How flea poop defeated Napoleon’s Grande Armee

Even though it’s more directed at AP Euro, this story also hews to our themes of ickiness:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/napoleon_march_to_russia_in_1812_typhus_spread_by_lice_was_more_powerful.html

The Electoral College makes it official

The Electoral College met on December 17 and officially cast their ballots for president: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/17/3146095/electoral-college-set-to-affirm.html

US Citizenship Test

Give yourself the test! Click here: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0104/Could-you-pass-a-US-citizenship-test/Who-signs-bills?cmpid=prc:ctzn:d

Senator Daniel Inouye dies

Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawai’i passed away today at the age of 88.

He earned the Medal of Honor in World War II as a member of the all-Japanese 442nd Regimental Combat Team, in an engagement that cost him his right arm, and went on to become the second longest-serving Senator in history (48 years) and was third in line in the presidential succession at the time of his death as president pro tempore of the Senate behind the vice president and Speaker of the House. He had represented Hawai’i in either the House or Senate from the time of its statehood.

May he rest in peace.

Possible essay topics for 5th period final

It wouldn’t hurt all classes to rough out an answer to these, but here are the essay topics that 5th hour will face on their final:

I would strongly suggest that you outline these– it will also help you study in general. Use of specifics will be a major way you earn points.

A. Explain and trace the problems of unity faced in America from its founding through Reconstruction.

B. Compare and contrast the “achievements” of Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan as major contenders for the title of “worst president of the semester.” Ironic that they bookended one of the greatest ever….

C. Explain the development of political parties in the United States through Reconstruction.

Possible essay topics for 1st period final

It wouldn’t hurt all classes to rough out an answer to these, but here are the essay topics that 1st hour will face on their final:

I would strongly suggest that you outline these– it will also help you study in general. Use of specifics will be a major way you earn points.

A.”Manifest Destiny and its changes made the Civil War inevitable.”
Assess the validity of this statement.

B. Compare and contrast the precedents that the presidencies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln established, and consider how that changed American government.

C. Explain the development of political parties in the United States through Reconstruction.

Possible essay topics for 2nd period FINAL

It wouldn’t hurt all classes to rough out an answer to these, but here are the essay topics that 2nd hour will face on their final:

I would strongly suggest that you outline these– it will also help you study in general. Use of specifics will be a major way you earn points.

A. In what ways did the administrations of Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln expand the power of the presidency– and by extension, the power of the federal government?

B. Trace the expansion of voting rights from the founding of the colonies to Reconstruction, including any controversies.

C. Explain the development of political parties in the United States through Reconstruction.

DBQ pictures- clean version

If you have lost your copy of the DBQ packet, a .pdf file can be found here:

Reconstruction DBQ

Document I is difficult to read. Below is a cleaner version:

I have found the other picture, but I can’t get to the menu now here at the school, so check back here after I get home and I will put it right here.

“The First Vote”

Rare Civil Photographs to be auctioned

This is interesting: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2246788/Rare-Civil-War-photographs-letters-revealed-auction-including-signatures-Declaration-signers.html

Thanks, Chris A!

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878

In the wake of the end of Reconstruction in 1877, federal law was enacted to make illegal using federal active duty troops as enforcers of laws on American soil except in emergency circumstances– in other words, to make sure nothing like the Military reconstruction of the South could ever happen again. Thus, to this day, domestic military policy is governed by the Posse Comitatus Act. Read here (http://civilliberty.about.com/od/waronterror/a/posse_act.htm) for a summary of the law and its consequences.

Interestingly, there has recently been some discussion that the law needs to be changed particularly in light of the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This law is the reason why the National Guard, rather than the regular military, is used after national disasters, and, in a limited manner, along our nation’s borders. But the law has its roots in Southern resentment of the use of federal troops to enforce the laws regarding the treatment of freedmen during and after the Civil War.