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Lesson Plans
The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society ©2001
by Gary B. Nash and Julie Roy Jeffrey John B. Howe, Peter J. Frederick, Allen F. Davis, Allan M. Winkler
Focus Lesson 8
Chapter 12: "Shaping America in the Antebellum Age"
AP* Course Description
- Age of Jackson, 1828–1848
- Democracy and the "common man"
- Expansion of suffrage
- Rotation in office
- Second party system
- Democratic Party
- Whig Party
- Internal improvements and states' rights and the Maysville Road veto
- The Nullification Crisis
- Tariff issue
- The Union: Calhoun and Jackson
- The Bank War: Jackson and Biddle
- Martin Van Buren
- Independent treasury system
- Panic of 1837
- Democracy and the "common man"
- Creating an American Culture
- Utopian experiments; Mormons, Oneida Community
- Transcendentalists
- Reform crusades
- Feminism: roles of women in the nineteenth century
- Abolitionism
- Temperance
- Criminals and the insane
Key Components
- Instructor's Guide: pp. 58–61
- Study Guide, Vol. I to 1877: pp. 102–111
- Test Bank: pp. 187–203
Key Web Sites
Given the changing nature of the Internet, you may wish to preview these sites. Always check for updated links to U.S. history sites.
- Biography of Andrew Jackson
- Trail of Tears: North Georgia History
- Selections from the National American Women's Suffrage Association Collection
- Women's International Center
- National Women's History Project
- Influence of Prominent Abolitionists
- In Search of Tocqueville's Democracy in America
Key Words and Terms
- American Temperance Society
- Exposition and Protest
- Webster-Hayne debate
- The Book of Mormon
- Webster v. Georgia
- Force Bill
- American Anti-Slavery Society
- Whig Party
- specie circular
- Sarah Grimké
- Cherokee
- Dorothea Dix
- Oneida
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Nicholas Biddle
- Robert Owen
- Theodore Dwight Weld
- Sojourner Truth
- ethnocultural politics
- perfectionism
- spiritualism
- immediatists
- John C. Calhoun
- Tariff of Abominations
- Joseph Smith
- Indian Removal Act
- Nullification Crisis
- Compromise Tariff
- National Trades Union
- gag rule
- Panic of 1837
- Trail of Tears
- Transcendentalism
- Henry Highland Garnet
- Seneca Falls Conference
- Herman Melville
- Henry David Thoreau
- Alexis de Tocqueville
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
- Lucretia Mott
- William Lloyd Garrison
- millennialism
- communitarianism
- abolitionists
- nonresistance
Suggested Pacing
Allow one week to teach this chapter.
Test Strategy
Another type of essay found on the AP* U.S. History exam is the persuasive essay, sometimes referred to as the argument essay. The writer attempts to defend an opinion or to convince others to accept his/her position on an issue. The thesis statement presents the opinion or the position and the body of the essay presents the support—logical reasons, examples, facts, and details. The tone must be authoritative, logical, and reasonable. The Test Bank presents a number of suggestions for essays; it might be useful to duplicate some of them and have students determine which call for persuasive essays.
Key Concepts
Chapter 12 looks at the political, economic, social, and cultural changes of the 1830s and 1840s as a whole and makes the point that the emergence of Jacksonian democracy and social reform movements had more in common than many historians have thought. The authors of the text look at the political developments of the Age of Jackson through the lens of social and ethnocultural analysis; the latter is most probably new to your students. The religious and reform movements of the period are interpreted as socioeconomic phenomena. Of particular importance is the analysis of the abolition movement and its split into factions.
Summing Up Student Understanding
Have students practice writing a timed essay. Assign one of the topics presented in the Instructor's Guide on p. 104, under the heading "Practice in Historical Thinking Skills" or use the following essay prompt:
Why is it both accurate and inaccurate to claim that "the common man" elected Andrew Jackson to the Presidency? Use evidence from the graph on p. 365, the handbill on p. 366, and the drawing on p. 367 in your essay.
Use the following evaluative tool to help students identify the strengths and areas that need improvement in their essay writing. Students might be required to grade their own essays or to exchange with a peer for review. You might consider having students build their skills incrementally by instructing them to concentrate on just one aspect of essay writing for a couple of essays and then add another area every two or three essays until they have worked with developing all the elements of an essay.
ESSAY EVALUATION CHECKLIST
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
You might also find these additional readings useful in developing students' background knowledge or for DBQ activities:
- American Issues: Vol. I to 1877, edited by Unger and Tomes—Chapters 8, 10, and 11
- The Power of Words: Vol. I to 1877, edited by Breen—Chapters 11 and 12
- Constructing the American Past, Vol. I, edited by Gorn, Roberts, and Bilhartz—Chapter 10
- American Experiences: Vol. I to 1877, edited by Roberts and Olson (secondary source readings)—Part Five