Jefferson, the Barbary War, and 9/11: Analyzing Constitutional Principles and Evaluating How America Goes to War
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Jefferson, the Barbary War, and 9/11: Analyzing Constitutional Principles and Evaluating how America Goes to War Title: Jefferson, the Barbary War, and 9/11: Analyzing Constitutional Principles and Evaluating how America Goes to War. Descriptive Subtitle: The Barbary War has often been overlooked in the study of American history, but there were significant precedents established by the decision made to take America into it’s first foreign war. In this lesson students will examine the decision to engage in the Barbary War and assess if Thomas Jefferson acted within the powers appointed to him as commander in chief, and then evaluate the impact of these actions on America’s response to the 9/11 attacks. The goal for students to see how both wars were started without necessarily following the procedures laid out in the constitution. No formal declaration of war was made in either case, but both lasted for several years while primarily being directed by the executive with little congressional oversight which contradicts the intent of the Constitution. Grade Level: High School (9-12) U.S. History or Government Author Information: Name: Jeff Carter Email: [email protected] School: Central High School City: St. Joseph State: Missouri Duration: 60 min Standards: Advanced Placement United States History Curriculum Framework Key Concept 3.2 III B: Political leaders in the 1790s took a variety of positions on issues such as the relationship between the national government and the states, economic policy, foreign policy, and the balance between liberty and order. This led to the formation of political parties—most significantly the Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Key Concept 4.1 I A: In the early 1800s, national political parties continued to debate issues such as the tariff, powers of the federal government, and relations with European powers. Objectives: Students will examine the entry of the United States into the Barbary Wars and compare it to the American response to 9/11 and the War on terror. Students will assess if the actions of the executive and legislative branch are line with the principles established by the U.S. Constitution. Students will be analyzing primary source documents to determine factual information, context, make connections, and determine the significance. Overview: During this lesson the students will be using the following learning strategies: (more specific instructions can be found within the lesson plan) Think, Pair, Share · Students will create an individual response to a prompt, then share their response with a partner, and then conclude with a whole group discussion of the prompt FACT Method for primary source analysis · Students will complete a graphic organizer to analyze a primary source document using the FACT Method organizer: F – Find the Facts, A – Add the history, C – Connect the information to relevant content, T – Tell the significance of the topic. More specific instructions can be found on the graphic organizer document located at the end of this document Exit Ticket · Student learning and understanding will be assessed at the end of the lesson when students respond to a writing prompt that measures if the learning objective has been mastered. This lesson fits within the framework of the AP U.S. History Course Framework, which is typically offered to juniors in high school. The standards that are focused upon center around the development of debates about interpreting the war powers of the constitution. At this point the the constitution has been adopted and the challenge facing the leaders of the young nation was to determine the meaning of the constitution and how to apply those interpretations to the inevitable crises that develop. This lesson could be easily adopted to fit within an AP Government/Government course when examining the powers of the executive branch or the president’s role as commander in chief of the military. Prior knowledge: By this point in the school year students will have previously studied the development of the United States Constitution, and the early implementation and development of federal power under Presidents Washington and Adams. Prior to the lesson students will have been expected to have taken Cornell notes over an article about the Barbary War that is available on the monticello.org website (and also located at the end of this document). This background will allow students to have the context to analyze the circumstances surrounding the Barbary War. Lesson Plan Steps: 1. Students will read the article about the Barbary Wars located at the monticello.org website prior to the lesson as a homework assignment This will provide the students with the context necessary to examine the issues created by the Barbary War. Students will be required to complete Cornell notes of the reading prior to the lesson. (Completed outside of the classroom, 15-20 minutes to complete homework assignment) 2. Anticipatory Set: Students will be introduced to the subject by first watching George W. Bush’s address to the nation on the evening of the 9/11 attacks. The class will be asked to think, pair, share about the possible connections between 9/11 and the Barbary War. Students will craft their own thoughts independently, and then share those ideas with a partner in small group conversations. The small group discussion will then transition into a whole class discussion about the potential connections between the two events. Student responses may be recorded on chart paper or a white board. (10-15 minutes) 3. The instructor will then direct students towards an examination of the U.S. Constitution and powers relating to the declaration of war. The students will then examine Article 1 Section 8 10-14, and Article 2 Section 2 1-2 of the Constitution. The class as a whole will read through these sections of the constitution together and highlight the powers associated with declaring war. The purpose would be to establish the procedures for deciding if the nation should be taken to war. (10 minutes) 4. At this point we will connect these constitutional principles to the use of military force for the first time in a foreign nation. The students will be introduced to the text from Thomas Jefferson first state of the union address in which he reports on the status of the Barbary War. Students will analyze the document using the FACT method graphic organizer. Instructions for how use the graphic organizer are located within the document. (15-20 minutes) 5. After completing the graphic organizer, we will conclude the lesson with a discussion of Jefferson’s actions during the Barbary War and assess if he conducted it within the powers granted him by the Constitution. Finally, to assess student learning they will be given an exit ticket prompt in which they will craft their own argument about what steps should be taken before the United States enters into war. (10-15 minutes) Materials: The First Barbary War – An Article from the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia located at https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/first-barbary-war Full text available at the end of this document as well Video of George W. Bush’s address to the nation on the evening of the 9/11 attacks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbqCquDl4k4 Full text available at the end of this document as well All of these additional documents are located at the end of this lesson plan: Think, Pair, Share writing prompt for the George W. Bush video U.S. Constitution excerpts detailing war powers of the Legislative and Executive Branch Thomas Jefferson’s First State of the Union Address FACT Method Graphic Organizer and Scoring Guide Exit Ticket – Question prompt students will complete before the end of the class period Assessment: Students will be assessed formatively based upon responses during periods of class discussion and observation during independent work. Summative assessment will occur by a scoring of the students completed graphic organizers and exit tickets to measure if the stated objective has been met. Assessment Criteria: Learning and understanding will be assessed by evaluating their responses to the graphic organizer, the rubric is located at the end of this document. The exit tickets will be used as tool to check to see if students can properly demonstrate a mastery of the stated objectives of the lesson. Mastery will be achieved if they can make accurate and factually supported arguments demonstrating the connections between the Barbary War and the response to 9/11 attack. Accommodations: There are several ways in which this lesson could be modified and adapted to a variety of different learning abilities. There are more concise accounts of the Barbary War available if the article from Monticello.org is too lengthy or challenging for a group of readers. One of the links below connects to an article more appropriate for a junior high student, and another presents the war as list of key events and activities in a short concise manner. The presentation of the material could be modified to meet easily to address the needs of a variety of students. In AP course students would be expected to read the challenging texts independently and draw their own conclusions. If these texts were to be used in a classroom with different abilities the instructor could read the passages aloud and offer guiding questions and statements to help students understand the concepts. The passages selected from the documents could also be shortened but may require the instructor to provide a greater context to the students with direct instruction. Links to sources that can accommodate greater variety of learning abilities: · Junior reading level account of the Barbary Wars: Barbary Wars · Quick fact sheet about the Barbary Wars for a timeline of key events: Fact Sheet The First Barbary War An article courtesy of the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia When Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated in March of 1801, he inherited troubled relations with the Barbary states — the Ottoman Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, along with independent Morocco.