Put students into three groups, and give each group a number (1-3). Divide
groups into subgroups until there are no more than three students per group.
Distribute articles. When groups have completed their tasks, have students
reassemble as an entire class to go over their worksheets together and discuss
their findings.
Suggested questions for whole-class discussion:
What difference do you see between the rhetoric of the Republican Vindicator
(the Democratic Party paper) and the Staunton Spectator (the Whig, or
Opposition, paper)?
How do the accounts of conditions in the seceded states differ in the
two papers?
You are President Lincoln. You want to prevent Virginia from seceding,
since Virginia borders Washington DC, contains important rail links to
the West, good farmland, and a large population. You have received a wire
that unless Fort Sumter is reinforced, the commander there will have to
hand the fort over to the Confederate government. However, the Confederate
government has declared that any attempt by the federal government to
resupply the fort would be considered an act of war. What should Lincoln
do, in light of the sentiment in Augusta County, Virginia?
As you know, Lincoln did send ships to resupply the fort, provoking
Confederate fire in the process. Lincoln responded to the attack on Fort
Sumter by calling for troops to put down the rebellion. Within days of
Lincoln's order, delegates at Virginia's convention on secession voted
overwhelmingly to secede. Based on what you have learned today, which
was more important in Virginia's decision to secede? The resupply of Sumter
or Lincoln's call for troops?
What do your findings suggest about the interpretation that slavery
was the primary cause of the Civil War?
What might have happened if Lincoln had NOT called for troops to "put
down the rebellion?"
Center
for Technology and Teacher Education,
University of Virginia,
This module
created by Alice Carter of the
University of Virginia..