Who started the Civil War? Comparing perspectives on the causes of the war

This lesson plans presents the account of Rose O'Neal Greenhow, a confederate spy during the Civil War. Students are encouraged to find confirming and refuting evidence of her perspective on what caused the Civil War by browsing the Documenting the American South Collection of digitized primary sources.

A lesson plan for grades 11–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies

By Meghan Mcglinn

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Related pages

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• Tobacco bag stringing: Elementary activity three: In this activity for grades 3–6, students will read and evaluate primary source letters from the Tobacco Bag Stringing collection. This should be done after Activity one, which is the introductory activity about tobacco bag stringing.
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Related topics

• Learn more about American history, Civil War, United States, causes, history, narratives, oral histories, and social studies.

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Learning outcomes

Students will

• learn about the arguments of both the southern and northern positions preceding the Civil War.
• develop an understanding of point-of-view and bias found in primary source documents.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

One day

Technology resources

• Computer lab or individual student computers
• Access to Documenting the American South resources
• Copies of the Perspectives on the Civil War handout — one per student
• Pencils/pens

Pre-activities

Have students read a brief introduction to First Person Narratives of the American South: About this Project before beginning their search of the documents. This overview explains the purposes of the collection as well as its main themes.

Activities

1. Have all students read Learn More about this title summary and Chapter 2 (p. 11-25) of Rose O’Neal Greenhow: Confederate Spy which provides information about her and her position on the Civil War.
2. Ask students to complete the “Perspectives on the Civil War” handout (Word Doc) by first writing about Greenhow’s text and then adding information from other documents in the digital library.
3. Allow students to browse the collection of first-person narratives to find other sources that provide relevant perspectives on the Civil War. Be sure to discuss in advance strategies for identifying alternative primary sources and skimming them for relevant information. For instance, a northern perspective might present a very different opinion on the war. Documents set around the time of the war, 1860-1865 would most likely deal with the subject of causes of the war.

Assessment

Assess students based on completion of the “Perspectives on the Civil War” sheet which includes a section for students to write their own history of the beginning of the war.

Supplemental information

Comments

This lesson is designed for upper-level students and could be used to help Advanced Placement students develop the skills necessary for completion of Document-Based Questions.