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Unit 3: Expansion and Reform

The Common Man’s America (Not Jackson’s)

by Lisa Waligora

 

Grade Level: Secondary

Discipline: US History, AP US History

 

Lesson Abstract:

These three lessons use a variety of music to illustrate life in early 19th century America. 

The lessons are all stand alone activities and can be integrated into units covering a variety of topics in the early 19th century.

Introduction:

Once James Monroe leaves the presidency in 1824, the Founding Fathers era is over and the United States finds itself redefining America and Americans.  The election of 1824 brought a new breed of politicians and voters.  The country begins to force its way to the west under Manifest Destiny as immigrants and citizens alike find themselves moving from rural to urban areas.  Industry begins its takeover of the U.S. economy setting the foundations for trust building and hurling the United States into economic depression.

 

The song selections incorporated into these lessons illustrate many of the feelings of everyday citizens regarding issues facing Americans in this new era of U.S. History.  They also serve as a new way of thinking about the events dryly explained in textbooks. 

 

It is one thing to explain the ‘Corrupt Bargain” of 1824 but students and teachers alike may see it in a different light once they look at the campaign songs of the two candidates.

  • Hunters of Kentucky                                                     
  • Little Know Ye Who’s Coming                   
  • Song of the Shirt                                                             
  • Shenandoah                                                                      
  • I’m Afloat on the Erie Canal                                       
  • No Irish Need Apply                                                     
  • Hard Times Come Again No More                           

 

Lesson 1: Presidential Election 1824 – The Corrupt Bargain

Guiding Questions:

  1. What influences citizens to choose between candidates?
  2. Who should have won the election of 1824?

Learning Objectives:

After completing this lesson students will:

  1. draw comparisons between candidates, their issues, and their campaign strategies.
  2. analyze political issues and campaign strategies.
  3. evaluate the election results and eventual outcome of the election of 1824.

Lesson Procedures:

Introduce students to the candidates vying for office in 1824 with no detailed background material and discover what students can infer with basic information.  Attached is a chart with the election results deleted and a selection of guiding questions.

 

Provide students with campaign song lyrics for the top two candidates, Adams and Jackson.  After studying the songs, ask students the following discussion questions:

  1. How do the songs differ?
  2. What mood does each song evoke?
  3. What information does each song provide?
  4. Using the lyrics, describe the character and potential of the two candidates.
  5. Based on this additional information, how would you vote?
  6. How did the songs influence your vote or change your original opinion?

Next provide more information regarding the main candidates using the attached chart, complete with qualifications, criticisms, allegations, etc.  Again ask students to examine all information and vote their choice for President.  How have results changed?  Did students change or keep their vote?  Why?  For an extension activity, students can use the Campaign Issues chart to complete using lecture, web quest, Edsitement lesson plans, etc.

 

Finally, allow students to see the election results and explain the voting process, the House of Representatives vote, and Jackson’s claims of corruption.  This is a perfect opportunity to set up future lessons regarding party systems, election reform, and development of the new Democratic Party, demise of the Democratic - Republican Party, and certainly the Presidency of J.Q. Adams, and the Election of 1828.

 

Assessment is informal observation of class discussion, journal writing and question responses.

Resources:

1824 Presidential Candidates

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams

Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: MA

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: TN

William Harris Crawford

William Harris Crawford

Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: GA

Henry Clay

Henry Clay
Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: KY

[source]

  1. What information is available to you
  2. What do you notice about these four candidate
  3. If you lived in New York, Illinois, or Mississippi what would you know about these candidates
  4. What policies or plans do you think these candidates are in favor of or against
  5. Who would you vote for and how did you make this decision?

Presidential Candidates

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams

Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: MA

Secretary of State, former minister to Russia, drafter of the Treaty of Ghent, son of John Adams, President and Statesman, backed by many of the merchants and commercial interests of New England, considered very formal and deliberate in manner, called a bad dresser with an “English” wife

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: TN

Military General and hero of the War of 1812, Battle of New Orleans in 1815, former U.S. Representative and Senator, political views not well known, complete opposite of Adams, seen as down to earth and a man of the people, accused of murder, gambling, dueling, adultery, and being a military tyrant

William Harris Crawford

William Harris Crawford

Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: GA

Secretary of Treasury, former minister to France, former senator from Georgia, former Secretary of War, selected by a caucus of Republican Congressmen rather than in a primary for the general public, considered the favorite, a slaveholder, accused of dishonesty, mismanaging the budget and committing unlawful acts while in office

Henry Clay

Henry Clay
Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: KY

Known as the Great Compromiser, current Speaker of the house, in favor of meeting Western needs such as transportation improvements such as roads and canals, a slaveholder, called a drunkard and a gambler

[source] (Additional information placed on chart)

Extension Activity:

Campaign of 1824: Candidates and Issues

Name

Slavery

Tariff

Internal

Improve-ments

Banking

Public

Land

Policy

Experience

Personal

Adams

 

Clay

 

Crawford

 

Jackson

 

[source]

(Chart altered for this assignment; Edsitement has documents needed to complete chart)

Presidential Candidates

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams

Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: MA
Electoral Votes: 84
Pop. Vote: 113,122 (30.5%)

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: TN
Electoral Votes: 99
Pop. Vote: 151,271 (43.1%)

William Harris Crawford

William Harris Crawford

Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: GA
Electoral Votes: 41
Pop. Vote: 40,856 (13.2%)

Crawford suffers a stroke and though he recuperates before the election, his popularity does not.

Henry Clay

Henry Clay
Party: DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN
Home State: KY
Electoral Votes: 37
Pop. Vote: 47,531 (13.1%)

Since Clay does not garner enough popular or electoral votes , neither he nor Crawford are part of the run off, however, Clay does have an important part in the results of the House of Representatives run off vote.

[source] (Additional information placed on chart)

Teacher Notes Regarding Election and Outcome:

Detailed information can be found here.

Lesson 2: de Tocqueville or Jackson’s America?  Life in the Early 1800s

Guiding Questions:

  1. What jobs were available in the early 1800s and what was the work like?
  2. What technology was available to make work easier?
  3. How did everyday life reflect the changes in the work place?

Learning Objectives:

After completing this lesson students will:

  1. Analyze several primary source songs, art, and other documents regarding life in the 1830s.
  2. Evaluate the working class American society according to de Tocqueville’s observations and Andrew Jackson’s vision.

Lesson Procedures:

  1. After students have been introduced to both de Tocqueville and Jackson’s opinions about America in prior lessons, the class will be given the lyrics to “Oh, Shenandoah.”  If possible play an audio recording. As students listen/read the lyrics, they will write a 4 minute timed journal entry to the following prompt: What images does this song evoke?  What do you think the song is about? Allow students to share ideas.
  2. Explain what a sea chanty is and how this song was used especially on the rivers by Keel boats (flat bottom boats) and along canals.  Other vocabulary might include:
    • Sea Chanty                        
    • Canals                                  
    • Locke                                   
    • Keel Boats          
    • Flat Bottom Boats          
    • Notions
  3. Ask students to pick out several themes or ideas presented by the song such as river transportation, boatmen, sailors, a long journey, etc. After this guided discussion show the students the five images that fit the timber of the song.
  4. Next present the class with the National Archive Song Analysis worksheet, which can be edited to fit your needs.  As a class complete the worksheet.
  5.   Divide the class into pairs or groups, giving each group a song, a recording if possible, and the analysis worksheet.  They will also have to find or create at least five images that help illustrate the song and at least some of the themes or events they defined in the worksheet.  These images can be created, or collected from the internet and put into a storyboard or PowerPoint.  Images copied from outside sources must be documented. 
  6. Songs, analysis, and illustrations are shared with the class with time for questions and discussion.
  7. Finally these “Final Thought” questions must be answered by each individual student and turned in at the end of class:
  • What did America offer people in the early 19th century?
  • What wealth did America posses?
  • Who benefited from this wealth?
  • What did the American Dream look like during this time period?

Extension lessons will continue defining the America that de Tocqueville and Jackson envisioned and can be targeted to any number of specific content areas such as the Banking crisis, the Indian removal Act, the advent of steam engines, expansion of US Territory, etc.

Assessment can be any combination of informal, checking for understanding as well as formal in the form of the group analysis, illustration, and presentation and the “Final Thoughts” questions due at the end of class.

Recordings of "Oh, Shenandoah":

  1. Paul Clayton, “Whaling and Sailing Songs from the Days of Moby Dick”
  2. Bob Dylan, “Down in the Groove”
  3. Pete Seeger, “America’s Favorite Ballads”
  4. Thomas Hampson, “Song of America”
  5. Zesty Seaman Chorus, “Sea Heritage Favorites”
  6. Bruce Springsteen, “We Shall Overcome, The Seeger Sessions”

Resources:

Suggested Songs for Activity:

  1. Song of the Shirt                                                         
  2. The Weaver’s Song,
  3. I’m Afloat on the Erie Canal                  
  4. No Irish Need Apply                                
  5. Old Kentucky Home                     
  6. Angelina Baker                                     
  7. It’s a long John                                                          
  8. Pretty Polly,
  9. Barbara Allen,
  10. Fair and Tender Ladies                  
  11. Round the Corner, Sally   
  12. Turkey in the Straw                                
  13. Long, Long Ago                                                       
  14. Buffalo Gals                                                

Please be aware that many of these songs have archaic vocabulary and many are slave work or minstrel tunes written in dialect.  These terms and genres will need to be discussed with the class with directness, clarity, and in context.  "My Old Kentucky Home" is a perfect example.  It is about a slave being sold away from his family in Kentucky to the Deep South but because of the term Darkie, many people disregard the song as racist rather than a poignant story inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Working Life Project Page

Steps                         Task                                             Due___________

  1. Pick a partner or set up table groups
  2. Get lyrics, recording, analysis worksheet, supplies, etc.
  3. Establish roles and responsibilities for the following:
  4. Type out lyrics
  5. Create vocabulary list with definitions
  6. Identify themes, events, and ideas in song
  7. Complete NARA Song Analysis Worksheet
  8. Determine layout and production of images
  9. Create or locate images
  10. Note all sources for information, images, etc.
  11. Present Working Life song project to class

Each student must Complete these “Final Thought” Questions on the back of this project guide

  1. What did America offer people in the early 19th century?
  2. What wealth did America posses?
  3. Who benefited from this wealth?
  4. What did the American Dream look like during this time period?

Rubric

Requirement

Possible Points

My Opinion

Points Earned

Lyrics

5

Vocabulary

5

Themes, etc.

5

NARA Worksheet

30

Images

30

Notation

15

Presentation

10 and -

Final grade

100

Your observations please:

Lesson 3: “Hard Times Come Again No More” Economic Depressions

Guiding Questions:

  1. What is an economic depression?
  2. What are the leading causes and effects of an economic depression?
  3. How does the economy recover from a depression?

Learning Objectives:

After completing this lesson students will:

  1. Explain the effects of an economic depression on different classes of society.
  2. Satirize the actions of the government regarding the depressions of the early 19th century.

Lesson Procedures:

  1. Class begins with a journal writing activity, 3 minute timed writing to this prompt:  What is an economic depression? Students will have a chance to share responses and get teacher directed definitions.
  2. Next students will look at the political cartoons and as a class discuss the images and its meanings.  One option is to examine one cartoon together then let students look at the others on their own or in pairs.
  3. Handout the lyrics to “Hard Times Come Again No More," 1855 by Stephen Foster and have students look at the images again.
  4. In pairs and using available classroom resources  such as the internet, textbooks, etc., Have students complete the Depression Study Guide.
  5. Once the study guide is complete, re-examine the song lyrics, discuss the study guide answers and how all of this related to the working class.  Let each student pick one aspect of the depressions examined and create a political cartoon clearly illustrating their point.
  6. Extensions can include researching other songs written about this time period, comparing this depression to future economic crises in the U.S., ramifications of the depression on future elections, and the effects depression and government response had on business practices, labor relations, business expectations and government regulations.

Resources:

Definitions of Economic depression on the Web:


Definition 1
Definition 2

 

Depression Study Guide

Complete with a partner using available resources.

  1. What happened to the U.S. Banking system?
  2. What was President Van Buren’s response to the Bank crisis?
  3. Why did he choose this response?
  4. How did the economy respond to the crisis and the President’s actions?
  5. What year does the Depression officially begin?
  6. What are the official causes of the depression?
  7. How does the economy begin to recover?
  8. What affect did this depression have on working Americans?
  9. What year does this first Depression officially end?
  10. What is the difference between a “Depression” and a “Panic”?
  11. When did the next Panic begin in the US?
  12. Why did this event occur?
  13. What did the Ohio Life Insurance and trust Co. have to do with the Panic?
  14. What else caused the market economy to decline?
  15. What does speculation mean?
  16. How would speculating contribute to economic crisis?
  17. What parts of the country were hardest/least hit?
  18. What thinking/beliefs did this phenomenon create?
  19. What was the government response?
  20. Which was worse, 1837 or 1857?  Why?