Continued expansion, growing sectional differences, and recurring inability to fully settle the issue of slavery finally come to a head in 1860, as the election of Abraham Lincoln drives a final wedge between North and South. Despite celebrated victories in the Mexican-American War and the fulfillment of "Manifest Destiny" by expanding all the way to the Pacific, America was more divided than ever in the 1850s. The Civil War threatened to tear the nation apart, and despite Union victory, the end of the Civil War did not necessarily mean the Union would survive. Questions about equality and the meaning of freedom continued to plague the nation throughout Reconstruction and would continue into the 20th century. 

• The Nature of Southern Support for Slavery 

• Manifest Destiny with presentation

• Manifest Destiny perspectives jigsaw-better for a post analysis of manifest destiny 

• Mexican-American War Stations

• Mexican-American War analysis with documents (also linked in handout)

• Texas Independence Grand Jury Activity 

• Compromise of 1850 simulation 

  • Senator roles: Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Douglas, Seward

  • presentation 

• Effects of the Compromise of 1850 analysis

• Analyzing the Path to Disunion

  • Differentiated version from Compromise of 1850 to Fort Sumter

• Death of the Second Party System analysis (documents linked)

• Election of 1860 Analysis

• From Election to Secession 

• Secession Document Analysis

• Debating Secession 

  • additional documents from various perspectives

• Comparing the Union & Confederacy activity

• North vs South resources activity

• Advise the President: Lincoln with powerpoint 

• Lincoln's Political Spin Team and debrief handout

• Who is the Great Emancipator? Steps to Emancipation activity

• Emancipation Proclamation & the Gettysburg Address analysis

• Living the War: A Very (un)Civil War activity

• From the Front to the Home Front 

• Civil War Diplomacy

• Comparing Visions for Reconstruction with powerpoint (documents linked)

• Assessing Reconstruction Problems & Plans

• Assessing Reconstruction (early years to 1870)

• From Radicals to Redeemers: Ending Reconstruction (1870-77)-flows well with previous lesson

• Early Reconstruction Stations

• End of War/Beginning of Reconstruction gallery walk

• Where's the Beef? Differing Visions for Reconstruction