Wednesday, December 18, 2013

AP History Video discussion #1

Thomas Jefferson is often noted as one of the best presidents in history. In our lesson, learn about some of President Jefferson's many famous domestic accomplishments and the controversy surrounding most of them.

Please discuss what you learned from the video. Bonus points for good argumentative debate! (each student must have 2 posts minimum!)

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/thomas-jeffersons-presidency-louisiana-purchase-lewis-clark-and-more.html#lesson

72 comments:

  1. I learned about Thomas Jefferson's Presidency in this video. He was the first president to live in the White House in Washington DC. He had stated that he wanted reduce national debt, so many people thought he was fraudulent. In the Louisiana Purchase, the United States bought a large territory in the West from Napoleon Bonaparte, which many thought was Un-Constitutional. In the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, a large group from Illinois set out to the Pacific Ocean to find the Northwest Passage and to explore the Louisiana Purchase.

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  2. It starts off by Jefferson moves into what is now the white house and he adds some additions onto it. Then Napoleon was so in debt that he sold to Jefferson the Louisiana Purchase for $15 million. Jefferson accepted this, but without the consent of Congress, which posed a threat to how much power does the president actually have. They considered it as unconstitutional and Jefferson was going against what he stood for.

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    1. The amount of land purchased was so great, that for each acre they bought, they purchased it for only 4 cents!

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    3. You did the math for each acre?

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    4. It was in the video!

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  3. Lewis and Clark traveled over 4200 miles round trip, and went through more than 10 present day states, in only 28 months!

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    1. These explorers also made the trip for the purpose of creating a map of the NW passage and especially to see what was out there.

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    2. Lewis and Clark must have been really good at walking and taking care of people ;)
      But imagine doing this trip now.

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    3. To think that Sacagewea completed this entire journey with a baby strapped to her back is beyond me. She was also one of the more vital parts of this journey; calling off an Indian tribe attack and leading most of the exhibition.

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  4. Aaron Burr was also criticized by Hamilton, which he forced him into a duel. He eventually kills Hamilton, but does not get arrested for it. His political days by his actions were over.

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    1. After he killed Hamilton, he fled west and was going to try and start the Burr Conspiracy. So he sent Pike on a military quest to make his own "kingdom", and scout out lands, but pike got arrested and it failed.

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  6. The constitution did not give Jefferson power to buy the Louisiana Territory

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    1. Yeah it did thats why he bought it. Plus that is a belief of some of the citizens in the United States. Also it was a smart move on Jefferson's point of view!

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    2. Because they thought that being able to simply double the land area of the United States was too much power for one single person to hold. Yet, they did end up buying the territory.

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  7. I learned that Jefferson was the first president to live in the white house and while he didn't like huge extravegant things he had plans to expand the white house. He also signed the Louisiana Purchase for 15 million dollars which divided out to about 4 cents an acre. Many people believed that the purchase was unconstitutional and that the president had way too much power.

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  8. I learned that Jefferson was the first president to live in the white house. Jefferson also purchased the Louisiana Purchase, which was important to America. One of Jeffersons most important accomplishments was the complete expedition of Lewis and Clark.

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  9. I learned that the effect of the Louisiana was a very controversial issue and was bought for only pennies per acre. In 1803, the essex junto wanted to secede from the union. Lots of people thought we would go to war with spain. The core of discovery was used to explore land before the United States bought it. Slavery was still legal after Jeffersons bill but slaves could not be brought into the United States from over seas.

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  10. In this video, I learned about Jefferson as president and more about the Lewis and Clark expedition. When Jefferson took office in 1801, he shared the north wing of the capital with Congress, judges from the Supreme Court, and the national library. After the construction of the south wing, the north wing needed repair. After the purchase of the Louisiana territory, there were many threats of secession in the US. Burr created The Burr Conspiracy, which Americans thought he was going to steal the Louisiana territory, but he wasn't, Jefferson put him in jail, but when found out the truth, he was embarrassed. Lewis and Clark found a Native American tribe which was a peaceful tribe. They dispelled the myth that there was a Northwest Passage. Then, Pike went on a second expedition along the southern borders of the Louisiana territory. He was thought to be sent on a military reconnaissance mission. In prison, Pike convinced his translator of maps of the land.

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    1. No one is still sure of who sent them on their reconnaissance or what their intentions were.

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  11. Video #1: Many people thought that the Louisiana Purchase was just digging the country into deeper debt when Jefferson said that he was gunna get us out of it. The Lewis and Clark expedition was 2100 miles that they travels on feet. They drew pictures and that created a map of the present day U.S. The last act that Jefferson signed was outlawing slave trade in 1808 although there was smuggling.

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    1. Do you think the Louisiana Purchase was a good idea?

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    2. It also took 28 months for them to go there in back which is pretty extraordinary

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  12. Should have Jefferson gotten our country out of debt, instead of buying the Louisiana Purchase?

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    1. He should have bought the Louisiana Purchase, then we could have access to the Mississippi River for trade

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    2. Well I think that if he would have gotten out of debt we would still probably end up with the land in the future?

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    3. Possibly, but have you seen our debt now I don't think it really matters. So it was such a smart move by Jefferson!

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    4. I think for the land price it was a good move even if put us in debt back then, it really doesn't compare to todays debt. If we were to buy that land today the price would be really inflated.

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    5. If we were to by the land today it would be expensive. That would not happen because we already bought it in 1803.

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    6. If Jefferson wouldn't have jumped on the opportunity while Bonaparte was vulnerable and in debt, we may not have been able to seize the land quite as easily and peacefully, possibly leading to a war in the future or a nation much smaller then we have today. Not to mention it would have been way more expensive

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    7. I agree with Kaylee because he saw the opportunity and took it, our nation was growing more populous and we were going to end up needing more room for all the people so they would be happy

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  13. Burr and Hamilton got into a fight and then Burr killed Hamilton but no charges were filed against Hamilton. In 1806 also Thomas Jefferson accomplished the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This was a great accomplishment with then president Jefferson. Zebulon Pike helped to show how little of a threat the Spanish actually was. January 1, 1808 president Jefferson signed a bill that had all atlantic slave trade was banned in the country.

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    1. Not just slave trade in the Atlantic. Was banned from all seas.

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  14. Thomas Jefferson successfully completed the Luis and Clark expedition. Thomas Jefferson was the first president to live in the White House in Washington D.C Pike learned that the Spanish was not an actual threat. On January 1, 1808 Thomas Jefferson signed a bill that banned the importation of slaves.

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  15. Thomas Jefferson believed that the executive branch should have minimal powers, but during his presidency he did just the opposite. People believed that the Louisiana Purchase was unconstitutional. Jefferson also outlawed the importation of slaves in 1808.

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  16. I learned about Thomas Jefferson's first presidency. He believed that executive branch should have minimal powers. But during his first presidency he did the opposite.

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  17. I learned that the Louisiana purchase was very serious. People assumed that we were going to war with spain. Slavery was not yet abolished after Jefferson. But slaves couldn't be brought from seas.

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    1. That did not always stop people from smuggling them from over seas. Which was also a problem.

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  18. Jefferson was the first president in the Washington DC white house. They bought the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Lewis and Clark exposition was 2100 miles long that took 28 months. And this was a great for President Jefferson. They drew accurate pictures and maps on their exposition. The last act Jefferson signed outlawed the timprot of slave trade in 1808.

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  19. I also learned that in 1808 a law was passed to prevent slaves from being imported into the country and while it was passed slavery still continued to grow and slaves were sometimes smuggled in.

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    1. It was also made by Thomas Jefferson

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  20. in 1803 Jefferson approved funding to continue with construction of the capital but by the time the south end had been completed the north end need to be repaired

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  21. I learned that Lewis and Clark started their expedition in the Louisiana Purchase in May 14th, 1804, even though a lot of Jefferson's government believed that the purchase was "unconstitutional". While they were there, they mapped out most of the land. They also figured out that there wasn't a strait going through the continent.

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    1. The purchase was unconstitutional yet when Lewis and Clark came back everyone was excited. . . it's weird.

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    2. And they didn't realize that the land had just been purchased because they started before the news spread.

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    3. Alyce- There were debates between different people whether the purchase was unconstitutional, only because there was no statement about purchasing land in the Constitution.
      Alexis- Maybe they wanted to see the land that they were about to possibly buy?

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  22. Did Captain Zebulon Pike get arrested as a plan to see more of the land that the spanish had or did it just work out really well that that had happened

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    1. He didn't plan to get arrested. He just happened to be a lucky guy.

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  24. In this video I learned that Jefferson was the first president to live in the white house. I also learned that Jefferson only planned to buy New Orleans but Napoleon offered him all of his land in the U.S.

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  25. Luisiana Purchase has been called the greatest real estate deal in U.S. history, and it remains one of the largest peaceful annexations of land in world history. Stretching from British Columbia to New Orleans, from the Ohio River to the eastern border of New Spain. Although he did wonder whether he could constitutionally buy the land with the U.S. government's money, Jefferson pushed the deal forward. It soon became clear to American citizens that the new land would provide more opportunity for them.

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    1. Agreed, 4 cents per acre is a pretty good deal.

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  26. President Jefferson was the first to be inaugurated into the new capitol. Jefferson complained of how big and expensive the new capitol was, and then went on to expand the House by adding a South wing and eventually repairing the North wing. Jefferson was very contradictory in his policies. Being a strict constitutionalist, Jefferson acted against his beliefs when he purchased the Louisiana territory, which he did without even consulting with congress! People in the South saw this as an opportunity to increase slavery(do to the surplus of cheap farmland) which angered citizens in the North. Buying the Louisiana purchase was very risky for Jefferson; however, If Jefferson wouldn't have jumped on the opportunity while Bonaparte was vulnerable and in debt, we may not have been able to seize the land quite as easily and peacefully, possibly leading to a war in the future or a nation much smaller then we have today.

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  27. I learned how tom jefferson was the first president to live in the white house. he wanted to fix the debt but then bought the Lousiana territory from napoleon. many thought it was unconstitutional. then he sends lewis and clark to find a northwest passage and make a map

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  28. I think Jefferson did the right thing by making the purchase. Although it was against he said what he believed, I think he saw a golden opportunity and he took it. It didn't only benefit us though, Napoleon wouldn't have been able to defend the land so it was a burden off his shoulders not only selling new orleans but selling the whole louisiana purchase

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    2. Ya otherwise there would be more canadians

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    3. not really there would probably just be Natives living on that land instead of us

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  29. Thomas Jefferson did multiple things that angered the people of the United States, but he also did things that benefitted the country greatly. By purchasing the Louisiana Territory he doubled the country in size and made the southerners happy because they could expand their farms. But the northerners weren't happy because that means that slavery would expand.
    Aaron Burr tried to get New England to secede from the Union but failed, and destroyed is political career. After he left the North he went down South and created the Burr Conspiracy. After he was arrested he was tried for treason but was found not guilty.
    Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the newly bought Louisiana Territory. When they returned from 28 months of exploration, the country was very excited, despite the fact that the purchase was unconstitutional.

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  30. In the 1796 and 1800 elections, flukes were found. The former had a presidency with two different parties as president and vice president. Adams was a Federalist and Jefferson was a Republican. In the latter of the elections, Jefferson and Burr tied. Hamilton helped convince the Federalist Congress to vote in Jefferson because he had a personal hatred for Burr. He ended up dying in a duel with Burr later on.
    Jefferson was considered to be a great president. He thought that "smaller was better." When he bought the western lands (the Louisiana Purchase namely), he expected that more yeomen farmers would buy out the land. He thought that America had the backbone of farmers.
    His style was called a Jeffersonian Democracy.

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    1. This was also the wrong video. Sorry for the confusion. -Alexis Lane

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  31. Thomas Jefferson took office in 1808 and was the first president to live in the White House. He had plans to add some additions to the building once he moved in. Because of serious debt the French, led by Napoleon, realized they couldn't afford to defend the Louisiana Territory. Napoleon offered to sell it to us when Jefferson expressed interest in just New Orleans and Louisiana. Jefferson bought it for about $15 million, 4 cents an acre. He did this without addressing congress and this caused outrage in the country. Instead of limiting debt, he increased it by buying the Louisiana Territory.

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  32. In the video I learned about the different things Thomas Jefferson did while in office. Such as: Designing additions to the White House, approving funds for the expansion of the Capitol building, and buying the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon Bonaparte. Even though most of those things were against what Jefferson "believed". It also included information about the mostly negative reaction to the obtainment of the Louisiana Purchase and the exploration of it by Lewis and Clark in the early 1800s. Lewis and Clark explored the Louisiana Purchase and drew maps, collected plant samples, and reported all of their findings to Jefferson when they returned to St. Louis. The video also talks about how Captain Zebulon Pike explored the Southern part of the country, how he got arrested, and how he obtained maps of the Spanish land from his interpreter in jail. When he was released, he then told Jefferson that the Spanish weren't much of a threat. It also talked about the bill that Jefferson passed that outlawed the slave trade effective January 1st, 1808.

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  33. I learned that Jefferson went against his being of a strong constitutionalist and bought the Louisiana Purchase. Also, the Essex Junto was a group of wealthy powerful federalists up in New England who thought Jefferson had overused his power of being the president with the Louisiana Purchase.

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  34. President Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory from Napoleon for 15 million dollars after the French figured that they could not fund the defending of the entire territory. This was considered odd because, it was the exact kind of purchase that Jefferson would normally not have approved. Pike was captured by the Spanish ,possibly on purpose, and ,while he was in prison, convinced his translator to show him spanish maps. With this information, Pike was later released and informed the Americans that the Spanish were a much smaller threat than previously conceived. After 1808 no slaves could be bought or imported from foreign countries.

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  35. Aaron Burr killed Andrew Hamilton in a duel because Hamilton blocked his efforts of trying to gain Federalist support in the governor's election. Lewis and Clark explored the newly purchased Louisiana Territory. They traveled more than 2100 miles in 28 months! They drew amazingly accurate maps and dispelled the idea of a Northwest Passage.

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  36. I learned that after Burr left to the west he started to create the Burr Conspiracy which tried to steal some of the land from Spain. He was then tried for treason by Jefferson but he was able to get out from lack of evidence and other political reasons Also when Jefferson bought the Louisiana purchase from Napoleon he got it for $15 million which was about 4 cents an acre which was a really good deal. However congress didn't like the fact that he bought the land because they didn't want to expand the national debt and he promised that he would eliminate it, therefore they thought it to be unconstitutional.

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  37. In the early 1800s, Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on an expedition through the Louisiana Purchase. On this expedition they collected plant samples, they drew maps, and they told Jefferson of all their findings when they got back to St. Louis. Jefferson also outlawed the trade of slavery in 1808 by passing a bill. Captain Zebulon Pike also goes and explores the spanish land and goes to jail where he gets maps of the land from an interpreter in jail.

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  38. I learned that when Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801, not only was he the first president to live in the White House, but he was also the one who had the idea for the famous west wing colonnade. When Napoleon didn't have enough money to pay for the Louisiana Purchase, he sold it to Jefferson for 15 million (about 4 cents per acre). The purchase, at the time, seemed unconstitutional. The four main reasons for the Lewis and Clark expedition was to find the Northwest Passage, to map the land, befriend the indians, study the plants and animals of the west.

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  39. Jefferson had continued to fund the building of the Capital buildings. Napoleon was going around and wars sprung up because of him. He offered to sell the Louisiana Purchase because he couldn't protect it. Jefferson bought it without telling Congress for 4 cents an acre. It made the Southerners happy because it doubled the amount of land in the country, and it was a lot of valuable farmland. It also meant that there was direct access to the Mississippi River.
    Many people opposed the buying of the land. Most of them were Federalists who didn't want the debt to become bigger and thought it would lead to war with Spain. Both parties thought it was unconstitutional.
    The Essex Junto up in New England thought that Jefferson went too far with his powers. Hamilton foiled their plot to secede from the country.
    Burr lost the governor election, and dueled Hamilton and ended up killing him. Burr also made motions towards the western lands and was arrested for treason. He, however, was released because there was no hard evidence.
    The Lewis and Clark expedition was one of Jefferson's biggest successes. Sacagawea and her husband and baby son joined the expedition as translators and peacekeepers. Lewis and Clark kept journals on all the plants, animals and people, and they also made a map.
    During this expedition, Jefferson also sent out Pike who established a fort and named a mountain after him. It was in Spanish Territory. While in the Spanish jails, he learned about the Spanish military and saw maps that proved the Spanish were a little threat to their country.
    Finally, Jefferson outlawed the slave trade, but kept slavery legal.

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