The American colonies, no matter how disconnected, were becoming more and more independent of British authority. The tea cup represents the colonist connection to England. However, as the colonies were becoming more independent, the British still saw them as part of the English Empire, and treated them as such, by requiring that certain goods only be transported on English ships, thus the profit from those products would be solely British. The Navigation Acts established by the English, were imposed as a part of the larger Mercantile system that the American colonies were a part of. As the British became more reliant on colonial goods, they had to defend the colonies against "foreign' invaders in events such as the French and Indian War. To regain some of the money lost from fighting the French and Indian War, the Brits imposed taxes on the colonists. Laws such as the Stamp Act and Sugar Acts placed taxes on a wide range of products, including tea. The tax on items such as tea drove up the price on those products, making it so many could not afford such products, making the porcelain tea cup useless.

I would also like to know which set of taxes affect which set of colonies the most. Different classes of people would have different affects on the population of the colonies. Most of the taxes imposed likely only affected those in cities, or the more northern of the colonies. I would also like to know what other types of resistance existed amongst the colonies, that may force the hand of the British government, and may lead to war.

These shoes are related to the Civil War. Shoes were an example of products that didn't seem to extravagant, but were essential for the soldier during the war. The production of shoes, were parceled out to people who could make them, since the advent of mechanized production wasn't being used yet. The purchase of mass amounts of shoes, by the federal government, was only one way that the power of the federal government expanded during the Civil War.

The use of letter of conscription could be used to further explain the process of initiating a national draft. Tax returns and tax receipts could be used to show how a federal income tax was being used to raise money to pay for the war. Newspaper articles could be used to show opposition to the draft.

The dishwasher connects to a broader Post WWII theme, a theme of America, and all of its resources post war, and how we used those resources to not only make lives of Americans easier, but to also use those resources to aid our allies in Europe, as they rebuilt themselves after a devastating war. We retooled our factories, to make items like the dishwasher, but we needed markets for those products. Some of those markets would be found in Europe, but they were socially and economically defeated after the war. The US in turn, gave aid to European nations, so they could rebuild. This aid helped to keep the Soviets from swooping in and taking over our allies, but it also allowed for Europeans to have jobs, and then purchase American products.

I think most of the information in this unit, I had previous knowledge of, and would feel comfortable teaching. There was some information related to the world's relationship, and view of the Soviet Union, that I did not have a lot of experience with. I did not know that the Germans openly tried to get the Allied Forces to attach the Soviets, as they surrendered. I also had not seen, or read about, the Kitchen Debate. It was interesting.