The Coming of Civil War

GLCE resources

Contrast the lives of free blacks (including those who escaped from slavery) with the lives of free whites and enslaved peoples.

Conditions of antebellum slavery from PBS; Free Blacks in the South from "African American Odessey" exhibit at the Library of Congress;

Describe the role of the Northwest Ordinance and its effect on the banning of slavery.

Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance from History.com; there is a statement about how the NW Ordinance contributed to the downfall of slavery at the very end of this passage from PBS.

Describe the competing views of Calhoun, Webster, and Clay on the nature of the union among the states.

Three Senatorial Giants

Examine the following to explain how each caused increased sectional tensions:

• the Missouri Compromise (1820): from History.com, from Encyclopaedia Britannica, video from Khan Academy,
• the Wilmot Proviso (1846): a short article, an article from History.com, from Encyclopaedia Britannica,
• the Compromise of 1850 including the Fugitive Slave Act: video on the Compromise of 1850 from History.com, video on the Fugitive Slave Act from History.com,
• the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) and subsequent conflict in Kansas: from Encyclopaedia Britannica, video from TED-Ed, video from History.com
• the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision (1857): from Encyclopaedia Britannica, video on the Dred Scott case from History.com
• changes in the party system: Party Realignment in the 1850s,

Describe the resistance of enslaved people and effects of their actions before and during the Civil War.

• Nat Turner: short video and biography from BIO.com, from PBS's African's in America,
• Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
• Anthony Burns: a short article from PBS, Anthony Burns and the Fugitive Slave Act,
• Michigan's role in the Underground Railroad: from the Encyclopedia of Detroit, written for a younger audience, but still good, article and radio conversation from Michigan Radio, a NYTimes article about visiting Detroit UR sites, a short video that discusses routes and roots that tie Oakland County to the UR
• Others: a place to get you started to find other examples of resistance and rebellion

Describe how major issues debated at the Constitutional Convention such as disagreements over the distribution of political power, rights of individuals (liberty and property), rights of states, election of the executive, and slavery help explain the Civil War.

• Disagreements over the distribution of political power and the Civil War:
• Rights of individuals (liberty and property) and the Civil War:
• Rights of states and the Civil War:
• Election of the executive and the Civil War:
• Slavery and the Civil War: