Early National Period: 1800-1848

After a decade of domestic debates and foreign threats, America enters the 19th century ready to expand and prove that its experiment with democracy would be permanent. A series of president from Virginia (the Virginia Dynasty of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe) help the nation expand to the West and fend off a British threat in the War of 1812. The First Industrial Revolution helps transform the nation's economy and strengthen a national economy while simultaneously increasing sectional differences between North, South and West. New political debates emerge, as issues such as tariffs, federal power, and the ever growing issue of slavery present challenges to new political parties.  By the 1840s, Americans continued looking westward to expand while also considering how to improve the America they already have, sparking reform movements in areas such as education, temperance, religion, and abolition. 

• Assessing Jefferson's Presidency

  • I give students this Jefferson's Ideologies overview  first (as homework or mini lesson) and have them formulate assertions about his ideologies in groups 

• Louisiana Purchase Deal or No Deal 

• Louisiana Purchase Google Map analysis

• War of 1812 Varying Viewpoints  

• War of 1812 debate

• Market Revolution 

  • Shark Tank Market Revolution

• • Market Revolution Cause/Effect: I start by having students compare the excerpts by Howe and Sellers to frame the lesson. Then I put them in groups and give them the Google doc with facts about the Market Revolution. They have to create some sort of visual with them, illustrating causes and effects of economic growth.

  • Market Revolution interactive

• Monroe Doctrine Adviser simulation  with powerpoint

• Era of Good Feelings Stations

• Sectionalism vs Nationalism after the War of 1812

• Missouri Compromise simulation

  • slave state cards

  • free state cards

  • slideshow

• Jackson

  • Age of Jackson Menu assignment

  • Jackson stations

  • Jackson debate sources and debate groups--putting Jackson on trial/top 5 or bottom 5 president/should he be on the $20?

  • Jackson Choice Assignment 

  • Grading Jackson's Presidency

  • Nullification Crisis Analysis

  • Antebellum reform Speed Dating and Reformer Profile or Coffee House  with handout

  • Antebellum Reforms Stations

  • Interpretations of Slavery--I give each student 1-2 sources and have them do a doc analysis. Then in groups they compare sources to discuss different views on slavery, put them in context, discuss why different views emerged and the significance of these different views in Antebellum America

    • alternative sourcing activity

  • Life of the enslaved Stations

  • Marshall Court Activity: I like to make a March Madness bracket and do a Marshall Court Madness tournament. Kids really get into it. You can create brackets here. Kids can research cases and their significance or they can be responsible for promoting a specific case to be “champion.” Suggested cases (in no particular order): 

    • Marbury 

    • Gibbons v Ogden 

    • Fletcher v Peck

    • Cherokee Nation v Georgia 

    • Worcester v Georgia 

    • Cohens v Virginia 

    • McCullough v Maryland

    • Dartmouth College v Woodward

    • Marshall Court cheat sheet

  • Is Democracy Working for you? Early Republic collaborative activity