Contested Presidential Races
A
Web Quest for Students Studying the Election of United States Presidents
½ Introduction ½Task ½ Process ½ Book List ½ Evaluation
½ Conclusion
½
Introduction
The 2000 election opened
the eyes of the American public and has made every American citizen question
the validity of the electoral process.
The purpose of this project is to introduce you to the democratic
electoral process while teaching you about the contested Presidential elections
of 1800, 1824, 1876, 1884, 1916, and 1960. After researching these elections, you will
then compare these elections to the 2000 Presidential race.
Understanding the history
of the election process, and what has happened in elections past, is paramount
to understanding what happened in 2000.
Through this lesson you will be able to better understand contested
elections, what causes them, and how previous elections compare to the one in
2000.
Following a class
discussion of the six contested elections listed above, you will be asked to
choose an election that interests you from that list. Please research that election using the links
that are provided below (also any sites you have received approval for), as
well as, the books that are included in a list at the bottom. Using your research you will write a 3-5 page
paper discussing your election, and one fact that is especially
interesting. As part of this project,
each student will present that fact to the class orally. This lesson will finish with a group discussion
based on the facts presented, and the information that you have gathered from
your papers. You will have a week to
research this project and write your paper, and the last day will be the class
presentations and discussion. The
scoring rubric for this lesson can be found in the Evaluation section near
the bottom of this page.
Please use the following
sites to answer the questions listed below as a starting off point for your
research papers. The answers to these
questions should be included with your research paper.
Election Resources
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/llrrel.html
Ø This web site contains
numerous links to other sites that contain information about presidential
elections and contested races. The
following two web sites are links from the web page.
Washington College of Law Library – “Contested Elections”
http://library.wcl.american.edu/index.php3?HILISTItemID=57/
Ø Once on the web site
please look under the heading on the left entitled “Research by Topic” – you
will find a heading titled “Contested Elections.” This is one of two web sites that I have
included from the numerous listed on “Election Resources.” This web site contains links to different
organizations and other sources on elections.
HarpWeek – “Finding Precedent: Hayes vs. Tilden – 1876”
http://elections.harpweek.com/controversy.htm/
Ø This web site contains
information about the presidential election mentioned above, as well as, links
to a number of other sites with valuable information for your research.
Elections Central – A History of Presidential Elections
http://www.multied.com/elections/
Ø This web site contains
information pertaining to every Presidential election, as well as, numerous
other topics to search for information under.
Questions
Please answer the following
questions before you do any other research on your chosen election. These questions will serve as starting points
to help you in your research and paper development.
1) Which
election did you choose to research? Why?
2) What was
the controversy involved in this presidential race?
3) How was
the situation resolved?
4) How does
the election that you chose to research compare to the election of 2000? What were the similarities and differences?
5) What is
one fact that separates this election from the others?
Israel, Fred L. Student’s Atlas of American Presidential
Elections: 1789-1996.
Mieczkowski,
Yanek. The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Elections (Routledge
Atlases of American History).
Serial. Presidential Elections: 1789-1996.
Thomas, G. Scott. The Pursuit of the White House.
Toobin, Jeffrey. Too Close to Call: The Thirty-Six Day
Battle to Decide the 2000 Election.
|
Level of Accomplishment |
Beginning |
Developing |
Accomplished |
Score (Highest
Possible Score = 10) |
|
Research Paper |
2
points Research
and understanding of election is minimal. Paper is missing key points about
the election chosen. |
5
points There
are key facts included in the paper, but the writing is not grammatically
correct. Some words may be misspelled
or missing. |
7
points This
paper includes all of the necessary facts, and goes beyond to include special
details about that election. The paper
is well-written and grammatically correct. |
Maximum 7 points |
|
Oral Presentation |
1
point Student
has not found a special fact about the election, and has difficulty in
presenting the information that has been researched. |
2
points Student
presents a special fact about the election, but has some difficulty with
public speaking and discussion. |
3 points This
student has one or more special facts about the election chosen and speaks
clearly while presenting and discussing the election. |
Maximum 3 points |
Through
this process you will be a more informed United States citizen, and be able to
form an opinion on the democratic process and how elections work in this
country. Hopefully, this activity will
have opened your eyes to the possibilities in a democracy and push you to get
involved in the election process in any way that you can. Go and volunteer at a voting precinct if you
are not old enough to vote, and if you are old enough, make sure that you vote!
