Mr. Lawrence US History Podcasts, Heidelberg Middle School

Team 8A is recording a series of podcasts about Citizenship. Tune in for some thrilling analysis of what Citizenship has meant to different Americans throughout history.

Introduction

Citizenship is described as a status of being a citizen including its rights, privileges, and duties.  Citizenship has been viewed differently from time to time.  We are here to tell you the views of different people in different times and places.  These are 4 very different views of people in the United States on citizenship.

Personally responsible is when you are responsible for yourself, your belongings and your family and friends.  An example of this would be a farmer who stays on his or her land most of the time.  They follow the law, but don’t go out of their way to participate or change things.

Narrator: A Participatory citizen is a citizen who will participate and help in the community. For example…

Actor 1: We need help down at the soup kitchen Mr. Boggerdugstumunnerman

Actor 2: Okay I’ll help. I enjoy helping others and my community.

Narrator: The participatory citizen will always help but will not take steps to change things in their community, so therefore participatory citizens are not justice oriented.

AB:      Hey, do you know what a justice-oriented citizen is?
JR:                  No, try asking EH.
AB:      Hey EH, do you know what a justice-oriented citizen is?
EH:      Umm no, sorry.
AB:      Does anyone know what a justice-oriented citizen is?
AT:                  I know, a justice oriented citizen is someone who votes, obeys the laws, and strives for a positive change in our country.
AB:      Thank you, finally!

A Citizen Before The War Of 1812

Many of the citizens before the war of 1812 were white males who believed they were a citizen of their state and not as much of their country, these are different views from different types of citizens before the war of 1812.

1.
DP (George Patterson, White, 34 year old farmer)
TN (Newspaper reporter)

Elizabeth: I’m here with George Patterson, talking about his beliefs about citizenship.
                So, tell me what you do for a living.

George: Well I am a farmer, and I am 34 years old.  And I think that people should                                take part in the community for example they should vote, work and be in a variety of activities in the community. Like go to town meetings, go to church and be friendly to people.

Elizabeth: Thanks George for your point of view on citizenship today.

2.
Hello my name is Richard Hudson, and I am a 23-year-old farmer. I live on a farm in Virginia and I also work there. The crop that I mostly pick and grow is tobacco. On my farm I live with my husband and kids. We usually don’t end up going into town that much.  Sara my wife doesn’t really belief in buying stuff, he beliefs in making his own things. I am citizen of Virginia and I follow the rules.

3.
I am a Virginian farmer and I live in Lexington. I run a tavern, and that's how I make my living, with whiskey and meals for the other farmers and travelers. I do have a little bit of a position in the town meetings. I help them make decisions .I am for the Patriots but I want the change to be a good one without violence. Every once in a while I see troops from both sides come back and forth across the tavern. I serve both sides food and drink and provide their horses with forage.

Citizen After the War of 1812

Citizens after the war felt more united, and believed in America more. These are the views of citizens after the war of 1812.

1. My name is Samuel Reid, and I am the blacksmith of our village of Daronstown, Virginia. My family and I live in the center of town, where my forge lies.  We eat well enough, as I am the only blacksmith in our area and all folk must come to me for metal.  My family and I try to help our community, also.  We believe it is our duty as citizens to be a part of our community events and to help those less fortunate around us. 
2.  

KK- We are here in Boston, Massachusetts, and I am talking to JH and WD. Today we are here to discuss exactly what personally responsible citizens are. So, what is a personally responsible citizen?

JH- To me, a personally responsible citizen is someone who is not late for work, does not forget many things much, and does the right thing whenever he/she gets the chance.

KK- Do you have anything to add to that WD?

WD- I think that a responsible citizen takes responsibility for his actions, good or bad.

KK- Well boys, those were very good definitions for a personally responsible citizen. That’s all the time we have. I’m KK, with ABC News

3.

Born in 1784, I, Henry Barrow, at the age of 29, finally realized that our country needed to be changed. After the war of 1812 I realized that my country could use my lawyer skills. I have since gone around doing free cases in order to establish a more fair country. I am now currently working on a case to free a persecuted German.

Slave in the South

Slaves had very little rights and privileges. They still contributed much to society. They were rebuked and mistreated. Here are the views of slaves in the south.
1.
Reporter-Hello
Slave-Hello
R-So, as a black man living in the 1830’s you don’t have the rights of a white male citizen, but what do you do that could demonstrate citizenship?
S-I work on a plantation to help the economy, but without pay.
R-Do you think that is fair?
S- No
R-Then why do you do it?
S- I am forced and have no choice; however we plan to revolt soon
R-Ok, good luck then… I hope you will succeed!!

2.
Willis Jones -Hi I’m Willis Jones. I’m not like most slaves, I’m not afraid to stand up to the slave owners.  I’ve been planning to escape, and take as many people with me as possible.  The other slaves look up to me like I’m their last hope, and I feel its my duty to help them.  I will continue to help those in need until there is no one left to help, even if it means the death of me.
3.
Slaves in the south were citizens in a way without being an actual legal citizen. The way there were citizens was that they helped the economy by doing all the farming for the farmers even though they were being forced. Also, most plantations were a little community in itself. So, in their own little community they were their own citizens by helping other “citizens” escape.
Female

Females during this time period did not work, and mostly tended the house and such. These are the views of females (non citizen) during that time period

1.
M1: Oops, sorry ladies. I didn’t see you there.
(Laughs, other males laugh)
F1: Whatever. You guys should be more responsible for your actions.
F2: Yeah. We like how things are in our community. Apparently you don’t, as you’re disrupting our peace.
M2: Geez ladies, it was an accident.
M3: Come on guys, let’s go home.
(Males walk off laughing rambunctiously)
F2: Come on sis; let’s go home, Mother’s waiting.
F1: All right sis.
(both roll eyes at backs of males and walk off arm in arm)

2.
In the 1800’s women didn’t participate much in society because they were expected to take care of the household. But there were some jobs for the women besides that.  One of those jobs was working in the Lovell mills.  The Lovell mills paid their workers between $ 2 and $4 a week with $1.25 deducted for room and board.  There was teaching and domestic work that women could do, but the mills paid the most. The typical female worked at the mills for 4 years.  Life was hard working in these mills because of all the moving machinery.  They could tear off and injure their limbs.  Hours working these mills ranged from 12-14 hours a day, but this was better than working and earning nothing like a slave.

3.
Mary Willis Ambler Marshall was a young lawyer who was married to Supreme Court Justice, John Marshall, in 1830.She and her husband participated in the important case, Ware v. Hylton, a Virginian law providing confiscation of debts to British subjects. However, the supreme court ruled against them.

Conclusion

            Citizenship is a term that has many meanings to many people.  It can mean everything from obeying laws to working for positive change in the community.  In this podcast we have just begun to describe some of these perspectives.  Thank you for listening and stay tuned for our next podcast.

8A US History Podcast Episode Two

Major Issues in the Mid-1800s

Our second installment is dealing with major social issues and major reforms that took place in the mid-1800s.  These issues still exist in one form or another and the reforms are still going on today in various forms.  Because of this it is important to explore their historical roots.

Core 1- The Abolition Movement

What is it?
The abolition of slavery was a series of events that helped free slaves. Some important names from this historical period are Harriet Tubman Charles Finney and Theodore Weld.  They all believed slavery was morally improper. A man named William Lloyd Garrison wrote the newspaper called “The Liberator”; The Liberator was published to help free slaves. He generated this newspaper to talk about the rights and wrongs about slavery. The newspaper reported news on how slavery should be ended.

Differing Points of View              

The different points of views on the abolition of slavery were, some people supported it and some people were against it. The people against it were the white, rich landowners. They were for it because with the slaves they could get work done faster and make more money. The African American slaves were against it because they had to work hard in any kind of weather, such as snow, rain, and heat. They did all this for no pay and were treated badly. We support the abolition of slavery because we think that everyone should be treated equally and have the same rights.

Precedents Set

            There were a lot of precedents set in he 1830s. Some of the people who set precedents like Horace Greely used methods such as the New York Tribune. Other people used poetry and literature like John Greenleaf Whittier. Another person set his precedent by first making a newspaper called the Liberator, which talked about anti-slavery. Then he made the American Anti-Slavery Society, which demanded immediate emancipation and racial equality for African-Americans.

Learning from the Movement

We learned that everyone was created equal. Also, how heard it was for a slave and what they went through. Not everybody was against slavery. Some people were against slavery.  For example, ministers, helped a lot to free slaves. It was important because after all of this was over we learned that everyone was equal. Also, it was important how other people stood up for what they believed in.

Core 2- Immigration in the Mid-1800s

Immigration is the act of coming to a country of which you are not from, usually for permanent residence.  During the mid-1800’s, large groups of Irish and German citizens immigrated to America to escape their problems in Europe.  The Irish left their country because of the potato famine, and many Germans fled from their homes after their country’s failed revolution.  Some Americans, such as the Nativists, disliked the immigration of Europeans to their country.  The Nativists were a group of people who opposed immigration to America for fear of losing their jobs and traditions. 

Differing Points of View               

One point of view is from the people already in the United States. Those people were losing their jobs to the Irish and German Immigrants, who would work for less money. The people already in the United States wanted the Immigrants to leave so they could get their jobs back. The Immigrants point of view was that America was the land of opportunity and they shouldn’t have to leave because they can work for less money.

Precedents Set

The precedents set up by those involved in the immigration are numerous.  To name a few, today we still have distrust of immigrants.  We believe that they have different beliefs, culture, and language.  Another precedent was that the immigrants would be willing to work for cheap.  The immigrants came to America for freedom and equality both religious and political.  The immigrants leave their country to escape harsh conditions.  Immigration in the 1800’s was a prominent role model for the immigration of today.  

Learning from the Movement

During the 1800s a mass wave of immigrants came to America. What could we learn about immigration, why was it important?  Many immigrants arrived from Germany and Ireland because of a failed revolution and the Potato Famine. Image if something like that happened today what would happen. If a lot of people came to America for jobs how would you react? What we can learn from immigration is how to treat people.

Core 3- The Common School Movement

The common school movement was a movement to allow education of the same quality to everyone. This includes people that were African American or white, women, and mentally disabled people. Horace Mann was the main supporter of this reform, and was the first secretary of education from Massachusetts. After this reform, women were able to continue their education past grade school. Catharine Beecher was a supporter of this, and believed that women had more ability to learn a subject and teach it more efficiently than men. In New York and Philadelphia, free African Americans had expandable education opportunities in separate schools. Many people such as Henry Highland Garnet became brilliant scholars. After this reform, students with physical disabilities, such as visual impairment, were able to learn.

Differing Points of View

One view was that children didn’t need to have an education past grade school. They thought education was unnecessary to work on their family’s farm. Most parents generally wanted their kids to be able to read the bible, write and do simple calculations. Another view was that kids should grow up with an education past grade school in order to be productive and responsible citizens. We would support the common school movement, because everybody deserves to have an education in order to have the same opportunities as everybody else. We wouldn’t support it, because if everybody gets an education and leaves home to pursue dreams then there would be nobody to continue on the farms, making the economy drop.

Precedents Set

U.S citizens of that time showed that education was important and U.S citizens now still believe this. African Americans, people with disabilities, and women were able to receive an education for the first time during the 1800’s. These are the precedents that were set by the common school movement.

Learning from the Movement

The thing that we can learn from the common school movement is that even though we are different from one another everyone can have an education. This movement not only changed the idea towards education but also changed the idea of the capabilities of African Americans, women, and the disabled. The Common School movement is important because it helped people understand what the right to education really means. It proves that even though we are different we all are people with the abilities to learn new things.

Core 4- Women’s Rights

All human beings have civil rights no matter what sex, religion, or race. There is no limit to what one man or woman can do to change unfair laws or prejudices.  The movement for woman’s right was extremely important because if we had not had this reformation we would not be so far in technology as we are today. We should be grateful for all the wonderful women scholars that contributed much to our modern society.

Differing Points of View

Different points of view on women rights are the women believed they had the right to speak in public. The clergy and some male abolitionist believed that women were going beyond their traditional roles, speaking in public. You could support the women’s point of view because they should have equal rights as males instead of only working all day. Some people believed that women should influence society at home. In addition, some women believed that they weren't unequal to men.

Precedents Set

Women set the precedents of being non-violent in their protest, and they believed woman where equal to men. The 1st woman to speak before legislators was Angelina Grimke. Lucy Stoner set a precedent by keeping her maiden name when she got married, causing women like her to be called “Lucy Stoners”. Women also set precedents by establishing many rights for future females. They let women have the right to vote, gave married women the ownership of their wages and property. Women set many precedents that helped make women’s rights better.

Learning from the Movement

The women’s rights movement was the fight for women’s rights. Women didn’t have the rights to vote, be a citizen, or own any property, among other things. Some of the important names, just to name a few of the many, were Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who, along with some of her friends, came up with the idea for the Seneca Falls Convention, which was a gathering of more than 300 men and women to raise awareness of how women to were treated. More important women were Lucy Hobbs, the first female dentist, Arabella Mansfield, the first female lawyer, Ellen Swallow Richards, the first female chemist and Edith Wharton, the first women awarded the Pulitzer prize for fiction.

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Well, that’s all for now.  Tune in next time to hear about more ideas on citizenship and major historical issues!

8A US History Podcast Episode Three

Citizenship as Eighth Graders

Over the course of the past three months our team has explored what it has meant to be a citizen in the United States during different periods of time.  This podcast is about what eighth graders can do now and in the future to promote different varieties of citizenship.

Personally Responsible

A personally responsible citizen is…
-a person who works
-a person who stays home with their family
-a person who may not vote and aren’t very social with the community

Things a personally responsible citizen might do are…

• deciding not to vote; because you don’t like the candidates.
• not participating in community events.
• making your own personal garden with nobody else allowed but you.

A personally responsible citizen…

• takes care of their family and makes sure they’re safe.
• doesn’t commit crimes and obeys the laws. 
• gets a job and makes a living.

A personally responsible citizen is…
A citizen who’s responsible for their own actions, are happy with how things are in their community and don’t work for change.  One way we as 8th graders could become personally responsible citizen is taking responsibility for our actions, good and bad.  Another way is caring about yourself and your family.  Something else you could do is renovate your own house or your family’s house.

Participatory

A citizen that is participatory in their community volunteers, aids, and benefits their community in a positive way. The easiest way to become active in your community is by volunteering in activities such as youth sports and bazaars. You can also donate things to benefit your community. (JH, TC, TR)

Participatory citizens are good role models for other community members at their jobs, school, and sports activities by having good sportsmanship and being responsible.
Participatory citizens vote in local elections.  
Participatory citizens take part in sharing ideas at community meetings.
                 

A participatory citizen works to help the community even though it isn’t mandatory. Some examples of participatory citizenship are picking up trash around the community, recycling for the community, raking leaves for yourself and your neighbors. That basically sums up what a participatory citizen is.

You might see a participatory citizen…

• giving blood
• or participating in neighborhood activities and building alliances with other members of community

Justice-Oriented

A justice-oriented citizen is a citizen who doesn’t break laws but strives for a positive change in his or her community. They are familiar with the laws of their community. They see the things in our communities that need to be improved and they work for it. They might boycott inappropriate, tasteless shows and programs on TV. Another thing a justice-oriented citizen might do is set a positive example for recycling and cleaning up our community. They might also create funds to improve work equipment safety, so our street workers and sewer workers might feel safe.

A thing that we as 8th graders can do is establish a crime watch. Another thing we can do is to put up flyers that say save the pandas. We could also establish a program to send care packages to deployed soldiers.

1. Establishing recycling
2. Establishing a charity center
3. making animal shelters

A justice-oriented citizen is someone who promotes positive change. To encourage this system of ‘doing the right thing’ one of the first things we would do is hold a town meeting to show everyone the fundamentals of being justice-oriented.  Another thing we would do to become justice-oriented is to enhance the security system of the town to prevent people from doing the ‘wrong’ thing, like stealing and causing trouble. Also, we would teach children about being justice-oriented in school to help promote our ideas and have everybody involved.
           

Thank you for listening.  Look for our final installment very soon.

8A US History Podcast Episode Four

Podcast About Podcasting

Over the past few months the students on our team have worked to create several podcasts that have been put on the Internet for themselves and others to listen to.  The things they most enjoyed about this work are as follows:

Core 1

The research we did.
How we worked together in groups.
I enjoyed how we posted our work on the web and did podcasts also showing what we learned.
I liked the entire idea about it. I’ve never worked with an iPod to podcast and it was an interesting experience that I enjoyed.
I enjoyed learning about how to podcast on the iPod. Also how peoples ideas described the thing that you chose for us.

Core 2

One thing enjoyed about podcasting this semester was learning how to record a podcast. I also enjoy playing parts and creating scripts.
I enjoyed being able to work peacefully with my friends, and to be able to create my own scripts.
I liked it when my mom put my podcast on the iPod.
The thing I enjoyed most was recording and listening to my voice on the iTunes program.
The thing I enjoyed the most about podcasting was hearing my voice on the computer.
The thing I enjoyed most about podcasting is just knowing that we had a topic and that everyone in the world could listen and give their opinion.
The thing I enjoyed most about podcasting was listening to other people share ideas about important topics.
One thing I enjoyed about podcasting this semester was the fact that we were able to work in a group. It was fun to be able to socialize with are group. We are able to debate ideas about how we want are assignment to be. That is what I liked about podcasting.
One good thing about podcasting is that you get to work in a group. Each member can contribute a piece of information. You can look at the assignment from different points of view, and have new and different ideas.
One good thing about podcasting is that we get to work in groups. Each member gives their own point of view about the subject the podcast is about.

Core 3

What I enjoyed most about podcasting this semester was hearing my classmates talk on the podcast rather than someone I don’t know talking.
The thing that I enjoyed most is that I worked in groups so that the other students could help me.
What I enjoyed most about podcasting this semester was that I was always working with the smart people.
I enjoyed the podcasting because it was new to me and I had never done that before. It was an enriching experience and I am almost sure they will make me do stuff like that in high school and it’s nice to know I know what to do.
I enjoyed the podcasting because when I was podcasting I would ask for help and my teacher would always help me. Another reason I liked it was because it was fun.
What I liked about podcasting was that it was different and more fun than doing worksheets in class.
One thing I like about the podcast is that you have a chance to move around and get out of the classroom, so it’s easier to work.
The best thing about the podcast is that you could work with other people.  Also, I like it because I’ve never made something that people could look at online.
I thought that the podcasting was a lot of fun because we worked together as a group to make it. I also felt like we were doing a play. It was also great because I could put it on my iPod.

Core 4

I enjoyed talking into an iPod. -RF
I enjoyed creating the scripts and recording them. JG
I enjoyed hearing all the separate but connected views of different topics. –JT

Thank you for subscribing to our podcast.  Our team has enjoyed very much sharing what we’ve learned with everyone outside of our school. 

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