US History (Wednesday, April 25, 7th period)

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Here it is," Josh said, handing out the exam, "the last time you have to remember US history for the year." He smiled. "It's been a pleasure teaching all of you. I look forward to seeing you back next year. Except for you seniors--because if you're back, that means you've flunked this test and that would be bad."

1. Columbus. Why was he such a big deal? If you were finding a new land, what would you do differently?

2. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Prove to me that you know what they are.

3. 1215, 1492, 1607, 1776, 1861, 1945, 2001. Why are these years important to know? And no, one of them is not the year I was born.

4. Based on what you learned in class this semester, who do you think was the most influential President of the United States?

5. We've talked about many, many battles. Pick one, prove to me you were paying attention.

EC: If I were to say that the overarching theme of American history is "it seemed like a good idea at the time," would you agree or disagree? Why?

[OOC: Answer the questions or handwavey me an idea of how your character did. Entirely up to you!

Comments

Re: Take the test

[mycanonhatesme]

1. Columbus was a big deal because of that whole "discovering America" thing. Which was really more of a "discovering that there was a big piece of land west of Europe that wasn't the other side of Asia" thing, but Columbus had really good PR people and they made it a big deal. If I was finding new land, I would make sure that the place I landed was actually the place I was trying to get to. And I would have looked at multiple maps beforehand to make sure I was going the correct distance. And I would have asked for directions on the way back, so as to land in Spain, and not Portugal.

2. The Declaration of Independence: Starts with "When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary..." Written by Thomas Jefferson and signed by the Continental Congress.

The Constitution: Starts with "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." Contains the amendments, and a bunch of amendments to the amendments.

3. 1215 - The Magna Carta is written.
1492 - Columbus discovers the Bahamas America.
1607 - Jamestown is founded.
1776 - The Declaration of Independence is signed, and the Revolutionary War starts.
1861 - The Civil War starts.
1945 - World War II ends.
2001 - 9/11 happens, and the US officially enters the 21st Century (it didn't start in 2000, thank you).

4. FDR. He worked so hard to get the US out of the Great Depression, and kept the country going through World War II, even when he never wanted to get us involved in the first place.

5. The Battle of Antietam: September 1862; the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, and the worst loss for General Lee.

EC: I would completely agree. Sometimes, this works out really well, i.e. "Let's go help England fight those evil Germans!" Sometimes, this works out really poorly, i.e. "Let's go help the South Vietnamese fight those evil North Vietnamese!" Sadly, 95% of the time, this country can't tell which category their plans are going to fit into until it's too late.

(holy crap, I'm such a dork.)