APUSH | Wiley | National Identity, Borders, & Race: Thematic Trends Name: The College Board expects students of APUSH to understand continuity and change throughout U.S. history, as it pertains to several key themes. Two of those themes that are frequently assessed by the College Board are: 1) notions of American national identity and—importantly—the role that concepts of race play in the formation of said identity (this is part of what makes America so different from Europe), and 2) America in the World; how the extension of U.S. borders has taken place, and the role that concepts of race play in those extensions. This PBS documentary will introduce these themes through roughly 1600 to 1900, so that students are better situated to evaluate thematic continuity vs. change over long stretches of history.

PBS Documentary, RACE: The Story We Tell (Episode 2)

1. [Fill in the blank + question] In Notes on the State of Virginia (1781) authored by _________________________, arguably the first race theory is articulated by an American thinker.

What was that theory?

2. How did the nation’s leaders reconcile notions of liberty and freedom with slavery and exploitation of non-whites?

3. [Fill in the blanks] The suspicions of black racial inferiority evolved over time, shaped in part by an intense need for _______________________ in the colonies. In __________, when the first Africans arrived in VA, religion and wealth, not ___________________________ defined status. Blackness and whiteness were not yet clear categories of _________________________.

4. [Fill in the blanks] For the first ________ years in the American colonies, most of the laborers were ________________________ indentured servants working in wretched conditions. When planters faced a labor shortage, the gradually replaced indentured servants with African slaves.

5. What were the benefits of slavery, relative to indentured servitude?

6. [Fill in the blanks] As more and more laws were passed making slavery permanent and inheritable for black people, the word “white,” rather than “_____________________” or “Englishman” began appearing in colonial statutes.

7. As African slavery increased, how did lower-class whites win new rights/opportunities and prestige?

8. How did Jefferson feel about Native Americans?

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9. In the first few decades following independence (1780s and beyond), the U.S. government adopted what policy to deal with Indians?

10. [Fill in the blanks] Jefferson suspected black inferiority, but called on ___________________ to provide proof, which they would claim to do in subsequent years.

11. [Fill in the blanks] Jefferson believed that the U.S. had a great future because it could expand through space; that the agrarian ideal of American independence could be maintained through expansion westward. At the time of the ____________________________ (1803), dozens of Indian tribes populated the vast, new territory west of the _________________________.

12. What was the Cherokee experience with the “civilization policy,” circa 1790-1830? Why and how did they “civilize” themselves?

13. [Fill in the blanks] In the 1820s and ‘30s, the government in America was changing. The federal government had to appeal to a much _________________________ base of white American men than it had previously in the Revolutionary period. One of the main interests of this demographic of less well-off white American men was to get more _____________________ so they could become better-off white American men.

[This was a time when voting was opened to more and more white men, regardless of property-ownership.]

14. Describe Georgia’s treatment of the Cherokee:

15. How did Andrew Jackson (president from 1829-’37) feel about Native Americans? What policies did he pursue?

16. [Fill in the blanks] During the first half of the 19th century, as America was becoming more democratic (at least for white men), the nation became more race-based; nationalism begins to be equated to _____________. People began to think that nations should be composed of people who had inherent qualities in __________________.

17. [Fill in the blanks] In 1838, the U.S. _______________ forced the Cherokee to leave their homes at gunpoint. ___________________ of the Cherokee died in camps or on the journey west that became known as the Trail of Tears. By 1840 more than _______________ eastern Indians had been relocated west of the Mississippi.

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18. How was the war with Mexico (1846-’48) justified by its supporters? What was gained?

19. During the 19th century, race was said to be “the great issue of the age.” Why was that the case?

20. Summarize the “findings” of Samuel Morton, one of America’s most distinguished scientists.

21. [Fill in the blanks] _____________________ were delighted at what the scientists were doing in the 19th century. The ultimate defense of slavery became a racial defense; they are ready-made slaves; ____________ created them as slaves.

22. What did Types of Mankind (1854, Josiah Nott) argue? How was it received?

23. [Fill in the blanks + question] In 1857, the Dred Scott case decided that people of African ancestry, enslaved or free, could never become ___________________ of the U.S. The opinion stated that black people had “no rights which the white man was bound to ____________________.”

Why does this signal a “remarkable transformation”?

24. What helped to cement racial ideas in the minds of the common person in the late 19th century?

25. [Fill in the blanks] In 1898, America took possession of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines after defeating ______________ in war. Rudyard Kipling’s poem, The White Man’s Burden, encouraged annexation and “civilization’ efforts for the Filipinos. Once the Filipinos were crushed by the U.S., the Philippines became a U.S. __________________. The U.S. entered the 20 th century as the world’s most prosperous nation, and __________________ empire.

26. Describe how Filipinos were depicted during and after the Spanish-American War (1898).

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27. From a racial standpoint, why was the 1904 Missouri World Fair so significant?

28. [Fill in the blanks] By the 20th century, most Americans believed that race was one of the most important parts of ________________________; it mattered because it guaranteed this country a future in the history of the world.

29. Post-Viewing Question: What elements of continuity do you see in the information presented? What elements of change do you see in the information presented?

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