tlp_09_dmbrown

=Lesson Page=

Dana Marie Brown, Malden Public Schools


Dana Marie's Primary Source Page

//Dana Marie Brown// //Malden// //High School// //9th Grade United States History I// //Teaching American History Grant: Becoming America//


 * __Introduction:__**

As the Framers sat down to write the Constitution in 1787, they included a Preamble or an Introduction that established the purpose of the document for the citizens of the United States of America. The Preamble began, “We the People of the United States…” As we discussed in previous chapters, //We the People// was a pleasant opening, but also misleading. As you have learned, //we the people// never meant to include women or African Americans at the time. In fact, leading into the mid 1800’s it still did not in many areas. Your task throughout this lesson will be to identify who //We the People// includes in this time of great Reform in America.

By 1860, the United States was home to nearly 3 million Irish and German immigrants. While the wealthier, Protestant Germans were able to find a place in the American fabric, poor Irish Catholics were faced with constant discrimination. The attitudes towards the Irish were expressed openly by nativists who felt threatened by the new immigrants. What emerged was a political party which openly discriminated against immigrants: the Know Nothings. In addition, these views were expressed more publicly using media that reached a wider audience. Through newspaper editorials, advertisements, posters, and cartoons Americans were exposed to ethnic stereotypes and exaggerated images that targeted the newly arrived Irish. As newspapers and magazines increased in number and decreased in price, more and more people gained access to these images.


 * __Background:__** Students will have already completed a lesson on the reasons for Irish immigration (push and pull factors), what it means to be a nativist, and the creation of the Know Nothing party. They will have done a portion of the TAHG lesson Know Nothings and will have a working knowledge of the party's platform.


 * __Unit Essential Question__:** How did immigration affect American conceptions of “We the People?

mid to late 1800’s? How does Irish immigration affect the idea of “We the People”? How has what being America means changed over time?
 * __Lesson Essential Question:__** How did natives view and respond to Irish immigration to America in the

· analyze political cartoons for views of Irish immigrants. · describe nativist responses to Irish immigration. · identify who is included in //We the People// during the reform era. · trace //We the People// over time.
 * __Objective/Students will be able to:__**


 * __Introduction/Do Now:__** In 3-4 sentences, students will answer the following question: //What is an American?//
 * __Process:__**

1. Students will complete a Frayer Model Vocabulary organizer for the word “American”. In addition to coming up with a definition of American and the characteristics of Americans, they will be able to provide examples and non examples of the term.

2. Teacher will model “marking up” of "Riots in the City of Brotherly Love", keeping in mind the key question: How did natives respond to Irish immigration to the United States? The teacher will have a couple of students come up to the overhead (or document viewer) to model their marking up techniques. Students will then be instructed to complete the reading and talking to the text on their own. []

3. Using the above reading and the visual: //Kensington Riots//, s tudents will complete a Concept/Event Map http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/PDFs/ConceptEvent_Map.pdf on the Kensington riots (who, what, when, where, why and how?). They will summarize in 2 sentences the event and answer the following: What does this photo show us about the way the Irish were treated in the United States.

4.Students will view the cartoon, “[|Uncle Sam’s Lodging House]” and complete an I/See It Means. After completing the I See and It Means portion, they will pair/share before summarizing the cartoon in 2 sentences.

Note: Translated from the Siecle of Paris for readers in Massachusetts. EUROPEAN SPECULATIONS ON KNOW-NOTHINGISM from the Boston Daily Atlas May 17, 1855 Vol. XXIII Issue 271 pg2 **Excerpt 1** The Know Nothings boldly place themselves as a break-water before the waves of emigration which menace to subvert the institutions of the Unites States, and to designate them by a name which indicates their object, they are the American party. **Excerpt 2** Emigration has always contributed a large proportion to the increase of the population of the United States, which in seventy-two years has grown from three to twenty-five millions, of whom twenty-one millions are free. This stream does not pour in without bringing with it a large proportion of mud, but after a few years of repose, the new and the old waters have mingled without any perceptible change. This is no longer so, in the opinion of the Know Nothings. Each year witnesses the landing on the shores of the United States, of half a million of emigrants, who, prematurely invested with civil and political rights, participate in the exercise of popular sovereignty before becoming, in a sufficient manner, familiar with the laws and institutions of their new country. From this condition of throgs have arisen the //Know Nothings//, of whom we must not judge by their name only. Why this name has been chosen we cannot precisely say, and are inclined to the opinion, that it is a name submitted to rather than self-imposed,... **Excerpt 3** As we have said, the American party seeks neither to suspend nor to turn aside this current of emigration; it demands only that political rights shall be conceded with more prudence and maturity to the new comers. It is principally against the Irish that the precautions demanded by the American party are urged. In the eyes of this party, they are guilty of two wrongs; they are hostile to the English element, and although to a less degree, to the German element which prevails in the North West, and they are Roman Catholics. **Excerpt 4** In Massachusetts, the Know-Nothings have declared themselves in favor of emancipation, while elsewhere they have declared for the observance of the Fugitive Slave law. We are inclined to the belief that even in the matter of Cuba, it is not the extension given to the slave States that displeases the majority of the party, so much as the large infusion of Spanish blood and the Roman Catholic influences. **Go in Depth** - Download the full article.
 * Primary Source #3 **
 * Note: ** The four excerpts above have been highlighted in yellow in the PDF document. Use the zoom function in Acrobat Reader to more easily view text.

3. Students will complete an “I See it Means” on the cartoon “[|The Day we Celebrate]”. Summarize how the Irish immigrants are depicted in this cartoon. Identify the point of view of the author.

5. The final cartoon is “[|The Mortar of Assimilation]”. Answer their opening question (What is an American?) again based on this cartoon. According to the author, who is an American and who is not?

Printed media enabled different points of view to be expressed in the 19th century. The impact of nativist views was investigated in the accent of the American party in 1854 an through to the political satire of cartoons up to 1889. Do the views of the Irish change? Support your answer with evidence from the cartoons and reading. How about today? Do Americans still hold nativist views?
 * Conclusion:**

url}?f=print|print this page