Why Did the North Fight?
About | K-12 Objectives | Materials Needed | Procedures | Assessment | Standards | Resources
Procedures:
This lesson incorporates the use of primary sources to generate critical thinking on the topic, "Why did the Civil War take place?" The student will access newspaper articles, journals, and letters written in Pennsylvania and other Union states before the Civil War began, and from these sources argue what factors may have caused Northern participation in the Civil War.
1. The teacher may wish to engage the students in any of a variety of introduction activities to generate thoughts on causes of the Civil War. While teachers may have creative introduction activities they prefer, students could simply brainstorm reasons the North wanted to fight the South in the Civil War.
2. Students will be using primary documents in the Valley of the Shadow archive to answer the question "Why did the North enter the Civil War?" Students may read background information, which contains insights as to how historians view this question. If the teacher would rather have students find their own, varied, answers to this question, students can simply being reading the selected primary sources. It is important for the teacher and student to understand that their answers to this question will differ.
3. Students can read specific selected articles, journal entries, and letters which address what the writers believed the causes of the war, from the Northern perspective, were in the months and years before the Civil War. In addition, they may search through the archive for other readings on topic.
4. Students may record their findings on the attached worksheet. The worksheet encourages students to use a variety of sources located in the Valley archive- multiple newspapers, journals, and letters. Students are encouraged to explain the steps they used in making their own searches, and they are encouraged to consider the perspective of the writer, including where relevant the writer's profession, personal history, and audience.
5. Students will generalize their findings as to what causes of the North's entry into the war were. Students may express their personal views as to what caused the North to enter the war in a piece of writing (persuasive essay, personal letter), or in an oral presentation (speech, role play).