The sidebar of this site reads "Understand the War Through People Then and Now." That is the mission of the site, and when you click on each word or phrase, you open up a world of information about the Civil War. Compiled resources help...

This sample task contains a set of primary and authentic sources about how the differences between the North and South deepened the feelings of sectionalism leading up to the Civil War.

In this 21st Century roleplay lesson, young scholars use what they know about causes of the Civil War to have an educated discussion with another class. By utilizing Skype, students and teachers collaborate with one another in an...

Read about the essential repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which had established which states could be slave and which would be free for thirty years, with the rancorous passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. See who supported it and why,...

In this activity, 5th graders explore the concept of cause and effect in the context of the Civil War and work in groups to write and deliver speeches articulating a point of view for one of the War's causes: tariffs, state's rights, or...

Read about how the destruction of Lawrence, Kansas, seat of the Free-Soiler government by border ruffians inflamed attitudes in the North toward the actions of the slave-holders.

A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" that examines the goal of the Missouri Compromise. A good lesson plan for comparing and contrasting life in the North and South in the run-up to the...

Read the terms of the Dred Scott decision which determined that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. See why this decision was so controversial and completely unacceptable to the northerners, thus driving an additional wedge...

John Brown, seeking revenge for the sack of Lawrence, Kansas, made Kansas even more bloody. Read about the Pottawatomie Massacre and its reverberations throughout Kansas.

The military-industrial complex thrived in the North during the Civil War, but read about how inflation affected the ordinary worker. See how the role of women expanded to fill in for men who were away fighting. Women also had an impact...

Because of the terms of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, a election would be held to determine whether Kansas would be a slave or free state. Read about the fraudulent votes cast by the so-called border ruffians from Missouri, and see how Kansas...