Using Roleplaying Simulations to Teach 

AP US History
Ted Dickson
Providence Day School
Charlotte, NC
ted.dickson@providenceday.org

Rev. June 2022

I. Using Roleplaying Simulations to Teach History – Why?

Good teaching involves engaging the students in the learning process.  One of the best
ways I have found to accomplish this is to use simulation games, because they "bring immediacy
and excitement to the classroom without sacrificing content."*   In effective games, students are
responsible for their own learning.  They research using primary and secondary sources; they
present their findings to their classmates; and they are forced to roleplay, debate effectively, and
think historically.  The challenge for the teacher is to create an effective game and then to
minimize his or her own role while the game is in progress. 
The 1988 Bradley Commission pamphlet Building A History Curriculum includes a list
called "History's Habits of the Mind."  One of those habits reads "[to] perceive past events and
issues as they were experienced by people at the time, to develop historical empathy as opposed
to present-mindedness."  Roleplaying simulation games are one of the best vehicles for achieving
this goal.

*Eric Rothschild, Teacher's Guide To Advanced Placement Courses in United States History, ETS, 1991,
p. 89.   Eric Rothschild is the source and/or inspiration for many of these simulation games.  He taught at
Scarsdale High School 
in New York and ran excellent AP United States History workshops.

II. Keys to Successful Simulations

• Choose an area of the course that is important not a minor area

• Have an "in" and an "out" activity

    • an "in" activity involves research and organization of the material on the issue(s)
    • an "out" activity synthesizes and/or analyzes the material from the game
 • Involve everyone and assign the roles 
    • letting them choose the roles often takes too much time
    • the teacher can typecast the student in a role that may excite him or her
    • the teacher can share responsibilities over the course of the year
    • the teacher can force responsibility on those students who constantly avoid it
    • the teacher should maximize the involvement of each student
    • the teacher may want to play one or more of the roles     

• Have access to research material, ideally primary sources 

• students need access to adequate primary and secondary sources either at the school,
online,  or at a local public library or college 
• sometimes teachers may want to do the research themselves and distribute the materials
to save time
• teachers who use simulations often haunt used bookstores and open their personal
library to the students

• Allow adequate preparation and game time for yourself and the students
• these games work very well in block schedules
• these games can take from 45 minutes up to 4 hours 
• some roles will have fewer sources and will require more critical thinking

• Be alert to potential negatives  

• some students will get more involved than others
• sometimes the students will confuse the historical details (fact checking summary)
• students can be uncomfortable with difficult issues (race) – set clear ground rules

• Important Note - don't "reteach" the material afterwards.  The students should learn
from the research, the game and each other.

III. Examples of Successful Simulations

A. Political Debates of the 1790s - CED Lessons 3.10, 4.2

B. The Jackson Game - CED Lessons 4.7, 4.8

C. Causes of the Civil War - CED Lesson 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7****

D. Labor v. Capital - CED Lesson 6.7

E. Election of 1896 - CED Lesson 6.12, 6.13

F. Election of 1912 - CED Lesson 7.4

G. Causes of WW I - CED Lesson 7.5

H. 1920s Prohibition Party - CED Lesson 7.7, 7.8

Political Debates in the 1790s – the development of the first political parties

The underlying issue in these political debates is Liberty vs. Order: How much power should the national government have?
Consider this question in each of your responses!

NOTES: • These paragraphs will be scored separately from the rest of the packet. 5 pts per paragraph. 
• Cite any sources you use beyond your text (write them below your answer).
• For each topic, address the two terms in BOLD & at least one more of the listed terms/concepts.  

THIS ASSIGNMENT SHOULD BE COMPLETED IN A GOOGLE DOC THAT YOU UPLOAD TO

CLASSROOM – Doc Title = YourNamePoliticalDebatesRole#

1.  Paragraph 1: Write an introductory paragraph introducing your character and your character’s political leanings - indicate to
which party you think you belong and why  (you can make up more biographical details to help your construct your response
(your name, gender, more about your life...)

Paragraphs 2-4: Express your character’s point of view on the following questions
2. Paragraph 2: How should the United States solve its economic crisis? (1790s) 
Terms and concepts: Liberty vs. Order, state vs. federal power, Hamilton’s Financial Plan, Redemption, 
Assumption, the Bank of the United States (is it constitutional?), Report on Manufactures, the Whiskey 
Rebellion, (slavery?)

3. Paragraph 3: What should be the new nation’s foreign policy? (1790s) 

Terms and concepts: the French Revolution, Citizen Genet, Neutrality Proclamation, conflicts with the Indians in the
West, Jay’s Treaty, disputes over the Mississippi River and Pinckney’s Treaty, Washington’s Farewell Address, the
XYZ affair, the Quasi War with France, the Haitian Revolution

4.  Paragraph 4: Who should be elected president in 1800?

Terms and concepts: Liberty vs. Order, state vs. federal power, Federalist accomplishments, Quasi War, Alien and
Sedition Acts, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (nullification), role of government, the experience, character and
party of your candidate (you can discuss other candidates too).
OPTIONAL SECONDARY SOURCE: read the Joanne Freeman article on the election of 1800 on the History Now
website: www.historynow.org/09_2004/index.html - or in Period 3 Google Folder.

NOTE – You can choose to draw a political cartoon or campaign poster to complete Assignment #3 (instead of
writing a paragraph - BUT If you do, be sure to include enough details to earn full credit!  

Characters
1. Tobacco farmer in Kentucky, traveled there with Daniel Boone
2. Farmer who grows corn in the Ohio territory
3. Wheat farmer and whiskey distiller from western Pennsylvania
4. Artisan (pewter smith) in Philadelphia
5. Successful rum distiller in Salem Massachusetts
6. Small farmer living in western Massachusetts
7. Wealthy rice plantation owner who lives near Charleston, SC
8. Former Continental Army officer and tobacco plantation owner from Virginia
9. Wealthy landowner and commercial wheat farmer in Maryland
10. Scots-Irish farmer near Charlotte, North Carolina
11. Travelling peddler in South Carolina
12. Apprentice carpenter in Providence, Rhode Island 
13. Successful printer in New York City
14. Poor printer and struggling paper manufacturer in Philadelphia
15. Wealthy banker on New York City who owns a lot of government bonds
16. Sailor based in Philadelphia but who ships around the Atlantic Ocean
17. French Catholic immigrant carriage driver in Charleston, SC
18. Successful, college-educated lawyer living in New York City
19. Shipyard owner and shipbuilder in York, Maine
20. Wealthy merchant in Rhode Island who is building the first textile mills in the United States
21. Successful merchant in Boston, used to depend on trade with West Indies now trying to open trade with China
B. The Jackson Game: a simulation game on the period 1829-1840 (APUSH 2020)
The Jacksonian Era is a simulation game based on the period 1829-1840.  Each of you will play an important
role in this game.  Some will be political leaders - playing the parts of John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, Henry
Clay, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren and Daniel Webster.  Others will play members of the political blocs of the
period -- Northern industrialists, South Carolina slaveholders, debtor farmers, laborers, Alabama slaveholders,
Unionists, abolitionists, newspaper editors, cotton farmers, steamboat operators, etc.
There is no "right way" for this game to end.  That is the fun of it.  As you will learn, in "history" the
Jacksonians won many of the early struggles, but in the end, the Whigs were able to capture the Presidency by 1840. 
Anything can happen here; and anyone can win the game.
BEFORE THE GAME BEGINS
1. Each student will be assigned a role by the teacher.
2. Each student must read the textbook pages and may do research beyond the textbook.

THE GAME ITSELF

3. We will debate one set of issues per day – key topics for discussion are in bold.

Day 1:  The Beginnings of the 2 Party System (15 Points)

nd

HW 7: Read Textbook 268-277, take notes on Pp. 29-30 and Pp. 35 and write a position statement as follows:

Paragraph 1: Introductory paragraph introducing your person up to 1828 and your person’s political leanings -
indicate to which party you think you belong and why (Democrat or National Republican?). You can make up more
biographical details to help your construct your response (your name, gender, more about your life...).

Paragraph 2. Who should be elected president in 1828? Why?

Terms and concepts: Liberty vs. Order, state vs. federal power, the Era of Good Feelings, the Missouri Compromise,
the American System, tariffs, the Election of 1824, the experience, ideas, qualifications and character of the
various candidates, the presidency of John Quincy Adams, the role of the press in politics

Day 2 – Who is an American? (15 Points)

HW 8: Read Textbook 281-288, take notes on Pp. 38-40 and write a position statement as follows:

Paragraph 1. Who should have full political rights as U.S. citizens?      
Terms and concepts: Who should be able to vote? (Who should be trusted with suffrage?), property restrictions on voting, 
the electoral college, nominating conventions, who should be able to hold public office? (Qualifications? Experience? 
Loyalty? This means both elected positions and appointed jobs in the government ranging from the post office to customs 
inspector), patronage, “rotation in office” or “the spoils system,” Andrew Jackson’s inauguration, Andrew Jackson’s goals

Paragraph 2. What should be done about the Native Americans east of the Mississippi?  
Terms and concepts: Are Native Americans US citizens? Do they have rights? The five civilized tribes, the Cherokee 
Nation, the Indian Removal Act, the Supreme Court Cherokee Cases, the Treaty of New Echota, John Ross, Trail of Tears

Day 3 – Competing Visions for America (20 Points)

Overarching questions: What is the proper balance of power between the president, the Supreme Court, and Congress? 
Between the state and federal governments? What should be the proper role of the federal and state governments in 
promoting economic growth? HW 9: Read Textbook 288-294, take notes on Pp 41-43 and Read Textbook pp. 315-318, 
take notes on p. 45 and write a position statement as follows:

Paragraph 1. Should the U.S. have a national bank? Why or why not? Who should decide this question?
Terms and concepts: the American System, the Second Bank of the United States (constitutional), Election of 1832, 
Nicholas Biddle, Jackson’s Bank Veto 

Paragraph 2. Should the U.S. have a protective tariff? Why or why not? Who should decide this question?
Terms and concepts: the Tariff of Abominations (1828), Nullification (SC Exposition and Protest), the Webster-Hayne 
debate, the nullification crisis, the Adams Tariff (1832), the Force Bill, the compromise tariff of 1833 
Paragraph 3. Who should be elected president in 1840? 
Terms & concepts: Are you a Whig or a Democrat? Evaluate the presidencies of Jackson & Van Buren, the Election of
1836, the Specie Circular, Panic of 1837, the Election of 1840, the experience, character and party of the candidates
THIS ASSIGNMENT SHOULD BE COMPLETED IN A GOOGLE DOC THAT YOU
UPLOAD TO CLASSROOM – Doc Title = YourNameJacksonGameRole

Paragraph Notes:
• Cite any sources you use beyond your text (write them below your answers – MLA format).
• For each topic, address the terms in BOLD & at least one more of the listed terms/concepts.  
• Be sure to answer the basic question clearly explaining “your” POV and to address each issue that is
in bold.
• ACE each response - Show us that you know some history – explain the historical issues!
• Be in character, use “I.”

Resources: 
Textbook: 9.3, 10.1, and Chapter 11.1 (Voting Blocs may also want to use other chapters)
Packet pages notes on pp. 29-45
Jackson Game libguide:  https://providenceday.libguides.com/ushistory
Textbook Citation:  Fraser, Jim. By the People. 2 Edition. New York: Pearson, 2019. Print.
nd

GAME PROCEDURES: FOR EACH DAY OF THE GAME - BE IN CHARACTER FOR THE WHOLE PERIOD.

1.  Each of the six political leaders will read their paragraphs as a speech presenting their point of view.
After each speech, voting blocs can ask clarifying questions

2.  The voting blocs and leaders may then ask questions of each other (press conference style). This may
turn into an open debate on the issues. 
The voting blocs should be trying to determine which leader to vote for and which to vote
against.
The leaders should be trying to recruit voters.

3. Each of the voting blocs will read or summarize their paragraphs as a speech presenting their point of 
view and will announce their vote (and their reasoning). (They should also add their votes to their doc).

4.  IF TIME:  Any political leader may respond to any voting bloc's vote and challenge their logic if he or she 
wishes to at the time the vote is announced.  

5. The voting blocs will then announce on the basis of the rebuttal if they have changed their votes.

6.  The results then should be entered on the voting record.  A +1 will be entered for a "most satisfactory" 
statement and a -1 for a "least satisfactory" statement.  

NOTE:  ***The teacher may double the point value of any crisis.***

7.  On each subsequent day, we will repeat steps 1-6 as follows:

Day 1 – Read both paragraphs: 1 + vote and 1 - vote
Day 2 – Read both paragraphs: 1 + vote and 1 - vote
Group discussion about slavery and politics in the Jacksonian Era:
Terms and concepts: Jackson and Southern post offices, Nat Turner’s Rebellion (p. 359),
William Lloyd Garrison’s Liberator (pp. 360-361), the proposed annexation of Texas 
in 1836, the gag rule (p. 316), positive good argument (p. 352)
Day 3 – Read paragraph 1: 1 + vote and 1 - vote
Read paragraph 2: 1 + vote and 1 - vote
Read paragraph 3: 1 + vote and 1 - vote
8.  As soon as a political leader reaches -3 on the voting record for a particular voting bloc, that voting bloc 
"deserts" or drops the political leader and can no longer cast votes for that leader.  (Caution:  if a political 
leader has received three "least satisfactory" votes or -3 and the "most satisfactory" vote or +1 then he is not 
dropped because his or her total is only -2).

9. WHICH LEADER WINS?   Whoever has the most votes at the end of the 3 day wins! rd

(Subtract minus points from plus points to get total points).

EVALUATION

While getting a grade should not be the most important thing in the world, the instructor
recognizes that as juniors many of you will want to know specifically how you will be evaluated
during this simulation.  First let us explain how you will not be evaluated.  Your grade is not dependent
on whether you win or lose the game.  You conceivably could win the game and not be carefully
prepared and do historical damage to the person whose role you are playing.  In that case you would
not get a good grade.  Conversely, if you are playing a prickly and controversial character and do so
in the course of the game effectively, understandably you would not win the game but could receive
a very good grade.

Specifically, you will be evaluated on your paragraph presentations and on your

participation.
Participation includes the questions which members of the voting blocs ask the leaders after the
leaders' presentations and the leaders’ responses.

SELECTION OF LEADERS
One last comment -- as you all know, our AP class has a number of highly talented students (all of you!).  
Not all of you can be leaders this time.  In the next simulation game, those of you who are playing voting blocs 
will be given roles which require more responsibility.

NOTE ON COOPERATION:
 Leaders and voting blocs may consult with their counterparts in other classes as long as their
final 
product is their own work.

RESEARCH NOTES for Leaders:  Remember you want to be as accurate as possible

about your point of view so your research should focus on finding out your person’s
stance on the issues.  
 In writing your speech or voting report, you may use the actual words of your person, but you
would probably be better off paraphrasing him – except you should use any famous quotes (cite
any direct quotes).  
 You want to be clear, concise and persuasive.  Think of your paragraphs as if each is an
argumentative essay. Make sure your stances on the main issues are clear and understandable.
State a thesis!
 Leaders can try to win votes by directing remarks to specific voting blocs or by asking other
leaders difficult questions.  YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO RESEARCH WAYS THAT YOU
CAN ATTACK YOUR OPPONENTS OR APPEAL TO SPECIFIC GROUPS.

RESEARCH NOTES for Voting Blocs: Concentrate first on understanding the issues
then on trying to determine your point of view on them through critical thinking or
research.  You need to include specific historical detail on events to support your
statement of your point of view. ACE these paragraphs (answer the prompt, cite
specific evidence, explain how your evidence supports your stance). MAKE SURE
YOU EXPLAIN WHY you feel a certain way.

• You will not be able to find your person’s point of view on all of the issues; so you 
will have to use your critical thinking skills (make an educated guess) to write your 
statement of your position on the issues – and WHY you have taken that position.  

• FOR EACH ISSUE, CONSIDER HOW IT AFFECTS YOU DIRECTLY.

• Consider the significance of who you are AND where you are from.  Consider also
How your state voted in the elections of 1824, 1828, 1832, 1836 and 1840. 

Grading Rubric – 50 points total

5 points for each paragraph:  ACE: Argument / Cite evidence / Explanations
5 points for participation each day (if you do not talk then 3/5)

JACKSON GAME ROLES

THE LEADERS

John Quincy Adams

    
John C. Calhoun

Henry Clay

Andrew Jackson

Martin Van Buren

Daniel Webster

THE VOTING BLOCS

1. Northern Industrialist director of the B.U.S. from Pennsylvania (Nicholas Biddle)

2. South Carolina enslaver & “Fireeater” (Robert Barnwell Rhett)

3. Scots-Irish owner of a small cotton plantation in Alabama - where he recently migrated (William Lowndes
Yancey)

4. Abolitionist from Massachusetts and an editor for the Liberator (William Lloyd Garrison)

5. DC newspaper editor (the Washington Globe) and political activist (Francis P. Blair)

6. Farmer and inventor in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia (Cyrus McCormick)

7. Georgia landowner and lawyer (Robert Toombs)

8. Shoemaker from Philadelphia and founder of the Working Men’s Party (William Heighton)

9. Female educator, moved from Connecticut to Ohio (Catharine Beecher)

10. St. Louis steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River (Henry Shreve / Thomas Hart Benton) 

11. African American owner of a prosperous sail loft in Philadelphia (James Forten)

12. Editor of a Christian Magazine and organizer for American missionaries (Jeremiah Evarts)

13. Rich merchant and fur trader from New York City (John Jacob Astor)

14. Steamboat Company entrepreneur in New York City (Cornelius Vanderbilt) 

Day 1:  The Beginnings of the 2 Party System (15 Points)

nd

Read Textbook 268-277, take notes on Pp. 29-30 and Pp. 35 and write a position statement as follows:
Paragraph 1: Introductory paragraph introducing your person up to 1828 and your person’s political leanings –
indicate
to which party you think you belong and why (Democrat or National Republican?). You can make up more
biographical details to help your construct your response (your name, gender, more about your life...). 1812

Paragraph 2. Who should be elected president in 1828? Why?

Terms and concepts: Liberty vs. Order, state vs. federal power, the Era of Good Feelings, the Missouri
Compromise, 
the American System, tariffs, the Election of 1824, the experience, ideas, qualifications and character of the
various candidates, the presidency of John Quincy Adams, the role of the press in politics

ADAMS:

CALHOUN:

CLAY:

JACKSON:

WEBSTER:

VAN BUREN:
YOUR + VOTE:   YOUR – VOTE:

Day 2 – Who is an American? (15 Points)

Read Textbook 281-288, take notes on Pp. 38-40 and write a position statement as follows:

Paragraph 1. Who should have full political rights as U.S. citizens?      
Terms and concepts: Who should be able to vote? (Who should be trusted with suffrage?), property restrictions on voting, 
the electoral college, nominating conventions, who should be able to hold public office? (Qualifications? Experience? 
Loyalty? This means both elected positions and appointed jobs in the government ranging from the post office to customs 
inspector), patronage, “rotation in office” or “the spoils system,” Andrew Jackson’s inauguration, Andrew Jackson’s goals

Paragraph 2. What should be done about the Native Americans east of the Mississippi?  
Terms and concepts: Are Native Americans US citizens? Do they have rights? The five civilized tribes, the Cherokee 
Nation, the Indian Removal Act, the Supreme Court Cherokee Cases, the Treaty of New Echota, John Ross, Trail of Tears

ADAMS:

CALHOUN:

CLAY:

JACKSON:

WEBSTER:

VAN BUREN:
YOUR + VOTE:   YOUR – VOTE:

Day 3 – Competing Visions for America (20 Points)

Overarching questions: What is the proper balance of power between the president, the Supreme Court, and Congress? 
Between the state and federal governments? What should be the proper role of the federal and state governments in 
promoting economic growth? HW 9: Read Textbook 288-294, take notes on Pp 41-43 and Read Textbook pp. 315-318, 
take notes on p. 45 and write a position statement as follows:

Paragraph 1. Should the U.S. have a national bank? Why or why not? Who should decide this question?
Terms and concepts: the American System, the Second Bank of the United States (constitutional), Election of 1832, 
Nicholas Biddle, Jackson’s Bank Veto 

Paragraph 2. Should the U.S. have a protective tariff? Why or why not? Who should decide this question?
Terms and concepts: the Tariff of Abominations (1828), Nullification (SC Exposition and Protest), the Webster-Hayne 
debate, the nullification crisis, the Adams Tariff (1832), the Force Bill, the compromise tariff of 1833 

Paragraph 3. Who should be elected president in 1840? 

Terms & concepts: Are you a Whig or a Democrat? Evaluate the presidencies of Jackson & Van Buren, the Election of
1836, 
the Specie Circular, Panic of 1837, the Election of 1840, the experience, character and party of the various candidates

ADAMS:

CALHOUN:

CLAY:

JACKSON:
WEBSTER:

VAN BUREN:
YOUR + VOTE:   YOUR – VOTE:

  
SAMPLES (USING A DIFFERENT ISSUE) - an example from an older version
BRIEF SAMPLE VOTING BLOC PAPER:
Name: Ted Dickson
Issue: The Annexation of Texas
Voting Bloc: Mississippi cotton plantation owner
Vote: +1 Polk; -1 Lincoln

I believe that the United States must annex Texas immediately.  I have many friends who
moved to Texas, taking their slaves with them.  These people have built very successful cotton
plantations, but they need better access to U.S. and world markets.  In addition, we must help these
Americans escape the threat posed by the Catholic, tyrannical government of Mexico.  As a plantation
owner, I also believe that we need another slave state to increase our power in the Senate so that the
growing population of the abolitionist north does not try to overpower our constitutional rights.
After hearing today’s speeches, I voted for James K. Polk.  His views are closest to mine on
this critical issue.  I especially admire his willingness to go to war with Mexico.  Maybe we will be
able to add even more slave territory to the United States.  I also considered voting for John C.
Calhoun, but he seems so radical that he is turning northern voters against this necessary step.
I voted against Congressman Abraham Lincoln.  This first-term Whig needs to be voted OUT
of Congress as soon as possible.  I cannot believe that he seriously opposes the expansion of our
United States just because he opposes the spread of slavery.  Next he will want to abolish all slavery! 
I almost voted against Henry Clay, because he is so wishy-washy on this issue.  I still can’t tell
whether or not he wants to annex Texas – and he is a slaveowner!

Sources
Fraser, Jim. By the People. 2 Edition. New York: Pearson, 2019. Print.
nd

Fraser includes an extended analysis of the birth of the Texas Republic,

including two sources on the Alamo that disagree. This was very helpful for
completing this assignment.
Shi, David E., and Brown Tindall George. America: The Essential Learning Edition. NY:
W.W. 
Norton, 2015. Print.  Shi includes fewer contextual details, but more on the
Texas War for independence and its effect on the politics of the U.S. This was
very helpful for considering the stances of the political parties on Texas.

Grading Rubric:
Who should have full rights as U.S. citizens? Comments:
______ / 8 ACE: Argument / Cite evidence / Explanations
______ / 8    Delivery / Participation 
 ______ / 4 Annotated Works Cited

What is the proper role and power of the Federal government?

______ / 8 ACE: Argument / Cite evidence / Explanations
______ / 8    Delivery / Participation 
______ / 4 Annotated Works Cited

Who should be more powerful: the president or Congress?

______ / 8 ACE: Argument / Cite evidence / Explanations
______ / 8    Delivery / Participation 
______ / 4 Annotated Works Cited

______ / 60  Overall Grade

C. AP US History Causes of the Civil War
Simulation

This simulation is designed to stimulate thinking on sectional reaction to the key events of the 1850s.  Your class
will be divided into five groups representing the West (California and Oregon), the old Northwest (Michigan, Ohio,
Wisconsin, Illinois), the deep or lower South (South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas), the Northeast
(Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and New York) and the Upper South (Missouri,
Kentucky, Maryland and Virginia).  Each group will prepare a position statement to read at the beginning of class on
the major questions each day.  Daily simulation format will be as follows:  

DAILY SIMULATION FORMAT 

10 minute group position statement preparation (combining and summarizing ideas from individual statements)
10 minute presentation of position statements (a senator can also voice a dissenting statement)
10 minute discussion and attempt to resolve the issue (vote on proposals)
10 minute debriefing

• Each student will act as a senator from a state in their region and will prepare their own short (1 typed page
max) position statement each evening on the next day's issues.  You must answer the questions and refer to
the events.  Use first person.  If you know a historical Senator from a state, you can assume their point of
view.

• Group Position statements must answer the questions of the day, mention the key events, and still be less than
two minutes in length!

• Grading:  (60 pts) Your grade will be based on: 1.  your written position statements (10 points a day)
2.  your group's position statements
3.  your ability to argue your point of view and the group's
    point of view and to compromise (if it is possible
to do this
in character)
4.  the level and quality of your participation in 2 & 3 (10
points a day)

SIMULATION SCHEDULE
Day #1:  1846 -1852 – Key Issues: Slavery in the territories:  Should the United States have gone to war with
Mexico?  What should happen to the territory acquired from Mexico (especially California)? Is the Fugitive
Slave Law constitutional?  Should it be obeyed?  Is there a conspiracy among slaveowners to spread slavery
throughout North America?  (Events which could be discussed:  Mexican-American War, Wilmot Proviso, the
election of 1848, the Free-Soil party, Gold Rush, popular or squatter sovereignty, Compromise of 1850,
Congressional and Presidential elections, Fugitive Slave Act, personal liberty laws, Harriet Tubman, Uncle Tom's
Cabin, Presidential election of 1852)  (TEXT pp. 322-332 and pp. 370-375)

Day #2:  1853-1857 – Bleeding Kansas:  Is there a political solution to the problem of slavery in the
territories?  Who is to blame for the violence in Kansas?   What do you think of the Dred Scott decision?  How
did it change the question of slavery in the territories?  Is there a conspiracy among slaveowners to spread
slavery throughout North America?  Or among Northerners to end slavery?   (Events which could be
discussed: Presidential election of 1852, Young America, William Walker and filibustering, Gadsden Purchase,
Ostend Manifesto, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas, Pottawatomie Massacre, Brooks-Sumner incident,
Know-Nothing Party, Republican party, Presidential election of 1856, Dred Scott Case, LeCompton Constitution)
(TEXT pp. 375-382)

Day #3:  1858-1861 – A Divided House Falls:  What is your opinion of John Brown? Who should be elected in
the election of 1860 and why?  What does Lincoln's election mean for the future?  Is secession legal?  Does the
South have a legitimate reason for seceding?  Is compromise still possible? What should be done about Fort
Sumter?  (Events which could be discussed: Lincoln-Douglas Debates, John Brown’s Raid, Four Presidential
Candidates and parties in 1860, Secession, the Crittenden Compromise, Fort Sumter and the reaction to it)  (TEXT
pp. 382-395)

NOTE 1: The format will be different on Day 3 – we will not do group position statements
on every question.

NOTE 2: You should cite your sources (MLA) at the end of each position statement (even if
you only use your textbook).

Chronology of Major Events Leading to the Civil War

1787 Northwest Ordinance

1793 Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin.
1820 Missouri Compromise
1831  William Lloyd Garrison begins to publish the Liberator, Nat Turner’s rebellion.
1837 Elijah Lovejoy, abolitionist newspaperman, killed by a mob in Alton, Illinois.
1844 James K. Polk elected president, 54 40’ or fight! (settled by compromise in 1846)
Manifest Destiny.
1845 John Tyler annexes Texas.
1846 War with Mexico begins, Abraham Lincoln elected to Congress -  “spot” resolutions
Options for slavery in the territories: Wilmot Proviso, popular sovereignty, Calhoun
1847 Zachary Taylor wins at Buena Vista; Winfield Scott captures Mexico City.
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and Mexican Cession, Taylor elected president, Free Soil
Party, Gold discovered, Seneca Falls Convention.
1849 CA. Gold Rush begins, Thoreau’s On Civil Disobedience, California applies for statehood
1850 Taylor dies, Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Law (personal liberty laws)
1851 Underground Railroad to Canada and Harriet Tubman, 
1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Douglass’s 4 of July Address, Democrat
th

Franklin Pierce elected president

1853 Gadsden Purchase
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, Know-Nothing and Republican parties formed, Ostend Manifesto
1855 New England Emigrant Aid Company, “Bleeding Kansas” begins
1856 Lawrence, Kansas burned & Brown retaliates, Brooks canes Sumner, 
Democrat James Buchanan elected president defeating Republican John Fremont
1857 Dred Scott v. Sanford Case, LeCompton Constitution approved by Kansas “voters”
Democrats lose 18 seats in Congress
1858 LeCompton Constitution rejected, Lincoln-Douglas debates; Douglas wins Illinois Senate
seat
1859 John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia
 1860 Democratic party splits in half, Lincoln elected president; South Carolina secedes
1861 Crittenden Compromise rejected; Six more Deep South states secede; CSA formed and
Davis elected its first president; Lincoln inaugurated; Fort Sumter attacked, Civil War
begins, Battle of Manassas, Trent Affair

Conspiracies?

Causes of the Civil War Simulation – Roles 

West
California
Oregon
Utah

The Old Northwest

Michigan
Ohio
Wisconsin     
Illinois  
Indiana      

The Deep or Lower South

South Carolina        
Georgia
Mississippi
Texas
Alabama

The Northeast
Massachusetts
Maine      
Pennsylvania
New York
Connecticut

The Upper South

Missouri
Tennessee
Kentucky      
Maryland
 Virginia
    
NOTE 1:  If you find a historical person from your state, you can use their ideas to help you – but you may also
disagree with them (some suggestions are in parentheses).

NOTE 2: You may cooperate and share ideas with your counterparts in other classes, BUT your position statement
must be your own work.

NOTE 3: You should cite your sources at the end of each position statement (even if you only use your textbook).

I. Causes of the Civil War Simulation – Research Notes

West
California - John C. Fremont
Oregon - Edward Baker, Joseph Lane (opposites!)
Utah (What did Brigham Young think?)

The Old Northwest

Michigan - Lewis Cass
Ohio – Salmon P.  Chase, Benjamin Wade
Wisconsin – Charles Durkee (personal liberty laws)
Illinois - Stephen Douglas/Abraham Lincoln – start as Douglas – but you can switch to Lincoln at some point?
Indiana - Jesse Bright

The Deep or Lower South

South Carolina - John C. Calhoun/James Gadsden/Andrew Butler/James Henry Hammond /
(Preston Brooks)
Georgia – Robert Toombs
Mississippi - Jefferson Davis, Albert Gallatin Brown
Texas – Sam Houston – or another Senator
Alabama – William Lowndes Yancey 
Louisiana – John Slidell 

The Northeast
Massachusetts - Daniel Webster/Charles Sumner/Edward Everett
Connecticut - Lafayette Foster / James Dixon
Maine – Hannibal Hamlin / William Fessenden/ Lot Morrill                            
 Pennsylvania - David Wilmot?/Simon Cameron
New York – William Seward
Vermont – Lot Morrill 

The Upper South

Missouri – David Atchison, Thomas Hart Benton
Tennessee – James K. Polk, John Bell, Andrew Johnson
Kentucky – Henry Clay/John Crittenden
Maryland - Roger Taney?  / James Pearce
Virginia - Edmund Ruffin? / James Mason

http://www.civilwarcauses.org/quotes.htm

Grading Each Day

Participation
10 = 3 good comments
9 = 2 good comments
8 = 1 good comment
7 = works in small group but silent otherwise
6 = never talks

Position Statement
10 = answers all questions, good supportive detail, citations
9 = answers all questions but weak on details or citations
or missing a question but good on details and citations
8 = missing a question and weak on details or no citations
7 = missing two questions
6 – missing three questions
D. LABOR vs. CAPITAL Mini-simulation

The Workers' World

From 1860 to 1920 America industrialized at a breakneck pace.  Although industrialists like
Carnegie, Vanderbilt and Rockefeller led the way by organizing big business, it was the workers who
built America.  "The vast steel mills, the cramped tenement sweatshops, the dank tunnels of the coal
fields - all demanded workers.  'Greenhorns' from abroad [33 million immigrants came to the U.S. in these
years primarily from Southern and Eastern Europe and mostly poor and not afraid of hard work - more
than 2/3rds of coal miners and steel workers were foreign born], 'hayseeds' from the countryside [in 1880
for the first time the census counted more nonagricultural workers than farmers; in 1920 for the first time
the census counted more people living in the cities than in rural areas], children, adults, blacks, whites,
Mexicans, and Asians toiled by the millions in the new industrial order."
Workers had to adapt to new ways of living and working.  They had to learn to obey a clock and
a supervisor (foreman), to work in gaslit factories, and to keep up with the pace set by the loud
machines.  They almost never saw the owner and had no one to whom they could complain.  The work
was tedious, difficult and dangerous as the following example attests:
"In 1881, the Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Company opened its new mill in Homestead,
Pennsylvania [which would become the center of Carnegie's steel empire].  Nearly 400 men and boys
went to work on its 60 acres of sheds.  To keep the mill going around the clock, they worked every day
but Christmas and the Fourth of July, 12 hours a day one week, 12 hours a night the next, except for the
weekly 'swing shift.'  Then the Saturday night crew took Sunday off, and the Sunday swing worked 24
hours straight.  In the furnace room, ovens and huge pits ('gaping like the mouths of hell,' wrote novelist
Hamlin Garland) emitted a withering heat that quickly exhausted men who tended them.  The incessant
vibration of machinery and the screeching of cold saws drove some workers deaf.  Shiny grains of steel
covered their clothing and coated their lungs.  There were no breaks, not even for lunch, and no shower
rooms.  'Home is just the place where I eat and sleep,' one steelworker said.  'I live in the mills.'  ... In one
year in Pittsburgh iron and steel mills alone, 195 men died from hot metal explosions, asphyxiation and
falls, some into pits of molten metal." [NOTE:  as late as 1923 the steel industry continued this 84-hour
work week and shift pattern.] 
The United States was the most dangerous country in the world to be a factory worker.  It had the
highest accident and death rate of all industrial nations.  It was one of the only nations without any laws
limiting hours in the workday.  Seventy percent of industrial workers worked at least 10 hours a day.  For
injury or death, workers and their families could expect no payment from employers.  The United States
was one of the only nations in the world with no workmen's compensation for injuries on the job.  At the
turn of the century, 35,000 workers were killed in industrial accidents and more than 2 million suffered
serious injuries EACH YEAR!  112 died and 6,389 were injured each day! 
By 1900, most industrial workers worked 6 days a week, 10 hours a day.  They held jobs that
required more machines and fewer skills (and "Taylorism" led to higher productivity and less worker
control).  Unskilled workers were paid between $1.25 and $1.50 for 10 hours of work totaling less than
$10.00 a week (a skilled worker might make twice that).  Women and children, who made up more than
1/2 of the work force, were paid about $5.00.  Children worked an average of 60 hours a week for an
average pay of 1/3rd that of adult males.  Children as young as 8 did dangerous jobs which demanded
small size and nimbleness.  In 1900 there were 2 million child laborers.  Parents often felt that they had no
choice but to send their kids to work so the family would make enough money to survive.  One union
leader observed of coal miners, "Absolute necessity compels that father in many instances to take the
child into the mine to assist him in winning bread for the family."  Many workers lived in company-
owned towns like Homestead.  They were safer and cleaner than the cities, but the company owned
everything - the houses, the stores where food was bought, the schools, and even the police.  The
company set the price for food and set the rent.  It took about $600 a year to make ends meet, but most
manufacturing workers made under $500.00 a year.  [NOTE:  Workers got paid more if they were native-
born whites and/or if they spoke English.]
In depressions, owners and managers would just cut wages or fire workers.  Owners fought the
unions by using blacklists, strikebreakers (scabs), and "yellow dog" contracts.  Workers responded with
strikes and boycotts and demands for collective bargaining and a closed shop.  The government helped
the owners by sending in state troops or the U. S. Army to put down strikes.  They justified the
oppression of workers through the doctrine of Social Darwinism.

The land of opportunity and the American dream seemed like myths to many of these workers.  In the words of one
worker,  "When a man is steady and sober and ... finds himself in debt for a common living, something must be
wrong."  (Nation of Nations, pp. 674-7, Big Annie, ch. 1)

Imagine you were an industrial worker... What would be your biggest complaints? 

Term: Taylorism

Why did workers try to organize?

What obstacles hindered workers’ efforts to organize?

How and why was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act used against unions?

Define these TERMS:

Labor Union - A labor union represents the collective interests of workers, bargaining with employers
over such concerns as wages and working conditions. Labor unions are specific to industries and work like
a democracy. Labor unions have local chapters, each of which obtains a charter from the national-level
organization (from Investopedia.com)
What did/do labor unions want?
•
•
•
•

What did/does a labor union do?

collective bargaining

arbitration

closed shop

strikes

boycotts

cooperatives

How did/do industrialists respond?

blacklists

strikebreakers / scabs / replacements

Pinkertons (blacklegs)

"yellow dog" contracts

Lockouts

Court injunction (SATA)

Anarchism
What were the goals and tactics of anarchists?

How did the existence of anarchists affect the public’s opinion of organized labor?

Workers had a choice:  misery or unionize and strike.  "For ordinary workers to have any effect on the process of industrialization
they had to combine, just as businesses had.  They needed to integrate horizontally - which meant organizing not just locally, but
on a national scale.  They needed to integrate vertically:  to coordinate their actions along a wide range of jobs and skills, just as
Andrew Carnegie coordinated the production of steel, all the way from the iron ranges of Minnesota to the delivery of finished steel
girders.  For workers, labor unions were their systematic response to industrialization.  NOTE 1: they are rejecting the American
ideal of “rugged individualism.” Note 2: In Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842), the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that unions were
just as legal as any other club organized to help members for a legitimate purpose.

20 points (10 for speech/paragraph; 5 points participation; 5 points works cited)

The year is 1895….but you can consider any labor events in the period 1865-1914.

Assignment:
Leaders – Prepare a two-minute speech trying to persuade workers why they should join their
union.  In your speech, you must identify your union, who can join, your goals and your tactics
(and successes).  Why is your union a better choice than the others?  (You should critique the
other unions if appropriate) You must turn in your speech (including works cited - textbook + at
least one internet source).

1. Terence V. Powderly
2. Samuel Gompers
3. Eugene Debs (you should use his activities and ideas after 1895 – ARU to IWW and socialism)
4. Henry Clay Frick (you should argue against all unions and why they are bad)

Workers – Write 2 paragraphs explaining your personal work situation and what you perceive to
be the biggest problems facing you and the nation. Write this in first person as a letter to the
editor of a newspaper.  AFTER the class activity, add a paragraph explanation of WHY you
picked the leader you chose and how that choice will help solve the problems facing the nation. 
You should include works cited at the end of your paragraphs (textbook + at least one internet
source).

5. Serbian immigrant working cleaning floors in Swift Meatpacking Plant in Chicago (The Jungle?)
6. Irish immigrant, owner of a small draying (freight hauling) business in San Francisco (Denis Kearney)
7. Unemployed Italian immigrant desperate for work to support his wife and two children  
8. Laborer working in the McCormick Harvesting Machine plant in Chicago, IL (Haymarket Incident)
9. Apprentice Typesetter learning how to be a printer for a newspaper in Philadelphia
10. Army veteran now employed by the Pinkerton Detective Agency
11. Operator of a Bessemer converter in a steel mill in Homestead, PA (Homestead Strike)
12. Farm girl who moved to Detroit to be a domestic servant for the owner of the Michigan Stove Company
13. Young woman working in a textile mill in Gastonia, NC with her two daughters (Great Uprising?)
14. Lawyer from Boston, general counsel for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (Richard Olney)
15. Engineer working for the Union Pacific railroad, living in Texas (Great Southwest RR strike)
16. Carpenter who installs crown molding and cabinets in houses in Newport, RI
17. Greek immigrant coal miner in Ludlow, CO (Louis Tikas)
18. Laborer working in the Pullman Palace Car factory near Chicago, IL; living in the factory town (strike)
19. Coal miner in West Virginia whose 12-year-old son works in the mine with him
20. Medical Doctor living in the textile town of Lawrence, MA (Bread and Roses strike)
21. African American unskilled laborer in an oil refinery in Cleveland
Note: Leaders and Workers must use at least three of the terms on pp. 46-47
& highlight or underline them.

Class Activity:
Leaders will give their speeches.  After each speech, workers can ask clarifying questions.  After
all four speeches, there will be open debate with everyone participating.  Then each of the four
leaders will stand in a corner of the room and each worker will join the leader they support. 
Each worker may be asked to explain the choice they made.

E. Presidential Election of 1896 Simulation (25 points)

Your Political Party:  Republican Populist Democrat 
(circle whichever one you have been assigned)
Your group members – create a shared Google Doc or Folder for notes and sources (This
shared resource will be part of the group grade for this assignment – the song can help, too)

Activity: You will have 10 minutes to present your platform and convince the voters to support
your candidate and ideas.  Each group will hold a campaign rally that will include all elements of
their presentation (except for the rebuttal which will be delivered after all three rallies).  Your
group should:
• identify the major problems facing the country
• present your solutions to these problems (your platform)
• critique your opponents’ ideas

Note: Each person should do at least two of these (problems, solutions, critiques) in their
project.

Task: Each student in your group should have a specific task:

• Delivering a two-three minute campaign speech promoting your candidate (background and
experience) and his solutions to the problems facing the country (as well as critiquing your opponents’
ideas).   Consider the context of the election.  (Note: this speech could be presented as a video campaign ad
– this could be done with a partner)

• Delivering a two-three minute press briefing, reinforcing your arguments, critiquing your opponents’
ideas and refuting the arguments that your opponents present.  This will be done after the three rallies and
may turn into an open debate.  The audience will be able to ask the questions during this part of the activity.

• Creating a detailed campaign poster

• Creating a detailed campaign pamphlet
• Creating at least five different detailed campaign buttons/bumper stickers – as a group, these need 
to address problems, solutions and critiques

• Creating two political cartoons (promoting or attacking)

• Writing (and singing?) a campaign song (this can be done with a partner) – include written lyrics.

Evaluation: Your grade will be primarily based on your task (20 points), but will also include a
small (5 points) part that assesses consistency of message (Did you consult enough that your
message is consistent and your presentation is smooth?  Did you create a shared Google Doc or
Folder?)

Note: Although the Populists and the Democrats both nominated William Jennings Bryan, the
two political parties still had different ideas and goals and competed in local and congressional
races.  Elections in the Gilded Age tended to be more about parties than personalities.

Note on Sources: You must turn in a Works Cited or Bibliography (MLA) of the sources that
you use for research. This can be done as a group or individually.

Ideas and Sources for Research:

UCSB Presidential Project (party platforms)
Research the biographical background of the candidates as well as the campaign itself.
 Podcast: Presidential: William McKinley; Backstory: 9/8/17 Karl Rove on the Election of 1896;
The History Author Show: 11/27/17 Robert Merry on William McKinley
Historical Context:  The Critical 1890s
1890: Frontier “ends,” Wounded Knee, Sherman Anti-Trust Act, McKinley Tariff
1892: Homestead Strike, Populist Party’s Omaha Platform
1893: Panic and the worst depression yet in U.S. history (20% unemployment)
1894: Coxey’s Army marches from Ohio to D.C., the Pullman Strike
1895: the E.C. Knight case
1896: Plessy v. Ferguson; the Election

Turning Point:  The Election of 1896:  How to return the nation to prosperity?

What were the party platforms in 1896?

Republican:  William McKinley:

Democrat: William Jennings Bryan:

Message of his Cross of Gold speech:

Populist: William Jennings Bryan:

Describe each candidate’s campaign:

William Jennings Bryan:

William McKinley:
Front-porch campaign

Full Lunch Pail

Why did McKinley win?

Which candidate was right on the currency issue?

To what extent was this election a turning point?

The Election of 1896:   How would each of the following have voted? and why?

Circle the candidate and the explain why each person would have voted that way in the space  
underneath the person.  Then try to link the person to the themes of this unit.

1. McK    WJB   Ohio Capitalist - successful in iron business, hobby - politics & making presidents, 
believer in trickledown economics

2. McK    WJB   Union veteran & civil servant - the Superintendent of the Carlisle Indian School in Penn.

3. McK    WJB   Italian-American parish priest living in Brooklyn, NY, has connections to Tammany Hall

4. McK    WJB   Serbian immigrant working in packingtown in Chicago

5. McK    WJB   3rd generation Irish worker - shift boss in a steel mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania

6. McK    WJB   Prosperous Scandinavian wheat farmer in Minnesota - not in debt

7. McK    WJB   Ohio Monopolist who owned 90% of the oil refining business

8. McK    WJB   Moderately successful farmer and Farmers Alliance organizer from Iowa

9. McK    WJB   Kansas farmer who has lost his homestead, marched with Coxey's Army

10. McK    WJB   Owner of the Great Northern railroad, lives in St. Paul and Seattle

11. McK    WJB   Tenant farmer growing cotton in Georgia whose father died fighting for the  Confederacy

12. McK    WJB   Owner of the Comstock silver mine in Nevada

13. McK    WJB   Chinese(son of an  immigrant) who works in the Comstock silver mine in NV & is a member of the WFM

14. McK    WJB   Middle class lawyer in Ohio whose wife is the leader of the state WCTU

15. McK    WJB   African-American Union veteran who is employed as a sailor out of the port of Boston

16. McK    WJB   Brewery worker in St. Louis and member of the AF of L,  whose father is a Union veteran
17. McK    WJB   Employee of J.P. Morgan and Company, Wall Street, New York City

18. McK    WJB   Mormon woman in Utah who has just returned from medical school in Boston

19. McK    WJB   Chicago brakeman and member of the American Railway Union

20. McK    WJB   Retired employee of Montgomery Ward in Chicago, with investments in railroad bonds

Write a few sentences explaining the kinds of people 

who voted for each candidate:
 F. The Critical Election of 1912

20 points (10 for speech/paragraph; 5 points for participation; 5 points for sources)

Assignment:
Leaders – Prepare a two-minute speech trying to persuade voters why they should vote for you
and your party’s platform. Why are you a better choice than the others?  You must share your
speech.

Voters – Write 1 paragraph explaining your personal situation and what you perceive to be the
biggest issues facing you and the nation. Write this in first person as a letter to the editor of a
newspaper.  AFTER the class activity, add a paragraph explanation of WHY you voted for the
leader you chose and how that choice will help solve the problems facing the nation.

political party          candidate (background) program: platform:  what should be done with big business?

1. Theodore Roosevelt: New Nationalism

2. William Howard Taft: Rule of Reason

3. Woodrow Wilson: New Freedom

4. Eugene Debs: Socialism

How would each of the following have voted and why? Write the best candidate in each blank and 
explain why the voter  would have voted that way in the available space.  You may add necessary details.
Candidates: TR       Taft Wilson Debs

1. _________ Ohio Capitalist - successful in iron business, hobby - politics & making presidents, 
believer in trickledown economics

2. _________ Jewish tailor working in a sweatshop like the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City

3. _________Italian-American parish priest living in Brooklyn, NY, has connections to Tammany Hall

4. _________Serbian immigrant working in packingtown in Chicago

5. _________3rd generation Irish worker - shift boss in a steel mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania

6. _________University professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, supporter of Senator LaFollette

7. _________Ohio Monopolist who owned 90% of the oil refining business

8. _________Moderately successful farmer and Farmers Alliance organizer from Iowa

9. _________ Author of a muckraking novel about the Chicago meat packing industry

10. _________Owner of the Great Northern railroad, lives in St. Paul and Seattle

11. _________Tenant farmer growing cotton in Georgia whose grandfather died fighting for the Confederacy

12. _________Reform mayor of Trenton, New Jersey

13. _________ Welsh immigrant who works in the coal mines of WV & is a member of the UMW

14. _________Middle class lawyer in Ohio whose wife is the leader of the state WCTU

15. _________African-American Union veteran who is employed as a sailor out of the port of Boston

16. _________Brewery worker in St. Louis and member of the AF of L, whose grandfather was a Union veteran

17. _________Employee of J.P. Morgan and Company, Wall Street, New York City

18. _________College-educated woman who manages a settlement house in Chicago

19. _________Chicago brakeman and member of the American Railway Union

20. _________ Chairperson of the New York State Factory Commission 

Who won the election of 1912?

________________________ = 6.3 Million votes - 435 electoral

________________________ = 4.1 Million votes

________________________ = 3.5 Million votes

________________________ = 1 million votes

Why did that candidate win?

What was the significance of the election of 1912?

G. The Road to U.S. Involvement in World War I
It is the fall of 1914, and World War I is raging in Europe.  Twenty-five years of competition for
colonies has literally turned Europe into a jungle in which nations are struggling for survival.  (Your
textbook identifies 4 causes of this war). You, however, are an American, sitting peacefully across the
Atlantic, watching the struggle.
Your group represents a state in the United States Congress.  In order for the United States to
declare war, two-thirds of the states must agree.  For each year beginning in 1914 for which you receive
background information, your group must write one paragraph explaining: 
(1)  Should the United States enter World War I?
(2)  Against whom should the United States declare war?
(3)  Why???
Your answers should be logical and persuasive.

BACKGROUND EVENTS
June 1914 -- The Austrian Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated as he visits the Austrian colony of Bosnia
in southeastern Europe.  The assassin is a Bosnian revolutionary who was trained and equipped by the
small neighboring country of Serbia.  Serbia and Bosnia are both populated with people of Slavic descent,
and they would like to join as a Slavic homeland.

July - August 1914 -- Austria demands an end to Serbian support of the Slavic revolution in Bosnia. 
Serbia refuses to obey after consulting with her ally, Russia.  Austria declares war on Serbia.  Russia
declares war on Austria.  Austria appeals for help to her ally, Germany.  Germany declares war on Russia
and Serbia.  Russia asks her allies, England and France, for help.  They respond by declaring war on
Germany and Austria.  The battle lines in Europe, therefore, look as follows: (Again - see the map on page
566).

CENTRAL POWERS ALLIED POWERS

Germany Russia
Austria-Hungary England
Ottoman Empire = Turkey France
Serbia 

The United States is shocked by the war.  We would like to avoid it.  We are committed to
neutrality.  The general rules governing neutral nations in times of war had been adopted at a conference
in London in 1909.  The only nation at war which had refused to sign the "Declaration of the Rights of
Neutral Nations" was England.  This "Declaration" stated that:

(1)  Any neutral nation has the right to trade any product with any other neutral nation during a
time of war.
 (2)  Any neutral nation has the right to trade any non-military products (like food) with any
nation during a time of war.
(3)  Any neutral nation has the right to arrange loans and financial agreements with any nation
during a time of war.
(4)  Before attacking any non-military ship, a naval warship must stop the ship and evacuate all
passengers on board before sinking the ship.

President Wilson has repeatedly stated during the last few weeks that the United States will
remain neutral during the war and that he expects all warring nations to respect "The Declaration of
Rights of Neutral Nations."  On August 4th, he officially declares the U.S. to be a neutral country. 
President Wilson has also called for "peace without victory."  Many Americans do not feel as neutral as
Wilson would like.  German-Americans (mostly living in the Midwest) and Irish-Americans (mostly
living in Eastern cities) support the Central Powers.  Many other Americans support England because of
traditional ties of language, heritage and customs.

Different factors might have influenced your opinions depending on which state you are from. The
following hints may help you make your decisions:

NOTE:  Remember:  What would going to war mean for the American people?  For soldiers?  For the
soldiers’ families?  When are wars worth fighting?

New Jersey
• Your state’s economy is based on manufacturing (including making weapons) and trade.
• Woodrow Wilson used to be governor of New Jersey.
• A lot of immigrants live in New Jersey and work in New Jersey’s factories.

Illinois:
• Midwestern state
• Chicago has many different kinds of immigrants including Irish, Polish, Germans, Slavs, and etc.
• Your state’s economy depends on the railroad and the Great Lakes.  Chicago is the great link 
between East and West.  Important industries include meatpacking, manufacturing, etc.
• Jane Addams’ Hull House is in Chicago.  What did she think?

New York:
• New York City is the biggest port in the world 
• Your state’s economy depends on trade with Europe as well as manufacturing.
• New York City is the home of myriad groups of immigrants including a large contingent of Irish 
who are heavily involved in the politics of the city.
Texas:
• Your state’s economy is based on cattle, cotton and oil.
• Your state borders Mexico, and you fear that the unrest there might spread into Texas.

Nebraska:
• Midwestern/Great Plains state
• Your state’s economy depends on agriculture, and because of a demand for exports, your farmers are 
prospering.
• Key politicians in your state include William Jennings Bryan and progressive Senator George Norris.
Massachusetts:
• Your state’s economy depends on trade with Europe.
• Your state has always had strong ties with Great Britain.
• There is a very large Irish community in Boston which dominates the city’s politics.
• One of your U.S. Senators is Republican Henry Cabot Lodge.

Wisconsin:
• Your state has a mostly agricultural economy.
• Your state is the most Progressive state in the country and is very concerned with continuing the 
reform movement.
• Your state has many German-American inhabitants.
• One of your U.S. Senators is progressive Robert LaFollette.

California:
• Your state has a mostly agricultural economy.
• Your state has a lot of trade with Asia – most Asian imports to the U.S. come through California.
• Your state borders Mexico.
• Your state has a lot of progressive reformers.
 
North Carolina
• Your state’s economy is based on agriculture (tobacco) and textiles (used to make uniforms?), and some 
                       products are exported to Europe.
• A major U.S. shipping route is just off of your coast.
• Congressman Claude Kitchin said in 1915:  “When people discover that the income tax will have to 
    pay for the increase in the army & navy, preparedness will not be so popular with them as it is now.”
• Your state is fairly conservative.

State: ____________________ Group members:

1914
1.  Germany invades France through neutral Belgium even though Germany and Belgium had signed a
treaty guaranteeing German respect for Belgian neutrality.  Allied propaganda claims that the Germans
committed atrocities in Belgium.  Only the miraculous Allied victory at the Marne River saves Paris.

2.  England sets up a total blockade of Germany and major neutral European ports.
a.  England severely limits the types of goods allowed into neutral ports.
b.  England cuts the telegraph link between Germany and the U.S. so all war news must come
through England British newspapers begin to report on German atrocities in Belgium such as
chopping off the hands of babies, attacking nuns & destroying universities.  Most Americans are
skeptical about these stories. (After the war Americans discover that most of these stories were
false – the result of Allied wartime propaganda).
c.  When Americans protest this blockade, Sir Edward Grey points out that the British are just
following the practice established by the U.S. in the Civil War.

3.  England begins to increase its trade dramatically with the United States.

4. In April, prior to the war, Wilson’s ended his policy of “watchful waiting” with Mexico and ordered
U.S. marines to seize the Mexican city of Veracruz to prevent a German shipment of weapons from
 reaching Mexico’s de facto president General Victoriano Huerta.  Nineteen Americans and one hundred
twenty-six Mexicans were killed in the fighting.  Argentina, Brazil and Chile mediated a settlement of the
conflict to prevent war.  Huerta stepped down in July, and Venustiano Carranza (whom Wilson had
supported) took over.  In November, Wilson withdrew the American troops.

(1)  Should the United States enter World War I? (2)  Against whom should the United States declare war?
(3)  Why???

1915
1.  Trench warfare develops on the Western Front.  Millions die in “senseless” fighting.  Even though the
French do not advance more than three miles in the entire year, over a million and a half Frenchmen are
killed.

2.  On February 4, 1915, Germany declares a war zone around the British Isles in which their
submarines will operate freely.  Germany places advertisements in American newspapers urging
Americans not to travel on British ships.  Wilson insists that under international law Americans have the
right to travel on any ship.  He warns Germany that it will be held accountable for any loss of American
ships or lives.  On March 28, the British merchant ship Falaba is sunk in the Irish Sea. One American
drowns. On May 1, the American tanker Gulflight is sunk off the English coast. Two Americans lose their
lives.

3. On May 7, the British luxury liner Lusitania (a ship similar to the Titanic) is sunk off the coast of
Ireland.  1,198 people die including 128 Americans.  Americans are outraged.  Wilson demands an
apology and reparations.  The Germans point out that they warned Americans not to travel on the ship
and that it was carrying arms and ammunition.  They also claim, incorrectly, that it was armed.  In June,
Wilson repeats his demands in stronger terms.  Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigns in
protest unwilling to risk war on the issue and joins the peace movement as a private citizen.  On August
19, the British passenger liner, Arabic, is sunk and two Americans are killed.  Germany responds by
paying an indemnity and, on September 1, it issues the Arabic Pledge promising to sink no more
passenger ships without a warning and without providing for the rescue of the passengers.

4.  Great Britain extends its blockade and announces that it will seize vessels carrying goods to or from
Germany wherever they are found.  In addition, it severely restricts U.S. trade with neutral countries in
Europe.  England also continues to increase its purchase of many tons of supplies from the United
States.  Fearing a possible depression, Wilson lifts all loan restrictions and U.S. bankers arrange a $500
million loan to Britain and France.

(1)  Should the United States enter World War I? (2)  Against whom should the United States declare war?
(3)  Why???

What was Wilson’s policy towards the war in Europe?

1916 
1.  Trench warfare continues on the Western Front.  At the Battle of the Somme, which lasts five months, more
Germans are killed than all the Americans killed in the Civil War.  German zeppelins begin to bomb London.
2.  Germany violates the Arabic pledge by sinking the French liner, Sussex, on March 24. Two Americans are injured. 
Germany again apologizes and in May pledges that its U-Boats will not sink any passenger or merchant ships (the
Sussex Pledge).

3.  American trade dramatically increases with England.  Between 1914 and 1916..
a.  U.S. export of munitions to England increased from $40 million to $1,300 million
b.  U.S. trade with Britain and its allies has grown from $800 million to $3 billion.
c.  U.S. loans to Allied governments reached $2.3 billion compared to loans of $27 million to the Central
Powers.

4.  Britain drags their heels on U.S.'s offer of mediation (again offered by Wilson's trusted adviser Colonel House). 
Eventually House and Sir Edward Grey issue the House-Grey Memorandum which says that if England and France
call for a peace conference and the Central Powers refuse, the U.S. would probably join the Allies. British troops put
down the Irish Easter Rebellion (an attempt to win independence) so severely that most Americans are outraged. 

5. On July 30, a massive explosion occurs at the Black Tom Island munitions depot in Jersey City in New York
Harbor. The explosion destroys munitions and over 100,000 lbs. of TNT intended for Russia. The explosion is the
equivalent of a 5.0 earthquake and permanently damages part of the Statue of Liberty. No one knows what caused
the explosion.

6. Wilson wins a very close reelection campaign on a platform of social legislation, neutrality and war preparedness. 
His most famous campaign slogan is:  “He kept us out of war!”  Privately, Wilson points out that “any little German
lieutenant can put us into the war at any time by some calculated outrage.”

7.  Pancho Villa, a former bandit and rebel general, leads a rebellion against President Carranza in Mexico.  His
troops repeatedly attacked across the border into the U.S., and in March burned the town of Columbus, New Mexico,
killing many Americans.  Wilson’s response is to order General John Pershing to lead an army of 6,000 men across
the border to chase after Villa.  Villa evades his pursuers and attacks across the border again.  When Pershing
“invades” Mexico again American troops end up clashing with Carranza’s forces.

(1)  Should the United States enter World War I? (2)  Against whom should the United States declare war?
(3)  Why???

1917
1.  On January 22, Wilson made public his proposals for a fair peace to end World War I        
     and to prevent future wars.  President Wilson's Peace Plan called for
a.  peace without victory -- no country should win or lose the war.
b.  the right of self-determination to be guaranteed to all nations (in other words, an end to colonies).
c.  a limit on the size of a nation's army and navy.
d.  recognition by all countries of the basic concept of the rights of neutral nations
e. recognition by all countries of the basic concept of freedom of the seas for ships of all countries.
f.  no secret alliances.
g.  A league of nations to insure peace in the future and democracy for all nations.
2.  On January 31, Germany (gambling that it can win the war before the U.S. gets involved) announces it is resuming
unrestricted submarine warfare, effective the next day.  Any ship in the war zone will be sunk.  On February 3,
Wilson breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany.  The same day an American ship is sunk.

3.  On March 1, news of the Zimmermann Telegram breaks in the American press.  This wireless telegram was a
message from the German Foreign Secretary to the German minister in Mexico telling him to offer Mexico an alliance
and financial aid in case of war between the U.S. and Germany.  In return for her involvement, Mexico would be able
to "recover" Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.  The telegram had been intercepted by British Secret Service agents.
4.  On March 15, a popular and democratic revolution overthrows the Tsar of Russia.  Russia seems close to
surrendering to Germany.  Germany would then be able to fight on only one front, combining its armies for a final
overwhelming assault.  The Allies are now all democracies.

5.  On March 16, German submarines sink three American merchant ships in the North Atlantic.  Six Americans are
killed.  Two more American ships are sunk later in the month.
On April 2, 1917, Wilson addressed a special session of both houses of Congress and
asked Congress for a declaration of war.

On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial
German Government that on and after the 1st day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or
of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and
Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the
Mediterranean... I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only of
the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of noncombatants, men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits
which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property
can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people can not be. The present German submarine warfare against
commerce is a warfare against mankind…
It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has
stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and
overwhelmed in the waters in the same way…Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the
physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single
champion. With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave
responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that
the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war
against the Government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status of belligerent which has
thus been thrust upon it, and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of
defense but also to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to
terms and end the war…
We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling towards them but one of sympathy and friendship.
It was not upon their impulse that their Government acted in entering this war. It was not with their previous
knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days
when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties
or of little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their fellow men as pawns and tools…
  The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of
political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for
ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the
rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of
nations can make them…
  We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people…They are, most of them, as true and
loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance…
It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all
wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for
the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts -- for democracy, for the right of those who submit to
authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal
dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world
itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything
that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her
blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God
helping her, she can do no other. 
4 April, 1917   Reply from Progressive Republican from Nebraska, Senator George
William Norris

The resolution now before the Senate is a declaration of war. Before taking this momentous step, and while
standing on the brink of this terrible vortex, we ought to pause and calmly and judiciously consider the terrible
consequences of the step we are about to take…
We have loaned many hundreds of millions of dollars to the Allies in this controversy. While such action
was legal and countenanced by international law, there is no doubt in my mind but the enormous amount of money
loaned to the Allies in this country has been instrumental in bringing about a public sentiment in favor of our
country taking a course that would make every bond worth a hundred cents on the dollar and making the payment of
every debt certain and sure…
It is now demanded that the American citizens shall be used as insurance policies to guarantee the safe
delivery of munitions of war to belligerent nations. The enormous profits of munition manufacturers, stockbrokers,
and bond dealers must be still further increased by our entrance into the war. This has brought us to the present
moment, when Congress, urged by the President and backed by the artificial sentiment, is about to declare war and
engulf our country in the greatest holocaust that the world has ever known. 
To whom does war bring prosperity? Not to the soldier who for the munificent compensation of $16 per month
shoulders his musket and goes into the trench, there to shed his blood and to die if necessary; not to the
brokenhearted widow who waits for the return of the mangled body of her husband; not to the mother who weeps at
the death of her brave boy; not to the little children who shiver with cold; not to the babe who suffers from hunger;
nor to the millions of mothers and daughters who carry broken hearts to their graves. 
War brings no prosperity to the great mass of common and patriotic citizens. It increases the cost of living
of those who toil and those who already must strain every effort to keep soul and body together. War brings
prosperity to the stock gambler on Wall Street--to those who are already in possession of more wealth than can be
realized or enjoyed…Their object in having war and in preparing for war is to make money. Human suffering and
the sacrifice of human life are necessary, but Wall Street considers only the dollars and the cents. The men who do
the fighting, the people who make the sacrifices are the ones who will not be counted in the measure of this great
prosperity that he depicts. The stockbrokers would not, of course, go to war because the very object they have in
bringing on the war is profit, and therefore they must remain in their Wall Street offices in order to share in that
great prosperity which they say war will bring. The volunteer officer, even the drafting officer, will not find them.
They will be concealed in their palatial offices on Wall Street, sitting behind mahogany desks, covered up with
clipped coupons--coupons soiled with the sweat of honest toil, coupons stained with mothers' tears, coupons dyed in
the lifeblood of their fellowmen. 
We are taking a step today that is fraught with untold danger. We are going into war upon the command of
gold. We are going to run the risk of sacrificing millions of our countrymen's lives in order that other countrymen
may coin their lifeblood into money. And even if we do not cross the Atlantic and go into the trenches, we are going
to pile up a debt that the tolling masses that shall come many generations after us will have to pay. Unborn millions
will bend their backs in toil in order to pay for the terrible step we are now about to take. 
We are about to do the bidding of wealth's terrible mandate. By our act we will make millions of our
countrymen suffer, and the consequences of it may well be that millions of our brethren must shed their lifeblood,
millions of brokenhearted women must weep, millions of children must suffer with cold, and millions of babes must
die from hunger, and all because we want to preserve the commercial right of American citizens to deliver munitions
of war to belligerent nations. 

1. What were Wilson’s main arguments?

2. What were Norris’s main arguments?

3. Why did the United States enter the war?

4.  Should the United States have entered the war?

5.  Could Wilson have kept us out of the war?  (HINT:  Were there any precedents for this situation – a
war in Europe with the United States trying to stay neutral but still trying to trade with the warring
nations in Europe?)
 H. 1920s New Year's Eve Prohibition Party Simulation -
December 31, 1927
The 1920s were the first decade in American history that would seem recognizable to us today.  Millions of
automobiles traveled on paved streets.  Americans flocked to the movies and listened to their radios, two advances
which together were creating a common national culture.  More than half of the population lived in cities, many of
which were very large metropolitan areas.  The railroad, automobile, telephone, and radio bound the nation more
closely together.  Between the playing fields and Hollywood, the entertainment industry was born.  In many ways
the 1920s were very different from the previous decades.  Politically, the election of 1920 signaled an end to the
Progressive Era and began the decade long dominance of the Republican Party.  The conservative presidents,
Harding and Coolidge, rejected many of the liberal assumptions of the progressives.  Coolidge stated this succinctly: 
"the business of America is business."  Economically, the United States embarked in the 1920s on a period of growth
without precedent in the history of the world.  It came to dominate world trade, and American corporate leaders
were transformed from villains to national heroes.  Despite the tranquility of political stability and economic growth,
the decade also was one of intense cultural conflict between the forces of modernism associated with the new urban-
industrial society and the forces of traditionalism associated with more provincial, often rural communities.  Only in
the cultural arena did the issues of the Progressive Era seem to continue to be debated.  Many of the issues that
threatened to destroy the veneer of tranquility will sound familiar to Americans of the 2000s:  

a. What should be the government's role in the economy?  What should be our trade (tariff)
policy?
b. How much should the environment be protected, especially when wilderness areas contain
important resources?  (Teapot Dome)
c. What should be the government's policy on taxation?
d. How much influence should religion have in the schools?  (Scopes)
e. Should drugs (alcohol) be legalized?  (Prohibition)
f. Should immigration be restricted?  (National Origins Act)
g. Are radicals and terrorists a threat to the American way of life?  (Reds, Sacco & Vanzetti)
h. Are professional athletes paid too much?  (Babe Ruth, Red Grange)
i. Why is organized crime flourishing - especially in drug traffic?  What should be done about
it? (Prohibition)
j. Is our criminal justice system fair to all criminals?  Should we have the death penalty?
k. Is public morality declining?  Are Americans just concerned with getting rich?
l. What is the role of art in American society? Are the arts contributing to the decline in public
morality?
m. What should the role of women be in American society?  (E.R.A.)
n. Is technology changing American society in positive ways?
o. Is advertising immoral and too influential?
p. Why are racial problems in the U.S. increasing? How should questions of race be dealt with?
q. Should birth control be available to all Americans - and distributed in public?
r. What rights should labor unions have?  Are they asking for too much?
s. What should be our role in the world?  How should our military be preparing for our role?

The goal of our simulation is to learn about American felt about these issues in the 1920s, to find out what
solutions they proposed to these questions, and to discover which of these issues were the most controversial.  In
addition, students will become familiar with many important people.  Each student will be assigned a famous person
of the 1920s to play in our simulation.  He or she will be expected to be an expert on the issues that would affect their
historical person.  In addition they may be expected to be a resource person for understanding certain important
events.
 Our Prohibition Party will take place on Tuesday, March 6 during lunch (since this will be during
Prohibition it will be a "dry" party – pizza, soft drinks and munchies).  The Jazz Band will provide live music.  Each
student should come in "costume" with a large nametag, including a photo of “yourself,” and you may carry any
appropriate props to help people remember whom you are.  At the party, students will discuss the issues that are
most important to them. Other topics of conversation may include memorable events of 1927 (and earlier in the
decade).  As you research your character, try to determine on which issues you should be an expert (check with your
teacher!).  
You will be expected to turn in a two-page paper which should include biographical information and
should describe what your stand is on the issues that are most important to you (each character should have at least
2-4 key issues to address).  You should write the paper in first person perhaps as if you are being interviewed (you
can even include the questions).  You should also comment on at least one event from 1927.  You should include an
Afterword (in the third person) that explains what happened to your person after 1927 AND makes a synthetic
connection between your person and someone else in U.S. History from before 1920 or after 1945.  You should
include a photo and MLA  parenthetical citations and Works Cited.  One of your jobs at the Prohibition Party will
be to convince the other characters to adopt your point of view.  At the end of the simulation each student will be
asked to fill out an Opinion Poll to help us judge your success at convincing the other characters.  It might help you
to consider whom your friends and enemies are.
Paper Rubric: PAPER DUE DATE:

_____ 2 page paper (in first person)

_____ Biographical information (Background through 1927)
_____ Stand on 2-4 key issues of the 1920s – mark your issues below
_____ Comment on at least one event from 1927 (see below)
_____ Afterword (in third person) – what happened to your person after 1927
_____ Synthetic connection to another historical figure – pre-1920 or post-1945
_____ Photo of your person
_____ Works Cited – MLA 8 Format 
_____ Parenthetical citations – MLA Format
_____ Sources – three+ sources 
Issues for Research (in a little more detail than p. 1)
What should be the government's role in the economy?
Should it help business?  How?
What should be our trade (tariff) policy?
What should be the government's policy on taxation?
What rights should labor unions have?
Will our economic prosperity continue forever?
How much should the environment be protected, especially when wilderness areas
contain important
resources?
Is technology a positive influence on American society?
Is advertising immoral and too influential or is it necessary to the success of the
economy?
What should be our country's values? 
Is public morality declining?  (sex, cigarettes, flappers, speakeasies...)
 Are Americans too concerned with getting rich and not concerned enough with their
salvation?
Should Darwinism be taught in the schools?
Is prohibition working?  Why is organized crime flourishing?
Are radicals and terrorists a threat to the American way of life?
Should immigration be restricted?
Should Sacco and Vanzetti have been executed?  Leopold and Loeb?  Should we have a
death penalty?
What should the role of women be in American society?
Should birth control be available to all Americans - and distributed in public?
Should an ERA be passed?
Is American culture declining in the 1920s? 
Are professional athletes paid too much?  Particularly Babe Ruth and Red Grange?
Should they really be worshipped as heroes?
What is the role of art in American society?
Are the arts contributing to the decline in public morality?
Are modernism and all of these new ideas advancing or destroying American society?
What is real art?
Are movies a positive contribution to our culture?
Are talkies an improvement on silent movies?
Should minorities try to improve their place in American society?  If so, then how?
Why are racial problems in the U.S. increasing? How should questions of race be dealt
with?
Who should be elected president in 1928?
What should be our role in the world?  How should our military be preparing for our role?
Who are our greatest American heroes?

Partial List of Events of 1927 that your character might want to discuss:
Teapot Dome lease declared invalid, Lindbergh's flights to Europe and Mexico City, Yankees - greatest team ever?  Ruth
60 HRs, Walter Hagen, 
Bill Tilden. Helen Wills, Execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, 50,000 Ku Klux Klan members march on Washington, D.C.,
Release of The Jazz 
Singer, 15,000,000 Model T - discontinued - Model A, Mt. Rushmore dedicated, Holland Tunnel completed, first
demonstration of TV
(Jan. 1, 1928 - 1st Rose Bowl) (KDKA - King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Gershwin-Rhapsody in Blue)

Simulation/Prohibition Party Procedure:

1. Interview as many characters as you can about the issues of the 1920s and
complete your Opinion Poll as you mingle

A. Stay in character (+1 if you are in costume; + .5 if you have a photograph of yourself)
B. Try to talk only about events of the 1920s.
C. Have fun!

2.  Discuss the issues of the 1920s & the events of 1927
 Some Events of 1927:
Teapot Dome lease declared invalid
Walter Hagen, Bill Tilden. Helen Wills,  Yankees - greatest team ever?  Ruth 60
HRs
Lindbergh's flights to Europe and Mexico City
execution of Sacco and Vanzetti
release of The Jazz Singer, (KDKA - King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Gershwin-
Rhapsody in Blue) 15,000,000 Model T - discontinued - Model A
Mt. Rushmore dedicated
Holland Tunnel completed
first demonstration of TV
(Jan. 1, 1928 - 1st Rose Bowl)

3. Vote for contest winners - on back of Opinion Poll

Contests
Presidential Election (Vote of all in attendance)
Time Magazine's Man of the Year (determined by a Prize Committee)
Time Magazine's Woman of the Year (determined by a Prize Committee)
Time Magazine's Entrepreneur/Inventor of the Year (determined by a Prize
Committee)
NOTE:  The Time Magazine awards will go to the person who had the biggest impact
(positive OR 
negative) on American society.  This could include someone who is fighting for a change
of some kind.
Pulitzer Prizes: Artist of the Year (Vote of all in attendance)
Writer of the Year (Vote of all in attendance)
Musician of the Year (Vote of all in attendance)
Academy Award - Actor or Actress of the Year (Vote of all in attendance)
Sportswriters' Athlete of the Year (determined by a Prize Committee)
Best Costume (Vote of all in attendance)
Best Role-playing (Vote of all in attendance)

Overall Grading Criteria / Checklist - Your simulation grade will be based on

      _____ Your preparation and paper (see paper rubric above)

_____ Your Opinion Poll sheet – filled out during the simulation

_____ Your role playing in the simulation - this includes factors such as how well you play 
your part, how convincing you are…

_____ Your costume or props (note - artists may want to bring some "examples" of their 
work).

_____ Any extra credit you earn for winning one of the contests or for guessing the contest 
 winners correctly (including the costume contest)

Politics Business
Herbert Hoover (Sec. of Commerce/presidential candidate)  - you will Clarence Birdseye
give a speech at the luncheon
Al Smith (Governor of New York/presidential candidate) - you will give Walter Chrysler (Autos)
a speech at the luncheon
Norman Thomas (Socialist Party /presidential candidate) - you will give a Henry Ford
speech at the luncheon
Andrew Mellon (Secretary of the Treasury) Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. (GM)
Governor Nellie Ross William Boeing
Senator Rebecca Felton Joseph Kennedy
Governor Miriam (Ma) Ferguson J.C. Penney
Representative Mary Teresa Norton A.P. Giannini (Bank of America)
Representative Mae Ellen Nolan Walt Disney
Huey Long (Louisiana politician) James B. Duke
President Calvin Coolidge Howard Hughes
First Lady Grace Coolidge  Bruce Barton (advertising) - Mr.
Dickson
Franklin D. Roosevelt Benjamin Graham (investor)
Eleanor Roosevelt
Chief Justice William H. Taft Law Enforcement
Frank Kellogg (Secretary of State) Eliot Ness
Maud Wood Park (League of Women Voters) J. Edgar Hoover (FBI)
Senator George Norris
Albert Fall (Secretary of the Interior) Social Workers and Reformers
Louis Brandeis (lawyer, judge) Emma Goldman (radical activist)
Representative Jeannette Rankin Aurelia Harwood (environmentalist)
Robert or Helen Lynd (sociologists)
Military Jane Addams
George Marshall Frances Perkins
Alvin York (war hero) Upton Sinclair (writer and activist)
General Douglas MacArthur John L. Lewis (head of the United Mine
Workers)
Alice Hamilton (public health)
Political Commentators John Dewey (educator &
philosopher)
Will Rogers (pol. commentator and humorist Clarence Darrow (Scopes Trial,
ACLU, etc.)
W.C. Fields (humorist) Felix Frankfurter (lawyer - Sacco and
Vanzetti)
H. L. Mencken (political commentator) Margaret Sanger (women's rights)
Father Charles Coughlin (radio) Alice Paul (women's rights)
Margaret Mead (sociologist)
Foreign Guests Emily Post (manners)
*Pancho Villa (Mexican revolutionary) Lucy Burns (activist)
Eamon de Valera (Irish guest)
T.E Lawrence (of Arabia) Religious / Values Leaders
Leon Trotsky Zelda Fitzgerald (a flapper)
Scientists and Inventors Emmett Kelly (clown)
Philo T. Farnsworth (TV) Alice Roosevelt Longworth (socialite)
Nicola Tesla Dorothy Day (Catholic saint)
Albert Einstein  Aimee Semple McPherson
(evangelist)
Alexander Fleming Billy Sunday (evangelist)
Thomas Edison Hiram Evans (KKK)
George Washington Carver  Elizabeth Arden (fashion)
Elsa Schiaparelli (fashion)
Coco Chanel (fashion)
Elsie de Wolfe (interior decorating)
William Hays (rating the movies)
Journalists Civil Rights Activists
Dorothy Thompson Marcus Garvey (Black Nationalist)
Lorena Hickock W. E. B. DuBois (civil rights activist)
John Held, Jr. (cartoonist) Gertrude Bonnin (Native American)
Walter Winchell (gossip columnist) Carter Woodson (African American)
William Randolph Hearst (publisher) Mary McLeod Bethune (educator)
Henry Luce (Time magazine) Clinton Rickard (Native American)
Alfred Knopf (publisher) Dr. Charles Eastman (Native
American)
*Nellie Bly Ida B. Wells-Barnett (civil rights
activist)
A. Philip Randolph (civil rights
activist)
Gangsters Charlotte Hawkins Brown (educator)
Al Capone Mary Church Terrell (NAACP)
Bugs Moran Robert Abbott (Chicago Defender – Black
newspaper)
Lucky Luciano
Enoch "Nucky" Johnson
Dutch Schultz
Meyer Lansky
Movies: Actors and Actresses Authors
Hedy Lamarr (actress) Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Anna Lehr (actress) Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Mae West (actress) Gertrude Stein
Theda Bara (actress) Dorothy Parker
Joan Crawford (actress) William Faulkner
Janet Gaynor (actress) Edna St. Vincent Millay (poet)
Colleen Moore (actress) Willa Cather
Anita Page (actress) John Dos Passos
Louise Brooks (actress) Eugene O’Neill (playwright)
Greta Garbo (actress) Zora Neale Hurston
Mary Pickford (actress) F. Scott Fitzgerald
Clara Bow (actress) Sinclair Lewis
Norma Shearer (actress) H.P. Lovecraft
Lena Horne (African American actress and singer) Carl Sandburg (poet)
Nina Mae McKinney (African American actress) Dashiell Hammett
Gloria Swanson (actress) Ernest Hemingway
Lillian Gish (actress) Langston Hughes (poet)
Norma Talmadge (actress) Amy Lowell (poet)
Jobyna Ralston (actress) Edwin Arlington Robinson (poet)
Marlene Dietrich (actress) Edith Wharton 
Anna May Wong (actress) Thornton Wilder 
Stanley Laurel (actor) team with Hardy Theodore Dreiser 
Oliver Hardy (actor) team with Laurel E.E. Cummings (poet)
*Rudolf Valentino (actor) Louella Parsons (Screenwriter and
Columnist)
Fred Astaire (actor, singer, dancer)
Buster Keaton (actor)
Al Jolson (actor)
Charlie Chaplin (actor) Painters
Douglas Fairbanks (actor) Edward Hopper
Bob Hope (actor) Ben Shahn (also a photographer)
Cecil B. DeMille (director) George Bellows
D.W. Griffiths (director) Georgia O’Keeffe
Louis B. Mayer (producer) Diego Rivera
Leni Riefenstahl (German filmmaker) Marcel Duchamp (and sculptor)
Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (director) Joseph Stella
Anna Mae Wong Frida Kahlo
Photographers  Architects
Margaret Bourke-White Louis Sullivan
Lewis Hine Frank Lloyd Wright
Ansel Adams
Alfred Stieglitz
Dorothea Lange
Culture:  Musicians Culture: Sports
Sophie Tucker (singer) Suzanne Lenghlen  (tennis)
Woody Guthrie (folksinger) Helen Wills (tennis)
Bing Crosby (singer) Bill Tilden (tennis)
Josephine Baker (singer) Paavo Nurmi (runner)
Bessie Smith (singer) Red Grange (football)
Billie Holiday (singer) Knute Rockne (coach - football)
Cole Porter (singer) Babe Ruth (baseball)
Duke Ellington (jazz musician Shoeless Joe Jackson (baseball)
Louis Armstrong (jazz musician) Josh Gibson (baseball)
George Gershwin (composer & pianist) Ty Cobb (baseball)
Irving Berlin (composer) Chief Bender (baseball)
Igor Stravinsky (composer) Lefty Grove (baseball)
Bill Robinson (dancer) Lou Gehrig (baseball)
*Isadora Duncan (dancer) “Toots” Wright (basketball)
Martha Graham (dancer) Bobby Jones (golf)
Eddie Long/Nick Lucas (Jazz Musician) Walter Hagen (golf)
Johnny Hodges (Jazz Musician) Glenna Collett (golf)
Mary Lou Williams (Jazz pianist) Babe Didrickson (athlete)
Cora "Lovie" Austin (Singer and Jim Thorpe (athlete)
bandleader)
Oscar Hammerstein II (Musical theater) Johnny Weissmuller (swimmer)
 Ma Rainey (Blues singer) Jack Dempsey (boxer)
Jack Johnson (boxer)
Culture:  Technology - Flight Gertrude Ederle (swimmer)
Charles Lindbergh (pilot) Charles Atlas (strong man)
Admiral Richard Byrd (pilot) Edouard “Newsy” Lalonde (ice hockey)
Katherine Stinson (pilot) Duke Kahanamoku (Hawaiian athlete)
Amelia Earhart (pilot)   Grantland Rice (sports reporter)
*Bessie Coleman (African American pilot) Ring Lardner (sportswriter)
Eugene Bullard (African American pilot) Graham McNamee (Radio Broadcaster)
Billy Mitchell (military pilot)
Eddie Rickenbacker (pilot, automobile) 
Igor Sikorsky (helicopter inventor)
Robert Goddard (rocket inventor)

*- Pretend you are not dead yet

You may request someone from the 1920s who is not listed above.Your Name
________________________________________________  Your Teacher
_________________

Choosing your role for the 1920s Prohibition Party:  List your top five choices for individuals
you would like to be.  Then choose what category of person you would like to be if you do not
get one of your first five choices.

If you are the only one who chooses that historical figure, you will get your first (or second…)
choice.  If everyone chooses the same people then the teachers will have to assign roles based on
the categories.

This is due Wednesday, February 21st!

1.  ________________________________________________________________

WHY DO YOU WANT THIS PERSON?

2.  ________________________________________________________________

3.  ________________________________________________________________

4.  ________________________________________________________________
5.  ________________________________________________________________

Preferred Category: (Politics and Business, Values, Music, etc.)

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3.   ________________________________________________________________

This is due Wednesday, February 21st!

1920s PROHIBITION PARTY OPINION POLL

      WEARING A
NAMETAG WITH
Name______________________  Character name _________________________  photo? 
__Yes / No_
          Show
your teacher
Circle your teacher and class:   Teacher:  Dickson  /  Bratyanski / Lindquist
APUS / US

Describe what you are wearing for a costume:

_____________________________________________
What issue(s) of the 1920s is most important to you?
_______________________________________ 
What is your POV on that issue?
_________________________________________________________

Identify five to eight "friends" at the party:  (people who agree with your point of view on your
major issue or whom you like for other reasons)
 name _______________________________ why a friend______________________________

name _______________________________ why a friend______________________________

name _______________________________ why a friend______________________________

name _______________________________ why a friend______________________________

name _______________________________ why a friend______________________________

name _______________________________ why a friend______________________________

name _______________________________ why a friend______________________________

name _______________________________ why a friend______________________________

Identify five to eight "enemies / opponents" at the party (people who disagree with your point
of view on your major issue or whom you dislike for other reasons)

name _______________________________ why an enemy______________________________

name _______________________________ why an enemy______________________________

name _______________________________ why an enemy______________________________

name _______________________________ why an enemy______________________________

name _______________________________ why an enemy______________________________

name _______________________________ why an enemy______________________________

name _______________________________ why an enemy______________________________

name _______________________________ why an enemy______________________________

Game Procedure:
1.  Stay in character (+1 if you are in costume; +.5 if you have a photograph of yourself on
nametag)
2.  Try to identify everyone in the room and complete your opinion poll as you mingle
3.  Discuss the issues of the 1920s & the events of 1927
YOU MUST VOTE FOR DIFFERENT AWARDS ON THE GOOGLE FORM THAT YOU WERE E-
MAILED.