Westward Expansion, Slavery, and Sectionalism 9-12
Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to Causes of the Civil War
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Louisiana Purchase and Westward Expansion
Matthew Woods
Description of Lesson: 1) Open with a bell ringer and define vocabulary for lesson; 2) PowerPoint lesson- Goal 1 Jefferson Alters the Nation's Course; 3) Worksheet- Louisiana Purchase; 4) Quiz.
Lewis, Clark, and York
Heather Menzel
Description of Lesson: Students will learn why and how the Louisiana Purchase was explored. Using excerpts from Lewis and Clark's journals, class will explore African-American and Native American contributions and freedoms (or lack thereof).
Debating the War of 1812
Hill Pearsall
Description of Lesson: Students will use various documents leading up to the declaration of war in 1812 on Britain and create a presentation using political propaganda posters and role playing to present the information to the class. Students will then write a reflection and share with the class their views on the essential question.
Battle of Tippecanoe
Heather Menzel
Description of Lesson: Students will learn about Tecumseh's Indian Confederation, Battle of Tippecanoe, Intro to the War of 1812.
Hudson River School: Creating Nationalism through Art
Kelly Jones
Description of Lesson: The teacher is to hang the art around the classroom for the students to analyze. Students will be in teacher created groups and are to take a museum walk around the classroom analyzing unique landscape art of the early 1800s. They will have questions to answer for each work of painting they observe.
Music and Art in the Era of Good Feelings
Hill Pearsall
Description of Lesson: Students will analyze several pieces of art from the Hudson Valley School of Art using a rubric. Students will analyze various pieces of music from the period 1800-1860' as well. The goal is to understand how these affect nationalism.
The Issue of Slavery in the Western Territories
Dylan Dimock
Description of Lesson: Lesson begins with a discussion/review of Manifest Destiny and the conflicts that arose during the expansion of our country from the Mississippi to the Pacific. We will then examine the Missouri Compromise and the abolition movements of the second great awakening and discuss their role in western expansion. We will then map out the nations response to the expansion of slavery in the western territories by examining/mapping the Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, the Kanas Nebraska Act and the Dredd Scott Decision.
The Dred Scott decision
Jonathan Grubbs
Description of Lesson: Students will learn about the division of free states and slave states and conflict that was caused by such a division. Students will then debate whether or not Dred Scott had a right to sue in court and whether he should be free by conducting a mock trial or class debate. Students will then reflect on the judge's ruling and decide how they would have ruled in the case.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates: Kansas-Nebraska Act
Craig Underwood
Description of Lesson: Lesson begins with discussion/review of different causes of Civil War from homework. Then divide class in half. Half of the class will review the Lincoln argument and the other half the Douglas argument. Each group will elect spokesmen who will then debate their side. The lesson is concluded with a reflection essay on which politician the students' believe they would have sided with if living during the time period and why.
The Cause and Effects of Bleeding Kansas (1854-1858)
Jonathan Grubbs
Description of Lesson: When students walk into the classroom, the teacher should have a picture depicting Bleeding Kansas. (Google image has some good choices) Teacher will propose the question, “What are some events that we have talked about that might be responsible for an event to be called Bleeding Kansas?” Students will work through the Missouri Compromise, Kansas-Nebraska Act, and popular sovereignty. This can be done on the board or through classroom talk. Once students have been reminded of the events leading up to popular sovereignty, students will write for 5 min on what they think will happen next. Students will spend 5 min writing to the prompt, “What do you think the term Bleeding Kansas refers to?” Students will then spend 5 min sharing their ideas and talking about the picture with the class through classroom talk. Students will then get into groups of two and read one of the primary source documents while their partner reads the other. Once they have finished reading, they need to work together to make two posters. The front of one poster board will be a pro-border ruffian poster, and the back will be a pro-abolitionist poster. Students will then present their poster to the class with each student presenting one side of the poster. Students’ homework will be to look back at what they wrote on what they thought would happen next and write a reflection paragraph based on what they have learned. After they write their reflection on how their understanding of Bleeding Kansas has changed, they need to include a paragraph that answers the question, “What is Bleeding Kansas foreshadowing?” This homework can be used to start the discussion leading into the next objective.
John Brown's Mock Trial
Kristen Hewett
Description of Lesson: Using primary and secondary sources, students will research John Brown's life and actions at Harper's Ferry. They will use this information to conduct a mock trial to determine his guilt or innocence.
Frustration Over Slavery; The Sumner Brooks affair
Jonathan Grubbs
Description of Lesson: Students will learn about the Sumner Brooks affair to gain a better perspective of the tension within Congress. Students will then debate whether Mr. Brooks had a right to attack Mr. Summer due to Mr. Summer's speech through a mock trial or class debate. Students will then reflect what they would have done if they were in either one of the Congressman's shoes.
Reading the Headlines:
From the Mexican War to the Beginnings of the Civil War
Larry Sampson
Description of Lesson: Students will take knowledge from class lecture and notes/analysis of primary documents/research and apply it to create a newspaper or magazine with summaries of key events that took place between the Mexican and Civil War. The concepts that will be focused on are 1) The debate on the expansion of Slavery 2) Weak Presidential Leadership 3) Growing Sectionalism 4) Rise of the Republican Party.
Abolitionist and Pro-Slavery View Points
Jonathan Grubbs
Description of Lesson: Students will begin class by making a chart. On one side, there will be reasons for slavery; on the other side, there will be reason against slavery. The teacher will then conduct a short classroom discussing about the charts. Students will then get into groups of two and be given a primary source document. Students will read them silently. They will then discuss the article with their partner in a think pair share protocol. Students will then make a (rough draft) poster depicting the message of their article without using words. Once the teacher approves it, the students will make their final poster that they will present to the class.
Their side of the story: Northern vs. Southern
Interpretation of Events Leading to the Civil War
Leigh Robertson
Description of Lesson: Students will examine primary sources and commentary focusing on the events that led to the Civil War. Students will assess how these events would have been interpreted differently by pro-slavery advocates, and abolitionists. They will also consider how slaves, free blacks, non-slave owning southerners, and northerners who did not support abolition would have interpreted these events. Students will select a viewpoint and create a newspaper from that viewpoint, for example, an abolitionist newspaper. Students will have a variety of primary source documents to choose from on the PBS Africans in America website (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/index.html) and will choose a minimum of three events to include for analysis in their newspaper. This lesson should be presented as a follow up after students have read or teacher has lectured on the various events leading to the Civil War.
Analyzing Tension between North and South that led to Civil War
Craig Underwood
Description of Lesson: PowerPoint led lecture on Causes of Civil War.
Reflection Questions on lecture. Students read Primary Source documents reflecting both sides of the argument. Homework: Write a letter to the editor of a Civil War times newspaper, in response to 1 of the Primary Source Readings. How did it make you feel? Do you agree or disagree with author? Why? How has the author of the Primary Source influenced America?
Comparing and Contrasting the North and the South
Kristen Hewett
Description of Lesson: Students will utilize maps, primary sources, secondary sources, and their notes to compare and contrast the North and the South at the beginning of the Civil War.
Religion and Slavery
Daniella Stamm
Description of Lesson: Students will examine the impact religion had on slavery. Through a brief lecture about religion, beliefs, and slavery and the examination of various primary documents students will answer the essential question.
Why Compromise Failed to Prevent the Civil War
Kevin Hamilton
Description of Lesson: This lesson allows students to examine various documents from the years leading up to the Civil War and analyze why compromises were so ineffective at preventing the Civil War. Students will review the various compromises made in US history and speculate why the Civil War was so different and why compromises which had worked previously were now unable to succeed. After hypothesizing, examining the documents, and engaging in a summary discussion, students will be asked to write an essay organizing their thoughts on the issue into an effective and coherent argument.
Statistics for History (Pre-Civil War)
Hill Pearsall
Description of Lesson: Students will have a cross curricular lesson. Students will compare various statistics from the site provided, create graphs and provide historical analysis and interpretation based on their findings.
The Life of a Slave: Myth and Reality
Leigh Robertson
Description of Lesson: Students will examine the daily life of slaves through a series of primary source documents, photos and a film (historical fiction). Students will compare the accounts and images they view with documents created by slave owners defending the institution of slavery. Students will analyze the documents and photos in small groups using the jigsaw strategy and will then create a Venn Diagram comparing the points of view of the slaves, the abolitionists, and slave owners.
Emily Dickinson and Her poetry
Lynn Cavanaugh-Blades
Description of Lesson: Students will learn about the life of Emily Dickinson and analyze her poetry. Background information will be given in order that students will learn how her lifestyle affected her writings.
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