CommonLit
Common Lit: Text Sets: The Civil War
This is a collection of 29 Grade-Leveled texts (6-12)on the topic The Civil War. The American Civil War lasted for only 5 years but divided the country along bitter lines as the North fought to keep southern states from seceding from the...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Impact of Dred Scott: The Road to Civil War
After the Dred Scott decision by the US Supreme Court, the friction between the North and South over slavery escalated, and the North began to fear that they might not be able to prevent slavery from spreading into their states. The Dred...
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Us History: Grade 7: Sectionalism Prior to the Civil War
This sample task contains a set of primary and authentic sources about how the differences between the North and South deepened the feelings of sectionalism leading up to the Civil War.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Lesson 2: People and Places in the North and South
Lesson explores the causes of the Civil War and the basic disagreements between North and South through the use of primary source documents, photographs, and census information. Includes two detailed student activities and resources for...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1844 1877: The Civil War: Emancipation Proclamation
Discusses the background to the Emancipation Proclamation and how Abraham Lincoln came to support the abolition of slavery and the difficulties that were encountered around this issue. Explains that it did not apply to all slaves as...
US National Archives
Docsteach: What Else Was Happening During the Civil War Era?
The years leading up to, during, and following the Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877) are most often remembered for the tension between North and South, the question of slavery, President Lincoln, and social and political changes...
Civil War Home
Home of the American Civil War: The Kansas Nebraska Act
Provides information on the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the consequences of its passing. From "The Civil War and Reconstruction" by Randall and McDonald.
Harp Week
The End of Slavery: The Creation of the 13th Amendment
What a wonderful resource for researching the attempts to solve the issue of slavery prior to the Civil War, and the eventual ratification of the 13th Amendment. Find a timeline of legislation limiting the spread of slavery from 1787...
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Reconstruction and Rights
Historical documents give evidence to the question of rights in the South following the Civil War. Historical narratives and government reports tell of giving the male slaves the right to vote and hold office while denying these rights...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln
This collection uses primary sources to compare and explore the relationships between Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
Books in the Classroom
Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site: Civil War in Children's Literature
This page from Carol Hurst's Children's Literature offers book reviews and planning help for an upper elementary unit on the Civil War. Includes information on books for teachers, books for students, easy-purchase links, and links to...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: 19th Century: Religion in the Civil War: The Northern Perspective
An interesting look at the religious beliefs of Northerners during the Civil War. Essay discusses the main tenets of belief that basically culminated in the conviction that God wouldn't let the North win until it ended slavery. Includes...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: A History of Us: A War to End Slavery Webisode 6
A wonderful, interactive site covering many aspects of the Civil War. See photographs, primary sources, and find interesting tidbits about the war. Included are links to lesson plans, teacher guides, resources, activities, and tools.
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: A House Divided: Slavery and the Civil War [Pdf]
In this lesson, 8th graders look at how slavery contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War, at Abraham Lincoln's efforts to save the Union, and at what impact the Emancipation Proclamation had on the North's view of the war. Includes...
Curated OER
National Park Service: The Civil War: 150 Years
To commemorate the sesquicentennial observances of the American Civil War, the Park Service has provided information on the legacy of the War: Then and Now. Each date of the War has supporting documents and is compared to the legacy or...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Ap Us History: Prelude to War
AP U.S. History learning module covers Manifest Destiny, conflict over slavery and events leading to the Civil War.
Read Works
Read Works: Slavery, the Civil War & Reconstruction Fort Sumter: First Shots
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: American Civil War: African American Lives
Collection of digital resources gathered from public libraries, archives, and museums about African American lives in the Civil War. Here you can discover the variety of African American experiences of the Civil War.
ArtsNow
Arts Now Learning: The Civil War [Pdf]
In this activity, 5th graders explore the concept of cause and effect in the context of the Civil War and work in groups to write and deliver speeches articulating a point of view for one of the War's causes: tariffs, state's rights, or...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Civil War I: Slaves, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
Photographs of slaves during the Civil War and war memories of former slaves during that conflict. Links to two separate resources can be found here, each focusing on the war memories of former slaves.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Slavery & Making of America: Imagining Freedom During/after Civil War
In this interactive game, students are presented with a political drawings and cartoons from the period 1860-1877, and they must choose which historical event related to the end of slavery best matches each image.
Other
Vox: 37 Maps That Explain the American Civil War
April 1865 was a momentous month in American history. On April 9, the Confederate army under Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union forces of Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War. Then on April 14, the victorious President...
The History Cat
The History Cat: Countdown to Civil War
Describes the events leading up to the start of the American Civil War. Looks at clashes between pro- and anti-slavery groups, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the fight over California, the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act,...
A&E Television
History.com: How Black Women Fought for Civil War Pensions and Benefits
In a time when military pensions were a large part of the federal budget, Black women faced unique challenges in securing compensation. Widows of Civil War soldiers could begin applying to the Bureau of Pensions during the war, and one...