POWERPOINT PORTFOLIO 1 – NOTES

Below are notes that are intended to accompany the PowerPoint. Each particular item or animation that
occurs on the screen is given its own box in the left-hand column. In the right are personal notes for the
speaker concerning each item. I designed the backgrounds and color schemes of each presentation myself.

THE CIVIL WAR

This PowerPoint provides a general sense of style, design, and organization in my presentations.
Pictures, maps, quotations, and animations aid the main text without drowning it out. Dates and other
minor details are provided in smaller, italicized text thus communicating basic facts to the viewer
without the presenter having to recite what might be considered superfluous or otherwise mundane
information. Names, battles, and even quotations are color-coded so that the viewer can tell at a
glance whether something or someone is of the Union (blue) or Confederacy (red). The text concerning
the Seven Days Battles and the Battle of Antietam changes color depending on the victor. Antietam
changes colors several times, for what seemed like an unequivocal Union victory was rendered much
more ambiguous due to events and decisions following the battle itself.

WAR IN THE EAST

“THE 22ND. DAY OF FEBRUARY 1862 [WILL] BE In an attempt to get McClellan to move his army,
THE DAY FOR A GENERAL MOVEMENT OF THE Lincoln essentially ordered him to do something.
LAND AND NAVAL FORCES OF THE UNITED
STATES AGAINST THE INSURGENT FORCES.”

O PENINSULA CAMPAIGN McClellan decided to make an assault on

Richmond, but instead of attacking the
 RICHMOND, VA Confederate capital directly he determined it
better (safer) to avoid a direct confrontation and
instead work his way up the Yorktown Peninsula.
Besides the massive logistical effort this campaign
required, its objective was strategically
questionable at best. While the capture of
Richmond could prove a major blow to rebel
morale, it would not end the war. As in the
American Revolution, the conflict could and
would continue as long as an able-bodied army
remained in the field. The only way to truly end
the war would be to go after the Confederate army
itself, an act which McClellan would prove time
and again constitutionally incapable of carrying
out.

 STONEWALL JACKSON After the Union forces landed near Yorktown,

 SHENANDOAH VALLEY CAMPAIGN
“ALWAYS MYSTIFY, MISLEAD AND SURPRISE THE
ENEMY IF POSSIBLE.” – STONEWALL JACKSON
Stonewall Jackson was unleashed in the
Shenandoah Valley in order to distract the armies
that were supposed to reinforce McClellan. In
about 50 days, Jackson’s army traversed the
valley a number of times, engaging three separate
 armies a number of times, always winning in the
face of a superior force. By keeping his men
constantly on the march, Jackson kept the Union
forces off balance so that he never had to face
more than one army at a time, and sowed great
uncertainty at all times about his exact location
and intentions. To this day the Valley Campaign
is still studied at war colleges as a masterpiece of
tactical ingenuity.

 LEE GIVEN COMMAND OF ARMY OF

NORTHERN VIRGINIA

“HIS NAME MIGHT BE AUDACITY. HE WILL TAKE

CHANCES, AND TAKE THEM QUICKER THAN ANY
OTHER GENERAL IN HISTORY.” – COL. JOSEPH
IVES ON ROBERT E. LEE

“I PREFER LEE TO JOHNSTON. THE FORMER IS As was his wont, McClellan greater
TOO CAUTIOUS AND WEAK UNDER GRAVE underestimated Lee and overestimated the forces
RESPONSIBITY…WANTING IN MORAL FIRMNESS he was facing.
WHEN PRESSED BY HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY AND
IS LIKELY TO BE TIMID AND IRRESOLUTE IN
ACTION.” - GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN

“THE REBEL FORCE IS STATED AT 200,000…I

SHALL HAVE TO CONTEND AGAINST VASTLY
SUPERIOR ODDS….IF [THE ARMY] IS DESTROYED
BY OVERWHELMING NUMBERS…THE
RESPONSIBILITY CANNOT BE THROWN ON MY
SHOULDERS.” - GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN

 SEVEN DAYS BATTLES McClellan fought a series of battles along the

Peninsula, losing the majority of them, and was
 SEVEN DAY’S BATTLES halted on his advance.

“I LOST THIS BATTLE BECAUSE MY FORCE WAS

TOO SMALL….THIS GOVERNMENT HAS NOT
SUSTAINED THIS ARMY….IF I SAVE THIS ARMY
NOW, I TELL YOU PLAINLY THAT I OWE NO
THANKS TO YOU OR TO ANY OTHER PERSONS IN
WASHINGTON. YOU HAVE DONE YOUR BEST TO
SACRIFICE THIS ARMY.”

{MCDOWELL’S ARMY}
{ARROW}
{ARROW DISAPPEARS}
{ARROW}
O SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN
O ANTIETAM
 LEE INVADES MARYLAND
 MCCLELLAN DISCOVERS PLANS
O ANTIETAM
 BLOODIEST DAY IN US HISTORY
 MCCLELLAN
 FAILS TO PURSUE LEE
“I HAVE JUST READ YOUR DISPATCH ABOUT SORE
TONGUED AND FATIGUED HORSES—WILL YOU
PARDON ME FOR ASKING WHAT THE HORSES OF
YOUR ARMY HAVE DONE SINCE THE BATTLE OF
ANTIETAM THAT FATIGUE ANYTHING?
 REMOVED FROM COMMAND
 BRITAIN AND FRANCE POSTPONE
RECOGNITION OF CSA
McDowell was originally supposed to assist
McClellan by leading an assault from the North
and catching Richmond in a pincer move. Instead
Lee, having nullified the threat from McClellan
moved north and attacked McDowell, winning the
Second Battle of Bull Run.
Emboldened by his victories, Lee led his army
into northern held territory, hoping to spark an
uprising among southern-sympathizers in
Maryland. A major victory in the North might
even inspire European nations like Britain and
France, economically tied to Southern cotton, to
support the Confederacy. Between the humiliation
of defeat and the threat of foreign intervention,
Lincoln might find no other choice but to end the
war and sue for peace.
In a dramatic twist of fate, one of McClellan’s
men found a copy of Lee’s plans giving him
knowledge of the exact path Lee intended to
pursue to the North. McClellan therefore had
every advantage, and a Union victory seemed to
be guaranteed…
The battle was along the Antietam River near the
town of Sharpsburg ended in a draw. Lee was
robbed of any great and glorious victory, but
McClellan was not able to crush him as was
expected.
Lee’s army remained encamped for two days after
the battle and was allowed to escape without any
attempted pursuit on the part of the Union
This proved to be the final straw for Lincoln who
finally removed McClellan from command .
The one great advantage to the Union that came
from this non-victory was the decision on the part
of Britain and France to table the notion of
opening formal diplomatic relations with the
CSA.
 WORLD WAR II
This PowerPoint demonstrates many of the same aspects as the previous one, but with the added
feature of sound clips. If viewed online, the first slide may take a few moments to load.
WAR IN EUROPE
O BRITAIN ALONE
 PM WINSTON CHURCHILL
“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears,
and sweat.” – Winston Churchill
“We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the
seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing
confidence and growing strength in the air, we
shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may
be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight
on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the
fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the
hills; we shall never surrender.” – Winston
Churchill
“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty
and so bear ourselves that if the British
Commonwealth and Empire lasts for a thousand
years men will still say, ‘This was their finest
hour.’” – Winston Churchill
“I would say to the House, as I said to those who
have joined this Government: ‘I have nothing to
offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.’ We have
before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We
have before us many, many long months of
struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our
policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land
and air, with all our might and with all the
strength that God can give us: to wage war against
a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark,
lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our
policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in
one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory
in spite of all terror, victory, however long and
hard the road may be; for without victory, there is
no survival.”
This was the first of three major speeches given
during the development of the war in Europe after
the invasion of France.
Perhaps Churchill’s most famous speech.
“The Battle of France is over. I expect that the
battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle
depends the survival of Christian civilisation.
Upon it depends our own British life and the long
continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The
whole fury and might of the enemy must very
soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will
have to break us in this island or lose the war. If
we can stand up to him all Europe may be free,
 and the life of the world may move forward into
broad, sunlit uplands; but if we fail then the whole
world, including the United States, and all that we
have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss
of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps
more prolonged, by the lights of a perverted
science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our
duty and so bear ourselves that if the British
Commonwealth and Empire lasts for a thousand
years men will still say, ‘This was their finest
hour.’”

 BATTLE OF BRITAIN Hitler planned an actual invasion of the island

(JULY-OCTOBER 1940) code-named Operation Sea Lion, but he had first
to neutralize Britain’s air defenses, the Royal Air
 THE LUFTWAFFE Force (RAF).
At first the German air force, or Luftwaffe, aimed
 “THE BLITZ” primarily at military targets, but very soon
strategic value was seen in bombing civilian
 THE ROYAL AIR FORCE (RAF) populations in order to terrorize them into
surrender. Churchill’s oratorical leadership was
most essential during the time of the so-called
Blitz.

 RADAR Britain was further assisted by the recent

invention of RADAR (Radio Detection and
Ranging) which provided advanced warning of
Luftwaffe sorties.

“Never in the field of human conflict was so
much owed by so many to so few.” – Winston
Churchill
“The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our
Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except
in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British
airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in
their constant challenge and mortal danger, are
turning the tide of the World War by their
prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field
of human conflict was so much owed by so many
to so few.”

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

This PowerPoint demonstrates the use of a chart. Each click reveals the next line of data on the chart. A
link in the lower-right hand corner leads to a map showing areas the supported and opposed the
ratification of the Constitution. A speaker can switch easily between these slides during the
presentation. Please note, that while in the online version, the chart resets when the slide opens, when
run in the actual PowerPoint program, the chart will remain as it was last left.
Finally, when the elventh line is revealed only the state—“NY” (New York)—appears. If the user
clicks the first empty box next to “NY” in the “Date Ratified” column, this will bring the user to a page
on the Federalist Papers.” Links at the bottom of the page allow one to toggle among the chart, map,
and Federalist Papers slides.