Objectives
After completing this unit, students should be able to discuss the origins of war powers in the Constitution and examine several presidential decisions to use military force abroad. Students will describe the process involved in presidential decision-making by using modern examples. They will write an analysis of events surrounding the Tonkin Gulf incident in 1964 and evaluate the decisions made by President Johnson's Administration that led to their request for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. A discussion of the War Powers Act may involve the Senate debate and President Nixon's veto as examples of "checks" in the legislative process.
Analyzing documents across time will allow students to reach their own interpretation of these events and their significance. The goal is to get students to understand the process by which historians use declassified materials to understand how interpretations of events can be modified. Students should gain an appreciation for the historical process throughout this unit.
A Note on the Common Core Standards
Language Arts and Social Studies Standards emphasize analyzing, evaluating, and then critically writing about a historical piece by using evidence and information from the text. This kind of rigorous work aligns with college and work expectations. A great deal of time must be devoted to teaching students how to investigate and analyze historical writing before they can do it successfully on their own.
In a teacher-coach model, students will master the objectives through independent research and group discussion. Students will discover the meaning of a document through the words of its author, the point of view, and the directed audience. Students will examine the vocabulary of the text, discern how its arguments are constructed, and analyze what is or is not said in the document. Students will hone essays to include writing in various styles using information from the documents as evidence.
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