Truth in Florida Textbooks ReviewHoughton Mifflin Harcourt United States History: Beginnings to 1877, Florida Edition (2018)

Problem: Omission of Fact (OF), Half-Truth (HT), Factual Error (FE), Slant (S), Bias (B), Incorrect Terminology (IT)OF means that there is additional useful information to help students learn complete history. The author/publisher has not deliberately omitted material to fulfill an agenda. HT means that the author/publisher has presented "half of the story" and has omitted the other half for agenda-based reasons. HT leads to slant and bias.

Location Quote Problem Fact & SourceModule 1: America, Africa and Europe Before 1500, Essential Question, America, Africa and Europe Before 1500, ¶1

Beginning around 38,000 BC, people migrated to the Americas and spread across the continents.

HT, B The sentence should be modified by “scientists believe”. It is not an established fact. This modification is used elsewhere in the text and it should be consistent.

The Reviewer suggests that the following rewrite: Many scientists believe that the first people arrived in North America during the last Ice Age.

Mod 1, Lesson 1: The Earliest Americans, Early Migrations, ¶ 1 Although no one knows exactly when or how people crossed into

North America, evidence suggests that people called Paleo-Indians crossed this bridge into Alaska between 38,000 and 10,000 BC. Mod 1, Lesson 1 “The Earliest Americans, Early Migrations, ¶ 2

Module 1, Lesson 2, Native American Cultural Areas, Northeast and Southeast, paragraph 5

Some scholars propose that the constitution and structure of the Iroquois Confederation inspired the framers of the U.S. Constitution.

OF, HT These claims are widely disputed, as differences are significant. …the Iroquois system is based on hereditary positions and clan-

based leadership -- elements that are entirely foreign to the United States’ system (and arguably seem more similar to the British system the colonists were trying to escape).

www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/dec/02/ facebook

Mod 1: America, Africa and Europe Before 1500, Lesson 3. Empire of Ghana, Islam in Ghana, ¶2

Islam spread quickly through the Arabian Peninsula.

OF, HT, B While both traders and missionaries helped to “spread” Islam, Islam was spread by the sword and it conquered the Arabian Peninsula by the force of jihad.

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-----------------------------------------------By the mid-seventh century, traders had already helped spread Islam to northern Africa.

Muhammad’s last injunction from his deathbed was, “Let not two religions be left in the Arabian peninsula.”

Source: Ibn ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, page 689. The entire Levant was under siege between 637-638AD. Source: “Syria”, 2006, Encyclopedia

Britannica.2006.Encyclopedia Britannica Online. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Mohammed taught that Jihad was the second most important

activity of a Muslim, after the Shahadah (profession of faith). Sahih Bukhari 1:2:25

The last major Surah of the Quran includes the following command: “Fight against such of those to whom the Scriptures were given (i.e., Jews and Christians) as believe neither in Allah nor the last Day, who do not forbid what Allah and His apostle have forbidden and do not embrace the true Faith, until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued.” (Surah 9:29)

The armies of Islam quickly and easily conquered the Arabian peninsula before moving on to take the homelands of their various neighbours. Marching out of Arabia in 639 they entered non-Arab Egypt; 43 years later they reached the shores of the Atlantic.

Source: www.historytoday.com/eamonn-gearon/arab-invasions-first-islamic-empire

Module 1, Lesson 3, Empires of West Africa (Interactive Map, 900-1500)

Slaves are mentioned as part of a list of products and goods traded.

OF While the text focuses on salt and gold, the vast Arab slave trade between 900-1500AD is ignored. Slaves were captured by Africans and sold to Europeans directly or through Arab slave traders.

Source: Source: Peter Hammond, Slavery, Terrorism, and Islam, (2010), pages 18 - 19.

“From North to South, and from East to West, the African continent became intimately connected with slavery both as one of the principal areas in the world where slavery was common, and also as a major source of slaves for ancient civilization, the medieval world and all the continents of the modern period.”

http://latinamericanstudies.org/slavery/perbi.pdf (Accessed 8/24/17)

Module 1, Lesson 3, Ibn Battutah, 1304-c.1377 OF Ibn Battula described the importance of slaves in Mali in the 14th

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Enrichment, In 1346 Battutah began his return trip home to Morocco. Battutah arrived in Tangier in 1350. He left Morocco at the age of 21 and returned at the age of 45—a 24-year adventure! Once back, Battutah did not stay in Morocco for long. In 1350 Battutah sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to Andalusia, what is today southern Spain. Then between 1351 and 1353, he traveled across the Sahara, stopping in Mali in western Africa to find a job in the government.

c. Noel King (ed.), Ibn Battuta in Black Africa, Princeton 2005, p. 54

Mod 1, Lesson 4, Europe Before 1500, Middle Ages, The Crusades, ¶2

The Turks had captured Palestine, also known as the Holy Land because it was where Jesus had lived.

FE, OF, B Palestine was not known as the Holy Land because it was where Jesus lived. The name comes from the Torah where the land given by God to the Jewish People was the Holy Land. (Eretz Ha Kodosh). Later, after the advent of Christianity, the name was adopted by them as well.

“In Judaism the term Holy is used for something that stands apart. Something that is different or designated.

The land of Israel stands apart, is different, and designated.  It is the land "of the book". It is the land that G-d considers gift-

worthy. G-d has a different set of standards for this land. And beginning with a covenant made with Abraham, G-d clearly designated this land for the Jewish people.

A Holy Land has high standards, and before entering Israel G-d2 warned the Jewish people about their behavior there: “You shall not defile yourselves ... for the nations, whom I am sending away from before you, have defiled themselves with all these things. The land became defiled, and I visited its sin upon it, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.”

http://www.askmoses.com/en/article/410,2167692/Why-is-Israel- called-the-Holy-Land.html

Mod 1, Lesson 4, Europe Before 1500, Middle Ages, The Crusades, The First Crusade video

(1) 0:24-0:36 The Christians in Europe believed that the Islamic message of Muhammad was against and contradictory to what the Christians were saying. They were worried that this idea could

FE, OF, HT, B

The video clip is a well-done apologetics for Islam. The Crusades are presented from the viewpoint of the Muslims who have always maintained that they were the victims of Christian hatred of non-believers. According to this video the Crusades spread bloodletting across the Muslim world and created a new kind of

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overrun the Christian idea.

(2) 0:38-0:45 Pope Urban II conceived the idea that it was not a sin to kill non-Christians or non-believers.

(3) 0.49-1.14 Pope Urban made this deal that if you go and fight in the Holy Land, you will be forgiven all your past sins. A knight could sin as much as he liked and simply by going to the Holy Land he had been given his passport to Heaven. That was an extremely attractive deal. And combined with that he could bring fame, glory and the treasures of the Middle East.

(4) 1:33-1:58 These guys [i.e., Muslims and Christians] believe in the same God, the same beliefs, and the same prophets

Muslim piety. Islam was the Religion of Peace and the Muslims driven into the Piety of Jihad (word not used) by the Crusades. The video has Factual Errors, Omissions of Facts and Half Truths, all of which create a biased video.

(1) There would not be any problem with these lines if it were not for the condescending and almost mocking tone of the narrator. The statements are correct but the presentation is clearly biased and they lead the students to incorrect and biased conclusions about the Christians.

(2) There is no explanation on how Pope Urban II could conceive and then implement the idea that it not a sin to kill non-Christians or non-believers when the New Testament does not contain this tenet or does any portion lead to such an interpretation.

(3) This contains a blatant Factual Error which negates the entire “deal” made by Pope Urban, allowing the Crusaders to sin at will and then giving them a Passport to Heaven and a free pass to slaughter and pillage. Pope Urban promised absolution and remission of sins for all who died in the service of Christ. Those Crusaders who did not die in the warfare received nothing.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pope-urban-ii- orders-first-crusade

(4) The claim of the equivalency of Islam, Christianity and Judaism is one of the trademarks of Islamist apologetics. Muslims and Christians (and Jews who are eliminated from this) do not believe in the same God, do not have the same beliefs or the same prophets.

Despite many claims in the early Surahs of the Koran that Muslims worship the same god as Christians and Jews, the later texts, namely Surah 109, state “I will not worship that which you are worshiping. Nor will you worship whom I worship.” This is confirmed in Tasfir Ibn Kathir, who writes, “There is no (true) object of worship except Allah and there is no path to Him other than that which the Messenger (Muhammad) came with.” Source: Tasfir Ibn Kathir, Volume 10, page 615.

Allah and God are described differently in their respective sacred books. The Quran says that Allah is the source of both good and evil. (Surah 4:78), while the Bible states that God cannot be

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tempted by evil and He tempts no one. (James 1:13)

Mod 1, Lesson 4, Europe Before 1500, Renaissance, Search For Knowledge, ¶1

As Turks conquered much of the Byzantine Empire in the East, scholars fled to Italy. They brought ancient classical writings with them.

HT It should be noted that these were Christian scholars. “the Turks finally captured Constantinople and many other

Greek Christian scholars fled to Italy.” Philosophy and Living – Page 171-Google Books Result,

books.google.com/books?isbn=0907845339,Ralph Blumenau-2002-Philosophy

also see ¶2 source

Mod 1, Lesson 4, Europe Before 1500, Renaissance, Search for knowledge, ¶2

Excited by the discoveries brought by Turkish scholars, European scholars went looking for ancient texts in Latin.

FE These were not Turkish scholars, but Byzantine Christian scholars.

“Many Byzantine scholars fled westward, particularly to Italy, and made a substantial contribution to the Renaissance.”

Christianity and the Ottoman Empire - Oxford Islamic Studies Online

www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t253/e2 also see ¶1 source

Module 3, Lesson 4, French and Indian War, Native American Perspective on Colonial Rule

In 1864, Garangula, a chief of one of the Iroquois tribes, plainly stated that his people were subject to neither French nor English colonial rule.

FE This statement was recorded in 1727.We may go where we please and trade with whomever we please...if your allies be your slaves then use them as such...but we are born free!" Cadwallader Colden (1727)

www.judhartmanngallery.com/work/grangula.html

Module 3, Lesson 4, French and Indian War, North American Empire before and after the Treaty of Paris, 1754

Color coding of English and Russian territories

FE Colors assigned to both countries are virtually identical. They do not match the key.

Module 6: Citizenship and the Constitution / Lesson 1: Establishing the Constitution / Constitutional Convention

Also, the convention did not reflect the diverse U.S. population of the 1780s. There were no Native Americans, African Americans, or women among the delegates. These groups of people were not recognized as citizens and were not invited to attend.

S / B The language here needs to be “cleaned up” a bit. Native Americans and African Americans were not recognized as citizens. Women were citizens with limited rights; “very few rights” as stated in the Lesson 7 Enrichment article about Abigail Adams.

Module 6: Citizenship and the Constitution / Lesson 1: Establishing the Constitution / Great Compromise

The delegates struggled to solve the problem of representation in the legislature. In early July, a committee led by Roger Sherman and other delegates from Connecticut offered a

OF This statement makes it seem that this compromise was proposed in its final form. It took several iterations to get this final solution.

The verb “offered” should be changed to “proposed”.

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deal known as the Great Compromise. This suggestion was made [the Connecticut Compromise] was made three separate times during the heated debates before it was finally accepted.

Pg. 161, The Making of America by W. Cleon Skousen, The National Center for Constitutional Studies, Copyright 2007

[the original proposal by Sherman was] in the Senate each state should have one vote.

Pg. 211, America; Land of Principles and Promises by Philip W. Winkler; Published by Heritage Academy, Copyright 2015

Module 6: Citizenship and the Constitution / Lesson 2: Structure of the Government / The Federal System

Sometimes, Congress has had to stretch its delegated powers to deal with new or unexpected issues. A clause in the Constitution states that Congress may “make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper” for carrying out its duties. This clause, called the elastic clause—because it can be stretched (like elastic)—provides flexibility for the government. The federal government has used this clause to provide public services such as funding for the arts and humanities.

OF This clause has been surrounded by controversy from the beginning. Not everyone agrees with using it to ‘stretch’ the constitution to provide some of the public services in effect today.

One of the many statements in discussions by the founders brought out this point -- “Under such a clause as this can anything be said to be reserved and kept back from Congress?” pg. 239, The Founders’ Constitution edited by Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, Copyright 1987 by The University of Chicago Press.

Module 6: Citizenship and the Constitution / Lesson 3: The Bill of Rights / First Amendment

Federalist James Madison promised that a bill of rights would be added to the Constitution. This promise allowed the Constitution to pass. In 1789 Madison began writing down a huge list of proposed amendments. He then presented a shorter list to the House of Representatives. Of those, the House approved 12. The states ratified ten, which took effect December 15, 1791. Those ten amendments, called the Bill of Rights, protect U.S. citizens' individual liberties.

HT Madison received this list from the states. “The continuous conflict over some of these minor problems [the

bill of rights] finally led George Washington and others to promise the state conventions that if they would approve the Constitution in its present form, the states could each submit suggestions for amendments and these would be taken up in the first session of Congress.”

“The states took this invitation literally. They submitted a total of 189 proposed changes!”

Pg. 226, The Making of America by W. Cleon Skousen, The National Center for Constitutional Studies, Copyright 2007

Module 7: Launching the Nation / Lesson 1: Washington Leads a New Nation / Organizing the Government

The Judiciary Act of 1789 created three levels of federal courts. In addition to the Supreme Court, it set up federal district courts and circuit courts

OF This act also “gave the Supreme Court a Chief Justice and five Associate Justices.”

Pg. 224, America; Land of Principles and Promises by Philip W.

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of appeals. Winkler; Published by Heritage Academy, Copyright 2015

Module 8: War and Expansion in the Americas / Lesson 1: The Coming of War / Conflict in the West

Tecumseh traveled south to ask the Creek nation to join his forces. In his absence, Harrison attacked. Harrison raised an army and marched his troops close to Prophetstown. Fighting broke out when the Prophet, the spiritual leader of Prophetstown, ordered an attack on Harrison’s camp on November 7, 1811. The conflict escalated into the Battle of Tippecanoe.

OF, HT, S This statement leaves the impression that the settlers took it upon themselves to attack.

The text doesn’t mention that “Attacks on frontier settlers led Harrison to move with a force of about eight hundred to one thousand to camp a mile from the Shawnee town of Tippecanoe Creek.”

Pg. 267, America; Land of Principles and Promises by Philip W. Winkler; Published by Heritage Academy, Copyright 2015

Module 8: War and Expansion in the Americas / Lesson 2: The Coming of War / The War of 1812

The British sailed on to Baltimore, Maryland, which was guarded by Fort McHenry. They shelled the fort for 25 hours. The Americans refused to surrender Fort McHenry. The British chose to retreat instead of continuing to fight.

OF This battle spurred the song we now have as our National Anthem.

Pg. 272, America; Land of Principles and Promises by Philip W. Winkler; Published by Heritage Academy, Copyright 2015

Included in the Enrichment section of the material

Module 9: A New National Identity / Lesson 1: American Foreign Policy / Growing Nationalism

With the Adams-Onís Treaty, Monroe secured Florida for the United States.

HT The Treaty also settled the boundary between Spain’s territory in the West and America’s from the Louisiana Purchase.

Pg. 283, America; Land of Principles and Promises by Philip W. Winkler; Published by Heritage Academy, Copyright 2015

Module 9: A New National Identity / Lesson 2: Nationalism and Sectionalism / Nationalism Guides Domestic Policy

The Cumberland Road was the first road built by the federal government.

HT Introducing the other name for this road, “National Road”, would further the idea of Nationalism vs the Sectionalism concept.

Pg. 276, America; Land of Principles and Promises by Philip W. Winkler; Published by Heritage Academy, Copyright 2015

Module 10: The Age of Jackson / Lesson 1: Jacksonian Democracy / Expansion of Democracy

In the South, small family farms began to give way to large cotton plantations, owned by wealthy white people and worked by enslaved African Americans.

HT / S / B Not all plantations were owned by whites. Some were owned by blacks.

The fact is large numbers of free Negroes owned black slaves; in fact, in numbers disproportionate to their representation in society at large. In 1860 only a small minority of whites owned slaves. According to the U.S. census report for that last year before the Civil War, there were nearly 27 million whites in the country. Some eight million of them lived in the slaveholding states.

https://dixieoutfitters.com/2017/08/05/didnt-know-blacks-owned- slaves-in-america/ accessed 3/10/18

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Module 10: The Age of Jackson / Lesson 2: Jackson’s Administration / Panic of 1837

Shortly after Van Buren took office, the country experienced the Panic of 1837, a severe economic depression. Jackson’s banking policies and his unsuccessful plan to curb inflation contributed to the panic. But people blamed Van Buren.

OF, HT The textbook does not discuss the reasons for this panic. The Reviewer suggest that some of the following information be added.

Inflation from banks issuing excessive paper money, wild speculation in western land, dropping cotton prices reducing the nation’s income from trade, banks in Great Britain raised interest rates and cut back on loans.

Pg. 313, America; Land of Principles and Promises by Philip W. Winkler; Published by Heritage Academy, Copyright 2015

Module 11, Opener: Westward Expansion, heading Westward Expansion 1800-1900 timeline

1807: Great Britain abolishes the slave trade in its empire.The Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade essentially declared all British ships carrying slaves to be pirates. However, the trade continued on in the empire for several more years. The end of slavery in the British Empire came in 1833, with the passage of the Abolition of Slavery Act.

OF The abolition of slavery in Great Britain is mentioned on this timeline, yet there is no mention that in 1865, slavery was abolished in America.

The Reviewer suggests that the abolition of slavery in 1865 in America should be on the timeline.

https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/13th-amendment

Module 12, lesson 2, subtitle “American Settlement in the Mexican Cession”: Interpret Maps (located below map)

Question: “Human-Environment Interaction What possible problems did settlers face when moving to the Mexican Cession?

Technical Error

The student is unable to pick an answer from the multiple choices, which is “correct”. Regardless of the choice a student makes, when clicking “check” it states that the answer is incorrect.

Module 13, Lesson 3, Transportation Revolution brings Changes, heading “A New Fuel”, 2nd paragraph, last sentence, lines 6 and 7.

As the demand for coal increased, a coal-mining industry developed in many states, including Pennsylvania, western Virginia, and Illinois. Coal mining changed the landscape in a number of ways. New towns, such as Coal City and Carbondale in Illinois, sprang up in places where coal deposits could be mined. Miners made deep gashes in the earth removing the coal.

S The word “gash” suggests injury or deep wound. And it gives the impression that the text is biased against coal mining.

The Reviewer suggests that the following sentence be removed: “Miners made deep gashes in the earth removing the coal.”

Module 13, lesson 3. Review, key term #4

Gibbons vs. Ogden: a Supreme Court ruling that reinforced the federal government’s authority over the states.

HT The answer given for the term “Gibbons vs. Ogden” is very broad; it should state why the government’s authority was reinforced by this court case.

The Reviewer suggests the following rewrite: “A Supreme Court

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ruling that reinforced the federal government’s authority over the states regarding interstate commerce by ruling that waterways are important for interstate commerce and cannot be controlled by single states.”--This restates the explanation given in Lesson 3 “Steamboats” subsection.

Module 14, Lesson 2 Southern Society and Culture, heading “Southern Society and Culture”, 2nd paragraph, 2nd sentence, 1st and 2nd lines.

During the first half of the 1800s, only about one-third of white southern families had slaves.

FE, OF Omitted is that most Southerners owned no slaves, as stated here, "Most Southerners owned no slaves and most slaves lived in small groups rather than on large plantations. Less than one-quarter of white Southerners held slaves, with half of these holding fewer than five and fewer than 1 percent owning more than one hundred. In 1860, the average number of slaves residing together was about ten."https://eh.net/encyclopedia/slavery-in-the-united-states/

The Reviewer recommends the sentence be changed to read as follows: “During the first half of the 1800s, less than one-quarter of white Southerners had slaves. Free African Americans also had slaves.”

Module 14, Lesson 3 Living Under Slavery “Analyse Sources” questions

What does Curry’s story reveal about relations between white masters and enslaved African Americans?

FE, OF Students need to know that not all slave owners were white. The Reviewer recommends the sentence be changed to read:

“What does Curry’s story reveal about relations between slave owners and enslaved African Americans?

Module 15, Lesson 1, Slavery in the United States, timeline 1776

Tukolor empire arises in the former Songhau region of West AfricaThis empire was founded by a Muslim cleric who wanted to create a country based on strict religious rules. He trained a military force, armed it with European guns, and launched a holy war against his neighbors. His son ruled after his death, but in 1893 the French conquered the empire.

OF Students need to understand that the Tukolor Empire is not an isolated episode. It is an example of Islamic expansion and conquest via Jihad (holy war) with the aim of imposing Sharia. Without this understanding, it will be impossible for students to fully understand the nature of Islam and Jihad, and the threat it currently poses.

Students must understand that it is a religious duty for all Muslims to spread Islam and implement Sharia by force (jihad) if necessary.

Jihad is holy war against unbelievers. Islamic jihad involves forced conversion to Islam, slaughter or enslavement of unbelievers, or, in the case of Christians and Jews, acceptance of Dhimmi status (living as a 2nd class citizen and paying the jizyah tax in order to be protected from slaughter).

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http://www.dhimmitude.org/ “What does the Arabic word jihad mean? One answer came last week, when Saddam Hussein had his

Islamic leaders appeal to Muslims worldwide to join his jihad to defeat the "wicked Americans" should they attack Iraq; then he himself threatened the United States with jihad.

As this suggests, jihad is "holy war." Or, more precisely: It means the legal, compulsory, communal effort to expand the territories ruled by Muslims at the expense of territories ruled by non-Muslims.

The purpose of jihad, in other words, is not directly to spread the Islamic faith but to extend sovereign Muslim power (faith, of course, often follows the flag). Jihad is thus unabashedly offensive in nature, with the eventual goal of achieving Muslim dominion over the entire globe.”http://www.danielpipes.org/990/what-is-jihad

The reviewer suggests the heading read as follows: “Tukolor Islamic Empire arises in the former Songhau region of West Africa”

The Reviewer suggests the paragraph be edited to read as follows: “This Empire was founded by a Muslim cleric who, in accordance with Islamic teachings, sought to create a country based on Sharia, the Islamic legal system. He trained a military force, armed it with European guns, and launched a Jihad against his neighbors. His son ruled after his death, but in 1893 the French conquered the empire.”

Module 15, Lesson 1 The Slave Trade, heading “The Slave Trade”, 1st paragraph, 3rd sentence

The practice of slavery had existed in Africa and in many parts of the world for centuries. Traditionally, slavery in West Africa mostly involved only black Africans, who were both slaveholders and slaves. This changed in the 600s when Arab Muslims, and later Europeans, became slave traders. Though Europeans had long traded resources with Africa, they became more interested in the growing slave trade.

OF, FE The third sentence would suggest that Arab Muslims were practicing slavery in the 600s. This is false. The Arab slave trade began during the 9th century.

Allan G. B. Fisher, Slavery and Muslim Society in Africa, ed. C. Hurst (London 1970, 2nd edition 2001)

The sentence also suggests that the Europeans then took over and ran their own slave trade. That is also false. The beginning of European slave trade in Africa dates from 1441. The Portuguese captains Antão Gonçalves and Nuno Tristão captured 12 Africans in Cabo Branco (modern Mauritania) and took them to Portugal as slaves.

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https://jicolerenaissance.wordpress.com/portugal-the-african-slave-trade/

The textbook fails to inform the students that slavery continued throughout the Muslim world long after it ended in the United States and continues in some areas in the Muslim world today.

The facts of the Arabs starting and dominating the slave trade are omitted entirely.

“10 Facts About The Arab Enslavement Of Black People Not Taught In Schools” By A Moore. Atlanta Black Star. June 2, 2014. Accessed May 18, 2017.http://atlantablackstar.com/2014/06/02/10-facts-about-the-arab-enslavement-of-black-people-not-taught-in-schools/

The textbook omits the fact that there are still “an estimated 20.9 Million people trapped in some form of slavery today. It’s sometimes called ‘Modern-Day Slavery’ and sometimes ‘Human Trafficking.’ At all times it is slavery at its core.”“Slavery Today.” End Slavery Now. Accessed May 19, 2017http://www.endslaverynow.org/learn/slavery-today

The Reviewer suggests that this sentence be changed to read as follows: This changed in the 9th century when Arab Muslims began the Atlantic Slave Trade, which Europeans exploited for labor in their colonies. Some of those slaves were taken to America.

Module 15, Lesson 1, Beginnings of Slavery in the Americas, The Big Idea

Europeans forced millions of African slaves to work in their colonies.

OF, B, S Europeans exploited an already established slave trade known as the Atlantic Slave Trade run by Muslims out of Africa. See entry Module 15, Lesson 1, The Slave Trade, heading “Middle Passage”, 2nd sentence, 1st – 3rd lines.

The Reviewer suggests this sentence be changed to read as follows: “Europeans exploited the Atlantic Slave Trade to procure slaves to work in their colonies.”

Module 15, Lesson 1, The Slave Trade, Main Idea

Europeans enslaved millions of Africans and sent them to work in their colonies.

OF, B, S The Reviewer suggests this sentence should read as follows: “Europeans exploit the Atlantic Slave Trade to procure slaves to work in their colonies.”

Module 15, Lesson 1, The Slave Trade, heading “Middle Passage”, 2nd sentence, 1st – 3rd

Most enslaved people had been captured in the interior of Africa, often by Africans who profited from selling

OF, HT The Reviewer notes that this text has mentioned that some Arab Muslims were active in the African slave trade, but it is very much downplayed.

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lines slaves to Europeans. The Atlantic Slave Trade depended on the huge and complex Muslim slave kidnapping and transportation industry that had already been in operation for 700 years.

When they landed on the west coast of Africa looking for a cargo of slaves, white slave traders did not trek into the interior of the continent and do the dirty work of kidnapping black Africans.

The Europeans were dealing with middlemen, the vast majority of whom were Muslims. 103

Approximately 80% of all black Africans ever enslaved and exported from the continent passed through the hands of Muslims. 103 “Submission”. pp 127, 131; Hugh Thomas, The Slave Trade, Sion& Schuster (New York 1997), p. 46.104 K.S. Lal, Muslim Slave System in Medieval India (“Lal Muslim Slave System”), Aditya Prakashan (New Delhi, 1994, pp. 176-177).12.29.18 TNT ACT for America Education Textbook Report full version 7312012.pdf, page 55).

The Reviewer suggests this sentence be changed to read as follows: “Most enslaved people had been captured in the interior of Africa, mostly by Arab Muslim slave traders who profited from selling slaves to Europeans.”

Module 15, Lesson 1, The Slave Trade, heading “The Slave Trade”, heading “African Diaspora”, 1st paragraph

Between the 1520s and 1860s, about 12 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic as slaves. More than 10 million of these captives survived the voyage and reached the Americas. The slave trade led to the African Diaspora. Enslaved Africans were sent all across the New World.

OF, HT The text states that 10 million reached the Americas, but fails to state what percentage of that 10 million came to America. It is not clear enough that only a small number came to America. In the absence of that information, it may seem that the early European settlers in North America were responsible for much of the slave intake, when only a few hundred thousand were taken there.

“Between 1525 and 1866, in the entire history of the slave trade to the New World, according to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World. 10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage, disembarking in North America, the Caribbean and South America. And how many of these 10.7 million Africans were shipped directly to North America? Only about 388,000. That’s right: a tiny percentage.“ https://www.theroot.com/how-many-slaves-landed-in-the-us-1790873989

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Students need to know that the majority of slaves were transported to other areas outside of North America. For example, Portuguese took slaves to Cape Verde and The Madeira Islands, and the Spanish conquistadors took slaves to the Caribbean. https://www.britannica.com/topic/transatlantic-slave-trade

The Reviewer suggests the paragraph should read as follows: “Between the 1520s and 1860s, about 12 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic as slaves, via the Atlantic Slave Trade, which was run by Arab Muslims. More than 10 million of these captives survived the voyage, and the majority of slaves were shipped to South America and the Caribbean. Approximately 388,000 enslaved Africans were shipped to North America. The slave trade led to the African Diaspora. Enslaved Africans were sent all across the New World.”

Module 15, Lesson 1, The Slave Trade, heading “The Enslaved Fight Back”, 2nd paragraph, 1st sentence

In South Carolina, the enslaved vastly outnumbered whites, who lived in fear of slave rebellions.

OF, FE Students must understand that most white people did not own slaves. Some free Africans also owned slaves. (see entry at Module 14, Lesson 2 Southern Society and Culture, heading “Southern Society and Culture”, 2nd paragraph, 2nd sentence, 1st and 2nd lines.)

“The census of 1830 lists 965 free black slave owners in Louisiana, owning 4,206 slaves. The state of South Carolina, lists 464 free blacks owning 2,715 slaves. How ironic it is that so many blacks owned so many slaves in South Carolina. Yet, no one seemed to mention this during the flag controversy.”http://www.ironbarkresources.com/slaves/whiteslaves05.htm

The Reviewer suggests the sentence be changed to read as follows: “In South Carolina, the enslaved vastly outnumbered the slave owners, who lived in fear of slave rebellions.”

Module 15, Lesson 2, The Slave System, heading “Slave Uprisings”, 1st paragraph, 1st sentence

Although violent slave revolts were relatively rare, white southerners lived in fear of them.

FE, B, S See entry directly above. The Reviewer suggests this sentence read as follows: “Although

violent slave revolts were relatively rare, slave owners lived in fear of them.”

Module 15, Lesson 2, The Slave System,Heading “Opposition to Ending

Although the North was the center of the abolitionist movement, many white northerners agreed with the South and

B, S It is bias to omit that many other northerners were social activists who wanted real freedom for Negroes and formed abolition groups and operated the underground railway, as recorded here

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Slavery”, 1st sentence supported slavery. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h477.html The Reviewer suggests the sentence be changed to read as

follows: “Although many northerners agreed with the south and supported slavery, it should be noted that many northerners formed abolition groups and operated the underground railway.”

Mod 16 L1.Millions of Immigrants. Anti-Immigrant Movements. P2S1

Yet a great many native-born Americans feared losing their jobs to immigrants who might work for lower wages.

OF Omitted: Whether the job fears were grounded in reality or not. The text doesn’t describe whether the immigrants are needed to fill industrial jobs, or whether they do in fact displace and threaten the jobs of those already living in the US.

Mod 16 L1. Millions of Immigrants. Anti-Immigrant Movements. P2S1

Yet a great many native-born Americans feared losing their jobs to immigrants who might work for lower wages. Some felt implicitly threatened by the new immigrants’ cultures and religions.

HT Some had valid fears that trying to absorb the enormous number of immigrants over quite a short period of time could lead to instability and disease. See this textbook itself in Mod 16 L1. Urban Problems.

“The nineteenth century was a time of massive population growth for the United States.  In 1800, slightly over five million people called America home. By 1900, that number skyrocketed to seventy-five million. A large portion of this extraordinary growth can be attributed to European immigrants.”

Brackemyre, Ted. Immigrants, Cities, and Disease. US History Scene. 10 Apr. 2015. Accessed 3/7/18.http://ushistoryscene.com/article/immigrants-cities-disease/

Mod 16 L1. Urban Problems. Photo hotspot caption

Women—and frequently children—labored all day in small rooms making clothing to be sold to the wealthy.

S Slant - A “wealthy exploiting the poor” jab. However, in the previous section the text: “This new middle class

was a social and economic level between the wealthy and the poor. Those in the new middle class built large, dignified homes that demonstrated their place in society.”

So, it would stand to reason that the new middle class people would also be customers of these clothes makers.

Mod 16 L1. Enrichment. Irish Immigration.

The wave of Irish immigration to the United States began in the 1820s because Ireland had too many people for the land to support.

HT/OF The Irish also emigrated to escape oppression and persecution by the British. http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/FHD/Community/en/Community/

Paul Milner/Irish_Migration_to_NA-2011.pdf “Before the Famine: In 1798, inspired by the American and

French revolutions, the Irish staged a major rebellion against British rule. Widespread hangings and floggings soon followed as

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the rebellion was brutally squashed. The English Army in Ireland was also increased to nearly 100,000 men. Two years later, the British Act of Union made Ireland a part of the United Kingdom. The Act abolished the 500-year-old independent Irish Parliament in Dublin and placed the country under the jurisdiction of Britain's Imperial Parliament at Westminster, England. Although Ireland was to be represented there by 100 members, Catholics were excluded.” Irish Potato Famine. The History Place. 2000 Accessed 3/7/18. http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/before.htm

Mod 16 L2. American Romanticism. Little Women Analyze Sources Possible Answer

she was aiming to do something more than be a wife and mother as was the norm of the time.

OF/HT/S And yet her character, used here to advance a shallow feminist trope, goes on to marry and have two sons.

“Jo hates the idea of romance, because marriage might break up her family and separate her from the sisters she adores.As you might have guessed, Jo is being set up for a Meaningful Journey of Self-Discovery and Surprises (TM). By the end of the novel, her dreams and dislikes are going to be turned topsy-turvy; her desire to make her way in the world and her distaste for staying at home will be altered forever. She may not find romance in the places that readers expect, but she will find it. She'll also realize that romantic love has its place, even though it changes the relationships you already have”

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Shmoop. Accessed 3/7/18. https://www.shmoop.com/little-women/jo-march.html

Mod 16 L3. Reforming Society. Second Great Awakening. P1S1

During the 1790s and early 1800s, some Americans felt there was a strong need for religious reform

OF Text gives no reason that people would feel that need.

Mod 16 L3. Reforming Society. Second Great Awakening. P1S1

and took part in a Christian renewal movement called the Second Great Awakening.

OF Text gives no information about a First Great Awakening.

Mod 16 L3. Reforming Society. Second Great Awakening. P3S1

Finney’s style of preaching and his ideas angered some traditional ministers, like Boston’s Lyman Beecher.

OF Text provides no reasons for Beecher’s objections.

Mod 16 L4. Opposing Abolition. P3S2

To northern workers, freedom for slaves meant more competition for jobs.

OF The authors should provide some idea of the pressure for employment as this is the second reference to competition for jobs, the first being back in the section on immigration.

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“The notion of work being scarce would have seemed ludicrous to early Americans, who, after a day in the field, made their own soap, clothes and candles. Then came the industrial revolution -- and unemployment. As early as the 1820s, Americans had begun a gradual exodus from farms to factories. At first, some experimented with doing both -- working in a textile mill or iron foundry part of the year while growing crops or raising livestock at home. But industry was growing so rapidly that manufacturers began actively recruiting workers from farms, especially young women awaiting matrimony. Meanwhile, productivity gains in agriculture were making some male workers redundant.

Immigrants, particularly from Ireland, hastened the midcentury rush toward industrialization. Destitute and often without a trade or skill, they flocked to manufacturing jobs and settled in America's growing cities. For several decades, the demand and supply of American labor seemed to be in rough balance. “

Crossen, Cynthia, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal. Until the Late 1800's, U.S. Had Never Known Unemployment Woes. WSJ. 12/3/03 Accessed 3/8/18https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB107040655254249400

Mod 16 L5. Opposing the Call for Women’s Rights. Photo: Antisuffragists

As the suffrage movement picked up speed, opponents to women’s suffrage also began to organize. Antisuffragists argued that women’s suffrage would distract women from building strong families and improving communities.

OF Although this is the introduction of the term, suffrage, the authors do not define the term.

Mod 16 L5. Seneca Falls Convention. Women’s Rights Leaders. Final P

Leaders such as Stanton, Anthony, Stone, and Gage continued to fight for equal treatment and recognition. This increased activity was one of the movement’s greatest accomplishments.

OF Although Anthony remained single and never ran a household, the authors never explain how Stanton, Stone, and Gage were able to run households and raise children and perform the level of activism in the days before convenience foods and labor saving appliances.

Mod 17Lesson 1OpenerIf YOU were there...End of par 1

The marshals say you must help them find her. If you don’t, you will be fined or even sent to jail.

OF This is a legal question since the consequence is threat of being “fined or even sent to jail.” Asking a sixth grader such a legal question is stretching the bounds of a middle-school history educational experience. The sixth grader will undoubtedly refuse the demand for help. This then becomes a lesson in civil disobedience. We have seen with recent anti-Trump riots on

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campuses and anti-historical monument destruction and many other such situations back to anti-Vietnam-War protests, which even college students are not yet mature enough to decouple self-righteous emotions from their civil-disobedience decisions. Sixth grade is pretty young to be pumping up these anti-authority hormones.

There is room here to discuss such things as marshalling of posse comitatus and nullification. But be very careful about just plopping an act of civil disobedience on the plate of a sixth grader.

Mod 17 L1. New Land Regional Differences about Slavery.

They worried that slave labor would mean fewer jobs for white workers.

HT Inconsistent. Here again the authors raise the issue of jobs. This time exactly

the opposite worries, that free African Americans threatened jobs, as were mentioned above.

The authors have only pointed out job “worries” not the reality of the jobs picture at the time.

Mod 17Lesson 1Antislavery LiteratureEnd of Par 5

Stowe later wrote A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin to answer those who had criticized her book.

OF A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin deservers more discussion than one brief sentence. That book gives Uncle Tom’s Cabin credibility on which we today can judge Stowe’s writing. It is important to know that, although she wrote with great emotion, everything she said was based on well-researched facts as rigorously documented in A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This is a quality that is essential in worthy social-political narrative and makes her achievement all the more important and admirable.

Mod 17 L2 The Kansas-Nebraska Act Two New Territories

Map:From Compromise to Conflict

Technical Map resolution needs to be good enough that it remains clear at any scale up to full.

Mod 17 L2 Bleeding Kansas. Attack on Laurence. P1S1

The new pro-slavery settlers owned guns, and antislavery settlers received weapons shipments from friends in the East.

OF This statement has no supporting proof or explanation.

Mod 17Lesson 3OpenerQuestion

How do you think this new party will affect American politics?

OF If the publishers wish the student to answer this question from the point of view of a person in that time and place, they should express that in the question. Without that premise articulated, the student may use current historical data to assist the response.

This Reviewer suggests: “With your 1854, Michigan point of view, how do you think this new party will affect American

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politics?”

Mod 17Lesson 3Political Parties Undergo ChangePar 5, last sent

Most importantly, he had been in Great Britain as ambassador during the Kansas-Nebraska Historical Source

IT End of sentence is an error missed by editors.

Mod 17Lesson 3 ReviewKey Terms and People#3 Buchanan

… [James Buchanan] was chosen as the Democratic nominee for president in 1854 …

FE James Buchanan was chosen the Democratic presidential nominee in 1856.

Mod 17 L4. The South Secedes. Southerners’ Reactions. P1

People in the South believed their economy and way of life would be destroyed without slave labor. They reacted immediately. Within a week of Lincoln’s election, South Carolina’s legislature called for a special convention. The delegates considered secession. Southern secessionists believed that they had a right to leave the Union. They pointed out that each of the original states had voluntarily joined the Union by holding a special convention that had ratified the Constitution. Surely, they reasoned, states could leave the Union by the same process.

OF Omission of the states’ rights argument. There is no question that the main cause of the Civil War was

slavery. There were, however, other important issues. The principal one was states’ rights vs. a strong central government. This was the main issue at the time of the writing of the US Constitution and was debated fiercely during the ratification conventions. The South was far more driven toward a federation of free and strong states—independent of slavery—than was the North. Remember that most Southerners were not slave owners—and, in fact, suffered a loss of wages because of the cheapness of slave labor. Yet many of them supported the war.

http://www.civil-conflict.org/civil-war-history/causes-of-the- civil-war.htm (3-12-18) andBoldin, Michael. “South Carolina Secession: The Truth.” http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2010/12/south-carolina-secession-the-truth/ The Tenth Amendment Center. 12/20/10. Accessed 3/10/18.

Mod 18Opener

Title:The Civil War, 1860 – 1866

FE The Civil War started in 1861 and ended in 1865.

Mod 18 L1 Americans Choose Sides. P3S4

In a last-ditch effort to avoid war between the states, Secretary of State Seward suggested a united effort of threatening war against Spain and France for interfering in Mexico and the Caribbean.

FE/HT/S Simplistic interpretation of the Secy of State, Seward’s, intentions. Misleading and misrepresents Seward’s stature as a statesman. This ridiculous assertion was to be found, verbatim, at other online textbook websites.

“There is no real evidence, taking the memorandum in context, that Seward had anything of the kind in mind.

Seward had simply sought Lincoln's sanction for asking European envoys in Washington whether their governments intended to take advantage of the slaveholders' rebellion to

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intervene in American affairs, even as the great powers, acting in concert or in holy alliance, had been prone to do in diverse parts of the world earlier in the century…. All of Seward's foreign policy recommendations contained in his April 1 memorandum were carried out. His demands for explanations from all four European powers helped to persuade their leaders to exercise greater caution in dealing with the "American question" than they had at first exhibited. Seward's agents and envoys in Canada and Latin America were so successful in seeking support for the cause of the American Union that no Western Hemispheric government ever recognized or overtly aided the Southern insurrection. There was, of course, no need to "convene Congress and declare war" against Spain and France because the explanations of those two governments proved to be, if not entirely reassuring, at least sufficiently "satisfactory."”

Ferris, Norman B. Lincoln and Seward in Civil War Diplomacy: Their Relationship at the Outset Reexamined. Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association. Volume 12, Issue 1, 1991, pp. 21-42

http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.2629860.0012.105 https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0012.105/--lincoln-and-

seward-in-civil-war-diplomacy-their-relationship?rgn=main;view=fulltext

Mod 18 L1 Preparing for War. Helping the Troops. Bio: Elizabeth Blackwell.

Entire Bio S/B/OF This Reviewer questions the choice to insert this lengthy bio of Elizabeth Blackwell, rather an unknown, whereas they include no biographical detail of the very interesting lives of important political and military figures in the lead up to and in the war, such as Seward, McClellan, etc.

Mod 18 L4 African Americans P1S3

Not all white northerners were ready to accept them, but eventually they had to.

OF No reason offered. JAYNE: There was no legal recourse. What is this?

Mod 18 L5 Review Key Terms and People

William Tecumseh Sherman: American Union army officer, his capture of Atlanta, Georgia, and his March to the Sea marked an important turning point in the war.

OF Although the authors include this information in the text of the lesson, it is important for the students to remember the brutality of his tactics that were required to break the spirit of the Confederacy.

Mod 18 L5 Essential Question. Congress passes anti-Klan legislation. OF The text omits the fact the Klan was the work of Democrats.

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Timeline: 1871 Organized by white supremacists in the South, the Ku Klux Klan intimidate black freedmen and their white supporters. The Ku Klux Klan Act gave the President power to suspend rights in order to crush Klan activities. The Act was ruled unconstitutional in 1882.

Mod 18 L1 Freedom for African Americans. Freedmen’s Bureau.P3S4.

Despite opposition, by 1869 more than 150,000 African American students were attending more than 3,000 schools.

OF The text gives no context here, what are the overall numbers of freed slaves, freed slave children, etc.

Mod 19OpenerPhoto caption

The ruins of this southern plantation stand as a bleak reminder of the changes brought to the South by the Civil War.

FE This is clearly a town, not a plantation. There are two church steeples and other buildings that belong in towns, not plantations. The ornate Greek columns in the foreground may be the courthouse or some other official building.

Mod 19 Opener After 12 years, and in response to fierce resistance from many white southerners, the federal government declared Reconstruction over.

OF The resistance from southerners was only part of the reason. “Reconstruction ended with the contested Presidential election of

1876, which put Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in office in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South. Republicans and Democrats responded to the economic declines by shifting attention from Reconstruction to economic recovery. War weary from nearly a decade of bloody military and political strife, so-called Stalwart Republicans turned from idealism, focusing their efforts on economics and party politics. The closing of Reconstruction saw North and South reunited behind the imperatives economic growth and territorial expansion, if not the full rights of its citizens. From the ashes of civil war, a new nation was born, a nation rich with fresh possibilities but beset by old problems.”

The End of Reconstruction. Lumen Learning. US History II (American Yawp) Accessed 3/16/18.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory2ay/chapter/the-end-of-reconstruction-2/

Mod 19Lesson 1Reconstruction BeginsWade-Davis Bill

Two Republicans—Senator Benjamin Wade and Representative Henry Davis—had an alternative to Lincoln’s plan.

OF Just as the roles of the Republicans and Radical Republicans in the slavery issue are discussed, the role of the Democratic Party should also be discussed.

For example, all 8 civil rights acts (the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 20

Par 2, Sent 1 CRA of 1870. CRA of 1871, CRA of 1875, CRA of 1957, CRA of 1960, CRA of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965) and 3 civil rights amendments were strongly supported by the Republican Party and poorly to moderately supported or opposed by the Democratic Party.

http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/ Historical-Data/Constitutional-Amendments-and-Legislation/

Mod 19 L1 Freedom for African Americans. Slavery Ends. 13th Amendment.P2

The amendment was ratified and took effect on December 18, 1865. When abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison heard the news, he declared that his work was now finished. He called for the American Anti-Slavery Society to break up. Not all abolitionists agreed that their work was done, however. Frederick Douglass insisted that “slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot [vote].”

OF Omitted that this Frederick Douglas speech was objecting to the breakup of the Society and called for 2nd Amendment rights.

“…the South, by unfriendly legislation, could make our liberty, under that provision, a delusion, a mockery, and a snare. … What advantage is a provision like this Amendment to the black man, if the Legislature of any State can tomorrow declare that no black man’s testimony shall be received in a court of law?... Now, while the black man can be denied a vote, while the Legislatures of the South can take from him the right to keep and bear arms, as they can-they would not allow a Negro to walk with a cane where I came from, they would not allow five of them to assemble together the work of the Abolitionists is not finished. Notwithstanding the provision in the Constitution of the United States, that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged, the black man has never had the right either to keep or bear arms; and the Legislatures of the States will still have the power to forbid it, under this Amendment. … Where shall the black man look for support, my friends, if the American AntiSlavery Society fails him?”

McClarey, Donald R. Frederick Douglass Speech on the Thirteenth Amendment. The American Catholic. 1/19/15. Accessed 3/16/18

http://the-american-catholic.com/2015/01/19/frederick-douglass-speech-on-the-thirteenth-amendment/

Mod 19Lesson 214th AmendmentJohnson vs. Congress, Par 3

Fearing that the Civil Rights Act might be overturned, the Republicans proposed the Fourteenth Amendment in the summer of 1866.

OF It might not be clear to a sixth grader that “overturned” means “overturned by the Supreme Court.” It should be said specifically and clarify the consequences of overturning.

Mod 19Lesson 2

1 It defined all people born or naturalized within the United States,

FE The 14th Amendment says nothing about Native Americans (or Indians, as they would be called in 1868). It says: “All persons

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14th AmendmentJohnson vs. CongressPar 3, #1

except Native Americans, as citizens born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”

If this is due to a later interpretation of the Supreme Court, that should be stated.

Reviewer proposes: drop “except Native Americans.”

Mod 19 L214th AmendmentJohnson vsCongressP3, #5

5 It made state laws subject to federal court review

FE This gives the impression that the federal courts can review and disallow a state law from going into effect. This is not true.

Reviewer proposes: “No state can make or enforce any law that deprives people of their constitutional rights.”

Mod 19Lesson 2Congress Takes ControlReconstruction ActsPar 2, Sent 1

The military would remain in control of the South until the southern states rejoined the Union.

HT The military never "controlled" the South. The Democratic Party political and law-enforcement culture at the local levels remained much more influential in people’s lives than the widely dispersed and short-term military occupation. Even during the 2 – 4 years of Republican control of the state governments, the entrenched Democratic, slavery establishment continued to control Southern society and law enforcement.

http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/ Historical-Data/Constitutional-Amendments-and-Legislation/ (3-14-2018)

Mod 19Lesson 2Congress Takes ControlPresident on TrialPar 1, Last Sent

This law, called the Tenure of Office Act, prevented the president from removing cabinet officials without Senate approval. Johnson quickly broke the law by firing Edwin Stanton, the secretary of war.

It’s important to know that a law that was used to try to impeach the president was unconstitutional.

The Tenure of Office Act was amended during the Grant administration and repealed in 1887. The US Supreme Court in 1926 ruled in Myers v. United States that the law was unconstitutional.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h170.html (3-10-2018)

Mod 19Lesson 2Congress Takes ControlElection of 1868Par 2, Last Sent

However, white southerners used violence to try to keep African Americans away from the polls.

OF The “white southerners” were, more specifically, Democratic Party supporters. Democrats created the Black Codes and the KKK — the two primary tools used to keep African Americans from exercising their right to vote for Republicans and to run for office as Republicans. History.com (https://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan) states that: “… the organization [KKK] saw its primary goal–the reestablishment of white supremacy–fulfilled through Democratic victories in state

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legislatures across the South in the 1870s.” For example, their success is shown in Alabama, whose state

legislature was Democrat 1818–1867, Republican 1868–1872, then Democrat 1873–2010.

http://www.legislature.state.al.us/aliswww/ISD/House/ ALHousePastSpeakers.aspx http://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/articles/204/reconstruction-in-mississippi-1865-1876 (3-13-18)

EpilogueThe US since 1877Par 2&3

For example, Americans still debate questions about civil rights, religion, taxes, and the role of government in their lives. They also worry about the health of the environment, children, and the poor. Americans do not always agree on these issues. But they do believe strongly in their right to debate and to disagree. The freedom to do so—in peaceful and productive ways—is an indication of the fundamental health of the nation.JAYNE: Starting out with “in point of fact” makes it sound very argumentative—especially when what follows is an opinion. The Goldberg quote is also an opinion of one person, so I don’t know how far that’s going to get you.

OF/FE In point of fact, Americans can no longer be said to “believe strongly in their right to debate and to disagree”

If it were ever true, there exist today such chasms between ideas and strong moves to suppress expression of ideas are afoot, that the students should know that it is pie in the sky thinking to make that simple assertion.

Even in an article on free speech, this passes for acceptable thought:

“Those who care about civil rights are correct to hold the line, to say that there are certain ideas that deserve broad contempt rather than a fair hearing.”

Goldberg, Michelle. The Worst Time for the Left to Give Up on Free Speech. NYT 10/6/17 Accessed 3/16/18

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/opinion/liberals-free-speech.html

EpilogueEconomic Changes and Challenges Par 4

The banking system nearly collapsed, houses and stocks plummeted in value, and millions of people lost their jobs.JAYNE: I have merged your item with mine on this topic, so I suggest you delete this one. I covered this whole thing in an Amazon Review of “Currency Wars.”https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R37ROR2HHE2QFO?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl

OF Omission of the role that oppressive government regulation on lenders and opening of opportunities for unscrupulous exploitation

“While the panel, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, accuses several financial institutions of greed, ineptitude or both, some of its gravest conclusions concern government failings, with embarrassing implications for both parties”

Chan, Sewell. Financial Crisis Was Avoidable, Inquiry Finds. NYT 1/25/11 Accessed 3/16/18

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/business/economy/26inquiry.html

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EpilogueThe US since 1877Par 3

But they do believe strongly in their right to debate and to disagree. The freedom to do so—in peaceful and productive ways—is an indication of the fundamental health of the nation.

FE, OF Most college students no longer believe in open debate according to a Brookings Institute study. They don’t understand that offensive speech is protected by First Amendment. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/09/18/views-among-college-students-regarding-the-first-amendment-results-from-a-new-survey/ (3-16-2018)

Greg Lukianoff said October 2013, at Brown University, when the New York City police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, was invited to speak but was shouted down by students over his support of stop-and-frisk practices was “the symbolic beginning because that’s when we noticed an uptick in student press for disinvitations, trigger warnings and microaggression policing.” University of Michigan – In 2016 Black Lives Matter protestors shut down debate, which normalized force to prevent free speech on campus. University of California, Berkeley – In 2017 Antifa protestors riot to prevent Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking, which normalized mass violence to prevent free speech on campus. Natl Assoc of Scholars, “Charting Academic Freedom,” 1-2018, https://www.nas.org/images/documents/NAS_freeSpeechChart.pdf (3-16-2018)

Reviewer recommends dropping the word productive from “in peaceful and productive ways” since neither the First Amendment nor the rest of the Constitution puts any limitation on the exercise of our rights that such exercises must be productive—just as there is no limitation that our freedom of speech must not be hateful or hurtful. Teaching children that our unalienable rights are subject to arbitrary limits is not “an indication of the fundamental health of the nation.”

EpilogueThe US as a Global PowerPar 1

The Spanish-American War marked the beginning of a period of American expansionism during which U.S. influence spread throughout Latin America and the rest of the world.

OF, HT The word expansionism implies colonialism, which this was not. Such “expansionism” goes way back at least to the Barbary Wars (1801–1805 and 1815–1816). These and Spanish-American War were protection of American free foreign trade interests.https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/barbary-wars

WWII made US the greatest military and economic power on earth, but still not a colonial state.

The Bretton Woods Agreement (1944) was one of the biggest

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expansionary moves in US history because it made the US dollar the world reserve currency, which has had vast benefits to American consumption and has done even greater damage to our nation’s financial security. https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/bretton_woods_created

EpilogueEconomic Changes and Challenges Par 3

Many American companies have moved their factories overseas where wages are lower, causing hardship for many American workers.

OF When we import goods from third world countries like China, Indonesia, and Colombia, we are also importing all their labor and environmental deficiencies as by products. Wages are lower because workers’ rights are essentially non-existent, thus workers can be used up and discarded like any other resource.

In addition, the absence of any substantial environmental regulation allows for dangerous pollutants to be dumped into our oceans to keep prices of manufactured products below what the US must charge for being environmentally responsible.

EpilogueEconomic Changes and Challenges Par 4

The banking system nearly collapsed, houses and stocks plummeted in value, and millions of people lost their jobs.

FE, OF The banking system came nowhere near collapse. But the two government agencies regulating home mortgages did nearly collapse, i.e., FANNIE MAE and FREDDIE MAC, due to overregulation and politicization of the home mortgage lending market. Politically motivated government regulation on lenders and politically motivated expansion of the money supply by the Federal Reserve opened opportunities for unscrupulous exploitation by bankers.

Peter J. Wallison, “Dissent from the Majority Report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission,” American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, January 14, 2011, page 2. https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Wallisondissent.pdf (3-16-2018)

Chan, Sewell. Financial Crisis Was Avoidable, Inquiry Finds. NYT 1/25/11 Accessed 3/16/18http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/business/economy/26inquiry.html

EpilogueThe US Then and NowPar 1

The threat of terrorism—made clear by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001—remains an ongoing challenge.

FE, OF To talk about “the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001” without mentioning that the attackers were Islamic jihadists is like talking about the Pearl Harbor attack without mentioning that it was the Japanese Navy attacking.

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EpilogueThe US Then and NowPar 3

… the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These documents remain relevant and important today. They express what Americans stand for and provide a framework on which the nation can build its future. 

FE Reviewer recommends changing the last sentence from: “They express what Americans stand for and provide…” to “They express what Americans stood for when they ratified the articles and amendments and provide…”

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Evaluation of Social Studies Skills and other important issues

An evaluation of the teaching & learning devices and/or materials provided to the student.Number Questions Yes No

1 Is the appropriate vocabulary relevant to the subject matter presented to students?For example, on comparative government are terms such as monarchy, oligarchy, democracy, socialism, fascism, and communism presented?

X

2 Are the captions under pictures factual? Yes, and thorough with clickable hotspots yielding

multiple explanatory captions.3 Are the charts and graphs relevant to the topic being presented? X4 Are the maps accurate and relevant to the topic? X5 Are questions thought provoking? Is adequate accurate material provided

so that the students can formulate appropriate answers?Found some of the material needed to answer questions in the supplemental material

mainly in Module 15 dealing with slavery

6 Are primary and secondary sources presented for students to examine (for bias, propaganda, point of view, and frame of reference)? X

7 Does the text present a lesson on how to evaluate the validity of a source based on language, corroboration with other sources, and information about the author?

8 Does the textbook have a Glossary? Are key terms and personalities included and defined? Within the text X

9 Does the textbook have accurate timelines to help the student understand chronological historical developments? Several included

A glaring omission in Module 11 with no mention of the

Emancipation Proclamation in 1865

10 Does the textbook have an Index which includes all of the key words, historical time periods and individuals? X

11 Does the textbook devote a similar number of pages to each of the world religions, philosophies, political and religious leaders? n/a n/a

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Commendations:

1. The book is organized well in that each new topic is introduced with sections entitled Big Idea, Essential Question, and If YOU were there. These sections give a comprehensive view of the information to follow, as well as give students the challenge to give some thought to the concepts as if they were in the mix.

2. The book does not present the information, specifically noticeable in the section on Reconstruction, as terribly ‘preachy’ not as some other textbooks have been.

3. The following is from Mod 19, Lesson2, Congress Takes Control of Reconstruction, Election of 1868

“However, white southerners used violence to try to keep African Americans away from the polls.“Despite such tactics, thousands of African Americans voted for Grant and the ‘party of Lincoln.’ The New Orleans Tribune reported that many former slaves ‘see clearly enough that the Republican Party [is] their political life boat.’ African American votes helped Grant to win a narrow victory.”

Writing this was a major departure from modern history texts and displays your ability to step outside the bounds of PC.

Concerns:

1. No depth to the material. Seems to provide a superficial coverage of the material.2. The clickable terms within the text are odd in that the dropdown info often provides nothing more to define the term than does the surrounding

text.

3. Information in early sections tended to be shallow and authors offer little background on ideas.

4. Moves so quickly through the material, with quite thin coverage at times, that it seems like a Reader’s Digest version of history.

5. “Epilogue.” This Epilogue section is problematic.

a. The format is quite different than that of the other Modules, it is more long form reading. It covers approximately 140 years in one module, thus the content is even more superficial than that of the rest of the book.

b. And finally, and importantly for our purposes, the even-handedness of coverage that this reviewer welcomed in the rest of the book is replaced with the dreary slant and distortions of political correctness. Your description of 21st century America is so pie in the sky that I get the idea you are writing for the US Chamber of Commerce. Do you think these kids would be damaged if they heard some hard truth about the country they are about to inherit? Throughout the Epilogue, the publisher speaks more about our country as is should be rather that as it is. Since the decision has been made for the book to bridge the gap between history and political science, at least make it rational political science.

c. The reviewer suggests that there is actually no place for a Module bringing the history up to the present day in a textbook with 1877 as the end date for the content, this is outside the very scope of the book.

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d. It would be an excellent rime to introduce these kids to the concept that a writer is responsible to the reader for the quality of the facts they are presenting. Yes, this means references. Keep in mind that the first function of references is to challenge every sentence the writer presents as a fact—that is, it is a way to force discipline on the writer. As it is, there is not much to keep the writer from straying from the real reality.

Evaluations based on template

Choices Explanations Yes No

1 This text has minor changes that need to be made

2 This text has a moderate number of changes

3 This text has substantial changes that need to be made X most notably in

relation to slavery and removal of the

Epilogue4 This book is so flawed that it is not recommended for adoption.

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