The Crossing

The Crossing is a dramatization of George Washington's brilliant victory at Trenton the day after Christmas in 1776. Had the desperate Continental Army not attempted to surprise the Hessians at Trenton or had the Hessians won the battle, the American Revolution would probably have failed. This engagement, between a little more than 3,000 men, was a turning point in history.

In order to present more history, the screenwriter has changed a number of the details and subsidiary events. However, the The Crossing gets the broad scenario right. It presents the desperate situation of the Continental Army and of the Revolution. It shows Washington's resolve to make a last ditch effort to show that American soldiers could defeat the British Empire's best troops. The movie brings to life the frigid crossing of the river, the miserable march to Trenton, the battle, and the victory. Washington, often seen as distant and aloof, is presented as a human being contending with vastly superior British forces, a crumbling army, and resistance to his leadership from some of his fellow generals.

Watch the film here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTzKaUgdfKs

Be sure to be familiar with the major characters:

George Washington

Alexander Hamilton

John Glover

Hugh Mercer

Henry Knox

Johann Rall

Make some notes regarding these major characters and the events of the story. Do a little research online and through your textbook to see how close the details of the film match the general consensus regarding the history. We will discuss this in class.

As well, read the links below and consider the portrayal of Rall in the film in contrast to the reading. Be prepared to discuss this contrast in the context of the writing of history.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2015/01/11/patriots-celebrate-the-real-story-of-washingtons-decisive-christmas-attack-at-trenton/

https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/04/the-hessians-who-escaped-washingtons-trap-at-trenton/

Colonial Assignment

The History of the Thirteen Colonies

You will be creating a PowerPoint presentation that should be between eight to ten minutes. It will cover one of the Thirteen Colonies, possibly an Ivy League school and a colonial personality or two. Each individual has been assigned three items.

See the list below. You will find your initials beside the items you are responsible for:

Colonies:

Virginia - TStef
Massachusetts - DL
New Hampshire - RW
Maryland - MO
Connecticut - JC
Rhode Island - EW
Delaware - LP
North Carolina - JB
South Carolina - BS
New Jersey - AC
New York - KS
Pennsylvania - TS 
Georgia - SK

Ivy League Schools:

• Brown - JC
• Columbia - RW
• Cornell - SC
• Dartmouth - SK
• Harvard - AC
• Penn - TS
• Princeton - LP
• Yale - TStef


Colonial Personality:

•Roger Williams - SK
•John Winthrop - TS
•Thomas Hooker - RW
•William Penn - SC
•John Harvard - KS
•James Pierpont - 
•Eleazar Wheelock - EW
•William Pitt - JB
•Anne Hutchinson - KS
•John Smith - DL
•Crispus Attucks - JB
•James Madison - LP
•Thomas Jefferson - TStef
•George Washington - AC
•Benjamin Franklin - BS
•John Jay - MO
•John Hancock - DL

•Alexander Hamilton - SC
•John Glover - JC
•Hugh Mercer - MO
•Horatio Gates - BS

•Patrick Henry - EW

When working on a colony, identify the following:

• Year founded
• Who founded it?
• Describe the culture of the colony (i.e. What kind of work did people do there? Where were the largest groups of settlers come from? Was there a special purpose in forming the colony? What was the colony known for?)
• Population data from inception to 1776

When working on an Ivy League school, identify the following:

•Year founded
•Who founded it?
•What was the mission of the institution? Does it remain the same today?
•Student population from inception to today
•What are some unique features of the institution?
•Why do students go there?

When working on a personality, identify the following:

•birth, death, age
•place of birth
•family background growing up
•marriage and children
•contribution/significance to American history
•personal character
•other items of interest

***PLEASE NOTE: On your final slide, provide your sources in APA format. See the link below for help with this.

http://stpauls-mb.libguides.com/citations/APA

Here is a quick reference table for the colonies, their founders and their dates of origin

http://americanhistory.about.com/library/charts/blcolonial13.htm

PRESENTATIONS BEGIN ON Monday, December 16, 2019

See the scoring guide below. Each category is out of 10 for a total presentation grade out of 40.:

Presentation Rubric
Points	Required Elements	Organization	Slideshow	Delivery
9-10	Met all elements/ Comprehensive coverage of elements	Ideas well organized and fit together seamlessly united by an expressly identified purpose	Easy to read, clear text, relevant visuals, one idea per slide	Well paced, strong voice, clear articulation, eye contact with audience/ speaking without reading notes
7-8	Did not meet one or two elements/Strong coverage of elements	Ideas organized and fit together well. Purpose clear but may be implied instead of overtly stated.	One of text or visuals need improvement, one idea per slide	One of pace, voice, articulation, eye contact need improvement/ speaking without reading notes
5-6	Missing many elements/General coverage of elements	Ideas organized and somewhat related. Purpose implied.	One of text or visuals need improvement, two or more ideas per slide	Two of pace, voice, articulation, eye contact need improvement/ may be reading slides
3-4	Majority of elements missing/ Superficial coverage of elements	Ideas clear but do not seem to fit together. Purpose lacking.	Both text and visuals need improvement, too many ideas per slide	Three of pace, voice, articulation, eye contact need improvement/ may be reading slides
1-2	Most elements missing/Scant coverage of elements	Haphazard organization	Text need improvement, lacking relevant visuals, too many   ideas per slide	Pace, voice, and articulation, eye contact need improvement/may be reading slides

How Englishmen Became Americans - Essay Assignment

Assignment: 

Read Chapter 2 and 3 of the Textbook.

Supplement your reading with the following summary of an article by Current, Williams, and Friedel (1972) entitled, "Englishmen Become Americans and Gain Their Independence." Much like the readings for Chapter 2 and 3 of the textbook, these notes provide a context for the underlying causes of the independence movement. 

Essay Question:

What was the most significant cause of the War of Independence?

Due Date: Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Englishmen Become Americans and Gain Their Independence

• The colonies were largely made up of "transplanted" Englishmen who identified with England largely except for a few specific matters
• As such, these individuals saw themselves as creating a "better" England with "greater opportunities for personal happiness"

As time went on, America developed more of its own character distinct from England. The three reasons for this "divergence between the culture of the colonies and that of the homeland," was:

• Colonists were generally more "discontented" and/or more "adventurous" people than their English counterparts back home. They saw negative aspects of their native home and were prepared to do something about it to change their own lives.
• They were frontiersmen. The new environment they chose to live in brought new "challenges and opportunities" that were not necessarily best met by the old ways of England.
• Although the English dominated, there was enough diversity in the colonies to cause the development of a new culture.

There was also diversity on another level -- Americans became and largely remain provincial people. The colonies developed their own distinctive characters and regions. There were the New England colonies, the middle colonies of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and the Southern colonies (which themselves could be divided between the tobacco colonies and the others).
These unique circumstances created "Americans" -- a people who thought of their "country" as being their colony first, their region second, and their place as British subjects third. This mindset put the colonists directly at odds with Britain after New France fell, as the Empire attempted to govern more directly over all of British North America. Their opposition to England gave them a strong common bond that led to political allegiance and finally morphed into a full blown revolution designed to secure their liberty from the greatest political and military force the world had ever known.
While the battles, weaponry, and casualties were small when compared to warfare today, the consequences of the Revolutionary War were significant and far reaching. It was the first backlash to colonialism. It gave birth to a new nation bound together not by a sense of tribalism but instead rooted in faith, freedom, and the "pursuit of happiness". Most importantly, this great experiment in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people served as a beacon to the world.

Lucky Thirteen? Maybe Not...But Oh So Free and Happy

Read the material below and complete the textbook readings for Friday, December 6, 2019. Be prepared for a possible pop quiz based on the readings and this blog entry.

This blog entry is a supplemental to part of a previous class discussion regarding the colonial world from which America sprung. What follows attempts to explain the context in which the colonies grew. To get an idea of the colonial world in which the settlers found themselves, we must consider the way the world looked in 1620 when the Mayflower sailed.

Britain, France, and Spain were the preeminent European powers of the world. With their navies and exploratory forays, they were able to map the world in a high stakes, competitive race. This race was based on political and economic expansion. Each country would seek out new lands and claim them for their own. They would populate the new lands with their own people who would often brave unfamiliar conditions and tenuous relationships with the indigenous population of the area.

Ultimately, they used the raw materials they could find and harvested them for sale around the world or for their own use. Later, they made value added products by using the raw material to make something for sale (like the popular fur hats the beaver was trapped for in New France). We refer to this process and the battle between these nations as colonialism or imperialism .

The link below provides you with a very general overview of the history of European colonialism, which can be traced back to the 1400's. Over the years, the Spanish, British, French, and even the Dutch planted colonies in North America.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=2

Also read pages 10-15 in the textbook to supplement this material.

Here is a diagram that explains one aspect of how colonialism and the movement of goods worked.

http://www.landofthebrave.info/images/triangular-trade-route-map.jpg

By 1664, James II (at the time the Duke of York and Albany) had taken New Netherland by force and renamed it New York. By 1825, Spain had lost all of its colonies in North America as a result of independence movements. There was even a Swedish colony (New Sweden existed from 1638-1655 in parts of what today is Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania), but it was quickly conquered by the Dutch.


Along the eastern coastline of North America, it was the British colonies - the Thirteen Colonies that made up what would become the United States.


These colonies were unique in that they were fiercely independent of each other and had their own laws and even different ways of governing themselves. But they shared a belief in democracy and individual freedom. This ultimately put them at odds with Britain and led to the American Revolution in 1776. It also helps to explain New Hampshire's state motto which appears to this day on their automobile tags - "Live Free or Die."

The colonies were founded between 1607 (Jamestown -- Virginia) and 1732 (Georgia). They are generally divided into three groups:


The New England Colonies:


•Rhode Island
•Massachusetts
•Connecticut
•New Hampshire


The Middle Colonies:


•New Jersey
•Pennsylvania
•Delaware
•New York

The Southern Colonies



•North Carolina
•South Carolina
•Georgia
•Virginia
•Maryland

Also read pages 16-31 in the textbook to supplement this material.