1908 Election
This unit, titled the "1908 Election" afforded the students the opportunity to construct their own opinions on the electoral process then and now. After being split into groups of their choosing, the students collaborated to to re-enact the election between William Howard Taft and William Jennings Bryan. This was a 5-day unit, conducted entirely in class, culminating on the last day with a mock election. Students were required to write speeches and deliver them in front of the class so as to sway the constituent groups (Immigrants, Farmers and Wealthy Elite) to vote for them. The emphasis, as evident by William Jennings Bryan winning in my class, was not on the historical accuracies of the actual election but on the electoral process as a whole.
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