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{{HS_American_History}}

{{HS_American_History}}

[[American History Lecture Seven|Lecture]] - [[American_History_Homework_Seven|Questions]] - [[American History Homework Seven Answers|Student Answers]]

<!-- [[American History Lecture Seven|Lecture]] [[American_History_Homework_Seven|Questions]] - [[American History Homework Seven Answers|Student Answers]]-->

We will have our midterm exam next week, which covers everything through Reconstruction.  That means Lectures One through Six, but not Lecture Seven.  Our exam will consist of ''about'' 30 questions (the total will be different for the boys' and girls' tests).

We will have our midterm exam next week, which covers everything through Reconstruction.  That means Lectures One through Six.  Our multiple choice exam will consist of 15 questions.

There are three ingredients to success on any exam:

There are three ingredients to success on any exam:

View an exam as a fun challenge, like participating in a contest.  Your performance in the race or game depends on your time spent preparing, how effectively you prepared, and how effectively you tried during the contest itself.   

View an exam as a fun challenge, like participating in a contest.  Your performance in the race or game depends on your time spent preparing, how effectively you prepared, and how effectively you tried during the contest itself.   

If this were a sporting event, then everyone would recognize and honor the winners, just as we do in the Olympics, the World Series, and the Super Bowl.  We will also honor the winners (top scorers) with awards.  At the end of our course we will also give awards to the most improved students.  This friendly competition is intended to bring out the best in everyone, and motivate all to do better than we might otherwise.   

Do not think it is impossible to know every event in the list at the end of this Lecture; we will likely see top scorers on next week's exam who are able to learn nearly every event.  Use friendly competition to bring out the best in yourself.  Success in life is due almost entirely to "perspiration" (work) rather than inborn traits like IQ.  Be one of the students who wins recognition for scoring among the highest in the class.

The first CLEP American History exam covers through Reconstruction, which we complete in Lectures One through Six.  Our midterm exam will cover this same period.  The CLEP and other College Board history exams place the following approximate emphasis on these topics:

 

 

 

Because several students are taking the CLEP exam, and because it is the best of the College Board exams, we will follow its format.  The CLEP exam divides American history into two periods.  The first CLEP American History exam covers through Reconstruction (Lectures One through Six, but not Seven), just like our midterm exam.  Our midterm exam will follow the CLEP's subject matter breakdown for questions:

:35% of questions are on politics, such as the President, Congress and government policy

:35% of questions are on politics, such as the President, Congress and government policy

:10% on economics, such as inflation, taxes, and protective tariffs

:10% on economics, such as inflation, taxes, and protective tariffs

In terms of the time period, only 30% of the first CLEP exam (through Reconstruction) is devoted to the beginning of time to 1789.  So do not start with that period and burn out before you study the period of 1790 to 1877, where 70% of the questions are from.  Do not waste too much time studying exploration, settlement and colonial America!  Perhaps only 10% of the CLEP exam (and our exam) will cover that period.  Students often make a big mistake in preparation by not allocating their study time properly.  Avoid that mistake and spend your study time wisely.

 

In terms of the time period, only 30% of the first CLEP exam (through Reconstruction) is devoted to the beginning of time to 1789.  '''''So do not start with that period and burn out before you study the period of 1790 to 1877, where 70% of the questions are from'''''.  Do not waste too much time studying exploration, settlement and colonial America!  Perhaps only 10% of the CLEP exam (and our exam) will cover that period.  Students often make a big mistake in preparation by not allocating their study time properly.  Avoid that mistake and spend your study time wisely.

== Preparation and Test-Taking Tips ==

== Preparation and Test-Taking Tips ==

"Time is money" is a famous, and true, saying.  The time you spend not making money could have been better spent making money.  Wasted time is lost opportunity to make money, or do something else useful, such as charity or prayer.  Also, wasted time is often less enjoyable than time spent working on something you believe in.

"Time is money" is a famous, and true, saying.  The time you spend not making money could have been better spent making money.  Wasted time is lost opportunity to make money, or do something else useful, such as charity or prayer.  Also, wasted time is often less enjoyable than time spent working on something you believe in.

A concept similar to "time is money" applies to studying for exams.  You will spend a certain amount of time preparing for the midterm exam.  Call that total amount of time "x".  How you allocate that time to different areas of the overall time period (1500-1877) will make a difference on how well you do on the exam.  If you spend 90% of x on the period between 1500 and 1700, then you will do poorly on 90% of the questions, because they will be from the period 1700 to 1877.  You would have done far better to spend the 90% of x on the time period that will have 90% of the questions.

A concept similar to "time is money" applies to studying for exams.  You will spend a certain amount of time preparing for the midterm exam.  Call that total amount of time "x".  How you allocate that time to different areas of the overall time period (1500-1877) will make a difference on how well you do on the exam.  If you spend 90% of "x" on the period between 1500 and 1700, then you will do poorly on 90% of the questions, because they will be from the period 1700 to 1877.  You would have done far better to spend the 90% of "x" on the time period that will have 90% of the questions.

How hard you try while taking the exam will also count towards your score.  It helps immensely to identify the time period of a history question before trying to answer it.  In doing this, it helps to know which presidents served when.  You can memorize a list of presidents if you prefer.<ref>See [[Presidents of the United States]].</ref>  Or maybe you can figure it out from what you learned in the lectures.  Test yourself: who was president in 1842?<ref>[[John Tyler]]</ref>  Who was the president in 1826?<ref>[[John Quincy Adams]]</ref>

How hard you try while taking the exam will also count towards your score.  It helps immensely to identify the time period of a history question before trying to answer it.  In doing this, it helps to know which presidents served when.  You can memorize a list of presidents if you prefer.<ref>See [[Presidents of the United States]].</ref>  Or maybe you can figure it out from what you learned in the lectures.  Test yourself: who was president in 1842?<ref>[[John Tyler]]</ref>  Who was the president in 1826?<ref>[[John Quincy Adams]]</ref>

There will be several cartoons on the exam.  Realize that cartoons are a way for someone to describe facts with a point of view, in order to make a political statement.  The cartoonist uses caricatures and draws situations in order to express a point of view.  The key to deciphering cartoons is to pay close attention to detail, to pick up all the clues.

There will be a political cartoon on the exam.  Realize that cartoons are a way for someone to describe facts with a point of view, in order to make a political statement.  The cartoonist uses caricatures and draws situations in order to express a point of view.  The key to deciphering cartoons is to pay close attention to detail, to pick up all the clues.

Many students make the mistake of answering a cartoon question too quickly.  A cartoon is a mystery, like an unsolved crime.  As soon as a cop arrives on a crime scene, he does not jump to a conclusion about who committed the crime.  He gathers all the evidence.  He considers possibilities.  He wants an explanation that fits all the facts.  He looks for a motive.  Approach cartoons the same way.

Many students make the mistake of answering a cartoon question too quickly.  A cartoon is a mystery, like an unsolved crime.  As soon as a cop arrives on a crime scene, he does not jump to a conclusion about who committed the crime.  He gathers all the evidence.  He considers possibilities.  He wants an explanation that fits all the facts.  He looks for a motive.  Approach cartoons the same way.

Often there are maps to read on history exams, and here is a tip for them:  before the Civil War there was no West Virginia.  If you see West Virginia on a map, then it was after the Civil War started.

Often there are maps to read on history exams, and here is a tip for them:  before the Civil War there was no West Virginia.  If you see West Virginia on a map, then it was after the Civil War started.

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'''Above all, understand a question before trying to answer it!'''

'''Above all, understand a question before trying to answer it!'''

Then John Smith arrived, and he had a simple means of motivation:  those who do not work, do not eat.  Do you think people started working then?  Of course.  And they were much happier and healthier for it.

Then John Smith arrived, and he had a simple means of motivation:  those who do not work, do not eat.  Do you think people started working then?  Of course.  And they were much happier and healthier for it.

Sometimes adults still use that motivation of putting off meals until work is finished.  There are also other effective motivational techniques.  Take something you enjoy, such as watching a sports game, and deprive yourself of it until you finish your work.  You will enjoy the game better that way.  Or, on the most positive side, learn to reward yourself for hard work.

Sometimes adults still use that motivation of putting off meals until work is finished.  There are also other effective motivational techniques.  Take something you enjoy, such as watching a sports game, and deprive yourself of it until you finish your work first.  You will enjoy the game better that way.  Set goals, and then strive to achieve them.

 

 

 

 

During the American Revolution, which the Quakers refused to support, payments to colonial soldiers stopped after a while.  Then here was a "Newburgh Conspiracy" which consisted of a plot among officers of the Continental Army (the colonial Patriots fighting in the Revolutionary War) to hold a military coup and establish martial law in order to obtain back pay that was owed to them by Congress for their military service.  The plot came to a climax when they angrily met on March 15, 1783, and were surprised by an unexpected appearance by George Washington.  He gave a short speech, but the officers were still still angry, and lacking in the respect that they usually gave to their esteemed leader.  Washington then pulled a letter from his pocket from a member of the Second Continental Congress.  But Washington was unable to read the letter without his reading glasses, and in a miraculous moment of powerful emotion, he declared, "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country."  Many of the officers were suddenly moved to tears in the realization that Washington, like themselves, had sacrificed much for the country.  Washington then read the letter from Congress, and the officers subsequently abided by Congress's own timetable for paying them.  Washington's speech is known as the Newburgh Address.

 

 

 

 

We learned about the Great Awakening around 1730-1740, but there was also a Second Great Awakening nearly a century later, from 1800-1840.  It focused on reaching out to people who were not attending church, and to initiate social reforms such as the abolitionist movement to prohibit slavery.  An alternative to the abolitionist movement was the American Colonization Society, which was formed in 1817 to send free African Americans to west Africa, where a colony was established in 1822.  That colony later became the nation of Liberia, but only about 13,000 African Americans settled there.

== Key Terms Through Reconstruction ==

== Key Terms Through Reconstruction ==

Listed below are the key terms for the first half of American history (through Reconstruction).  The highlighted terms are the most important, and the ones for students to focus on first. The non-highlighted terms are more for the students in the "honors" portion of this course. 

Listed below are the key terms for the first half of American history (through Reconstruction).  The highlighted terms are the most important, and the ones for students to focus on first.

Any of these terms may appear on the exams in this course.  Several of our students are already planning to take the CLEP exam, and anyone doing that should know as many of these terms as possible.

Any of these terms may appear on the exams in this course.  Several of our students are already planning to take the CLEP exam, and anyone doing that should know as many of these terms as possible.

The list below can be used effectively to quiz yourself.  Pick out any term, and try to identify its time period and who was President.  Does the term refer to foreign policy (e.g., dealings with a foreign country) or domestic policy (e.g., an issue internal to the United States)?  Even if you don't recall immediately the meaning of the term, try to figure it out based on what you do know.

The list below can be used effectively to quiz yourself.  Pick out any term, and try to identify its time period and who was President.  Does the term refer to foreign policy (e.g., dealings with a foreign country) or domestic policy (e.g., an issue internal to the United States)?  Even if you don't recall immediately the meaning of the term, try to figure it out based on what you do know.

Quizzing yourself in this manner will both improve your test-taking skills, and identify for yourself what you need to study more.  Use the short descriptions for these terms that will be handed out in class (and which is also available by email - contact me if you would like an electronic copy), or refer back to the lectures and the model answers.

Quizzing yourself in this manner will both improve your test-taking skills, and identify for yourself what you need to study more.

As in baseball and in sales in business, simply try to improve your percentages.  If you know only 10% of the terms below, try to improve that to 40%.  If you know 50%, then try to improve that to 75%.  If you know 70%, then strive for 90%.  Just as a batter in baseball should not be discouraged by failing 2 out of 3 times at bat, you should not be discouraged by low initial percentages on this key term list.  Try to improve your percentages.  With effort, you'll amaze yourself at how much better you can become.  Your classmates will be working hard on this, and do not let them pass you up!

As in baseball and in sales in business, simply try to improve your percentages.  If you know only 10% of the terms below, try to improve that to 40%.  If you know 50%, then try to improve that to 75%.  If you know 70%, then strive for 90%.  Just as a batter in baseball should not be discouraged by failing 2 out of 3 times at bat, you should not be discouraged by low initial percentages on this key term list.  Try to improve your percentages.  With effort, you'll amaze yourself at how much better you can become.  Your classmates will be working hard on this, and do not let them pass you up!

One approach to improving your knowledge of these key terms is to type or write out short descriptions of each one.  There are only 321 terms.  If you took 2 minutes for each one that you did not know, then it would take you only 1 hour to complete 30.  In one day you could cover nearly the entire list, and you would not likely forget them for a long, long time.  Typing or writing out the meaning of something in one's own words has the effect of really burning it into one's memory.  I still recall lines from Shakespeare that I wrote out by hand when I was in the eighth grade!  You can use the term list description handout to help you.

One approach to improving your knowledge of these key terms is to type or write out short descriptions of each one.  There are only 321 terms.  If you took 2 minutes for each one that you did not know, then it would take you only 1 hour to complete 30.  In one day you could cover nearly the entire list, and you would not likely forget them for a long, long time.  Typing or writing out the meaning of something in one's own words has the effect of really burning it into one's memory.  I still recall lines from Shakespeare that I wrote out by hand when I was in the eighth grade!  You can use the term list description handout to help you.

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[[Category:American History lectures]]

[[Category:American History lectures]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:American History Lecture 07}}