CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR UNIT PLAN

1. CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WARUNIT PLAN By: Rachel Tommelleo, Joel Arce, Norah Flynn, and Kandis Rivera

2. Established Goals: 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

3. Understandings: • 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 industrial-based 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

4. Essential Questions: • 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?

5. Students will be able to… • 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

6. OVERVIEW • 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.

7. 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

8. PERFORMANCE TASK 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.

9. 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

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. Step Six: • Be prepared to share your group’s question and answer with the class!