Harriet Tubman TedEd

Harriet Tubman

The Bill of Rights, Key Amendments and The Articles of Confederation

Mr. Hughes Hand Game

A lecture explaining the concept of the Bill of Rights and an overview on Amendments 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10. Geared for the N.Y. State United States History Regents examination for Juniors.

Comment:
During the era of the Revolution a 'militia' was the exact opposite of a state-controlled army- it was just a group of ordinary citizens- the implication of the 2nd amendment was that the citizens were allowed to be armed for protection. People still disagree when it comes to direct interpretation v. intention (based on a broader understanding of the text).

Note: Video Lectures from Mr. Hughes are from McKinley High School in Buffalo, NY. These video lectures are designed to explain concepts in U.S. History.


Mr. Rupert's Bill of Rights Tutorial




More Amendment Study with Mr. Hughes

A short lecture outlining the amendment procedure and some examples of amendments passed throughout US History. Covers material in preparation for the regents exam in United States History in NY State. Amendments covered include reconstruction amendments, the 16th, prohibition amendments, 22 and 26.

Memory boosters:

13-14-15FREE-CITIZENS-VOTE
18 and 21 (drinking ages)
18 - Prohibition
21 - repeals Prohibition
Note: Video Lectures from Mr. Hughes are from McKinley High School in Buffalo, NY. These video lectures are designed to explain concepts in U.S. History.


Let's travel back in time - just before the Bill of Rights . . . . . 
The Articles of Confederation in Ten Minutes

A video lecture on the Articles designed for US History students taking the NY state regents.

The Articles of Confederation were weak because the feds were too weak.
Our form of government was Federalism.
Federalism is the division of power between the states and the federal government. Since the founding of the country, and particularly with the end of the American Civil War, power shifted away from the states and towards the national government.
Mini American Revolution in Massachusetts - Shay's rebellion of 1786–1787. Articles of Confederation failed.
Back to Philadelphia!

An excerpt from Wikipedia follows:

In 1787, fifty-five delegates met at a Constitutional convention in Philadelphia and generated ideas of a bicameral legislature (United States Congress), balanced representation of small and large states (Great Compromise), and checks and balances. James Madison stated in a long pre-convention memorandum to delegates that because "one could hardly expect the state legislatures to take enlightened views on national affairs", stronger central government was necessary. This convention almost immediately dropped its original mandate and instead set about constructing a new Constitution of the United States. Once the convention concluded and released the Constitution for public consumption, the Federalist movement became focused on getting the Constitution ratified.

The most forceful defense of the new Constitution was The Federalist Papers, a compilation of 85 anonymous essays published in New York City to convince the people of the state to vote for ratification. These articles, written by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, with some contributed by John Jay, examined the benefits of the new, proposed Constitution, and analyzed the political theory and function behind the various articles of the Constitution. The Federalist Papers remains one of the most important documents in American political science.

Those opposed to the new Constitution became known as the "Anti-Federalists". They generally were local rather than cosmopolitan in perspective, oriented to plantations and farms rather than commerce or finance, and wanted strong state governments and a weak national government. The Anti-Federalist critique soon centered on the absence of a Bill of Rights, which Federalists promised to provide.

Because George Washington lent his prestige to the Constitution and because of the ingenuity and organizational skills of its proponents, the Constitution was ratified by all the states. The outgoing Congress under the Articles of Confederation scheduled elections for the new government, and set March 4, 1789 as the date that the new government would take power. In 1789 when Congress submitted twelve articles of amendment to the states. Ten of these articles, written by Madison, achieved passage on December 15, 1791 and became the Bill of Rights. The Tenth Amendment set the guidelines for federalism in the United States.

With the passage of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the first Federalist movement and the Anti-Federalist movements were exhausted, so they dispersed.

Note: Video Lectures from Mr. Hughes are from McKinley High School in Buffalo, NY. These video lectures are designed to explain concepts in U.S. History.

The Civil War in Ten Minutes

SOME MAIN POINTS AND/OR DATES
In the text of the Constitution - Habeas Corpus (show me the body)
Reconstruction  - Hug and Slug
Civil War, War Between the States, The War of Northern Aggression -  Date: April 12, 1861 – April 9, 1865 (last shot ended June 1865)
Emancipation Proclamation - 1863
April 14, 1865 - Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.
April 15, 1865 - Lincoln dies (having never regained consciousness.

NOTE: Mr. Hughes' date is incorrect for the start of the Civil War.
RESOURCE: A Timeline of the Civil War - How it all went down.

Sister Suffragette - Mary Poppins

Also see:
Engines of Our Ingenuity - Like Mother Like Son

Key Points:

§ In 1919 the U. S. Congress passed the nineteenth amendment giving women the right to vote. But the battle wasn’t over. The amendment still had to be ratified by three-fourths of the states. And there remained strong pockets of opposition, primarily in the South.

§ The president at the time was - Woodrow Wilson

 

§ The state that found itself the “pivotal battleground of the nation” was Tennessee

 

§ One representative in particular was a wild card — Harry Burn, a twenty-four year old from a rural mountain district.  Tucked in his pocket was a letter from his mother, insisting that he “be a good boy” and vote in favor of the amendment.  

Harry’s mother, Febb King Ensminger Burn,  carved a place for herself in history right alongside her son’s. 

Samuel James Seymour on I've Got a Secret (Lincoln)

(Fact|date=February 7, 1954 American weekly Magazine Section-New York Journal-American)

Samuel James Seymour (c. 1860–April 14, 1956) was the last surviving person who had been present in Ford's Theater the night of the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. He was from Maryland and lived in Arlington, Virginia in his later years.

At age five, Seymour's godmother, Mrs. George S. Goldsboro, had taken him to see Our American Cousin. He claimed the two sat in the balcony on the side opposite Lincoln's box. Seymour reported that " I complained tearfully that I couldn't get out of the coach because his shirt was torn-anything to delay the dread moment-but Sarah (nurse Sarah Cook) dug into her bag and found a big safety pin .", I shook so hard from fright (earlier seen men with guns and seemed they were all pointed at him) (in Washington), it caused Sarah to accidentally stab him with the pin. he hollered "I've been shot! I've been shot!".[citation needed] once in the theater Seymour settled down, saw the President across the balcony as he was waving and smiling at people, Seymour said " I began to get over the scared feeling I'd had ever since we arrived in Washington, but that was something I never should have done. all of a sudden a shot rang out-a shot that always will be remembered-and someone in the Presidents box screamed. I saw Lincoln slumped forward in his seat". Seymour did not actually see the assassination but did witness Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth jump off the balcony and break his leg. In fact, he revealed that because he did not know Lincoln was shot or that Booth had shot him, his real concern was for Booth breaking his leg.(Fact|date=February 7, 1954 American weekly Magazine Section-New York Journal-American)

Two months before his death at age 96, he appeared on the CBS TV quiz show I've Got a Secret as a mystery subject, in an episode in which Lucille Ball made an unusual appearance as a guest panelist. Coincidentally, Seymour died ninety-one years to the day of Lincoln's assassination.

The Birth of Freedom

http://www.thebirthoffreedom.com/

Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation, page 1President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.

Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.

From the first days of the Civil War, slaves had acted to secure their own liberty. The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the road to slavery's final destruction, the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom.

The original of the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, is in the National Archives in Washington, DC. With the text covering five pages the document was originally tied with narrow red and blue ribbons, which were attached to the signature page by a wafered impression of the seal of the United States. Most of the ribbon remains; parts of the seal are still decipherable, but other parts have worn off.

The document was bound with other proclamations in a large volume preserved for many years by the Department of State. When it was prepared for binding, it was reinforced with strips along the center folds and then mounted on a still larger sheet of heavy paper. Written in red ink on the upper right-hand corner of this large sheet is the number of the Proclamation, 95, given to it by the Department of State long after it was signed. With other records, the volume containing the Emancipation Proclamation was transferred in 1936 from the Department of State to the National Archives of the United States.

To view photos of the actual The Emancipation Proclamation go HERE.

Additional Resources

Transcript of the Proclamation

The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, 1862

"The Emancipation Proclamation: An Act of Justice" by John Hope Franklin.

Audio: Former slave Charlie Smith discusses work and living situation after the Emancipation Proclamation.
(357K, 0:46) from NARA's ARC database (NWDNM(s)-16.332B)

The Charters of Freedom

The Preamble ala Barney Fife, Schoolhouse Rock, and a 2 yr. old

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility , provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare , and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity , do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.