Unit 7- Civil Crisis & Civil War (1850-1865) |
Big Ideas
Organizing Principle
- The Civil War was caused by historic economic, social, and political sectional differences primarily centered around the institution of slavery and its expansion.
Essential Questions
Students will consider...
- How accurate was Lincoln in his assessment that a nation could not “continue together permanently—forever—half slave, and half free?”
- To what extent did the expansion of slavery become the deciding factor in instituting a Civil War?
- How and why did the Union win the war?
- Is a national government justified in suspending civil liberties during a time of crisis?
Understandings
Students will understand why, how and/or to what extent...
- Governmental policies and actions that promote national growth and expansion can create sectional tension and political debate.
- A government founded on the division of power and authority may endure internal and external debates that can lead to conflict and/or compromise.
- An individual or group’s perception of themselves derived from religion, gender, race, ethnicity, class, and geography may create conflict.
- Leadership can affect societal, economic and political change in order to promote or impede freedom and equality.
- A nation’s government and its political leaders often assume more authority during periods of conflict, rebellion or warfare.
Knowledge
Students will know...
- The nation’s territorial expansion westward and its belief in Manifest Destiny had both national and sectional consequences.
- Slavery and the states’ rights issue were the key causes of the Civil War.
- The Civil War changed the nature of the relationship between the federal government and the states.
- The Underground Railroad influenced the migration of slaves to free communities in the North before the Civil War.
- Executive, judicial and legislative decisions increased the power and authority of the federal government and increased sectional tension within the United States.
- The course of the United States Civil War had various impacts on American society and culture.
Skills
Students will be able to...
- Use Historical Comprehension to identify political and economic changes in the U.S. and why those changes provoked a debate over the expansion of slavery in America.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to compare multiple perspectives of proslavery and antislavery advocates in defending their differing motives, beliefs, hopes, and fears.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to explain how the differing views regarding slavery, as well as, other factors eventually produced a southern secession and a civil war.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to critique competing historical interpretations of the causes, course and outcome of the Civil War.
- Use Chronological Thinking to identify instances of historical change and continuity during the Civil War period (1850-1865).