1. Before doing any research, I predict the three most highly ranked presidents in US history will be George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson. And the worst would be Richard Nixon.
2. The consistently top four ranked presidents have been Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry S. Truman have both gone between the five and six spots in the ranking.
3. From the data it seems that the last two spots on the survey have consistently seen Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan as the holders of those positions. The top 10 seem to stay fairly constant with the passing year even though the survey is being taken by many different people. In relation to other presidents, the recent presidents seem to be put in the middle of the pack not really standing out from one another.
4. The participants seem to be well educated all with affiliations to different and diverse college backgrounds. Many seem to be involved in modern day history and enjoy learning and growing their knowledge of the topic. Many of them have backgrounds and professions that focus on humanities. C-SPAN included this to show the people that are taking their surveys so that you can know the general participants and where they come from. If this would not have been included then questions would arise about is the data fabricated and if they were just asking random people on the street as a survey. I believe that the choice of survey participants does not include all educational backgrounds and focuses on professionals.
5.
Public Persuasion
Crisis Leadership
Economic Management
Moral Authority
International Relations
Administrative Skills
Relations with Congress
Vision / Setting an Agenda
Pursued Equal Justice For All
Performance Within Context of Times
6. C-SPAN weighted all 10 categories the same.
7. I would have Crisis Leadership as the top ranked because it is important to have a leader who is calm in the face of adversity, also known as having "ice in their veins". and Second I would rank Performance within context of times because it is important to realize that we are not in the same time period as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln's presidencies. And lastly I would rank Economic Management because money is very important in society and being able to improve the economic situation is critical.
8. My predictions were very close to the C-SPAN survey and this is because I based my judgement off of popular opinion so a survey should reflect the same thing back.
Part B
"On March 16 we celebrate the anniversary of James Madison's birthday. Madison, traditionally viewed as the Father of the United States Constitution, is also seen by many as a defender of open government. He once wrote, "[a] popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps, both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."1 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. In a similar vein, he asserted that "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge" is "the only Guardian of true liberty."
9. James Madison, one of the most influential figures in writing our Constitution was born on March 16, 1751. James Madison fought for his people and for the right that they had to acquire access to the documents that the Government possessed in order to assist in overseeing the public. James Madison believed that the ability to have the people know what was going on is imperative for the success of his country. Madison believed that if people do not have access to these things then a Government could never be run properly and would fail each and every time. Madison also believed that the only way to true freedom is through the advancement and availability of documents and books that the Government possesses for the people.
" . . . [K]nowledge of our own history is essential in the making of Americans. The reasons for this belief may be summed up under four main heads. History makes loyal citizens because memories of common experiences and common aspirations are essential ingredients in patriotism. History makes intelligent voters because sound decisions about present problems must be based on knowledge of the past. History makes good neighbors because it teaches tolerance of individual differences and appreciation of varied abilities and interests. History makes stable, well-rounded individuals because it gives them a start toward understanding the pattern of society and toward enjoying the artistic and intellectual productions of the past. It gives long views, a perspective, a measure of what is permanent in a nation’s life. "
10. Both statements seem to be getting at the same ideas such as knowledge is power. Both statements are also calling the reader to go out and attain this knowledge so that the country can be a better more stable and well rounded place. Both documents also allude to the fact that you must put in the time because you get out what you put in and even with the availability of history and government documents you must read these to further understand the context and deeper meaning.
In the AHA statement it focuses on history and how specifically the population, neighbors, voters, and individuals can benefit from the knowledge of history. In Madison's statement he talks about how the gaining of knowledge will effect the countries and not just the individuals like the AHA statement. He also talks about the presence of failure if this knowledge is not gained and studied and how that can lead to tragedy and brokenness of a country.
Part C
11. This year I have learned to paraphrase, hyperlink, summarize, avoid plagiarism, and check for source accuracy and reliability. In my blog post, 2.6 Philanthropy, I was able to successfully gather and hyperlink useful and academic sources that helped to prove the point of W. Barron Hilton who is a modern day philanthropist. Reliable information has been one of the key points that I have learned to gather and check for this year in US history and this is a skill that I will need to have with me for all of my classes going forward.
This year in US history has also had an emphasis on paraphrasing and summarizing such as the main differences and how to successfully do both of these because they are useful in many different situations. Before this year I had no idea that there was even a difference in the two, I thought you could use paraphrase and summarize interchangeably. Later on this year though I learned how to effectively use both of these skills to strengthen my research and writing for future classes in my career.
12. My favorite part of the film project was the exhibit because I was able to find really interesting artifacts/papers that directly related to the Hostage Crisis and the movie, Argo. I also really enjoyed getting to make my invitation even though it took quite a while to make because of the rips that I had to insert into the sides of the invitation. The guest list was also fun because I learned some new facts about a few of the people that were actually in the movie and the 6 hostages that were able to escape from Iran. I also really enjoyed making the menu because it didn't really have to be academic so I got to use really whatever I wanted and relate it to the movie in some fun or creative way. Finally, I also really enjoyed the in class write because I was able to get my thoughts down and really show what I had spent all of this time researching in class and at home. It was really cool to see the similarities and differences from the film to what actually happened.
13. I found Michaela's 2.10 Thinking Like a Historian blog post to be exceptional work. Although this was not one of the longer posts such as the in class write or essay posts I felt like it get all the necessary information in the post within the shortest amount of space. She did a very good job of only including useful information and following the directions to the tee. I believe this was good work because she included all of the information she needed and followed all of the directions that were given while making an informative and effective blog post on yellow journalism.
14. “I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!” - George W. Bush
This is inspirational to me because it was President Bush’s call to action and something that was said while on the actual remains and rubble from the 9/11 twin tower attack. It also was very inspirational because he decided to actually go to the site of the damage and see it first hand. Also, earlier I said that I would rank crisis leadership number one in the survey, well President Bush had to persevere through one of the toughest times as a leader of the U.S. and was able to empower his people successfully.
15.
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| I love this image of Americans raising the Flag at Iwo Jima because it perfectly encaptures the amount of pride, sacrifice, and hurt that went along in order to complete this seemingly easy task. |
