April Apprentice

April 2018 Apprentice

Mexican American War and Causes of the Civil War

Study/Learn

TAKE NOTES IN YOUR COMMON PLACE BOOK ON THE FOLLOWING THINGS:

1.  Watch the following 2 videos on the Texas Revolution & the Mexican American War:

• Texas Revolution (3 min)
• Mexican American War (2 min)
• BONUS VIDEO:  Remember the Alamo (3 min)

2.  Watch the following 3 videos on the causes of the Civil War

• Causes part 1 (15 min)
• Causes part 2 (15 min)
• 4 Causes of the Civil War (10 min)

3.  Put the following terms on your note cards from the Dictionary or Cultural Literacy:

• Abolitionism
• John Brown
• Missouri Compromise
• Secession
• Nat Turner
• Underground Railroad
• Harriet Tubman
• Frederick W. Douglass
• Dred Scott Decision
• Compromise of 1850
• Civil War

4.  Print out the following maps and paste them in your common place book:

• Confederate and Union States
• Election of 1860
• Candidates in the Election of 1860
• Where America got it's land by 1853

5.  Watch this video " Tim Ballard, The American Covenant (71 min)

Know/Understand

Vanguardians…

This week we are preparing to go to war… The Civil War.  
You have each been assigned either to the Union or the Confederacy.
 President Lincoln is coming to hear what you have to say as he ponders
the decision before him and our Nation’s fate.  It is your job to represent
what is going on in your state and to persuade Mr. President to your side.

Union       - NORTH     Confederate  - SOUTH

Elena	New York	Isa	South Carolina
Tara	Maine	Mack	Virginia
Jayson	Pennsylvania	Jaykob	Mississippi
Paige	Kansas	Kylee	Tennessee
Caleb	California	Anika	Alabama
Jacob H	Ohio	Daisy	Georgia
Megan	Missouri	Chris	Texas
Sarah	Oregon/	Anthony	Arkansas
Sam	Michigan	Jessica	North Carolina
Kate	Massachusetts	Luke	Louisiana
Benjamin	Rhode Island	Amanda	Florida

Additional resource for Reasons for Secession...

https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/reasons-secession

Become/Serve

In Oct 1961 Elder Ezra Taft Benson said, "The Lord revealed to the prophet Nephi that He established the Gentiles on this land to be a free people forever, that if they were a righteous nation and overcome the wickedness and secret abominations which would arise in their midst, they would inherit the land forever.  But on the other hand, if the Gentiles on this land reject the word of God and conspire to overthrow liberty and the Constitution then their doom is fixed and they '...shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant.' "

In 1972, he said "We honor our founding fathers of this republic...because their devotion to correct principles overshadowed their devotion to popularity, party, or personality.  God raised up these patriotic partners to perform their mission, and he called them “wise men.” (See D&C 101:80.)  And in 1976 he said, "I thank God for the sacrifices and efforts made by these Founding Fathers, whose efforts have brought us the blessings of political liberty and economic prosperity we have today. Their lives should be reminders that we are the blessed beneficiaries of a liberty earned by great sacrifices of property, reputation, and life."

And in 1987 he asks: "Have we read The Federalist papers? Are we reading the Constitution and pondering it? Are we aware of its principles? Are we abiding by these principles and teaching them to others? Could we defend the Constitution? Can we recognize when a law is constitutionally unsound? Do we know what the prophets have said about the Constitution and the threats to it?  As Jefferson said, 'If a nation expects to be ignorant and free … it expects what never was and never will be' (Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, 6 Jan. 1816)."

In a BYU Devotional on 17 September 1987, Elder L. Tom Perry said:

"We, as a people, have been the recipients of some of God’s most choice blessings, and I believe they came only as a result of the dedication and sacrifice of our forefathers. We need, at this time and in this place, to follow the counsel of yet another great American, Abraham Lincoln, who said:

'Let every American, every level of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity [support the Constitution.] Let . . . it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling-books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And in short, let it become the political religion of the nation...and in particular, establish a reverence for the Constitution.'

I love this great land of the free. I always feel a great feeling of pride within my very soul whenever the flag passes by. I was taught this as a young child when Dad would always make us get out of the car when the American flag passed by in a parade. These feelings have only increased over the years as I stood as a young Boy Scout in early-morning flag-raising ceremonies and pledged allegiance to the flag each day throughout the years I attended school.

Yes, and there have been times on foreign soil when after a battle I stood and, in dirty dungarees and with a rifle in hand, saluted our flag as it was raised to the top of a handmade flagpole.

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand 
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our Trust!”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
[Hymns, 1985, no. 340]

May God bless each of us with a desire to gain a real understanding of the blessings granted to us under this great Constitution of the United States of America. And may we have the strength and the courage to defend and uphold it for our generation and for all who follow after us."

This year you have had an in depth study of American History.  Where did America come from?  Why are we here?  What purpose did God have in preserving this land and declaring it a land of liberty forever?  

In order to fulfill the mission we have all been sent here to do, that of maintaining our liberties under God, we mush have a in depth knowledge of the Founding of America, the Founding Fathers and the events that brought us to where we are today.  We must know the stories of God's hand in every step of the process.  Because how do we maintain something we don't know anything about?  How do we preserve something we don't understand?

Think over the entire year of American History and the thoughts and feelings you've had as you'e learned, heard stories and connected with our Founding Fathers.  For 20 minutes, record you thoughts and testimony of America.  What does America mean to you and how will you commit to fight for your God-given liberty?