07: Civil War

07: Civil War

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“Corner Stone” Speech - Alexander Stephens 1861
“Corner Stone” Speech - Alexander Stephens 1861

In this speech the vice president of the Confederate States of America establishes the foundation of the nation he was helping to create. That foundational truth is that "the negro is not equal to the white man" Teachers can cut a couple sentences from this speech or even a paragraph or two because is it easily accessible to high school students. It can also be used to refute any idea that the Civil War was fought over tariffs economic policy.

Scholars of slavery and the Civil War will find here that Stephens supports Lincoln's argument that the founding fathers anticipated the end of slavery.

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.
#primary source#US I Unit 5 Manifest Destiny and Sectionalism#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·teachingamericanhistory.org·
“Corner Stone” Speech - Alexander Stephens 1861
History Doesn’t Follow Formulas. Why history can’t be reduced to static… | by Ed Ayers | New American History | Jul, 2020 | Medium
History Doesn’t Follow Formulas. Why history can’t be reduced to static… | by Ed Ayers | New American History | Jul, 2020 | Medium
This is perhaps too long for high school students to read, though just the same it might be worth the effort. It might more easily be adapted by having teachers read it and present a short explanation of it to students. At the very least, this is a "must read" for teachers not only because it describes how the understanding of the Civil War has changed over time, but it shows that the teaching of "how the story is told" is much better for students than just teaching a story
The key element in the equation used to be tariffs, but tariffs were barely mentioned in the fullest debates by the largest slave state in 1861 over whether to secede. A digital transcription of those Virginia debates shows that the word “tariff” appeared only eight times in weeks of debates. Words with the root of “slavery” in them, by contrast, were invoked 1,434 times. Virginia did not secede because it was agrarian, but rather because its economy was based on the buying, selling, and laboring of enslaved people.
The formula that we have taught for nearly a century is wrong. And it is wrong precisely because it is a formula. Formulas violate what history teaches us. Formulas replace people and their acts with pseudo-scientific abstractions such as “industrial” and “agrarian,” or “modern” and “traditional.” Formulas replace context, contingency, and change with fixity and predictability.
#US I Unit 5 Manifest Destiny and Sectionalism#reading#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·medium.com·
History Doesn’t Follow Formulas. Why history can’t be reduced to static… | by Ed Ayers | New American History | Jul, 2020 | Medium
The Avalon Project : Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln
The Avalon Project : Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln
Full text from the The Avalon Project
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.
#US History#US History I#President Abraham Lincoln#primary source#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·avalon.law.yale.edu·
The Avalon Project : Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln
‪Lincoln Assassination Eyewitness (Feb 9, 1956)‬‏ - YouTube
‪Lincoln Assassination Eyewitness (Feb 9, 1956)‬‏ - YouTube
1950s game show appearance of witness to Lincoln Assassination.  Not many people would believe that one person can connect the mid 19th century and the age of television. This can also show students that there are different qualities to primary sources - some primary sources are more valuable than others. This is a primary source because he was a witness, but he is remembering something from 100 years ago. Is he still a primary source?
#US History I#President Abraham Lincoln#primary source#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·youtube.com·
‪Lincoln Assassination Eyewitness (Feb 9, 1956)‬‏ - YouTube
The First Inaugural Address (1861)—Defending the American Union | EDSITEment
The First Inaugural Address (1861)—Defending the American Union | EDSITEment
This lesson will examine Lincoln's First Inaugural Address to understand why he thought his duty as president required him to treat secession as an act of rebellion and not a legitimate legal or constitutional action by disgruntled states.
#lesson plan#US History I#President Abraham Lincoln#primary source#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·edsitement.neh.gov·
The First Inaugural Address (1861)—Defending the American Union | EDSITEment
The Gettysburg Address (1863)—Defining the American Union | EDSITEment
The Gettysburg Address (1863)—Defining the American Union | EDSITEment
This lesson will examine the most famous speech in American history to understand how Lincoln turned a perfunctory eulogy at a cemetery dedication into a concise and profound meditation on the meaning of the Civil War and American union.
#lesson plan#US History I#President Abraham Lincoln#primary source#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·edsitement.neh.gov·
The Gettysburg Address (1863)—Defining the American Union | EDSITEment
The Civil War: Digital History
The Civil War: Digital History
This chapter examines the election of 1860, the secession crisis, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Union and the Confederacy, the military history of the war, as well as the economic and social changes the war produced.
#textbook#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·digitalhistory.uh.edu·
The Civil War: Digital History
Women in the Civil War - (Library of Congress)
Women in the Civil War - (Library of Congress)
This lesson uses primary sources - diaries, letters, and photographs - to explore the experiences of women in the Civil War. By looking at a series of document galleries, the perspectives of slave women, plantation mistresses, female spies, and Union women emerge. Ultimately, students will understand the human consequences of this war for women.
#lesson plan#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·loc.gov·
Women in the Civil War - (Library of Congress)
Teaching HistoryTech: Animate Your DBQ
Teaching HistoryTech: Animate Your DBQ
Blog post lesson plan that shows the process through which this teacher started with the DBQ project's question on Gettysburg using primary document and statistics, the had students create infographics and videos using animoto. Creative approach that's worth consideration
#lesson plan#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·kerryhawk02.blogspot.com·
Teaching HistoryTech: Animate Your DBQ
The High Cost of the U.S. Civil War - Barron's
The High Cost of the U.S. Civil War - Barron's
This short can be used to demonstrate the growth of the federal government through the Civil War. Have students understand the 7000% inflation rate in the South by calculating the effect of that rate on the clothes they like to buy. To truly understand the Confederate taxation, be sure to see any of Gary Gallagher's talks posted in YouTube
#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·barrons.com·
The High Cost of the U.S. Civil War - Barron's
The Civil War (documentary) - Wikiquote
The Civil War (documentary) - Wikiquote
For someone who taped each episode on VHS and copied quotes by hand with pad and pencil, the value of one page the includes quotes from the series is clear. For newcomers, grab any one of these and make it the focus of a homework question or a "do now' prompt. Maybe have students describe what sort of book would have that quote on it's cover?
#lesson plan#quotes#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·en.wikiquote.org·
The Civil War (documentary) - Wikiquote
The Ghost of Bobby Lee - Atlantic Magazine
The Ghost of Bobby Lee - Atlantic Magazine
Perhaps only excerpts of this can be used with students, but all of it should be read by teachers. Exposing the myth that Robert E Lee did not support slavery helps reveal the general manner in which the veneration of the past reflects an inability to deal with the present.
#African Americans#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·m.theatlantic.com·
The Ghost of Bobby Lee - Atlantic Magazine
Gary W. Gallagher Lecture at Chautauqua
Gary W. Gallagher Lecture at Chautauqua
Teachers without a deep knowledge of the Civil War should spend an hour watching this lecture rather than pulling factoids out of the textbook to throw into a powerpoint. Gary W. Gallagher, a Civil War military historian and professor at the University of Virginia, delivers Wednesday's address on the gritty details of how this war was fought.
#5th Grade Unit 6 - Civil War#lectures#US I Unit 5 Civil War
·youtube.com·
Gary W. Gallagher Lecture at Chautauqua