Thursday, March 10, 2016

The Bill of Rights and the Constitution

James Madison, President of the United States, from the Library of Congress

Watch "The Story of the Bill of Rights" created by the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics. 

Why was the Bill of Rights so important to "saving" the Constitution? Is the Bill of Rights still important today? 

This post will be available for comments until Thursday, March 16. 


Monday, March 7, 2016

Nash and Enlightenment notes

Hi Everyone-

Here is a link to the google doc we worked on in class including the outline of Nash's essay, and some notes on the Enlightenment and Great Awakening.

Many of you are starting to think about the midterm exam, so here is a list of things to start thinking about:

  • Key terms: I'll provide a list of about 10 terms on the exam, you'll choose 5 to identify who, what, where, when and significance for each. The Key Terms for each chapter are listed at the end of the chapter in the chapter review materials (older editions may not have this- check the 4th seagull edition before the exam if you are using an older edition).
  • Studyspace has flashcards of the key terms for each chapter that you may find useful to use online or print. Be aware that the "definition" they provide is not as thorough as the who, what, where, when and significance that I'll be asking for on the exam.
  • I'll only use key terms from the material we've covered- so for Chapter 4, I'll only draw a key term that was in the sections that were assigned before the midterm. The rest of the terms will be fair game for the final exam.
  • The essay will be based on documents that I will provide. It is likely that you will have seen at least one of the documents before. 
  • Bring any questions you have to the midterm review on March 16. We'll spend the whole class period answering your questions and reviewing examples. 
  • NOTICE in the notes linked above how important identifying the who, what, where, when and significance for the Enlightenment and Great Awakening was in being able to write a thesis statement. Interesting...
If you want to try your hand at writing a thesis statement for the Nash essay that 1. presents an argument and 2. outlines the essay in the comments below, you are welcome to do so but it is not required. Comments will count as bonus participation points, should you choose to post. This post will be open for comments until Monday, March 21. 

Nash thesis statements

Post ONE of your remaining discussion questions in the comments.

REPLY to at least one question someone else posted.

This post will be available for comments until Monday, March 14.