The Civil War
Map of USA | Activity 1 | Activity 2
Brother against brother. A Union divided. A nation in turmoil. These are the images evoked when we think about or study the Civil War. Our nation was divided into North and South. Economically, the North was industrial, the South was agricultural. The North believed that slavery should not exist. The South depended upon slavery for the operation of the farms and plantations. The North believed in a strong federal government and the South believed states' rights were supreme. These issues brought about a war in which we fought against ourselves.
Remnants of that war remain today. Segregation and discrimination are still issues in our society. Find out more about the Civil War by completing the exercises below.
Causes of the Civil War http://members.aol.com/jfepperson/causes.html
Civil War Timeline http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/tl1861.html
Civil War Homepage http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html
Outline of the Civil War from Great American History http://members.tripod.com/~greatamericanhistory/gr02007.htm
Women Soldiers of the Civil War http://www.nara.gov/publications/prologue/women1.html
American Women in the Civil War, 1861-1865 http://gendergap.com/military/usmil3.htm
Activity 1
| Objective |
Students will investigate the goals of the North and the South in the Civil War. |
| Procedure |
- Students will break into groups.
- Each group will divide a paper in half and label one half North and the other half South
Under each heading, students should list the following topics about the North and the South (students should use the Web sites listed above to do their research):
- The goal of each side
- The political structure
- The cultural differences
- The economic differences
- The climate differences
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| Evaluation |
Click here to get rubric for evaluation of work.
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Activity 2
| Objective |
Students will identify people who played a key role in the Civil War. |
| Procedure |
- Students will work in pairs.
- The pair will pick one person who played a significant role in the Civil War. They will do research on this person.
- They will make a poster citing key facts about this person. Facts can be found using the Web sites below or through available print material. At least five facts should be used. The top of the poster will be labeled WHO AM I? The name of the person will be placed on the back of the poster.
- Posters will be numbered and displayed around the classroom.
- Students will number their papers and go around the room and try to identify the person described in each poster.
- A prize could be awarded to the pair that correctly names the most people on the posters. (The teacher could give a list of people who are named on the posters and the students could match the names with the posters.)
Key People:
Abraham Lincoln http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton/Lincoln2.html
Jefferson Davis http://ngeorgia.com/people/davisj.html
William Seward http://www.tulane.edu/~latner/Seward.html
Stephen Douglas http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1161.html
Robert E. Lee http://members.tripod.com/~jrw6/lee.htm
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/stone/jackson.html
Ulysses S. Grant http://www.mscomm.com/~ulysses
William Tecumseh Sherman http://ngeorgia.com/people/shermanwt.html
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| Evaluation |
The poster should be titled WHO AM I? and cite five facts about the person; the name of that person should be listed on the back as well as the students' names. The teacher can evaluate based on the content of the poster and the students' ability to follow directions. |
| Enrichment |
Students will do the Civil War crossword puzzle. Students will use the following words: abolitionist, civil rights, Confederacy, discrimination, secede, segregation, Union.
Click here to get the Civil War Crossword Puzzle.
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