Curated OER
Causes of the Civil War: Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850 and Kansas Nebraska Act
How did the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act contribute to the growing tensions that led to the Civil war? To better understand the events that led to the Civil War, young historians engage in a...
Curated OER
The Missouri Compromise of 1820
Students use a map of the Missouri Compromise to explain the geographical changes it brought to the U.S. and why the changes provoked a debate over the expansion of slavery in the U.S.
Curated OER
An Early Threat of Secession: The Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Nullification Crisis
Students examine the controversies over slavery's expansion and how the federal tariffs further entrenched the dividing line between northern and southern interests.
Curated OER
Cartogram of the Great Compromise
Young scholars create cartograms of populations during 1790.
Curated OER
An Early Threat of Secession: The Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Nullification Crisis
Students analyze an interactive map of the Missouri Compromise to identify the regions and their relation to slavery. In this pre-civil war era lesson, students read primary source documents and research online to answer questions...
Curated OER
To Compromise or Not to Compromise: The Missouri Question
Young scholars evaluate the fairness of the Missouri Compromise. They read the Missouri Compromise and discuss how it reflected the North-South, anti-slavery and pro-slavery division in the country. They work in groups to debate the...
Curated OER
Sectionalism, Popular Sovereignty and Secession
Students read and discuss background material on several key decisions that played a role in the Civil War including the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Dredd Scott Decision. They create a timeline and write an essay.
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...
Center for History Education
Lincoln and the Republicans: The Cause of the War?
In today's political rhetoric, many forget the pivotal role the Republican Party played in the causes of the Civil War. The party's formation was the final straw for Southerners who saw the enslavement of people of African descent a...
Curated OER
Causes of the Civil War
Students identify the various causes leading to the Civil War. Students create a timeline of the actual events that led to it. Students form small groups and read from one of the included paragraphs about the causes of the war to each...
American Battlefield Trust
Pre-1861: Disunion
Nat Turner, John Brown, and Abraham Lincoln all played a key role in the run-up to the bloody American Civil War. Using a PowerPoint, timeline activity, and essay prompt, young historians consider the roles of these men and more to...
Curated OER
Sectionalism
Students examine sectionalism. In this sectionalism lesson, students explore reasons sectionalism developed. Students realize the conflicts that led to the Civil War and how sectionalism affected citizens on the border of Kansas and...
Curated OER
How We Got to Kansas-Nebraska
Students explore the causes of the Civil War. In this instructional activity on slavery students use primary sources to examine the evolution of the issue of slavery and in the American political system. Students will then write a...
Curated OER
The Civil War: A Nation Divided
Discuss the differences between the North and the South and how those differences led to the Civil War. Middle schoolers examine and analyze a famous speech or writing by President Lincoln in order to better understand the speaker's...
Curated OER
Popular Sovereignty Under the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Seventh graders examine the implications of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In this slavery lesson, 7th graders examine a map of 1820 America and discuss the balance of power implied by the map. Students then read Stephen Douglas's speech on...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Newscast on the Battles of the Ironclad Ships
Fifth graders create multi-media newscasts based on their knowledge of Civil War battles of the ironclad ships.
Curated OER
The Legend of Freedom Hill
Third graders complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book The Legend of Freedom Hill. In this reading lesson plan, 3rd graders complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short...
Curated OER
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858
Eleventh graders examine transcripts of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates and create a platform for each candidate in the 1858 Senate race.
Curated OER
Sectionalism, Popular Sovereignty, and Secession
Students examine sequence of national events that resulted in the Civil War by using primary sources, and creating timelines and maps.
Curated OER
George Washington Bush: A Settlement Journey
Students, in groups, examine the different aspects of George W. Bush's life that led him to settle in the Camas-Washougal area and eventually homestead in Tumwater, Washington. They write a class biography of George W. Bush.