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Source set · 7 sources ✓ Lesson ready

What makes a nation?

Thinkers, poets, and statesmen from Germany, Italy, Hungary, Ireland, and France give competing answers: language, history, shared will, or the power of the state.

Timeline of key events →

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A ready-to-run lesson for this set: Four Corners: What Makes a Nation?. Slides include a hook, one slide per source, directions, a take-a-stand vote, an exit ticket, and a teacher script in the speaker notes.

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1. Hook: what would you do? 3-5 min

It is 1806. There is no country called Germany or Italy. Millions of people speak German or Italian, but they live under dozens of kings, dukes, and emperors, and in 1806 much of Germany is under Napoleon’s control.

Options: (1) They are one nation because they share a language · (2) They are one nation only if they choose to be · (3) They need a strong state to make them one nation

Then read: Those who speak the same language are joined to each other by a multitude of invisible bonds by nature herself, long before any human art begins Johann Gottlieb Fichte, To the German Nation (1806)

2. Main activity: Four Corners: What Makes a Nation?

Grouping: Whole class; students move among four labeled corners after each round, then talk with others in their corner

Setup: Post the four answers in the corners of the room: A. A shared language and culture. B. Shared history, memory, and sacrifice. C. The people’s free choice. D. A strong state and its leaders. After each round of sources, students move to the corner that best answers “What makes a nation?” and must name a source.

Materials (printables are in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Four corner signs (printable pages in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Evidence cards for all 7 sources (printable pages in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Recording sheet
  1. Launch 3 min
    Explain the corners. Everyone starts in the corner that matches their hook vote.
  2. Round 1: Language and nature 8 min
    Read Herder and Fichte. Students move, and each corner gives a 30-second reason.
  3. Round 2: Freedom and rights 8 min
    Read Petőfi (Hungary, 1848) and O’Connell (Ireland, 1836). Move and explain.
  4. Round 3: Power and the state 8 min
    Read Droysen and the German unification documents. Move and explain.
  5. Round 4: Memory and will 8 min
    Read Mazzini and Renan. Final move. Each corner chooses its single strongest source.
  6. Discuss and exit ticket 10 min
    Ask: Which answer could include the most people? Which could leave people out? Then students complete the exit ticket.

Take a stand: What makes a nation?

  • A. A shared language and culture (Herder, Fichte)
  • B. Shared history, memory, and sacrifice (Mazzini, Petőfi)
  • C. The people’s free choice (Renan, O’Connell)
  • D. A strong state and its leaders (Droysen, German unification documents)

3. Pacing options

15-minute bell-ringer

  • 3 min Hook: 1806 scenario and Fichte
  • 8 min One round only: compare Fichte with Renan, then move to a corner
  • 4 min Exit ticket question 1

Full 50-minute lesson

  • 4 min Hook: scenario and Fichte
  • 3 min Launch the corners
  • 32 min Four rounds of sources and moves, 8 minutes each
  • 6 min Discussion
  • 5 min Exit ticket

4. Exit ticket

  1. Which corner did you end in, and which source put you there? Explain in two sentences.
  2. Fichte and Renan disagree about language. Explain the disagreement in your own words.

5. Differentiation

Support

  • This set has no Adapted Docs yet; read key passages aloud or chunk them for struggling readers.
  • Read each pair of quotes aloud before students move.
  • Give students the recording sheet with the corner letter already listed for each source.
  • Sentence frame: “I moved to corner ___ because ___ says ___.”

Extension

  • Pick a nation today. Which of the four answers best explains how it formed?
  • O’Connell asked for equal justice for Ireland inside the United Kingdom. Is wanting equal treatment the same thing as wanting to be a separate nation?

Suggested sequence

  1. Johann Gottfried von Herder: Materials for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind, 1784
    Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 8 min
    Johann Gottfried von Herder: Materials for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind, 1784. A primary source from 1784, reproduced from Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg. It begins: "Perhaps the most successful political philosophy of the modern era has been nationalism. Nationalism has taken on many forms - calls for..."
    Ask: What does Herder think makes each people distinct?
    Open with this source to frame the question.
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  2. Johann Gottlieb Fichte: To the German Nation, 1806
    Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 5 min
    Johann Gottlieb Fichte: To the German Nation, 1806. A primary source from 1806, reproduced from Johann Gottlieb Fichte. It begins: "Johann Gottlieb Fichte (17621814) was a German philosopher, a reformer and a supporter of the French Revolution and its ideals. But when..."
    Ask: How does Fichte want Germans to respond to defeat by Napoleon, and what role does he give to language and education?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  3. Daniel O'Connell: Justice for Ireland, Feb 4, 1836
    Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 8 min
    That did not end Irish grievances, which continued throughout the 19th century.
    Ask: What does O'Connell ask Parliament to change for Ireland, and how does he make his case?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  4. Alexander Petofi: The National Song of Hungary, 1848
    Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 3 min
    Much of the Magyar poetry is thrilled with a burning love of country.
    Ask: What does the poem ask Hungarians to do, and what images does it use to stir them?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  5. Mazzini: On Nationality (1852)
    Essay · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 10 min
    Giuseppe Mazzini's case for nations based on shared language and culture.
    Ask: What makes a nation?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneClaim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER)
  6. Documents of German Unification, 1848-1871
    Document · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 5 min
    Documents of German Unification, 1848-1871. A primary source from 1871, reproduced from James Harvey Robinson. It begins: "Johann Gustav Droysen : Speech to the Frankfurt Assembly, 1848 We cannot conceal the fact that the whole German question is a..."
    Ask: How did different groups propose to unite Germany, and whose plan finally succeeded?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  7. Renan: What Is a Nation? (1882)
    Essay · Fordham University · World: Revolutions (1750-1900) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
    Ernest Renan's famous lecture defining a nation as a 'daily plebiscite.'
    Ask: Is a nation defined by blood, language, or choice?
    Close with this source before writing.
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneClaim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER)

Culminating writing prompt

Using evidence from at least three sources in this set, write an argument that answers the question: “What makes a nation?” Cite each source by title, explain how its author, audience, and purpose affect its reliability, and respond to at least one counterargument.

Printable writing sheet (make a copy)

Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.