
Alexander Hamilton
Teacher's Guide: Hints for the Active Learning Questions

Economics | History | Geography | Civics

  1. Students can find more information on the Fed and other economics issues at this Federal Reserve site.

  2. Students may want to consult the Census Bureau's annual Statistical Abstract or its Historical Statistics for relevant data.

Economics | History | Geography | Civics

  1. Since the candidates themselves were important issues, groups may want to make the candidates the subject of some of their bumper stickers. Also, as a follow-up activity, you might ask each student to come up with what he or she thinks would be an effective bumper-sticker slogan for the upcoming 2008 presidential campaign.

  2. A related question you may want to discuss as a class is: Given Hamilton's contempt for the game of popular politics, do you think he would be willing to run for president if he were alive today? And if not, do you think that suggests there is a problem with the way we elect presidents today?

Economics | History | Geography | Civics

  1. Possible topics for quiz questions include: the states that border D.C. (and the question of whether D.C. itself is a state), famous events such as D.C.'s capture by the British in 1814 or President Lincoln's assassination in 1865, and the function (and address) of the White House.

  2. In the second part of the activity, you might want to read the class this statement that historian Gordon Wood makes in the film: "Having come from the Caribbean, [Hamilton] had no sense of the kind of loyalty that, say, Jefferson had to Virginia, or even John Adams had to Massachusetts. . . . When [he] talked about 'my country,' Jefferson meant Virginia. Hamilton had none of this; he tended to think in terms of the United States."

Economics | History | Geography | Civics

  1. Students' examples of misconduct in public officials can concern acts that are legal (such as adultery) or illegal (such as driving while intoxicated), but in either case they should relate to the official's private life, not his or her professional performance.

  2. Groups may want to begin by thinking of a current example of a public dispute and try to think of a constructive way for the two persons involved to address it. Groups also should keep in mind the possibilities created by modern communications technology, including everything from text messaging to user-generated video online.

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Alexander Hamilton American Experience

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