Week 32 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

Oh my is the weather looking amazing outside this afternoon. As I write this I am eager to get out and tackle the final stages of the chicken coop I am building in our back yard. A month ago, I gave in to my wife's suggestions for chickens by promising a coop as a Mother's Day gift. Thinking about my weekend in that regard, I would like to wish all of you mom's reading this a fantastic weekend, and a special day on Sunday. I hope your kiddos treat you to something special.

We started off our week in class by completing our reading and discussion on the institution of slavery as an economic and social and cultural institution in the southern states of the Union. Proceeding from there, we have a baseline understanding that slavery is more than a economic right, but a Constitutional right - guaranteed by the document that created the Union of States. Perception of southern leaders in this way leads us to a recognition that the loss of slavery to them was more than an economic loss, but rather was the principle behind it - namely that laws limiting slavery would be more an infringement on their Constitutional rights than they would be an attack on their ownership of slaves. To them, losing slaves was a lesser transgression than an imposition of a "tyrannical government" on their rights.

From here we looked into the series of events that began in 1850 which led immediately to the most significant conflict on our nation's history. It begins with the Compromise of 1850. This arose out of the bill to admit California as a state - but the question, at least on the surface, was should it be a state that allows slavery (slave state) or a state that prohibits slavery (free state). Questions you should ask your student is:

• What compromise had previously settled the issues that arose in 1850? What changed?
• Why was there a debate over admitting California as a "free" state?
• What was the root of the problem behind the free/slave state debate?
• How did the Compromise of 1850 settle the problem but not really "fix" anything?

From there it was on to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This began as a railroad bill by Stephen Douglas but exploded into a full blown mini-war. Questions you should ask your student are:

• How did Douglas's bill about a transcontinental railroad become all about slavery?
• What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act do to Kansas? What happened there as a result?
• What was the response of Senator Charles Sumner (R - Massachusetts) (see here for info on his speech)
• How did the actions of Congressman Preston Brooks (D - South Carolina) against Sen. Sumner lead Americans to recognize that Civil War was inevitable (see the video below)?

I can't not provide a link to the full speech given by Sumner titled "The Crime Against Kansas" where he roasts his fellow Senators for selling Kansas to slavery and ensuring a small scale war within the United States. We read an excerpt in class, but here's the whole thing from the U.S. Senate.

Overall, we had a great week and are looking now forward to how this conflict that is really about the presumed Constitutional rights of citizens and States under the Constitution against what is perceived to be a tyrannical expression of federal authority turns into a war to end the institution that has plagued the Union from the beginning - slavery. Next week, The Abolitionists.

Until then, I am yours,
Mr. Bruce

Week 31 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

About Tuesday this week I realized that I had not written a "weekly" email since before Spring Break... There were good reasons for this, early on, anyway. The two weeks immediately following Break was littered with M-STEP testing. While this is an honorable responsibility, it certainly interrupts precious class time. I intended to keep the workload light during those weeks, and I didn't initially see the need to write that first week. While I intended to last week, I simply forgot out of the break in routine. Apparently, getting back into a routine is hard - which may be why it is Sunday, and I am still finishing... So, long story short, here I am. Back at it.

What have we done? Well, after coming back from break we were completing our unit on Westward Expansion. For this unit we used a chapter in our textbook titled "Manifest Destiny and the Growing Nation." (Just as an FYI, the accompanying packets were due last Friday and if your student is currently getting and E in History, it is because they didn't turn it in). This chapter instructs on the means and methods used to acquire the territories of Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Oregon, and the "Mexican Cession." This broad overview fails to account for the context within which these vast additions were made. I've already discussed that in posts Week 27 and Week 28. To complete that unit, we came back full circle to view a really cool video on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This expedition, undertaken at the beginning of our growth westward in 1805, was used to legitimize our claim to Oregon. As I said, we took it lightly during the M-STEP testing.

This has been a very interesting week. As we move forward into our next unit, The American Civil War, it is necessary that we fully understand the institution that became the purpose and reason behind the war - slavery. The word slavery has connotations that has been ingrained by images, visuals, narratives, and history classes that defined it as brutal working conditions, racial degradation, and general abuse by owners. While these are not wrong connotations and definitions, they do not capture a "right" survey of American "chattel slavery." We started the week with an awkward excerpt from a text written by George Fitzhugh. His work lay a foundation for justifying slavery as a moral and ethical good. To explain and counter this, we turned to a chapter from a book titled Negroes in the Making of America by Dr. Benjamin Quarles, a leading black historian (you can read the chapter here). This text explains the vast and varied spectrum of American slavery from 1800-1860.

As we read, we encountered difficult ideas and realities that are not common understandings regarding slavery. As we read, discussed, and questioned, I offered them pieces from Frederick Douglass' autobiography as well as the narrative titled, 12 Years A Slave, written autobiographically by Solomon Northrup. These texts have combined to put within our reach a far more comprehensive understanding of slavery in Antebellum America. Perhaps Thomas Jefferson, writing in 1781, explains the complexity of a slave society best when he wrote Notes on the State of Virginia:

“Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; the real distinctions that nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the exterminations of one or the other race.”

As you may have already noticed, I have provided for students an opportunity to read the aforementioned 12 Years A Slave on a voluntary basis. While I recommend the book, I cannot in good conscience recommend the movie to adolescents. Its depictions of the text are far too graphic to see - the first 5 minutes will explain why it is rated R. Regarding the book readers, I have not yet decided whether or not to offer a study/discussion group for them. If you are interesting in picking up a copy, I still have 8 or so available - just let me know you want one.

We will finish up this reading on slavery Monday and Tuesday where we will transition into the political forces that culminated in the break between the North and the South - remembering always that southern states had been threatening secession as early as 1832 over an issue unrelated to slavery (see the Nullification Crisis). As we proceed then, it is for us to learn how the Civil War becomes a war to end slavery.

I think that's enough. As always, email me with questions, comments, thoughts, reflections, and the like. Lots to look at this week. Enjoy.

Yours,
Mr. Bruce