Sessions

 

Session 1: Regional Disagreements

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define sectionalism, tariff, states' rights, free state, slave state and frame of reference.

Students will explain why most people in the South opposed tariffs.

Students will describe how the Missouri Compromise kept the balance between the free states and slave states.

Students will identify who became known as the Great Compromiser.

Students will describe what the Kansas-Nebraska Act did.

Students will explain why the Supreme Court denied freedom to Dred Scott.

Students will describe a present-day example of how frames of reference cause differences in opinions and beliefs.

HOMEWORK: 

Imagine that you are Henry Clay and it is 1850. You need to write a plan that will help the country find a peaceful way to settle its differences. Describe in your plan how the country can settle its regional disagreements without tearing itself apart. Be prepared to share your plan with the class in the next session. 

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Session 2: Slavery and Freedom

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define emancipation, resist, code, fugitive, underground, abolitionist and equality.

Students will share their plans with the class. 

Students will explain why slavery was important to the South.

Students will define what slave codes were. 

Students will describe what the Underground Railroad was. 

Students will identify the book that turned many people against slavery.

Students will identify important abolitionists and what they did to help the slaves.

HOMEWORK: 

Use the internet and/or the library to learn more about the Underground Railroad or how abolitionists worked for change. Then write a report about what you have learned. Be ready to share your findings with the class in the next session. 

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Session 3: The Union Breaks Apart

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define secede and Confederacy

Students will share their report with the class. 

Students will identify the newly formed political party that Abraham Lincoln joined. 

Students will describe how the positions of Lincoln and Douglas on the spread of slavery were different. 

Students will describe what seven Southern states did after Lincoln was elected President.

Students will identify who was in command of Fort Sumter when it was fired upon.

Students will compare/contrast two maps with different scales.

HOMEWORK: 

Write two newspaper headlines, one from a Northern newspaper and one from a Southern newspaper, as they would have appeared the day after the election of 1860. Think about what each paper might have printed as a headline. Be ready to share your headlines with the class in the next session. 

 

Session 4: Civil War

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define retreat, border state, strategy and casualty. 

Students will share their headlines with the class. 

Students will identify the location of the first major battle of the Civil War. 

Students will describe the Anaconda Plan.

Students will explain why General Lee lead his army to Pennsylvania. 

Students will identify Robert E. Lee and Clara Barton and explain why they were important to American history.

Students will describe the Emancipation Proclamation.

Students will explain how African American soldiers helped the Union during the Civil War.

HOMEWORK: 

Imagine that you are living in the South during the Civil War. Write a letter to a friend describing how the Union's blockade is changing your life. Be ready to share your letter to the class in the next session. 

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Session 5: The Road to Union Victory

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define address 

Students will share their letter with the class. 

Students will explain why the victory at Vicksburg was so important for the Union army.

Students will describe Pickett's Charge.

Students will examine the Gettysburg Address and explain why Abraham Lincoln gave the address.

Students will explain why Memorial Day is an important holiday in the United States.

Students will explain why General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

Students will identify the last battle of the Civil War.

HOMEWORK:

Make a diorama of one of the events we learned today in class. Be ready to share your diorama with the class in the next session. 

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Session 6: Reconstruction

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define Reconstruction, assassinate, black codes and acquittal.

Students will share their diorama with the class. 

Students will explain why many Southerners were upset by Lincoln's death.

Students will explain why the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. 

Students will identify the rights that are provided by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Students will identify who Edmund G. Ross was and why he was important to American history.

Students will explain what is the Fifteenth Amendment.

HOMEWORK:

Imagine the you are a news reporter. Write an interview with President Andrew Johnson, a senator who supports Congress' plan for Reconstruction, or an African American elected to serve in a Reconstruction government in the South. Provide both questions and answers. Be ready to share your interview to the class in the next session. 

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Session 7: The South After the War

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define freedmen, sharecropping, carpetbagger, scalawag, secret ballot and segregation.

Students will share their interview with the class. 

Students will describe why the Freedmen's Bureau was established.

Students will explain why Juneteenth is an important holiday in the United States.

Students will describe how workers were paid in the sharecropping system.

Students will describe how the Reconstruction governments raised money for rebuild bridges, buildings and railroads.

Students will describe how white Southerners took back control of their state governments and society. 

HOMEWORK:

Write a list of things you would have done to help rebuild the South after the Cilvil War. Be sure to include ways in which you would have helped the newly freed slaves, as well as the economies of the Southern states. Be prepared to share your list with the class in the next session.

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Session 8: Settling the Last Frontier

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define book, refinery, prospector, bust, long drive, homesteader, open range, reservation and climograph.

Students will share their list with the class. 

Students will explain what brought miners to the West. 

Students will describe how railroads were important to Texas ranchers.

Students will describe the hardships homesteaders endured as they moved west.

Students will explain why Custer attacked the Sioux.

Students will read and create a climograph. 

HOMEWORK:

Imagine that is is 1870 and that you are going to move out West to become a homesteader. Write a list of questions that you would want to ask a homesteader or cattle rancher that will make your journey easier and hep you live in an unfamiliar land. Be prepared to share your questions with the class in the next session.

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Session 9: The Rise of New Industries

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define free enterprise, transcontinental railroad, entrepreneur, petroleum, capital, and human resource.

Students will share their questions with the class. 

Students will describe how the transcontinental railroad helped the economy grow. 

Students will explain why the steel industry spread to the cities along the Great Lakes.

Students will describe what did John D. Rockefeller did to make his company more profitable.

Students will examine the Thomas Edison's inventions and describe why they are important to the United States.

Students will identify Thomas Edison's best known patented invention at Menlo Park.

HOMEWORK:

Write a list of "Who Am I" questions and about some of the people we discussed in class today.  Be prepared to share your questions and answers with the class in the next session.

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Session 10: A Changing People

LESSON OBJECTIVES: 

Students will define old immigration, new immigration, advertisement, tenement, prejudice and regulation.

Students will share their questions and answers with the class. 

Students will describe how many immigrants learned about jobs in the United States.

Students will explain why large numbers of Chinese people first came to the United States.

Students will identify who Hiram L. Fong is and how he is important to American history.

Students will explain why many Americans reacted harshly to immigrants.

Students will describe the Great Migration.