How I Would Vote And Why - Reflection on Electoral College Assignment

You have been tracking the polls and running scenarios for the upcoming Presidential Election next week and have seen how such an election is fundamentally a "numbers game" rather than a straightforward "whoever gets the most votes" thing.  The Electoral College was put in place to protect the new Executive Branch from the whims of the People who were not trusted to really know what was actually in their best interests.  Thus, there is the Popular Vote and then the Electoral College Vote.

If you were able to actually vote next week, for whom would you vote and why?  Make use of what you have so far learned about the first 18 Presidents and the challenges and obstacles that they each faced from 1789 through 1877 as indicated on your Presidents List.  Considering the present state of affairs as you understand them, how can the past help you come to a decision about who would make the "best" President for the next four years?

DUE DATE:  November 2, 2012 by midnight

Word Count:  300 words minimum

George Washington Music Video with Presidents 2-43:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZL-19wGnkA

J.Q. Adams vs. Jackson: The Birth of Modern Campaigning

The election of 1824 was fractious to say the least.  In a very important way, it was a defining moment in the evolution of our Constitutional democracy because it pitted the old, Eastern Establishment represented by Adams against the new, Western Anti-Establishment represented by Jackson.  The stakes for both interets were high, and though Adams would win this first "Bout at the Ballot Box" against Jackson, he would most certainly NOT win the second time around (the election of 1828) because of the unleashing of what we have come to call "Modern Political Campaigning."

Discuss the historical and literary context for what has come to be called "The Corrupt Bargain" that settled this election in the House of Representatives rather than at the ballot box.  Make use of the literature of the time to elucidate the American experience of politics at the time to help contextualize the historical information.

DUE DATE:  Friday, October 26, 2012 by midnight

Word Count:  300 words minimum

The election of 1824
http://presidentelect.org/e1824.html

The election of 1824
http://www.270towin.com/1824_Election/

The "Corrupt Bargain" of 1824
http://www.ushistory.org/us/23d.asp

Wikipedia article on election of 1824
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1824

Aaron Burr v. Alexander Hamilton

The ambitions and competitive natures of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton seem to have directed these two founding fathers into a direct collision with each other.  Read the three articles about the duel provided below and reflect on the impact either of these men would have had if the duel would never have been fought.  What might have Burr become?  What greater impact might Hamilton have made on the country at large?  Discuss the lives of these two men and the circumstances that drove them into this duel, then specualte on what each of their lives might have been like had it never happened.  Begin with a complex-split introductory paragraph in which you identify three key ideas or themes or factors that A) led to the duel; B) resulted from the duel; or C) were a combination of precipitators and consequences.

DUE DATE:  Friday, October 19, 2012

Word Count:  300 word minimum

The Duel between Burr and Hamilton:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel/peopleevents/pande17.html

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/duel.htm

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/burr/burr_badblood.cfm

Infamous "Got Milk?" Aaron Burr Commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLSsswr6z9Y