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Alex Chisholm
Brittany Stanford
Thomas Fisher

LINCOLN IN CONTEXT

Crisis, Civil War and Reconstruction

Dr. Cook
EDSE 558

Rationale:
During this unit we will be teaching the course of the Civil War and Reconstruction and
their impact on democracy. We placed our Wineburg chapter on Lincoln within the Crisis,
Civil War, and Reconstruction unit. We felt as though this was the best suited unit for this
chapter because of role Lincoln played in the causes of the war, the start of the war,
turning points like Gettysburg, the emancipation proclamation, and ultimately the end of
the war and his assassination. We believe that the Lincoln chapter paired with this unit is
especially important for students to understand, as it is one of the major building blocks
that helped create the democratic nation we thrive in today.
Before this unit, our students will need to have a thorough understanding of nationalism
and sectionalism including:
Territorial expansion
Manifest destiny
Jacksons administration
Slavery
Reform movements (abolition, womens rights)
Texas Revolution
Mexican War
Our students will then use their knowledge obtained in this unit to help them gain an
understanding of industrialization, expansion, and the progressive era including:
The rise of big business
Immigration and urban life
Technological developments
Westward expansion
Transcontinental railroads
Progressivism/reforms
Essential Questions(Guiding):
Was Abraham Lincoln a racist?
Was slavery the primary cause of the Civil War?
Was it possible to have peace of reconciliation after the Civil War?
Did the reconstructive governments rule the South well?
Source: http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/resources/essential-questionsteaching-american-history

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Key Concepts:

Long and short term causes of the Civil War

Start of the war/comparison of North and South
Abraham Lincoln
Stephan Douglass
Ulysses S. Grant
Jefferson Davis
Robert E. Lee
Key battles and turning points of the war
Emancipation proclamation
Gettysburg address
Life during the war (soldiers, women, African Americans)
End of the war
Lincolns assassination
Presidential reconstruction
Congressional reconstruction
Lasting effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction
Life of African Americans (North and South)

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Learning Outcomes/Objectives:
Students will be able to summarize the Civil War and its impact on democracy.
Student will be able to evaluate the relative importance of political events and
issues that divided a nation and led to Civil War.
Students will be able to identify key battles and turning points in the war
Students will be able to contextualize primary sources such as the Gettysburg
address and Emancipation Proclamation
Students will be able to recognize the impact of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and
fifteenth amendment
Students will be able to analyze the effects of Reconstruction on the southern
states.
State and local standards
USHC-3.1- Evaluate the relative importance of political events and issues that divided
the nation and led to civil war, including the compromises reached to maintain the
balance of free and slave states, the abolitionist movement, the Dred Scott case,
conflicting views on states rights and federal authority, the emergence of the Republican
Party, and the formation of the Confederate States of America.
USHC-3.2- Summarize the course of the Civil War and its impact on democracy,
including the major turning points; the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation; the
unequal treatment afforded to African American military units; the geographic, economic,
and political factors in the defeat of the Confederacy; and the ultimate defeat of the idea
of secession.
USHC-3.3- Analyze the effects of Reconstruction on the southern states and on the role
of the federal government, including the impact of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
amendments on opportunities for African Americans.
USHC-3.4- Summarize the end of Reconstruction, including the role of antiAfrican
American factions and competing national interests in undermining support for
Reconstruction; the impact of the removal of federal protection for freedmen; and the
impact of Jim Crow laws and voter restrictions on African American rights in the postReconstruction era.
USHC-3.5- Evaluate the varied responses of African Americans to the restrictions
imposed on them in the post-Reconstruction period, including the leadership and
strategies of Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. DuBois, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett.

Essential Background Content:

Coming into this unit, students should have a basic understanding of:
Early industrialization
Agrarian economy in the South
Slavery
Jacksons administration and Jacksonian democracy
Economic policies and disputes
Abolition and other reform movements
The Texas Revolution and Mexican War
Compromises of 1820 and 1850
Overview of our Unit:
Causes and Start of the Civil War
o Long Term
Western Expansion
Slavery
Pages 170-190 in Howard Zinns A Peoples History of the
United States
States Rights
Compromise of 1820
Compromise 1850
Popular Sovereignty/Free Soil
o Short Term/Start of the Civil War
Kansas Nebraska Act in 1854
Dred Scott Decision 1857
John Browns Raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859
Abraham Lincolns Election
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
o Was Lincoln a Racist?: Wineburg Ch. 3
Southern Secession
Shots fired on Fort Sumter
Comparison of the North and South
o North
Greater economic resources: industrial capacity, miles of railroad
tracks.
Advantages in manpower
Stronger Navy
Stronger political leaders
Offensive strategy based on geography to split the South at
Mississippi River and take Richmond.

o South
Lacked ability to manufacture goods: Depended on power of King
Cotton and trading relationship with Great Britain.
Wanted to fight defensive war until North would get tired.
Initial advantages in military leadership and geography
Key Battles and Turning Points of the War Select Readings from James
McPhersons Battle Cry of Freedom
o Three Important Generals: Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, William
Tecumseh Sherman
o Fort Sumter
o Bull Run/Manassas
o Antietam
o Vicksburg
o Emancipation Proclamation
Primary Source Activity
o Gettysburg
Primary Source: Gettysburg Address
Life During the war
o Soldiers
Confederate
Union
o African Americans
Freed slaves
Union African American units
o Women
End of the War
o Shermans March/Total War
o Siege at Petersburg
o Shermans total war strained the Souths dwindling economic resources
and manpower
o Southern Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
o Lincolns Assassination
Reconstruction
o Lincolns 10% plan
o Presidential Plan
Andrew Johnsons plan that was more lenient to southern states
o Congressional Plan
Aimed to aid newly freed slaves and punish south
o Freedmans Bureau
o Jim Crow Laws
Lasting Effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction
o 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
Primary Source Activity

o Beginning of Civil Rights Movement (think large arc)

Response to Jim Crow Laws
Fight for citizenship and rights
o Shows that democracy is based on the balance between majority rule and
protection minority rights
Life of African Americans: Pages 190-210 in Howard Zinns A Peoples History
of the United States
o South
Fought against Jim Crow Laws
Booker T. Washington
Ida Wells-Barnett
o North
Working jobs
W.E.B. Dubois

Supporting Documents taken from:

http://ed.sc.gov/agency/ccr/StandardsLearning/documents/USHistorySupportDocuments.pdf

Calendar- The Sequence

Day
1

Key Concepts,
Topics, and
Categories
-Long and short
term causes of the
Civil War
America
-Lincoln
-Political
parties/abolitionis
t movement

-Start of the
War/comparison
of North and
South

Instructional
Strategies
Pre-assessment/
KWL chart/
Graffiti board

Readings

Assessments

Zinn 170-191

KWL chart

Lecture on start
of war and key
battles

Excerpts Battle
Cry of
FreedomJames
McPherson

-Journal entry

Jigsaw

Emancipation
Proclamation
Gettysburg
Address

-Turn in notes
from Jigsaw

Douglas v
Lincoln debate
(racism
activity)

-Key battles and

turning points
-Life during the
War (soldiers,
women, African
Americans)
3

-End of the war

-Lincolns
assassination

-Reconstruction

-Lasting effects of
the War and
Reconstruction
-Life for African

Lecture on
reconstruction
and group
discussion
Socratic
Method

Quiz on Zinn
Zinn 191-210

Amendments
13,14,15

Newspaper
North/South

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Americans (North
and South)
6

Unit Test

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Instructional Activities and Resources:
In order to facilitate students learning the content and developing the skills required to
demonstrate the mastery we incorporated a variety of instructional strategies that include
a KWL chart, lectures, jigsaw groups, and a Socratic seminar in order to meet the needs
of as many students as possible.
These strategies address the standards and learning objectives:
The KWL chart allows students to demonstrate their previous knowledge on the
unit
The lectures provide students with knowledge to be able to identify key battles
and turning points in the War
The jigsaw group activity will allow students to contextualize primary sources
such as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address
The reconstruction lecture and group discussion gives students an in-depth
understanding of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments as well as allows them to
analyze the effects of reconstruction in the US
The Socratic seminar gives students the opportunity to summarize the Civil War
and its impact on democracy
Primary Sources adaptations

Gettysburg Address
Emancipation Proclamation

Assessments:

We will determine students prior knowledge and understanding through the

creation of a KWL chart on the first day of the unit that will be turned in
We will determine students day-to-day understanding of the material through
various formative assessments that include a journal entry, notes taken from their
jigsaw group, and a quiz on the Zinn reading
Students will demonstrate their knowledge (and skill) of the material through a
summative unit test

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Emancipation Proclamation
(Modified)
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United
States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three (1863), all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a
State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be
then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United
States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the
freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of
them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation,
designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively,
shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the
people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the
United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified
voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing
testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not
then in rebellion against the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power
in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time
of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and
as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of
January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and in
accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one
hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and
parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against
the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson,
St. Johns, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St.
Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, South-Carolina, North-Carolina, and Virginia, (except the fortyeight
counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac,
Northampton, Elizabeth-City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of
Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as
if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all
persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and
henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States,
including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the
freedom of said persons.

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And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence,
unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when
allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be
received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations,
and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the
Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and
the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States
to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
WORD BANK
Proclamation- something that is proclaimed; a public and official announcement.
Executive-In this context addressing the president
Aforesaid- A for said
rebellion- open, organized, and armed resistance to one's government or ruler.
Addressing the Confederate resistance
garrison - any military post, especially a permanent one.

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Gettysburg Address (Modified)

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new
nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created
equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that
war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those
who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that
we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow
-- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it,
far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember
what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather,
to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so
nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before
us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth.
Abraham LincolnNovember 19, 1863
WORD BANK
Four score and seven years ago- equates to eighty-seven years.
Proposition- the act of offering or suggesting something to be considered, accepted,
adopted, or done.
Consecrate- to make (something) an object of honor or veneration; hallow
Detract- to take away a part, as from quality, value, or reputation (usually followed by
from).
Devotion- profound dedication; consecration.

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Work Cited

Zinn, H. (2003). Slavery without Submission, Emancipation without Freedom. In

A people's history of the United States: 1492-2001 (New ed.). New York: Harper
Collins.

McPherson, J. (1988). Battle cry of freedom: The Civil War era. New York:
Oxford University Press.

Lincoln, A. (1863.). Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Retrieved

June 16, 2015, from
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/emancipate.htm

Lincoln, A. (1863). The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved June

16, 2015, from
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm

United States Congress. (1788). The Constitution. Washington DC: United States
Government

Essential Questions in Teaching American History. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16,

2015, from http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/resources/essentialquestions-teaching-american-history
US History and the Constitution. (2012). Retrieved June 17, 2015, from
http://ed.sc.gov/agency/ccr/StandardsLearning/documents/USHistorySupportDocuments.pdf

South Carolina Department of Education. (2011). South Carolina Social Studies

Academic Standards. (2011).