The Pre-Civil War Era (1815–1850)

One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...

Primary sources are valuable for understanding the context of historical events, but the diction and dialect in these documents can be difficult to understand. Middle and high schoolers participation in a transcription process in which...

The American Civil War was a complex test of a relatively young democracy in the mid-nineteenth century. Discuss the events and factors that led to the Civil War with a thorough slideshow presentation.

How did economic issues lead to war? Viewers watch an AP review video to examine one of the main causes of the American Civil War, the Tariff of Abominations. They examine the issues concerning the economies of the North and South prior...

The preservation of Civil War era battlefields is an ongoing argument between cities, corporations, and groups like the Civil War Trust. After watching a brief animated analysis of the Battle of Cedar Creek, a video from the Civil War...

Discuss the differences between the North and the South and how those differences led to the Civil War. Middle schoolers examine and analyze a famous speech or writing by President Lincoln in order to better understand the speaker's...

Students investigate music of the Civil War era and explore how music can be used to arouse and express emotion. They identify a rhythmical musical pattern and match lyrics to it.

Women's lifestyles before the Civil War made a huge impact as a point of causation. Give middle schoolers the opportunity to view firsthand the lives of women before the Civil War. They analyze primary source documents, view photographs,...

Students make foods that would have been staples during the Civil War era and may have been eaten by a soldiers. They follow a recipe to make hardtack and are exposed to other recipes at the included websites.

Students examine the differences between the North and South during the pre-Civil War era. In this Civil War era lesson plan, students spent 7 days looking at things that were different between the Union and Confederate state before the...