Curriculum Materials

High School level lesson plan allowing students to learn about the strategy behind Civil War battles.

Students create a timeline of events leading to the Civil War based on a series of articles from the National Park Service. Students will explore the issue of slavery as a major cause starting with the Missouri Compromise, The Dred Scott Decision, The Election of Lincoln, John Brown's Raid, and the numerous states secessions. Then, students become part of a regiment and complete hands-on activities as they discover the structure of an army.

Students analyze the primary document, the Emancipation Proclamation and how it affected the Civil War and southern states. They work in teams to creatively share learned information from NPS videos about one of the final pushes in the Civil War, the Atlanta Campaign through Georgia. They listen to and draw meaning from soldier and author, Ambrose Bierce.

Lesson Plan detailing African American involvement during the American Civil War in both combatant and noncombatant roles. Lesson also highlights individual involvement and contributions to the war effort as well as document analysis.

Using their background knowledge of the tensions between the North and the South, students will dive further into the effects of the conflicts that ultimately led to the Civil War. Students will watch short NPS videos from rangers in Bleeding Kansas and Harper's Ferry. They will explore NPS articles and primary documents regarding popular sovereignty and the Election of 1860. Students will use visual arts to go into President Abraham Lincoln's shoes and deliver their own acceptance speech.

The United States was still a new country in the 1800s; a new country with a lot of growing pains. Students will experience the growing tension between the country's North and South. They will study maps and apply the information to make a chart of states that were considered free or slave status. They will work together to read and analyze primary documents written about states' rights, nullification, the Compromise of 1850, the Dred Scott Decision, and the Election of 1860.

How did our young nation become so angry at each other? Students explore the word "infuriated" and how these emotions led to the Civil War. Students read and analyze excerpts from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. They work together to read and analyze an NPS article explaining a timeline of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia. They share perspectives on why these two events led to a Civil War and explore alternate methods to violence.

Students will analyze primary documents during the Jacksonian era to engage in classroom discussions. They will read, summarize, question, and discuss President Andrew Jackson's support of and the *Cherokee phoenix and Indian's advocate* opposition to the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

Students will use primary and secondary documents to analyze the impact of the Dahlonega Gold Rush, Marshall's Supreme Court decisions, and the Indian Removal Act on the Cherokee Nation. They will engage in discussions about the roles Andrew Jackson, John Ross, Major Ridge, and John Marshall played in Cherokee resistance and removal. They will explore and examine the sites along the Trail of Tears.

Students gain an understanding of cultural elements of the Cherokee people through the use of traditional stories and reading information on websites. A series of activities provide hands-on opportunities to learn about Sequoyah and the Cherokee language, the Trail of Tears, and the trade and barter system with European settlers.