Download K-12 Biographies - Ector County ISD.

Kindergarten
In Kindergarten, the focus is on self, home, family, and classroom. The study of our state and national
heritage begins with an examination of the celebration of patriotic holidays and the contributions of
historical people. The concept of chronology is introduced. Students discuss geographic concepts of
location and physical and human characteristics of places. Students are introduced to the basic human
needs of food, clothing, and shelter and to ways that people meet these needs. Students learn the purpose of rules and the role of authority figures in the home and school. Students learn customs, symbols, and celebrations that represent American beliefs and principles and contribute to our national
identity. Students compare family customs and traditions and describe examples of technology in the
home and school. Students acquire information from a variety of oral and visual sources.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich material such
as biographies, folktales, myths, legends, and poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged. Selections
may include You’re a Grand Old Flag and a children’s biography of George Washington. Motivating
resources are also available from museums, historical sites, presidential libraries, and local and state
preservation societies.
Stephen F. Austin (1793-1836) Stephen F. Austin is
considered the “Father of Texas” due to his continued efforts to settle the territory. His father Moses Austin contracted with the Spanish government to colonize a portion of
northern Mexico. When Moses died in June 1821, the contract transferred to the younger Austin. Stephen selected a
site for his colony along the Brazos and Colorado rivers and
began recruiting families in 1821. Progress was slow because
of difficulty in transporting supplies into the area and because of changing Mexican politics. Austin frequently discussed the future of his colony with Mexican officials and
he earned their trust.
By 1825, 297 families lived in Austin’s Colony.
They were called the “Old Three Hundred.” Austin continued to negotiate with the Mexican government and represent residents. He also secured other land grants. In ten years
he helped more than 1,500 families settle in Texas. At first
the leadership of Antonio López de Santa Anna pleased Austin, but as Santa Anna assumed more and more control, he
limited the freedom of the Texans. Austin supported the organized opposition to the absolute power of Santa Anna. This
opposition led to the Texas Revolution.
George Washington (1732-1799)
George Washington became the first president of the United States elected
under the newly ratified Constitution. He served two terms
between 1789 and 1797. A resident of Virginia, he was a
surveyor, a planter, a soldier in the French and Indian War, a
delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses,
commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the
American Revolution, and the chairman of the Constitutional
Convention in 1787. His plantation home was Mount Vernon.
He is known as the “Father of Our Country” and his likeness
is one of four presidents carved into the monument at Mount
Rushmore, South Dakota. Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday, occurs on the third Monday in February, near his birthday, February 22.
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Grade 1
In Grade 1, students learn about their relationship to the classroom, school, and community. The concepts of time and chronology are developed by distinguishing among past, present, and future events.
Students identify anthems and mottoes of the United States and Texas. Students make simple maps to
identify the location of places in the classroom, school, and community. The concepts of goods and
services and the value of work are introduced. Students identify historic figures and ordinary people
who exhibit good citizenship. Students describe the importance of family customs and traditions and
identify how technology has changed family life. Students sequence and categorize information.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich material such
as biographies, folktales, myths, legends, and poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged. Selections
may include a children’s biography of Abraham Lincoln. Motivating resources are also available from
museums, historical sites, presidential libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
T h o m a s
Edison, one of the greatest inventors of all time, received
more than 1,300 patents for a range of items including the
automatic telegraph machine, the phonograph, improvements
to the light bulb, a modernized telephone, and motion picture equipment. He concentrated on electrical inventions and
opened his first “invention factory” in Newark, New Jersey,
in 1870. In 1876 he opened his lab in Menlo Park where he
and his workers developed and patented the incandescent
light bulb, a transmitter for the telephone, and the phonograph, his favorite invention. He operated the world’s first
electric power station on Pearl Street in New York City,
opened in 1882. By 1887 he expanded operations to West
Orange, New Jersey, where workers averaged one patented
invention every five days.
Sam Houston (1793-1863)
Sam Houston provided
leadership for more than 25 years in Texas, commanding the
army, and serving as president of the Republic, U.S. senator,
and then governor. He was already a notable American when
he came to Texas in 1832. Born in Virginia, he lived for
several years in Tennessee learning from the Cherokee. He
served in the army under the command of General Andrew
Jackson. After his military service he was a representative to
the Tennessee Congress and served as governor. Because of
his knowledge of and appreciation for the Cherokee, he often represented the United States in attempts to settle dis2
putes. Upon his arrival in Texas, Houston’s experience with
federal and state government proved valuable as delegates
to the Texas Convention of 1836 worked to draft a constitution and declare independence from Mexico. Houston left
the convention early to command the Texas army against
Santa Anna’s advancing Mexican troops.
Texans proclaimed Houston the hero of the Battle
of San Jacinto during which Santa Anna was captured and
his Mexican army routed. The Treaties of Velasco resulted.
Afterward, Houston became the first elected president of the
Republic of Texas in 1836 and was reelected in 1841. Houston struggled to solve the problem of a growing national debt.
Eventually the Republic sought support from the United
States and Houston supported annexation of Texas by the
United States. Others wanted Texas to remain a republic.
Texas became the twenty-eighth state in late 1845. Sam Houston served as a U.S. senator from Texas and then was elected
governor in 1859. He opposed secession from the union and
left the governor’s office after Texans voted overwhelmingly
to secede in January 1861.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
Abraham Lincoln served as president of the United States during the Civil
War. He managed to preserve the unity of the United States
and took steps to abolish slavery, but he was assassinated
before he could implement post-war plans. He began his political career by serving four terms in the Illinois state legis-
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lature beginning in 1834. He served one term as representative from Illinois to the U.S. House of Representatives. He
was elected the sixteenth President in 1860, re-elected in
1864, and assassinated in 1865. He helped build the Republican Party, which replaced the Whig Party in the 1850s, from
obscurity to the party of choice by 1860. His Gettysburg Address, delivered in November 1863 at the dedication of the
national cemetery at the Civil War battlefield, called for national unity despite obstacles. He began the process of freeing slaves in the Confederate states when he issued his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. His most lasting influence
remains the Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in December
1865, months after his death. It banned slavery throughout
the United States. His likeness is one of four presidents
carved into the monument at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota. Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday, occurs on the third
Monday in February, near his birthday, February 12.
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) A l e x a n d e r
Graham Bell invented the telephone. Born in Scotland, Bell
sought a greater understanding of deafness by studying sound
and the mechanics of speech. He was influenced by his father who invented visible speech, a code of symbols used to
teach deaf people to speak. The younger Bell moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to work at the Boston School for the
Deaf in 1871, but he quickly opened his own school. By
1873 he was teaching vocal physiology at Boston University. Bell understood the concept of the telephone by 1874
but was not successful in transmitting a voice message until
March 10, 1876, three days after the patent for his invention
was issued. He and partners formed Bell Telephone Company in 1877. He helped develop Science, the journal of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science. He
assisted in founding the National Geographic Society and
supported experiments in aviation.
Nathan Hale (1755-1776)
An American soldier in
the Revolution, Nathan Hale volunteered to spy on the British on Long Island. He was captured and hanged on September 22, 1776. His last words, paraphrased from Addison’s
play, Cato, were, “I only regret that I have but one life to
lose for my country.” These words quickly became an inspiration for Patriots during the Revolution and remain part of
the American story of the quest for independence.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
Considered by
many the most influential First Lady and one of the most
significant American women of the 20th century, Anna
Eleanor Roosevelt married her cousin Franklin Delano
Roosevelt in 1905. Eleanor was timid and not involved in
politics and competed with her mother-in-law for the attention of her husband. Her approach changed when Franklin
was struck by polio in 1921. Thereafter she and F.D.R.’s campaign advisor Louis Howe coordinated efforts to cast Mr.
Roosevelt as a national leader.
She realized the importance of the role of women
in politics, organizing the Democratic national campaign for
women in 1928 as her husband competed for the governorship of New York state. She politicized the plight of African-American men and women and working-class whites,
supported the reform causes of Jane Addams and others, and
promoted the political careers of women. During World War
II she continued striving for civil rights, believing that people
of all races have inviolate rights and that democracy in the
United States could not exist as long as democracy was not
extended to African-Americans. President Harry S. Truman
appointed her as a delegate to the United Nations. She chaired
the Human Rights Commission which drafted the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10,
1948. President John F. Kennedy appointed her to the United
Nations and she chaired his Commission on the Status of
Women.
Clara Harlow Barton (1821-1912)
Clara Barton
taught school for nearly two decades before becoming one
of the first female employees of the federal government,
working in the Patent Office. After viewing the unprepared
Union troops and inadequate care of the sick following the
Battle of Bull Run, she organized donations and shipments
of supplies to battlegrounds in Virginia and Maryland during 1862. While Dorothea Dix and the U.S. Sanitary Commission concentrated on organizing nurses, Barton worked
with procurement and distribution. In 1865, with President
Abraham Lincoln’s support, she opened an agency to search
for missing soldiers and marked the graves of nearly 13,000
men who died at Andersonville prison camp in Georgia. Following the Civil War, during a trip to Europe, she learned
about the International Committee of the Red Cross, formed
in Switzerland in 1863. She supported the cause of international cooperation and sought congressional approval for
governmental support for the Red Cross, which was finally
granted in 1882.
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Grade 2
In Grade 2, students focus on a study of their local community by examining the impact of significant
individuals and events on the history of the community as well as on the state and nation. Students
begin to develop the concepts of time and chronology by measuring calendar time by days, weeks,
months, and years. The relationship between the physical environment and human activities is introduced as are the concepts of consumers and producers and the relationship between the physical environment and human activities. Students identify functions of government as well as services provided
by the local government. Students continue to acquire knowledge of important customs, symbols, and
celebrations that represent American beliefs and principles. Students identify the significance of works
of art in the local community and explain how technological innovations have changed transportation
and communication. Students communicate what they have learned in written, oral, and visual forms.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich material such
as biographies, folktales, myths, legends, and poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged. Selections
may include the legend of the bluebonnet. Motivating resources are also available from museums,
historical sites, presidential libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
Henrietta Chamberlain King (1832-1925)
Henrietta Chamberlain and her husband Richard King moved
to their new home on Santa Gertrudis Creek in 1854. It
evolved into one of the largest and best known ranches in
Texas history. The King Ranch served as a receiving station
for cotton during the Civil War as it was shipped through
Mexican ports to England. When Mr. King died in 1885,
Henrietta assumed the management of his estate including
500,000 acres and $500,000 debt. With the help of her sonin-law, King was debt-free within ten years and was experimenting in cattle and horse breeding, range management,
and dry and irrigated farming. The Santa Gertrudis cattle
were bred to resist disease and heat; one of the horses won
the triple crown in 1946. King supported the establishment
of businesses, industry, churches and schools, and health care.
At the time of her death, the ranch included 1,173,000 acres
stretching from Corpus Christi to Brownsville.
Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993)
Thurgood Marshall earned his law degree from Howard Law
School in Washington, D.C. and made significant contributions in the quest for legal justice and civil rights in the United
States. He argued cases which furthered the rights of Afri4
can-Americans and then became the first African-American
appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. His early career involved assisting his mentor Charles Hamilton Houston, who
served as special counsel to the Legal Defense Fund of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP). The group challenged the validity of segregation
and the concept of separate but equal as established by the
1896 Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson. They argued that the decision violated the 14th Amendment. In 1954
Marshall won his most famous case, Brown v. Board of Education. Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Earl Warren
announced the unanimous decision that segregation of public schools was inherently unequal and unconstitutional, and
he ordered desegregation. The decision motivated school
districts to address the inadequate educational systems for
blacks which had resulted from the “separate-but-equal”
approach to segregation. President Lyndon Johnson nominated Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 and he
served until retirement in 1991.
Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) Amelia Earhart is best
remembered as the female pilot who disappeared during an
attempt to fly around the world. Earhart learned quickly;
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she taught and worked as a social worker but was not trained
or suited for either. Her interest in flying began during a stint
as a nurse in a Canadian military hospital during World War
I. She flew solo in 1921 but had to stop flying due to financial constraints. Following Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic, Earhart was picked to accompany two male pilots on
the same path. Lacking the experience of female barnstorming pilots, her popularity was a product of well-placed publicity. She was elected the first president of the Ninety-Nines
Club, an organization for women pilots founded in 1929,
and she gained even more recognition by setting endurance
and speed records. She and a male assistant were the only
crew in the Lockheed plane which disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, as she flew around the world on
a mission of scientific research.
Robert Fulton (1765-1815)
Robert Fulton is remembered as the inventor of the first commercially successful steamboat in the United States. He had many interests
and talents but he made his living as a painter. As a young
adult he traveled to England to paint. He spent nearly 20
years in England and France during which time he became
interested in water transportation. In 1796, he produced Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation, complete with
detailed drawings and calculations supporting a national
transportation system. He applied his interest in underwater
warfare by launching submarines with mines to break the
British blockade of France and he cooperated with the British against France using similar methods. In 1801 he met
Robert R. Livingston, the American minister to France, who
was interested in steam navigation on New York waterways.
Returning to the United States, Fulton adapted British canal
boat design, established a regular schedule, and introduced
the idea of comfort to travel. The North River Steamboat,
known popularly as the Clermont, sailed from New York
north on the Hudson River in 1807, beginning a new era in
maritime travel.
produced seals, coats of arms and bookplates, and by the
1760s, anti-British engravings. The prints from his engravings depicting the events leading up to and during the Revolution are highly prized. He was a reliable messenger for the
Massachusetts Committee of Safety and recognized the threat
the British troops posed to the military stores in Concord.
His attempt to signal colonists about the movement of the
British using lanterns from the spire of the North Church
was immortalized in the poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow. Many of Revere’s surviving silver
pieces are works of art, done in either the rococo style or the
neoclassical style popular after the Revolution.
Sojournor Truth, a.k.a. Isabella Van Wagenen (ca. 17971883) Born into slavery in New York, Isabella adopted
the name of a Quaker family, Van Wagenen, in 1827. She
was a natural leader of imposing stature, nearly six feet tall
and powerfully built. Always deeply religious, she adopted
the name Sojournor Truth in 1843 when she decided to become a traveling public speaker. Her travels took her from
Long Island to Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Kansas. Her autobiography, Narrative of Sojourner Truth (1850),
increased her recognition. It was enlarged in subsequent printings in 1875 and 1884. She was involved in the women’s
rights movement in addition to abolition and worked to raise
funds for African-American soldiers during the Civil War.
After the war her efforts centered on settling freedmen on
western lands and gaining for women the right to vote. She
died at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)
Florence
Nightingale led public health and nursing reforms in the mid1800s. Born to a privileged family, she was persuaded to
enter nursing by Samuel and Julia Ward Howe in 1845. In
1854 she was given command of a team of nurses to treat
soldiers of the Crimean War, and after two years of service
she began the difficult task of documenting the health care
offered by the British army at home and abroad. She established the Nightingale School of Nurses in 1860 and worked
to raise the status and pay of nurses, thereby contributing to
the recognition of women’s rights and the role of women in
society.
Paul Revere (1735-1818)
The son of a silversmith
who immigrated to Boston from France, Paul Revere learned
the trade and became one of the finest silversmiths in
America. He also made copper engravings from which he
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Grade 3
In Grade 3, students learn how individuals have changed their communities and world. Students study
the effects inspiring heroes have had on communities past and present. Students learn about the lives of
heroic men and women who made important choices, overcame obstacles, sacrificed for the betterment
of others, and embarked on journeys that resulted in new ideas, new inventions, and new communities.
Students expand their knowledge through the identification and study of people who made a difference, influenced public policy and decision making, and participated in resolving issues that are important to all people. Throughout Grade 3, students develop an understanding of the economic, cultural,
and
scientific contributions made by individuals.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich material such
as biographies, folktales, myths, legends, and poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged. Selections
may include the legend of Paul Bunyan. Motivating resources are also available from museums, historical sites, presidential libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
Pierre Charles L’Enfant (1754-1825)
Born
in France, Pierre L’Enfant applied French architectural styles
to U.S. government buildings during the era of the early republic. He volunteered to fight in the American Revolution
and wintered at Valley Forge in 1777 where he served as
captain of engineers for a time. After the war, President
George Washington commissioned him to design the emblems for the Society of the Cincinnati. L’Enfant converted
the Old City Hall in Philadelphia to Federal Hall to serve the
U.S. Congress. When Washington, D.C. was chosen as the
new site of the federal capital, Washington asked L’Enfant
to design the city. L’Enfant was dismissed in 1792 because
he did not listen to directions, overspent the budget, and ignored the claims of previous owners. Nonetheless, his plan
is evident in the modern layout, with the White House and
Capitol on high ground and the streets intersecting at landmarks.
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
Born in
Genoa, Italy, Christopher Columbus was a navigator and explorer who planned and led the voyage which landed in the
West Indies in 1492. Columbus believed that, because the
world was round and because long-distance navigation was
technically possible, sailors should be able to head west to
arrive in the East. Trade with the East was highly prized;
spices and other commodities brought profit to merchants
involved in overland trade. An ocean route could increase
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profit. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain partially
funded the expedition at Columbus’ request.
Earlier attempts made by Columbus to secure Portuguese funding for voyages to chart new routes to the Far
East failed, but in 1492, with Spanish support, he set sail
with three ships. When he touched land after a 37-day voyage, debarking on present-day San Salvador on October 12,
1492, he believed he had reached the East Indies. He led
three more voyages to the New World searching for gold
and other treasures prior to his death in 1506. He established
the first permanent colony in Cuba during his second voyage in 1493, deposited more settlers near Venezuela in 1494,
and completed his fourth voyage in 1503. Though Columbus never made the financial gains he envisioned, European
nations realized the potential of the new continent as a source
of riches and agricultural commodities and competed for
colonization rights. The significance of Columbus’ discovery is remembered every Columbus Day, a federal holiday
on the second Monday of October.
Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809)
Meriwether
Lewis is remembered as the leader of the successful expedition which traveled from the confluence of the Mississippi
and Missouri Rivers to the Pacific Coast in 1804-06. He spent
his youth roaming the woods, hunting and observing nature.
He volunteered to lead a transcontinental exploration in 1792
which Thomas Jefferson was organizing, but the expedition
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never happened. Lewis enlisted in the Virginia militia instead and became an ensign in the U.S. Army in 1795. Eventually, he was assigned to a company William Clark commanded.
In 1801 Jefferson contacted Lewis to begin preparations for an expedition. In 1803 Lewis asked Clark to accompany him; Jefferson approved and instructed Lewis to
explore the Missouri River to its source and then follow a
westward flowing stream to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis commanded the expedition and recorded most of the scientific
information in the journals. The objective was to secure the
fur trade of tribes living in the west and to increase scientific
and geographic understanding of the continent. It was also
the first time white men crossed the North American continent within the boundaries of the present United States. After the expedition Jefferson appointed Lewis governor of the
Louisiana Territory, but he was unsuccessful in the position.
Lewis was either murdered or committed suicide at a tavern
on the Natchez Trace.
William Clark (1770-1838)
William Clark assisted
Meriwether Lewis on the successful expedition which traveled from the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri
Rivers to the Pacific Coast in 1804-06. Clark was born in
Virginia, and his older brothers all fought as officers in the
American Revolution. Brigadier General George Rogers
Clark, one of his brothers, led forces into the Illinois territory during the war. William served in the Kentucky militia
and in the U.S. Army but was tending his parents’ plantation
in Kentucky when Lewis asked him to assist with the exploration of the Missouri River. He and Lewis and members of
the party left Wood River, Illinois on May 14, 1804, traveling up the Missouri River. They reached the Pacific coast in
mid-November 1805 and returned to St. Louis in September
1806. After the expedition, Clark was appointed Indian agent
and brigadier general of the militia of the Louisiana Territory. For 30 years he negotiated treaties with the Indians of
the upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers, relocating many
to the Kansas Territory.
Henry Ford (1863-1947)
Henry Ford helped create a mobile society by mass producing and marketing the
Model T automobile, making it an indispensable part of
American life. Through his efforts, the automotive industry
became a world-wide phenomenon. Born on a farm near
Detroit, Michigan, Ford worked on the farm, at a shipbuilding firm, and for a company which serviced steam engines.
During the winters he experimented on building his own internal-combustion engines. He drove his first home-built
automobile in 1896. The Ford Motor Company was founded
in 1903 and he developed the Model T by 1908. Ford used
mass production to reduce the price of the Model T, and he
worked to perfect the assembly line. He retained complete
company control and used it to amass billions of dollars.
Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre (1789-1851) Louis
Daguerre invented the process to permanently capture images on light-sensitive materials, thus ushering in the age of
photography. A native of France, he first earned his living by
painting scenery and grounds for theaters. He popularized
panoramic paintings — large scale, accurate scenes on canvases on a continuous roll — which were exhibited in the
Diorama. He often used a camera obscura, a device which
reflected a scene onto a canvas that artists then traced.
Daguerre sought to fix the image and he worked to invent a
light-sensitive material which was permanent. Silver iodide
was sensitive to light; mercury exposed the image and common salt fixed the image. He accepted a life-time pension
from the French government in exchange for the process,
which was publicized by the Academy of Sciences in Paris
on August 19, 1839. Others rapidly made improvements to
the photographic process but Daguerreotypes remained the
principal medium of photography until the 1850s. Daguerreotypes consisted of a silver-coated brass plate exposed to iodide vapor. The plate was then exposed to light and developed using mercury vapor. The image was fixed using sodium thiosulfate and was mounted under glass to protect it.
Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809-1884) The son of a
farmer/blacksmith/inventor, Cyrus McCormick applied his
talents to the invention, improvement, manufacture and marketing of a successful mechanical reaper, patented in 1834.
Reapers, pulled by horses, cut the grain for harvesters to bind
and stack in the fields. Prior to adoption of the mechanical
reaper, a farmer could only plant as much wheat as he could
harvest since ripe wheat was easily ruined. The grain was
often lost during harvest if the wheat was overripe, and storms
could destroy entire crops. Labor was expensive because it
was in great demand. The reaper allowed farmers to plant
more wheat because they had the potential to harvest more.
McCormick moved to Chicago in 1847 to take advantage of
the growing market for reapers as wheat cultivation moved
into the plains of the United States and Canada. Reapers and
other machines revolutionized grain cultivation and as the
international grain trade increased after 1880 mechanization
became more important. In 1902 his son Cyrus, Jr. merged
McCormick Company with other firms to form International
Harvester Company. It competed successfully with a half
dozen other farm machinery manufacturers for worldwide
distribution up to the late 1980s.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
French chemist Louis
Pasteur discovered that heat could kill bacteria which otherwise spoiled liquids including wine and beer. He was the
first to understand microscopic organisms, and a paper he
published following his research with wine introduced the
field of microbiology. He proved that the growth of bacteria
resulted from germs in the air and not spontaneous generation. He applied the process of heating liquids to kill bacteria to other products including milk. The process is known
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as “pasteurization.” In the 1870s Pasteur applied his efforts
toward human diseases, beginning with anthrax, a disease
which affected animals and people. He also invented a vaccine to counter the effects of rabies. Pasteur directed the Pasteur Institute dedicated to rabies research until his death.
Jonas Salk (1914-1995)The American microbiologist
who invented the vaccine to prevent polio, Jonas Salk was
the oldest child of Jewish immigrants from Poland. He earned
his medical degree from the New York University School of
Medicine and then worked with Thomas Francis, Jr. at the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, funded by a National
Research Council fellowship. They developed a “killed-virus” vaccine to counter type A and B influenza viruses. In
1947 he moved to the Virus Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and built a lab to
accommodate his research efforts. By 1952 Salk was ready
to test his “killed-virus” polio vaccine and the trial inoculations began in 1954. By the end of 1955, seven million children were immunized and cases of polio were reduced by 96
percent. Salk’s approach differed from that of Albert Sabin,
the leading advocate of a live-virus polio vaccine. By 1958,
Sabin’s oral vaccine replaced Salk’s intravenous shot but Salk
is still credited as having defeated polio. He founded the Salk
Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, in
1960, earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977,
and worked in the field of science until his death.
Jane Addams (1860-1935)
The first woman to win
the Nobel Peace Prize (1931), Jane Addams is more widely
known for her role in the establishment of Hull House in
Chicago in 1889 and the Settlement House Movement in the
United States. Motivated by a visit to Toynbee Hall, a settlement begun by Oxford men on London’s East End, Addams
and her friend Ellen Gates Starr returned to open Hull House.
By 1893 it offered medical care, legal aid, language classes,
music, and drama to more than two thousand needy each
week. Their activism in support of the poor, immigrants, and
women involved Addams in politics. She became the first
vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association in 1911 and campaigned for Theodore Roosevelt
and the Progressive Party in 1912. To ensure peace and freedom she helped found the American Civil Liberties Union
in 1920 and served as the first president of the Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919, a role
she continued until her death.
Helen Keller (1880-1968)
When she was a baby of
nineteen months, Helen Keller lost her sight and hearing due
to a fever. Her mother refused to let the child give up and
sought expert advice and treatment. Anne Sullivan became
the lifelong teacher and companion of Keller. The “teacher”
taught Helen how to communicate by sign language, read
with Braille, and write with a special typewriter. Keller earned
a degree from Radcliffe College and published two books
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by 1903. She was an active suffragette, supported the American Foundation for the Blind, and was a symbol of courage
and capability to the world. She received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 1964.
Harriet Tubman (ca. 1820-1913)
Escaping to
freedom in Philadelphia from Maryland in 1849, Harriet
Tubman led more than 300 slaves to freedom over the next
ten years. She lived in St. Catherine’s, Ontario, after 1850
when the Fugitive Slave Act made it easy for slave traders to
kidnap free slaves. She also owned property in upstate New
York, purchased from abolitionist William E. Seward. Her
parents and other refugees lived there. Tubman was a spy
and scout for Union troops during the Civil War. After the
war she opened the “Home for Indigent Aged Negroes” on
her farm in New York and attended the women’s rights meetings in nearby Seneca Falls. The first Black Heritage series
postage stamp, released in 1978, depicted Harriet Tubman, a
woman who risked everything to liberate slaves.
Daniel Boone (1734-1820)
Daniel Boone opened
the Kentucky frontier to settlement from the east by surveying land, opening the Wilderness Road, fighting Indians, and
building settlements. Wherever Boone went, settlement followed. He spent his life exploring the frontier, moving from
Kentucky to Missouri territory in 1799. He eventually lost
his Missouri land to mismanagement and encroachment, just
as he lost his Kentucky holdings.
His real life accomplishments gained the status of
popular myth during his lifetime because his adventures symbolized the changes in America from an independent, rugged frontier to a modern, mechanized nation. Boone enjoyed status as a real figure of national significance as well
as a mythical or folk hero based on exaggerations of his abilities and exploits.
David “Davy” Crockett (1786-1836) Born in East
Tennessee, Davy Crockett enlisted in the militia in 1813 and
fought in the Creek Indian War. He also pursued local and
then state and national politics, supporting public land policy
to aid western settlement. He disagreed with Andrew Jackson on several issues including land reform and the Indian
removal bill, but he was unable to counter the popular support for Jackson and was not willing to join forces with the
Whig opposition. In disgust, he left the upper south and
headed to Texas, arriving in San Antonio in early February
1836. He died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.
The exploits of Davy Crockett, a sharpshooter and
hunter, were exaggerated and printed in a series of comic
almanacs published from 1836-1856. In this way, his real
accomplishments contributed to the formation of a folk myth.
Crockett enjoyed status as a figure of regional significance
as well as a mythical or folk hero based on exaggerations of
his abilities and exploits. Crockett, like Daniel Boone, earned
a place in American folklore as a model of independence
Grade 3
and virtue in a frontier setting.
Pecos Bill
A mythical American folk hero, Pecos Bill
was created by Edward O’Reilly of Century magazine to
represent western stamina and values. A cowboy from the
Pecos River region of Texas, Pecos Bill was raised by coyotes, rode a mountain lion, and used a rattlesnake as a lasso.
Paul Bunyan
A mythical American folk hero,
Paul Bunyan represents typical frontier tall tales. The fictional exploits of Bunyan in local lumber camps formed an
important part of oral tradition in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,
and the Northwest before they were published by James
MacGillvray in 1910 in a story in the Detroit News-Tribune.
Between 1914 and 1944, W. B. Laughead produced the series of pamphlets which made Bunyan a national legend.
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is the leading
character in a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 (The
Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe,
of York, Mariner: Who Lived Eight and Twenty Years, All
Alone in an Un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America,
Near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having
Been Cast on Shore by Shipwreck, Wherein All the Men Perished but Himself, With an Account how he was at last as
Strangely Deliver’d by Pyrates. Written by Himself). Due to
the success of the original, Defoe wrote a sequel in the same
year, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. The tale
remains popular because generations of readers recognize
Crusoe’s nature and his quest for social interaction as similar to their own.
9
Grade 4
In Grade 4, students examine the history of Texas from the early beginnings to the present within the
context of influences of the Western Hemisphere. Historical content focuses on Texas history including
the Texas Revolution, establishment of the Republic of Texas, and subsequent annexation to the United
States. Students discuss important issues, events, and individuals of the 19th and 20th centuries. Students conduct a thorough study of regions in Texas and the Western Hemisphere that result from human
activity and from physical features. A focus on the location, distribution, and patterns of economic
activities and of settlement in Texas further enhances the concept of regions. Students describe how
early Native Americans in Texas and the Western Hemisphere met their basic economic needs and
identify economic motivations for European exploration and colonization and reasons for the establishment of Spanish missions. Students explain how Native Americans governed themselves and identify characteristics of Spanish and Mexican colonial governments in Texas. Students recite and explain the meaning of the Pledge to the Texas Flag. Students identify the contributions of people of
various racial, ethnic, and religious groups to Texas and describe the impact of science and technology
on life in the state. Students use critical-thinking skills to identify cause-and-effect relationships, compare and contrast, and make generalizations and predictions.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich primary and
secondary source material such as biographies, novels, speeches and letters, and poetry, songs, and
artworks is encouraged. Selections may include a children’s biography of Stephen F. Austin. Motivating resources are also available from museums, historical sites, presidential libraries, and local and
state preservation societies.
Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (ca. 1490 - ca. 1556)
Martín DeLeón (1763-1833)
Cabeza de Vaca was an early Spanish explorer, considered
the first geographer, historian, and ethnologist of Texas. He
sailed with the 1527-28 expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez to
the coast of Florida. Separated from the Spanish ships,
Narvaez sought to leave Florida by sea. In 1528 Cabeza de
Vaca and three others were grounded on an island off the
Texas coast, likely San Luis, now known as Follets Island.
After being enslaved by the Mariame Indians, and serving
as a merchant and medicine man, Cabeza de Vaca and other
survivors left the area of Galveston Island, searching for
Spanish settlements, in 1534. They reached Culiancan on
the Pacific Coast of Mexico in 1536. Cabeza de Vaca and his
companions Andres Dorantes de Carranza and Alonso
Castillo Maldonado wrote the earliest notes known to exist
describing the Indians, landforms, flora, and fauna of Texas.
Henry Cisneros (1947- )
10
The
only
Mexican empresario to found a colony in Texas, Martín De
León was the son of well-connected Spanish emigrants to
present-day Tamaulipas, Mexico. He worked as a merchant
and eventually chose to settle in Texas. He petitioned the
Mexican government in San Antonio for the right to establish a colony in 1807 but was denied. De León was one of
the first trail drivers in Texas, sending his stock overland to
New Orleans prior to 1809. The Mexican government finally approved his petition to form a colony in 1824 and he
founded the town of Nuestra Señora Guadalupe de Jesús
Victoria. He opposed Santa Anna but died in 1833 before
the battles for Texas independence.
Henry Cisneros was
born in San Antonio, Texas, moved from the area in pursuit
Grade 4
of an education, but returned to begin his political career. He
gained state and national attention for his efforts to solve
urban problems. Cisneros earned degrees from Texas A&M
University before moving to the northeast. He was a White
House Fellow in 1971 and earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Public
Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He returned to San Antonio
in 1974 and became the youngest member to serve on the
San Antonio city council when elected in 1975. In 1981 he
began his first of four terms as mayor of San Antonio. He
was committed to improving the economic base of the city
by supporting tourism, high-technology, and light manufacturing. He was unsuccessful in his quest for the nomination
as Democratic vice-president in 1984 but he did earn national recognition. President Bill Clinton appointed him Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1993. Cisneros
spent four years focusing HUD efforts toward problems experienced by residents of big cities. In early 1997 he left
politics to begin as president and C.E.O. of Univision Communications, Inc., the largest Spanish language television
broadcaster in the United States.
Cleto Rodríguez (1923-1990)
Raised in San
Marcos and San Antonio, Texas, Cleto Rodríguez joined the
army in early 1944 and served in the Philippine Islands in
the South Pacific. He earned the Congressional Medal of
Honor for his bravery in the battle for Manila. The Medal of
Honor, the highest military decoration awarded to members
of the U.S. armed forces, recognizes gallantry and bravery
in combat. Rodríguez became the fifth Mexican-American
so honored and the first of Mexican descent to receive the
award for action in the South Pacific. He joined 14 other
Texans, six of whom were Mexican-American, in receiving
the medal for their service on all fronts during World War II.
He continued in military service to 1970.
Moses Austin (1761- 1821)
Born in Connecticut,
Moses Austin moved to the Missouri territory and established
a lead mine and banks to supply and finance settlers in the
west. He first proposed a settlement of 300 families in Texas
to the Spanish governor of Texas in 1820. Austin died before
his dream could be realized but his son, Stephen F. Austin,
followed through on his father’s plan.
Stephen F. Austin (1793-1836)Stephen F. Austin is
considered the “Father of Texas” due to his continued efforts to settle the territory. His father Moses Austin contracted with the Spanish government to colonize a portion of
northern Mexico. When Moses died in June 1821, the contract transferred to the younger Austin. Stephen selected a
site for his colony along the Brazos and Colorado rivers and
began recruiting families in 1821. Progress was slow because
of difficulty in transporting supplies into the area and because of changing Mexican politics. Austin frequently discussed the future of his colony with Mexican officials and
he earned their trust.
By 1825, 297 families lived in Austin’s Colony.
They were called the “Old Three Hundred.” Austin continued to negotiate with the Mexican government and represent residents. He also secured other land grants. In ten years
he helped more than 1,500 families settle in Texas. At first
the leadership of Antonio López de Santa Anna pleased Austin, but as Santa Anna assumed more and more control, he
limited the freedom of the Texans. Austin supported the organized opposition to the absolute power of Santa Anna. This
opposition led to the Texas Revolution.
Miriam Amanda Wallace “Ma” Ferguson (18751961) Miriam Ferguson served two terms as governor of
Texas. She was inaugurated in 1925, 15 days after Wyoming
governor Nellie Tayloe Ross, making her the second female
governor in the United States. She married James Edward
“Jim” Ferguson in 1899. He was elected two terms as governor of Texas but was impeached in 1917 for financial corruption. The Impeachment Court removed him from office
and declared him ineligible to hold any office of honor in
Texas. He resigned the day before the Court announced its
decision. In an effort to clear his name, and because he could
not run under his own name, he ran his wife’s campaign for
governor in 1924. Miriam Amanda (“Ma”) competed for and
won the election in 1924 and again in 1932. A moderate
Progressive, she sought to improve education and transportation systems. During her second and more successful term
(1933-5) she supported New Deal legislation, a sales tax to
benefit schools, and a corporate income tax.
Audie Leon Murphy (1924-1971)
When Audie
Murphy died in 1971, he was the most decorated combat
soldier in U.S. history. He earned 33 awards, citations and
decorations, including the Medal of Honor, for his service
during World War II campaigns in Sicily, Italy, France, and
Germany. After the war he became a successful movie actor
starring in 39 films. He wrote 14 songs, two of which were
in the top ten on the Hit Parade. He was also an author and
poet. He was killed in an airplane crash in 1971.
John Tower (1925-1991)
In 1961, Tower became
the first Republican senator elected in Texas since 1870. This
marked the return of two-party politics to the state. He was
re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 1966, 1972, and 1978. During his 24 years as senator, Tower was involved in the Banking and Currency Committee (later named the Committee
on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs) and the Armed
Services Committee among others. His views influenced
domestic and foreign policy. He worked to strengthen national defense, improve transportation systems, and support
agriculture, industry and commerce, especially that related
to Texas. Tower chaired a special review committee appointed
by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 to report on the actions
of the National Security Council during the Iran-Contra affair. The committee was known as the Tower Commission.
11
Grade 4
Tower was killed in a plane crash near New Brunswick,
Georgia, on April 5, 1991.
Gail Borden, Jr. (1801-1874) An inventor, publisher,
surveyor, and founder of the Borden Company, Gail Borden
learned from experience that preserved foods were important to settlers. He was born in New York, but he and his
family moved to Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, and finally
into the Texas territory in 1829. A surveyor by training, he
helped survey Stephen F. Austin’s colony, prepared the first
topographic map of Texas, designed Galveston, and served
as an agent for settlement of that area from 1839 to 1851. In
1835 he published the first issue of his Telegraph and Texas
Register and published it in various cities before selling it in
1837. He began inventing in the 1840s and moved to New
York to be closer to trade centers. He secured patents for
condensed milk in America and Britain in 1856, and he
founded the New York Condensed Milk Company (later
named Borden’s) in 1857. Union troops used condensed milk
during the Civil War, and sales assured his financial success.
He returned to Texas in 1861, built a meat-packing plant in
Borden, and supported educational and religious institutions
benefiting children. He died in Borden, Texas, but is buried
in New York.
Lorenzo de Zavala (1788-1836)
Lorenzo De
Zavala administered a land grant, established a colony in
east Texas, and took an active role in Mexican government.
He served in the Mexican congress and as a governor of the
state of Mexcio prior to 1835 when he became an active supporter of the quest for Texas independence. He participated
in the Convention of 1836 and served as vice-president in
the ad interim or temporary government established during
the Revolution. He is credited with designing the first flag
of the Republic of Texas.
Joseph Glidden (1813-1906) Joseph Glidden invented the first commercially successful barbed wire, patented in 1874. He was co-founder of the Barb Fence Company of De Kalb, Illinois, which marketed the wire. Farmers
and settlers used it to protect water supplies, crops, and livestock from free-range cattle.
Pattillo Higgins (1863-1955) Known as the “prophet
of Spindletop,” Pattillo Higgins formed partnerships with
other men who believed that there was oil in the Gulf Coast
region of Texas. In 1892, Higgins, George Carroll, and
George Washington O’Brien formed the Gladys City Oil,
Gas, and Manufacturing Company, but after several unsuccessful wells, enthusiasm lulled. Anthony Francis Lucas
eventually discovered oil on land adjacent to Spindletop on
January 10, 1901, but Higgins’s land on the crest of
Spindletop proved even more productive. He was a selftaught geologist, draftsman, inventor, cartographer, and engineer.
12
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
Born in
Genoa, Italy, Christopher Columbus was a navigator and explorer who planned and led the voyage which landed in the
West Indies in 1492. Columbus believed that, because the
world was round and because long-distance navigation was
technically possible, sailors should be able to head west to
arrive in the East. Trade with the East was highly prized;
spices and other commodities brought profit to merchants
involved in overland trade. An ocean route could increase
profit. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain partially
funded the expedition at Columbus’ request.
Earlier attempts made by Columbus to secure Portuguese funding for voyages to chart new routes to the Far
East failed, but in 1492, with Spanish support, he set sail
with three ships. When he touched land after a 37-day voyage, debarking on present-day San Salvador on October 12,
1492, he believed he had reached the East Indies. He led
three more voyages to the New World searching for gold
and other treasures prior to his death in 1506. He established
the first permanent colony in Cuba during his second voyage in 1493, deposited more settlers near Venezuela in 1494,
and completed his fourth voyage in 1503. Though Columbus never made the financial gains he envisioned, European
nations realized the potential of the new continent as a source
of riches and agricultural commodities and competed for
colonization rights. The significance of Columbus’ voyage
is remembered every Columbus Day, a federal holiday on
the second Monday of October.
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (1510-1554)
Francisco Coronado opened the southwestern portion of
North America to Spanish colonization and settlement. Born
in Spain into a prominent family, de Coronado first sailed to
the New World in 1535, arriving in Mexico City. He was
appointed as governor of the mining areas in northwestern
Mexico in 1538. In attempts to discover the riches of the
New World for Spain, he led an exploration in search of the
Seven Cities of Cíbola and Quivira and journeyed through
territory in present-day Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas in 1540-42.
Sam Houston (1793-1863)
Sam Houston provided
leadership for more than 25 years in Texas, commanding the
army, and serving as president of the Republic, U.S. senator,
and then governor. He was already a notable American when
he came to Texas in 1832. Born in Virginia, he lived for
several years in Tennessee learning from the Cherokee. He
served in the army under the command of General Andrew
Jackson. After his military service he was a representative to
Congress and served as Tennessee’s governor. Because of
his knowledge of and appreciation for the Cherokee, he often represented the United States in attempts to settle disputes. Upon his arrival in Texas, Houston’s experience with
federal and state government proved valuable as delegates
to the Texas Convention of 1836 worked to draft a constitution and declare independence from Mexico. Houston left
Grade 4
the Convention early to command the Texas army against
Santa Anna’s advancing Mexican troops.
Texans proclaimed Houston the hero of the Battle
of San Jacinto during which Santa Anna was captured and
his Mexican army routed. The Treaties of Velasco resulted.
Afterward, Houston became the first elected president of the
Republic of Texas in 1836 and was reelected in 1841. Houston struggled to solve the problem of a growing national debt.
Eventually the Republic sought support from the United
States, and Houston supported annexation of Texas by the
United States. Others wanted Texas to remain a republic.
Texas became the twenty-eighth state in late 1845. Sam Houston served as a U.S. senator from Texas and then was elected
governor in 1859. He opposed secession from the Union and
left the governor’s office after Texans voted overwhelmingly
to secede in January 1861.
title, Sieur de la Salle. He immigrated to New France and
secured a seigniory (a large estate) along the St. Lawrence
River. He sold it to invest in the Canadian fur trade in an
attempt to make his fortune. Sailing for France, he descended
the Mississippi River to its delta in 1682, established a trading monopoly in the Mississippi Valley, and secured Louisiana for France. Returning from France in 1684, La Salle led
an expedition seeking the mouth of the Mississippi. The explorers sailed past the delta and landed in Matagorda Bay
(Texas) instead. They established Fort St. Louis in 1685 and
claimed the area for the French. Thus, the French flag is one
of the six flags which has flown over Texas. Discord among
the members of the expedition led to La Salle’s assassination on March 19, 1687. Most of those remaining eventually
traveled north on the Mississippi River to return to Canada.
Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (1798-1859) I
n
1836, Mirabeau Lamar was elected the first vice president
of the Republic of Texas and was elected president the following term, serving 1838-1841. In contrast to Sam Houston, Lamar favored remaining a republic and opposed annexation to the United States. Under his administration the
public debt of Texas grew. Lamar believed that the Texas
border included Santa Fe, New Mexico. This gave the Republic access to trade with the far west through New Mexico,
thereby securing extra income. Mexican officials disagreed
and this continued the hard feelings between Mexico and
Texas. Lamar relocated the Texas capital from Houston to
the growing town of Austin to be closer to the interior development of the state. Lamar also stressed the need for public
education in Texas.
Barbara Jordan (1934-1996) Born in Houston, Barbara Jordan was the first African-American congresswoman
from the south. She was supported by President Lyndon
Johnson during her campaign as a representative from Texas
to the U.S. House. She earned national recognition during
the Watergate hearings in 1974 which investigated President
Richard Nixon’s election campaign. In 1975 she was named
Time magazine’s Woman of the Year. She was a professor of
public service in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public
Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin and remained in
public service until her death on January 17, 1996.
Anson Jones (1798-1858)
The last president of the
Republic of Texas, Anson Jones was elected in 1844. He
retired to his farm near Washington-on-the Brazos following the annexation of Texas by the United States. Jones was
a doctor from Brazoria who supported Sam Houston and
Houston’s efforts to stabilize the Texas economy and keep
peace with the Native Americans.
René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle (16431687)
Born in Normandy, Cavelier preferred his noble
13
Grade 5
In Grade 5, students learn about the history of the United States from its early beginnings to the present
with a focus on colonial times through the 20th century. Students recite and explain the meaning of the
Pledge of Allegiance. Students examine the importance of effective leadership in a democratic society
and identify important leaders in the national government. Students examine fundamental rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Students describe customs and celebrations of various racial, ethnic, and
religious groups in the nation and identify the contributions of famous inventors and scientists. Students use critical-thinking skills, including sequencing, categorizing, and summarizing information
and drawing inferences and conclusions.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich primary and
secondary source material such as biographies, novels, speeches and letters, and poetry, songs, and
artworks is encouraged. Selections may include Yankee Doodle. Motivating resources are also available from museums, historical sites, presidential libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
Thomas
Edison, one of the greatest inventors of all time, received
more than 1,300 patents for a range of items including the
automatic telegraph machine, the phonograph, improvements
to the light bulb, a modernized telephone, and motion picture equipment. He concentrated on electrical inventions and
opened his first “invention factory” in Newark, New Jersey,
in 1870. In 1876 he opened his lab in Menlo Park and while
there his workers developed and he patented the incandescent light bulb, a transmitter for the telephone and the phonograph, his favorite invention. He operated the world’s first
electric power station on Pearl Street in New York City,
opened in 1882. By 1887 he expanded operations again, to
West Orange, New Jersey, where workers averaged one patented invention every five days.
Cesar Chávez (1924-1997)
Cesar Chávez was a migrant farm worker who sought to improve the lives of other
migrant workers. He served as national director of the Community Service Organization before resigning in 1962 to focus on organizing a union for farm workers. He called for
non-violent struggles for justice and used strikes, boycotts
and other forms of civil disobedience to improve conditions
for migrant workers. Eventually strikes and boycotts caused
26 grape growers in California to recognize the United Farm
Workers union in 1970, but growers continued to break contracts. Chávez provided leadership for 30 years, protesting
14
violence and urging cooperation between growers and workers. The union continues to protect the rights of migrant
laborers from unfair treatment on the part of employers.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)
Dwight David Eisenhower served his country as a military
leader and as President from 1952 to 1960. Born in Texas,
Eisenhower was raised in Abilene, Kansas. He graduated
from West Point in 1915 and married Mamie Doud in 1916.
Eisenhower served as General Douglas MacArthur’s senior
assistant in the Philippines when MacArthur was the army’s
chief of staff. MacArthur considered him the most capable
officer in the army. General Eisenhower commanded Allied
forces in Europe during World War II. He led the BritishAmerican invasion of North Africa which defeated Rommel’s
Africa Korps in 1943. On June 6, 1944, he commanded Allied forces on D-Day. He was appointed President of Columbia University in 1948 but was recalled to active military duty in 1950 to lead forces of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO).
He retired from the army in 1952 to make a bid for
the Republican Party nomination for president. He was
elected to the first of two terms. Americans hoped he would
end the fighting in South Korea against communist China
and North Korea. He did negotiate a peace settlement signed
in 1953, but the fear of communism remained high in the
United States. The cold war between the U.S.S.R. and the
Grade 5
United States continued throughout his administration as he
supported a foreign policy which encouraged cooperation
and not conflict. He favored gradual domestic change. He
ordered troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, to keep peace when
the high school racially integrated, and he signed the Civil
Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960.
Rosa Parks (1913- )
Born in Tuskegee, Alabama,
Rosa Parks grew up on her grandparents’ farm near Montgomery and attended high school and college in the city. She
and her husband were both active members of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP). During a time when public transportation was
legally segregated, she was arrested on December 1, 1955,
when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man.
Her actions prompted black church and business leaders to
conduct a boycott of the Montgomery bus company which
began December 5, 1956. On December 21 the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that segregation on city buses was unconstitutional. Martin Luther King, Jr., the new minister at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, participated in
the December 5 meeting, an event which helped launch his
civil rights career.
General Colin L. Powell (1937- )
On August 10,
1989, General Colin Powell became the first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Commissioned a
2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1958, Powell received
several commendations and decorations. He commanded
the 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division from 1976
to 1977 and was the senior military assistant to the Deputy
Secretary of Defense from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983
to 1986. He served as a deputy assistant and then as an assistant to President Ronald Reagan, advising on National Security Affairs from 1987 to 1989, at which point he assumed
the chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His autobiography My American Journey (1995) chronicles his experiences as a ranking military official and political advisor.
William Penn (1644-1718)
William Penn established a colony in Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers and
a place where they could create a government based on their
own standards. Born in London into a merchant family, Penn
joined the Quakers, also known as the Religious Society of
Friends, in 1666. The Friends believed in direct guidance
from the Holy Spirit, did not recognize the authority of an
ordained ministry, believed in simple dress, and opposed war.
Penn became a leading Quaker in England, preaching at meetings, publishing religious tracts, and supporting toleration
of those who dissented from the teachings of the Church of
England. He secured a land grant from the King of England
in 1681, and the King called the area “Pennsylvania” or
Penn’s Woodland. Penn aggressively advertised his land
grant and attempted to treat Native Americans and squatters
from other colonies residing in the grant fairly. He rarely
visited the colony and lived there only a few years which
caused residents of the colony to under appreciate his role in
the colony’s development. He supported freedom of worship, welcomed immigrants, and did not require residents to
serve in the militia.
John Smith (1580-1631)
John Smith was born to
a yeoman farm family in England. He participated in the
Christian crusade against Islam in 1600. In 1606 he enlisted
in the colonization effort of the Virginia Company to establish a colony in North America. Smith was one of the sevenmember resident council appointed to rule the colony. He
ensured the survival of Jamestown by instilling discipline
into the colonists and providing leadership. He led expeditions along the coast and befriended Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief of the Native Americans along the Virginia
tidewater. In later life he wrote promotional literature encouraging colonization but did not take an active role.
Roger Williams (ca. 1603-1683)
Born in London, Roger Williams became a religious dissenter and
founded the colony of Rhode Island. He studied for a career
in the Church of England but left his theology studies in 1629,
disgusted with the corruption in the church and skeptical of
the liturgical teachings. He sailed to New England in 1630
to escape persecution by the Puritans in England. He believed a true church could not exist on earth until Christ returned and founded it. Thus his beliefs also conflicted with
the Puritan teachings in Massachusetts. They eventually
banished him from the colony in 1636. Williams sought a
colonial charter in 1643-44 to establish Rhode Island. Three
of his ideas were significant for the development of American culture. He argued for separation of church and state in
the North American colonies, he believed in freedom of
thought and opinion, and he supported freedom of religion
from suppression by government.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
The third president, Thomas Jefferson was a founding father
and principal author of the Declaration of Independence
which rationalized the break with Britain. He also approved
the Louisiana Purchase which nearly doubled the area controlled by the United States. Jefferson was born into
the Virginia planter class, attended private schools, and
entered the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1769. By
1774 he owned 10,000 acres and more than 200 slaves.
That same year he wrote the first of many influential
political pamphlets. He became an early and effective
leader in the American Revolution. He was a delegate
to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and in 1776
he was a member of the committee which wrote the
Declaration of Independence. He drafted a plan to organize the territories of the expanding United States, a
system based on rectangular surveys. His plan to bar
slavery from the territories was incorporated into the
15
Grade 5
Northwest Ordinance of 1787, but Jefferson owned slaves
until he died.
In 1785 he replaced Benjamin Franklin as minister
to France and was in France when the U.S. Constitution was
drafted. Jefferson served as Secretary of State under President George Washington. By 1793, he and James Madison
organized opposition to the Federalist’s plan for national
economic development and foreign entanglements with England. The Republicans emerged to provide an outlet for
citizens to oppose office holders they disagreed with, and to
elect replacements which shared their own concerns. Thus
the first political system developed. The Republicans favored
state’s rights in government in opposition to the strong central government favored by Federalists. Jefferson expressed
his concerns about this in the Kentucky Resolutions, written
in 1798. Jefferson ran for president in 1796, but earned only
enough votes to serve as vice-president to Federalist John
Adams.
In 1800 Jefferson was elected president and served
two terms. He maintained peace and encouraged westward
expansion during the first term, completing the Louisiana
Purchase in 1803 from Napoleon. Foreign affairs clouded
his second term as France and England both refused to recognize that the United States was neutral. Jefferson imposed
the unpopular Embargo Act of 1807 which paralyzed trade
for over one year. It was repealed by Congress days before
James Madison assumed the presidency. Jefferson and John
Adams both died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of
the Declaration of Independence.
James Madison (1751-1836) Born in Virginia, James
Madison played a role in most of the significant political
events over a 40-year period from 1776, when he began his
political career, to 1817, when he completed his second term
as the fourth president of the United States. He participated
in the Continental Congress, and because of his leadership
role in writing and ratifying the U.S. Constitution, is considered the “Father of the Constitution.” He was one of three
authors of The Federalist papers. He supported a strong central government, a political theory that coalesced as the platform of the Federalist party. This party and its opposition
formed the basis of a bipartisan political system which continues today. He wrote the first 12 amendments to the Constitution, ten of which were ratified as the Bill of Rights.
One of the two not ratified, regarding congressional pay
raises, was later ratified as the 27th Amendment in May 1992.
Elected president in 1808, he presided through the War of
1812 and fled Washington, D.C. in August 1814, when the
British invaded and set the public buildings, the Capitol, and
the White House afire.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)
Born
in New York to a wealthy family, Franklin Roosevelt entered politics in 1910 as a Democratic candidate to the U.S.
Senate. He was a member of Woodrow Wilson’s administration and was unsuccessful in a bid for the vice-presidency in
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1920. In 1921 he contracted polio but struggled to overcome
the physical limitations and maintain a public, political career. In 1932 he opposed Republican incumbent President
Herbert Hoover and soundly defeated him. He began the New
Deal in the first 100 days after his inauguration. His reforms,
proposed to counteract the effects of the Great Depression,
affected four areas: finance, industry, agriculture and relief
(welfare). He strengthened government work programs. His
executive orders and sponsorship of legislation in the national interest supported the weak economy and remained
viable years after his death. Yet, critics worried that his growing executive authority might undermine the checks and balances of the three branches of government. This concern
derived from Roosevelt’s attempts to pack the Supreme Court
with his own appointees. Congress eventually passed a court
reform bill but it did not support Roosevelt’s ideas. Conservatives in Congress reacted by passing few New Deal reforms after 1937.
By 1939, Roosevelt transferred his efforts from the
New Deal to a new diplomacy to counter the aggression of
Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Tojo Hideki. American
support for Roosevelt was high, and he dominated the political scene for four terms, the most of any U.S. president.
The 22nd Amendment, adopted in 1951, often termed the
anti-Franklin Roosevelt amendment, limited presidents to two
terms.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Benjamin
Franklin was born in Boston in 1706, the fifteenth child of a
candlemaker. He became a well-known printer in Philadelphia and an active leader in the city. He published Poor
Richard’s Almanack between 1732 and 1758 and his Autobiography in 1818. Through these he gained literary distinction. In the Almanack he shared with readers bits of wisdom
and pithy sayings which helped shape the American character. He founded the first privately supported circulating library in America, in Philadelphia. Franklin was a member
of the committee which wrote the Declaration of Independence but spent most of the period of the American Revolution in France. He represented the colonies as the American
envoy starting in 1776 and remained until 1785. He negotiated the alliance with France and then the Treaty of Paris
which ended the war. He also participated in the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787 and earned distinction as the
oldest delegate in attendance.
Franklin’s many talents earned him a reputation as
“the first civilized American.” In addition to his political
activities, he supported education and was considered a gifted
scientist without peer in the colonies. He proved that lightning was a form of electricity, a discovery that earned him
international fame. He also invented bifocal glasses, lightning rods, and the Franklin stove.
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
Born a free
African-American in Maryland, Benjamin Banneker over-
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came rural isolation, limited education, racial prejudice, and
alcoholism to become a respectable scientist, mathematician,
and astronomer. He worked on the survey crew which laid
out the District of Columbia in 1791. In 1791 he sent a copy
of his unpublished almanac and a letter to Thomas Jefferson
pleading with him to make an effort to end slavery and ensure that all were entitled to the “inalienable rights” outlined
in the Declaration of Independence. His almanac was published by a Philadelphia press from 1792 to 1797. Banneker
was a symbol of racial equality and of black achievement.
The Benjamin Banneker College at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas, bears his name.
Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) Anne Hutchinson believed that inner faith was more important than outward piety and works. Hutchinson’s knowledge of church doctrine
and her natural charisma earned her quite a following of
women and men in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The clergy
viewed this as a threat to their Puritan faith and a challenge
to their authority. They brought her to trial before the colony’s
court, banishing her in 1637 and excommunicating her in
1638. She moved with her family to Rhode Island and then
to New Netherlands colony after her husband’s death in 1642.
She and most of her children were killed by Algonquians in
1643.
Roger Sherman (1721-1793) Roger Sherman participated in most activities related to the early governance of
the United States. Work as a land surveyor in New Haven,
Connecticut, prompted Sherman to take an interest in law
and politics. He was elected as a delegate to the Connecticut
General Assembly in 1755 and remained involved in colonial and national politics until his death. He was one of the
founding fathers, serving in both the First and the Second
Continental Congresses, was a member of the committee
which drafted the Declaration of Independence; helped draft
the Articles of Confederation, participated in the Constitutional Convention, and signed the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Rights, and the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution. During debates over the ratification of the
Constitution, he favored states’ rights, suggesting the establishment of two houses of Congress, one based on population and the other on equal representation; and supported
election of a president by an electoral college.
Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947)
Born Carrie
Lane, she moved with her family to Iowa at a young age.
She was an accomplished student at Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University in Ames), and served as a
principal and then superintendent of Mason City, Iowa,
schools before focusing her attentions on the women’s suffrage movement. She assisted Susan B. Anthony in organizing the National American Women’s Suffrage Association,
founded in 1890, and served as president from 1900-1904
and again starting in 1915. Catt worked unfailingly to gain
women the right to vote and her political abilities contributed to the success of the 19th Amendment. It was ratified in
1920.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
A noted leader, Martin Luther King was one of several African-Americans concerned with reforming American society
and gaining equal rights by using civil disobedience or nonviolent action. He earned his Ph.D. from the School of Theology at Boston University. He was called to minister at
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
Despite opposition from his father who urged him to return
to Atlanta, King moved to Montgomery in 1955, settling in
just before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus
to a white passenger. King assisted in coordinating the bus
boycott which gained national and international attention.
He gained visibility as a black leader and experience in organization and leadership as a result.
In 1957 he was instrumental in organizing the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a consortium of
churches and civic groups which supported activities to parallel those of the NAACP. The SCLC supported sit-ins, boycotts, and protest marches in Birmingham, Alabama beginning in 1963. In August, during the March on Washington in
support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, King set aside his
prepared speech and rallied the 250,000 in attendance with
“I have a dream today!” He was assassinated on April 4,
1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Neil Armstrong (1930- )
Born and raised in
Ohio, Neil Armstrong earned degrees from Purdue University and the University of Southern California, served in the
United States Navy as a fighter pilot during the Korean War
and worked in aeronautical research before joining NASA
(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in 1962.
He was the first civilian astronaut accepted. He commanded
the Apollo 11, completed the first manned lunar landing in
history, and was the first man to walk on the moon on July
20, 1969. He worked with NASA, taught engineering at the
University of Cincinnati, served on the boards of major corporations, and was active in the commission which explored
the Challenger disaster in 1986.
John J. Audubon (1785-1851)
Born in Haiti,
John J. Audubon lived in France and in various states in the
United States throughout his lifetime. He was a gifted artist
who preferred observing and painting birds and other wildlife. He began The Birds of America in 1820 and worked
diligently to acquire patrons for the project. Published between 1827 and 1838, it contained life-size color prints of
489 species and remains the most comprehensive presentation of birds in America. Though he relied on his own observations for much of the work, he also used specimens provided by other naturalists. He generally used dead birds as
models, wired into positions to suit his composition. Fol17
Grade 5
lowing completion of The Birds of America, he began work
on North American Mammals, published between 1846 and
1854. It was completed by his sons following his death. One
of Audubon’s followers, George Bird Grinnell, founded the
first Audubon Society in 1886, dedicated to increasing awareness of and appreciation for nature.
Clarence F. Birdseye (1886-1956)
Born in New
York, Clarence Birdseye worked as a naturalist and fur trader
as a young man and realized the importance of food preservation. By the 1920s he was pioneering the process of quick
freezing processed seafood. He perfected the process in the
1930s and developed specialized food freezing and dehydrating equipment. He held over 250 patents in food processing and incandescent lighting.
George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
Born a slave in Missouri and orphaned at a young age, George
Washington Carver pursued a complete education, earning
an M.S. in botany at Iowa Agricultural College, now Iowa
State University in Ames, Iowa. Booker T. Washington recruited the talented Carver to teach at Tuskegee Institute, a
school where African-American students could learn about
agriculture and industry. In 1906, Carver expanded his offerings beyond the classroom. He outfitted trucks as movable schools and took these into the countryside to reach
farmers with his ideas about the importance of diversifying
production and planting vegetables, soybeans, and peanuts
instead of concentrating on cotton. Carver is noted for his
work with agricultural chemistry and contributed to interracial knowledge and respect through his teaching and research.
Carl Sagan (1934-1997)
The son of a Russian
emigrant, Sagan studied physics and earned a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960 from the University of
Chicago. He was an exobiologist, a scientist who combines
knowledge of astronomy and biology to study the possibility of life on other planets. He made important contributions
to the study of Mars and Venus, contributing to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) space explorations from the 1960s through the 1990s. Sagan’s work was
driven by his quest to find life beyond Earth. In 1983 he copublished an article warning of the possibility of global cooling following a nuclear attack (“nuclear winter”). Noted for
his ability to explain complex scientific principles to the general public, Carl Sagan touched the lives of millions of people
in 60 countries through the public television series “Cosmos,” a show first broadcast in 1980.
George Washington (1732-1799)
George
Washington became the first president of the United States
elected following procedures outlined in the newly ratified
Constitution. He served two terms between 1789 and 1797.
A resident of Virginia, he was a surveyor, a planter, a soldier
in the French and Indian War, a delegate to the First and
18
Second Continental Congresses, commander-in-chief of the
Continental Army during the American Revolution, and the
chairman of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. His prestige as a southern planter, his strong character, and his heroic military accomplishments ensured his recognition, and
the Electoral College unanimously supported him for president in 1789.
During his two terms he started regular meetings
of his cabinet and supported Alexander Hamilton’s plans to
deal with war debts and create a currency system for the
new nation. Washington was a Federalist, believing in a strong
central government and the responsibility of the wealthy to
ensure the wellbeing of all, but he remained open to the opinions of others, especially fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson.
During his second term, an opposition political party solidified as the Jeffersonian Republicans. In 1793 he sought to
avoid another war with European powers, Britain and France,
by issuing the Neutrality Proclamation, a move which incensed pro-French Jeffersonians but heartened Federalists.
This stands as one of Washington’s greatest accomplishments
because it allowed the fledgling United States to build a solid
system of government, expand westward, and develop a
merchant marine to engage in trade without becoming embroiled in another European war.
His plantation home was Mount Vernon. He is
known as the “Father of Our Country” and his likeness is
one of four presidents carved into the monument at Mount
Rushmore, South Dakota. Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday, occurs on the third Monday in February, near his birthday, February 22.
Grade 6
In Grade 6, students study people and places of the contemporary world. Societies selected for study
are chosen from the following regions of the world: Europe, Russia and the Eurasian republics, North
America, Middle America, South America, Southwest Asia-North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South
Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Realm. Students describe the influence of
individuals and groups on historical and contemporary events in those societies and identify the locations and geographic characteristics of selected societies. Students describe the nature of citizenship in
various societies and identify different ways of organizing economic and governmental systems. The
concepts of limited and unlimited government are introduced, and students describe the nature of citizenship in various societies. Students compare institutions common to all societies such as government, education, and religious institutions. Students explain how the level of technology affects the
development of the selected societies and identify different points of view about selected events.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich primary and
secondary source material such as biographies and autobiographies, novels, speeches and letters, and
poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged. Selections may include Sadako and the Thousand Paper
Cranes. Motivating resources are also available from museums, art galleries, and historical sites.
No specific individuals are included in the Grade 6 essential knowledge and skills.
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Grade 7
In Grade 7, students study the history of Texas from early times to the present. Content is presented
with more depth and breadth than in Grade 4. Students examine the full scope of Texas history, including the cultures of Native Americans living in Texas prior to European exploration and the eras of
mission-building, colonization, revolution, republic, and statehood. The focus in each era is on key
individuals, events, and issues and their impact. Students identify regions of Texas and the distribution
of population within and among the regions and explain the factors that caused Texas to change from
an agrarian to an urban society. Students describe the structure and functions of municipal, county, and
state governments, explain the influence of the U.S. Constitution on the Texas Constitution, and examine the rights and responsibilities of Texas citizens. Students use primary and secondary sources to
examine the rich and diverse cultural background of Texas as they identify the different racial and
ethnic groups that settled in Texas to build a republic and then a state. Students analyze the impact of
scientific discoveries and technological innovations such as barbed wire and the oil and gas industries
on the development of Texas. Students use primary and secondary sources to acquire information about
Texas.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich primary and
secondary source material such as biographies and autobiographies, novels, speeches, letters, and diaries, and poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged. Selections may include a biography of Barbara
Jordan or Lorenzo de Zavala and William B. Travis’ letter “To the People of Texas and All Americans
in the World.” Motivating resources are also available from museums, historical sites, presidential
libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
Juan Nepomuceno Seguín (1806-1890)
Born
in San Antonio into the family of Juan Erasmo Seguín, Juan
N. Seguín served as a political and military leader during the
Texas Revolution and the era of the Republic of Texas. Following in his father’s footsteps, he sought greater freedom
from the Mexican federal government in colonizing Texas.
He opposed the restrictions of the Law of April 6, 1830, because he feared the anti-immigration clause limited the options open to businessmen seeking to settle in Texas. He also
requested additional services from the Mexican government
including increased militia protection, tax exemptions, and
bilingual administrators.
Seguín commanded a militia unit of Mexicans living in Texas at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836 in which
Santa Anna was defeated and captured. Seguín accepted
Mexico’s surrender of San Antonio on June 4, 1836, and
commanded the city into late 1837. During this time he su20
pervised the burial of those slain at the Alamo. He served in
the Texas Senate from 1837 to 1840 and then served as the
mayor of San Antonio from 1840 to 1842. Due to continuing
conflict with American settlers and his connections with
Mexican business, Seguín resigned as mayor and returned
to Mexico in 1842. He fought against the United States in
the Mexican War but returned to Texas after the war, settling
in Wilson County. He spent the last 20 years of his life in
Nuevo Laredo, dying there in 1890. His body was reinterred
at Seguin, Texas, on July 4, 1976.
William Barret Travis (1809-1836)
William B.
Travis was born on a farm in South Carolina. In 1818, when
he was nine, the family moved to Alabama. Travis read law,
became an attorney, published the Claiborne Herald, and volunteered with the Alabama militia. He left his family in 183031 and moved to Texas, acquired land from Stephen F. Aus-
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tin, began a law practice at Anahuac, and participated in the
opposition to the Law of April 6, 1830, which increased tensions between the Mexican government and American settlers. In 1836 he arrived at San Antonio with a small force,
agreed to share command with James Bowie, and proceeded
to prepare the Alamo for the arrival of Santa Anna and the
Mexican army. The defenders strengthened the walls, constructed palisades, mounted cannons and stored provisions.
On February 24, he wrote a letter “To the People of Texas
and All Americans in the World” which increased United
States support for the Texas cause, but was too late to help at
the Alamo. His death as a defender of the Alamo elevated
Travis from a military commander of a small force to a Texas
hero.
Henry Barbosa González (1916- )
Henry B.
González has served as a role model for Mexican-Americans in Texas through his political activities. Born in San
Antonio of Mexican immigrant parents, he earned a law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law and worked
as a consultant prior to beginning his political career as a
member of the San Antonio city council in the 1950s. In
1956, González became the first Mexican-Texan to be elected
to the Texas Senate in more than 100 years. His campaign
for governor of Texas in 1958 encouraged Mexican-Americans to seek greater political involvement in the state. In
1961 he was the first Mexican-Texan to serve in the U.S.
House of Representatives, and he chaired the Banking Committee beginning in 1988. A Democrat, he served in the U.S.
Congress more than 30 years. He was awarded the John F.
Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 1994.
Roy Bedichek (1878-1959)
A newspaper reporter
and folklorist, Roy Bedichek was born in Illinois but moved
to Texas with his family when he was six. He attended the
University of Texas, earning a B.S. and an M.A. He promoted higher education throughout his career, especially
through the University Interscholastic League, with which
he worked for 30 years. His books include Adventures with
a Texas Naturalist, Karankawa County, and a history of the
University Interscholastic League.
Walter R. Cunningham (1932- )
Born in Iowa,
Walter R. Cunningham earned his B.A. and M.A. in physics
from UCLA. He joined the NASA (National Aeronautics and
Space Administration) space program as an astronaut in 1964
and continued until 1971. He was a crew member of the first
manned Apollo spacecraft, Apollo 7. A resident of Houston,
he serves as president or sits on the board of directors of
companies specializing in technology and science. He was
awarded the NASA Exceptional Service medal, the Medal
of Valor from the American Legion in 1975, and was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame and the
Houston Hall of Fame.
Michael E. De Bakey (1908 - )
Michael E. De
Bakey became well-known as a medical doctor in Houston,
Texas. In the 1930s as a medical student, he invented a major component of the heart-lung machine which made openheart surgery possible. During World War II he helped develop Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH units). In
1966 he was successful in using a gas-energized pump to
bypass the left ventricle in a patient suffering severe heart
failure, another important contribution to the treatment of
heart patients. Dr. De Bakey thought the use of a pump to
aid the heart was more practical than replacing it with an
artificial pump.
His innovative thinking extends beyond surgical
procedures to include the structure of health care. He devised a plan in the 1960s which developed into 56 Regional
Medical Programs throughout the nation where doctors, hospitals, medical schools and community groups could cooperate in treatment of heart disease, cancer, and emergency
medical care. In the early 1990s, as chancellor and chairman
of the Department of Surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine, he cooperated with Raytheon Co. to develop interactive video system technology (telemedicine) which allows
experts to examine and diagnose illness without traveling to
the patient. De Bakey evaluated the medical condition of
Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1996, a testament to his
stature in the field.
C. M. “Dad” Joiner (1860-1947)
Born and
named Columbus Marion Joiner, he earned the nickname
“Dad” after opening the largest oilfield in the world at the
time, located in Rusk County, in east Texas, in October 1930.
He was born in Alabama and was a lawyer, served in the
state legislature of Tennessee, and was an oilman in Oklahoma before arriving in Texas in 1926. The town of
Joinerville is named for him.
Barbara Jordan (1934-1996) Born in Houston, Barbara Jordan was the first African-American congresswoman
from the South. She was supported by President Lyndon
Johnson during her campaign as a representative from Texas
to the U.S. House. She earned national recognition during
the Watergate hearings in 1974 which investigated President
Richard Nixon’s election campaign and was named Time
magazine’s Woman of the Year in 1975. She was a professor of public service in the Lyndon B. Johnson School
of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin
and remained in public service until her death on January 17, 1996.
Phil Gramm (1942- ) Phil Gramm has represented
Texas in both the U.S. House and Senate. Born in Georgia
to a military family, Gramm earned a Ph.D. in economics
and taught at Texas A & M University from 1967 to 1978
when he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives.
He served three terms as a Democrat before winning a spe21
Grade 7
cial election as a Republican. He was elected to the U.S.
Senate in 1984, filling John Tower’s seat when Tower declined to run for re-election. Gramm was re-elected in 1990
and 1996 and twice served as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Samuel T. Rayburn (1882-1961)
Samuel T.
Rayburn maintained a leadership role in the U.S. House of
Representatives from the Wilson into the Kennedy administration, and earned respect for his abilities to maneuver legislation through Congress. Born in Tennessee but raised in
Bonham, Texas, Rayburn pursued a seat in the Texas state
legislature in 1906. Upon election he moved to Austin and
earned a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin
in 1908. He served as house speaker in 1911 before his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1912. Rayburn
supported President Woodrow Wilson and favored progressive reforms such as anti-trust legislation. As a senior member of the U.S. House, he chaired the interstate and foreign
commerce committee and promoted New Deal legislation.
He eventually served a total of 24 years as the Democratic
Speaker of the House beginning in 1937. He earned respect
from both Democrats and Republicans for his abilities at effective compromise. He was re-elected 24 times, serving
from 1912 until his death in 1961.
Anson Jones (1798-1858)
The last president of the
Republic of Texas, Anson Jones was elected in 1844. He
retired to his farm near Washington-on-the Brazos following the annexation of Texas by the United States. Jones was
a doctor from Brazoria who supported Sam Houston and
Houston’s efforts to stabilize the Texas economy and keep
peace with the Native Americans.
Mirabeau B. Lamar (1798-1859)
In 1836,
Mirabeau B. Lamar was elected the first vice president of
the Republic of Texas and was elected president the following term, serving from 1838-1841. In contrast to Sam Houston, Lamar favored Texas remaining a republic and opposed
annexation to the United States. Under his administration
the public debt of Texas grew. Lamar believed that the Texas
border included Santa Fe. This gave the Republic access to
trade with the far west through New Mexico, thereby securing extra income. Mexican officials disagreed and this continued the hard feelings between Mexico and Texas. Lamar
relocated the Texas capital from Houston to the growing town
of Austin to be closer to the interior development of the state.
Lamar also stressed the need for public education in Texas.
Moses Austin (1761- 1821)
Born in Connecticut,
Moses Austin moved to the Missouri territory and established
a lead mine and banks to supply and finance settlers in the
west. He first proposed a settlement of 300 families in Texas
to the Spanish governor of Texas in 1820. Austin died before
his dream could be realized but his son Stephen F. Austin
22
followed through on his father’s plan.
Stephen F. Austin (1793-1836)
Stephen F.
Austin is considered the “Father of Texas” due to his continued efforts to settle the territory. His father, Moses Austin,
contracted with the Spanish government to colonize a portion of northern Mexico. When Moses died in June 1821,
the contract transferred to the younger Austin. Stephen selected a site for his colony along the Brazos and Colorado
rivers and began recruiting families in 1821. Progress was
slow because of difficulty in transporting supplies into the
area and because of changing Mexican politics. Austin frequently discussed the future of his colony with Mexican officials and he earned their trust.
By 1825, 297 families lived in Austin’s Colony.
They were called the “Old Three Hundred.” Austin continued to negotiate with the Mexican government and represent residents. He also secured other land grants. In ten years
he helped more than 1,500 families settle in Texas. At first
the leadership of Antonio López de Santa Anna pleased Austin, but as Santa Anna assumed more and more control, he
limited the freedom of the Texans. Austin supported the organized opposition to the absolute power of Santa Anna. This
opposition led to the Texas Revolution.
George C. Childress (1804-1841)
George
Childress chaired a committee formed at the Convention of
1836 to write the Texas Declaration of Independence. He
served as the primary author of the document.
James Fannin (1814-1836)
James Fannin came to
Texas in 1834 and commanded the Texas army at the Battle
of Concepción in October 1835. In the battle, 90 Texans defeated 400 Mexican soldiers. In early 1836, Fannin was stationed in Goliad with 400 soldiers. Fannin and his troops
were captured by General Urrea on March 20 and executed
on the order of Santa Anna on March 27. “Remember Goliad”
became a Texas battle cry.
Sam Houston (1793-1863)
Sam Houston provided
leadership for more than 25 years in Texas, commanding the
army, and serving as president of the Republic, U.S. senator,
and then governor. He was already a notable American when
he came to Texas in 1832. Born in Virginia, he lived for
several years in Tennessee learning from the Cherokee. He
served in the army under the command of General Andrew
Jackson. After his military service he was a representative to
the Tennessee Congress and served as governor of Tennessee. Because of his knowledge of and appreciation for the
Cherokee, he often represented the United States in attempts
to settle disputes. Upon his arrival in Texas, Houston’s experience with federal and state government proved valuable
as delegates to the Texas Convention of 1836 worked to draft
a constitution and declare independence from Mexico. Hous-
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ton left the convention early to command the Texas army
against Santa Anna’s advancing Mexican troops.
Texans proclaimed Houston the hero of the Battle
of San Jacinto during which Santa Anna was captured and
his Mexican army routed. The Treaties of Velasco resulted.
Afterward, in 1836 Houston became the first elected president of the Republic of Texas and he was reelected in 1841.
Houston struggled to solve the problem of a growing national debt. Eventually the Republic sought support from the
United States and Houston supported annexation of Texas
by the United States. Others wanted Texas to remain a republic. Texas became the twenty-eighth state in late 1845.
Sam Houston served as a U.S. senator from Texas and then
was elected governor in 1859. He opposed secession from
the union and left the governor’s office after Texans voted
overwhelmingly to secede in January 1861.
Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794-1876)
Antonio López de Santa Anna led a revolt against Mexican
President Bustamante in 1832. Originally supportive of the
democratic ideas included in the Mexican Constitution of
1824, Santa Anna rose to absolute power and became the
dictator of Mexico. He led Mexican forces against the Texans, laid siege to the Alamo, and was captured at the Battle
of San Jacinto. He signed the peace treaty at Velasco in 1836,
which ended fighting between Mexico and Texas and called
for an exchange of prisoners. Santa Anna was eventually returned to Mexico. He commanded the Mexican army during
the Mexican War, 1846-1848.
James Stephen Hogg (1851-1906)
James Stephen
Hogg was elected governor of Texas in 1890. He believed in
reform and supported the common people against giant corporations. As attorney general Hogg pushed legislation to
regulate railroads and to limit the development of trusts or
monopolies which challenged the free enterprise system. The
Texas Anti-Trust Law (1888) was only the second in the country. As governor, Hogg increased funding for public schools
and colleges and supported other reform legislation during
his two terms.
Cynthia Parker (ca. 1825-1871)
Captured by
the Comanches in May 1836, Cynthia Ann Parker married a
Comanche chief and had three children. One son, Quanah
Parker, became a Comanche chief who sought better relations between the whites and Indians. From 1875 until his
death in 1911, Quanah Parker served as a liaison between
the Indian agencies in Oklahoma and the reservations.
James Farmer (1920- )
James Farmer assumed
a leadership role in the civil rights movement, favoring nonviolence and persistence. Born in Marshall, Texas, he was
the son of the first African-American man in Texas to hold a
PhD. Farmer earned degrees from Wiley College and
Howard University. His frustration with segregation and his
understandings of passive resistance led him to organize, with
a group of students from the University of Chicago, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). He served as National
Director of CORE, the first protest organization in the United
States founded on the concept of civil disobedience and nonviolence. While the Montgomery bus boycott compelled the
U. S. Supreme Court to rule segregation on metropolitan public transit unconstitutional, the Freedom Ride, a civil rights
protest implemented by CORE, led to the U. S. Supreme
Court decision in 1960 ruling segregation on interstate transportation unconstitutional. He is the author of Lay Bare the
Heart and Freedom When?.
Hector P. García (1914- )
Hector P. García
founded the G.I. Forum, one of the most active and successful civil rights organizations for Mexican-Americans. Born
in Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico, García moved to south Texas
with his family and was educated there. He earned an M.D.
from the University of Texas at Austin in 1940. He served
with the U.S. Army Medical Corp during World War II and
earned the Bronze Star. He founded the American G. I. Forum in 1948, a political activist organization designed to protect the rights of Mexican-American veterans and their access to financial and medical benefits from the Veterans Administration. The G. I. Forum became one of the major advocacy groups for Hispanics in the United States with 540
affiliate organizations and more than 20,000 members.
García was politically active as a member of the
Texas State Democratic Committee and the Democratic National Committee. In 1960 he founded the Political Association of Spanish-Speaking Organizations (PASO). He was also
involved in LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens). He was awarded the United States of America Medal
of Freedom in 1984.
Oveta Culp Hobby (1905- 1995)
Oveta Culp
Hobby influenced state and national policies, contributed to
the changing status of women in the military, and expanded
big-city news coverage. Born in Killeen, Texas, Culp was
an assistant city attorney in Houston by age 20, and a parliamentarian in the Texas legislature. She married William
Hobby, publisher of the Houston Post, in 1931 and was executive vice-president of the paper by 1938. She organized
and commanded the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps
(WAAC) in 1942 (later Women’s Army Corps-WAC). In three
years she recruited, trained, and managed nearly 100,000
women in posts around the globe. She slowly gained recognition from the military for her achievements, receiving the
status of colonel in 1943. She was the first woman to earn
the Army’s Distinguished Service Metal.
Upon her resignation from military service in 1945,
she worked with communication media in Houston. She also
served a critical role in the formation of government-provided public services. In 1953, President Eisenhower appointed her to head the Federal Security Agency and she
23
Grade 7
transformed it into the Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare and was the first woman to head the new department. She eventually assumed the position of publisher of
the Houston Post when her husband died in 1964, and built
the paper into a multimillion dollar enterprise. Texas Business listed her as the only woman among “the 20 most powerful Texans” in 1983.
Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973)
Lyndon
Baines Johnson served Texas as a congressman and the nation as president. He was born near Stonewall, Texas, and
raised in nearby Johnson City. A supporter of the New Deal,
he directed the Texas branch of the National Youth Administration. A Democrat, he served as a representative to the U.S.
House and to the Senate, acting as majority leader in the
Senate beginning in 1955. He was elected vice president in
1960 and assumed the presidency in 1963 when Kennedy
was assassinated. He was elected as the thirty-sixth president in 1964 but did not seek a second term. He retired to his
ranch near Johnson City in 1968. He supported the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Opportunity Act, the space
program, and other social programs. He sent American troops
to South Vietnam in 1965 to fight the North Vietnamese and
even though he sought peace, it was not secured before he
left office.
Lorenzo de Zavala (1788-1836)
Lorenzo De
Zavala administered a land grant, established a colony in
east Texas, and took an active role in Mexican government.
He served in the Mexican congress and as a governor of the
state of Mexico prior to 1835 when he became an active supporter of the quest for Texas independence. He participated
in the Convention of 1836 and served as vice-president in
the interim or temporary government established during the
Revolution. He is credited with designing the first flag of
the Republic of Texas.
24
Grade 8
In Grade 8, students study the history of the United States from the early colonial period through
Reconstruction. The knowledge and skills in subsection (b) of this section comprise the first part of a
two-year study of U.S. history. The second part, comprising U.S. history since Reconstruction to the
present, is provided in §113.32 of this title (relating to United States History Studies Since Reconstruction [One Credit]). The content builds upon that from Grade 5 but provides more depth and breadth.
Historical content focuses on the political, economic, and social events and issues related to the colonial and revolutionary eras, the creation and ratification of the U.S. Constitution, challenges of the
early Republic, westward expansion, sectionalism, Civil War, and Reconstruction. Students describe
the physical characteristics of the United States and their impact on population distribution and settlement patterns in the past and present. Students analyze the various economic factors that influenced the
development of colonial America and the early years of the Republic and identify the origins of the free
enterprise system. Students examine the American beliefs and principles, including limited government, checks and balances, federalism, separation of powers, and individual rights reflected in the U.S.
Constitution and other historical documents. Students evaluate the impact of Supreme Court cases and
major reform movements of the 19th Century and examine the rights and responsibilities of citizens of
the United States as well as the importance of effective leadership in a democratic society. Students
evaluate the impact of scientific discoveries and technological innovations on the development of the
United States. Students use critical-thinking skills, including identifying bias in written, oral, and visual material.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich primary and
secondary source material such as the complete text of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence, landmark cases of the U.S. Supreme Court, biographies and autobiographies, novels,
speeches, letters, and diaries, and poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged. Selections may include
excerpts from the letters of John and Abigail Adams, an excerpt from the Seneca Falls Declaration of
Sentiments and Resolutions, and poems of the Civil War era. Motivating resources are also available
from museums, historical sites, presidential libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
Samuel Adams (1722-1803)
Born into a Boston family with a heritage of municipal involvement, Samuel Adams
naturally became involved in local politics. He was opposed
to British taxation in the colonies and believed that the colonial government was capable of self-rule without intrusion
by the British monarchy. Adams encouraged cooperation
among the colonies by generating and circulating correspondence as the clerk of the Massachusetts General Assembly.
He published British documents and decrees for the edifica-
tion of the colonists. Adams played a role in many of the
events which contributed to the Revolution including organized opposition to the Stamp Act, protests waged by the
Sons of Liberty, and the Boston Massacre. He participated
in the Continental Congress and supported the Constitution
subject to the addition of the Bill of Rights.
John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) John C. Calhoun raised
issues which highlighted sectional conflicts and presaged
25
Grade 8
the coming of the Civil War. Born in South Carolina, Calhoun
served as Secretary of War, Secretary of Sate, and as VicePresident to two presidents, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He supported a system of national improvements to support growth and increase commerce and communication, but by the late 1820s he switched his opinion to
favor states’ rights. He was an eloquent spokesman for increasing the authority of states, and he led opposition in South
Carolina to the protective Tariff of 1828. During 1832, delegates to a state convention in South Carolina declared the
tariff null and void in the state and threatened to secede from
the union if federal representatives used force to collect duties. Jackson responded to the Nullification Crisis by sending reinforcements and speaking out against the right of any
state to ignore a federal law. The crisis ended without incident and Calhoun preserved his status in state politics. He
continued to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate until
his death. In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to
secede from the union.
Henry Clay (1771-1852)
Henry Clay was known
as the “Great Compromiser” for his ability to smooth sectional conflict through balanced legislation. First a senator
and then a representative to the U.S. Congress from Kentucky, Clay served as Speaker of the House for the majority
of his 13 years of service. He favored internal improvements
and westward expansion. He sponsored the Missouri Compromise in 1820, admitting Missouri as a slave state and
Maine as a free state, preserving the United States for the
moment. He also proposed measures which stilled the Nullification Crisis in 1832. He returned to the Senate in 1831 as
a Whig and served 11 more years. He died in office during
his final term (1849-52).
Jefferson Davis (1808-1889)
President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis was educated at
West Point and served on the frontier during the 1830s. He
also volunteered in the Mexican War. He represented Mississippi in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the
Senate and was Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857. He was
appointed provisional president and then was elected president of the confederacy. He was demanding, did not tolerate
disagreement, interfered in military matters, and did not select effective subordinates. Regardless, he managed to hold
the Confederacy together despite the lack of consensus among
Southerners. He supported the confederate cause after the
war, writing a two-volume history, The Rise and Fall of the
Confederate Government.
Frederick Douglass (ca. 1817-1895)
Frederick
Douglass was a leading African-American abolitionist in the
nineteenth century who captivated his audiences with his
strong presence. Born a slave in Tuckahoe, Maryland,
Douglass escaped in 1838 to New Bedford, Massachusetts.
26
He subscribed to The Liberator, the publication of abolitionist
William Lloyd Garrison, and began lecturing for Garrison
on the abolitionist movement in 1841. Douglass was an accomplished orator and writer, both of which developed from
his involvement with abolition. His most famous book is his
autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass: An American Slave, published in 1845. He purchased his freedom in 1847 and continued to speak to issues
of civil rights and human freedom until his death.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Benjamin
Franklin was born in Boston in 1706, the fifteenth child of a
candlemaker. He became a well-known printer in Philadelphia and an active leader in the city. He published Poor
Richard’s Almanack between 1732 and 1758 and his Autobiography in 1818. Through these he gained literary distinction. In the Almanack he shared with readers bits of wisdom and pithy sayings which helped shape the American
character. He founded the first privately supported circulating library in America, in Philadelphia. Franklin was a member of the committee which wrote the Declaration of Independence but spent most of the period of the American Revolution in France. He represented the colonies as the American envoy starting in 1776 and remained until 1785. He negotiated the alliance with France and then the Treaty of Paris
which ended the war. He also participated in the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787 and earned distinction as the
oldest delegate in attendance.
Franklin’s many talents earned him a reputation as
“the first civilized American.” In addition to his political
activities, he supported education and was considered a gifted
scientist without peer in the colonies. He proved that lightning was a form of electricity, a discovery that earned him
international fame. He also invented bifocal glasses, lightning rods, and the Franklin stove.
King George III (1738-1820) George III became King
of England in 1760, determined to re-assert the constitutional
power of the monarchy. He was conservative and moral, and
his reign of more than 40 years oversaw considerable political, economic, social, and cultural change. When he was
crowned king, Britain was involved in the Seven Years’ War
(1756-1763). England acquired a large amount of territory
in North America and India when the peace treaty was signed
with France and Spain. The American Revolution concerned
George III and his followers because they feared that the
loss of one group of colonies would lead to the loss of others
and the eventual decline of the empire. To prevent this the
Crown maintained an aggressive policy against colonial resistance. George III struggled to enforce royal authority
throughout his reign. After his first attack of mental illness
in 1788 he became increasingly dependent on parliament.
By 1811 he was permanently insane and his son, the Prince
of Wales, acted as regent. Upon George III’s death in 1820,
his eldest son, George IV, assumed the throne.
Grade 8
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)
The
eighteenth president, Ulysses S. Grant gained notoriety as commander of the Union army during the Civil War. He graduated from West Point, served in the Mexican War, and then
resigned from the military after serving in posts on the west
coast. He was commissioned as a colonel at the start of the
Civil War. By September 1861 he was promoted to general.
After a series of victories, including the capture of Vicksburg,
Lincoln gave him command of the Union army. He created
an overall plan concentrated on Sherman’s march through
Georgia and his own assault on the Confederate army in Virginia. Grant accepted Lee’s surrender in 1865, ending the
war. His popularity after the war and the voters’ disillusionment with professional politicians following the Andrew
Johnson administration led Republicans to nominate Grant
for the presidency in 1868. He wanted peace, not continued
military reconstruction in the South, but he was unprepared
to serve as president. He managed to maintain his personal
integrity despite the scandals which racked his administration.
Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)
Born on
Nevis in the British West Indies, Alexander Hamilton was
intelligent and decisive, characteristics which earned him the
support of patrons who sent him to the American colonies
for his education. He became involved in the Revolution and
enlisted in the New York militia in 1776 becoming
Washington’s aide-de-camp. He married into one of New
York’s wealthiest families, practiced law, served as a delegate to four Continental Congresses, represented New York
in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, and co-wrote The
Federalist. Hamilton supported a strong national government
and ratification of the Constitution. As the first secretary of
the treasury, he established a mint and supported development of a national bank, the Bank of the United States. The
Federalist party developed around his approach to managing government.
Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
Born in Virginia,
Patrick Henry taught himself law and developed a promising career. He entered the Virginia House of Burgesses in
1765 and quickly influenced the colonial resistance to British taxation without representation. He was a member of the
First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774. In March
1775, in an impassioned speech to the Virginia House of
Burgesses, he stated: “Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to
be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it,
Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but
as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” He was active
in Virginia politics, serving as the first governor of the new
commonwealth. He did not participate in the Constitutional
Convention, and he opposed ratification because of the potential limitations to the rights of states.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
The third
president, Thomas Jefferson was a founding father and principal author of the Declaration of Independence which rationalized the break with Britain. He also approved the Louisiana Purchase which nearly doubled the area controlled by
the United States. Jefferson was born into the Virginia planter
class, attended private schools, and entered the Virginia
House of Burgesses in 1769. By 1774 he owned 10,000 acres
and more than 200 slaves. That same year he wrote the first
of many influential political pamphlets. He became an early
and effective leader in the American Revolution. He was a
delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and in
1776 he was a member of the committee which wrote the
Declaration of Independence. He drafted a plan to organize
the territories of the expanding United States, a system based
on rectangular surveys. His plan to bar slavery from the territories was incorporated into the Northwest Ordinance of
1787, but Jefferson owned slaves until he died.
In 1785 he replaced Benjamin Franklin as minister
to France and was in France when the U.S. Constitution was
drafted. Jefferson served as Secretary of State under President George Washington. By 1793, he and James Madison
organized opposition to the Federalist’s plan for national
economic development and foreign entanglements with England. The Republicans emerged to provide an outlet for
citizens to oppose office holders they disagreed with and to
elect replacements which shared their own concerns. Thus
the first political system developed. The Republicans favored
state’s rights in government in opposition to the strong central government favored by Federalists.
Jefferson expressed his concerns about this in the Kentucky Resolutions,
written in 1798. Jefferson ran for president in 1796, but earned
only enough votes to serve as vice-president to Federalist
John Adams. In 1800 Jefferson was elected president and
served two terms. He maintained peace and encouraged westward expansion during the first term, completing the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon in 1803. Foreign affairs clouded
his second term as France and England both refused to recognize that the United States was neutral. Jefferson imposed
the unpopular Embargo Act of 1807 which paralyzed trade
for over one year. It was repealed by Congress days before
James Madison assumed the presidency. Jefferson and John
Adams both died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of
the Declaration of Independence.
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)
Andrew Jackson,
known as “Old Hickory,” contributed to the democratic spirit
in America, becoming the symbol of the common man’s rise
from meager origins to positions of prominence. Born in
South Carolina of Irish parents, Jackson was orphaned by
age 14. He became a lawyer after apprenticing in a North
Carolina firm and traveled to Tennessee in 1788 to earn a
living. He rose to national prominence during the War of
1812 as a military leader who challenged the Creek Indians
in Alabama, and who fended off the British in the Battle of
27
Grade 8
New Orleans. He ran for the presidency in 1824 but was not
elected. By 1828, however, a political revolution had occurred and the electorate more than doubled. In an infectious democratic spirit, Jackson was elected in a landslide.
Since the American Revolution, Congress had dominated the federal government, but Jackson favored a powerful presidency. His style of government based in popular
support became known as Jacksonian Democracy. He increased the control of the executive branch of government
thereby starting a trend toward centralized government. His
negotiations of foreign policy generally pleased Europeans,
but many in the United States criticized the President for the
power he assumed. His Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced
the relocation of Native Americans from Florida, Georgia,
Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi to open these lands for
white settlement. More than 100,000 Indians moved over a
ten-year period in a process known as the “Trail of Tears.”
Jackson appointed political allies to positions in his government, a process called the “spoils system,” and vetoed more
bills in his two terms as president than all previous presidents combined.
the Constitution of 1791. Lafayette opposed Napoleon’s government and rejoined French politics following the Battle of
Waterloo and the exile of the emperor. He toured the United
States with his son Georges Washington de Lafayette for a
year, 1824-5. He returned to lead the French National Guard
in the Revolution of 1830 after which he retired from public
life, “a hero of two worlds.”
Robert E. Lee (1807-1870)
Lee gained recognition
for his military leadership during the Civil War. A soldier
who graduated second in his class at West Point, Lee served
in the Mexican War and worked as an engineer with the Army
Corps of Engineers. When the South seceded, Lincoln offered Lee the command of Union forces but Lee refused,
resigned from the U.S. Army, and returned to Virginia to
serve with the Confederate forces. In 1862 Lee was appointed
to command the Army of Northern Virginia. His battle strategies are admired to this day, but he was criticized for having a narrow strategy centered on his native Virginia. He
surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse
in 1865. Following the war he urged southerners to pledge
allegiance to the north and rebuild the nation. He became
John Paul Jones (1747-1792) John Paul Jones is con- president of William and Lee University in Virginia and died
sidered the founder of the U.S. Navy. Born John Paul in there.
Scotland, he was apprenticed to a merchant trading in the
West Indies and American Colonies. He changed his name Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
Abraham Linto Jones following the murder of a crew member on his mer- coln served as president of the United States during the Civil
chant vessel in 1773. He was daring and volatile and led War. He managed to preserve the unity of the United States
raids on British vessels during the American Revolution. In and took steps to abolish slavery, but he was assassinated
1779 he commanded the Bonhomme Richard and engaged before he could implement post-war plans. He began his pothe British vessel, the Serapis, in battle. When the Serapis litical career by serving four terms in the Illinois state legiscaptain asked Jones if he was prepared to surrender, Jones lature beginning in 1834. He served one term as representareplied, “I have not yet begun to fight.” True to his word, tive from Illinois to the U.S. House of Representatives. He
Jones and crew defeated the British, an event which marked was elected the sixteenth President in 1860, re-elected in
the high point of his career.
1864, and assassinated in 1865. He helped build the Republican Party, which replaced the Whig Party in the 1850s, from
Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) Marquis de obscurity to the party of choice by 1860. His Gettysburg
Lafayette was a French aristocrat who played a leading role Address, delivered in November 1863 at the dedication of
in two revolutions in France and in the American Revolu- the national cemetery at the Civil War battlefield, called for
tion. He respected the concepts of liberty and freedom and national unity despite obstacles. He began the process of freeconstitutional government. Between 1776 and 1779 he fought ing slaves in the Confederate states when he issued his Emanin the American Revolution, commanding forces as a major- cipation Proclamation in 1863.
general in the colonial army. He returned to France in 1785
Lincoln’s most lasting influence remains the Thirconvinced of the value of governmental reform. In 1789, as teenth Amendment, ratified in December 1865, months after
a member of the Second Estate, the nobility in France, he his death. It banned slavery throughout the United States.
drafted a version of the Declaration of the Rights of Man His likeness is one of four presidents carved into the monuand Citizens, which served as the preamble to the French ment at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota. Presidents’ Day, a
Constitution of 1791. In it, he declared that all men were federal holiday, occurs on the third Monday in February, near
created equal but that some were meant to govern, and they his birthday, February 12.
had a responsibility to protect the common good. His proposed government was divided into executive, legislative, James Madison (1751-1836) Born in Virginia, James
and judicial branches. In 1789 at the start of a revolution, Madison played a role in most of the significant political
King Louis XVI appointed Lafayette to command the Na- events over a 40-year period from 1776, when he began his
tional Guard of Paris. In effect, Lafayette ruled Paris. He political career, to 1817, when he completed his second term
worked with the National Assembly of France to complete as the fourth president of the United States. He participated
28
Grade 8
in the Continental Congress, and because of his leadership
role in writing and ratifying the U.S. Constitution, is considered the “Father of the Constitution.” He was one of three
authors of The Federalist papers. He supported a strong central government, a political theory that coalesced as the platform of the Federalist party. This party and its opposition,
the Federalists, formed the basis of a bipartisan political system which continues today. He wrote the first 12 amendments to the Constitution, ten of which were ratified as the
Bill of Rights. One of the two not ratified, regarding congressional pay raises, was later ratified as the 27th Amendment in May 1992. Elected president in 1808, he presided
through the War of 1812 and fled Washington, D.C. in August 1814 when the British invaded and set the public buildings, the Capitol, and the White House afire.
John Marshall (1755-1835)
As a justice in the U. S.
Supreme Court, Marshall established the authority of the
court in defining the limits of the U.S. Constitution and the
authority of the executive branch. He served in the Virginia
legislature and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Federalist. He was appointed Chief Justice by President John Adams and served from 1801-1835. During his
tenure he shaped federal law and government. Most important was the Marbury v. Madison decision (1803) in which
he ruled that the federal courts had the power to determine
whether or not congressional legislation was constitutional.
George Mason (1725-1792)
Born on the family
plantation in Virginia, Mason did not seek glory in public
service, but his writings influenced those working to develop
a new government. He believed in the need to restrict governmental power and supported protection of human rights.
His Virginia Declaration of Rights was a model for other
bills of rights in the United States and in France where the
French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
was adopted in 1789. Mason concentrated his political activities to the state of Virginia until 1787. Then he served as
a delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention. He delivered 139 important speeches at the convention, making him one of the most influential of the founding
fathers. But he became disgusted as other delegates chose to
exclude a bill of rights from the document. He refused to
sign the Constitution at the end of the convention and he did
not support its ratification. The passage of the Bill of Rights
and the adoption of the 10th Amendment, which supported
the powers of the states, relieved most of his concerns.
James Monroe (1758-1831)
Involved in politics
most of his life, James Monroe established one of the basic
principles of American foreign policy with his Monroe Doctrine. Born in Virginia to a family of Scottish origin, Monroe
fought and was wounded in the American Revolution. His
political career began when he was elected to the Virginia
legislature in 1782, and continued for more than 40 years.
He participated in the Congress of the Articles of Confederation in 1783. As a member of the Virginia convention of
1788, he opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution fearing that it made the federal government too strong and that
this would negatively affect state’s rights. He served as Minister to France from 1794-6 and assisted with the Louisiana
Purchase in 1803. He was elected president and served two
relatively peaceful terms balancing sectional tensions between 1817-25. During his administration he signed the Missouri Compromise in 1820 and issued the Monroe Doctrine
in 1823. In the doctrine, Monroe declared that the European
powers should not colonize or interfere in the affairs of nations in the Western Hemisphere.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
Born in England, Thomas Paine contributed to the spirit of revolution in America
and France through his influential writings. He moved to the
American colonies in 1774 and edited the Pennsylvania
Magazine in Philadelphia. In January 1776 he wrote Common Sense, a pamphlet which attacked the monarchical system, supported independence, and outlined a new form of
government. He became the leading propagandist of the
American Revolution, publishing his Crisis papers. Unable
to make a living in the United States following the Revolution, he moved to France. He did not get involved with the
French Revolution until he read Edmund Burke’s Reflections
on the Revolution in France (1790). Then Paine wrote The
Rights of Man, in two parts (1791-2), in which he urged a
radical departure from traditional rule and adoption of a government by the consent of citizens. He was imprisoned in
France during the Revolution. During that time, he wrote
The Age of Reason (1792) which attacked organized Christian religions, refuted biblical passages, and supported deism. His writings at once spoke to and alienated people of all
classes in England, France, and America.
William Penn (1644-1718)
William Penn established a colony in Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers and
a place where they could create a government based on their
own standards. Born in London into a merchant family, Penn
joined the Quakers, also known as the Religious Society of
Friends, in 1666. The Friends believed in direct guidance
from the Holy Spirit, did not recognize the authority of an
ordained ministry, believed in simple dress, and opposed war.
Penn became a leading Quaker in England by preaching at
meetings, publishing religious tracts, and supporting toleration of those who dissented from the teachings of the Church
of England. He secured a land grant from the King of England in 1681, and the King called the area “Pennsylvania”
or Penn’s Woodland. Penn aggressively advertised his land
grant and attempted to treat Native Americans and squatters
from other colonies residing in the grant fairly. He rarely
visited the colony and lived there only a few years which
caused residents of the colony to under appreciate his role in
the colony’s development. He supported freedom of wor29
Grade 8
ship, welcomed immigrants, and did not require residents to
serve in the militia.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) Author of the
Declaration of the Rights of Women, Elizabeth Cady was
born in western New York state, educated at a female seminary, and spent her life seeking equal rights for women. She
married Henry Stanton in 1840, and they had seven children. She met Lucretia Mott in England in 1840 and eight
years later they organized the first convention of the women’s
movement, the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention.
Stanton wrote the Declaration of Rights at this convention
and pushed the assembly to adopt a resolution calling for the
extension of the right to vote to women. She was the primary thinker in the women’s movement while Susan B. Anthony was the organizer.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Thoreau was a
leading American essayist, poet , practical philosopher, and
transcendentalist. Transcendentalism, one of the most significant literary movements of nineteenth-century America,
was based in idealism, the goodness of humankind and the
harmony of creation. Thoreau was inspired by leading transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. The cabin on Waldon
Pond Thoreau built and lived in for two years was on property Emerson owned. Thoreau’s most influential essay was
Civil Disobedience (1849). He supported abolitionism, lecturing and writing against slavery.
George Washington (1732-1799)
George
Washington became the first president of the United States
elected following procedures outlined in the newly ratified
Constitution. He served two terms between 1789 and 1797.
A resident of Virginia, he was a surveyor, a planter, a soldier
in the French and Indian War, a delegate to the First and
Second Continental Congresses, commander-in-chief of the
Continental Army during the American Revolution, and the
chairman of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. His prestige as a southern planter, his strong character, and his heroic military accomplishments ensured his recognition, and
the Electoral College unanimously supported him for president in 1789.
During his two terms he started regular meetings
of his cabinet and supported Alexander Hamilton’s plans to
deal with war debts and create a currency system for the
new nation. Washington was a Federalist, believing in a strong
central government and the responsibility of the wealthy to
ensure the wellbeing of all, but he remained open to the opinions of others, especially fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson.
During his second term, an opposition political party solidified as the Jeffersonian Republicans. In 1793 he sought to
avoid another war with European powers Britain and France
by issuing the Neutrality Proclamation, a move which incensed pro-French Jeffersonians but heartened Federalists.
This stands as one of Washington’s greatest accomplishments
30
because it allowed the fledgling United States to build a solid
system of government, expand westward, and develop a
merchant marine to engage in trade without becoming embroiled in another European war.
His plantation home was Mount Vernon. He is
known as the “Father of Our Country” and his likeness is
one of four presidents carved into the monument at Mount
Rushmore, South Dakota. Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday, occurs on the third Monday in February, near his birthday, February 22.
Daniel Webster (1782-1852)
Daniel Webster was a
representative and senator from New Hampshire and then
Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress. He served twice as secretary of state and negotiated the Webster-Ashburton Treaty
in 1842 which resolved a border dispute with Canada. He
was noted for his speaking ability and his commitment to
preserving the union of states.
United States History
In this course, which is the second part of a two-year study of U.S. history that begins in Grade 8,
students study the history of the United States since Reconstruction to the present. Historical content
focuses on the political, economic, and social events and issues related to industrialization and urbanization, major wars, domestic and foreign policies of the Cold War and post-Cold War eras, and reform
movements including civil rights. Students examine the impact of geographic factors on major events
and analyze causes and effects of the Great Depression. Students examine the impact of constitutional
issues on American society, evaluate the dynamic relationship of the three branches of the federal
government, and analyze efforts to expand the democratic process. Students describe the relationship
between the arts and the times during which they were created. Students analyze the impact of technological innovations on the American labor movement. Students use critical-thinking skills, including
explaining and applying different methods, that historians use to interpret the past, including points of
view and historical context.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich primary and
secondary source material such as biographies and autobiographies; landmark cases of the U.S. Supreme Court; novels; speeches, letters, and diaries; and poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged.
Selections may include a biography of Dwight Eisenhower, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, and Martin
Luther King’s letter from the Birmingham City Jail. Motivating resources are also available from museums, historical sites, presidential libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)
Susan B. Anthony was a leading force in the women’s suffrage movement for 50 years. Born in Massachusetts to a Quaker family, she taught school and became convinced that society
needed to be reformed and freed from slavery and alcoholism. She was president of the Canojoharie Daughters of Temperance in the 1840s. She met Elizabeth Cady Stanton in
1851 at an antislavery rally. They organized the Women’s
State Temperance Society of New York. Not until 1853 did
Anthony support the cause of women’s suffrage and equal
rights, but she remained committed to the cause for the remainder of her life, contributing significantly to the effort to
attain equal rights for women.
Omar Bradley (1893-1981)
Omar Bradley was a U.S. Army general noted for his concern for individual soldiers and his ability to orgaduring
World War II, commanding divisions and serving as Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “eyes and ears” in North Africa.
Bradley commanded the First Army in the D-Day landings
and the Normandy campaign. He participated in Patton’s
march through France and Belgium to German and the battles
in Ardennes areas. In April 1945 his army group drove
through central Germany to the Elbe to join the Russians
and push into Czechoslovakia at war’s end. He headed the
Veteran’s Administration after the war, became U.S. Army
Chief of Staff in 1948, and then became the first chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He argued that a major land war in
Asia in the 1950s would be “the wrong war, at the wrong
place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy.” He
retired in 1953 but served on the Senior Advisory Group to
President Lyndon Johnson, advising him on the Vietnam war
effort. In 1968 the group informed Johnson that the only way
the United States could win the war was an invasion on the
scale of a world war and the American people did not support that. In Bradley’s opinion, the war was hopeless.
William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) A noted politician and orator, William Jennings Bryan supported reforms
31
U.S. History
benefiting ordinary people. He served as a representative to
the Illinois legislature where he favored income tax, prohibition, and women’s suffrage. He earned the Democratic
nomination for president in 1896 but lost the race. He also
lost in 1900 and 1908. He served as Woodrow Wilson’s secretary of state but resigned in 1915 because he did not support Wilson’s aggressive stance toward Germany. Bryan
made a fortune in real estate deals in Florida. His last oration
was as a spokesman for the prosecution in the Scopes trial in
which he supported a literal interpretation of the Bible and
denounced the teaching of evolution in the schools.
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) Andrew Carnegie’s
business acumen made him one of the richest men in the
world and one noted for his philanthropic endeavors. Born
in Scotland, Andrew Carnegie relocated with his family to
Pennsylvania in 1848. He was a telegraph messenger, personal telegrapher to the superintendent of the Pennsylvania
Railroad’s western division, and eventually superintendent
of the railroad’s western division during the Civil War. Starting in 1856, Carnegie began investing in other companies.
By 1863 he was earning $40,000 a year from investments.
He turned to manufacturing in 1872 and established Carnegie,
McCandless and Co. in Pittsburgh to manufacture steel using the Bessemer process. In 1892 it became Carnegie Steel
Co., Ltd. When he retired from business in 1901 he was one
of the wealthiest men in the world. He shared his wealth
through a range of philanthropic causes, granting more than
$350,000,000 to worthy causes aiding education, international peace, libraries, culture centers, research, and publications.
Shirley Chisholm (1924- )
Shirley Chisholm was
the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress and the first to run as a candidate for president. Born
in New York, she was elected to the New York state legislature in 1964 based on her own merits, and not as a player in
the corrupt New York political machine. In 1968, using the
slogan “Fighting Shirley Chisholm: Unbought and
Unbossed,” she defeated nationally known civil rights leader
James Farmer for a seat in Congress. She was also the first
African-American and the first woman to seek and receive a
major party’s nomination for president, and she ran as a
Democratic candidate in 1972. She retired from public office in 1982. In 1984 she co-founded the National Political
Congress of Black Women, which sent more than 100 women
to the Democratic National Convention in 1988.
Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) The most renowned defense attorney of his time, Clarence Darrow was born in Ohio
to a working-class family. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar
in 1878. He and his family moved to Chicago in 1887 to
further his law career. He defended Eugene V. Debs in 1894
against charges of criminal conspiracy in relation to the
American Railway Union strikes. His attraction to social con32
cerns prompted him to argue criminal conspiracy cases and
cases involving union violence and labor rights. He opposed
the death penalty and supported racial equality. In 1925, he
defended John T. Scopes who was charged by fundamentalists for violating a Tennessee statute against teaching evolution in the schools. His closing arguments are models of expository speaking.
Eugene Debs (1855-1926)
Eugene Debs supported
unionization and labor reforms, opposed strikes, and favored
negotiation as a means to improve the conditions for laborers. He founded the American Railway Union (ARU) in 1893
to organize railroad workers, coal miners, and longshoremen employed in the industry, regardless of their skills. Failure of the ARU in 1894 convinced Debs of the value of socialism as an economic system and he joined the Socialist
Democratic Party (Socialist Party of America) in 1901. He
ran for president five times on the socialist ticket, once from
prison. He used his campaigns to further the causes of
women’s suffrage, the abolition of child labor, and shorter
workdays.
William Edward Burghardt DuBois (1868-1963)
W. E. B. Du Bois was a leading African-American intellectual. Born in Massachusetts, Du Bois entered Fisk University in 1885, his first involvement with other African-Americans his own age and his first exposure to southern racism.
He entered Harvard in 1888, and became the first AfricanAmerican to earn a Ph.D. His dissertation, The Suppression
of the African Slave Trade to the United States, was published by Harvard in 1896. It was the first in a long career of
scholarship and writing.
He believed in the ability of the Talented Tenth, the
intellectual black elites, to advance the cause for all blacks.
From 1897 to 1910 he headed the economic and history programs at Atlanta University. In 1903 he published The Souls
of Black Folk, his best-known work, and was already challenging the ideas of Booker T. Washington. In contrast to Du
Bois’ radical ideas calling for immediate extension of rights
to blacks so they could vote, take advantage of education,
and use public facilities, Washington’s conservative approach
was called accommodationism. Washington supported industrial education and improved personal habits as a way to earn
political and social equality. Washington remained the most
influential black spokesman until his death in 1915. Du Bois
was active in the formation of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). He served
as director of publicity and research and edited The Crisis
until 1934 when he broke with the organization. He increasingly favored black separatism. From 1934 to 1944 he pursued teaching at Atlanta University and writing. In 1961 he
joined the Communist Party and moved to Ghana where he
died at age 95.
U.S. History
General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)
Dwight David Eisenhower served his country as a military
leader, and as president from 1952 to 1960. Born in Texas,
Eisenhower was raised in Abilene, Kansas. He graduated
from West Point in 1915 and married Mamie Doud in 1916.
Eisenhower served as General Douglas MacArthur’s senior
assistant in the Philippines when MacArthur was the army’s
chief of staff. MacArthur considered him the most capable
officer in the army. General Eisenhower commanded Allied
forces in Europe during World War II. He led the BritishAmerican invasion of North Africa which defeated Rommel’s
Africa Korps in 1943. On June 6, 1944, he commanded Allied forces on D-Day. He was appointed president of Columbia University in 1948 but was recalled to active military duty in 1950 to lead forces of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO).
He retired from the army in 1952 to make a bid for
the Republican Party nomination for president. He was
elected to the first of two terms. Americans hoped he would
end the fighting in South Korea against communist China
and North Korea. He did negotiate a peace settlement signed
in 1953 but the fear of communism remained high in the
United States. The cold war between the U.S.S.R. and the
United States continued throughout his administration as he
supported a foreign policy which encouraged cooperation
and not conflict. He favored gradual domestic change. He
ordered troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, to keep peace when
the high school racially integrated, and he signed the civil
rights acts of 1957 and 1960.
Henry Ford (1863-1947)
Henry Ford helped create a mobile society by mass producing and marketing the
Model T automobile, making it an indispensable part of
American life. Through his efforts, the automotive industry
became a world-wide phenomenon. Born on a farm near
Detroit, Michigan, Ford worked on the farm, at a shipbuilding firm, and for a company which serviced steam engines.
During the winters he experimented on building his own internal-combustion engines. He drove his first home-built
automobile in 1896. The Ford Motor Company was founded
in 1903 and he developed the Model T by 1908. Ford used
mass production to reduce the price of the Model T, and he
worked to perfect the assembly line. He retained complete
company control and used it to amass billions of dollars.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
A noted leader, Martin Luther King was one of several African-Americans concerned with reforming American society
and gaining equal rights by using civil disobedience or nonviolent action. He earned his Ph.D. from the School of Theology at Boston University. He was called to minister at
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
Despite opposition from his father who urged him to return
to Atlanta, King moved to Montgomery in 1955, settling in
just before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus
to a white passenger. King assisted in coordinating the bus
boycott which gained national and international attention.
He gained visibility as a black leader, and experience in organization and leadership as a result. In 1957 he was instrumental in organizing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a consortium of churches and civic groups which
supported activities to parallel those of the NAACP. The
SCLC supported sit-ins, boycotts, and protest marches in
Birmingham, Alabama beginning in 1963. In August, during the March on Washington in support of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, King set aside his prepared speech and rallied
the 250,000 in attendance with “I have a dream today!” He
was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Robert LaFollette (1855-1925)
A significant
third party active during the 1920s was the Progressive Party,
led by Robert LaFollette. He favored the breakup of corporate monopolies and trusts, public control of the nation’s resources, farm relief, and reduced income taxes. The LaFollete
Progressives earned 16.6 percent of the popular vote in the
1924 election.
Charles A. Lindbergh (1902-1974)
Born in Detroit to a political family, Charles Lindbergh studied mechanical engineering and flying, gaining a reputation as a mechanic
and pilot. He completed the U.S. Army Air Cadet program
in 1925 and was made second lieutenant. He set a record in
aviation history when he flew the specially built monoplane,
The Spirit of St. Louis, nonstop from St. Louis to Paris on
May 20-21, 1927. Afterward he served as a technical advisor to commercial airlines, testing new aircraft and developing viable routes. He favored neutrality before the Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbor, then he supported the war cause, testing military aircraft and sharing technical knowledge. His
interest in nature led him to support conservation efforts and
he directed the World Wildlife Fund.
Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924)
A senator from
Massachusetts, Henry Cabot Lodge supported American
expansion as a way to increase national pride, spread civilization, and thereby gain world power. He and Theodore
Roosevelt, drawing upon the theories of naval historian Alfred
Thayer Mahan, favored the “large policy.” This depended
on world trade and ship transport. An American-controlled
canal through Central America was necessary as were coaling stations and naval bases in the Pacific, on Hawaii, Guam,
Wake Island, and in the Philippines. A strong navy was required to protect the merchant marine as it sailed from North
America to the Far East and points in between.
Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)
Douglas
MacArthur was a soldier, graduate of West Point, and veteran of World Wars I and II, and the Korean War. In 1932 he
led the troops that evicted the veterans who were camped in
Washington D.C. protesting their treatment and conditions
33
U.S. History
during the Great Depression. Because of his service in the
Philippines prior to World War II, he was named commander
of U.S. forces in the Far East. During World War II he commanded troops in the Southwest Pacific and presided over
the Japanese surrender as the commander of Allied Powers.
He was military governor of Japan from 1945-50 and then
commanded the United Nations forces in Korea. Truman
relieved him of command in 1951 because MacArthur’s and
Truman’s tactics conflicted.
Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914) Alfred Thayer
Mahan was an admiral and naval historian whose theories
on the relationship of sea power and world commerce influenced foreign policy development in the 1880s and 1890s.
His theories were published in The Influence of Sea Power
upon History (1890).
can field commanders of any war.
Henry Ross Perot (1930- )
Ross Perot was a successful businessman who garnered third-party support for
his bid at the U.S. presidency in the 1990s. Born in Texarkana,
Texas, Perot studied at the U.S. Naval Academy and was
commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1953. He worked as a
salesman for IBM before starting his own business, Electronic Data Systems (EDS). He ran as an independent candidate for president in 1992 and again in 1996. After the 1992
election he organized the non-partisan political pressure
group United We Stand. He was a vocal opponent of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and debated vice-president Al Gore on the issue in 1993.
John J. Pershing (1860-1948)
ated from the Virginia Military Institute, George Marshall
became Gen. John Pershing’s principal aide following the
Meuse-Argonne campaign during World War I. He organized
the Civil Conservation Corp, one of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
New Deal programs, and became chief of staff of the U.S.
Army in World War II. As chief of staff he organized the
training of troops, development of strategic plans, and appointment of top military personnel. President Harry S.
Truman named him secretary of state and during his tenure
Marshall implemented the Marshall Plan for the economic
recovery of Europe. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953
for his post-war efforts.
Born in Missouri, John Pershing spent his life in the military. He graduated from West Point in 1886 and was commissioned second
lieutenant of cavalry. He fought in the Indian Wars, commanded an all-black unit for a time, taught at West Point,
and served as a military observer during the Russo-Japanese
War in 1905. He spent nearly a decade in the Philippines and
then was sent to Mexico to apprehend Pancho Villa in 1914.
In 1917, Pershing was selected to lead the American Expeditionary Force to Europe during World War I. Pershing did
not agree with French and British officers who sought to
incorporate the U.S. troops into their units. Pershing insisted
that Americans fight together. His troops were instrumental
in the defeat of the Germans in the Argonne Forest, in the
Meuse-Argonne region of France.
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)
George Marshall (1880-1959) A soldier who gradu-
Born in Wisconsin, O’Keeffe became the most noted representational expressionist painter in America. Her most famous work concentrated on scenes of the southwest but she also painted
scenes highlighting the industrialization of the northeast in
the 1920s. She married artist-photographer Alfred Stieglitz
in 1924. He coordinated her first solo show and supported
her throughout her career until his death in 1946. She spent
summers in New Mexico, at Taos, the artist colony favored
by D. H. Lawrence, and then at nearby Ghost Ranch. There
she painted, capturing the beauty of the desert in her unique
expressive style.
George Patton, Jr. (1885-1945)
A soldier and
graduate of West Point, George Patton learned tank tactics
during World War I. He held many commands during World
War II, directed the amphibious landings on Casablanca and
the campaign in North Africa, led the Third Army out of
Normandy, assisted with the Battle of the Bulge, and marched
on into Germany. He despised communists and he proposed,
following the German surrender, that German and U.S. troops
join forces against the Soviet Union. He favored retaining
Nazis in some positions and as a result he was removed from
command. He is considered one of the most successful Ameri34
Born
in New York to a wealthy family, Franklin Roosevelt entered politics in 1910 as a Democratic candidate to the U.S.
Senate. He was a member of Woodrow Wilson’s administration and was unsuccessful in a bid for the vice-presidency in
1920. In 1921 he contracted polio but struggled to overcome
the physical limitations and maintain a public, political career. In 1932 he opposed Republican incumbent President
Herbert Hoover and soundly defeated him. He began the New
Deal in the first 100 days after his inauguration. His reforms,
proposed to counteract the effects of the Great Depression,
affected four areas: finance, industry, agriculture and relief
(welfare). He strengthened government work programs. His
executive orders and sponsorship of legislation in the national interest supported the weak economy and remained
viable years after his death. Yet, critics worried that his growing executive authority might undermine the checks and balances of the three branches of government. This concern
derived from Roosevelt’s attempts to pack the Supreme Court
with his own appointees. Congress eventually passed a court
reform bill but it did not support Roosevelt’s ideas. Conservatives in Congress reacted by passing few New Deal reforms after 1937.
By 1939, Roosevelt transferred his efforts from the
U.S. History
New Deal to a new diplomacy to counter the aggression of
Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Tojo Hideki. American
support for Roosevelt was high, and he dominated the political scene for four terms, the most of any U.S. president.
The 22nd Amendment, adopted in 1951, often termed the
anti-Franklin Roosevelt amendment, limited presidents to two
terms.
port for his last election as governor. In 1968 he received the
most votes of any third-party nominee for president, running against Democrat Hurbert Humphrey and Republican
Richard M. Nixon. He was shot and paralyzed as he campaigned for the 1972 election but this did not deter him from
continuing in public office. He served two more terms as
governor before retiring.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
Born in New
York, Theodore Roosevelt was the twentieth president. He
graduated from Harvard, was elected to the New York legislature, wrote history and served as president of the New York
police boards. He gained national attention as the leader of
the “Rough Riders,” a volunteer cavalry unit which served
in the Spanish-American War. He served as governor of New
York and then as McKinley’s vice president. When McKinley
was assassinated in 1901, Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency and was later elected to a full term in 1904. He supported expansionism, the development of a canal across Central America, and a powerful navy. Under Roosevelt’s direction the United States became the police of the western hemisphere and numerous reforms were enacted: he prosecuted
big business for trust violations, supported passage of the
Pure Food and Drug Act, and created national parks.
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) Harry S. Truman assumed the presidency following the sudden death of Franklin
Delano Roosevelt in 1945. Having served as a senator from
Missouri, he knew little of the workings of the executive
office. He had no time to learn. Within weeks he attended
the founding of the United Nations; represented the U.S at
the Potsdam conference where two European powers, the
Soviets and the British, discussed post-war order; and authorized the use of the atomic bomb in Japan, first on
Hiroshima on August 6 and then on Nagasaki on August 9.
In response to the spread of Communism, Truman announced
the Truman Doctrine on March 12, 1947, which pledged U.S.
support to nations opposing Communism. The Cold War,
characterized by the antagonistic conflict between two world
powers, the Soviet Union and the United States, began during Truman’s administration. When the Communist North
Koreans invaded South Korea in June 1950, Truman appealed
to the United Nations, which dispensed forces to support
South Korea. Truman’s refusal to commit more effort to win
the war frustrated voters and they elected Dwight D.
Eisenhower as president in 1952.
George Wallace (1919-1998) George Wallace was
governor of Alabama in 1963 when African-American students sought admission to the University of Alabama. He
literally barred the door, denying them admission. This
prompted several non-violent protests including sit-ins, boycotts, and marches. Opposition to these tactics often became
violent, especially in Birmingham and Selma. He later recanted his pro-segregationist stance and gained black sup35
World History
World History Studies is the only course offering students an overview of the entire history of humankind. The major emphasis is on the study of significant people, events, and issues from the earliest
times to the present. Traditional historical points of reference in world history are identified as students
analyze important events and issues in western civilization as well as in civilizations in other parts of
the world. Students evaluate the causes and effects of political and economic imperialism and of major
political revolutions since the 17th century. Students examine the impact of geographic factors on
major historic events and identify the historic origins of contemporary economic systems. Students
analyze the process by which democratic-republican governments evolved as well as the ideas from
historic documents that influenced that process. Students trace the historical development of important
legal and political concepts. Students examine the history and impact of major religious and philosophical traditions. Students analyze the connections between major developments in science and technology and the growth of industrial economies, and they use the process of historical inquiry to research, interpret, and use multiple sources of evidence.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich primary and
secondary source material such as biographies and autobiographies; novels; speeches and letters; and
poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged. Selections may include excerpts from Hammurabi’s Code.
Motivating resources are also available from museums, art galleries, and historical sites.
Archimedes (ca. 287-212 B.C.)
Considered
the greatest thinker of his era, Archimedes was a Greek mathematician and physicist. He invented several practical devices used by the military including the catapult and grappling devices to lift ships out of the water. He invented a
device called “Archimedes’ screw” to raise water or loose
material such as salt from a lower to a higher level. His mathematical writings explaining mechanics, i.e., the principle
of the lever, were his most important contributions to western knowledge.
Robert Boyle (1627-1691)
Robert Boyle was an
English physicist and chemist who discovered the nature of
elements and compounds, the basis of modern chemistry.
His 1661 publication, The Skeptical Chemist, challenged
established theories that the earth consisted of four elements
(air, earth, fire and water) or just three (salt, sulfur and mercury). For Boyle, elements were the simplest forms of matter found only through scientific experiment.
36
Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Winston
Churchill was a noted British statesman who led Britain
through most of World War II. He was a soldier and war
correspondent during the late 1890s. He was elected to Parliament for the first time in 1900 and served Britain in various political capacities for 55 years. He wrote more than 40
books including histories, biographies, and accounts of war.
In 1940 he was appointed prime minister and resolved to
lead the people toward “victory at all costs; . . . for without
victory there is no survival.” He planned many allied campaigns with U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He
predicted an “iron curtain” would separate the Communist
Soviet Union from the west and warned of a Soviet threat.
The cold war fulfilled his prophesies. He was renamed prime
minister in 1951 and served for four more years. He continued to write and paint, diversions he enjoyed throughout his
long life, and won the Nobel Prize in 1953 for his book, The
Second World War.
World History
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
Copernicus
was a Polish astronomer who began studying the earth’s solar system in 1496. He proved that the Ptolemaic system was
inaccurate. Copernicus proposed the theory that the sun, not
the earth, was the center of the solar system in 1507, and that
the earth was really insignificant in the context of the universe. He hesitated to make his theories public because they
conflicted with teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
His book, Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres, was published
in 1543 after he died.
Marie Curie (1867-1934)
Curie proved that radioactivity, when properly applied, was an effective treatment
of some diseases. She was born Marya Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland, and earned a master’s degree in mathematics
from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1893. She met Pierre Curie
(1859-1906) at the Municipal School of Industrial Physics
and Chemistry in Paris. They married and worked together
intensely until Pierre’s accidental death in 1906. Pierre Curie was a physicist who worked with theories of electricity
before he joined Marie in her studies. She identified radioactivity and they discovered two new radioactive elements:
polonium and radium. They were jointly awarded the Nobel
Prize in physics in 1903.
Marie was the first woman to earn a doctorate in
Europe in 1902. She was the first female faculty member at
the Sorbonne when she assumed a physics professorship after Pierre’s death. She was again awarded the Nobel Prize in
1911. She worked to make x-ray technology accessible in
treating the wounded during World War I and then sought
funding for a hospital and laboratory devoted to radiology, a
branch of medicine that uses X-rays and radium to diagnose
and treat disease, after the war. She died in 1934 of complications from exposure to radiation.
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
Thomas
Edison, one of the greatest inventors of all time, received
more than 1,300 patents for a range of items including the
automatic telegraph machine, the phonograph, improvements
to the light bulb, a modernized telephone, and motion picture equipment. He concentrated on electrical inventions and
opened his first “invention factory” in Newark, New Jersey,
in 1870. In 1876 he opened his lab in Menlo Park and while
there his workers developed and he patented the incandescent light bulb, a transmitter for the telephone, and the phonograph, his favorite invention. He operated the world’s first
electric power station on Pearl Street in New York City,
opened in 1882. By 1887 he expanded operations again, to
West Orange, New Jersey, where workers averaged one patented invention every five days.
Princeton, New Jersey. In 1905 he published several articles
which revolutionized the way scientists thought about space,
time and matter, the most notable being his theory of relativity (E=mc squared — energy equals mass times the speed of
light squared). He earned a Ph.D. from the University of
Zurich and continued his research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics in Berlin from 1913 to 1933. World War II
made him conscious of the need for world peace, and he was
not safe in a nation under Nazi rule because he was Jewish.
He left Berlin in 1933. In 1939 he co-signed a letter notifying Franklin D. Roosevelt of the potential for developing an
atomic bomb, and his theories were critical to its development. Following the destruction of Japanese cities, Einstein
favored nuclear disarmament and the creation of a world
government. His theories made a significant impact on science and society in the twentieth century.
Erastosthenes ( ca. 285-204 B. C.) Erastosthenes’ greatest contributions related to the application of mathematical
principles to geography. Archimedes shared his ideas with
Erastosthenes, a Cyrene from North Africa who studied philosophy and mathematics in Athens. He was interested in
the humanities (philosophy, art, poetry) as well as the sciences but his most lasting legacy relates to geography. He
calculated the circumference of the earth, described it as a
sphere, and predicted that ships could sail from Greece to
India, a theory proved by Vasco de Gama and Magellan.
Robert Fulton (1765-1815)
Robert Fulton is remembered as the inventor of the first commercially successful steamboat in the United States. He had many interests
and talents but he made his living as a painter. As a young
adult he traveled to England to paint. He spent nearly 20
years in England and France during which time he became
interested in water transportation. In 1796, he produced Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation, complete with
detailed drawings and calculations supporting a national
transportation system. He applied his interest in underwater
warfare by launching submarines with mines to break the
British blockade of France, and then cooperated with the
British against France using similar methods. In 1801 he met
Robert R. Livingston, the American minister to France, who
was interested in steam navigation on New York waterways.
Returning to the United States, Fulton adapted British canal
boat design, established a regular schedule, and introduced
the idea of comfort to travel. The North River Steamboat,
known popularly as the Clermont, sailed from New York
north on the Hudson River in 1807, beginning a new era in
maritime travel.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein was one
of the most well-known and visionary physicists in the history of science. Born in Germany, he moved to the U.S. in
1933 to work with the Institute for Advanced Studies in
Galileo developed and
applied scientific principles which significantly increased
astronomical understanding. An Italian, Galileo was influenced by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. In 1613,
he proved Copernicus’ theory that the sun was the center of
37
World History
the solar system. Galileo also developed the modern experimental method. He proved that objects of different masses
fall at the same velocity. He was one of the first persons to
examine objects in the sky using a telescope. He developed
a system of studying double stars to determine stellar distance and annual movement of stars. His views were not supported by the Roman Catholic Church and he was tried by
the Inquisition (a court established by the Church) in 1616
for heresy. He was ordered to abandon Copernican theory in
favor of the established Ptolemaic theory which stated that
the Earth was the center of the solar system.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)
A philosopher
from India, Mohandas Gandhi was a spiritual and moral
leader favoring India’s independence from Great Britain. He
practiced passive resistance, civil disobedience and boycotts
to generate social and political change. He pursued a degree
in law in London and practiced in South Africa for 21 years.
In 1906, he countered the British law requiring Indians to
carry identification at all times with Satyagraha, “passive
resistance.” This was the first of many movements which he
led to promote Indian self-rule through passive means.
Gandhi returned to England at the start of World War I to
increase efforts to free India from English rule. Meeting with
little success he returned to India and began organizing the
poor to counter oppression. Religious unrest between Hindus and Muslims in India and the racism of the British complicated Gandhi’s efforts. When Britain agreed to release its
imperial control in 1947, it partitioned India into a Hindu
India and an Islamic Pakistan. This prompted religious violence leaving one million dead. Gandhi was assassinated by
a Hindu in 1948, an ironic end for one who worked so hard
to bring peace and self-rule to a subcontinent.
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
Born in Austria during
a period of social unrest and economic depression, Adolf
Hitler decided that strong leadership was required to save
Germanic society, which he believed was at risk due to Jewish, socialist, democratic, and liberal forces. He served in
the Bavarian army during World War I and was convinced
that Germany was defeated not on the battlefield but internally, by conspiratorial forces. In 1919 he joined the German Workers’ Party, a group favoring nationalism. In 1920
the name was changed to the National Socialist German
Workers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche ArbeiterPartei - NSDAP -shortened to Nazi). By 1921 Hitler was the
party leader, patterning his rule on that of Benito Mussolini
and his Fascist Party in Italy. Hitler outlined his views in
Mein Kampf (My Struggle) published in 1925.
In 1933 the Nazis seized power and became the only
legal political party in Germany. Hitler appointed himself
fuhrer in 1934 and began to remove opposition and threats.
The Gestapo and SS (Schutzstaffeln) combined to police
Germany and aid in creating a German Reich in central Europe with the goal of extending control world wide. World
38
War II escalated when Churchill refused to let Britain fall to
the Germans following the invasion of France in 1940. Hitler
then invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and launched the
“Final Solution to the Jewish Question” in 1942. He committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin at war’s end. As many as
50 million died as a result of Hitler’s actions.
Vladimir I. Lenin (1870-1924)
The founder of
the Russian Communist Party, Vladimir Lenin led the November Revolution in 1917, which established a revolutionary “soviet” government based on a union of workers, peasants, and soldiers. The Soviet Union became the first union
of states controlled by Communists. Lenin studied law and
read widely including the work of Karl Marx. He was exiled
twice for his political views prior to the successful November Revolution. Following the revolution he worked hard to
keep his promise of ending the war with Germany. The transition was not easy as civil war erupted in the Soviet Union
between the Communists (“Reds”) and Lenin’s opponents
(“Whites”). In 1922 Lenin was struck with the first of a series of strokes which left him incapacitated and unable to
block the tactics of Stalin to assume control of the Soviets.
Mao Zedong (1893-1976)
Mao Zedong united
China and prepared the nation for the People’s Republic of
China. The son of a peasant who received a broad education,
he was one of the most important political leaders of the
twentieth century. From 1913-1918 he studied at the teacher’s
college in Changsha, reading works from the west and radical Chinese writings. Following the Bolshevik revolution he
sought to comprehend Marx and Lenin. Unlike Marx and
Lenin who viewed urban workers as the conveyors of Communism, Mao thought peasants could best support the social
revolution in China. He believed that whoever led the Chinese peasants would lead China. Mao opposed Chiang Kaishek, leader of the Nationalists. He organized rebel governments in opposition but was finally pushed by the Nationalists on the “Long March” to a new headquarters in Yenan
(1934-6). During this march Mao rose as leader of the Chinese Communist party and remained so until his death. He
declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China in
1949 and supported the Chinese peasantry throughout his
life.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic nun who served the poor
in India, set a world standard for humanitarian aid. Born
Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu in Yugoslavia to parents who migrated from Albania, Mother Teresa joined a convent in
Dublin in 1918 and then moved to a convent in Darjeeling,
India, where she took her final vows in 1937. She heard a
calling from God in 1946 to go into the streets of Calcutta to
serve the poor. Pope Pius XII gave her permission to do the
work and in 1950 he recognized the Missionaries of Charity
which she founded. The missionaries do their work among
World History
the poor, the dying, and the abandoned, thereby promoting
respect for all life. Her efforts to aid human suffering won
her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Newton was
an English mathematician and physicist who devised principles to explain universal gravitation, that all matter attracts
other matter. In 1687 he published Mathematical Principles
of Natural Philosophy explaining these theories. He adapted
the ideas of Galileo Galilei into three laws of motion including “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Instead of explaining natural occurrences as the actions of a powerful (and sometimes angry) God, Newton
applied reason and rationality to the natural phenomenon and
showed how all matter was part of a whole.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
French chemist Louis
Pasteur discovered that heat could kill bacteria which otherwise spoiled liquids including wine and beer. He was the
first to understand microscopic organisms, and a paper he
published following his research with wine introduced the
field of microbiology. He proved that the growth of bacteria
resulted from germs in the air and not spontaneous generation. He applied the process of heating liquids to kill bacteria to other products including milk. The process is known
as “pasteurization.” In the 1870s Pasteur applied his efforts
toward human diseases, beginning with anthrax, a disease
which affected animals and people. He also invented a vaccine to counter the effects of rabies. Pasteur directed the Pasteur Institute dedicated to rabies research until his death.
Pope John Paul II [Karol Wojtyla] (1920- )
Pope John Paul II is the first non-Italian pope elected by the
cardinals since the 16th century. He succeeded Pope John
Paul I who died suddenly after only 34 days as pope. Born in
Cracow, Poland, John Paul II was ordained a priest in 1946.
A prolific writer and faculty member active in higher education, he chaired the Department of Ethics at Catholic University in Lublin and was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI
in 1967. He adopted the name John Paul II when he was
elected Pope in October 1978. He supports ageless Catholic
traditions, opposing the ordination of women but supporting
strong papal authority and devotion to the Virgin Mary. He
also favors cooperation among faiths.
of the other two sides.
Desmond Tutu (1931- )
Desmond Tutu was the
leading spokesman of passive resistance to apartheid in the
1980s. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 for
his attempts to replace apartheid with a racially equal South
African society. He was elected head of the Anglican Church
in South Africa in 1986.
James Watt (1736-1819)
A Scottish engineer,
James Watt created a steam engine which worked faster and
more efficiently than earlier engines, especially the pistondriven engines developed by Thomas Newcomen in 1712.
Watt secured a patent for his innovation in 1769 and sold the
first engines in 1775. Like Newcomen’s engines, the Watt
engines were first used to operate water pumps, removing
water from coal mines. Watt continued improving the engine, inventing a new type of governor to control steam pressure and engine speed and attaching a flywheel. The flywheel converted the power generated by the steam engine
into useful energy to operate machinery. Watt’s rotary steam
engine became a principal power source in the Industrial
Revolution. The “watt,” a metric unit of power, is named for
him.
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) The twentieth president, Woodrow Wilson was an intellectual who earned his
Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. He taught in several
colleges and was president of Princeton University before
becoming active in politics as a Democrat. Elected governor of New Jersey in 1911, he supported liberal reforms and
quickly gained national attention. His reform package included lowered tariffs, an income tax, an eight-hour work
day, and legislation against child labor. His administration
instituted the Federal Reserve Act and established the Federal Trade Commission. He was successful in getting Congress to declare war on Germany in 1914 and proposed peace
in his “Fourteen Points.” He refused to compromise during
the Versailles Peace Conference and as a result Congress
refused to support American entry into the League of Nations, Wilson’s dream.
Pythagoras (ca. 580-500 B. C. )
Pythagoras
was a Greek philosopher and mathematician credited with
the discovery that numbers are useful for more than counting physical things. Mathematical ideas or formulas could
help establish patterns in the apparently chaotic nature in
which he lived. Modern scientific theory is based on mathematical ideas associated with Pythagoras. The Pythagorian
Theorem is an example. This theorem in geometry holds that
for a triangle with one right angle, the square of the length of
the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the lengths
39
Government
In Government, the focus is on the principles and beliefs upon which the United States was founded
and on the structure, functions, and powers of government at the national, state, and local levels. This
course is the culmination of the civic and governmental content and concepts studied from Kindergarten through required secondary courses. Students learn major political ideas and forms of government
in history. A significant focus of the course is on the U.S. Constitution, its underlying principles and
ideas, and the form of government it created. Students analyze major concepts of republicanism, federalism, checks and balances, separation of powers, popular sovereignty, and individual rights and
compare the U.S. system of government with other political systems. Students identify the role of
government in the U.S. free enterprise system and examine the strategic importance of places to the
United States. Students analyze the impact of individuals, political parties, interest groups, and the
media on the American political system, evaluate the importance of voluntary individual participation
in a democratic society, and analyze the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Students examine
the relationship between governmental policies and the culture of the United States. Students identify
examples of government policies that encourage scientific research and use critical-thinking skills to
create a product on a contemporary government issue.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich primary and
secondary source material such as the complete text of the U.S. constitution; selected Federalist Papers; landmark cases of the U.S. Supreme Court; biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs; speeches
and letters; and periodicals that feature analyses of political issues and events is encouraged. Selections may include excerpts from John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, Federalist 51, and Miranda
v. Arizona.
John Adams (1735-1826)
The second president of
the United States, Adams was born in Massachusetts and
was educated at Harvard. He was a representative to the First
and Second Continental Congresses. He led the debate which
ratified the Declaration of Independence, served as ambassador to England, and served eight years as vice president to
Washington before his election as president. He managed to
make more enemies than friends, promoting legislation which
was not favored by either political faction, the federalists or
the anti-federalists. His support of the Alien and Sedition
Acts angered many citizens. He was defeated by Thomas
Jefferson in 1800 and retired from public life. Both he and
Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the
signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)
Hamilton devised a financial system which stabilized the national
40
economy after the American Revolution, and restructured
national debt so it functioned as a political asset rather than
a liability. Born on Nevis in the British West Indies, Hamilton
was intelligent and decisive, characteristics which earned him
the support of patrons who sent him to the American colonies for his education. He became involved in the Revolution and enlisted in the New York militia in 1776, becoming
Washington’s aide-de-camp. He married into one of New
York’s wealthiest families, practiced law, served as a delegate to four Continental Congresses, and represented New
York in the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia of
1787.
Hamilton was one of the leading federalists; he favored a strong central government and helped write The Federalist papers. As the first secretary of the treasury, he convinced Congress to assume the debts states incurred during
the Revolution, supported foreign trade and tariffs to provide revenue to the nation, established a mint, and devel-
Government
oped a national bank, the Bank of the United States. Hamilton
believed that as the federal government assumed states’ debts,
financial leaders would turn their allegiance from the states
toward the nation. This was part of his plan to strengthen the
central government. He also believed creditors to the nation
were more apt to support the central government if it owed
them money. Thus, the debt generated political support. The
Federalist party developed in support of his approach to government.
Regarding the bank charter, Hamilton and Jefferson
clashed over interpretation of the Constitution and the extent government could exercise powers not expressly permitted. Jefferson argued that the U.S. Constitution did not
confer power to the central government to create a national
bank. As a result, states reserved the right to charter banks.
Hamilton believed in a loose interpretation: that the U.S.
Constitution permitted what it did not forbid, and that government was justified in establishing a bank to support trade.
The bank was chartered for 20 years, in 1791.
1787, but Jefferson owned slaves until he died.
In 1785 he replaced Benjamin Franklin as minister
to France and was in France when the U.S. Constitution was
drafted. Jefferson served as secretary of state under President George Washington. By 1793, he and James Madison
organized opposition to the Federalist’s plan for national
economic development and foreign entanglements with England. The Republicans emerged to provide an outlet for
citizens to oppose office holders they disagreed with, and to
elect replacements which shared their own concerns. Thus
the first political system developed. The Republicans favored
state’s rights in government in opposition to the strong central government favored by Federalists.
Jefferson expressed his concerns about this in the Kentucky Resolutions,
written in 1798. Jefferson ran for president in 1796, but earned
only enough votes to serve as vice-president to Federalist
John Adams. In 1800 Jefferson was elected president and
served two terms. He maintained peace and encouraged westward expansion during the first term, completing the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 from Napoleon. Foreign affairs clouded
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) Hobbes was an English his second term as France and England both refused to recphilosopher and political theorist who formulated the social ognize that the United States was neutral. Jefferson imposed
contract theory which influenced John Locke and other in- the unpopular Embargo Act of 1807 which paralyzed trade
tellectuals in the era of the Enlightenment. Those develop- for over one year. It was repealed by Congress days before
ing the U.S. system of government also drew from his works. James Madison assumed the presidency. Jefferson and John
Hobbes argued that the principle governing the relationship Adams both died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of
of humans, nature, and society was that individuals had a the Declaration of Independence.
natural right to seek self-preservation by any means. This
Abraham Lincould lead to anarchy with everyone competing against ev- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
eryone. However, individuals benefited most when they coln served as president of the United States during the Civil
formed governments to which they surrendered their free- War. He managed to preserve the unity of the United States
dom and got security and order in exchange. Hobbes envi- and took steps to abolish slavery, but was assassinated besioned the government as an absolute monarchy, the preva- fore he could implement post-war plans. He began his polent type at the time. Humans entered into “social contracts” litical career by serving four terms in the Illinois state legiswith their government by divesting some of their indepen- lature beginning in 1834. He served one term as representadence in exchange for protection. His views were preserved tive from Illinois to the U.S. House of Representatives. He
in several writings including the influential Leviathan (1651). was elected the sixteenth President in 1860, re-elected in
1864, and assassinated in 1865. He helped build the RepubThomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
The
third lican Party, which replaced the Whig Party in the 1850s, from
president, Thomas Jefferson was a founding father and prin- obscurity to the party of choice by 1860. His Gettysburg Adcipal author of the Declaration of Independence which ra- dress, delivered in November 1863 at the dedication of the
tionalized the break with Britain. He also approved the Loui- national cemetery at the Civil War battlefield, called for nasiana Purchase which nearly doubled the area controlled by tional unity despite obstacles. He began the process of freethe United States. Jefferson was born into the Virginia planter ing slaves in the Confederate states when he issued his Emanclass, attended private schools and entered the Virginia House cipation Proclamation in 1863. His most lasting influence
of Burgesses in 1769. By 1774 he owned 10,000 acres and remains the Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in December
more than 200 slaves. That same year he wrote the first of 1865, months after his death. It banned slavery throughout
many influential political pamphlets. He became an early the United States. His likeness is one of four presidents
and effective leader in the American Revolution. He was a carved into the monument at Mount Rushmore, South Dadelegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and in kota. Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday, occurs on the third
1776 he was a member of the committee which wrote the Monday in February, near his birthday, February 12.
Declaration of Independence. He drafted a plan to organize
John Locke’s writings
the territories of the expanding United States, a system based John Locke (1632-1704)
on rectangular surveys. His plan to bar slavery from the ter- on the nature of government influenced the founding fathers
ritories was incorporated into the Northwest Ordinance of of the United States. He was an English philosopher whose
41
Government
political theories were best summarized in his doctrine of
natural rights which outlined the fundamental rights all humans should enjoy: life, liberty, and property. Locke’s most
significant work was his Second Treatise of Government
(1690) in which he rejected the divine right of kings to rule,
and argued for constitutional government to limit the power
of the monarch thus preserving the natural rights of citizens. Locke invoked Hobbes’ social contract theory that
humans, being “by nature, free, equal, and independent,”
choose to live with others and create governments to protect their rights. The social contracts citizens form with the
government binds them to act in support of the common
good of society, and for government to do the same. Thus
government develops at the consent of the governed and
can be dissolved if the citizens believe that their government fails to act in their best interests. The committee which
drafted the Declaration of Independence, led by Thomas
Jefferson, adapted Locke’s concept of natural rights and
social contract as the philosophical rationale for breaking
with England.
James Madison (1751-1836) Born in Virginia, James
Madison played a role in most of the significant political
events over a 40-year period from 1776, when he began his
political career, to 1817, when he completed his second term
as the fourth president of the United States. He participated
in the Continental Congress, and because of his leadership
role in writing and ratifying the U.S. Constitution, is considered the “Father of the Constitution.” He was one of three
authors of The Federalist papers. He supported a strong central government, a political theory that coalesced as the platform of the Federalist party. This party and its opposition,
the Federalists, formed the basis of a bipartisan political
system which continues today. He wrote the first 12 amendments to the Constitution, ten of which were ratified as the
Bill of Rights. One of the two not ratified, regarding congressional pay raises, was later ratified as the 27th Amendment in May 1992. Elected president in 1808, he presided
through the War of 1812 and fled Washington, D.C. in August 1814, when the British invaded and set the public buildings, the Capitol, and the White House afire.
Baron de Montesquieu, Charles-Louis
Secondat (1689-1755) A French political and social
philosopher, Baron de Montesquieu defined the principle of
separation of powers, calling for a system of checks and
balances in government, in The Spirit of Laws (1734). His
ideas influenced the founding fathers, notably Thomas
Jefferson who developed them further in his Notes on the
State of Virginia (1784).
42
George Washington (1732-1799)
George Washington became the first President of the United States elected
following procedures outlined in the newly ratified Constitution. He served two terms between 1789 and 1797. A resident of Virginia, he was a surveyor, a planter, a soldier in the
French and Indian War, a delegate to the First and Second
Continental Congresses, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and the chairman of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. His prestige
as a southern planter, his strong character, and his heroic military accomplishments ensured his recognition, and the Electoral College unanimously supported him for president in
1789.
During his two terms he started regular meetings of
his cabinet and supported Alexander Hamilton’s plans to deal
with war debts and create a currency system for the new nation. Washington was a Federalist, believing in a strong central government and the responsibility of the wealthy to ensure the wellbeing of all, but he remained open to the opinions of others, especially fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson.
During his second term, an opposition political party solidified as the Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans. In 1793 he
sought to avoid another war with European powers, Britain
and France, by issuing the Neutrality Proclamation, a move
which incensed pro-French Jeffersonians but heartened Federalists. This stands as one of Washington’s greatest accomplishments because it allowed the fledgling United States to
build a solid system of government, expand westward, and
develop a merchant marine to engage in trade without becoming embroiled in another European war.
His plantation home was Mount Vernon. He is
known as the “Father of Our Country” and his likeness is
one of four presidents carved into the monument at Mount
Rushmore, South Dakota. Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday,
occurs on the third Monday in February, near his birthday,
February 22.
Economics
Economics with Emphasis on the Free Enterprise System and Its Benefits is the culmination of the
economic content and concepts studied from Kindergarten through required secondary courses. The
focus is on the basic principles concerning production, consumption, and distribution of goods and
services in the United States and a comparison with those in other countries around the world. Students examine the rights and responsibilities of consumers and businesses. Students analyze the interaction of supply, demand, and price and study the role of financial institutions in a free enterprise
system. Types of business ownership and market structures are discussed, as are basic concepts of
consumer economics. The impact of a variety of factors including geography, the federal government,
economic ideas from important philosophers and historic documents, societal values, and scientific
discoveries and technological innovations on the national economy and economic policy is an integral
part of the course. Students apply critical-thinking skills to create economic models and to evaluate
economic-activity patterns.
Economics with Emphasis on the Free Enterprise System and Its Benefits builds upon the foundation
in citizenship; economics; geography; government; history; culture; social studies skills; and science,
technology, and society laid by the social studies essential knowledge and skills in KindergartenGrade 12. The content enables students to understand the importance of patriotism, function in a free
enterprise society, and appreciate the basic democratic values of our state and nation as referenced in
the Texas Education Code, §28.002(h)
Mary Kay Ash (? - )
Mary Kay Ash used direct-sales marketing and women as sales people to create a
multi-million dollar business. Born in Hot Wells, Texas, Mary
Kay Wagner Ash founded Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1963 with
$5,000 in capital and her innovative marketing ability. She
gained experience with direct sales of consumer products in
homes by managing Stanley Home Products in Houston from
1939 to 1952 and serving as national training director of
World Gift Company in Dallas from 1952 until 1963. She
motivated her sales staff of “beauty consultants” by paying
the highest commissions in the direct-sales industry and rewarding those who recruited new “consultants,” giving
prizes, public recognition at annual conventions, and profit.
The cosmetic company manufactures all products and sells
them directly to the sales people. They receive training in
goal setting, self-motivation, and customer service, and function independently. As the company expanded through the
1970s, it built upon the changing role of women as a potential labor pool. Consultants increased from 10 in 1963 to
70,000 in 1980 and sales climbed to $90 million in 1979.
Mrs. Ash served as Chairman emeritus of Mary Kay Cos-
metics and also on the board of service organizations including the Horatio Alger Association and the Texas Breast
Screening Project of the American Cancer Society.
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)Andrew Carnegie’s
business acumen made him one of the richest men in the
world and one noted for his philanthropic endeavors. Though
born in Scotland, Andrew and the Carnegie family relocated
to Pennsylvania in 1848. Andrew worked as a telegraph
messenger, personal telegrapher to the superintendent of the
Pennsylvania Railroad’s western division, and eventually superintendent of the railroad’s western division during the Civil
War. Starting in 1856, Carnegie began investing in other
companies and by 1863 he was earning $40,000 a year from
investments. He turned to manufacturing in 1872 and established Carnegie, McCandless and Co. in Pittsburgh to manufacture steel using the Bessemer process. In 1892 it became
Carnegie Steel Co., Ltd.
He was devoted to the ideology of social Darwinism, a combination of the theories of Charles Darwin relat43
Economics
ing to the process of natural selection and evolution of organic life, and of Herbert Spencer relating to the evolution
in society. It provided a rational explanation for the new industrial order in which Carnegie played a leading role. The
fittest adjusted to the competition within industrial society,
and improved their condition. These people were best positioned to spread the new, improved processes and ideologies
among the less civilized and enlightened. For Carnegie, Social Darwinism justified the vast fortune he created, and
motivated him to spread the wealth. He created the doctrine
of the Gospel of Wealth in 1889, a rationale for administering wealth by which the surplus wealth of the few becomes
the property of the many through programs which serve the
common good. He cautioned men of wealth to live simply
and to use their surplus income to improve the conditions of
the poor by helping those who helped themselves.
When he retired from business in 1901 he was one
of the wealthiest men in the world. He shared his wealth
through a range of philanthropic endeavors, granting more
than $350,000,000 to worthy causes aiding education, international peace, libraries, culture centers, and research and
publications. He favored planned giving, not idle charity.
William Henry “Bill” Gates, III (1955- )
Gates grew up with the computer industry and maintained a
leadership role through widespread use of his own product,
Microsoft. Born in Seattle, Washington, Gates attended
Harvard University before founding Microsoft Corporation
in Redmond, Washington, in 1976. He was named C.E.O. of
the Year by Chief Executive magazine in 1994, and has written two books, The Future and The Road Ahead. In The Road
Ahead he urges readers to take the potential of the information highway seriously. His life reflects the evolution of the
computer industry from mainframes to personal computers
and the Internet. He believes that the inexpensive connections of computers around the world herald a communications revolution, one of benefit to everyone. He urges governments, private citizens, and manufacturers to cooperate
in the process. Education stood to realize the biggest gain
and Gates supported the application of innovative technology in classrooms. He considers Microsoft as a critical player
in the revolution and supports its use to a degree that many
believe borders on corporate monopoly.
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)
John
Maynard Keynes, an economist at Cambridge University in
England, questioned the standard economic theory of the
1920s and 1930s. Most economists supported the notion that
national economic growth related directly to expansion in
land (capital accumulation), labor (population growth), and
capital (technology). He rejected the notion that growth was
essential to maintain an equilibrium in the flow of goods
and income. In circular flow theory, according to Say’s Law,
supply equaled demand. Yet, Keynes argued that an economy
could be balanced even if it was stagnant. He argued that the
44
demand, the purchases of capital goods, did not reflect the
propensity to consume. For him, the depression of the 1930s
resulted from over investment in production followed by
underconsumption of the manufactured goods.
His solution depended on increasing consumer
spending by public spending. In hard times, when private
investment declined, government spending should expand
to stimulate employment and consumption. In good times,
when private investment increased, public spending should
decrease and taxes should be increased. Thus government
assumed responsibility for managing economic growth.
Keynes published his classic study, The General Theory of
Employment, Interest, and Money in 1936 and its influence
on New Deal taxation and spending policies in the United
States became evident in 1937. Keynesianism continues to
influence government spending programs.
Karl Marx (1818-1883 )
Karl Marx was an
economist, revolutionary, philosopher, sociologist, and historian whose ideas formed the basis for the Communist party.
He completed coursework at the University of Berlin and
received his Ph.D. from the University of Jena in 1841. Unable to secure a teaching position, he wrote for the Rheinische
Zeitung and became editor in October 1842. He used the
paper to express his views ranging from freedom of the press
to communism, an ideology which did not favor private property. He married, moved to Paris, and co-edited the GermanFrench Yearbook through which he met Friedrich Engels in
1845. He and Engels became lifelong collaborators. Marx
was ordered out of France in 1845 and he and his family
moved to Brussels where he first concentrated on organizing workers. Engels joined him later and they eventually cowrote The Communist Manifesto, which was published in
pamphlet form in 1848. It served as the political program for
German immigrants working in London who formed the secret Communist League.
The manifesto was a plan of action, not a philosophy of communism. It argued that all history consisted of
class struggles, clashes between the oppressors, the “bourgeoisie” who owned the means of production, and the oppressed, the “proletarians” or workers. He predicted that the
workers would revolt against the bourgeoisie and would establish a communist society. It served as a call to workers to
organize. His views worried governments and manufacturers and it was difficult for him to gain support even from
left-wing groups. The Marx family lived in poverty and suffered personal disappointment partially due to the marginal
conditions in which they lived. Marx refused unemployment
benefits and his political views worried prospective employers. His personality also alienated him from his peers. He
published the first edition of Das Capital in 1867.
The hardships under which workers toiled changed
in some nations due to unionization, the advent of social security, labor laws, and the growth of a middle class. These
ensured the accumulation of private property by those not
Economics
controlling the means of production and spread the benefits
of capitalism to the worker as well as the owner, thereby
disarming the appeal of communism.
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
A professor of moral
philosophy at the University of Glasgow, Adam Smith completed the influential An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes
of the Wealth of Nations in 1776. It became one of the most
influential books in western civilization for the new theories
of political economy it proposed. By 1800 translations appeared in all west-European languages except Portuguese.
Smith argued that nations could increase their wealth by reducing barriers which hindered growth. In an age when the
strength of European powers related to the size of their empires, Smith argued that empires were not essential for economic power. He opposed mercantilism and preferred free
trade undertaken by private interests without government
interference. In the old system, government was a “visible
hand” regulating exchange for the benefit of a few. Smith
argued that mutual exchange between the enlightened, though
conducted for personal gain, ultimately benefited the selfinterest of millions of people. Shared participation within a
system of free exchange resulted in general improvement
for all, and these common goals worked as an “invisible hand”
to further national wealth. His theories continue to influence
economic theory.
45
Index
A
Adams, John 43
Adams, Samuel 26
Addams, Jane 8
Anthony, Susan B. 33
Archimedes 38
Armstrong, Neil 18
Ash, Mary Kay 46
Audubon, John J. 18
Austin, Moses 11, 23
Austin, Stephen F. 1
Austin, Stephen F. 11, 23
B
Banneker, Benjamin 17
Barton, Clara Harlow 3
Bedichek, Roy 22
Bell, Alexander Graham 3
Bill, Pecos 9
Birdseye, Clarence F. 18
Boone, Daniel 8
Borden, Gail 12
Boyle, Robert 38
Bradley, Omar 33
Bryan, William Jennings 34
Bunyan, Paul 9
C
Cabeza, Alvar Núñez de Vaca 10
Calhoun, John C. 27
Carnegie, Andrew 34, 46
Carver, George Washington 18
Catt, Carrie Chapman 17
Chávez, Cesar 14
Childress, George C. 23
Chisholm, Shirley 34
Churchill, Winston 38
Cisneros, Henry 11
Clark, William 7
Clay, Henry 27
Columbus, Christopher 6, 12
Copernicus, Nicolaus 39
Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de 12
Crockett, David “Davy” 9
Crusoe, Robinson 9
46
Cunningham, Walter R. 22
Curie, Marie 39
D
Darrow, Clarence 34
Davis, Jefferson 27
DeBakey, Michael E. 22
Debs, Eugene 34
DeLeón, Martín 10
Douglass, Frederick 27
DuBois, William Edward Burghardt 34
E
Earhart, Amelia 5
Edison, Thomas Alva 2
Edison, Thomas Alva 14, 39
Einstein, Albert 39
Eisenhower, Dwight D. 14, 35
Erastosthenes 39
F
Fannin, James 23
Farmer, James 24
Ferguson, Miriam Amanda Wallace “Ma” 11
Ford, Henry 7, 35
Franklin, Benjamin 16, 27
Fulton, Robert 5, 39
G
Galilei, Galileo 40
Gandhi, Mohandas 40
García, Hector P. 24
Gates, William Henry “Bill” 47
George III, King 27–32
Glidden, Joseph 12
González, Henry Barbosa 22
Gramm, Phil 23
Grant, Ulysses S. 28
H
Hale, Nathan 3
Hamilton, Alexander 28, 43
Henry, Patrick 28
Higgins, Pattillo 12
Hitler, Adolf 40
Hobbes, Thomas 44
Hobby, Oveta Culp 25
Hogg, James 24
Houston, Sam 2, 24
Hutchinson, Anne 17
I
no entries
N
Newton, Isaac 41
Nightingale, Florence 5
O
O’Keeffe, Georgia 36
P
Jackson, Andrew 29
Jefferson, Thomas 15, 28, 44
John Paul, Pope 41
Johnson, Lyndon B. 25
Joiner, C. M. “Dad” 22
Jones, Anson 23
Jones, John Paul 29
Jordan, Barbara 22
Paine, Thomas 30
Parker, Cynthia 24
Parks, Rosa 15
Pasteur, Louis 8, 41
Patton, George 36
Penn, William 15, 31
Perot, Henry Ross 36
Pershing, John J. 36
Powell, Colin L. 15
Pythagoras 41
K
Q
Keller, Helen 8
Keynes, John Maynard 47
King, Henrietta Chamberlain 4
King, Martin Luther 17, 35
no entries
J
L
Lafayette, Marquis de 29
LaFollette, Robert 35
Lamar, Mirabeau B. 23
Lee, Robert E. 29
L’Enfant, Pierre Charles 6
Lenin, Vladimir I. 40
Lewis, Meriwether 6
Lincoln, Abraham 29, 44
Lindbergh, Charles A. 35
Locke, John 45
Lodge, Henry Cabot 36
M
MacArthur, Douglas 36
Madison, James 16, 30, 45
Mahan, Alfred Thayer 36
Mao, Zedong 40
Marshall, George 36
Marshall, John 30
Marshall, Thurgood 4
Marx, Karl 47
Mason, George 30
Monroe, James 30
Montesquieu, Charles-Louis Secondat 45
Murphy, Audie Leon 11
R
Rayburn, Samuel T. 23
Revere, Paul 5
Rodríguez, Cleto 11
Roosevelt, Eleanor 3
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano 16, 37
Roosevelt, Theodore 37
S
Sagan, Carl 18
Salk, Jonas 8
Santa Anna, Antonio López de Anna 24
Seguín, Juan Nepomuceno 21
Sherman, Roger 17
Smith, John 15
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady 31
T
Teresa of Calcutta, Mother 41
Thoreau, Henry David 31
Tower, John 11
Travis, William Barret 21
Truman, Harry S. 37
Truth, Sojournor 5
Tubman, Harriet 8
Tutu, Desmond 41
U
no entries
47
V
no entries
W
Wallace, George 37
Washington, George 1, 18, 31, 45
Watt, James 41
Webster, Daniel 32
Williams, Roger 15
Wilson, Woodrow 42
X
no entries
Y
no entries
Z
Zavala, Lorenzo de 12, 25
48