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Lesson Plan

A Nation Divided: Middle School Lesson Plan

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

Grade Level:

Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade

Subject:

Social Studies

Lesson Duration:

60 Minutes

Common Core Standards:

6-8.RH.1, 6-8.RH.2, 6-8.RH.6, 6-8.RH.7, 6-8.RH.9

State Standards:

Georgia: SS8H5a

Thinking Skills:

Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Creating: Bring together parts (elements, compounds) of knowledge to form a whole and build relationships for NEW situations.

Essential Question

What key events contributed to deepening unrest and hostility in antebellum America?

Objective

a. Students will study maps and apply that information to create a chart of states' status during the 1800s.
b. Students will read, analyze, and discuss primary source documents and interpret this information for their classmates.
c. Students will be able to list at least three causes for tension and division between the North and the South in the 1800s.

Background

Tensions grew for many years before the first shots rang out at Fort Sumter, signaling the beginning of the Civil War. There was a clear division between the north and the south's perspectives of this young country.

Slavery was a big reason for this tension. People in the North held many different opinions about African Americans. However, most of them agreed slavery was unacceptable. They thought the act of owning people of African descent would slowly fade away as industrialization expanded in the new nation. People in the South, on the other hand, also held many different opinions about African Americans. However, most of them agreed slavery was necessary to keep their economy running. Without slavery, they thought, their Southern way of life would not last. Industrialization for the South came in the form of the cotton gin in 1794. This invention, people thought, increased the need for slaves to work plantations. 

When the federal government stepped in on North's side in regards to slavery, Southern states put up a fight. They felt the federal government was overstepping its authority and could not interfere in matters of individual states. This began a long, tedious process of many negotiations and compromises. The federal government tried desperately to keep the peace and ensure the union stayed together. However, when Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, the South knew they had lost the political fight. The South's political leaders decided the only way to keep what they perceived as their rights, their culture, and their economy was to become their own country.

Preparation

Teachers can choose individual or all activities depending on their goals, available time, and their students. It is important to read through all the material and webpages before beginning the activities. 

Materials

Blank chart includes the dates each area became a state in the U.S. If using colors, students will need 4 highlighters.

Download Chart the Maps for Students

Chart includes the dates each area became a state in the U.S. Dates in (parenthesis) indicate it became a state well after the Civil War. Chart is color and symbol coded. Students can choose either method, 4 different colors or 4 different symbols.

Download Chart the Maps Answers

Lesson Hook/Preview

Watch the 22-minute video titled Causes of the Civil War. Ranger Young from Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park walks students through events that occurred during the time period before the Civil War. 

Procedure

Activity 1: States' Rights and Nullification

1. Separate the students into two groups by using the school colors. For example, if the colors are black and gold, the first student says black, the second says gold, third says black, fourth says gold, and so on. 

2. Instruct all the students in one color group to read the NPS article about John C. Calhoun. 
3. Instruct all the students in the other color group to read the NPS article about James L. Petigru. 
4. Draw a Venn Diagram on the board (two circles which overlap in the center). Label one side Calhoun, the other side Petigru, and the center represents both. 
5. Ask the following questions to all the students. Encourage students to help you fill out the Venn Diagram based on the answers.
   1. Where did Mr. Petigru live? Mr. Calhoun?
   2. What was Mr. Calhoun's job? Mr Petigru's?
   3. What did Mr. Petigru believe about states' rights? Mr. Calhoun?
   4. Was Mr. Calhoun a secessionist or a unionist? Mr. Petigru?
6. End the discussion with the question, how could two men grow up in the same time period and same location, yet have very different opinions about how a state and country should be operated?

Activity 2: Chart the Maps

1. Using the historical-geographical United States maps, instruct students they will follow Georgia's (or any other southern state) path during a time period of immense tension in the United States. 

2. Pass out the document, "Chart the Maps." (see materials section) Students will create a color (or symbol) coded chart to indicate the United States' progression in the 1800s.

3. Start with the map of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Display the map and encourage a student to review what was this compromise.

4. Support students in finding Georgia on the map and determining whether it is a slave or free state. 

5. Instruct students to highlight the corresponding box for Georgia and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 in one color. 

6. Encourage volunteer students to identify other states of similar status. Allow all students to color those states accordingly on their charts.

7. Find the key on the chart. Instruct students to fill in the chart with colors or symbols of their choosing.

8. Support students in finding the other states, determining their status, and highlighting it on the map according to their chart key.

9. Display the next map, Our Country in 1837. Instruct the students to go to the next column and again fill in the status for Georgia.

10. Support students in finding the other states on the new map, determining their status, and highlighting it on the map according to their chart key.

11. Repeat the above steps for each map and corresponding chart column: U.S at Beginning of Mexican War 1846; Results of the Mexican War 1848; The Compromise of 1850; and Kansas-Nebraska Bill 1854. Display each map and encourage a student to review each event with the class before coding their charts.
12. Use the completed charts to ask analysis questions for understanding. Possible questions are:
    1. How many free vs slave states were there?
    2. Based on the numbers, why were the compromises important to the North? to the South?
    3. Based on the numbers, did the results of the Mexican War help or hurt the North? the South?
    4. Do you think these compromises supported peace or increased tension? Why?
13. Optional: There are two additional columns on the "Chart the Maps" page. One column is for the states that seceded after Lincoln became President. The second column is for the states that seceded after the Civil War began at Fort Sumter.

Activity 3: The Dred Scott Case Trials

1. Organize the students into small groups. Each group needs access to the primary document, "The full opinions of Chief Justice Taney and Justice Curtis."

2. Instruct each group to read the agreed statement of fact for the trial in May, 1864. It begins with, "In the year 1834..." and ends with "...where it has been continued to await the decision of this case."

3. After reading, groups should work together to answer the following questions in their notebooks.

   1. Who was Dred Scott? Where did he live?

   2. How did Dred and Harriet meet? 

   3. Why did Mr. Scott go to court?

4. Review the answers with the class. Make sure to clear up any misunderstandings.

5. Next, instruct each group to read the NPS article, Dred Scott Case Trials. 

6. After reading, groups should work together to answer the following questions in their notebooks.

   1. Why were there two trials?

   2. What was decision of the first trial? of the second trial?

   3. Why did the case go to the Supreme Court (a third trial)?

   4. What was Chief Justice Roger B. Taney's decision? 

   5. What effect did Justice Taney's decision have on the Missouri Compromise of 1820?

7. Review the answers with the class. Make sure to clear up any misunderstandings.

Activity 4: The Election of 1860

1. Separate the class into four groups. 
2. Assign each group one section of the NPS article The Election of 1860. The sections are: The Issues; The Candidates; The Voters and the Polls; and The Outcome.
3. Instruct each group to read their section together. Then, summarize their section by creating a visual arts piece. This can be a poster, a song, a poem, or a short skit. 
4. When the class is finished, groups will take turns presenting their visual arts piece. Instruct students from the non-presenting group to take notes on what they learned.

Assessment Materials

Thinking Dots Assessment

Groups of students form teams to play a game for an assessment. One person from each team rolls the dice. The team adds up the dots on the two dice. That number corresponds with an assessment question. Decide whether this game will be oral or written. If oral, play several rounds and have team compete for points. If written, allow the team to write a thorough answer to the corresponding question and turn it in for credit.

If the number on the two dice is....  then ask this question.
2.....Who was Dred Scott?
3.....What was the Nullification Crisis?
4.....What was the southern view of the Fugitive Slave Act?
5.....List the three rulings concerning how slave states were established.
6.....Explain the south's view pertaining to state's rights.
7.....Explain the views of John C. Calhoun and James L. Petigru.
8.....What were two issues on the platform in the election of 1860?
9.....How does the Fugitive Slave Act relate to current day immigration laws for illegal immigrants?
10....Why do you think the courts fought so hard to fight against Dred Scott?
11....Why did politicians need to create rulings for slave versus free states?
12....After the Dred Scott case, what would have been your plan to get the south on board with the issue of abolishing slavery?
 

Enrichment Activities

If appropriate for your class, read the transcript of Chief Justice Taney's decision in the Supreme Court Case. (It is pages 4 - 39.) Students can popcorn read each paragraph aloud. Check for understanding as appropriate.

Additional Resources

Example Student Video Podcasts:

The Election of 1860 - Middle School vodcasts made with Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

Related NPS Articles: 

Missouri Compromise
Compromise of 1850
Election of Lincoln - Link includes audio clips of an NPS ranger explaining the election!
South Carolina Secedes

Mississippi Secedes 
Florida Secedes
Creation of the Confederate States of America 
Firing on Fort Sumter 

Related Lessons or Education Materials

Other lesson in this series from Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park:
A Nation Divided: Elementary School Lesson
A Nation Divided: High School Lesson
War Has Been Declared: Elementary Lesson
War Has Been Declared: Middle School Lesson

Other lessons about the Civil War from Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park:
Pack Like a Soldier Virtual Program
Civilian War Experience: Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
What Would You Do? Plotting and Planning Strategies of the Civil War

Other NPS Lessons about the Causes of the Civil War:
Dred Scott (H)our History Lesson from NPS' Teaching with Historic Places
Election Year 1860 Distance Learning program from Lincoln Home National Historic Site
 

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