Lesson 4: The Formation of the Republican Party
& The Beginning of the Civil War

Lesson Essential Question:

What was happening to the nation prior to the Civil War?

How and when did the Civil War begin?

---

NCSS Standards:

• Standard 2: Time, Continuity, and Change
• Standard 6: Power, Authority, and Governance
• Standard 10: Civil Ideals and Practices
  

MMSD Standards:

• Students will:

            1. Use map and globe reading skills
            2. Identify key events, causes, and effects of a major period in U.S. history

UW Teaching Standards:

• Standard 10: Employs varied instructional strategies
• Standard 11: Uses technologies

Materials Needed:

• Book: Malone, B. & Oberle, K. (2008). Wisconsin: Our State, Our History. Wisconsin Historical Society Press.
• Laptop
• PowerPoint Presentation
  
• Document camera
• ‘Causes and Effects Leading to the Civil War’ worksheets
  

Objectives:

• Students will read about how and why the republican party was formed and that it was formed in Ripon Wisconsin
• Students will read and examine a map to determine what main events were happening in the United States leading up to the Civil War
• Students will be able to identify the Union and Confederate States
  
• Students will be able to define the term secession
• Students will discuss how the civil war began
  

Lesson Context:

Up until this point, the students have been learning about events that occurred prior to the Civil War. They have learned about how the nation was beginning to divide over the issue of slavery. The students participated in a few activities around taking multiple perspectives to explore the issue of slavery. In this lesson, the students will learn about how the secession of confederate states from the union lead to the beginning of the Civil War.

Lesson Opening:

I will explain to the students that so far we’ve been learning about and discussing many of the events that helped lead up to the Civil War. Today we’re going to be talking about how and why the Civil War actually began.

Procedures:

1. Before we begin reading, I will ask the students if they can name a political party or explain what a political party is or does.
2. If they are unable to do so, I will ask if they’ve ever heard the words ‘republican’ and ‘democrat.’ Then I will ask them to tell me what they know about these terms.
3. After a brief discussion about what a political party is and what it is for, we will read page 127 in their social studies book. This page is about the formation of the Republican Party in Ripon Wisconsin.
1. While reading, I will point out where Ripon is on the Wisconsin State map. I will also ask if anyone has been there before.
4. I will read most of the page and pause to clarify points or answer any questions that come up.
5. Then I will ask students to volunteer to read the captions under the pictures (caption about the building where they formed the Republican Party, the plaque that’s outside the building, etc.)
6. We will also discuss that the Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln who became President in 1861.
7. Next I will hand out the sheet titled, “Causes and Effects Leading to the Civil War”
8. Next we will read page 128 as a class, which is titled, ‘Beginning of the Civil War’
9. As we are reading, I will also have a PowerPoint presentation being projected on the screen. The PowerPoint will contain important terms and definitions, maps, flags, and photographs.
10. I will stop to reference the PowerPoint at these specific times during our reading:
    
1. I will have students read the definition of the words Secede and Secession
2. Next we will define and discuss the terms Confederacy and Union
3. After we read about the southern states seceding from the US, I will refer to a map on the next PowerPoint slide that shows the Union and Confederate states. I will also point out the few border states (MO, KY, MD, DE) I will ask students to tell me if these were slave or free states (refer to the map they colored in during our first lesson). Then we will discuss that although they were slave states, they decided to stay with the union and they did not secede to join the confederacy. I will point out to them that West Virginia broke away from Virginia to join the Union. I will also ask them why they think that only these slave states decided not to join the confederacy. (they were border states)
4. Next we will look at the list of Confederate States and a picture of the Confederate flag and a list of Union States and a picture of the Union flag. I will ask them what they notice about the two lists- Did the Union or Confederacy have more states?
5. Lastly, we will discuss the battle at Fort Sumter in April of 1861 that began the Civil War. I will point out where Fort Sumter South Carolina is on their US map.

Closing:
Lastly we will discuss and fill in part of a worksheet titled “Causes and Effects Leading to the Civil War”. We will discuss the effects of these three causes:

1. Abraham Lincoln is elected president.
2. South Carolina secedes from the Union.
3. In April 1861, shots were fired between the North and the South

At the end of the lesson, I will tell students that now that we know how the war started, we can take a closer look at how it affected Wisconsin. In the next lesson we will be taking a look at how the state of Wisconsin began preparing for war.

Assessment:

I will only be using informal assessments during this lesson since it is so reading and discussion based. I will be circulating to see that students are filling in their cause and effect worksheets along with me. I will also try to ensure that all students are participating during the reading and discussion portions of the lesson.

Special Considerations:

I created a PowerPoint to give students who need it, additional visuals to support what they are reading
Students may need help filling in their worksheets, so we can do it together as a class- the students can look up at the projector because I will also fill in a worksheet using the document camera.