US History 1600's to Civil War

In the class review of the timeline of the United States from the 1600's to the Civil War, we discovered the reasoning and timing for some of the major events that lead up to the creation of the United States and the beginning of the Civil War.

 The biggest challenges faced by the new nation in the pre-Civil War era were getting things done and agreeing on political decisions. The first unified "government" of the US was the Articles of Confederation. It was really hard to get things done,because consent had to be unanimous before anything was permitted to happen.

The nation managed to stay unified until the Civil War, because they had a common enemy. They allowed many things and put off several decisions for a long time, because they needed to stick together and fight Britain.

Here are some pictures of the timeline that we reviewed during class:

Empathy vs. Sympathy

Empathy and sympathy are very similar in that they both have to do with your reaction to another person's thoughts or feelings, but they are also very different.

When you show empathy for another person, you understand what they are thinking or feeling, but you do not also feel what they are feeling. You know what they are feeling and why they are feeling it, but you do not feel it as well. 

When you show sympathy for another person, you feel what they feel. If they are sad, you feel their sadness. If they are happy, you feel their happiness, etc. 

The difference between empathy and sympathy is understanding or feeling. Empathy is understanding, sympathy is feeling.

As a historian, a person must be able to show empathy to those he/she is studying. If he/she is able to show empathy, it can lead to discovering and understanding why those being studied did what they did.