Using ESSEX History is a three-year project to improve the quality of American History instruction in Essex County's middle schools and high schools through teacher seminars and summer institutes on the people, places and events of
Essex County, Massachusetts.

Rebecca Nurse Homestead

Field
Resources

Explore early settlement, maritime and industrial sites in Essex County.



Find out more..

Jan Maetzliger

Lesson
Plans

Developed by teachers using primary and field resources available here and throughout Essex County.

Find out more..

List of Import Tariffs from 19th Century

Primary
Resources

Documents, online here and available through our partners, for teaching any American History class.

Find out more..

Seminars and Institutes

The Fighting Founders
Political Conflict in the Early Republic

General Seminar Information
Application Deadline: October 17
  • Date: November3, 2006
  • Location: Hamilton Hall, Salem
  • Time:9AM - 3PM

    • www.hamiltonhall.org

  • Primary Resources
    • Saul Cornell
    • Professor of History
    • The Ohio State University


  • Address and Directions
  • From Route 128
  • When Routes 128 and 95 split, stay on Route 128 North to exit 26 (Lowell Street, Peabody, Salem). At the end of the exit ramp, turn right onto Lowell Street and continue straight for 2.6 miles (the route will take you through downtown Peabody). At the end of the road (at ASAP Drains), turn left onto Essex Street. At the first light, turn right onto Flint Street. Take the first left onto Chestnut Street.

  • Parking is available along Chestnut Street, despite the Resident Parking Only Signs

Bibliography

Discussion Questions

  1. Historians sometimes describe the period of the Articles of Confederation as a Critical Era. Based on these documents do you think this is an apt description and if so why?

  2. The Founders were well schooled in lessons of history, particularly the history of Rome. How did Rome and republican ideas shape the way the Founders viewed political life? How did it shape their response to post-war developments?

  3. What role did Shays's Rebellion play in the way the Founders thought about post-war life?

  4. What were the vices of the confederation according to James Madison?

  5. Why did Americans fear a standing army?

  6. What role did the militia play in American thinking in the Revolutionary era?

  7. Some scholars have described the Second Amendment as an individual right, others as a collective right, and some as neither. What do you think the Second Amendment means?

  8. What did the Second Amendment mean to Americans in the 1790s?

  9. Why did the case of Thomas Selfridge create such a furor?

  10. How do you account for the state of Pennsylvania almost taking up arms against the federal government over "a paltry sum" of money?


Using ESSEX History Themes

Using ESSEX History will address four core themes in American history. These four themes are listed below. Teachers will find materials that relate to specific topics linked to the appropriate heading. Any subjects that relate to more than one theme will be linked to all of the appropriate headings.