North/Central America

Short Teaching Module: Sick Men in Mid-Nineteenth-Century International Relations

I use political cartoons, newspaper stories, and excerpts from government documents to show different perspectives of a country’s power and foreign relations. I have several aims in using the texts.

New York Times editorial on Mexico, November 21, 1855

The New York Times was founded in 1851. It was an antislavery newspaper before the Civil War, helping to establish the Republican Party in 1854. It covered international as well as national and local affairs. Historians regard the Times as a gauge of American opinion at the time.

Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857

The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 was a liberal constitution.

Mexico Cartoon, 1846

This cartoon was published in New York in June 1846 as a lithograph, a month after the United States declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846 to begin the Mexican-American War, which resulted in U.S. annexation of Mexico’s northern territory.

Pueblo of Texupa

This is a copy of a relación geográfica.

Digital Library of the Caribbean

Freedom on the Move

Short Teaching Module: Controversial Historical Monuments

I use images of three historical statues that triggered controversy beginning in the 2010s to teach about the concept of contested historical memory and to have students consider parallels and differences among public history controversies in different parts of the world.

Stonewall Jackson monument removal, Richmond, Virginia, United States

The Stonewall Jackson Monument in Richmond, Virginia was erected in 1919 to honor Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson (1824-1863), a Confederate general.

Stonewall Jackson monument, Richmond, Virginia, United States

The Stonewall Jackson Monument in Richmond, Virginia, was erected in 1919 to honor Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson (1824-1863), a Confederate general.