George Washington and Abraham Lincoln

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln

in the American Memory

By Cliff Smith

Level: Intermediate Elementary

Length: 2 days

Colorado State Standards

History / *Analyze historical sources from multiple points of view to develop an understanding of historical context.
*Analyze and interpret historical sources to ask and research historical questions.
Civics / *The origins, structure, and functions of the United States government.
Reading / *Literary texts are understood and interpreted using a range of strategies
*Ideas found in a variety of informational texts need to be compared and understood
Research and Reasoning / *High-quality research requires information that is organized and presented with documentation.
*Identifying and evaluating concepts and ideas have implications and consequences.
*Quality reasoning requires asking questions and analyzing and evaluating viewpoints.

Overview:Throughout American history people in the United States have known about many people that have made positive or negative differences in our lives. Through the passage of time we, as a nation, have chosen to remember those individuals in various ways. These individuals have been immortalized in art, monuments, books and in many other ways.

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are two of the most revered figures from American History. Their contributions to the nation we call home is legendary. The purpose of this lesson is to present various memories of these individuals and analyze how the American people have remembered them.

The essential questions: 1.How are people portrayed in our history?

2.Are people portrayed by the way they handled difficult situations or for some other reason?

Objectives:

1. Students will be able to recognize and identify the two individuals in the art print.

1. Students will be able to read and analyze two documents about the lives of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

1. Students will be able to understand and discuss why these two famous Americans are memorialized in the art print in this manner.

1. Students will be able to discuss the symbolism shown in the art print.

1. Students will be able to choose important people in their own lives and illustrate how they would choose to remember those people.

Activity One: Read and Analyze

1. As a classroom group read the two documents. This can be done individually or as a whole group. Primary Source #1 is aletter written by Abraham Lincoln. The second, a secondary source from the White House Website about George Washington.

1. Classroom discussion should include the following items:
2. Each student individually or as a whole class should be able to list 5-10 things that were most important from each of these articles.
3. Why do you think these articles were written? Each had different reasons.
4. Name 5-8 things that the documents tell you about life in the United States at the time they were written.
5. Are there any unanswered questions from the documents that you or the students would like to know?

1. The purpose of the reading of these two documents is to provide some background instruction on the two individuals whose image will be analyzed in the second part of this lesson.

Activity Two: Compare, Contrast and Analyze

1. Teacher should distribute copies of the art print (Primary Source #2) to each student.

1. Teacher should then distribute copies of the graphic organizers:

Poster Analysis Worksheet and the Photograph Analysis worksheet.

1. After each student has analyzed the print and completed the sheets on their own, pair the students up with someone and have them collaborate on the results of their analysis.

1. As a classroom group, list the discovered items from the print and discuss with the students why they believe that their analysis is important.

1. Classroom Discussion should include the following:
2. Why were the items that the students answered important to the theme of the lesson?
3. Are the leaders of the past remembered differently than those of today?
4. How would you remember the leaders of today? Would they be remembered in the same way as those of our past? Why or why not?

Websites that include various background materials for the lesson:

Extension Activity:

Think about how you would want to be remembered. Choose two people from history or from your own life. Plan and illustrate a poster that would show how you remember them. Be sure to include different items and/or symbols that remind you of those important people. Remember to think about how other people would be avble to understand your work.

SOURCES

PRIMARY SOURCE #1

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN LETTER

December 20, 1859

Lincoln wrote this second autobiography for Jesse Fell, a long-time Illinois Republican friend who was a native of Pennsylvania. Fell used his influence to get the piece incorporated in an article appearing in a Pennsylvania newspaper on February 11, 1860. Lincoln enclosed the autobiography in a letter to Fell which said, "There is not much of it, for the reason, I suppose, that there is not much of me."

I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families-- second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams, and others in Macon Counties, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky, about 1781 or 2, where, a year or two later, he was killed by indians, not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks County, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New-England family of the same name ended in nothing more definite, than a similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like.

My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age; and he grew up, litterally [sic] without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals, still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so called; but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond "readin, writin, and cipherin" to the Rule of Three. If a straggler supposed to understand latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizzard [sic]. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three; but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.

I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At twenty one I came to Illinois, and passed the first year in Macon County. Then I got to New-Salem (at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County), where I remained a year as a sort of Clerk in a store. Then came the Black-Hawk war; and I was elected a Captain of Volunteers--a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went the campaign, was elated, ran for the Legislature the same year (1832) and was beaten--the only time I ever have been beaten by the people. The next, and three succeeding biennial elections, I was elected to the Legislature. I was not a candidate afterwards. During this Legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield to practise it. In 1846 I was once elected to the lower House of Congress. Was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854, both inclusive, practiced law more assiduously than ever before. Always a whig in politics, and generally on the whig electoral tickets, making active canvasses--I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.

If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said, I am, in height, six feet, four inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weighing on an average one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coarse black hair, and grey eyes--no other marks or brands recollected.

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SECONDARY SOURCE

George Washington

On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. "As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent," he wrote James Madison, "it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles."

Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.

He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.

From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life. But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations. As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions.

When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.

He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He reported to Congress, "we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn." Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies--he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not functioning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President.

He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. But the determination of foreign policy became preponderantly a Presidential concern. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to accept entirely the recommendations of either his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British. Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course until the United States could grow stronger.

To his disappointment, two parties were developing by the end of his first term. Wearied of politics, feeling old, he retired at the end of his second. In his Farewell Address, he urged his countrymen to forswear excessive party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances.

Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799. For months the Nation mourned him.

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PRIMARY SOURCE #2

Photo/Print Analysis Worksheet

Step 1. Observation
A. / Study the photograph/print for 5 minutes. Form an overall impression of the photograph and then examine individual items. Next, divide the photo into quadrants and study each section to see what new details become visible.
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B. / Use the chart below to list people, objects, and activities in the photograph.
People / Objects / Activities
Step 2. Inference
Based on what you have observed above, list three things you might infer from this print.
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Step 3. Questions
A. / What questions does this photograph/print raise in your mind?
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B. / Where could you find answers to them?
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Poster Analysis Worksheet

1. / What are the main colors used in the poster?
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2. / What symbols (if any) are used in the poster?
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3. / If a symbol is used, is it

1. clear (easy to interpret)? ______
2. memorable? ______
3. dramatic? ______

4. / Are the messages in the poster primarily visual, verbal, or both?
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5. / Who do you think is the intended audience for the poster?
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6. / What does the Government hope the audience will do?
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7. / What Government purpose(s) is served by the poster?
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8. / The most effective posters use symbols that are unusual, simple, and direct. Is this an effective poster?
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Designed and developed by the
Education Staff, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC 20408.

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