8th Grade Newspaper Project

In groups of 4 or less, you will be creating a newspaper that covers people and events from 1789 to 1860. We will be discussing some of these in class over the next few days, so you are to pay attention and write down information you want to investigate.

This will be written as if it were a primary source. Be creative. You must cover events over the entire range we’re talking about.

Grading: Each newspaper should contain at least one article written by each member of the group, an advertisement, a cartoon, and a picture. Each is worth 10 points. For the remaining 30 points, you can use anything that might have appeared in a newspaper (sports, plays, classifieds, etc.).

Article 1 – 10 points
Article 2 – 10 points
Article 3 – 10 points
Article 4 – 10 points
Picture – 10 points
Advertisement – 10 points
Cartoon – 10 points
Element 8 – 10 points
Element 9 – 10 points
Element 10 – 10 points

Schedule: We will begin each class with a brief lecture on some topic of great importance. We’re talking life-changing. Actually it’s stuff we need to know for the rest of the year. Pay attention during this stuff. After that, we will have time to work on the project.

We will have World Book Encyclopedias, and well as numerous other books available to you. We also have two computers in the back of the classroom for student use. You are not to print any websites.

You must use your time wisely. Work with your group and do not distract any other group. Your grade or time during lunch will reflect your behavior during this activity.

Friday, October 2nd – Early Political Parties – Work on Project
Monday, October 5th – The War of 1812 / Andy Jackson – Work on Project
Tuesday, October 6th – Whigs, Tyler Too, and the West – Work on Project
Wednesday, October 7th – A Peculiar Institution – Work on Project
Thursday, October 8th – Conspiracies and Morals – Work on Project
Friday, October 9th – Project Work Day – DUE AT THE END OF CLASS

Topics that might interest you: Use this list in the event you don’t know what to investigate. You can cover anything not on this list as long as it took place between 1789 and 1860.

The War of 1812
Alexander Hamilton
Thomas Jefferson
John C. Calhoun
Preston Brooks
Cherokee
Andrew Jackson
Abolitionism
William Lloyd Garrison and the Liberator
Nat Turner
John Brown
Aaron Burr
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln
Tippecanoe and Tyler Too
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
John Adams
Federalists
Anti-Federalists
Whigs
Free-Soil Party
Whiskey Rebellion
XYZ Affair
Alien and Sedition Acts
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
Thomas Jefferson’s Academical Village
Nullification Crisis
Trail of Tears
Marbury v. Madison
Louisiana Purchase
Lewis and Clark
Henry Clay
Missouri Compromise
Bloody Kansas
Adams-Onis Treaty
John Marshall
Second Bank of the United States
National Road
Eli Whitney
Manifest Destiny
Texas
Mexican-American War
Zachary Taylor
Gadsen Purchase
Great Compromise of 1850
Stephen Douglas
Frederick Douglass
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Dredd Scott Decision
James Madison and Hypochondria
Washington’s Farewell Address
“Midnight Appointments”
Battle of New Orleans
John Quincy Adams
Cotton Gin
Martin Van Buren / “Martin Van Ruin”
Worcester v. Georgia
“South Carolina Exposition and Protest”
Lyman Beecher
Charles Grandison Finney
“Burned Over District”
Nathanial Hawthorne
Herman Melville
James Fennimore Cooper
Orestes Brownson
Margaret Fuller
Shakers
Oneida Community
Pacifism
Peculiar Institution
Stephen Austin
Sam Houston
Wilmot Proviso
James K. Polk – “Napoleon of the Stump”
“54” 40’ or Fight”
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Founding of the Republican Party
Democratic-Republicans
“Era of Good Feelings”
John C. Fremont
James Buchanan
CrittendonSylvester Graham