Individual Lesson View
Lincoln's Controversial Decisions
From: EDSITEment!
Grade Level: HS, (College)
Remote Ready: With Modifications
Time: 1-2 Class Periods for All Activities
Length of Reading: Pages
Civil War: A "Terrible Swift Sword,"
Lesson 3: Abraham Lincoln and
Wartime Politics
2 Activities. "In this activity, students will read documents concerning four controversial decisions that Lincoln made during the first term of his presidency: his suspension of habeas corpus, his issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, his refusal to consider a compromise peace with the South, and his decision to arm former slaves. For each of these presidential actions students will read at least one document that supports Lincoln, and at least one that opposes him." In the second activity, students will hold a mock presidential debate for the election of 1864, Lincoln v. George B. McClellan.
Activity 1: Each of 4 groups reads a unique set of primary source docs (3-5 pages long), possibly as homework. Next, groups are divided into pairs. One partner will be pro-Lincoln, and the other will be anti-Lincoln as the pair silently debates using the provided form. Finally, each group prepares and presents their findings.
Activity 2: Students stage a mock 1864 presidential debate. Students are divided into groups; each group is assigned the Republican or Democratic candidate. Each student is assigned a role within their group and a coordinating role sheet. Each group reads their primary and secondary source documents and creates a script for an opening speech. Each group brainstorms potential questions and submits them to the moderator before the debate.
Image: Nostrand, D. Van. “Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States of America” in Portrait Gallery of the War, Frank Moore, ed. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abraham_Lincoln.jpg. Accessed 6.14.2020.
[um_bookmarks_button post_id=””]
Click the Bookmark Icon above to save this lesson plan to your profile!
Grade Level: HS, (College)
- HS=High School
- Though HS is the specified grade level, this lesson would be excellent for college students as well.
Remote Ready: With Modifications
- Links to the reading assignments can easily be emailed or posted for students
- Group work (pairs) might be difficult, though questions could be answered individually
- Paraphrase questions into your LMS so you can grade student’s written answers more easily
- Discussion can be had via typing on your LMS or over video conferencing
Primary Source Icon
This means that this activity utilizes primary sources
Group Work Icon
This activity calls for working in pairs, a group, and/or having a class discussion
Debate Icon
This activity involves a student debate
Role Play Icon
This activity involves asking students to portray historical figures
Reviews of This Lesson Plan
We would really appreciate your thoughts on this lesson at the bottom of the page. With that said, please review this lesson ONLY if you’ve used it yourself and can comment authoritatively about how it works. Thank you for bringing broken links and other issues to our attention; if we can fix those issues, we might delete the comment so as not to confuse readers. We reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, un-helpful, or political.