Week #10: St. Michaels, Maryland

Girls' Weekend 2012 - St. Michaels, MD

Welcome home from Catalina!   While you students were enjoying your time at Junior/Senior Retreat I have been visiting my East Coast girlfriends.  This year we rented a beach house in St. Michaels, Maryland, right on the water.  Since this is APUSH, I thought that for this blog post I would give you a little bit of history about the town of St. Michaels.

                "In 1677 an Episcopal Parish was established on the banks of the Miles River and named    after Saint Michael the Archangel. From its early days as a shipbuilding town through its twentieth century transformation into a tourist and sailing haven, St. Michaels and its citizens have maintained a way of life that is renowned for its beauty, tranquility and craftsmanship."

             "The town, as surveyed in 1804, was laid out in three squares. St. Mary's Square today is the site of a museum bearing its name which is a must-see for any visitor interested in the history of St. Michaels. Among the beautiful historic homes that border St. Mary's Square is one of the most recognizable structures in the area, a private home known since the War of 1812 as The Cannonball House."

Cannonball House

          "Early on the morning of August 10, 1813, a number of British barges sailed up the Miles River intending to shell the town and its harbor fort. The citizens of St. Michaels, having been warned in advance of the planned attack, had evacuated most of the women, children, livestock and valuable possessions to an area outside of town known as 'Onion Hill'. Brigadier General Perry Benson, commanding officer of the Talbot County militia, ordered lanterns placed in treetops just outside of the town and all other lights in the town extinguished, thereby creating the first military blackout on record. When the British marines aimed their cannon fire to the lights, they overshot the town. Only one dwelling was hit, a brick house near the harbor now known as "The Cannonball House." This successful defense caused St. Michaels to be thereafter known as "The Town That Fooled The British." The British record conceded that two of its members were wounded during their brief invasion, while the Republican-Star published in Easton the next week states that the British suffered twenty-nine casualties. There were no American losses and little damage to the town from the British shelling."

                               [Information excerpted from  http://www.townofstmichaels.com/history.shtml]

This week--in Chapter 10--we will continue to look at the growth of the new United States after the ratification of the Constitution.  In just a couple of weeks we will be covering the War of 1812, considering how it may have been "the Second War for Independence." 

This Week's Question:  What was the best vacation trip you've ever been on?  What made that particular trip so special?

Week #9: Stamp Act Boycotts

The Stamp Act Simulation we did earlier this week seemed to go really well!  Thank you for participating and paying your taxes!  I think that all the American History students have a much clearer understanding now of the colonial perspective on measures, like the Stamp Act and the Townshend Duties, that Parliament thought would be practical revenue-generating tools.  We have also seen how effective the colonists' boycotts of British goods were in expressing their displeasure with Parliament's actions which resulted in many of the duties being repealed.

This week we've finished up the American Revolution, taken the Unit #2 Test and written a DBQ (document-based questions) essay.  We'll cap off the week with a Movie Party on Friday night at 7 pm to view The Patriot for extra credit.  Unit #3 starts next week with an extra class session on Monday, September 17, 2012.  In this unit we'll explore the challenges the new nation of America faced once the Revolution was over and independence was achieved. 

This Week's Questions:  Think about the way the colonists' protested the taxes imposed on them by choosing NOT to purchase finished goods and other materials from Britain.  Now, considering the current unrest in Egypt and Libya, do you think that  a boycott of Middle Eastern oil would be a good way to respond to the attacks on American embassies?  Would most Americans participate or not?  What would change in YOUR life if an oil boycott pushed the price of gasoline in San Diego up to $6.50 or $7.00 per gallon?  Would you be willing to suffer in order to send a message?

Week # 8: Tea and Taxes

I hope you enjoyed drinking Earl Grey tea on Friday during our discussion of the Boston Tea Party of 1773 and other events that pushed the American Colonies to declare their independence from Britain.  It's an interesting exercise to play "What if...?" and think about whether or not the Revolution was actually inevitable or which side we would have favored if we were alive at that time.  Personally, while I can definitely understand the colonists' frustration with the taxing measures of Parliament, and even their deep-seated Whig suspicion of government officials, I'm not 100% sure that I would have been able to join John Adams and George Washington as patriots and rebel against the mother country.  Those who made that choice had A LOT to lose and were facing very low odds of success!

It's also interesting to see how much of our "national personality" was formed during the colonial period, and how issues that rankled with Americans over 200 years ago are still being discussed today.   Even though so much about our world has changed in the intervening years, human nature and human desires still remain the same!

This week we'll look at the Revolutionary War itself and learn why it was crucial and logical that George Washington be asked to lead the American troops into battle.  We'll evaluate the British strategy during the war and analyze the various factors that worked for and against both sides in the conflict.  However, we WON'T be actually firing guns or blowing anything up in class, sorry!  It is time to plan another MOVIE PARTY to watch The Patriot for extra credit and study for the Unit #2 TEST coming next week, which covers Chapters 6, 7, & 8. 

This Week's Question:  Can you think of an issue that bothered the American colonists between 1763 and 1776 that still comes up for discussion and debate today? Try to think about politics during that last few years and/or the current presidential race.  Give examples to back up your statement(s).