Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2

nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Stage 1 Identify Desired Results

Established Goals:

-VS.7 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the issues that divided our nation and
led to the Civil War by:
a) identifying the events and differences between northern and southern
states that divided Virginians and led to secession, war, and the creation of West
Virginia;
b) describing Virginias role in the war, including identifying major battles that
took place in Virginia;
c) describing the roles played by whites, enslaved African Americans, free
African Americans, and American Indians

What essential questions will be considered?

-Facet 2: Interpretation: Which was the biggest contributing factor of the Civil War?

-Facet 4: Perspective: What are the different points of view causing the Civil War?

-Facet 5: Empathy: What did it feel like to be a U.S. citizen during the Civil War?





What understandings are desired?


-Facet 2: Interpretation: Students will understand that there were many different causes
contributing to the Civil War. It is essential that they be able to pick an event or
difference that they can provide evidence as to why it might be the most important
contributing factor of the Civil War. Students will understand that people filter and
interpret events differently based on their past experiences.
-Facet 4: Perspective: Students will understand that each side had a reason for believing
in what they did or for fighting for what they did.
-Facet 5: Empathy: Students will understand that there were people living in each part of
the United States who did not believe in what that side (North vs. South) was fighting for
during and after the Civil War. They will understand why each side held the beliefs that
they did and try to imagine what life would be like living on that side for each of the
different perspectives. This is important to understand because each side had their own
beliefs, whether it was right or wrong, and it is important for students to put themselves
in others shoes in order to understand why people may have felt or feel the way that they
do.

Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.





Essential Knowledge Essential Skills
EQ 1
- 4 Big Issues that divided the Nation and Led
to War:
o 1. Slavery: The issue of slavery divided
the North and South and caused great
unrest. Southerners felt that ending
slavery would destroy their economy.
Northerners believed that slavery was
morally wrong.
o The North believed that the
nation was a union and could
not be divided. While the Civil
War did not begin as a war to
abolish slavery, issues
surrounding slavery deeply
divided the nation. The war was
a war to contain slavery and not
allow it to expand into the
Western territories. Lincoln was
going to allow the southern
states to keep slavery, but it was
too little too late.
o 2. Culture: The North had factories and
cities and less of a climate for
agriculture. Way of life developed
around factories for people in the
North, and many immigrants came to
work the factories. The South was
mostly an agricultural society due to
the fertile soil and warm climate,
making it ideal for crops like tobacco
and cotton. People lived in small
villages or on farms and plantations,
demanding a need for intensive labor
through slavery. Huge cultural
differences made it difficult to agree on
social and political issues.
o People in the North lived in
urban areas. Transportation was
easier in the North, many
- Compare and contrast
the different economies
of the North and the
South.
- Compare and contrast
the differing views of
government between the
North and the South.
- Draw conclusions about
the differences between
the northern and
southern economies and
why it caused each side
to develop the differing
stance on slavery.
- Compare and contrast
the different feelings of
each side.
- Compare and contrast
the differing opinions
between the North and
the South that
contributed to the causes
of the Civil War.
- Decide which factors
were the biggest
contributing factors of
the Civil War.
- Explain why the North
was against slavery and
why the South was for
slavery.
- Describe the effects of
adding free states vs.
slave states regarding
westward expansion.
- Critique the different
methods that were
created to determine the
adding of western states
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
opposed slavery, and far more
were likely to have careers in
business, medicine, education,
or engineering. Children were
more likely to attend school in
the North.
o People in the South lived in
rural areas. Transportation was
much harder. Most of the labor
was on the farm. Most cities
that did exist in the South were
located along rivers or coastal
lines in order to allow easy
access for shipping. Children
from the South were less likely
to attend school than children
from the North.
o 3. The Economy: Manufacturing was a
major business in the North.
Northerners wanted tariffs to protect
factory owners and workers from
foreign competition. The South was
largely agricultural and did not want
tariffs because they made manufactured
goods more expensive. Planters were
afraid that England would stop buying
their cotton if tariffs were added.
o 4. Political Differences/Legislation on
Westward Expansion/States Rights: A
major conflict was states rights versus
a strong central government. Southern
states believed they had the power to
declare national laws illegal.
Northerners believed that the national
government was more powerful than
any states governments. As Western
territories were being added to the U.S.,
a question arose: Should slavery be
allowed in the new states or not? (pg.
110).
o The South feared that the North
would take control of Congress
and Southerners began to
proclaim states rights as a
means of self-protection. The
population in the North was
as a free or slave state.
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
growing rapidly due to
immigration, but the population
in the South was not growing at
all, so there was an imbalance in
Congress developing that would
give the northern states more
power (which would allow that
side to get favorable legislation
passed i.e. putting a ban on
slavery).
o Southern states believed that the
question of owning slaves was a
state issue, and not a national
issue, and if states rights were
going to be taken away, they did
not want to be part of the U.S.
anymore (pg. 114).
1860: Abraham Lincoln was
voted into Presidency.
o Lincoln was the Republican
candidate, and he wound up
winning.
o Upon Lincolns election into
office, South Carolina voted
to secede from the Union on
December 20
th
, 1860
o States Joining South
Carolina: Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Texas.
o These states formed the
Confederate States of
America.
o Jefferson Davis was chosen
as the president.
o Virginia was divided about
what to do to either stay in the
Union or join the Confederacy.
They chose the latter.
o Legislation:
The Compromise of
1850: When California
entered the Union as a
free state, it led to this
compromise. California
would be a free state in
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
exchange for the
Southwest Territories
being allowed to decide
for themselves whether
or not to allow slavery.
This was important
because northern states
did not want slavery to
expand into the western
territories, but
southerners wanted
slavery to spread west in
order to keep a balance
in Congress.
The Kansas-Nebraska
Act: Tried the idea of
popular sovereignty,
which let people in each
state vote to decide
whether to allow slavery
or forbid it. This is
important because it led
to Bleeding Kansas.
Bleeding Kansas
occurred after a fight
broke out between a
northerner and a
southerner who had
rushed to Kansas to vote
for their side with
popular sovereignty.
The Missouri
Compromise: In 1820,
there were 12 Free states
and 12 slave states. The
Northern states wanted
new states to be added
as Free states, and the
Southern states wanted
them to be added as
slave states.
To keep it
balanced, the
government
decided that they
would draw a
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
line through the
Louisiana
Territory. This
was called the
Missouri
Compromise.
Every new state
added to the
North of the line
would be free,
and every state
added South of
the line would be
added as a slave
state.
The Constitution: States
Rights vs. a strong
national government.
The South wanted more
states rights to decide
on the issues of slavery
on their own. The North
wanted a strong national
government and that it
was more powerful than
the states.


EQ 2
- Life in the North:
o In 1860s, life in the North consisted of
factory smokestacks, paper mills, large
warehouses, small businesses such as
furniture shops, clothing stores, and
shoe makers (pg. 110).
o The Norths economy was mostly
industrialized, and slavery did not make
sense financially (pg. 110).
o By the 1800s, slavery had been banned
in many Northern States and many
Northerners became very outspoken in
the fight for emancipation.
o By 1804, the New England states had
abolished slavery, and the Mid -
Atlantic States were ending it too.
o During the American Revolution,
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
British troops freed slaves who escaped
within its lines, which disrupted the
economic system supporting the North.
Because of this problem, many
northern states offered an incentive to
free their slaves as long as they fought
against the British. When the British
and Loyalists, pulled out of American,
at the end of the war, they took about
3,000 free blacks with them. This really
drained off much of the slave
population in the North. Because of the
increased price of slaves, fewer
amounts of slaves were brought from
Africa. These two problems caused
many northerners to pull out of the
slave trade business, no longer making
slavery profitable in the North.
o Many immigrants settled in the North
to work in factories, causing the
population in the North to increase
quickly.
o The North manufactured the cotton that
was imported from the South, usually
powered by water mills.
o The North was also producing firearms
and furniture. Factory owners were
investing in labor saving machinery to
reduce the labor costs.
o The North was the center of the
shipping industry because of its easy
access to the ocean. They used ships
powered by steam engines, which
helped reduce shipping costs.
o Northern factory workers would work
long hours, usually 10-12 hours, six
days a week.
o There was also a boom in the railroad
industry, increasing concentrations of
industry, the size of businesses, and
increasing investment. This happened
because of reduced shipping costs,
allowing for expansion.
o However, pipes still froze in the winter,
homes were heated by wood or coal,
and whale oil lit lamps and candles in
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
the city.
o Health was a problem in the north with
no cure for terrible diseases.
o Women in the North often were more
active and often worked. They were
doctors, writers, or activists.
- Life in the South:
o There were few factories.
o The economy was mostly agricultural, and
the land had numerous plantations.
o Because of the plantations, the South relied
heavily on slave labor as a workforce to
help plant and harvest (pg. 110).
o Agricultural- Large plantation owners
relied on enslaved African Americans who
planted cash crops such as tobacco, rice,
and cotton.
o Land of Cotton: By the late 1700s, there
was another crop other than tobacco that
was becoming more popular: cotton.
o Virginia became dependent on slave labor
because of tobacco and later because of
cotton. Enslaved African Americans were
experienced and expert farmers (pg. 67).
o In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton
gin, which separated the cotton fibers from
the seeds, which allowed cotton to become
a big business (pg. 110). Before the cotton
gin, it took 10 hours to pick the seeds out
of 1 pound of cotton. Now, 1,000 pounds
could be picked clean in just 1 hour (pg.
111).
o Cotton production was on a rise, and the
demand for slaves went up.
o The South produced cotton, and sold it to
the Northern factory owners. The South
wanted tariffs on cotton being imported
from other countries, thus protecting their
cotton; and the North wanted tariffs on
imported clothing.
o Cotton was sent to the North, where cloth
factories and mills began to pop up (pg.
111). These factories began to weave the
fiber into a lightweight cloth (pg. 111).
o Because more cotton could be sent out, it
increased the demand of slaves (pg. 111).
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
o Virginia was the biggest and wealthiest of
all the Confederate states. It had guns and
factories where guns and ammunition
could be made and supplied. The
Confederate capitol was moved from
Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond,
Virginia.
- Some Virginians did not want to leave the
Union. Virginians in western Virginia were
mostly small farmers who did not favor
slavery. Farmers in the eastern portion of
Virginia favored slavery and wanted to leave
the Union. Because of the disagreement
between the two parts of the state, a group of
western counties seceded from Virginia and
became known as West Virginia in 1863.
o Eventually, Virginia decided to join the
Confederacy; and West Virginia stayed
part of the Union.
o The South used slaves for mining,
ironworks, and on railroads.
o Women in the aristocracy of the South
were often highly idealized.
o The aristocracy in the South was in to
hunting, dueling, and horse racing.
o Large planters in the South were
interested in leisure, investing in slaves,
and did not have the same work ethic as
the Northerners do.
o Only 25% of southerners owned slaves,
and most slave owners owned fewer
than 5 slaves. Only 12% of southerners
had 20 or more slaves.
o The poor barely got by on small land
plots and highly idealized the large
plantation owners.
o The poor had sympathy for the
treatment of slaves, but they did not
want the slaves freed because they
would be competing for jobs with
them/be put on the same social status
level as the freed slaves.
o
EQ 3

Enslaved African Americans
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
- By the mid 1800s, there were more than 4
million African American slaves (pg 112).
- Life for the slaves was miserable. They could
be beaten without a reason. They could be sent
away from their family if the master so chose.
They could be whipped for not producing
enough crop yields (pg. 112).
- Most enslaved African Americans were
working in plantation fields of the South. They
planted, cared for the crops, worked as house
servants, cooked, cleaned, and cared for the
planters children.
o Some African Americans were skilled
laborers such as blacksmiths or
carpenters, and some worked in shops
or town gardens
- African Americans mostly lived together in
one room shacks/houses that did not usually
include furniture.
o African Americans also grew their own
food in order to make meals
- Some planters treated their slaves fairly and
nicely, but most planters treated their slaves
very badly.
- Terrible slave conditions and the racism that
kept them slaves were problems that began to
divide the nation (pg. 113).
- Enslaved African Americans did not have
rights. They could not marry, own land, testify
in court, vote, or become educated.
- Planted could always sell a slave whenever he
wanted to
- Some slaves tried to rebel by breaking tools or
setting farm animals free. Some took part in
revolts, and others rebelled against the
authority.
- Freedoms Wings: Coreys Underground
Railroad Diary; This is a story about an
enslaved African American who is finally able
to make his way to freedom through the
Underground Railroad.
- Nat Turners Rebellion:
o 1831: Nat Turner rebelled in Virginia.
He and his followers killed about 60
white Virginians.
o Virginians attacked and killed enslaved
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
African Americans
o Nat Turner and some of his followers
were hanged
o After the revolt, slave codes were
enacted. These laws controlled the lives
of slaves. With these laws, captives
could not learn to read or write or use
guns. They could not learn to
read/write, or meet together freely
- Students will read the account of Isabella, who
narrated her experience as a slave:
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/pri
marysources/the-narrative-of-sojourner.html
-

White Southerners
- Events such as the John Brown raid made the
Southerners scared and mad. Virginia asked
citizens to stop buying goods made in the
North and to buy products made in Virginia.
- Nat Turners revolt: Nat Turner was a slave in
Southampton, VA. He was also a preacher, and
in 1831, he had a dream about leading a revolt
against plantation owners in VA. His revolt
failed, and he was arrested and hung. However,
many plantation owners were fearful, and it
resulted in stricter slave laws.
- With a growing number of slaves in the South,
slave owners worked hard to take charge and
prevent slave uprisings.
- Feelings from The Yankee at the Seder about
how a young southern boy feels about the
Confederacy losing and later encounters a
Yankee. The two are able to overcome their
differences.
- The Silent Witness-A True Story of the Civil
War: This book givens an account of a girl
from the South who is forced to move from her
home because of the invading Union forces.
- Escape by Night: A Civil War Adventure: This
book explores the feelings a young boy has in
trying to make the decision whether or not he
should help a Union soldier escape.
- Students will read excerpts from the diary of
Mary Chestnut, a wife of a lawyer in the South.
Her husband went to serve for the
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Confederacy.
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/pri
marysources/april-12th-diary-entry-of.html
- Students will read the Letter of the Cochran
Family, discussing the debate about secession
on the eve of the Civil War
http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/personalpape
rs/collections/augusta/cochran.html
- Students will read the letters of Alexander H.
H. Stuart, who sided with the Union, believed
in Abolitionism, and feared the consequences
of the Kansas-Nebraska act.
http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/personalpape
rs/documents/augusta/p1stuartletters.html

White Northerners
- Harpers Ferry:
o October 16
th
, 1859
o John Brown: John Brown was a white
abolitionist who led a group of men to
the U.S. Armory in Harpers Ferry in
was is now West Virginia. The
government had guns and ammunition
stored here. He had both black and
white supporters, and he planned to
take these weapons and lead his
followers through the South and begin
a slave rebellion. However, his plan
failed, and he was arrested, tried and
hanged (pg. 113).
o His plan failed because slaves were
scared to rebel against the strict slave
codes that have been put into law.
o John Brown also led the Bleeding
Kansas fight against southerners who
flooded Kansas to vote in favor of
slavery.
- There was a religious component and influence
into the abolition of slavery in the North. Many
Quakers, Presbyterians, and Methodists
preached against slavery. Between 1770
and1804, the northern colonies began to give
up on slavery. The slaves who did exist in the
North usually were skilled artisans such as
bakers, tailors, weavers, goldsmiths, and
woodcut illustrators. Although northern states
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
freed their slaves, they did not do so to raise
them to a better life, but to get rid of a system
that gave them a fixed place in the economy,
thus freeing up jobs for the white working
class.
- Typically the upper-class of the North were
motivated by idealism with sympathy toward
African Americans, and they supported African
American charities and schools. However, poor
whites or the working class whites did not feel
the same way; and often held resentment
because of the competition they faced against
African Americans for jobs that lowered them
to the same levels as slaves.
- There was still northern prejudice and
difficulty in assimilating former slaves.
- Students will read this letter from the Diary of
Alansa Rounds Sterrett that discusses her
feelings about slaves and her time in the South.
She is from the North.
http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/papers/AD9001
Free Blacks
- The Underground Railroad:
o The Underground Railroad was a
network of secret routes and safe
houses that are escaping captivity.
o Free African Americans in the North
and white abolitionists were
conductors on this secret Network.
The conductors led the escapees to
safety and hiding places like churches
and homes of abolitionists in the North.
- Harriet Tubman: Harriet Tubman was a woman
who fled from her master to freedom at the age
of 29 (pg. 112). Around 1820, other slaves
began to travel along the Underground
Railroad on their way to freedom. It was a
series of safe houses leading from the South all
the way to Canada. They used secret codes and
disguises in order to make their way to
freedom (pg. 112). Harriet Tubman risked her
life in order to help these people have a chance
at freedom (pg. 112).
- There were some slaves that could buy their
freedom in Virginia, but they had to carry
freedom papers with them at all times. They
Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
could also be sent back into slavery for the
smallest reason like walking were they werent
supposed to be or talking where they shouldnt
be.
- Free blacks could not vote or speak against
whites. They also could not get married in
some places, and they could not learn to read.
If they broke these laws, they could be
enslaved for life (pg. 113).
- I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The
Diary of Patsy, a freed girl: This book gives an
account of a freed African American girl.
-

American Indians
- American Indians were continuously being
pushed west because of the westward
expansion of Americans. Americans felt
entitled to the land that the American Indians
were on, so they pushed them farther and
farther west.

Our VA: Past to Present
- Industrialized: Having many factories and
businesses (pg. 110).
- Emancipation: To set free from enslavement
(pg. 110).
- Agricultural: An economy based on farming
(pg 110).
- Plantation: A large farm that grows only one
major crop, such as tobacco or cotton (pg.
110).
- Abolitionist: A person who works to end
slavery (pg. 113).
- Armory: A place where weapons are made and
stored (pg 113).
- Racism: Treating a person badly because of
skin color or place of birth (pg. 113).
- Secede: To withdraw from. To pull-out
because of a difference (pg. 114).
- Confederacy: The union of the Southern States
that seceded from the U.S. (pg. 114).
- Discrimination: An unfair difference in the
treatment of people (pg. 132).
Our American to 1865
- Rural: An area with few homes or people (pg.

Name: Jennifer Thomas Date: 9/30/13

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2
nd
.ed.). Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
144).
- Manufacturing: Making goods using natural,
human, and capital resources (pg. 144).
- Tariff: A tax placed on goods sold from one
place to another to make people choose locally
made items instead of foreign made ones (pg.
144).
- Union: The act of being joined together, and a
term used to refer to the Northern states during
the Civil War (pg. 146). .
- Compromise: A middle way between two
extremes (pg. 146).
- Sovereignty: A regions power to rule itself
and make its own laws. Independence (pg.
146).
Virginia Studies
- Slave Code: A law that controlled the lives of
enslaved African Americans [Code: a set of
laws or rules] (pg. 135).
- Abolitionist: A person who wanted to end
slavery (pg. 135).
- States Rights: The right of each state to make
its own decisions (pg. 136).
- Civil War: A war fought among people in the
same country (pg. 137).
- Emancipation Proclamation: A decree issued
by the president by Abraham Lincoln that freed
enslaved people in the Confederate states (pg.
147).


References

Banks, J. A., Colleary, K. P., Greenow, L., Parker, W. C., Schell, E. M., & Zike, D.
(2011). Virginia studies. Columbus, Ohio: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Masoff, J. (2010). Our America: To 1865. Weston, Connecticut: Five Ponds Press.

Masoff, J. (2010). Our Virginia: Past and present. Weston, Connecticut: Five Ponds
Press.