Welcome to the first project of the semester, and the last project before spring break.
This is this is my recap of the Case For a Nation project. The driving question for this project is: How can an understanding of nationalism in the past, help us to better understand today?
I will answer this question at the bottom of my post. For this project we had to create an instagram post that included three pictures and a caption, as well as an opinion piece on our assigned topic. I worked with two other people. Makenna, and Alicia.
Here my groups three images and caption.
Originating in the early 19th century, manifest destiny was the idea that the people of America were destined, by God, to settle throughout the whole North American continent. This expansion led to the genocide of the Native Americans whose land was taken away, often leading to heavy conflicts. By the end of the westward expansion the Americans were able to control territories, trade products more efficiently, and maintain higher continental power. Understanding nationalism in the past can help us make sense of today by explaining the pride that stemmed from religious views in America and how these patriotic values have evolved overtime.
I will show the opinion piece after I have given more context.
This is how my group and I created our instagram post and opinion piece.
I think that the instagram post represents my learning appropriately and I am very proud of how it turned out.
This project started out with revisiting all of the things that we needed to finish from the last semester. We revisited our mPOLs, and our poetry growth chart. We then proceeded to look at things that Canada is known for. The list we looked at is right here.
We then created a “Canadian Check” video based off of this video here.
We then went over a need to know questions and what we were doing for the project. We then got assigned days for the current events activity, which I will explain more later. We then did an activity where we defined nationalism. We then looked at nationalism in British North America, Upper and Lowed Canada, and Nationalism and Identity. We then started the Nationalism Jigsaw, which was where we looked at different nationalism in places and how it differentiated from other places. We also did the first current event presentation.
The current event activity is an activity where we picked a current event and connected it to nationalism. I was on the very last day out of four days. This is my current event post.
Author: Cooper King
Protests In Ottawa
Sources:
WHAT:
- The Canadian Government required truckers to be vaccinated to cross the border.
- The truckers did not like that.
- Truckers from across Canada and America drove to Ottawa to protest.
- The police set up blockades around Ottawa.
WHEN:
January 22 – Present
WHERE:
- Ottawa
OttawaWHY: - This happened because people didn’t want vaccine mandates.
CONNECT:
- This connects to our project because the truckers felt a feeling that they should be told what to do.
- The truckers had a sense of identity that they didn’t want anyone else to disrupt.
- Opinion: In my opinion, I think that the truckers protesting is unnecessary. They can chose to not get the vaccine, but then they would have to find a new job.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- What is your opinion on this topic?
- Do you think that the vaccine should be mandated or should the people be free to chose wether or not to get it?
The next thing we did was the rebellion scene investigation. We went to a website and tried to figure out the proper course of action. The link to the website is right here.
The next thing we did is learned about the road to confederation, and how confederation came in to be. We then started the confederation simulation. In this simulation, we were assigned an area of Canada, and given texts about our assigned place. After reading the texts, we come up with a list of demands that we required if we were to join the confederation. after finishing the simulation, we reflected on the experience and answered some questions. Here is my reflection.
- What was your colonies final decision?
- Why did you make this decision?
- Who / What benefitted from Confederation?
- Who / What did not benefit from Confederation?
- Describe your colonies efforts and degree of success in presenting your demands?
The final decision for my colony(PEI) was to join the confederacy. We made this decision because almost all of our needs were met, and we will profit overall from this agreement. The things we gained from this agreement are the following.
- Improved import/export system and improved trade of goods
- Inter colonial railway built
- Military protection
- Provincial government
The things we did not gain from this agreement are the following.
- We will be taxed in order to build national infrastructure.
- We did not get a capitol where we wanted it.
Most of our demands were fairly separated from the rest of the confederation, and I think that helped us in receiving the things we asked for.
We then went to loon lake, which you can read about here.
After loon lake, we chose our topics. We could choose from the topics below.
I chose American Nationalism and Manifest Destiny. After that, we learned more about our topic, and looked more into perspectives of the past. We then started creating our three images. You can see my images here.
After that, me and my group (Makenna and Alicia) decided on our three final images. These are the three images that we decided on.
We then started working on a keynote presentation that we presented to another group. The presentation can be viewed here.
We then started on our opinion piece. After that, we did our presentation using the keynote above, as well as finishing our opinion pieces. My opinion piece can be seen below.
Manifest Destiny was the idea that Americans were destined by god to shape the whole of the American continent under the vision of the United States. It occurred from 1812-1867. At the start of manifest destiny, America consisted of New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. At the end of manifest destiny, America was New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Texas, Nevada, Oregon, California, Washington Territory, Montana Territory, Dakota Territory, Nebraska Territory, Colorado Territory, Indian Territory, New Mexico Territory, Arizona Territory, Utah Territory, and the Idaho Territory. This expansion lead to America being a dominant force in the North American continent. It also lead to Canada and Mexico having much less land. Personally, I think that the some of the Americans actually believed that God destined them to control the rest of the continent. I also think that some of the Americans just wanted a reason to oppress people and control land that didn’t originally belong to them. The things that the American people did to the Native American people was unjustifiable, yet the Americans somehow found a way to justify it. Although Manifest Destiny was a reason for Americans to massacre people that they didn’t like, it was necessary to create the North America that we know today. If Manifest Destiny had never happened, who knows what would impact that would have on the rest of the world and how history played out. There are many great things that America has done that probably wouldn’t have happened if Manifest Destiny didn’t happen. Manifest Destiny was also a pivotal part of America’s military and political power, which all contributed to the allies winning World War Two. In my opinion, Manifest Destiny was a unjustifiable massacre that was a necessary step to creating and preserving the world that we know today.
The last thing we did is the blog post, which you are reading now.
Now for the curricular competencies. The two competencies we used in in this project were communicate compellingly and take historical perspective.
I think that I did both of these competencies to an accomplished level. I think that I communicated compellingly in this project because of two things. The first is the opinion piece. I am proud of this opinion piece because I feel like I got my point across clearly and concisely. It displayed my opinion accurately, and I feel as though it is a good representation of my understanding of these topics. I also think that this is a good representation of taking historical perspective. When I was writing it, I was putting myself in the people of the times shoes. This lead me to create what I think is an appropriate opinion on the topic at hand. I also think that the keynote that me and my group made, as well as our three images and caption, explained manifest destiny well. That is why I think that I did both communicate compellingly and take historical perspective to an accomplished level.
As to answer to the driving question, “how can an understanding of nationalism in the past help us understand today?” Understanding nationalism in the past can help us make sense of today by explaining the pride that stemmed from religious views and how these patriotic values have evolved overtime.
I learned a lot about compelling communication and 1800’s American history.
Here is the link to the instagram post.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and have a great day.
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