Freedom From Above or Below

           Lately in history class, we have been analyzing documents and producing charts to find the answers to intriguing questions. Early one morning, the class was introduced to a picture depicting a slave kneeling down before Abraham Lincoln. It appears that Abraham Lincoln had freed the slave, and the slave is thanking him. This picture fueled a lot of discussion and difference of opinion, which is why the picture is the center of our essential question. Who gave freedom to enslaved Americans?Did freedom come from above or below?To what extent were Abraham Lincoln's actions influenced by the actions of enslaved Americans? In order to answer this essential question, we performed many tasks as a class. We first watched videos and were assigned a document to analyze as a group. Each group was signed one of four documents and then had to find quotes from the documents to put into the following categories: goal of the war, position on freeing slaves, and evidence of personal feelings on slavery. Then, each group used the whiteboards to draw a chart, putting the documents into two categories: Freedom from above, and freedom from below, based on whether or not the document is evidence of freedom from above or freedom from below.
           As a class, we analyzed documents in order to answer the following question: Who gave freedom to enslaved americans? Did freedom come from above or below? To what extent were Abraham Lincoln's actions influenced by the actions of enslaved americans? Freedom from above or below means whether or not slaves were freed due to actions taken by themselves or by the authority or superiors such as Abraham Lincoln. Based on the documents, it is evident that freedom came from above. Abraham Lincolns excerpt, Emancipation proclamation, Gettysburg address, and the second inaugural address all show evidence of freedom from above. Freedom from the authority of superiors.
Document X Letter from general Ambrose E. Burnside, and Document Y engraving both show evidence of freedom from below. Freedom by being proactive and taking action for yourself. Abraham Lincoln's actions were very much influenced by the actions of enslaved americans. During the civil war, slaves would see the union troops and follow them around and make a nuisance of themselves. The slaves would take up a lot of resources such as food and living space. The union officers would report this to their superiors and these complaints would eventually make it all the way to the president.

Throughout history and in modern day, there are many examples of freedom coming from above and below. However, in my opinion freedom comes from below. In modern day, the "freedom from below" does not exactly have to be freedom. Any situation in which you are changing your situation and bettering yourself by being proactive and taking initiative for yourself could be considered freedom from below. A modern day example of freedom from below is excelling on a sports team. Everyone on the team plays, but if you want to reach varsity, you have to be proactive and take it upon yourself to work harder. The coach is not going to just move you up out of the blue.

Civil War Battles Scavenger Hunt

           Lately in class, we have been learning about the many battles of the civil war in order to answer the following questions: Who was the ultimate victor in each of the theaters of war, East, West, and Naval? What are some commonalities you can identify in the reasons for the results of the battles? Instead of taking notes off of a board while the teacher lectures, our class took a different approach. To learn more about the battles of the civil war, we had a civil war battle scavenger hunt. In order to have the scavenger hunt, each student first had to pick a civil war battle of their choice. After choosing a battle, each student then had to find the name of the battle, the location, when it was fought, the victor, in which theater of war the battle was fought(east, west, naval), reasons explaining the outcome, and one image. Also, each student included directions to the next poster in their Google doc. Once the necessary information was recorded in a Google doc, the students then made a shortened url using bitly.com, a custom QR code, and a printed out poster including both. When the QR code is scanned, it redirects you to the Google doc containing all of the valuable information on that battle. When the posters were finished, the students then hung their posters in hidden locations, and began the scavenger hunt by scanning the battle after theirs and finding the next one until all posters had been scanned.
           Based on all of the information collected throughout the scavenger hunt, it is evident that the union dominated the western theater and naval theater of he civil war while the confederacy dominated the eastern theater of the civil war. The union dominated in many battles in the western theater, including the battle of  Fort Donelson and the battle of Vicksburg. In the battle of Fort Donelson, the confederates were unable to break General Grant's lines, leaving themselves with no choice but to surrender. In the battle of Vicksburg, the confederates suffered a lot more missing and captured soldiers than the union, causing them to surrender. The union dominated in many battles in the naval theater, including the battle of Hampton Roads and the battle of Fort Henry. In the battle of Hampton Roads(the battle of the iron clads), the unions superior naval force of four iron clads defeated the confederates one iron clad. In the battle of Fort Henry, the union army out numbered the confederates, who were poorly armed with out dated weapons. When the confederates fled Fort Henry, the union badly damaged the confederate's naval fleet, forcing them to surrender. The confederacy dominated in the eastern theater, including the battle of cold harbor and the battle of Second Manassas. In the battle of cold harbor, the confederates focused  on causing as much damage as possible and produced 7,000 union casualties in less than 1 hour. In the battle of Second Manassas, the confederate's heavy artillery and reinforcements devastated the union forces. A commonality between these battles is that the losing side was always out numbered or out gunned. This commonality is a reason for the loss of many battles.

           There were many challenges we faced during the scavenger hunt. The wifi in the school did not always reach certain areas of the building. An example of this is poster 17. Poster 17 was located in the field house, which was out of reach of the wifi. Wifi is necessary for the QR scanners on the ipads to work. This meant that poster 17 was unable to be scanned. Another challenge was the physical effort. In many situations, posters could be located at different ends of the school. Some times, you had to walk back and fourth form one end of the school to the other, and up and down stairs. Eventually, this became a little exhausting.