Curated OER
Classroom Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Unfamiliar with the Lincoln-Douglas Debate format? Check out this resource that details the procedures of the debate, the roles and responsibilities of each participant, and the timing of each round.
Curated OER
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858: Interactive Map Activity
Students utilize an interactive map to explore the 1858 Senate campaign in Illinois. They examine how factors such as population, transportation, and party strongholds can affect campaign strategies. Students write an essay discussing...
NET Foundation for Television
1850-1874 The Kansas-Nebraska Act
How the Kansas-Nebraska Act created Bleeding Kansas is complicated—until scholars research and examine documents from the time. After completing activities that include mapping, photo, document analysis, and discussion, learners...
Curated OER
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854: Popular Sovereignty and the Political Polarization over Slavery
Students read selections from the Declaration of Independence, Northwest Ordinance of 1787, and the Wilmot Proviso of 1846. They contrast the maps of 1820 and 1854 to analyze developments in the national debate over slavery. They...
Curated OER
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854: Popular Sovereignty and the Political Polarization over Slavery
Why did Stephen Douglas support the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854? Why did Abraham Lincoln oppose it? Young historians examine how the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 affected the political balance between free and slave states and explore how...
Curated OER
Abraham Lincoln, the 1860 Election, and the Future of the American Union and Slavery
Students examine the political alternatives regarding the spread of slavery and the preservation of the American union facing the American people in the decade leading up to the 1860 presidential election.
University of California
The Civil War: Secession of the South
Was the Southern states' decision to secede from the Union protected by the United States Constitution? Eighth graders discuss the constitutionality of the South's justification for secession, particularly the secession of South...
What So Proudly We Hail
The Meaning of America: Equality
What if society sought equality by handicapping the gifted and dispelling any traces of diversity? Kurt Vonnegut Jr. offers one possible answer to this question through his incredibly engaging and thought-provoking satirical...