By: Rachel Tommelleo, Joel Arce,
Norah Flynn, and Kandis Rivera
Slavery in the United States
• Role of regional economies 3.1c, 3.2
3.2b, 4.1b, 4.1f
• Sectionalism 1.4b
Efforts to Compromise
• Balance of power in Congress 5.1d, 5.3a
• Missouri Compromise 1.3d, 1.4b, 2.4a, 3.2d
• Compromise of 1850 1.3d, 1.4b, 2.4a, 3.2d
• Kansas Nebraska Act 1.3d, 1.4b, 2.4a, 3.2d
Events leading to the Civil War
• Dred Scott vs. Sandford 5.1d
• Fugitive Slave Laws 5.2a, 5.3a
• John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry 1.3c
• Election of 1860 5.1b
• Lincoln-Douglas debates 1.3c
• The causes of the Civil War
• How sectionalism developed in the antebellum era
• That the South developed in an agriculturally-based
economy while the North developed in an industrialbased economy
• States’ rights led to political dissent
• The series of events and resulting conditions that led
to the American Civil War
• How different experiences, beliefs, values, traditions,
and motives cause individuals and groups to interpret
historic events and issues from different perspectives
• The development and progress of the Civil War
• How did regional differences contribute to the
causes of the Civil War?
• Why might some people argue that the Civil War
was inevitable?
• Why did the efforts to compromise between the
North and the South fail?
• Participate in a negotiating and compromising role-playing activity that mirrors
the attempts at political compromise in the 1850s
• Investigate key turning points in the Civil War in New York State and United
States history and explain why these events or developments are significant
• Map information about people, places, and environments
• Describe the relationships between people and environments and the
connections between people and places
• Identify and collect economic information related to the Civil War from
standard reference works, newspapers, periodicals, computer databases,
textbooks, and other primary and secondary sources
• Describe how ordinary people and famous historic figures in the local
community, the State, and the United States have advanced fundamental
democratic values, beliefs, and traditions expressed in the Declaration of
Independence, the New York State and United States constitutions, the Bill of
Rights, and other important historic documents
• Consider the sources of historic documents, narratives, or artifacts and
evaluate their reliability
• Value the principles, ideals, and core values of the American democratic system
based upon the premises of human dignity, liberty, justice, and equality
• Analyze the role played by the United States in international politics, past and
present
• Students will be beginning a unit on the Civil
War. Each individual lesson of the unit will be
focused on a particular cause of the war.
There will be an activity for each cause as well
as a culminating Performance Task that will
demonstrate the students’ understanding of
the causes of the Civil War.
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LESSON ACTIVITIES:
Poster Presentation: Sectionalism/Compromise of 1850
Interactive Map Activity: Missouri Compromise
Classifying Arguments: Dred Scott Case
Debate Issue: Do the Southern states have the right to
withdraw from the Union if they decide that being a
part of it is no longer in their best interest? OR Would
secession and the formation of the Confederate States
of America constitute a rebellion?
• Document Timeline
• Photo Stories
• DBQ Essay
CIVIL WAR TIMELINE
Task:
Students will examine primary and secondary source
documents focusing on the causes of the Civil War
and create a timeline that reflects the major events
contributing to the start of the war.
Step One:
• With your group members, create a brief summary
for each of the seven events below (feel free to
use any text books or approved Internet sites to
help you create your summaries). On the line next
to each event, be sure to write the year that event
took place:
– Fugitive Slave Act
– Dred Scott Decision
– Missouri Compromise
– Election of 1860
– Compromise of 1850
– Kansas Nebraska Act
– Secession of South Carolina
Step Two:
• Next, with your group members, you need to take the
documents at your table and match them with each of your
written summaries. Once all group members are clear
about which images represent each event, your group needs
to create a timeline using these documents!
Guideline for creating your Civil War Timeline:
• Each group will be given documents, chart paper, markers,
and tape to create the timeline.
• Timelines must be properly scaled and all events need to be
in chronological order.
• For each event you will need to label the date and name of
the event.
• All group members must have an active role in creating the
timeline.
Step Three:
• Now you are going to answer and create a few
questions independently. Each member of your
group will be assigned two numbers. You will then
need to answer the questions that go with your
document numbers.
Step Four:
• Now each member of your group will share their
answers! As a group you need to decide whether
or not each answer is complete and correct.
• If it is, write the answer below in the appropriate
space.
• If it is not, revise it as a group, and then write the
answer in the appropriate space below.
Step Five:
• Now your group is going to be
assigned a document to create a
document-based question for of
your own! Take time to carefully
analyze your assigned document
and remember to think about the
who, what, where, when and how
questions that it provokes. Each
group member must write-out
your group’s question and the
answer to your group’s question
below.
Step Six:
• Be prepared to share your group’s question
and answer with the class!