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Chronological Reasoning and Causation

Interpretation of the Civil War and its Impact on Americans.

  1. Load Map of Gettysburg Battle in 1863, Civil War in Main Image Viewer
  2. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 1 in Main Image Viewer
  3. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 1 in Main Image Viewer
  4. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 1 in Main Image Viewer
  5. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 2 in Main Image Viewer
  6. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 2 in Main Image Viewer
  7. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 2 in Main Image Viewer
  8. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 2 in Main Image Viewer
  9. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 3 in Main Image Viewer
  10. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 3 in Main Image Viewer
  11. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 3 in Main Image Viewer
  12. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 4 in Main Image Viewer
  13. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 4 in Main Image Viewer
  14. Load Civil War Francis Sammis Letter 4 in Main Image Viewer
  15. Load Civil War Recruitment Broadside in Main Image Viewer
  16. Load Battle of Gettysburg Print in Main Image Viewer
  17. Load Civil War Military and Railroad Map in Main Image Viewer

Suggested Teaching Instructions

Title: Interpretation of the Civil War and its impact on Americans. 

Historical Context: The American Civil War is a pivotal point in United States history, it was a monumental development and greatly altered the lives of many in the nation. Recruitment was very necessary in this war and many families had loved ones heading to the front lines. 

 Overview: Utilizing documents from the Northport Historical Society, students will analyze information to view what the reality of war was like.  Students will view a recruitment poster, a map of where the conflict played out, a photo depicting what conflict looked like, and a letter from a soldier to his friend home. These depictions will allow students to view the true aspect of what war entails. 

Goal: Students will compile all information from the documents to create their own recruitment poster that calls on citizens to join in the war effort. Students must include historical evidence in their poster to demonstrate gained knowledge on the Civil War. 

 Objectives: 

 - Students will be able to identify how the Civil War impacted Americans. 

- Students will illustrate and describe the Civil War by creating their own recruitment poster. 

 Investigative (Compelling) Question: 

How have individuals such as Francis Sammis show a true depiction of the Civil War and its impact on society?

 Time Required

  • Two 40-minute class periods 

 

Class Period 1 – Introduction of documents and interpretation

Discussion of compelling question in beginning to see what students know 

Reviewing and interpreting the four documents (30 minutes) 

 

Class Period 2 – Creation of poster and presentation to class. 

 

Recommended Grade Range

-  6-8

-  9-12 

Subject: Social Studies 


 Standards:  11.3 EXPANSION, NATIONALISM, AND SECTIONALISM (1800 – 1865): As the nation expanded, growing sectional tensions, especially over slavery, resulted in political and constitutional crises that culminated in the Civil War. (Standards: 1, 3, 4, 5; Themes: TCC, GEO, GOV, ECO, TECH)

 Credits: Zachary Babolcsay

PROCEDURE

Description of Procedure: Provides a numbered list of procedures, providing instruction in clear and concise language about how to implement the lesson and use primary sources to answer the investigative question and meet the goal of the lesson.

You may want to use the Stripling inquiry cycle as a guide.

The Inquiry Cycle:

  • Connect: 1. Establishing setting: Students will start the lesson by answering the following question: How does war impact society? List 3 ways in which people are effected. Students will then review what they wrote and apply it to the Civil War time period. 

 

  • Wonder: Students will then question how the Civil War was depicted to Americans during the time. This will be done by distributing the documents to students. 


 

  • Investigate: Students will then be broken up into groups of 4. Each student in each group will be given one of the documents. The goal of the student is to analyze their document and share their findings to their group. 

 

  • Construct: Students will be tasked with gathering the main idea of each document provided. Once the main idea has been gathered and discussed, students will come back to a whole classroom discussion in which the main idea is gone over together. 

 

  • Express: Students will then work individually on creating a recruitment poster that shows a practical approach at joining in the war effort. 

 

  • Reflect: Students will present their posters to the class. This is where different ideas can be reviewed, and discussions can apply. 

EVALUATION

Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on how well they can create a recruitment poster by including historical information gathered from the documents. Students will reach achievement by demonstrating they can pull information from a couple of the documents and transcribing into their own creative poster.