1: An Early Threat of Secession: The Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Nullification Crisis

Created July 18, 2010

Henry Clay, author of the Missouri Compromise.

Americans affirmed their independence with the ringing declaration that “all men are created equal.” But some of them owned African slaves, and were unwilling to give them up as they formed new federal and state governments. So “to form a more perfect union” in 1787, certain compromises were made in the Constitution regarding slavery. This settled the slavery controversy for the first few decades of the American republic, but this situation changed with the application of Missouri for statehood in 1819.

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