Category Archives: Student Resource

The Battle of Fredericksburg by Kurz and Allison

The release of the cinematic masterpiece, Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln, is a boon for history teachers nationwide.  This movie will certainly be nominated for multiple Academy Awards and draw countless millions to theaters.  Even middle and high school students have been caught up in the rush to see this mature, adult-targeted film.  History teachers have a grand opportunity to capture the hype surrounding the movie to engage learners who otherwise may not be as accessible.

If you are a teacher that attempts to align your teaching calendar with anniversaries of historical events, you may want to use this renewed interest in all-things-Civil-War to utilize the Civil War Animated website.  Coming soon, in mid-December, is the anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg.  The Civil War Animated website is a tremendous tool for engaging learners.  It not only provides poignant, relevant historical context of the war’s battles, but it also allows students to interact with animated battle maps.  For your students that love military history (and even those who may loath it), there are very few websites constructed that can quite as effectively capture their attention

The website itself provides a brief statement highlighting historical context and battle outcomes:

Following the indecisive Battle of Antietam Creek, President Lincoln replaces General George McClellan with General Ambrose Burnside. Burnside immediately submits a plan to race Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia to Fredericksburg and on to Richmond. Lincoln accepts the plan and the Army of the Potomac marches to Fredericksburg. But extremely poor planning causes the pontoon bridges for crossing the river to be left at the end of the baggage trains allowing to Lee to concentrate his army and prepare for Burnside’s assault.

After introducing students to the importance, context, and outcome of the battle, the teacher can then direct students to the animations of the battles, found here.  Notice, the animation begins with another historical survey of the battle.  After students have read and internalized this, the teacher can direct them to the actual battle maps.  When students click on “Play,” the animations begin.  The progress of the battle is then animated step-by-step, with helpful narratives displayed and sound effects included.  Fittingly for a history class, the final scene provides excerpts from primary sources that gave contemporary commentary on the battle’s outcome.

Is it not amazing how a president can be very popular during his time and yet be evaluated downwards in subsequent years, as some have said of Eisenhower?  Is it not equally amazing that some have been so pitifully unpopular that they decide to not run for reelection, as in the case of Truman in 1952 and LBJ in 1968?

Similarly, sometimes approval ratings mean nothing, electorally speaking, as Truman proved in 1948.

Presidential approval ratings have been tracked since 1941.  The American Presidency Project from UC-Santa Barbara has compiled thorough listings of these statistics since FDR.  The general index can be accessed here.  To view each president’s ratings, simply click on their name in the drop-down box.

Additional statistics for job approval ratings can also be found through other links:

1. Initial job approval ratings
2. Approval ratings following the First 100 Days
3. Final approval ratings

The American Presidency Project is a very detailed web resource for all manners of subjects related to the presidency.  Put on by the University of California at Santa Barbara, this digital library covers topics ranging from presidential approval ratings to party platforms to White House staff budgets.

The upcoming election provides social studies teachers many opportunities for linking the present to the past.  The American Presidency Project offers a detailed set of statistics for past presidential elections.  By visiting this site, teachers and students can glean, compare, contrast, and analyze past presidential election electoral and popular vote tallies.  Additionally, teachers and students can determine which way their own state went in that election, as each election year link has not only whether the state went red or blue that year, but it also has a break-down by state of how many electoral and popular votes went to each candidate.

1892 Electoral College Map

“I discovered that being a President is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or be swallowed.” --Harry S. Truman

With election season in high gear, many social studies teachers may be looking for ways to incorporate the campaigns into their classrooms.  The University of Virginia’s Miller Center is an highly informative, nonpartisan resource that is very useful for analyzing presidential history.

The Miller Center contains its own blog on elections.  Dubbed “Riding the Tiger,” this blog contains informative articles concerning past elections and this current one.  It helps provide historical context for issues surfacing in 2012.  From the Miller Center blog itself:

“Riding the Tiger looks at contemporary events through the lens of history. It frames the 2012 race by providing scholarly insight into policy and politics and featuring historical resources from the Miller Center’s digital archive.”

There are a couple links within this blog that are especially relevant and interesting.  One site is called: “Greatest Hits from Democratic Conventions Since the Progressive Era.”  A useful companion for teachers wishing to engage in compare/contrast activities would be: Greatest Hits in the Modern History of Republican Conventions.