Week 1 - First Settlements 1. You are an Aztec warrior. Write a prayer song to your gods concerning the Spanish invasion. 2. You are a Spanish Conquistador. Confess your role in an Incan slaughter to a Spanish priest. 3. You are English newspaper editor. Write an obituary for your readers about Pocahontas after her death in England. 4. You are a Puritan Separatist. Create a pamphlet for new converts attacking the Church of England. 5. You are guilty of witchcraft in Salem. Compose your last will and testament to your family concerning your verdict. 6. You are Nathaniel Bacon. Deliver a speech to your followers on the injustices suffered before burning Jamestown. 7. You are Pope, leading the Pueblo Revolt. Explain, in a secret message, your plan and reasons for attacking the Spanish. 8. You are an English Anglican minister. Write a sermon explaining your reasons for condemning Puritan Separatists. 9. You are Squanto, a Native American. As an old man, recount your adventures to your children before meeting Pilgrims. 10. You are you, a high school student learning American history. Write a note to a friend concerning what you’ve learned.

Week 2 - Colonial America 1. You are a young Benjamin Franklin. Write a witty and politically astute editorial concerning an important event or issue. 2. You are an indentured servant. In your diary, list the advantages and disadvantages of your decision to enter servitude. 3. You work as a carpenter’s apprentice. Your master has a long delivery to make. Describe the tasks he left you to finish. 4. You are William Penn. Write the preface to your autobiography. Explain your motives for conversion and settlement. 5. You are Roger Williams. In a propaganda pamphlet to Puritans, explain the benefits of tolerance and peace with natives. 6. You are a colonial smuggler. In a letter to your buyers, detail a list of contraband, prices and methods for delivery. 7. You are Jonathan Edwards. You write an advice column for your parishioners each Saturday. Draft next week’s column. 8. You are a sailor on a slave trading ship. In your pastime, you paint and draw. Draw images you see each day on ship. 9. You are Robert Rogers. In a speech to your men the night before the raid on the Abanake, motivate and inspire them. 10. You are a captured West African tribal chief. Describe a conversation you have on a slave ship with a tribal villager.

Week 3 - Pre-Revolutionary America 1. You are one of the Paxton Boys. In a eulogy, explain your frustrations concerning life and hardships on the frontier. 2. You are John Adams (Boston Massacre). Using the images of Paul Revere, explain how propaganda obscures the truth. 3. You are King George III. In conversation with your aides, explain your fears concerning an independent American nation. 4. You are a British soldier at Lexington. Tell your grandchildren why and how you fought on that fateful day in April, 1775. 5. You are a Loyalist farmer. Write a petition to convince your neighbors that it is in their interests to remain loyal and fight. 6. You are Thomas Jefferson. In a letter to Voltaire, explain how Enlightenment ideas can support the injustices of slavery. 7. You are British General Thomas Gage. To your subordinates, explain your battle plans for the invasion of New York City. 8. You are a member of the Sons of Liberty. In a political cartoon, explain how and why you are fighting against England. 9. You are the wife of a patriot militiaman. While spinning with other women, explain your feelings regarding the revolution. 10. You are a Massachusetts slave. Smuggle a letter to your wife in South Carolina explaining how your life is in the north.

Week 4 - Revolutionary War 1. You are Thomas Paine. In a French jail, years later, write to President Jefferson explaining your contributions to America. 2. You are George Washington’s personal slave. In a gospel song, tell why you fight with your master against the English. 3. You are Deborah Sampson. Write a children’s book for your granddaughter explaining what it was like to fight as a man. 4. You are a poor farmer. At dinner one night with neighbors, explain which side you think will improve life for your family. 5. You are a Hessian prisoner of war. After sharing some whiskey, explain to your American captor why you came to fight. 6. You are a Seneca warrior. Draw your life story in pictograms on a sacred deer hide. Emphasize choices and outcomes. 7. You are Joseph Brandt. Describe to the British your conversation with President Washington on Mohawk land rights. 8. You are a French soldier. Describe your interview with a Newport reporter concerning the details of weapons used then. 9. You are an American privateer commander. After setting sail, explain to your officers how discipline will be handled. 10. You are Abigail Adams. Explain to your grandchildren why you never organized women’s protests for greater rights.

Week 5 - Articles of Confederation 1. You are a friend of Daniel Shays. Write a letter to the editor of a Boston newspaper describing your role in the rebellion. 2. You are a land speculator. Draw detailed surveys of western land in Kentucky and divide it into plots for sale to settlers. 3. You are an Oneida clan mother. With the exchange of wampum belts, explain why you grant land to Governor Clinton. 4. You are a Confederate Congressman. In a report, explain how you intend to organize a government after the war. 5. You are the daughter of an American Loyalist. In Halifax, write to your betrothed in Boston concerning your future. 6. You are a descendent of Sally Hemings. At a convention, you meet a descendant of Jefferson. Describe the scene. 7. You are Daniel Boone. Explain to a frontier settler your techniques for trailblazing and tracking through the wilderness. 8. You are John Adams, Ambassador to Great Britain. In your notes, describe each opponent in your treaty negotiations. 9. You are James Madison at the Constitutional Convention. In your journal, explain some of the ideas not adopted & why. 10. You are Patrick Henry, an anti-federalist. Put all of the reasons that the Constitution should be rejected into a song.

Week 6 - US Constitution 1. You are a Quaker abolitionist. In a love letter to your partner, explain why you can’t live in a world with slavery. 2. You are Alexander Hamilton. You’re in an argument with George Mason at the convention. Explain your points in detail. 3. You are an anti-federalist newspaper editor speaking out against ratification. Create an advertisement to meet & protest. 4. You are a recent immigrant to the US in 1787. Writing home, describe the differences between the US and your country. 5. You are a wealthy colonial merchant. Your friend was at the convention. Have him explain how the changes benefit you. 6. You are the child of a plantation slave and master. How does your mixed heritage help or hurt you in the new gov’t? 7. You are an Iroquois chief in court defending your rights to lease your own land. Give a speech explaining your position. 8. You are in debtor’s prison and just learned of the Bill of Rights. Write a letter pleading your case to the new gov’t. 9. You are historian, Charles Beard. In a speech to other historians, explain your theory on economic interpretations. 10. You are a colonist legislator on the first Moon colony. Explain in an email to the UN your new moon constitution.

Week 7 - Bill of Rights 1. You are waiting on Death Row for a new trial. Can you vote? Should you? State your position in the prison newspaper. 2. You are an illegal immigrant and victim of a violent assault. Do you go to the police or not? Describe the pros and cons. 3. You are an American soldier blogging from the front lines. Write a blog entry about the freedom of speech during war. 4. You have refused to answer a critical question during a trial. Explain your reasons why to your lawyer during a recess. 5. You are an outspoken anti-American Muslim. As a US citizen, do you have the right to publicly criticize your government? 6. You are a high school student refusing a random drug test. Design a t-shirt explaining which right protects you and why. 7. You are an anti-war activist monitored by the FBI. Should the gov’t limit rights in order to increase security? Explain. 8. You are a captured enemy combatant in Guantanamo Bay. Should you have protection under US or international law? 9. You are a pregnant teen seeking an abortion. Which amendment protects your right and do you foresee it changing? 10. You are a member of a private militia group. Can you train in the US freely after the attacks on 9/11? Why or why not?

Week 8 - Washington, Adams and Jefferson 1. You are General Anthony Wayne. Describe your motives to a reporter for destroying Native American tribal land. 2. You are a Pennsylvanian whiskey rebel. Create a label for your whiskey bottles explaining your resistance to the tax. 3. You are the French minister, Talleyrand. Defend yourself in a brief debate with American diplomats over bribery. 4. You are William Clark’s slave, York. Write your own brief account of exploring Native American land as a slave. 5. You are Benjamin Banneker. A banquet is held near the end of your life. In a speech, recount your accomplishments. 6. You are an immigrant in America today. For a school project, design a poster board regarding the Alien Acts of 1798. 7. You are Citizen Genet. Write a patriotic song that rallies Americans to join the French Revolution against the monarchy. 8. You are a British navy captain. Explain your ship’s austere rules and punishments to newly captured American sailors. 9. You are Sacajawea. Compose and perform a Native American dance symbolizing her memories and feelings. 10. You are Alexander Hamilton. In a Congressional speech, explain why you believe helping the wealthy helps America.

Week 9 - Madison, Monroe and Adams 1. You are a slave trader in Louisiana. Design an advertisement to bounty hunters to hire their services capturing runaways. 2. You are a Russian fur trader. Write a letter back home to your son explaining your journeys exploring the Pacific coast. 3. You are a wounded British light infantry soldier. Explain to your superiors how Jackson defeated you in New Orleans. 4. You are a Cherokee warrior. After Horseshoe Bend, explain to your tribe why you helped Jackson defeat the Creek. 5. You are an artist and friend of Oliver Perry. From Perry’s descriptions to you, paint the naval battle on Lake Erie. 6. You are Francis Scott Key’s grandson. Years later, you’ve discovered three first drafts of the Star Spangled Banner. 7. You are Dolly Madison. In a newspaper interview, answer the question of why your husband didn’t defend the capitol. 8. You are Rachel Jackson’s best friend. Describe her last minutes with her husband and their conversation together. 9. You are Simon Bolivar’s aide de camp. Writing to your wife, describe your military campaign against Spanish rule. 10. You are a white French spy in Haiti. Describe, to your superiors, the personal background of Toussaint L’Overture.

Week 10 - Age of Jackson 1. You are Peggy Eaton. Describe your thoughts concerning John Calhoun’s wife and the political fallout in your diary. 2. You are John C. Calhoun. In a speech to a South Carolina convention, defend the idea of nullification to the 1828 tariff. 3. You are a political cartoonist. Describe in three panels, the fight over President Jackson’s Force Bill in South Carolina. 4. You are Andrew Jackson’s bodyguard. Describe to your son the scene of the attempted assassination of the president. 5. You are the Bank of the United States. Write a eulogy for yourself explaining your life’s accomplishments and failings. 6. You open a ‘wildcat bank’ in Kentucky. Write an advertisement in the local newspaper for new customers and loaners. 7. You are a defense lawyer. Record your prepared questions and anticipated cross examination of Samuel Worchester. 8. You are Sequoya. Explain and draw each Cherokee letter of your new alphabet. Write a sentence in your new script. 9. You are Martin Van Buren’s grocer. Explain to the president how the depression is affecting your life and business. 10. You are Nat Turner’s best friend. On the night before a raid on a white plantation, describe your conversation with him.

Week 11 - Slavery in America 1. You are Angelina Grimke. Write a letter to the leaders of Europe concerning their help in ending American slavery. 2. You are William Lloyd Garrison. Speaking before a crowd in Boston, explain why you are about to burn the Constitution. 3. You are John Brown’s son. While surrounded and outnumbered at Harper’s Ferry, explain your last talk with your father. 4. You are Harriet Beecher Stowe. Explain to your editor your three alternate endings to the book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 5. You are Abraham Lincoln. In a response to an editorial, explain specifically why you think slavery should continue. 6. You are Mary Chestnut’s slave. Explain why you don’t rebel or flee from your mistress’s plantation to a fellow slave. 7. You are a Southern minister. Use four selections from the Christian Bible to justify your support for slavery in the South. 8. You are directing a movie about Frederick Douglass. In your screenplay, describe in detail his famous July 4th speech. 9. You are Sojourner Truth’s great granddaughter. In a chest you uncover some secret lost letters. What do they say? 10. You are Henry David Thoreau. Explain, in a conversation with Emerson, why you eulogized John Brown as a hero.

Week 12 - Sectional Debate 1. You are Henry Clay. In your diary explain why you believe in the emancipation of slaves even while you own them. 2. You are a dock worker in Charleston, South Carolina. Explain to your son Calhoun’s position on nullification. 3. You are Daniel Webster. Defend your position on the Compromise of 1850 to an angry crowd in a passionate speech. 4. You are a Mexican living in the Arizona territory. Writing home, explain your position concerning the Wilmot Proviso. 5. You are Sam Houston’s Cherokee wife. Explain in a speech to the people of Austin, Texas why the Cherokee own slaves. 6. You are James Polk. Write a set of confidential orders for John Slidell to take to Mexico City to negotiate for land. 7. You are Preston Brooks. Waving your cane in the air, explain why you attacked Charles Sumner in a public meeting. 8. You are Eli Whitney’s biographer. Do you consider him guilty to the expansion of slavery or not? Write your summary. 9. You are a political cartoonist that has been hired to symbolize a ‘border ruffian’ for publication. How do you draw it? 10. You have been hired to smuggle guns to Kansas for ‘free soilers’. Describe in your journal your travel & adventure.

Week 13 - Economics and Industry 1. You are a Lowell mill girl. On your first day in your dormitory, you find a set of rules & instructions. Read them. 2. You are a New England farmer. On a ledger, compare cost and benefits for industrializing in the early 19th century. 3. You are Cyrus McCormick. Draw out your detailed design blueprints for your mechanical reaper and thresher. 4. You are Robert Fulton’s assistant. Record your private meeting with Napoleon and his reaction to the new steamship. 5. You are an Irish immigrant laying track in Ohio. Painting is your pastime. Paint pictures of your labor creating the rails. 6. You are an Irish Catholic priest recently arrived in Boston. In your diary, describe your first mass and your parish. 7. You are an accountant for a plantation owner. Mathematically determine how many slaves can be bought & sold. 8. You are Francis Cabot Lowell. Investors are curious about your ideas to build factories. In a speech, convince them. 9. You are Samuel Morse. Describe your opinions concerning the dangers of immigration, but do so in Morse code. 10. You are a young female union organizer. In a letter back home to your sister, describe your first strike and its impact.

Week 14 - Age of Reform 1. You are a physically disabled boy. Tell your mother, in a conversation, of the rumors heard of a special hospital for you. 2. You are a prison warden. Write an official protest of the reforms suggested that turn your prison into a penitentiary. 3. You are a Mormon convert. In a letter to your brother in Boston, describe the basic tenets of the Church of Latter Day Saints. 4. You are Charles Finney. Write a newspaper advertisement encouraging Southern women to come to a revival meeting. 5. You are a frontier school teacher. Write an appropriate lesson for students studying Latin, mathematics and history in 1834. 6. You make and sell whiskey. Bursting into a temperance meetinghouse, state your case to the crowd why alcohol is not a public evil. 7. You are a runaway slave in Canada. Draw a detailed map describing your harrowing escape from a Southern plantation in Atlanta. 8. You are a lyceum participant. After hearing Ralph Waldo Emerson read passages from Self Reliance, create questions for discussion. 9. You are Lucy Stone. In your valedictorian address to Oberlin graduates, explain your position on male dominance & women’s rights. 10. You are Elizabeth Cady Stanton. In a conversation with your great-granddaughter, explain why you organized Seneca Falls.

Week 15 - Native Americans 1. You are a Mohawk clan mother. Using a ceremonial dance, tell the story of your people and their history before Europeans came. 2. You are young Red Creek warrior. Speak your ‘coming of age’ oath before the council of elders concerning your duty to the tribe. 3. You are a Cherokee elder. Give a message to a runner to tell your people about the outcome of the Worchester v. Georgia case. 4. You are a Christian Chickasaw. Tell your husband about the religious lessons you have learned from a preacher in the nearby fort. 5. You are a reporter covering Tecumseh’s war. After meeting him, write a 500 word description of the Shawnee war leader. 6. You are Joseph Brant. Compose the introduction to your autobiography by examining your life’s accomplishments and their impact. 7. You are Governor George Clinton. Write down the notes of your meeting with land speculators who want to acquire Iroquois land. 8. You are Chief Justice John Marshall. Write a personal letter to President Andrew Jackson about the consequence of his actions. 9. You are Meriwether Lewis. In your diary, write down notes on the reunion you had with William Clarke years after your expedition. 10. You are Sacagawea’s great granddaughter. Explain detailed excerpts of a secret diary recently found written by Sacagawea herself.

Week 16 - Manifest Destiny 1. You are a Spanish translator for Sam Houston. Describe your conversation with Santa Anna after the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. 2. You are an editor in Boston. In an editorial, describe Nicolas Trist, his mission to Mexico, recall and negotiation of the peace treaty. 3. You are an Apache chief. In a meeting with your friend, the local Mexican mayor, describe your thoughts on American expansion. 4. You are frontiersman Davy Crockett. Waiting after the third attack, you begin to sing to boost morale. Write out two of your songs. 5. You are the wife of a 49’er. Write three letters to your husband describing life and news back home. Explain your stories in detail. 6. You are Robert E. Lee. Describe to General Scott your battle plans, vividly explained and drawn, for the Battle of Cerro Gordo. 7. You are Henry Sager. Before your death, you gather your family around you. Give them advice on how to survive the Oregon Trail. 8. You are David Wilmot’s wife. In a newspaper article, explain your husband’s position and how it benefits America, black and white. 9. You are Henry David Thoreau. Write an open letter to President Polk explaining your position on civil disobedience towards the war. 10. You are a domestic slave trader. Explain to your new assistant how the business of slave trading is run in the South and West.

Week 17 - The Coming War 1. You are Dred Scott’s lawyer. Considering your trial history so far, write an outline of your opening statement for the Supreme Court. 2. You are Harriet Tubman. Prepare a detailed list of all food, equipment, contacts and more that you will need to bring slaves north. 3. You are Stephen Douglas. Describe your conversation on slavery with Abraham Lincoln backstage before your final debate in 1858. 4. You are John Brown’s son. In your father’s eulogy, describe him as a father and your experiences with him fighting against slavery. 5. You are Frederick Douglass. Speaking to select members of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry, explain their purpose and mission. 6. You are President James Buchanan. Explain to your cabinet your position that secession and war to stop secession are both illegal. 7. You are Henry Clay. Defend your position authorizing the Fugitive Slave Act to a special meeting of Congressmen from the North. 8. You are Preston Brooks. In your diary, explain your position on Southern honor and duty as a justification for your violent actions. 9. You are an Appalachian farmer. In an interview to a Northern reporter, describe your daily work and your position on slavery. 10. You are Harriet Beecher Stowe. For your abolitionist fans, write an alternative ending to your famous novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Week 18 - The Civil War 1. You are President Abraham Lincoln. Justify specific orders to your generals arresting ‘spies’ and destroying printing presses. 2. You are General George McClellan. You are about to deliver a major speech for the 1864 election. Write your speech’s outline. 3. You are the mother of a Union soldier at Antietam. Tell your other children of your son’s latest letter describing the battle. 4. You are a Union prisoner at Andersonville. Writing on a piece of torn paper to be smuggled out, describe your life while imprisoned. 5. You are Sergeant Carney’s official biographer. In an abstract to your publisher, describe his accomplishments and legacy. 6. You are General George Pickett. Before your famous charge, give a passionate speech to your soldiers about their place in history. 7. You are an adjutant for General Lee. In an interview for the Richmond Enquirer, describe your relationship with him and his genius. 8. You are an accused Confederate spy. After three years in prison, explain how you received and sent information as a plea bargain. 9. You are John Wilkes Booth. The night before the assassination, gather your accomplices and explain in great detail your plan. 10. You are a Union ex-slave gravedigger. Write an introduction to your personal history of the American Civil War from your view.

Week 19 – Reconstruction 1. You are Mary Todd Lincoln. In a conversation with your son, Robert, explain your depression and anger over being institutionalized. 2. You are Nathan Bedford Forest’s father. In your diary, express your emotions and thoughts concerning your son’s KKK leadership. 3. You are a middle-aged white teacher. Write three lesson plans for your first days of teaching math, reading and writing in the South. 4. You are Rutherford B. Hayes’s political advisor. In a presidential memo, weigh the costs and benefits of accepting the Compromise. 5. You are a biracial Louisiana businessman. Give a speech to your local Chamber of Commerce concerning Butler and reconstruction. 6. You are a political cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly. Draw out the issues, personalities and plot of the impeachment of Johnson. 7. You are Andrew Johnson. Write out a Presidential pardon to three ex-Confederate generals explaining (differently) why you did so. 8. You are a Tunis Campbell. After arriving in North Carolina, explain to a gathering of ex-slaves, how you will rebuild your lives now. 9. You are Frederick Douglass. During a memorial to Lincoln, you are asked to speak to the crowd. Deliver your speech on his life. 10. You are Marshall Twitchell. As the sole Union soldier in a Louisiana town, post a notice concerning new laws due to Reconstruction.

Week 20 – Industrialization 1. You are Andrew Carnegie’s secretary. Create a detailed list of Mr. Carnegie’s weekly schedule. Include an hour by hour breakdown. 2. You are a Hungarian slaughterhouse worker. In your spare time, as a painter, you draw the details of your work day. Paint it now. 3. You administer a home for orphans in New York. Create a introductory handout for volunteers describing their work duties. 4. You are the architect for the Chrysler Building. Design blueprints for the top ten floors including a 3D cross-sectional drawing. 5. You are Emma Goldman. Create a pamphlet for new anarchists explaining the purpose and goals of your political philosophy. 6. You are a city boss. Explain in a memo to your 7. You are an African American train attendant. 8. You are Jane Addams. 9. You are an Asian American miner in California. 10. You are Thomas Edison.

Week 21 – The Labor Movement 1. You are a German American anarchist. 2. You are Eugene V. Debs. 3. You are Mother Jones. 4. You are an IWW organizer. 5. You are an unemployed, illiterate, recent immigrant. 6. You are a female Jewish American seamstress. 7. You are President Hayes. (RR Strike of 1877) 8. You are a union lawyer arguing for collective bargaining rights. 9. You are a National Guard soldier sent to Ludlow, CO. 10. You are Utah Phillips.

Week 22 – Native Americans (post 1865) 1. You are Red Cloud. 2. You are Sitting Bull. 3. You are General Nelson Miles. 4. You are Chief Joseph. 5. You are Crazy Horse. 6. You are Buffalo Bill. 7. You are General George Custer. 8. You are Geronimo. 9. You are Black Elk. 10. You are Sarah Winnemucca.