Exploring Historical Patterns

US History - Mr. Ward, 2025

Objectives

Students will:

1. Analyze and critique traditional and alternative models of historical analysis.
2. Apply Sartwell’s arguments to historical examples.
3. Synthesize their understanding by creating a visual representation of history's patterns and justifying their interpretation.

What do you think the shape of history looks like? Why?

10-minute

Warm-up Activity

Historical Models: Understanding Patterns in History

​

Linear, Cyclical, Spiral, and Dialectical Approaches

Examining Models Through the Civil War

• Historical models help us analyze and interpret the past.
• Today, we’ll explore four models: linear, cyclical, spiral, and dialectical.
• We will use the Civil War as our case study to examine how each model works.

Linear Model: Progress and Milestones

• History moves forward in a straight line toward improvement or a specific goal.
• Often used to highlight progress, achievements, or causation.
• Example: The Industrial Revolution as a progression of technological advancements.
• Strengths: Easy to follow; emphasizes growth and achievement.
• Limitations: Oversimplifies setbacks and nuances.

Linear Model: The Civil War as Progress

• Example: The Civil War as a milestone in America’s march toward justice.
• Key moments: The abolition of slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment.
• Critique: Does not account for the failure of Reconstruction or the persistence of systemic racism.

​

Cyclical Model: History Repeats Itself

• History follows recurring patterns or cycles (e.g., rise and fall of civilizations, economic booms and busts).
• Reflects natural rhythms like seasons or recurring themes in societal conflict.
• Strengths: Recognizes patterns and similarities across eras.
• Limitations: Overlooks unique and transformative aspects of history.

​

Cyclical Model: The Civil War as Recurring Conflict

• Example: The Civil War as part of recurring sectional tensions in U.S. history.
• Earlier cycles: The Missouri Compromise and Nullification Crisis.
• Critique: While patterns exist, the Civil War also brought unprecedented changes, such as emancipation.

​

Spiral/Loop Model: Overlapping and Expanding

• History builds outward, revisiting old themes while adding new complexities.
• Combines progress and repetition (e.g., revisiting foundational ideals with new interpretations).
• Strengths: Captures complexity and layers of historical development.
• Limitations: Abstract and harder to visualize.

Spiral/Loop Model: Revisiting Foundational Debates

• Example: The Civil War revisits themes of equality and federalism from the Revolutionary War and Constitution.
• Expands: Abolition of slavery adds complexity to these ideals.
• Critique: Hard to map the expanding complexity in practical terms.

​

Dialectical Model: Conflict and Resolution

• History progresses through resolving opposing forces (thesis + antithesis = synthesis).
• Common in Marx’s and Hegel’s philosophies.
• Strengths: Explains historical change through conflict.
• Limitations: Assumes inevitable progress and oversimplifies dynamics.

​

Dialectical Model: The Civil War

• Example: The Civil War resolved the tension between Union preservation (thesis) and Southern secession (antithesis).
• Synthesis: Preservation of the Union and abolition of slavery.
• Critique: Oversimplifies the unresolved conflicts (e.g., systemic racism, Reconstruction failures).

​

Which Model Works Best?

Recap Key Points:

• We explored four models of historical analysis:
1. Linear Model: History as progress and milestones.
2. Cyclical Model: History as recurring patterns.
3. Spiral/Loop Model: History as overlapping and expanding.
4. Dialectical Model: History as conflict and resolution.
• Each model offers unique insights but also has limitations.

​

Reflection Question:

• Which model do you think best explains the Civil War? Why?

Closing Thought:

• Historical models are tools for interpretation. The way we analyze history shapes how we understand the past—and how we connect it to the present.

​

Analysing History Through Sartwell’s Lens

​

Guided Reading

​

“How Would You Draw History?”

Crispin Sartwell

The New York Times, 2018

Spirograph Theory

"If I were trying to draw history, I’d draw it as a loop spiral: all on a single timeline, but crossing and recrossing itself, not making any particular progress forward or upward, but blossoming or expanding outward, more complex with each spiral because of the accretion of events."

Activity

​

Drawing the Shape of History