Baltimore Polytechnic Institute December 4, 2012 A/A.P. U.S. History Mr. Green

Objectives: The students will be able to compare and contrast employment opportunities between 21 st century America and Antebellum America by analyzing average mean wealth AP Focus The South in the antebellum period is dominated by the planter-slaveholder class, which comprises only a small percentage of the South’s white population—approximately two- thirds of southern whites own no slaves. So important is cotton to the South’s—and, some contend, the nation’s—economy that it is referred to as King Cotton. The life of freed slaves, while appreciably better than that of their enslaved brethren, is precarious. Freed slaves did not find a panacea to their problems and treatment in the North either.

CHAPTER THEMES The explosion of cotton production fastened the slave system deeply upon the South, creating a complex, hierarchical racial and social order that deeply affected whites as well as blacks. The economic benefits of an increasing production of cotton due to the cotton gin and slavery were shared between the South, the North, and Britain. The economics of cotton and slavery also led to bigger and bigger plantations, since they could afford the heavy investment of human capital.

Election and Decades Chart will be completed this week and submitted for a grade

Identify the highest paying jobs in the United States that are NOT associated with entertainment. To the best of your knowledge, identify the highest paying jobs in the United States during the antebellum period.

After students receive the list of occupations and the average mean wealth associated with each job, begin discussion What occupations make the most in Antebellum America and in the 21 st century America? What occupations made the most in Antebellum America and no longer garner a high salary? What occupations make the most currently in America and made nothing/did not exist in Antebellum America?

Define Social Mobility Define Economic Democracy

In groups of three through my choosing, you will complete the guided questions by analyzing the employment and salary data set. This should be complete by the end of the period.

Write a thesis statement which is based upon the statistical findings in these tables and answers the following: Did the advent of “Jacksonian Democracy” inaugurate an era of the common man characterized by high upward social mobility and economic democracy?

Read 1 st half of Chapter 17 Prepare for quiz on 1 st 10 pages of Chapter 17 Work on ID’s