Unit 4: Post Civil War Era

Unit Description:

Stage 1- Desired Results

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

Students understand that...

The U.S. Constitution is a living document and is a major tool to protecting individual's Civil Rights.
U.S. Civil War occurred because of the regional differences with competing political, social and economic beliefs that continue to affect us today.
The U.S. Civil War affected the lives of the American people that caused immediate and long-term effects.

Can the Union be saved?
Was Reconstruction a success or a failure?

Common Core Standards and Performance Indicators:

Unifying Themes:

Development, Movement, and Interaction of Cultures (MOV)
Development and Transformation of Social Structures (SOC)
Civic Ideals and Practices (CIV)
Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems (ECO)

Social Studies Content Area Standards:

1. World History
2. Geography
3. Economics
4. Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Social Studies Practices (begin on page 3)

- Gathering and Interpreting Evidence
- Chronological Reasoning
- Comparison and Contextualization
- Geographic Reasoning
- Economics and Economic Systems
- Civic Participation

Common Core Learning Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science,and Technical Subjects (begins on page 76)

Knowledge

Students know that...

11.4a Between 1865 and 1900, constitutional rights were extended to African Americans. However, their ability to exercise these rights was undermined by individuals, groups, and government institutions.

11.4b The 14th and 15th amendments failed to address the rights of women.

11.4c Federal policies regarding westward expansion had positive effects on the national economy but negative consequences for Native Americans.

11.4d Racial and economic motives contributed to long-standing discrimination against Mexican Americans and opposition to Chinese immigration.

Key Terms:

freedmen
Reconstruction
Ten Percent Plan
Freedmen's Bureau
13th - 15th Amendments (Civil War Amendments)
black codes
Radicals
impeach
scalawag
carpetbagger
Conservatives
Ku Klux Klan
sharecropper
poll tax
literacy test
grandfather clause
segregation
Jim Crow Laws
Plessy v. Ferguson
Chinese Exclusion Act

Skills

Students will be able to...

Students will examine the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments and consider the role of Radical Republicans in Reconstruction.
Students will investigate the ways individuals, groups, and government institutions limited the rights of African Americans, including the use of Black Codes, the passage of Jim Crow laws, the Ku Klux Klan, restrictions on voting rights, and Supreme Court cases including the Civil Rights Cases (1883) and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
Students will examine the ways in which freedmen attempted to build independent lives, including the activities of the Freedmen’s Bureau, the creation of educational institutions, and political participation.
Students will examine the impacts 1877 on African Americans.
Students will examine the exclusion of women from the 14th and 15th amendments and the subsequent struggle for voting and increased property rights in the late 19th century. The students will examine the work of Susan B. Anthony.
Students will examine the economic effects of the Homestead Act (1862) and the Pacific Railway Act (1862) on westward expansion.
Students will examine the effect of federal policies on Native Americans on the Great Plains, including reservation policies, the Dawes Act (1887), and forced acculturation efforts (Carlisle Indian School).
Students will analyze relevant provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as compared with the actual treatment of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the Southwest, including California, from 1848 to 1900.
Students will examine the contributions of Chinese to the national economy and reasons for nativist opposition to their continued immigration (Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882).

Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

Summative Tasks

DBQ 9: Slavery and Its Defenders pg. 37 - Question - "What were the major arguments employed during the antebellum years by Southern supporters of slavery to defend slavery and its continuation?

DBQ 10: DBQ 10 - What caused Secession? pg. 42 - Question -" What led the Southern states to secede from the Union in 1860 and 1861?"

MIni Q - North or South - Who Killed Reconstruction - This mini-Q asks you to decide who, North or South, was most responsible for the end of Reconstruction.

Formative Tasks

I Think - No Irish Need Apply (discrimination)... page 43 ... - The student will be able to explain why and how Chinese and Irish immigrants experienced discrimination in America in the 1800’s.

I Think - Who’s the Boss? (political corruption) ... page 78 - The student will be able to explain political machines and their effects on people and politics of the Reconstruction Era (and beyond).

Illustrations of Reconstruction: Uses nine illustrations and an organizer that asks students to observe and infer.

Primary Source Analysis - Jim Crow Laws & Black Codes: asks students to analyze different states' laws and find commonalities and connections

Plessy v. Ferguson: Uses short video to make connections to Jim Crow and the 14th amendment. Followed by cause and effect organizer.

Beyond the Bubble - Post -Civil War South - This question gauges whether students can source and contextualize a document. Students must first examine an interview about the slaves freed from a plantation, then determine which facts can help them evaluate the interview's reliability.

Beyond the Bubble - Reconstruction Riots -

This question requires students to consider the relative strengths and weaknesses of documents as historical evidence.

End of Unit 4 Synthesis Activity: Students list the impact major events had on specific groups Americans, followed by a compare and contrast essay. End of Unit Multiple Choice Exam: 30 questions from New Visions

Stage 3- Related Lessons

Lesson Plans and Content

SHEG: Were the Irish considered “white” in the 19th century?

SHEG: Who was a stronger advocate for African Americans: Washington or Dubois?

Videos, Documents, and Resources

Gilder Lehrman - Frederick Douglass on Lincoln and Reconstruction -Multimedia - Professor Matthew Pinsker of Dickinson College speaks on

Frederick Douglass and his views of Lincoln and Reconstruction

SHEG: Were African Americans free during Reconstruction?

Chinese Exclusion Act: Four document close read and timeline lesson plan