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fandomhigh2006-02-22 09:17 am
professor-lyman.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-02-22 09:17 am
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US History (Wednesday, February 22, 7th period)
Josh smiled as the US History class came into the room.
"Today we talk about the War of 1812 and the Industrial Revolution." He raised an eyebrow. "That's right. About seventy years of history in an hour. Prepare to take notes." He looked down at his papers. "And you will have your midterm exam next Wednesday, so now is definitely the time to start panicking if you have no idea what's going on."
He raised his eyebrows. "Okay. War of 1812. Napoleon was doing his 'trying to conquer all of Europe' thing, and the British were fighting him. Both sides were capturing American ships and taking American sailors as prisoners. This made us, as you might guess, not so happy. We also wanted the Western lands that were still controlled by the British." He shrugged. "This shouldn't be news but sometimes we're not nice people. So in 1812 we declared war against England and invaded Canada. Unfortunately for us, the war in Europe ended and the British could reallocate troops and pretty much kicked our butts. The British came into Washington DC and burnt down the White House. The Canadians, for whatever reason, are inordinately proud of having done this. Then they marched towards Baltimore." Josh looked around the classroom. "But got stopped at Fort McHenry. Despite being bombed for 25 hours, the Americans wouldn't budge. There's a song about it that should be pretty familiar to you all. Rockets red glare and all? Ringing any bells?"
Josh looked back down at his notes. "The War of 1812 also gave us the stories of Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution, which took on the world-renowned British Navy and walked away. Cannonballs kept bouncing off the sides of the Constitution because of the way it had been built." Josh shrugged. "I'm not a shipbuilder, so I'm just going to move on. There were various other historical events happening, and a couple other presidents, including Monroe and Jackson, who did historical things in a historical way. But I'm getting past the Civil War, so we're moving on."
He cleared his throat. "Sorry. So England was having an industrial revolution. At the end of the 18th Century, to make a shirt you'd have start from scratch, possibly by growing the cotton or the wool or the polyester or whatever, and spin into to yarn and then knit yourself a sweater. Everything was done by hand, took forever, and was horribly expensive. Then, you know, industry! The cotton from the South was sent to England which had learned how to spin it into cloth using machines that they wouldn't share with us. Though American ingenuity--in this case, by a guy named Samuel Slater lying about his knowledge of how to make a cotton spinning machine moving to New England and becoming rich, rich, rich--and Eli Whitney making a machine that would get rid of the seeds in cotton--the cotton gin--, we managed to both move the United States from a self-sufficient farm economy to a capitalist market economy and perpetuate slavery for another hundred years." He raised an eyebrow. "The rule of unintended consequences. If you could grow cotton you could get rich. To grow cotton you needed people to pick it. To make the most money, not paying those people would be best."
He looked back down at his notes. "The industrial revolution also led to rifles with interchangable parts, canals, steamboats, railroads, and improved roads. This is all helping to expand the country westward into the lands that Jefferson bought from the French. Which was, you know, news to Indians who lived there."
He turned to the board and pointed at the words he he written there. "For your homework, choose from following three topics: the Monroe Doctrine, the Trail of Tears or child labor in the early 1800s and give me a hundred words on one of them."
[OOC: slow play like woah.]
"Today we talk about the War of 1812 and the Industrial Revolution." He raised an eyebrow. "That's right. About seventy years of history in an hour. Prepare to take notes." He looked down at his papers. "And you will have your midterm exam next Wednesday, so now is definitely the time to start panicking if you have no idea what's going on."
He raised his eyebrows. "Okay. War of 1812. Napoleon was doing his 'trying to conquer all of Europe' thing, and the British were fighting him. Both sides were capturing American ships and taking American sailors as prisoners. This made us, as you might guess, not so happy. We also wanted the Western lands that were still controlled by the British." He shrugged. "This shouldn't be news but sometimes we're not nice people. So in 1812 we declared war against England and invaded Canada. Unfortunately for us, the war in Europe ended and the British could reallocate troops and pretty much kicked our butts. The British came into Washington DC and burnt down the White House. The Canadians, for whatever reason, are inordinately proud of having done this. Then they marched towards Baltimore." Josh looked around the classroom. "But got stopped at Fort McHenry. Despite being bombed for 25 hours, the Americans wouldn't budge. There's a song about it that should be pretty familiar to you all. Rockets red glare and all? Ringing any bells?"
Josh looked back down at his notes. "The War of 1812 also gave us the stories of Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution, which took on the world-renowned British Navy and walked away. Cannonballs kept bouncing off the sides of the Constitution because of the way it had been built." Josh shrugged. "I'm not a shipbuilder, so I'm just going to move on. There were various other historical events happening, and a couple other presidents, including Monroe and Jackson, who did historical things in a historical way. But I'm getting past the Civil War, so we're moving on."
He cleared his throat. "Sorry. So England was having an industrial revolution. At the end of the 18th Century, to make a shirt you'd have start from scratch, possibly by growing the cotton or the wool or the polyester or whatever, and spin into to yarn and then knit yourself a sweater. Everything was done by hand, took forever, and was horribly expensive. Then, you know, industry! The cotton from the South was sent to England which had learned how to spin it into cloth using machines that they wouldn't share with us. Though American ingenuity--in this case, by a guy named Samuel Slater lying about his knowledge of how to make a cotton spinning machine moving to New England and becoming rich, rich, rich--and Eli Whitney making a machine that would get rid of the seeds in cotton--the cotton gin--, we managed to both move the United States from a self-sufficient farm economy to a capitalist market economy and perpetuate slavery for another hundred years." He raised an eyebrow. "The rule of unintended consequences. If you could grow cotton you could get rich. To grow cotton you needed people to pick it. To make the most money, not paying those people would be best."
He looked back down at his notes. "The industrial revolution also led to rifles with interchangable parts, canals, steamboats, railroads, and improved roads. This is all helping to expand the country westward into the lands that Jefferson bought from the French. Which was, you know, news to Indians who lived there."
He turned to the board and pointed at the words he he written there. "For your homework, choose from following three topics: the Monroe Doctrine, the Trail of Tears or child labor in the early 1800s and give me a hundred words on one of them."
[OOC: slow play like woah.]
Re: During the lecture
She also mostly scores A's. Huh.