The Election that Changed Everything

We continued our unit on the Civil War this week and focused on the Election of 1860.  The essential question for this lesson was, “How were the results of the Election of 1860 representative of the deep divisions over slavery.”  To learn about the Election of 1860, we first watched a Crash Course Video.  This video gave us an overview of the topic and discussed the following; the Fugitive slave law, railroads, Republicans, Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott v. Sanford,  and John Brown.  Next, we analyzed a map that depicted which states voted for each candidate in the Election of 1860.  This map showed that people living in the North voted for Lincoln, who was a republican and was against slavery, and that people living in the South voted for Breckenridge, who was a Southern Democrat and was pro slavery.  This map really helped us see that the results of the Election of 1860 were representative of the deep divisions over slavery because the Northerners, who were anti slavery, voted for the candidate that was anti slavery, and the Southerners, who were pro slavery, voted for the candidate who was pro slavery.  We then read an article titled, The Civil War in Art, which explained the events of the Civil War through various pieces of art.  After captioning each of these five pictures in our groups, we then found three more pictures about the Civil War.  Each group then created an Educreations Video with all their pictures.  

This is a picture that shows which states voted for each candidate.

Click on this picture to watch my group's Educreations video.

Sources:

Dred-Scott:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandord.  

The Confederacy:
Mataconis, Doug.  Lee-Jackson Day and The South’s Continuing Confederate Fetish.  Outside the Beltway.  Friday, January 14, 2011. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/lee-jackson-day-and-the-souths-continuing-confederate-fetish/.  3/12/15.

The Election of 1860:
http://www.edline.net/files/_CJKPB_/ee553a2c7835765f45a49013852ec4/Election_of_t1860_Lesson_Notes.pdf

The rest of the pictures:

http://www.civilwawrinart.org/exhibits/show/causes/introduction/the-election-of-1860-and-seces.

What it Takes to Win a War

This Lesson was about the statistics and strategies used by the North and South during the civil war.  The essential question was, “How did the differences between the North and South affect each region’s strategy and success in the Civil War?”  After taking notes from various resources, each student created their own infographic.  I decided to make my infographic on piktochart.  We could only include limited information in our infographic.  I included data that shows that the North had more railroad mileage, and thus more railroads than the South, because I thought this was the most important resource that the North had to their advantage.  This is because the railroads allowed the North to be able to transport supplies to their soldiers.  Adjacent to this pie chart, I included another pie chart that shows there was a one to zero ratio of cotton production between the South to the North.  This was the most important resource for the South because cotton production helped boost their economy, and they could thus purchase necessary supplies to help them in the war.  The next information I display in my infographic are population statistics.  The North had a much greater population than the South, which meant there were more available soldiers to fight in the war.  However, the South had a much greater slave population, but this played to their disadvantage because owners of slaves would not want to be associated with the war in fear of losing their slaves and thus losing money.  The resources and population statistics shows the differences between the North and the South and how these statistics affected their success in the war.  I then included information about the war strategies between the North and the South.  Lincoln created the Anaconda Plan which formed a blockade around the South’s ports near the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.  By doing so, the South would not be able to export cotton to Europe which caused the South’s economy to weaken.  Lincoln hoped the South wouldn't be able to import any supplies, as well.  The South used the strategy war by attrition.  The South would wear out their enemy, which they hoped would help them win the Civil War.  However this plan backfired because the South forgot how many resources the North had to their advantage.  I organized my information by using blue to represent the Union and red to represent the Confederacy.  I also used different icons to symbolize when a statistic or strategy was positive or negative for each side.  This process and assignment helped me understand what the Union and the Confederacy faced at the start of the war because I am a visual learner and the infographic really helped me better understand the information I was given at the start of the lesson.

This is a picture of my infographic.

Sources:

Image 1:

Edline.  Picture Image.  http://www.edline.net/files/_CCBMU_/97e2738bcebc05d83745a49013852ec4/Unit_6_Activity_1_Class_Notes.pdf.  3/7/15.

Image 2:“War of Attrition.”  Picture image.  http://apushchristian.blogspot.com/.  3/7/15.

In Everyone's Head, but Never Said

This lesson was titled, “The Elephant in the Room.”  We defined “elephant in the room” as the bigger problem that everyone is aware of, but ignores, and focuses instead on the little problems.  The essential question for this lesson was, “How we know the debate over slavery was the “elephant in the room” for American politics in the early 19th century?”  In groups of two or three we created timelines on the Timeline app that documented the events we learned in class.  The first event that we learned about was the Missouri Compromise.  We took general notes on the Missouri Compromise which took place in 1820 and established that there would be eleven slave states and eleven free states.  To accomplish this Missouri became a slave state.  This Compromise also stated that any area north of the thirty-six degree and thirty minute lines could become a free state in the future.  We also took notes on the Gold Rush in California.  Because of the Gold Rush, California wanted to be identified as a free state, but this would mess up the even split.  We then read an article titled, “The Compromise of 1950 and the Fugitive Slave Act.”  We used this article to identify the five parts of the Compromise.  In the first part,Texas would give up their land and will be given ten million dollars for debt.  Second, the territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah would be organized without mention of slavery; in other words when these territories apply for statehood the people living there would decide if the state would be a free state or a slave state.  Third, in Washington D.C., slave trade was abolished, but one could still own slaves.  The fourth part was that California would become a free state. The fifth part was that the Fugitive Slave act was passed which stated that even if someone is anti-slavery, they would still required to notify the authority if they knew of fugitive slaves and, in addition, slaves were denied a fair trial in court.  The first, second and fifth parts of the Compromise were pro-slavery and the third and fourth parts were anti-slavery.  Next, we took notes on the Gadsden Purchase.  The United States paid fifteen million dollars for all of Nevada, California, Utah, and much of Arizona, and New Mexico in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.  The Gadsden Purchase helped pro-slavery.  We then answered questions about this event using pages in our textbook.

This is a picture of my group's timeline.

This is a picture of the descriptions for each event on my group's timeline.

Each group then added all of these events to their timelines and we then learned about the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.  People in Kansas and Nebraska could decide if they wanted their state to be a free state or a slave state, even though it was against the Missouri Compromise.  The Kansas-Nebraska Act helped pro-slavery.  The next event that we took notes on was Bleeding Kansas, which occurred in 1856.  Bleeding Kansas resulted from the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Whether Kansas would be a free or slave state was determined by the people.  Because of this, both anti and pro slavery people came to Kansas, which resulted in violent fighting.  We then looked up definitions of some words in our textbook, such as Topeka which was the anti-slavery capital and Lecompton which was the pro-slavery capital.  This event in history is called Bleeding Kansas because they were several violent breakouts between pro and anti-slavery. Each group then added these events to their timelines.  We then learned about the Dred Scott Decision of 1857.  Dred Scott was an enslaved man living in Missouri who filed a lawsuit against his owner.  He argued that him and his wife, Harriet, were free because they had once lived with their owners in a free state.  We also read an article called, “Dred Scott Case: The Supreme Court Decision.”  This article helped us identify the three effects that resulted from the Dred Scott decision which were that slaves were denied the right to sue in court because they were not citizens, enslaved people could not win freedom by just living in a free territory or state, and the Missouri Compromise was ruled unconstitutional and all territories were, therefore, open to slavery.  The next topic that we discussed was the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.  Senator Douglas believed in the absolute right of white citizens to choose the kind of society and government they wanted.  Lincoln believed that the majority did not have the right to deny the minority their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Douglas and Lincoln met in a series of seven debates on the issue of slavery.  Douglas won the election.  We then learned about John Brown’s Raid which took place on October 16, 1859.  We read pages in the textbook to learn more about this event.  Brown and his men attacked the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.  He, along with twenty-one men, hoped to seize weapons and give the weapons to enslaved people.  The United States troops surrounded Brown and his men and killed half the men while the rest surrendered.  Brown was captured and eventually hung.  This raid caused the northerners to see Brown as a martyr and the southerners to see him as a criminal, which is written into the lyrics of the song, John Brown’s Body.  We then added these three events to our timeline.

All of these events clearly shows us that the debate over slavery was the “elephant in the room” for American politics in the early 19th century.  This is because each event, or those involved, mostly focused on the conditions of states, laws, or compromises.  American politicians should have focused on solving the bigger problem which was slavery itself and face it head on instead of busying themselves with debates and violent fights that did not benefit the slaves.  The majority of politicians were focused on the rights of free whites, instead of the slaves. However, John Brown and Abraham Lincoln truly went to extremes to try to discuss the elephant in the room.