Agrarianism
Alexander Hamilton
Alien & Sedition Acts
Anti-federalists
Bank of the United States
Bill of Rights
Confederation Congress
Democrat-Republicans
Federalist Papers
Federalists
Freeholder
Gabriel’s Rebellion
Mulatto
Northwest Ordinances (1784, 1785, 1787)
Oral History
Proportional representation
Republican motherhood
Sally Hemmings
Sectionalism
Shay’s Rebellion
Thomas Jefferson
Three-fifths compromise
Whiskey Rebellion
Northwest Territory
1. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker, transcription or digital copy of original
Who was Benjamin Banneker and why did Thomas Jefferson write this letter to him in August, 1791?
What does the letter tell us about the attitudes of white America on the subject of race at the end of the eighteenth century?
What does it tell us about Jefferson's own attitudes on this subject at that time? Are there any clues in this letter about the politics of slavery in the United States? Explain.
2. The Getting Word project at Monticello (Browse through this site)
Identify the two main schools of thought about Jefferson and
Sally Hemmings. What evidence have
people counted on, or excluded? Why?
3. Thomas Jefferson to Charles L’Enfant, on planning the city of Washington DC
4. Plan of the City of Washington by Charles L’Enfant, 1792
What kind of a capital city did the founders envision? To whom did the founders (like Jefferson) turn for planning models?
What does the layout of Washington say about the kind of government the founders had in mind?
What does it say about the relationship they envisioned between the federal government and the states? The American people?
