By Hoan Bomar
Introduction | Performance Task | Resources | Process | Conclusion | Teacher Information
At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a
ruined land. The physical
destruction brought about by the invading Union forces was enormous, and the old
social and economic order founded on slavery had collapsed completely, with
nothing to replace it. Joy over
preserving the union was quickly tempered by several daunting tasks. The central government of the United States had to complete
the following:
· Restore the 11 Confederate States' position in the Union
· Ensure the former Confederate States would be loyal to the government
·
Determine the role of the freed slaves in the South
Your task is to analyze the
situation in America following the Civil War, considering the needs and wants of
various groups in America. Next,
you are going to analyze the plans for reconstruction.
Finally, you are going to assess the success at these plans in solving the
problems which started the Civil War in the first place.
Sparknotes. (1999). Pre-Civil War (1820 – 1860). Retrieved March 29, 2003, from http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/precivilwar/context.html
Planet Papers. (2001). Reconstruction post Civil War.
Retrieved March 29, 2003, from http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/5313.php
Step 1: What were the major problems that caused the Civil War?
Read the article from the Web
page http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/precivilwar/context.html.
After reading the article, answer the following questions:
1. Identify three possible causes for the Civil War.
2. Identify at least one supporting piece of evidence for each possible cause.
Step 2: Who were the stakeholders during Reconstruction
A stakeholder is a person or
group that has a shared interest in some process or result.
Look at the pictures below. Based
on these pictures, create a list of stakeholders in the Reconstruction process
following the Civil War.
Step 3: What are the three possible plans to heal the nation after
the Civil War?
After the Civil War, three plans to heal the nation were
developed: Lincoln’s Plan,
Johnson’s Plan, and the Radical Republican’s Plan.
Read the article from the Web page http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/5313.php,
which describes each plan. After
reading about the plans, answer the following questions:
1. What are the basic provisions of each plan?
2. Which stakeholders are upset by each plan?
3.
Which of the problems that started the Civil War would be addressed by
each plan?
If you were to grade each of the three plans, what grade
would you give each plan – A, B, C, D, or F? Base your grade on how effective each plan would be in
solving the problems that caused the Civil War.
This project is designed for high school United States history class.
Standards
The purpose of this product is to have students analyze the
situation in America following the Civil War.
They will identify the stakeholders, analyze the plans for
Reconstruction, and assess the success of these plans in solving the problems
which started the Civil War in the first place.
Before this project, the teacher should give
a broad overview of the causes of the Civil War.
The teacher should also make sure each student knows how to access
the internet to find the web pages needed to complete the questions.
After the project is completed, the students should be able to identify
the three plans for Reconstruction. The
students should be able to identify the successes and failures of the plans.
This product would allow the students to better understand
the causes of the Civil War, identify the plans to reconstruct the South after
the war, and identify who the stakeholders were in the Reconstruction plans.
This activity might be improved by having the students create their own Reconstruction plans.