History Tech Podcast: Episode Two – Lincoln the movie and historical thinking

I got the chance to watch the Lincoln movie a week or so ago. Loved it. Who would have thought? A movie about constitutional law? Interesting?

But great casting, great costuming, and great performances, especially by Daniel Day Lewis, create a great movie. My wife was concerned about the length and walked out afterwards praising the movie. Even my daughter, who is not the history geek that her dad is, said:

The movie helped me see that Lincoln is an actual person, not just some historical figure in some textbook. He played with his kids while trying to run the country. I thought that was cool.

And I learned more about the process of how laws are passed and so I plan to go to a great college and become a lawyer, supporting my father in his quest to play every golf course in the state of Hawaii.

Okay. I added that last bit. But she really did enjoy how a very important piece of American history was told in an engaging and interesting way.

But how to use the movie in the classroom?

Lincoln movie and White House floor plans

There’s more to this weekend than simply watching the Kansas City Chiefs go 1-9.

It’s Lincoln weekend. As in the movie Lincoln. As in Daniel Day Lewis as Honest Abe pushing through the 13th amendment Lincoln. You know . . . the movie for History geeks Lincoln.

It’s a big deal. Well . . . it’s a big deal for me. I’ve always been a Lincoln fan. One of the greatest American presidents. I love the Civil War period and, wait for it . . . I was born on February 12, the same birth date as Lincoln.

So. A big deal.

Obviously loving the story and the content of the movie but I’m also interested in the sidebar sorts of stuff. And I’ve run across a variety of interesting things. One of the most interesting for me is a Lincoln website that showcases that floor plan and history of the Lincoln White House.

Lincoln, “a new birth of freedom” and EDSITEment

November 19, 1863. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Perhaps 20,000 people had gathered to hear former Massachusetts Senator and  Governor Edward Everett deliver a speech dedicating the cemetery at the Gettysburg battlefield. The dedication had been postponed a month to allow Everett more time to prepare his remarks.

The weather was mild for November, windy with a few sprinkles during the afternoon.

The Cemetery Dedication Committee had, as a courtesy, also invited United States President Abraham Lincoln to deliver “a few appropriate remarks” following Everett.

And while Everett delivered the first address at Gettysburg, it is the two minute, 10 sentence speech by Lincoln that we remember. Lincoln’s “appropriate remarks” should be required reading for every student who walks through our doors. Lincoln’s short but profound speech embodies the core of American democracy – equality, freedom, a government by and for the people.

EDSITEment has developed a four lesson unit that focuses on Lincoln’s vision for a strong Union that worked to ensure these core values. After completing this unit, students will have a better understanding of why Lincoln revered the union of the American states as “the last best, hope of earth.” You’ll find everything you need – handouts, primary sources, photos, teacher instructions

It’s a perfect fit for the next few weeks between now and November 19th.

You might also want to check out:

• OurDocs – Gettysburg Address
• The Lincoln Log
• Lincoln at Gettysburg
• Library of Congress – Gettysburg Address

Lincoln’s pockets

Donated to the Library of Congress in 1937 and labeled “Do Not Open,” the box sat in the office of the Librarian of Congress for almost 40 years. Finally, in 1975, Librarian Daniel Boorstein untied the string and pulled off the brown wrapping paper.

Inside?

Twelve items – including several pairs of glasses, newspaper clippings, a pocketknife and a handkerchief.

On April 15, 1865, the day Abraham Lincoln died, someone went through his pockets and placed the contents into a box and tied it with string. The box found its way Robert Lincoln and eventually to Robert’s daughter, Mary Lincoln Isham. She never opened the box and in 1937, dropped it off at the Library of Congress. This was the box Boorstein opened.

Yeah . . . so?

So . . . the contents of Lincoln’s pockets gives us a engaging tool for teaching kids about the historical process. Use a great lesson plan like this one from the Library of Congress to hook kids into asking questions and solving problems. Watch a short video of an archivist describing the contents or simply lead your kids in a discussion of how what we carry help define who we are.

Whichever activity you use, lessons like this give kids a chance to actually mess with the stuff of history, not just the facts.

George and Abe, presidents, leaders and poets

Okay . . . simple exercise.

Make a list of words that come to mind when you think of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Ready? Go.

Mmm . . .

• First in the hearts of his countrymen
• President
• General
• Great Emancipator
• Leader
• Ford’s Theater
• Wooden teeth

And now, one I would never have added:

• Poet

I was over at the PBS site and ran across a post that mentions the poetic abilities of George and Abe. Had no idea.

Lord Thomas Fairfax sent 17 year-old George Washington west of the Blue Ridge Mountains on a 1749 surveying trip. Apparently George sorely missed a certain young lady during his trip and spent some time penning love poems to Frances Alexander in his journal:

From your bright sparkling Eyes, I was undone;
Rays, you have, more transparent than the sun,
Amidst its glory in the rising Day,
None can you equal in your bright array;
Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind;
Equal to all, but will to none Prove kind,
So knowing, seldom one so Young, you’l Find
Ah! woe’s me that I should Love and conceal,
Long have I wish’d, but never dare reveal,
Even though severely Loves Pains I feel;
Xerxes that great, was’t free from Cupids Dart,
And all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart.

Did ya notice the unfinished acrostic? Wonder if Martha ever got one.

Abe’s foray into poetry was a bit different.

In September 1858, Lincoln was in Winchester, Illinois in the middle of his Senate campaign against Stephen A. Douglas. A young girl named Rosa Haggard, the daughter of Lincoln’s innkeeper, asked him for an autograph. His response:

To Rosa–
You are young, and I am older;
You are hopeful, I am not–
Enjoy life, ere it grow colder–
Pluck the roses ere they rot.

Teach your beau to heed the lay–
That sunshine soon is lost in shade–
That now’s as good as any day–
To take thee, Rosa, ere she fade.

Go ahead, admit it. You’re looking at the two giants of American history a bit differently now, aren’t you?

They were poets and you didn’t even know it.