Constitutional Rights Foundation
Sam Houston: A Study in Leadership
Learners read a short excerpt from a speech by Sam Houston and answer corresponding questions as well as engage in additional activities, including writing a persuasive essay and discussing topics in small groups. The resource helps lay...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
What Would the Ladies Think? An Alabama Secession Story
Alabama voted to secede from the Union preceding the Civil War. What did women think of the decision? The lesson uses letters and newspaper articles to explain women's views on the secession and how they participated in the celebration...
University of California
The Civil War: Secession of the South
Was the Southern states' decision to secede from the Union protected by the United States Constitution? Eighth graders discuss the constitutionality of the South's justification for secession, particularly the secession of South...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama's Secession in 1861: Embraced with Joy and Great Confidence. Why?
From December 20, 1860 to June 8, 1861, eleven states seceded from the Union. Alabama seceded on January 11, 1861. Why did so many white Alabamians want to secede? Why did they believe the South could win the war? These are the essential...
Curated OER
1850s: Road to Secession
Detailing the political and social events leading up to the Civil War, this presentation provides students with maps, political cartoons, and photographs to put this time period into historical context. The Presidential Elections of...
Curated OER
Images of Secession
Analyze political cartoons and historical events. Middle schoolers utilize primary resources to increase their comprehension of the topic of secession. They utilize graphic organizers to take notes, compare, and analyze political...
Curated OER
Secession: A Southern Perspective
Eighth graders determine how secession impacted South Carolina as well as the United States. In this American Civil War lesson, 8th graders examine selected primary and secondary sources in order to study the state's sovereignty and the...
Curated OER
United We Stand
Students recreate and simulate the secession of the South during the Civil War by having their class secede from the school. They write an essay comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences of everyday life before and after...
Curated OER
The Brief American Pageant: Girding for War
Though too short to be an adequate presentation, the solitary map in these slides would be a good visual aid to a lecture about Southern secession before and during the Civil War. The color coded states on the map make a good timeline...
Curated OER
Arrest of the Maryland Legislature
For this Civil War history worksheet, students read and discuss a selection regarding the arrest of the Maryland legislature.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan for History: The Inauguration Speech of President Jefferson Davis
Eleventh graders explain Davis's views on Southern Secession. In this American History lesson, 11th graders read and analyze primary sources.
Curated OER
Maryland During the Secession Crisis
Learners identify the problems Maryland encountered during the secession crisis. They analyze census data and through an examination of the resolutions made by Maryland's Southern Rights Convention of 1861.
Curated OER
Secession Crisis: In Two Virginia Communities
Young scholars are divided into groups and are assigned newspaper articles from the year 1861. The articles are from either Republican or Democratic parties discussing the Virginia secession. They complete worksheets and have a whole...
Curated OER
Sectionalism, Popular Sovereignty, and Secession
Young scholars examine sequence of national events that resulted in the Civil War by using primary sources, and creating timelines and maps.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Treasures: A More Perfect Union: Gallery B
This is a large site from American Treasures covering primary source documents from the early 1800s through the Civil War and on to Western Expansion.
Henry J. Sage
Sage American History: Southern Secession
Article with primary source secession resolutions from three states including, South Carolina, Virginia and Mississippi. Each declaring intent to secede from the Union and outlining reasons for doing so.
University of Virginia
Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: Abraham Lincoln: Domestic Affairs
A comprehensive look at the domestic policies of the Lincoln Administration. Although the many issues involved with the Civil War were top priority, many decisions about other domestic problems were made that had a lasting effect. From...
![Texas State Historical Association: Civil War and Reconstruction [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Texas State Historical Association: Civil War and Reconstruction [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
Texas State Historical Association
Texas State Historical Association: Civil War and Reconstruction [Pdf]
An activity guide where students refer to the Texas Almanac, which is free to download, for information needed to complete assigned tasks. In this lesson, students examine the Secession, the Civil War, and Reconstruction to learn how...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Secession of the Southern States
This collection uses primary sources to explore the secession of southern states from the United States prior to the Civil War.
Civil War Home
Home of the American Civil War: Secession of the Southern States
Scroll through this article to "Secession in the Upper South" to find out what was happening in southern states that had not yet seceded before April, 1861, and what convinced these states to secede. From an article by William L. Barney...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Lincoln Goes to War
A lesson plan that includes six activities focusing on "the decision-making process that precipitated the Civil War". Activities have students reviewing the decision Lincoln made to secure Fort Sumter, the secession crisis of 1861, and...
Civil War Home
Home of the American Civil War: The War Begins
Provides a detailed description of the attack on Fort Sumter during the Civil War from Confederate Military History, Vol. 5, Chapter I, a series published in 1899.
Civil War Home
Home of the American Civil War: States' Rights
Gives a history of states' rights from the beginning of the U.S. Constitution. Scroll down to "Secession and the Confederate Constitution" to read about the South's interpretation of states' rights just prior to the Civil War. From...
Civil War Home
Home of the American Civil War: Secession, the Union View
This excerpt from a work by John Nicolay, personal secretary to Lincoln, discusses the secession of the Southern states from the perspective of Northerners.