Civics

1. Essays should discuss Grant and one other President and draw reasonable conclusions from these examples.

2. Dialogues should cover Grant's failure to adequately protect African Americans in the South, as well as the defense of Grant's actions that more aggressive policies would have cost the Republicans politically because Northern whites were losing interest in the plight of Southern blacks.

3. (a) 1876: Hayes and Tilden. 2000: Bush and Gore. (b) 1876: Tilden won the popular vote; the electoral vote was disputed. 2000: Gore won the popular vote; the electoral vote was disputed. (c) 1876: There were disputes between Republicans and Democrats over the returns from Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. 2000: Complaints about thousands of unclear or improperly handled ballots in Florida raised controversy due to the extremely narrow popular vote margin in the state. (d) 1876: Florida was one of the three states whose electoral votes were in question. 2000: The narrow electoral vote margin nationally meant that the winner of Florida's electoral votes would win the presidency. (e) 1876: Congress set up a commission to resolve the controversy; the commission awarded the contested electoral votes to Hayes, who thus won the presidency. 2000: A 5-4 Supreme Court ruling stopped ongoing vote recounts in Florida, giving Bush the presidency.

Geography

1. (a) Grant positioned his troops at Pittsburg Landing, with the Tennessee River directly behind them, making retreat more difficult. (b) Before the battle began, Grant did not expect a Confederate attack so did not order his men to dig in, leaving them vulnerable. On the second day of the battle, Grant counter-attacked despite his defeat on the first day and was able to regain the ground his forces had lost.

2. Detailed maps of Civil War battles are available at the United States Military Academy Web site. Essays should note that at Vicksburg, Grant successfully conducted a siege of the city, whereas at Chattanooga, he successfully avoided becoming besieged; Grant used rivers in both battles to transport men and supplies. Similarly, the Overland Campaign ended with a successful siege of Petersburg. The Overland Campaign differed from the other battles in that until the fall of Petersburg, Grant was unable to attack directly his main objective (Richmond); Grant ordered several costly frontal attacks during the campaign.

3. (a) The Dominican Republic is in the Caribbean, part of an island (Hispaniola) that also includes the nation of Haiti. (b) Grant hoped that African Americans would be able to escape rampant violence and harrassment by angry white Southerners if they had the option of relocating to Santo Domingo. (c) Liberia was intended to be a haven for African Americans as well, but it was created before the abolition of slavery and was not intended to be annexed by the United States.

4. (a) Ulysses' family lived in an Ohio frontier community, an area that had been quickly settled and converted from wilderness. Most people did agricultural work, cultivating crops. As a young boy, Ulysses helped plow, haul wood, and process hides in his father's tannery. He enjoyed and was skilled at working with horses. In the Memoirs, he recalls that from age 11 to 17 he worked "breaking up the land, furrowing, ploughing corn and potatoes, bringing in the crops when harvested, hauling all the wood, besides tending two or three horses, a cow or two, and sawing wood for stoves, etc." He also travelled alone to Cincinnati, Ohio, Maysville, Kentucky, and Louisville, Kentucky, with horse and carriage. On one occasion, at age 15, he travelled home from Flat Rock, Kentucky, a distance of 70 miles, with an unbroken horse. (b) Students might reflect on which aspects of Ulysses' life are like theirs, and which are different.

History

1. (a) Students should explain their choices. (b) Cartoons should express a view without requiring additional explanation from the artist. (c) Explanations should reflect an understanding of the message of each cartoon.

2. Possible high points include: March 29, 1859 (when he freed his slave, William Jones); February 16, 1862 (victory at Fort Donelson); July 4, 1863 (victory at Vicksburg); April 9, 1865 (meeting with Lee at Appomattox); November 3, 1868 (election as President); November 5, 1872 (re-election as President); May 23, 1885 (first volume of memoirs goes to press). Possible low points include: April 6, 1862 (start of Battle of Shiloh); December 17, 1862 (orders expulsion of Jews from Tennessee); June 1-3, 1864 (Battle of Cold Harbor); September 24, 1869 (Black Friday); May 1, 1875 (Whiskey Ring uncovered); May 6, 1884 (collapse of firm of Grant and Ward).

3. If any students have particular difficulty gaining an outsider's perspective on their lives, you might encourage them to ask a close friend for suggestions.

Economics

1. Students should be encouraged to make both editorials as persuasive as possible.

2. Defenses of Grant could include the fact that he ordered the sale of government gold as soon as he became aware of Gould and Fisk's scheme. Criticisms of Grant could include his discussions with Gould and Fisk about government policy and his willingness to appoint Daniel Butterfield as assistant treasurer.

3. Students' oral presentations should reflect an understanding of the articles.