Assignment:

The following assignment is a group project with topics selected from the time period of 1820-1875. Seven groups will complete the areas:
· each member of the group will be responsible for one specific sub-topic within the assigned area of study
· each student will provide an oral presentation on the sub-topic
· each student will complete a 3-5 page research paper (thesis based; MLA documentation and bibliography required)


Topics:

1. Slavery/Abolition
a. Cotton is King
b. Dred Scott/ Lincoln, Douglas debates
c. Compromise of 1850/ Kansas-Nebraska/ Bleeding Kansas
d. John Brown- Martyr or Murderer?
e. The Collapse of the Union- The Election of 1860

2. Reform Spirit in America
a. Mentally ill- Dorothea Dix
b. Education
c. Women’s Rights- Seneca Falls Convention
d. Demon Rum- Prohibition
e. Flowering of American Literature

3. Manifest Destiny- Expansionism
a. Texas and the Mexican-American War
b. 54-40 or Fight- Polk

4. Issues of the West
a. Native American policy- Indian Wars
b. Development of Railroads- Transcontinental/Gold Rush/ Cattle industry

5. Utopian Societies
a. Second Great Awakening
b. Oneida Community, Brook Farm, Shakers
c. The Mormons

6. Immigration
a. Irish potato famine and the Know Nothing Party
b. German- failed revolutions
c. Chinese- mistreatment on the west coast

7. Economics
a. Industrialization/Manufacturing
b. Our changing economy

Primary Sources:

Antebellum Reform Websites
Abolition Movement
• Abolition and Anti-Slavery Movements ~ An exhibit from the African American Odyssey, Library of Congress.
• The Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition ~ A part of the exhibit Lest We Forget: The Triumph Over Slavery, The New York Public Library.

Education Reform
• Only a Teacher ~ Click Teaching Timeline or Schoolhouse Pioneers for information. From a PBS documentary.
• School: the Story of American Public Education ~ Biographies of individuals such as Horace Mann, Catherine Beecher, and John Dewey. From the PBS documentary. Mental Health Reform (mental hospitals/asylums).
• Biography of Dorothea Dix ~ Information from the North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services.
• History of Mental Heath Services ~ Scroll way down to get to the History section.

Prison Reform
• Prison Reform ~ Information from the University of San Diego

Second Great Awakening
• The Great Awakening and Revivalism in America ~ An overview of the social, political, religious, and musical effects of both the first and second Great Awakening revivalist movements that took place in 18th and 19th centuries. From a PBS documentary.

Temperance
• Alcohol, Temperance, and Prohibition ~ A collection of information from Brown University.
• Temperance and Prohibition ~ An exhibit of information from the History Department, The Ohio State University. Utopian Societies
• Georgetown professor discusses the 19th century utopias

• Collection of materials by ‘utopian’ thinkers

• Although done for the Amana Colonies by the National Park Service, this site discusses the other utopian communities such as Brook Farm, etc.

• New Harmony discussed by a professor at Michigan State.

• Women's Rights
• American Women ~ A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States.
• Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony ~ The companion website to the Ken Burns/PBS film.
• A Woman's World ~ Medical care, women's rights, and literary women during the time of Lincoln and the Civil War. From the PBS film The Time of the Lincolns.
• Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party ~ American Memory, Library of Congress.

Biography Websites
Internet Public Library Biographies Links
Archiving Early America - The Lives of Famous Early Americans
Biographies
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
NARA Women’s History
US History

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