History- Critical Reflection Journal

The goal of the Critical Reflection Journal is a chance for you to purposely reflect on the connections, meanings, and significance of historical evidence that the class is engaged in each week. At the most basic level, the journal represents a way for each student to engage with the themes, stories, and evidence that might be used to answer the Project Period Questions. Each week will deal with a different set of questions for you to reflect on, whether students are asked to reflect on a particular reading, a historical source, or possible present implications. Note: It is recommended that you compose your reflection on paper or in a separate text editor of some kind, THEN copy-and-pasting that text into the text box for this assignment. Web forms, like this, are notorious for bugs and glitches which can erase precious writing in an instant with no way to get it back. Writing outside of this form ensures that you don't lose that work. [Requirements]: Given that we are exploring the three big blocks of our time period, it might be appropriate to begin with the Impending Crisis and the buildup to the civil war. The 1850s was a pivotal decade, as we have mentioned, in sparking the Civil War. Franklin Pierce, President of the United States in the early 1850s plays a role that is often little know. Read or listen to this podcast - Presidential Podcast, "Franklin Pierce: Rolling off the Tracks" from the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2016/04/10/franklin-pierce-rolling-off-the-tracks/) -- or read the transcript (upload file). [Prompt]: Summarize the argument the podcaster and guests make about Franklin Pierce’s role in sparking the Civil War. Does this change the way that you think about the Civil War, or were you surprised by what you heard/read?