March 7, 2018

We started pulling some of the threads of the last two weeks of conversations together today by examining the compromises over slavery, the goals of Southern political forces, and the clash with the Republican Party platform in 1860.  We also completed a DocBlock lit circle over a set of documents which each served to illustrate concepts and historical developments we have introduced in the past few days, including the nuanced beliefs of abolitionists and the variety of their reasons for opposing slavery as well as the reasoning used by pro-slavery forces and their links to the historical data on slavery and industrial labor.  We finished up the day by examining the development and eventual rejection of the historical assertion that John Brown was insane as the motivating factor for his violent abolitionism.

Chapter 16 is due tomorrow!  We will also tie up all those threads we started pulling together today with an examination of the justifications for secession, followed by an analysis of Abraham Lincoln's private and public communication, then a discussion over the successes and failures of Reconstruction.  We will finish Reconstruction after the LEQ on Friday.  I will post on the Period 5 page all of the work from Thursday and Friday so that those out for DECA and other school activities will have that information

Lastly, your next scored discussion will take place next Wednesday.  The reading selections for this discussion are posted under Period 6.  You will need to do the same pre-write activity as with the last discussion.  also, the online submissions for the last discussion are due my 11:59pm this coming Monday!

​H