The Essence of the Presidency
By Gail Lindenberg

Overview  

Appropriate in high school or middle school social studies classes, this lesson can be used as a current events study of candidates during a presidential election year or as an alternative to a traditional presidential biography report.  Students will research the recorded statements of a presidential candidate or a former president and prepare a thoughtful anecdote which captures the values, beliefs and platforms they express in their statements.   A wall display assembled by the class will provide information about each candidate or president with an "essence quotation" to caption each portrait.

Objectives

Students will:

• Research the available documents of biography or current periodical literature
• Analyze the recorded quotations of the presidents or candidates
• Document their findings using appropriate citation format
• Write an anecdotal narrative explaining the background of the chosen quotation
• Prepare a vignette portrait of the president/candidate for wall display

• Research access (school or local library)
• Template or design for each president/candidate portrait.  Decide how  much wall or bulletin board space is available and limit each portrait size accordingly.  Pre-cut picture "frames" of construction paper cut to size would be one way to establish parameters of size for your students.
• The American President Website Biographies

Initial Motivation

1.  Find a portrait or silhouette of Abraham Lincoln.  Display the photo with the caption:  "He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help."

2.  As students enter the room, have a taped version playing of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."  (There is a CD version sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with a taped narration that relates the history of this song.)

3.  Have the students discuss possible interpretations of the quotation from Mr. Lincoln.

4.  Relate or have students read the following narrative anecdote:

The song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is played to a lively tune, which, many years ago, was a rousing camp song.  The tune itself has been sung with many variations on the lyrics.  One version uses the words:  "John Brown's body lies a moulderin' in the grave, John Brown's body lies a moulderin' in the grave, John Brown's body lies a moulderin' in the grave so pray for John Brown's soul."  The appealing tune over time in many ways, probably because it is catchy and repetitious which makes it easy to remember.
 
During the War Between the States, soldiers picked up the tune and used it as a marching song.  These soldiers, many of whom were young boys who knew they were heading away to bloody battlefields, wrote rather raunchy lyrics to the tune.  Julia Ward Howe stood on the steps of the capitol building and heard the song the soldiers sang.  She was upset at the phrases used and turned to the tall, gaunt gentleman standing by her said.  She said, "Why must young men march off to die with such obscenities on their lips?  There should be a song to sing that gives them hope and courage."  The gentleman turned to her and lifted his stovepipe hat.  His answer was gentle and soft in tone, yet typical of his spirit and view of life.  He said, "You are right, madam.  Why don't you write the song for them?"

And so at the suggestion of President Lincoln, Julia Ward Howe wrote the lyrics to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to the tune of the old camp song.  The song became the marching song for soldiers throughout the Civil War and is sung today in American churches and at patriotic events.  The story is so typical of Mr. Lincoln.  He could have ignored her complaint.  He could have taken it upon himself to chide the soldiers for their version of the tune which offended Mrs. Howe.  Instead, he suggested that she do something herself about the situation which gave her cause to complain.  The quotation of Mr. Lincoln's is illustrated by this anecdote as he says, "He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help."

Procedures

1.  After using the activity described in the above section titled INITIAL MOTIVATION divide the class into research teams.  Give each team a presidential candidate or past president to cover.  They are searching for essence quotations and illustrative stories that relate to the quotes they find.  They also need to find and copy a portrait of the president/candidate.

2.  Provide students with the parameters for wall display.  How big are the portraits to be?  How much space do they have for the essence quotation which will caption the portrait?  How much space do they have for the copy of the narrative anecdote? What other visual elements should be included?

3.  Allow time for research.

4. Students bring all possible "essence quotations" for group discussion and selection.  They should choose the one to be used for each of their candidates/presidents and decide how to approach the narrative anecdote writing.

5. Have students write the narrative anecdotes.  These can be team or individual writing assignments.  The stories should show the president/candidate in a light which reveals his beliefs and values as expressed in the chosen quotation.  For presidential candidates, the anecdote might relate to a political party or platform.  Each anecdote should include documentation of sources.

6. Grade and/or edit the anecdotes as a separate writing assignment.  Peer-editing is a possible method to be used, but the instructor should see each final copy before it is approved for wall display.  Collect the visuals and prepare for wall display.  As much as possible, students should be involved in the actual assemble and posting.

Assessment

Use the following list of criteria for assessing students.  Rate student performance in each area on a 1–10 point scale.

Visual Elements _____
Proper size _____
Neatness _____
Complete _____
Creatively packaged _____
Caption: appropriate to president/candidate _____
Narrative anecdote: illustrates the quotation _____
Strongly edited _____
Interesting _____
Well-told _____
General Elements _____
Accurate _____
On time _____
Individual effort _____
Team effort _____

Additional Resources

Taped music of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"

Herndon, William H., and Jesse W. Weik. Herndon. Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life. Edited by Paul Angle. New York: Da Capo Press, 1983.

Interdisciplinary Connections

This lesson could be part of an integrated English-Social Studies team plan.  It might also work well in a journalism class for school newspaper coverage of current candidates or as support for either mock elections of candidates or evaluation of past presidents.

Gail Lindenberg is a Humanities teacher at Nogales High School in California.