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Content Area: Social Studies
Index: 6.4G Grade 12 CPI 2
Standard: 6.4 - US & NJ History
Strand: G - Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Cumulative Progress Indicator: 2 - The student will assess the continuing social and political issues following the Civil War, including the various Reconstruction plans, the amendments to the United States Constitution, and the women’s suffrage movement.
Grade: 12
Sample Activities:
· Give students background information regarding Reconstruction, and provide some reading exercises and comprehension checks. Explain that our nation’s political ideals and institutions faced a most severe test during the period of Reconstruction that followed the Civil War. Two issues that had divided the nation prior to the advent of armed conflict—state sovereignty and the citizenship rights of African Americans—resurfaced in Congressional debates over how best to implement the newly ratified 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution. At the library media center, students access resources in print and electronic media. The library media specialist instructs students on methods of assessing major pieces of legislation. Students review and summarize major pieces of Reconstruction legislation (e.g., the Freedman’s Bureau Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Reconstruction Act of 1867, the Force Act of 1870), as well as examples of Jim Crow legislation, to determine what they actually said. They speculate on whether Congress could have enacted a different kind of reconciliation plan with the former Confederate states. Students develop a set of recommendations for Congress in implementing a more effective Reconstruction policy during the post-Civil War period.
· Students study the background of the period and learn about the many viewpoints in the North and the South regarding slavery. They learn that the moral evil of slavery was in some cases weighed against the need to preserve the Union. There was a need at this time for a plan for reconciliation of the North and South. How did they balance the interests of people who had suffered greatly and continued to suffer under an unjust yoke against the national interest? Which comes first-morality or expediency? Students think about and write on these topics.
· In preparation for a mock Congressional debate on Reconstruction, students form two cooperative groups. (Permit students to choose the side they will argue.) In this case, the two viewpoints represented will be the differing views on the implementation of the new constitutional amendments. Each team must locate and analyze the available primary sources using especially the Internet but also the resources of the school library media center and the public library. Coach the teams to assign various roles: researchers, writers, speakers, and negotiators. Students will learn about the cooperative processes of government through this activity.
· The library media specialist provides access to primary source materials. These materials should include the perspectives of proponents and opponents of women’s suffrage. Prepare selected readings to be distributed to the class. After the students have read the selections, discuss the important issues they see in these readings. Ask them questions such as the following: What is your reaction to the situation described? How do you feel about the right to vote? Should any group in America be excluded from voting? Do you know of any other times and places where the right to vote was denied? In conjunction with the library media specialist, instruct students on how to do a research paper documenting public attitudes about New Jersey women’s right to vote before and since the adoption of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Students do additional research in the library media center on voting rights and related legislation.
· Students stage a classroom debate on women’s suffrage. This debate may take the form of a legislative hearing on voter fraud or the deliberations of a political party meeting prior to a major county or state election. Each debating group must prepare a summary of its argument for approval by the teacher and the opposing group (to make sure the students understand the viewpoint to be presented). The debating groups decide on the presentation and on roles for each member. The audience (the rest of the class) cannot interrupt during the debate and scores the debate using a checklist prepared by the teacher and the entire class. Members of the audience critique the presentations after scoring the debate. (An alternate format would permit class members to interrupt the debate with questions and expressions of views.)
· Conduct a discussion of women’s involvement in political parties today. Are they involved? How many governors, state and federal representatives, members of state and federal cabinets and executive departments are women? How many Margaret Thatchers, Golda Meirs, Diane Feinsteins, Carol Mosely-Brauns, Lynn Martins, and other outstanding women in government have there been? How do students view their findings on this subject?
Inspiration Templates:
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