Week 27 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

Week 27 means only one thing: End of the third 9-week marking period with only one more to go! Wow! Hard to believe that there's just a quarter left. But as in sports, the 4th quarter is crucial; games are won and lost in the final minutes. Let's motivate ourselves to stay academically strong and finish well!

As we move into this last marking period, we turn our attention to the period known as "Antebellum." The term is Latin and means "before the war". In American History, this is the period before the Civil War. Pretty much every thing we talk about will hint toward a possible factor that produces the climactic content for this course.

We began this week by looking at "Westward Expansion" and all the questions, challenges, and

In 1800, all of "Louisiana Territory"
was at least 6 weeks away.

debates that arose out of it. Beginning with the Louisiana Purchase, we learned that Jefferson was criticized for this purchase for three reasons: 1) we already had more land than we could settle at that time, 2) impossible to govern given the transportation (before steam power was used for boats and rail engines), and 3) it was unconstitutional, especially in Jefferson's interpretation of the Constitution. Yet, it stood, and began a 50 year pattern of land acquisition by many methods.

From the Louisiana Purchase, we learned about the aggressive methods of taking control of Florida from Spain. The textbook made it seem as though Andrew Jackson was a defiant and insubordinate general who defied President Monroe's direct orders... Yet the whole affair is more complicated and we start to wonder why the documentation of his orders didn't survive. (this link has some highlighted portions for your viewing). So why was it so important for Florida to be added that we use such measures to take it?

We took a diversion from Florida to look at a debate in Congress happening at the same time over the admission of Missouri as a State. Neither in the North nor the South, debate became fierce when it was suggested that Missouri be admitted on the condition that it prohibit slavery (see Missouri Compromise). With threats of secession, it was agreed to allow Missouri as a "Slave State" regardless if there were many (if any at all) slave owning residents. The matter was over a balance of power in the Senate, where states are equal to each other. If there are more "Free States" than "Slave States" then Southerners would be unable to stop any legislation that would inhibit slavery. This makes new territory in the south very necessary for this balance to be maintained. This includes Texas, which is how we ended this week, learning of their "independence movement", which is how it is portrayed in American textbooks. However, it was stolen from Mexico, a nation we sought to protect in principle (see the Monroe Doctrine).

Ask your students this weekend:

• What motivations are there for the South to gain territory in Florida and Texas?
• How do Mexican textbooks portray American expansionist tendencies?
• What did Texas become in 1836?

These are fun questions, and essential to our understanding as we go forward in this unit. One last thing before next week: if you can watch "The Odd, Odd Election of 1824" in preview of studying Andrew Jackson as President.

Week 27 means one more thing: Easter Weekend! May your weekend be filled with the grace of the cross and the joy of the Resurrection.

Until next week, I remain, yours,

Mr. Bruce