I'm a junior high teacher and I feel like I'm fairly well-read when it comes to the time period I teach but there is a TEK(TX state standard) that I've always struggled with and I can't seem to get much of clarity on what the state is expecting for students to do.

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(3) History. The student understands the foundations of representative government in the United States. The student is expected to:
(C) describe how religion and virtue contributed to the growth of representative government in the American colonies.

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As I read it, I'm assuming that the state wants students to understand religious influences on defining what our early views on government would be. For example, Rhode Island and Connecticut's more liberal policies on church membership and voting as compared to that of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

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(20) Citizenship. The student understands the importance of voluntary individual participation in the democratic process. The student is expected to:
(B) evaluate the contributions of the Founding Fathers as models of civic virtue;

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So I'm thinking of using Jefferson's writing of the Declaration of Independence, although he speaks out against slavery in his original draft but this is one I really struggle with. Washington's service to the country but I'm not sure where to go with this one. More than likely, I'm overthinking it.

Thanks for your help.

Maybe you are overthinking, (3) screams Mayflower Compact to me.

BQ78 said:

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Maybe you are overthinking, (3) screams Mayflower Compact to me.

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Except the Mayflower Compact didn't become popular in the American mind until the 19th century. The Pilgrims were seen as just the lesser cousins of the Massachusetts Puritans for around 2 centuries.

To answer your first question, virtue was defined in republican (little r) terms, often called by scholars "civic virtue." This was not religious per-se, but drawn from classical Roman texts. Virtue had more to do with upholding norms and the law more than being of the right religious belief. The extent to which orthodoxy was important varied between communities.

Religious belief was a critical component of life in much of the colonies, though less so in the backwoods of the Southern colonies. Until the Second Great Awakening, many backwoods farmers were not baptized and had never stepped inside a church. Culturally they were Christian and they probably interacted with an itinerant preacher at some point, but religion was not an organizing influence like in more town-based Northern communities.

I would recommend Rhys Isaac's "The Transformation of Virginia," it looks at the rise of the Baptists in Virginia and their impact on class, race, and political dynamics.

The broader impact of religion on representative government depended heavily on the region and the colony. Massachusetts and Connecticut were very town-based governments because of the nature of Congregationalism. Rhode Island was town based because most of their residents came from other New England colonies, but religion had very little influence in the nature of governing. South Carolina was a colony of Barbados originally and had little religious influence on its government while Virginia was divided into parishes technically under the direction of the Anglican Church, but practically they had no resources to exercise power.

Civic virtue, for sure, but for much of our history it was inseparable from:

"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." de Tocqueville

Actually, it was separable. Tocqueville toured during a period of religious revival and he toured areas where it was strongest. Religion was absolutely a crucial part of the cultural makeup of colonial society. But it was not monolithic. We collapse the differences between Christian denominations today in a way that would have been unthinkable in the late 18th century. As such, to just blandly say, "Christianity was a key influence on representative government in America" wouldn't have made much sense to colonial leaders. Sure it was important socially, but many things were socially important. They saw their form of government as emerging from reason and antiquity rather than religion.

Well since the country was only 25 years old when the 19th century rolled around, you could say it was influential to how the country developed for the next two hundred years or so.

As an 8th Grade US History teacher myself for 28 years, I am somewhat familiar with your questions about those two TEKS. The first one 3.C....explain how religion helped contribute to the growth of representative govt in the American Colonies....the focus they want kids to know is that Protestant churches (Puritans in general), typically elected church members to govern the church and that later grew into the model for electing representatives for govt. Best example is the Puritan General Court....other New England Colonies adopted similar ways of representative governments based on theirs. Perhaps the best way to approach a TEK is to see how the STAAR test has asked a question about it in the past.....if you look at question #52 on the 2015 test...they used the TEK in a question about the Puritans in the way I have described!

As for old 20.B....evaluate the roles of founding fathers as models of civic virtue....they are defining civic virtue as citizens being active participants in the democratic process...such as taking an active role in govt, serving if elected or appointed, even volunteering for military service. I have often seen it defined in textbooks as willing to do what's best for the country even at great personal sacrifice. In most instances, they love George Washington as the "model" of Civic Virtue (although it could apply to many of the Founding Fathers).....what I try to install in my students is the Washington always seem to put his country first, beginning with his role as Commander in Chief, his serving as Pres of the Constitutional Convention (when he really didn't want to be there), and of course accepting the nomination for Pres for two terms. Typically, if the kids just remember the GW model of civic virtue, they can apply it to any question on the STAAR test which might revolve around a Founding Father! However, although this TEK was addressed quite frequently on the old TAKS tests....there has not been a question about it on the STAAR test from 2013-2016.....obviously we have no idea if it was included on this years test. Hope this helps!

Where are they getting that from? The Massachusetts General Court was based on county and borough bodies in England and the charter required some form of election of a body of freemen. Congregationalism held that a body of the church was a local concern, including their beliefs and the selection of ministers and leaders, but also separated actual governing between the church and the lay people. Ministers, for example, were forbidden to hold political office.

Basically, the way it is worded, that at Mass Bay, that to vote for governor, you had to be a male church member. It then says, later, male church members elected representatives to an assembly called the General Court. They sum it up in 3 parts: govt leaders HAD to be church members, ministers had a great deal of power over their communities, and ONLY male church members could vote. Thus, this leads into another TEK about the Fundamental Orders of Conn which had Separation of Church and State, where you didn't have to be a church member to vote. Now they take it a step further with religion playing a role in politics by bringing in the Great Awakening, saying that sermons about spiritual equality led some colonists to demand more political equality.....now keep in mind this is what is presented in the textbooks in order to teach those TEKS so that they align to the test. The TEKS resource system is our "bible" when it comes to aligning the TEK to the way it will be tested, and it is VERY shallow when it comes to TEK 3.C, summarizing it as religious groups created colonies that were self-governed!..TEK 3.C was never taught prior to the STAAR in this context. Numerous changes to the TEKS were implemented in 2012, and obviously someone on the SBOE wanted a reference to religion being a major impact on the growth of self-govt in the colonies.

Bighunter43 said:

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As an 8th Grade US History teacher myself for 28 years, I am somewhat familiar with your questions about those two TEKS. The first one 3.C....explain how religion helped contribute to the growth of representative govt in the American Colonies....the focus they want kids to know is that Protestant churches (Puritans in general), typically elected church members to govern the church and that later grew into the model for electing representatives for govt. Best example is the Puritan General Court....other New England Colonies adopted similar ways of representative governments based on theirs. Perhaps the best way to approach a TEK is to see how the STAAR test has asked a question about it in the past.....if you look at question #52 on the 2015 test...they used the TEK in a question about the Puritans in the way I have described!

As for old 20.B....evaluate the roles of founding fathers as models of civic virtue....they are defining civic virtue as citizens being active participants in the democratic process...such as taking an active role in govt, serving if elected or appointed, even volunteering for military service. I have often seen it defined in textbooks as willing to do what's best for the country even at great personal sacrifice. In most instances, they love George Washington as the "model" of Civic Virtue (although it could apply to many of the Founding Fathers).....what I try to install in my students is the Washington always seem to put his country first, beginning with his role as Commander in Chief, his serving as Pres of the Constitutional Convention (when he really didn't want to be there), and of course accepting the nomination for Pres for two terms. Typically, if the kids just remember the GW model of civic virtue, they can apply it to any question on the STAAR test which might revolve around a Founding Father! However, although this TEK was addressed quite frequently on the old TAKS tests....there has not been a question about it on the STAAR test from 2013-2016.....obviously we have no idea if it was included on this years test. Hope this helps!

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Thanks. That matches the conclusion I've come to with a little more research.