Summary
In this lesson, students analyze primary-source documents to determine why the Southern states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. Students write Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) responses to explain the Southern states’ actions. Students extend their learning by analyzing a 2011 Pew Research Center study about the legacy of the U.S. Civil War. Students reflect on the lesson by using the S-I-T (Surprising-Interesting-Troubling) strategy.
Essential Question(s)
What was the principal cause of the U.S. Civil War? Why did the Southern states secede to form the Confederate States of America?
Snapshot
Engage
Students participate in a modified List-Group-Label activity to activate their prior knowledge about growing tensions between the North and South before the U.S. Civil War.
Explore
Students analyze primary source documents to identify reasons why the Southern states seceded from the Union.
Explain
Students create Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) responses using the textual evidence they compiled during their document analysis.
Extend
Students analyze data from a 2011 Pew Research Center study about the legacy of the U.S. Civil War.
Evaluate
Students use the S-I-T strategy to identify something from the lesson that they found surprising, interesting, and troubling.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Secession Ordinances (attached; one ordinance per group)
Secession Ordinances with Teacher's Notes (attached)
Confederate Constitution and Cornerstone Speech Excerpts (attached; one document per group)
Confederate Constitution and Cornerstone Speech Excerpts with Teacher's Notes (attached)
Text Evidence for Secession graphic organizer (attached; one per student)
The U.S. Civil War's Legacy handout (attached; one per student)
The U.S. Civil War's Legacy Answer Key (attached)
CER graphic organizer (attached; one per student)
CER with Teacher’s Notes (attached)
Engage
15 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to guide the lesson. Organize students into groups of four. Display slide 3 and ask students to review the items on the slide with their groups. Explain that the list includes events, legislation, court decisions, and publications that students previously examined during the U.S. Civil War unit.
Using a modified version of the List-Group-Label strategy, tell students to work with their groups to consider what the items have in common and give the list a label that describes the list as a whole.
After about five minutes, invite several groups to share their labels with the class.
Remind students that although these events involved several political and regional disputes, each was connected to slavery as a central source of tension. Consider asking students to support their label with evidence by explaining how one or more of the terms from the list connect to the chosen label.
To conclude the discussion, display slides 4–5, and review the essential questions and learning objectives with students.
Explore
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 6. Review with students that after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, seven states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. Review the meaning of secede, to formally break away.
Display slide 7 and tell students that each state that seceded wrote a formal document declaring it was no longer part of the United States. These documents, called "ordinances of secession," explained their reasons for breaking away from the Union.
Explain that students will examine three ordinances of secession to determine why the Southern states left the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Pass out the attached Secession Ordinances handout to students. Each group should have one of the three ordinances.
Display slide 8 and introduce students to the Why-Lighting strategy. Ask students to analyze the document as a group by highlighting pieces of the text that explain why the state they are reading about seceded from the Union. After highlighting, students should write notes in the margin of the document to explain the reason for the highlighted text.
After providing time for students to analyze the documents, pass out the attached Text Evidence for Secession handout. Move to slide 9 and ask students to work in their groups to complete the chart and summarize why the Southern states seceded from the Union, using the document they analyzed as a guide.
After providing time for students to complete their charts, call on representatives from each group to share their findings with the class. As groups share, tell students they can change or modify their responses in the chart based on the feedback they gain from the whole-class discussion. If the topic does not come up organically, ensure that the idea of protecting slavery was the main focus of the secession ordinances.
Pass out one of the two documents from the attached Confederate Constitution and Cornerstone Speech Excerpts to members of each group. Ensure that half of the groups have the Confederate Constitution and the other half have the Cornerstone Speech Excerpts.
Display slide 10 and tell students to again use Why-Lighting their document. Tell students to highlight parts of the text that explain why the Southern states seceded, and to write notes about why they highlighted specific sentences.
After providing time for students to work together and analyze the document, then have students complete the other half of the Text Evidence for Secession handout.
Next, call on new representatives from each group to share their findings with the class.
Conclude the class discussion by adding any important points that might have been overlooked by students and reminding them that their charts should be completed at this point.
Explain
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 11 and pass out a copy of the attached CER handout to each student. Introduce students to the CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) strategy to answer the question, “Why did the Southern states secede from the Union to form the Confederate States of America?”
As a class, establish the "claim." Based on the discussion of the primary source documents, the claim should be something like, "The Southern states seceded to protect and maintain the system of slavery." Have students write the claim at the top of the CER handout.
Tell students to complete the rest of the CER with their group, using the documents they have analyzed. Students should use at least one piece of textual evidence.
After they have completed their CER statements, have several students read their responses aloud to the class. Use this opportunity to review what students have written and offer verbal feedback. Refer to the attached CER with Teacher's Notes handout for a sample student response.
Extend
15 Minute(s)
Pass out the attached The U.S. Civil War's Legacy handout. Tell students that the Pew Research Center is a nonprofit organization that conducts research regarding various topics, such as U.S. politics.
In 2011, the Pew Research Center conducted a study titled Civil War at 150 about the legacy of the Civil War. Two of the prompts from this study are shown on slide 12 and on the handout. The first prompt relates to respondents' views about the modern relevance of the U.S. Civil War, and the second relates to their understanding of the cause of the U.S. Civil War.
Have students work with their groups to predict how they think participants responded to these prompts in the 2011 study. Tell students to add their predictions to the Estimated Percentage column on the handout. Remind students that their percentages for each prompt should add up to 100% (though the reported percentages may add to slightly more or less than 100 due to rounding).
Assure students that “correct” answers are not the goal. Students should write an informed hypothesis based on what they have learned.
Display slide 13 to reveal the actual survey percentages from the study. Ask students to write the actual percentages on the handout. Provide time for students to discuss the estimated and actual percentages in their groups.
Evaluate
10 Minute(s)
Display slide 14. Introduce students to the S-I-T strategy. Tell students to think about the lesson and on the back of a handout write something from the lesson that was surprising, interesting, and troubling.
Once students have had enough time to record their responses, bring students back together to share their thoughts.
Conclude the discussion by noting that, in order to solve the issues facing our communities today, it is important to understand how things became the way they are (in other words, our history).
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER). Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/156
K20 Center. (n.d.). List-Group-Label. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/55
K20 Center. (n.d.). Padlet. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/1077
K20 Center. (n.d.). S-I-T (Surprising, interesting, troubling). Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/926
K20 Center. (n.d.). Why-Lighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/128
Pew Research Center. (n.d.). About Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/about/
Pew Research Center. (2011, April 8). Civil War at 150: Still relevant, still divisive. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2011/04/08/civil-war-at-150-still-relevant-still-divisive/