The Civil War Era: Mexican-American War through Reconstruction 1848-1877 Name: Sarah Vorreiter and Jake Settanni

Class: 7th Grade Social Studies Date: February 25, 2013 Unit: Civil War Era Unit Overview, Goals, and Rationale Our unit focuses on the significance of key events leading up to and through the Civil War from the Mexican-American War in 1848 until Abraham Lincolns assassination in 1865. When a large majority of people think about this era in American history, they attribute the cause of the Civil War to the dispute over slavery between the North and South. However, the slavery debate runs much deeper than whether or not the institution itself should exist. Moreover, other critical factors ultimately contributed to the inevitable conflict between the two regions, including but not limited to: agriculture versus industrialized economies, lifestyle choices, political party concentrations, and popular sovereignty. Our primary goal for this unit is to challenge students to reevaluate their previous conceptions of the causes of the Civil War, and present an opportunity to see its unfolding through other perspectives. During one of the first days of the unit, we will present students with a write-to-learn activity: Whatcha Gonna Do? The intention of the story is to create a hypothetical situation that closely mirrors a contested issue leading up to the Civil War. In this case, we have provided an excerpt that parallels the controversy surrounding the Dred Scott decision. Students assume the role of a justice on the Supreme Court, and are asked to write a rationalization as to why they would declare the fictional Joe Thompson a free or enslaved man. After crafting their responses, students will be placed into small groups of twos or threes (with emphasis on placing students with opposing views together) and will have to defend their claims. These interactions will also provide students with the change to see counterpoints to their beliefs, which in turn can be incorporated into their future writing to make stronger, well-rounded papers. Write-to-Learn Activity: Whatcha Gonna Do? Congratulations! Youve recently been appointed to serve as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court! Now, you have been asked to take part in your first case. You have received a small file of information about a recently-captured runaway slave, Joe Thompson. Normally, you would dismiss this case entirely, as it is common sense that slaves are the property of Southern plantation owners. However, the bounty hunter caught Joe in Pennsylvania, which is located in the free northern states. Joes lawyer argues that his client is outside the jurisdiction of Southern

slave laws, and therefore can be considered a free man. On the other hand, the slave-owner claims that Joe retains his status as property, regardless of his location in the United States. Will you send Joe back to the south with the plantation owner, or can he continue his free life in Pennsylvania? What are you going to do? Future Activity/Transition to Unit Essay Question Ideally, we could use this writing activity to springboard into a whole-group activity discussing how we would analyze the slavery as property issue. We would go about hosting this discussion and others regarding key concepts in a couple of ways. The first way would be to hold a period-long Socratic Seminar, in which students would be divided into two groups: an inner circle and an outer circle. Each group would spend half of the class in the inner circle tackling the issue, and the other half silently observing the inner circle and taking notes while in the outer circle. Hopefully, this would shed new light on the Dred Scott issue, foster previously unrecognized perspectives, further student understanding of the topic, and provide quality material to answer the unit essay question. We would also hold a mock Congressional assembly further along in the unit, in which the Southern states have decided to secede from the Union. In this activity, students would be randomly assigned to debate on the behalf of the Northern states or the Southern states. Each side would present its case regarding secession, using issues such as the aforementioned Dred Scott decision, the Missouri Compromise of 1850, and the Lincoln-Douglass presidential election to forward arguments for or against fragmenting the United States. On the surface, this activity would appear as a creative way for students to review and apply subject material. More significantly, it offers yet another opportunity for students to understand the differing perspective of the involved parties, and exercise the same thinking process necessary for successful completion of the writing assignment. Essay Question Materials Used in our Civil War Unit: textbook chapter on the Civil War activities and materials from the PBS Civil War website: http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/classroom/activities.html video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqeDYW_K9nA propaganda

Source: http://images.sodahead.com/polls/002210805/2010276949_TwoPlatforms_xlarge. jpeg

Throughout our Civil War Unit, we have learned about a wide variety of events, concepts, and different points of view regarding the social, political, and economic conditions in the United States. These include: sectionalism Missouri Compromise/Compromise of 1850 slavery Dred Scott Supreme Court Case states rights Emancipation Proclamation reconstruction Civil Rights Act of 1866 black codes/ Jim Crow laws

Using at least four of the above sources or topics from class discussion, evaluate if you think the Civil War was successful. You can use notes from class, the textbook, readings, videos, and class discussion. There is no right answer to this question. We will evaluate your response based on how well you use the sources or events to define the goals of the Civil War and justify whether or not these goals were met. Essay Question Preparation We will have just wrapped up our unit on the Civil War, and will be utilizing the above essay question as a way to assess our students and give them an opportunity to be successful and demonstrate their intelligence! If we conducted this assessment on a Friday, we would hand out the assignment on Wednesday, which would give the students a little time to think over the question in their heads, and how they might want to use what they are learning to connect to the prompt. Then, on Thursdays class, the day before the assessment, we will all go over the essay question together, and we will brainstorm different ideas for each part of the prompt. First, we will talk about some of the events and opinions that led to the Civil War by identifying the

differences between the North and South, and what both sides wanted. Then, we would review what happened during the war, the outcomes of the Civil War, what happened after the fighting stopped, and why. These conversations will include discussion on all of the topics listed in the paper, so students are well-versed with their options that they can write about. All they will need to do, on assessment day, will be to process the information we learned during the unit and reviewed the day before, and add their own opinion to make it meaningful.