The Reluctant President
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses President John Quincy Adams and the challenges of his presidency.
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Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses President John Quincy Adams and the challenges of his presidency.
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"Elementary, middle and high school teachers from across Virginia will travel to James Madison's Montpelier for 3 1/2 days of intensive work with the We the People curriculum. The institute will feature three lectures on content from We the People, work with fellow teachers to ways to implement the curriculum in their classroom and the institute will conclude with the mock congressional hearing."
This seminar will "explore the separation of powers as it applies to the allocation of responsibility between Congress and the president concerning national security and foreign policy powers," "by examining the foundations of the Framers' thought" and "selected executive-congressional debates as they arose during later military conflicts." The seminar will including readings, lectures, discussions, visits to historic sites, and lesson planning.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes how backlash against Chinese Workers in the 1850s led to the Chinese Exclusion Act, perhaps the harshest anti-immigration legislation in American history.
This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces the Ku Klux Klan, organized in the late 1860s to deny rights to southern blacks. The organization began with threats and quickly incorporated violence.
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The seminar will explore the separation of powers as it applies to the allocation of responsibility between Congress and the president concerning national security and foreign policy powers. Presidents and legislators have been warring over the question since the earliest days of the republic. The nation's political experience suggests that there are sound arguments to be made on both sides. It also suggests that the issues are unlikely to be finally resolved anytime soon. As participants in this seminar shall see, the debate between President Bush and Congress concerning the war in Iraq is but a modern re-setting of an argument that prompted a spirited exchange on the war powers between James Madison and Alexander Hamilton in 1793. Indeed, it may be argued that there is very little to this debate that was not more or less fully anticipated by those two worthies four years after the Constitution was ratified. Through a series of focused historical readings, the seminar will begin by examining the foundations of the Framers' thought and some of the controversies that exhibit the founding principles at work during the early days of the Republic. Participants will go on from there to examine selected executive-congressional debates as they arose during later military conflicts, especially the Civil War, World War II, the Vietnam War, and the current conflict in the Mideast. The seminar will meet formally for three 90-minute sessions on four days of each week. Each of these sessions will be devoted to a particular set of readings and each of the participants will have a one-on-one session with Professor Uhlmann to discuss the best ways in which the lessons of the seminar might be converted to his or her particular classroom environment. Because the seminar takes place in Washington and devotes a great deal of time to the Founders' thoughts, it would be remiss if it did not take advantage of the knowledge of Pamela Scott, a noted Washington architectural historian, who will share ways in which the art and architecture of Washington reflects the principles of the American regime. The greater part of one day during each week, she will lead specially arranged tours, including Mount Vernon.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes a tariff Congress passed in 1828 to protect American manufacturers from cheaper foreign imports. This protective tariff almost brought the country to the brink of civil war.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, a reaction against the spoils system, which rewarded political support with jobs.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces Congress's unanimous election of George Washington to become the first president of the United States. Originally, the role of the president was designed to carry out the decisions of Congress.
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Josh Brown of the American Social History Project explains a cartoon about the fight between pro-slavery Democrats and Free Soilers in the 1850s.
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