Itinerary
The eighteen-day Presidential Academy for American History and Civics will take place from Sunday, July 11, 2010, through Thursday, July 29, 2010. Participating teachers will spend five days in Philadelphia, six days in Gettysburg, and seven days in Washington, DC. Where the Academy participants reside in each city, where they dine, and the memorials they visit, are meant to remind them of the episodes and pivotal issues raised in these places. They will be surrounded by the fabric of our past, all the while thinking through the words penned in the documents, the choices made, and the meaning they hold for our common citizenship.
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Theme: The Birth of American Self-Government
Primary Text: The Declaration of Independence
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…"
Sunday, July 11
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Omni at Independence Park Hotel check-in. The Omni Hotel at Independence Park Hotel is located in Philadelphia's historic district, one block away from Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the Independence Visitor Center.
5:00 pm: Meet in hotel lobby to walk to City Tavern together
5:15 pm - 6:45 pm: Dinner (City Tavern). The City Tavern appears essentially as it did 200 years ago. Matters of momentous importance were discussed and decided in the tavern. It became the practice of the members of the Second Continental Congress to dine together each Saturday at the Tavern. Eight of the delegates, Randolph, Lee, Washington, Harrison of Virginia, Alsop of New York, Chase of Maryland, and Rodney and Read of Delaware chose to form a "table" and dine there daily.
7:00 pm - 7:30 pm: Presidential Academy overview with Dr. Peter W. Schramm (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center). The Independence Visitor Center is the primary point of orientation for Independence National Historical Park in the City of Philadelphia. The Independence Ballroom, located on the mezzanine level of the Visitor Center, overlooks the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm: Session 1 Professor Morel (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: "Apple of Gold": The Centrality of the Declaration of Independence in American Political Life
Monday, July 12
7:00 am - 9:00 am: Breakfast (Omni at Independence Park Hotel, Restaurant)
9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 2 Professor Morel (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: Developing the American Mind: Part I (1689, 1721, 1774-1780)
10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 3 Professor Lloyd (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: The Constitutional Convention, Parts I & II The Alternative Plans and the Connecticut Compromise
12:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch (Independence Ballroom)
2:00 pm: Tour National Constitution Center. The National Constitution Center is dedicated to increasing public understanding of, and appreciation for, the Constitution, its history, and its contemporary relevance, through an interactive interpretative facility within Independence National Historical Park.
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm: Dinner (Patou)
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm: Session 4 Professor Lloyd (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: The Constitutional Convention, Parts III & IV The Committee of Detail Report and The End is in Sight
Tuesday, July 13
7:00 am - 9:00 am: Breakfast (Omni at Independence Park Hotel, Restaurant)
9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 5 Professor Morel (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: The Federalist Papers, Part I Proposed Constitution of 1787 and Its Defense
10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 6 Professor Morel (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: The Federalist Papers, Part II The Need for (More) Constitutional "Energy" to Preserve the American Union
12:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch (Independence Ballroom)
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Session 7 Professor Lloyd (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: The Federalist Papers, Part III The Sum of Power and the Separation of Powers
5:30 pm: Dinner (City Tavern)
7:15 pm - 9:00 pm: Walking Tour of Historic Philadelphia with Dr. Gordon Lloyd
Wednesday, July 14
7:00 am - 9:00 am: Breakfast (Omni at Independence Park Hotel, Restaurant)
9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 8 Professor Morel (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: The Federalist Papers, Part IV Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches
10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 9 Professor Lloyd (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: Ratification and the Anti-Federalists
12:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch (Independence Ballroom)
1:00 pm - 2:15 pm: Walking Tour of Historic Philadelphia with Dr. Gordon Lloyd
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Session 10 Professor Lloyd (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: The Bill of Rights
5:15 pm - 7:15 pm: Dinner (Participants Choice)
Thursday, July 15
7:00 am - 9:00 am: Breakfast (Omni at Independence Park Hotel, Restaurant)
9:00 am - 10:00 am: Lesson Planning Session Master Teacher (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
10:15 am - Noon: Session 11 Guest Lecture by Dr. David Hackett Fischer (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
Topic: The Revolutionary Era
12:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch (Independence Ballroom in the Independence Visitor Center)
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Dinner and Philadelphia week-ending discussion (Patou)
Friday, July 16
7:00 am - 9:00 am: Breakfast (Omni at Independence Park Hotel, Restaurant)
9:00 am - 11:00 am: Tour of Independence Hall. From 1775 to 1783, Independence Hall was the meeting place for the Second Continental Congress. In the Assembly room of this building, George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in 1775, the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1781, and the United States Constitution was drafted in 1787.
12 noon: Travel via motorcoach to next site (Gettysburg). Boxed lunch en route.
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Gettysburg
Theme: The Testing of American Self-Government
Primary Text: Abraham Lincoln, "Gettysburg Address"
"That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
3:00 pm: Gettysburg Hotel check-in. The Gettysburg Hotel dates to 1797. In the summer of 1863, the hotel played witness to one of the seminal events in American history as Union and Confederate troops swarmed over the small town of Gettysburg during a pivotal and bloody three-day battle. Abraham Lincoln honed the immortal words of his Gettysburg Address at the Wills House, just steps away from the hotel.
5:15 pm - 6:45 pm: Dinner The Historic 1776 Dobbin House Tavern. The Dobbin House Tavern is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. "Four Score and Seven Years" before President Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address (1863 - 87 = 1776), Gettysburg's oldest and most historic building, the Dobbin House, was built. Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on a bluff a few hundred yards away at the National Cemetery.
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Session 12 Professors Morel and Guelzo (Gettysburg Hotel Eisenhower Room)
Topic: Lincoln and 21st-Century America
8:30 pm - 10:00 pm: Reception (Gettysburg Hotel Atrium)
Saturday, July 17
7:45 am - 8:45 am: Breakfast (Gettysburg Hotel Stevens Room)
9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 13 Professor Morel (Gettysburg Hotel Eisenhower Room)
Topic: The Rule of Law, Slavery, and the Future of Self-Government
10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 14 Professor Guelzo (Gettysburg Hotel Eisenhower Room)
Topic: Abolitionism and Constitutional Self-Government
12:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch (Gettysburg Stevens Room)
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm: Session 15 Professor Guelzo (Gettysburg Hotel Eisenhower Room)
Topic: Lincoln Confronts Stephen Douglas's Popular Sovereignty
5:45 pm - 7:15 pm: Dinner (Participants' Choice)
Sunday, July 18
7:00 am - 8:00 am: Breakfast (Gettysburg Hotel Stevens Room)
11:30 am - 12:30 pm: Lunch (Gettysburg Hotel Stevens Room)
1:30 pm - 2:15 pm: Book Signing with Dr. Gary Gallagher (Gettysburg Hotel Eisenhower Room)
2:15 pm - 6:00 pm: Gettysburg Battlefield Bus Tour with Dr. Gary Gallagher. The Gettysburg National Military Park is preserved as a symbol of America's struggle to survive as a nation and as a lasting memorial to the armies and soldiers who served in the great conflict. The Battle of Gettysburg was a critical turning point in the Civil War, a conflict that determined the fate of the United States.
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Dinner (The Pub and Restaurant)
Monday, July 19
7:45 am - 8:45 am: Breakfast (Gettysburg Hotel Atrium)
9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 16 Professor Guelzo (Gettysburg Hotel Eisenhower Room)
Topic: Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858
10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 17 Professor Morel (Gettysburg Hotel Eisenhower Room)
Topic: The Rights and Wrongs of Secession
12:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch (Gettysburg Hotel Atrium)
2:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Battlefield Tour with Dr. Gary Gallagher
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Dinner (The Historic Fairfield Inn) The Historic Fairfield Inn is one of America's oldest, continuously operated inns with origins dating to 1757. Built nineteen years before the Declaration of Independence, The Fairfield Inn was originally the Mansion House of Squire Miller, an original founder of the town. The Inn was used as an early colonial settler's meeting house, a stagecoach stop, Confederate Civil War hospital, and was part of the Underground Railroad.
Tuesday, July 20
7:45 am - 8:45 am: Breakfast (Gettysburg Hotel Ballroom)
9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 18 Professor Guelzo (Gettysburg Hotel Eisenhowr Room)
Topic: Lincoln's Election, Secession, and the Civil War
10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 19 Professor Guelzo (Gettysburg Hotel Ballroom)
Topic: Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
12:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch (Gettysburg Hotel Ballroom)
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm: Session 20 Professor Morel (Gettysburg Hotel Ballroom)
Topic: Lincoln and Civil Liberties
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm: Dinner (The Pub and Restaurant)
7:15 pm - 8:30 pm: Gettysburg National Cemetery interpretative walk with National Park Service guide. Gettysburg National Cemetery is the final resting place of those who sacrificed their lives for this country. It is also the site of President Abraham Lincoln's November 19, 1863 speech, the Gettysburg Address, dedicating the National Cemetery.
Wednesday, July 21
7:45 am - 8:45 am: Breakfast (Gettysburg Hotel Ballroom)
9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 21 Professor Morel (Gettysburg Hotel Ballroom)
Topic: "A New Birth of Freedom" (Gettysburg Address) and Lincoln's Re-election (Second Inaugural Address)
10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 22 Professor Morel (Gettysburg Hotel Ballroom)
Topic: Frederick Douglass Reconstruction and the Future of Black Americans
12:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch (Gettysburg Hotel Ballroom)
1:45 pm - 2:45 pm: Lesson Planning Session with Master Teacher (Gettysburg Hotel Ballroom)
5:45 pm - 7:30 pm: Dinner and Gettysburg week-ending discussion (Historic 1776 Dobbin House Tavern)
Thursday, July 22
7:30 am - 8:30 am: Breakfast (Gettysburg Hotel Ballroom)
11:00 am: Travel via motorcoach to next site (Washington, D.C.). Lunch en route.
While en route a tour of Arlington, Iwo Jima, Northern Virginia, etc.
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Washington, D.C.
Theme: The Fulfillment of America's Promise of Self-Government
Primary Text: Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream"
"I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
3:00 pm: Sheraton Crystal City Check In
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm: Dinner (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
7:30 pm - 10:00 pm: Session 23 Guest Lecture by Juan Williams (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topic: President Obama Culmination of the Civil Rights Movement?
Friday, July 23
7:30 am - 8:30 am: Breakfast (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 24 Professors Morel and Burkett (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topic: The Modern Era Confronts the American Founding
10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 25 Professor Morel (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topics: Booker T. Washington; W.E.B. Du Bois
12:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm: National Archives Tour
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Dinner (Capitol City Brewing Company)
Saturday, July 24
7:30 am - 8:30 am: Breakfast (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
9:00 am - 10:30 am: Session 26 Professor Burkett (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topics: The Progressive Reform and Self-Government
10:50 am - 12:20 pm: Session 27 Professor Morel (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topics: Marcus Garvey; Brown v. Board of Education
12:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm: Session 28 Professor Burkett (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topic: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Democratic Leadership
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm: Dinner (Participants' Choice)
7:00 pm - 10:00 pm: Washington After-Dark Tour
Sunday, July 25
7:00 am - 8:00 am: Breakfast (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
11:30 am - 12:30 pm: Lunch (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm: Session 29 Professor Morel (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr., Non-Violent Resistance, and the American Dream
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm: Session 30 Professor Morel (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the American Dream
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm: Dinner (Capitol City Brewing Company)
Monday, July 26
7:30 am - 8:30 am: Breakfast (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
9:00 am - 10:30 pm: Session 31 Professor Morel (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topic: Malcolm X
11:30 am - 12:15 pm: Lunch (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
1:15 pm - 7:00 pm: Meet Bus
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm: Frederick Douglass House Tour
4:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Lincoln Park Tour
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm: Dinner (Johnny's Half Shell)
Tuesday, July 27
6:30 am - 7:30 am: Breakfast (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
7:30 am - 1:00 pm: Senate Tour
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm: Lunch (Participants' Choice)
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm: Session 32 Professor Burkett (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topic: The Reagan Era and the New Deal Legacy
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm: Dinner (Thunder Grill)
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm: Session 33 Professor Burkett (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Topic: George W. Bush's Founding Faith and Barack Obama's Gospel of Hope
Wednesday, July 28
6:30 am - 7:30 am: Breakfast (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
7:30 am - 1:00 pm: House of Representatives Tour
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm: Lunch (Participants' Choice)
2:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Free Time in Washington, D.C. (e.g., the Library of Congress and Supreme Court are nearby)
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm: Dinner and Washington, D.C. week-ending discussion (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
Thursday, July 29
7:30 am - 8:30 am: Breakfast (Sheraton Crystal City Room)
9:00 am: Travel via motorcoach to Philadelphia. Participants' choice lunch.
1:30 pm: Depart for home
