Lesson: Prelude to the Civil War

Author: Joe Waite

Grade Level: Middle School

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and

secondary sources.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary

source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.3 Identify key steps in a text’s description of a process related to

history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,

including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7 Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos,

or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1a Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and

distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence

logically.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1b Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data

and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1c Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the

relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1d Establish and maintain a formal style.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1e Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and

supports the argument presented.

Wisconsin Academic Standards:

B.8.2 Employ cause-and-effect arguments to demonstrate how significant events have influenced the

past and the present in United States and world history

B.8.3 Describe the relationships between and among significant events, such as the causes and

consequences of wars in United States and world history

B.8.4 Explain how and why events may be interpreted differently depending upon the perspectives of

participants, witnesses, reporters, and historians

B.8.5 Use historical evidence to determine and support a position about important political values, such

as freedom, democracy, equality, or justice, and express the position coherently

B.8.6 Analyze important political values such as freedom, democracy, equality, and justice embodied in

documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of

Rights

B.8.7 Identify significant events and people in the major eras of United States and world history

B.8.12 Describe how history can be organized and analyzed using various criteria to group people and

events chronologically, geographically, thematically, topically, and by issues

Essential Question: What caused the Civil War?

Learner Outcomes – Students Will Be Able To:

Explain the causes of the Civil War.

Trace the changing map of slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War.

Discuss ethical questions that deal with American history.

Write a persuasive letter through the eyes of Americans during the Civil War era.

Procedure:

Phase 1

1. Introduction: Begin with this question...”If you could go back in history and told them what the USA will look like in 1865, after the Civil War, and convince them that the events they are inventing or participating in are making that happen, do you think you could convince them to stop the path to war?”

2. Pass out student packets. Call on volunteers to read the introduction on page one. 3. Tell students to follow along with the next portion, the Missouri Compromise, as you present it on

the attached PowerPoint presentation. 4. Show students the map for the Compromise of 1850. Call on volunteers to read this section in the

student packet. 5. Call on volunteers to read the sections in the student packet dealing with the Kansas-Nebraska

Act and John Brown, while showing the relevant slides on the PowerPoint. 6. Pair-share: What caused violence to erupt in Kansas and the West? How could it have been

avoided? Why was John Brown such a polarizing figure? Is terrorism, as used by John Brown, ever justified? Call on pairs to share their ideas.

7. Call on students to read the remaining sections on the election of Abraham Lincoln and Dred Scott.

1. Activity: Students will complete the electoral map questions – Activity 1 on the attached student packet.

2. Pair-share: Why do you think Lincoln was more interested in keeping the Union together than

abolishing slavery?

3. Activity: Complete the timeline – Activity 2 – in the student packet.

Phase 2

1. Introduction: Projecting the blank United States map on the board, ask students to explain how slavery changed on the map between 1820 and 1850. Call on volunteers to explain how the map changed. Ask students why the West was so crucial in the slavery debate at this time.

2. Call on volunteers to read “The First Shots” portion of the student packet. 3. Pair-share: How did Lincoln attempt to avoid armed conflict? Call on pairs for ideas. 4. Activity: Students will complete the map on Activity 3.

5. Have students rejoin their partners. One member playing the role of the North and one playing the role of the South.

6. Each student will come up with an argument for either extending slavery to new states and territories or arguing against the expansion of slavery.

7. After writing down their best arguments, students will alternate giving their best arguments within their pairs.

8. Whole-class: Call on pairs to share their best arguments. 9. Students will now work on their own on Activity 4, writing a letter to Lincoln. Remind students that

they are looking at the

Phase 3

1. Call on students to share their letters with the class.

2. Activity: Assign roles in Dred Scott hearing role play -

Anti-Slavery witnesses: Angelina Grimké, Justice McLean, James Madison, Frederick Douglass Pro-Slavery witnesses: James Henry Hammond, Dr. Cartwright, Justice Taney Impartial witness: President James Buchanan 2 Defense Laywers, suing for Dred Scott’s freedom 2 Prosecutors, trying to keep Dred Scott as property of his master. There will be two Newspaper reporters, one from Columbia SC and one from Boston, MASS. Supreme Court Justices: John McLean, James M. Wayne, Roger B. Taney, John Catron, Peter V. Daniel, Samuel, Nelson, Robert C. Grier, Benjamin R. Curtis, John A. Campbell Disclaimer: This lesson will depend heavily on role-playing. Students will be instructed that they don’t have to believe in the cause they are assigned to, but are expected to immerse themselves into their assigned roles.

Class members will be coached into their roles and what is expected of them.

This website is particularly helpful in researching parts for the role play.

3. Students will be given research time to complete their roles. Each student will prepare

dialogue to be delivered at the hearing.

4. The teacher will organize the hearing so that students will deliver their dialogue in a coherent

order and both sides have the opportunity to present their cases.

Closure: Students will present the Dred Scott hearing role play.

Assessment: Multiple-choice test (attached).

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR EVENTS THAT LED TO THE WAR

Massive books have been written about the American Civil War. Maybe someday you will take more advanced classes on this subject in which you’ll have to read some of these massive books. Maybe you want to read massive books about the Civil War for fun, like I do. Either way, understand that this is a very brief text that will attempt to introduce to you about this very important time in American history... a time in which our country almost split into two and maybe more, parts. Some historians argue that the Civil War started with the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution. In order to keep all 13 states unified and joining the Independence movement, Northern States agreed to allow slavery in the Southern States. Rather than dealing with the issue then, they decided to put it off. They kept putting the issue of slavery off for 70 years until war became inevitable. Many people think that Civil War was just about slavery. It is true that the issue was a very large part of what was happening, but there were other reasons as well. Southern states believed that each state should have more rights than the federal government. The federal government had tried to assert its power over the states, saying that federal law superseded state law. The southern states believed that this was an attempt to take away their freedom. They feared that the federal government would make a law banning slavery, and force them to accept this as law. The population of the North was becoming much more urbanized because of the Industrial Revolution. For-mer farmers were flocking to the cities for better paying jobs. Northerners were having many more babies than Southerners, and the northern population was increasing much faster than the southern population. Immigrants from Europe would move to the North in search of factory jobs rather than the farming jobs of the south... which depended on slave labor anyway.

Not all southerners owned slaves. In fact, only one-third of them did. These slave owners were the richest of

the rich, and controlled southern politics. Northern abolitionists, those that wanted to slavery ended, saw the

southern slave owners not only as immoral, but also as corrupt, money hungry, greedy, and evil. As northern-

ers became more vocal against southern slave owners, southerners became more defensive. This led to a

rise in nationalism for each region, not only in the south but in the north too. Rather than seeing themselves

as Americans, northerners saw themselves as Northerners and southerners saw themselves as Southerners,

which a very different way of life.

Missouri Compromise Every time a new state was admitted into the Union, it had to be declared as a slave state or a free state. To

put off war, federal politicians from the north and south came up with the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This

compromise, the first of many, was unpopular in both halves of the country. It stated that every state north of

36º North should be free, while every new state south of that line would be considered a slave state. Because

Missouri was north of that line, it was given “special status” making it a slave state. Northerners were really

ticked off about that. In addition, Arkansas was admitted into the Union about that time, making the number

of slave states equal to the number of free states. 1820 was the beginning of the end. The war would not be

averted after this time. In what appeared to be a compromise just prolonged the problem rather than dealing

with the problem of slavery. States above 36ºN that were already slave states would remain slave states. The

southerners wanted that line to be moved much further to the north.

Compromise of 1850 As the country continued to move to the west, the issue of slavery became even more heated. At the end of the Mexican-American War, in which Texas would be eventually admitted into the Union as a slave state, southern planation owners continued to try and hold onto their power. The Compromise of 1850 featured five different bills, all of them wildly controversial in both halves of the country. Texas, admitted as a slave state, was forced to give up claims to the New Mexico Territory, but was given control of the Texas Panhandle and cash as compensation. Rather than say that states that might be formed out of the New Mexico and Utah Territories would automatically be called slave states, it was decided that those new states would be able to vote on it themselves. Southerners had to give up claims that southern California should become a slave state because it was south of 36ºN. Slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia, further angering Southerners. The Fugitive Act was signed, which was deeply hated in the North. It stated that any slave caught running away to the north and caught had to be returned to their masters in the south because they were considered property. Most northerners saw blacks as people deserving of freedom and individual rights. This law did not sit well with them at all. Northerners who were angry at compromises given to the Southern slave owners formed a new political party

called the Republican Party. Republicans were very opposed to slavery. Their party would gain strength and

power very quickly in the north, though it was almost non-existent in the south.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act Like the Missouri Compromise before it, it simply put off the problem instead of dealing with it. Things quieted

down for awhile, but not for long. Four years after the Compromise of 1850, the Nebraska-Kansas Act was

passed.

The lawmakers who signed this Act hoped that it would quiet the tensions between the two regions, but it did just the opposite. The law stated that the Missouri Compromise would be repealed and that the citizens of the new states of Nebraska and Kansas could decide for themselves on whether or not they should be slave states or free states. The North saw this as a victory for southern slave owners. They felt that the southern politicians would be able to control the votes in these territories and create slave states north of 36ºN. In addition, the new Transcontinental Railroad, financed by northerners, was set to run through those states. Politicians from both sides argued on the route that the rail should follow... Northerners did not want to see the tracks run through a slave state. Nebraska, still sparsely populated, would become a battle ground over this issue. Look at the “primary source” below (remember a primary source of information comes from a specific time

period... this map is from the 1850’s). The states shown in pink are Free States, those in gray are Slave

States, and those in green have yet to be decided as they were still territories. Notice Kansas-Nebraska in

the middle. Because of their proximity to the 36ºN line, they became a battle-ground state in the debate.

It was a very complicated debate, and several things happened because of it, including a northern Senator being nearly beaten to death by a southern Senator. Missourians, who were pro-slavery, began moving into the territory to influence the vote.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act pretty much cancelled out the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise

of 1850, and further divided the nation into two separate halves.

John Brown John Brown was an abolitionist. An abolitionist believed in the ending of slavery. John Brown has been called a fanatic and a lunatic, and even a fanatic patriot. He was so against slavery that he decided to rebel the government in what we would call today “terrorist plots.” From Kansas, he and his supporters were different than most Abolitionists who carried out peaceful demonstrations. Brown and his men believed that violence against Southerners was the best way to get their point across. He and his men killed five pro-slavery southerners in Kansas in 1856. In 1859, he led a raid on Harper’s Ferry, a federal arsenal in Virginia, with the intent of stealing weapons and arming slaves that would attack southern plantations. Seven men were killed, including a free black, and ten were seriously wounded. Brown was captured and taken to trial. Captured in Virginia, he would found guilty of murder and treason under Virginian law. He was sentenced to hang. Southerners celebrated his death, seeing the death of a terrorist and traitor displayed before them. Northerners saw him as a martyr... somebody that died for a holy cause. Either way, his death caused the deepening division between North and South to grow even wider. Many southerners blamed the Republican Party, an upstart party that was anti-slavery, that had been born in Ripon, Wisconsin, just a few years before.

John Brown is still controversial, even today. Do you consider him a hero? Did his cause (ending slavery)

justify his means (terrorism and murder)? The War Between the States as it was called in the South, or the

Civil War as it was called in the North, would begin 16 months later.

Dred Scott Dred Scott was a slave, born in Virginia and eventually purchased by a US army officer. He followed his mas-ter from Missouri to Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory which was free soil. His master even allowed him to marry at Fort Snelling in the Wisconsin Territory, which was generally prohibited to slaves. Scott, his wife, and his young daughter became the property of John Sanford after the death of his previous masters. He sued for his freedom based on the fact that he had resided in a free state, and once there, should have been freed. Initially, the courts disagreed with Scott. They stated that he should have sued for his freedom once in Illinois or Wisconsin. They more or less said it was too late. Scott pursed his freedom, with the case eventually reaching the United States Supreme Court. It became a political question on whether or not slavery should be legal. Abolitionists and those who supported the status-quo awaited the outcome. The Supreme Court voted 7-2 against Scott’s quest for freedom. Chief Justice Roger Taney summed it up by saying that no black man could ever become a citizen of the United States, whether or not he was free or a slave. Since Scott was black, he was not a citizen, and since not a citizen, he could not legally sue the courts. Abolitionists were outraged, while Southerners rejoiced believing that Justice Taney had stood up for the South. It was another polarizing event that further divided the North and the South.

The Election of Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was a tall, gangly lawyer from the new state of Illinois. Considered a “Westerner” by the rest of America, it was very unlikely that this quiet and unassuming man would ever become President... much less one the greatest Presidents in American history. But he did, and our lives became forever affected by his leadership and his decisions. Politics in the 1860’s were quite a bit different than they are today. For one thing, there was more than two major political parties, making winning a majority in the Electoral College much more difficult. Each party had a different opinion on what to do regarding the controversy over slavery. Lincoln believed in abolition, but his main concern was that the Union of all states remain intact. Ironically, the southern states said that if he got elected President, they would leave the Union. The country was on the very edge of destruction, and it didn’t look like there was any possibility to save it. Lincoln and one of his opponents, Stephen Douglas, also from Illinois, had a series of famous debates. Douglas argued in favor of compromise... that states with slavery should be allowed to keep their slaves, but that slavery should not be allowed in the Territories. That split the Democratic Party into the Southern Democrats and the Northern Democrats. Running for the Southern Democrats was John Breckinridge, a pro-slavery candidate that would carry all the southern states.

Activity 1

Take a look at the electoral college maps of the elections of 1860 and 2008 below:

1) What were the 10 biggest states in 1860, in order?

2) What were the 10 biggest states in 2012, in order? 3) What similarities do you see in the two maps? What do the similarities tell you? 4) What about the differences? Same thing.

Activity 2: Make a time line below showing the steps that led to war. Use lines to give yourselves more room if you need it.

1776

1800

1810

1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

The First Shots Hostilities in the American Civil War (still called the War Between the States in the South) officially began with the Battle of Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter was an American fort in the bay just outside of Charlestown, South Carolina. Lincoln wanted to send supplies to the troops guarding the fort, as they were running out of food and had very little ammunition. As union ships approached the fort, Southern forces began firing on the ships, forcing them to turn away. The Captain of the fort surrendered to the South Carolina after a 34 hour bombardment, seeing that the situation was hopeless. The South had won the first battle of the war. It was April, 1861. Lincoln moved quickly. He sent troops into the “Border States” to keep those states from seceding as well. When pro-Confederate riots broke out in Baltimore, Maryland, Lincoln arrested state officials who were sym-pathetic to the south, held them without trial, and declared Martial Law, which meant he more or less assumed dictatorial powers. He sent pleas to every state in the North asking for a each state to sign up their own militias. They did. As soon as he did that, four more southern States, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Arkansas joined the Confederacy, raising the number of states that seceded to 11, where it would remain throughout the war. Lincoln had said during his inaugural address that he had no intentions of invading the south or banning slavery in southern states that had it. That all changed when shots were fired.

Activity 3: Map

States that seceded right away RED

States that seceded after Lincoln asked for State Militias to form PINK OR PURPLE

Border states, states that would not join the Confederacy even though they had slaves, YELLOW.

States that fought with the Union in BLUE.

Put a bright RED CIRCLE where Fort Sumter is.

Put a bright BLUE STAR where Washington DC is.

Put a bright RED STAR where Richmond is.

Activity 4

Pretend you are a southern politician who owns slaves: Write a short letter to President Lincoln telling him

why you will be seceding the Union.

CIVIL WAR QUIZ 1 Name__________________

SECTION 1: MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. ______ When did differences regarding slavery begin between the North and the South? A. 1776 - American Constitution B. 1820 - Missouri Compromise C. 1850 - Compromise of 1850 D. 1857 - John Brown’s raids 2. _______ Though the Civil War was going to be a fight about slavery, what was the South’s main reason to secede? A. Wanted to protect rural way of life B. Believed State’s rights superceded Federal rights. C. Felt they were losing power in the Senate because of population shifts, prompting them to secede. D. Believed that the Industrial Revolution was a threat to their way of life. 3. _______ Which of the following statements is true? A. The South was becoming urbanized B. The South was becoming industrialized C. Only 1/3 of Southerners owned slaves D. Southern factories depended on slaves 4. _______ What line of latitude was used for the Missouri Compromise? A. 26º-30’N B. 32º-30’N C. 36º-30’N D. 40º-30’N 5. _______ What did the Missouri Compromise primarily state? A. Missouri was north of the compromised line, so it was given special status as a slave ‘ state. B. Missourians would be able to vote on whether or not to allow slavery. C. Missouri would be admitted as a slave state as long as Maine could be a free state. D. Both Missouri and Kansas would be considered “sovereign states” in which they would vote yes or no for slavery.

6. ______ What state had land taken away from it from the Compromise of 1850 in exchange to have its debts paid of by the US? A. Arkansas B. Kansas C. Missouri D. Texas 7. _______ Speaking of the Compromise of 1850, where was slavery prohibited? A. District of Columbia B. Delaware C. Virginia D. Texas 8. _______ Where else was slavery prohibited because of the Compromise of 1850? A. Kansas B. Missouri C. Southern California D. Texas 9. _______ What did the Fugitive Act state? A. runaway slaves could be kept. B. runaway slaves had to be returned to their rightful masters. C. runaway slaves were granted freedom. D. runaway slaves had the right to beat their masters if they came after them. 10. _______ What political party was born in Ripon, Wisconsin, about 1850? A. Constitutionalists B. Democrats C. Northern Democrats D. Republicans. 11. ______ What is the name of a person who tries to find “middle-ground” politically? A. conservative B. extremist C. liberal

D. moderate13

18. ______ What is a person called by his followers when he dies for a cause? A. Hero B. Martyr C. Memorandia D. Tyrant 19. _______ The United States does NOT elect a president based on popular vote. Each state is winner take-all, with each of the states delegates going one way or another. What is the name of this? A. Congressional Privilege B. Electoral College C. Parliamentary Procedure D. Senatorial College 20. _______ How many candidates for President were there in 1860? A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4 21. _______ How does the map of 1860 compare with the map of 2008 as far as a pattern is concerned? A. Totally Different B. Totally the Same C. Very Similar D. No correlation 22. _______ Who won the election of 1860? A. Bell B. Breckinridge C. Douglas D. Lincoln 23. ______ Southern states threatened this if Lincoln was elected. A. compromise B. division C. fillibustering D. secession 12. ______ What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act state? A. they were to become free states B. they were to become slave states

C. there were to choose for themselves D. it was to be decided by the government 13. _______Where was this cartoon best received? A. North B. South C. Neither

14. _______ What kind of historical “source” is this map considered to be? A. Primary B. Secondary C. Neither

15. _______ What color uniforms did the North wear? A. blue B. black C. camoflauge

D. black 16. _______ What controversial man was a hero in the North but a villain in the South in 1858? A. John Brown B. Stepehn Douglas C. Frederick Douglas D. Abraham Lincoln 17. ______ What raid from the above man (#16) led to the death of white slave owners? A. Bosporous Springs B. Harpers Ferry C. Virginia Falls D. Turners Falls24. _____ How many southern states broke away from the Union right away, following the election? A. none B. four C. seven D. eleven 25. _____ How many additional southern states broke away after the President asked state militias to support the war? A. none B. four C. eight D. eleven 26. _____ What was the first battle of the war? A. Fort Douglas B. Fort Saratoga C. Fort Sumter D. Fort Thomas 27. _____ What was the first flag of the Confederacy? A. Stars and Stripes B. Confederate C. Union D. Swastika 28. _____ What state was the first to secede the Union? A. Alabama B. South Carolina C. Virginia D. Texas 29. _____ What border state did Lincoln consider the most important to keep in the Union? A. Delaware

B. Kanahwa C. Kentucky D. Maryland 30. _____ What is it called when a President assumes dictatorial powers? A. Constitutional B. Dictatorial C. Martial Law D. Powers of the Tyrant 31-50. Color the map below the following way... NORTH is blue SOUTH is gray BORDER is something else