Unit Title: The Presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)

Grade level: 12
Length of unit: 10 days
Stage 1 Desired Results
Meaning
Enduring Understandings/Generalizations:

Essential Questions:

The election of Andrew Jackson attributed

importance to the common man.
Literacy rates rose in America due to more
widespread education.
The Georgia Gold Rush of 1829 set the stage for
Indian removal and westward migration.
Unlike today, the currency of the United States
during the Jackson Administration was based on
the gold standard.
Knowledge &

What role did geography play in the two political

parties participating in the presidential election?
Why did newspapers, like the Philadelphia Inquirer,
become more proliferated during this time period?
What effect did this have on the nation?
Why is the U.S. dollar no longer based on the gold
standard?
Was Andrew Jackson a good president?

Skills Acquisition

Learning Goals:
Understand the purpose of government and how its powers have been acquired, used, and justified.
Understand different political systems from historical periods.
Understand the significance of important people, their work, and their ideas in the areas of political and intellectual leadership, inventions,
discoveries, and the arts
Understand multiple viewpoints within and across cultures related to important events, recurring dilemmas, and issues.

Students will know

Students will be able to

The Democratic Party

The National Republican Party
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The 1829 Georgia Gold Rush
Definition of economy, gold standard,
typograph.
James Smithson and William Austin Burt
Basic geography of the United States at the
time.

Explain the differences between the National

Republicans and the Republicans.

Identify the major causes behind the strained

relationship between the U.S. government and
the Cherokee Nation.
Infer meaning from texts.
Note-taking.
Public speaking.

Resources/Materials:
Articles:

http://www.270towin.com/

http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/stories/last-will-and-testament-october-23-1826

https://sites.google.com/site/robertballhughes//Home/biography/inauguration-of-andrewjackson

Stage 2 Evidence (Assessment)

Types of assessment: Selected-Response (tests, quizzes); Personal Communication
(interview, oral exam, discussion); Written Response (short constructed response questions,

entrance/exit slips, essays); Performance Assessment (role-play, Simulation, labs,

dramatization)
Pre-assessment:

Time Period Concept Map: Students will at first work in groups of 4 to brainstorm and write down everything they know about the
time period defined by the John Adams presidency (1797-1801). After about 5 minutes, the entire class will come together and the
teacher will call upon groups to contribute to the large concept map drawn out on the white board so as to group all of the classs
prior knowledge together for assessment, note-taking, and unit entry point purposes. This will be informal yet effective. If students
show a basic mastery of the knowledge that I was planning on teaching, then I would simply plan for more in-depth topics to be
addressed as well as work on skills necessary for the subject field such as writing, researching, and argument building.

Formative Assessment:

1828 Presidential Election Debate simulation: Divide class into 8 groups representing 8 different states that differed in size,
population, geographic location, etc. so as to hear arguments from different points of view. Have each group research their state
during the time, how it voted in that election, and come up with talking points to bring up during the debate.
Map exercise: Students will be given outlines of the contingent United States and be asked to fill in the map as it would have looked
in early 1797. They will use these as reference points throughout the unit, and will also make one at the end of the unit to see if the
geography of the United States changed at all over the course of this time period (the creation of Mississippi Territory, Indiana
Territory, etc.)
Hometown Historical Fiction: Students will write a two page paper about a day in the life of a fictional character of their choosing
who would have lived in their hometown during this time period. This project is designed to be a work of historical fiction, not just
fiction. Students will have to come up with a plausible back story, a reason why their character lives in their hometown, their gender,
their ethnicity, their financial standing, their hopes and ambitions, what they do for a living, etc. Students should use the lives of their
fictional characters to create a window into history. It is also a project that stresses the importance of local history along with social
history. It should challenge the general assumption that students hometowns dont matter in the grand scheme of history. Students
will share their work in small groups.
Inventors R Us: After learning about the inventor William Austin Burt, students will be told to simply invent something original.
Students can learn all about inventors and their various trials and errors, but it works better when you require that they experience it
more directly and hands on. Students will work on their own or in pairs in order to come up with an original idea for an invention and
seek a U.S. patent by turning it into a committee (the teacher) along with a written explanation of its function and its importance.
Actual props are unnecessary, but encouraged.

Summative Assessment:
Presidential Report Card: Students will give a final grade to the president they had been studying, and write a 6 page paper defending
the grade that they gave based on whatever they themselves believed to be most important. For example, the state of the economy,
territorial expansion, military expansion, restriction of civil liberties, particular legislation passed, how the president handled certain
crises/situations that emerged during his presidency, and possibly even his personality/personal life. Anything is fair game as long as
it factually-based and persuasive enough to legitimize the final grade that is given.

Monday
Sunday
1. Opening
Exercise:
Time Period Concept
Map

-write down
everything they
know about
Andrew Jackson
and events during
his presidency.
-Introduce the
Summative
Assessment
project due at the
end of the Unit.
-Play clip on
Andrew Jackson.
https://www.youtu
be.com/watch?

Tuesday

Wednesday

Sunday02
2. Lecture (PPT): The
Presidential Election
of 1829.
-How presidential
elections worked.
-How candidates were
selected.
-compare the National
Republicans and the
Democratics
-Adams vs. Jackson
Divide class into 8
groups. Assign each
group a state. Then
have each group
conduct research in
class and outside of

Thursday
Sunday03

3. Class Debate
-have 8 groups of desks with
name tags displaying their
respective states.
-teach debate etiquette (no
yelling, try not to talk over
others, listen, be kind, etc.)
-The debate will be centered
on various questions
instigated by the teacher.
(foreign policy, past
experience, military policy,
domestic policy, westward
expansion, personal
characteristics, etc.)
-each group will be given
time to respond
-once every group has

Sunday04
4. Group
Discussion:
Explanation of
results.
-how similar was
the classs
decision to the
actual historical
decision?
-How similar was
the election to
present day?
-Would he have
been elected
today?
-Was it a good
decision?

Friday
Sunday05
5. Finish lecture
on prepresidency of
Andrew Jackson.
Map Exercise
-Using the
overhead
projector, show
the students a
large map of the
U.S. as it looked
in 1797. Ask
students to
describe the
main differences
from modern
day territorial
boundaries.

v=oxDqOH6H4FQ
-Quick write on
why they now
think Andrew
Jackson is better
or worse of a
president than
they thought at
the beginning of
class based on the
video.

class in order to
prepare for a
presidential election
debate simulation the
next day.

responded to the question,

there will be time for
rebuttal.
-Groups will vote based on
who they think wins. Tell the
class that you as the teacher
are representing the
American people and they
should do their best to
convince you as well as their
peers. Teachers vote is
worth 2 votes.

Begin Lecture on
pre-presidency
of Andrew
Jackson

-Hand out blank

maps of the U.S.
and have
students draw in
the boundaries
along with
states and any
other relevant
information.
They will keep
these as
reference points
throughout the
semester.

9. Lecture:
Georgia Gold
Rush of 1829.

10. Interactive
lecture on the
importance of
gold, the effect
it has on the
economy,
migration, and
the process of
mining.

-Tally the results and

announce winner.
6. Group Work:
Groups will do
research on a preassigned
demographic of
the United States
and report back to
the class with their
findings.
-Conclusion: If
Andrew Jackson
represented the
common man,
how accurate is
this description?

7. Assign Inventors R
Us Project. Let
students use entire
class period to work.

8. Divide class into groups.

Give each group an article
from the Philadelphia
Inquirer from back in 1829.
Each group will have to sum
up their respective article for
the rest of the class.
-At the end, as a class, we
will discuss similarities
consistent through the
articles, what they said
about the time period, and
what they say about
newspaper consumption and
literacy rates in early
America.

-Discuss the
history of U.S.
currency. Print
off pictures and
pass around.
-Discuss how
economies grow
and why they
crash. The
basics of
economics.
-Discuss the
gold standard.

-Discuss the
precursors to
the Indian
Removal Act.