Civil War: What Would You Do?
(Decision-Making and Critical Thinking Curricula)
Students tackle fascinating historical questions that put them in the shoes of a range of people from the past, from the rich and famous to ordinary citizens. Each lesson can be done either as an in-depth activity requiring up to two full class periods, or as a “quick motivator” requiring only 20–30 minutes. Detailed teacher pages give step-by-step instructions, list key vocabulary terms, offer troubleshooting tips, present ideas for post-activity discussions, and furnish lists of related sources. Reproducible student handouts clearly lay out the decision-making scenarios, provide "outcomes," and present related primary source readings and/or images with analysis questions. Decision-Making Book available for purchase on Social Studies School Service. Critical Thinking book forthcoming on Social Studies School Service. Free samples available below!
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Free Lessons
Lesson List: Decision Making in History: Jackson / Causes of the Civil War
LESSON 1 – African-Americans in the Civil War: Will you recruit African-Americans into the Union army?
LESSON 2 – Northern Civil War Strategy: What will your war strategy be?
LESSON 3 – Northern Civil War Policies at Home: How will you finance the war? What will your policies be on transcontinental railroad, tariff, public land, and national bank?
LESSON 4 – Freedmen: What will you do as a freedman in 1865 now that you are free?
LESSON 5 – Reconstruction Policies: What reconstruction policies will you adopt as President Johnson? As Congress?
LESSON 6 – 14th and 15th Amendments: How will you protect the civil rights of freedmen?
LESSON 7 – Jim Crow Era: What position will you take as a southern white person with regard to freedmen in the 1870s?
(order from socialstudies.com)
Sample Lesson: Decision Making in History: Policies Toward African Americans
Free Critical Thinking Lesson: States’ Rights a Main Cause of Civil War?
Critical Thinking Skill: Consider evidence to strengthen or weaken a proposed cause.
People have proposed several interpretations (explanations/arguments) of the main cause for the American Civil War. In this lesson, we are looking at evidence that might support or weaken one of these interpretations.
Free Critical Thinking Lesson: Ranking Personal Traits of Lincoln, Buchanan, Douglas
Critical Thinking Skill: Decision making We vote for presidential candidates for a number of reasons – position on issues, political party, support by people we know and personal characteristics. In this lesson we focus just on the personal characteristics of presidential candidates. We are considering how important personal characteristics should be in voting. More specifically, which personal characteristics might be important to being a good or bad president?
Published Sources
Free Lesson! Conspiracy Theories (1860-1875)
Era conspiracy theories covered: The Curse of Tecumseh, Abraham Africanus, John Wilkes Booth, Secretary of War Stanton and Lincoln’s Assassination, Ku Klux Klan.