Welcome to the VIPs of History Museum!

VIPs Museum Welcome: Today we’ll tour a museum to learn more about Benjamin Banneker, Pierre-Charles L’Enfant, Daniel Boone, Juan de Onate, Benjamin Franklin, the Founding Fathers, and Christopher Columbus. All of these men were very important people (VIPs) and our country’s community shapers and builders! But first, what’s the difference between a community shaper and a community builder?

VIPs Museum Reminders: Please remember to record notes in your VIPs Museum notes sheet! FILL IN ALL THE BOXES!! These will help you tomorrow to build a timeline of important people to know. 2-3 people will be at each museum point. One person will read while the other takes notes. Then I will give you a couple of minutes to compare notes and talk about your VIP. This museum requires that you use a level 1 voice – only whispering as others are trying to learn and take notes. Enjoy the Museum of VIPs!!

Pierre-Charles L’Enfant 1791 Pierre-Charles L'Enfant was a French architect who planned the city of Washington, D.C. In 1791, the United States Congress decided to build a national capital on the Potomac River. President Washington hired L'Enfant to lay out the new capital city. L'Enfant came up with a plan in which wide streets centered around two buildings—the White House and the Capitol. Community Shaper

Benjamin Banneker 1791 Later, Banneker became interested in the study of the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars. This kind of science is called astronomy. Banneker watched the movement of the stars and planets. He used math to predict a solar eclipse. In a solar eclipse, the moon blocks the sun. Later, Banneker wrote a book called an almanac. An almanac has information about astronomy and other parts of nature. When L'Enfant was fired from the job and left town with the blueprints, or plan, of the city's layout, Banneker had seen the plans and was able to redraw the layout of Washington, D.C., in two days. As a child, he did well in science and math and taught himself about history by reading many books. He invented the first clock. Community Shaper

Benjamin Franklin 1776 Franklin always wanted to help others. He helped make Philadelphia a safer place. He started the first fire station, police station, hospital, and library. He also invented the Franklin Stove, a better oven, and a special kind of eyeglasses. He helped write the Declaration of Independence. During the American Revolution, Franklin went to France to ask for help for the colonies. After the American colonies won freedom from England, Franklin helped write the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution describes how our national government works. Community Shaper

Daniel Boone 1775 Not many Americans had traveled to Kentucky since crossing the Appalachian Mountains was tricky and dangerous, but Boone was an excellent trailblazer (someone who leads the way for others by exploring new territory). In 1769 Boone, his friend Finley, and four other pioneers followed an Indian trail through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky. Boone improved the trail, and soon it became a road that many people traveled to get to the West. It was later called the Wilderness Road. In 1775 the Transylvania Company hired Boone to lead a group of settlers into Kentucky. The company wanted to make Kentucky the fourteenth colony. Boone's party reached its destination on April 1, The party named the settlement Boonesborough and built a fort around it for protection. The following year, Boone brought his family there to live. Instead of becoming the fourteenth colony, Kentucky became a county of the colony of Virginia. Community Builder

Juan de Onate 1598 In 1595, Conquistador Juan de Oñate requested that he be sent to conquer and rule the new colony of New Mexico as governor, search for treasure (especially the legendary and fake silver treasure of Quivira), and bring Christianity to the local Indians. After governmental approval, Oñate left for New Mexico in January, 1598, with 400 settlers and soldiers (and their livestock). In July 1598, the expedition crossed the Rio Grande at El Paso. They arrived at the Tewa pueblo of San Juan and were helped by the local Indians. Oñate's group built San Gabriel, New Mexico's first capital. Community Builder

Christopher Columbus 1492 In 1492, Columbus was given control of three sailing ships for his westward expedition—a large ship called the Santa María and two smaller ships, the Niña and the Pinta. He sailed to the island named Hispaniola. This island is now made up of two countries, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, the Santa María ran aground in Hispaniola and sank, but Columbus and his crew were able to rescue supplies from the ship. The Santa María's crew stayed in Hispaniola and built a settlement there called La Navidad. After promising to return in a few months, Columbus took the Niña and the Pinta back to Spain. Over the next several years, Columbus made three more trips to the Americas. He never found the route to Asia that he was looking for, but news of his voyages spread all over Europe. Soon more explorers sailed from Europe to start settlements in what we now know as North and South America. Community Builder

The Founding Fathers 1774 Founding Fathers are persons key to not only in the founding of a political body, but also in the beginning of the idea of the government. It is applied especially to those men involved with the creation and early start of the United States of America, such as the signers of its Declaration of Independence and the framers of its Constitution, in which case it refers to such individuals as George Washington, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. The Founding Fathers of the United States of America were prominent statesmen, patriots and political leaders who participated in the American Revolution by: – Signing the Declaration of Independence – Framing and establishing the Constitution – Participating in the American Revolutionary War Community Shapers