Curriculum
From Sectionalism to Secession Unit Docs
Unit Guide, Unit Storyboard, Lesson Calendar; Brief Answers for Teachers
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson One
Unit Launch; Nat Turner's Rebellion (Q1)
Students review the unit storyboard and unit guide, and learn the story of Nat Turner’s Rebellion. They check their understanding by writing Because, But, So, sentences.
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Two
The Compromise of 1850 (Q1)
Students learn the story of the Compromise of 1850, and tell the story back in a Four Box Storyboard.
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Three
Frederick Douglass Speech, July 5 1852 (Q2)
Students interpret a famous speech by abolitionist Frederick Douglass: “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Four
Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (Q2)
Students interpret excerpts from the final chapter of abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Five
Anthony Burns and Personal Liberty Laws (Q1)
Students learn the story of Anthony Burns, whose escape from slavery and recapture led to the rise of “Personal Liberty Laws,” and tell the story back in a Four-Box Storyboard.
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Six
"Bleeding Kansas" (Q1)
Students learn the story of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the resulting violence, and tell the story back in a Four-Sentence Story.
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Seven
James Hammond, "Mud-sill" Speech (Q2)
Students interpret an infamous pro-slavery speech by South Carolina Senator James Henry Hammond.
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Eight
Dred Scott and John Brown (Q1)
Students learn the story of the Dred Scott case and John Brown’s raid, and check their understanding with Because, But, So, Sentences.
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Nine
The Election of 1860 (Q1)
Students learn the story of the election of 1860, and tell the story back in a Four-Sentence Story.
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Ten
The Secession of South Carolina (Q2)
Students interpret excerpts from South Carolina’s Declaration of secession.
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Eleven
Explaining the Failure of Sectional Compromise (Q3)
Students study data to explain why sectional compromise over slavery failed in 1860. They then write a general hypothesis and test it on a new case: the Canadian province of Quebec.
From Sectionalism to Secession Lesson Twelve
Justifying Secession (Q4)
The South Carolina secessionists of 1860 compared themselves to the American revolutionaries of 1776. Students judge the case of the American revolution, and say if they thought the secession of the thirteen colonies was justified. They then write a general principle, and test it on the original case: South Carolina’s secession in 1860.