Compelling Question: Did the Civil War help create a more perfect Union?

Chapter Objectives:

• Students will be able to examine the relationship between military events in the Civil War and changes in politics, society, and justice for African Americans.
• Students will be able to analyze the changing nature of the goals of the Civil War and whether it wrought a “second American Revolution.”
• Students will be able to evaluate whether justice for African Americans was achieved through Reconstruction.

• Fort Sumter and the Coming of the War Narrative
• The Battle of Antietam Narrative
• Gettysburg and Vicksburg: July 4, 1863 Narrative
• Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation Decision Point
• William Tecumseh Sherman and Total War Narrative
• Images of Total War: Sherman’s March to the Sea, 1865 Primary Source
• Grant and Lee at Appomattox Decision Point
• Did Abraham Lincoln Exceed His Presidential Powers during the Civil War? Point-Counterpoint
• Was the Civil War Fought Over Slavery? Point-Counterpoint
• J.B. Elliott,Scott’s Great Snake(Anaconda Plan), 1861 Primary Source
• Mathew Brady, The Dead of Antietam Photography, 1862 Primary Source
• The Rhetoric of Abraham Lincoln DBQ Lesson

• The Draft and the Draft Riots of 1863 Narrative
• Robert Gould Shaw and the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment Narrative
• Mary Chesnut’s War Narrative
• Clement Vallandigham and Constitutionalism Narrative
• Women during the Civil War Narrative
• Daniel Emmett’s “Dixie” and Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” 1859 and 1861 Primary Source

• Cartoon Analysis:The “Rail Splitter” at Work Repairing the Union, 1865 Primary Source
• O. O. Howard and the Freedmen’s Bureau Narrative
• Comparing Views of the Freedmen’s Bureau, 1866 Primary Source
• The Ku Klux Klan and Violence at the Polls Narrative
• To What Extent Did American Principles Become a Reality for African Americans during Reconstruction? Point Counterpoint
• Cartoon Analysis: Thomas Nast on Reconstruction, 1869-1874 Primary Source
• The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson Decision Point
• Andrew Johnson’s Veto of the Civil Rights Act, 1866 Primary Source
• The Emergence of Black Codes DBQ Lesson
• Comparing Impeachments across U.S. History Lesson

Additional Resources:

• Chapter 8 Introductory Essay: 1860-1877
• The Homestead Act of 1862 Primary Source
• Unit 4 Civics Connection: Equality, the Civil War, and Reconstruction Lesson