This lesson will examine the most famous speech in American history to understand how Lincoln turned a perfunctory eulogy at a cemetery dedication into a concise and profound meditation on the meaning of the Civil War and American union.
Popular sovereignty allowed the settlers of a federal territory to decide the slavery question without interference from Congress. This lesson plan will examine how the Kansas"“Nebraska Act of 1854 affected the political balance between free and slave states and explore how its author, Stephen Douglas, promoted its policy of popular sovereignty in an effort to avoid a national crisis over slavery in the federal territories.
This lesson plan will explore Abraham Lincoln's rise to political prominence during the debate over the future of American slavery.
How were party politics reflected in the campaign of 1828? What were the positions of the fledgling Democratic Party and its opposition?
The newly re-elected Abraham Lincoln sought to unite the American people by interpreting the waning conflict as a divine judgment upon both sides of the war. This lesson will examine Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address to determine how he sought to reunite a divided country through a providential interpretation of the Civil War.
What was life like for women in the first half of the 19th century in America? What influence did women have in shaping the attitudes towards slavery? Towards women's suffrage?
Students will use their knowledge and understanding of the lives and contributions of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln with focus on the Civil War era by reconstructing key aspects of their lives that connect them to the Civil War.
More Americans lost their lives in the Civil War than in any other conflict. How did the United States arrive at a point at which the South seceded and some families were so fractured that brother fought brother?
Relive the decisions that led to the attack on Fort Sumter to determine whether Lincoln aimed to preserve peace or provoke the hostilities that led to the Civil War.
Students explore the historical context and significance of Lincoln's inaugural address through archival documents.
This Political Cartoon, published in Harper's Weekly in October 1862, shortly after the Battle of Antietam, summarizes the idea behind the Emancipation Proclamation. In it an axe-wielding President Lincoln threatens to cut down the tree a Confederate Soldier is using as refuge. Labeled "Slavery," the tree/soldier relationship in the cartoon is meant to convey the idea that slavery in the south was supporting the Confederate war effort - note also the poor state the Southern soldier appears to be in, shoeless and ragged (one Maryland resident who observed the invading Confederate army described them as "scarecrows"). Lincoln sought to frame the Emancipation of slaves as a "fit and necessary war measure for suppressing [the] rebellion," arguing that ending slavery in the south would deprive the Confederate army of the Home Front labor support slaves provided, thus ending the war quicker. The comic is specifically about the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (issued at the end of Sept, 1862), which was a warning to the South that if they did not cease their rebellion before January 1, 1863, he would pass the formal Emancipation Proclamation - hence the title "Lincoln's Last Warning."
This collection uses primary sources to explore Louisa May Alcott's novel, Little Women. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.
The word slavery is synonymous with the Civil War. While slavery was at the forefront of the war, there were many other factors that created tension between the Northern and the Southern states. This seminar will focus on the Northern Market Revolution prior to and during the war.StandardsCC.1.2.9-10 Read, understand, and respond to informational text – with emphasis on comprehension, making connections among ideas and between texts with focus on textual evidence
The word slavery is synonymous with the Civil War. While slavery was at the forefront of the war, there were many other factors that created tension between the Northern and the Southern states. This seminar will focus on the Northern Market Revolution prior to and during the war. StandardsCC.1.2.9-10 Read, understand, and respond to informational text – with emphasis on comprehension, making connections among ideas and between texts with focus on textual evidence
The focus of this lesson is the Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Students will put themselves in the shoes of the men of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment as they read, write, pose, and then create a comic strip about these American heroes.
New York governor Horatio Seymour's famous "My Friends" speech, delivered from the steps of New York's City Hall during the draft riots, was widely misrepresented in the press. On the basis of reports such as this, Seymour was viewed as a disloyal "Copperhead" agitator. The riots, which took place between July 11 and 16, 1863, broke out as a result of the Enrollment Act, which was highly discriminatory to the lower classes. (On this see "Wanted a Substitute," no. 1863-13). Although not an enthusiast of President Lincoln's war policies, Seymour actually rushed to the scene of the riots and tried to restore order. Here Seymour stands on the City Hall steps, addressing a motley crowd of armed rioters, most of them Irish. In the foreground one rioter holds the head of a black man in a noose, while three other black men hang from a tree in the background. (In reality, the rioters sacked and looted a Negro orphan asylum and hanged black men from lampposts.) Behind Seymour stand three men, including (left to right) a fool (no doubt a newspaper editor) wearing a cap labeled "Express," former mayor Fernando Wood (whose top hat fails to conceal a pair of devil's horns), and a man resembling Tammany boss Peter B. Sweeny, with a hat tagged "4-11-44." Below the scene is the dialogue: A Friendly Voice: "Governor, we want you to stay here." Horatio Seymour: "I am going to stay here, MíŰy Friends'" Second Rioter: "Faith and the Governor will stay with us." Horatio Seymour: "I am your fíŰriend;" and the fíŰriend' of your families." Third Rioter: "Arrah, Jemmy, and who said he cared about the DíŰirty Nagurs'?" Fourth Rioter: "How about the draft Saymere?" Governor: "I have ordered the president to stop the draft!" Chorus: "Be jabes, he's a 'broth of a boy." Weitenkampf, probably correctly, attributes the drawing for the print to Henry L. Stephens. It may have been published in connection with the New York "Tribune," whose building is prominent in the background. The "Tribune's" editor, Horace Greeley, was among Seymour's most vocal critics. |Probably drawn by Henry L. Stephens, New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 138.|Purchase; Caroline and Erwin Swann Memorial Fund.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1863-12.
Students are asked to use the provided source material to answer the central historical question: Why did African Americans join the Union Army during the Civil War?
Hitherto it had gone by the original Indian name Manna-hatta, or as some still have it, ‘The Manhattoes’; but this was now decried as savage and heathenish… At length, when the council was almost in despair, a burgher, remarkable for the size and squareness of his head, proposed that they should call it New-Amsterdam. The proposition took every body by surprise; it was so striking, so apposite, so ingenious. The name was adopted by acclamation, and New-Amsterdam the metropolis was thenceforth called.
—Washington Irving, 1808
In less tongue-in-cheek style, this course examines the evolution of New York City from 1607 to the present. The readings focus on the city’s social and physical histories, and the class discussions compare New York’s development to patterns in other cities.
This course surveys the history of 19th and 20th century Africa. It focuses on the European conquest of Africa and the dynamics of colonial rule, especially its socioeconomic and cultural consequences. It looks at how the rising tide of African nationalism, in the form of labor strikes and guerrilla wars, ushered out colonialism. It also examines the postcolonial states, focusing on the politics of development, recent civil wars in countries like Rwanda and Liberia, the AIDS epidemic, and the history of apartheid in South Africa up to 1994. Finally, it surveys the entrepreneurship in the post-colonial period and China’s recent involvement in Africa.
Students will select a person, persons, or event from the Pre-war to Civil War era that had a significant impact on African American and United States history. They will design a monument or a memorial and create a proposal for it.