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Lesson Plans: Ohio History
Ohio - The Mother of Presidents
by Thomas Lyon
Objectives:
- Introduce students to the role of presidents in American history.
- Familiarize students with Ohio's contribution to the Oval Office.
- Develop critical thinking, research and analytical skills.
- Enhance writing skills.
Historical Background
There have been 43 presidents of the United States. Of these, eight Ohioans have occupied 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, more than from any other state. They are:
William Henry Harrison
9th President
Whig
1841
Ulysses Simpson Grant
18th President
Republican
1869-1877
Rutherford Birchard Hayes
19th President
Republican
1877-1881
James Abram Garfield
20th President
Republican
1881
Benjamin Harrison
23rd President
Republican
1889-1893
William McKinley
25th President
Republican
1897-1901
William Howard Taft
27th President
Republican
1909-1913
Warren Gamaliel Harding
29th President
Republican
1921-1923
Activities:
Students are to select a former president from Ohio and then research and produce a two to three page paper about an aspect of his presidency. The student may decide to select both William Henry Harrison and James A. Garfield because of their brief tenure as commander-in-chief. Harrison and Garfield served only 30 days and less than seven months respectively.
Some suggested topics are:
- an analysis of how the president exercised the executive powers enumerated in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution
- an evaluation of his foreign policy - accomplishments and failures
- an assessment of his domestic policy -- accomplishments and failures
- the principal challenges he was confronted with as chief executive
- a timeline of his presidency
- a comparison of his administration to that of President George Bush.
- identify and describe what traits made him an effective or ineffective
commander-in-chief.
- tour the James A. Garfield National Historic Site located in Mentor (for information call (440) 255-8722 or access www.nps.gov/jaga ). Write and deliver a report to their class.
- compare and contrast the challenge of being president in the twenty-first century to that confronted by the president you selected to research.
- opinion polls that evaluate presidential performance almost unanimously rank Abraham Lincoln as America's greatest chief executive. Compare and contrast the president you selected to Lincoln.
- review the administration(s) of one of the Ohio presidents, then draft a letter to a friend explaining why he/she should or should not support him.
Written Assignment:
- The paper is to be word-processed, double-spaced and two to three pages in length,
excluding topic and bibliographical pages
- Style - this includes formatting, documenting sources, etc. and should conform to guidelines outlined in the latest edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. To reference the MLA Handbook on-line you can access website: www.MLA.org. Papers must be stapled together when submitted.
Evaluation:
The paper should be graded on content, compliance with the guidelines listed in the assignment, spelling, grammar, typographical errors, etc.
Resources:
Books:
- Beschloss, Michael, Gen. Ed. American Heritage Illustrated History of the Presidents
- DeGregorio, William A. The Complete Book of United States Presidents, 1996
- Kane, Joseph N. Presidential Fact Book, 1999
- Kunhardt, Phillip B., Jr., Kunhardt, Philip B., III, Kunhardt, Peter W., The American President, 1999
- McPherson, James M., Gen. Ed., "To The Best of My Ability."
The Internet:
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