American Civil War · 1860-1862

A nation divided: the Civil War begins

Abraham Lincoln is elected, eleven Southern states leave the Union to protect slavery, and guns fire on Fort Sumter. Students map the divided country, compare the two sides and see why both expected a short war.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1870 to AD 1862
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Abraham Lincoln is elected, eleven Southern states leave the Union to protect slavery, and guns fire on Fort Sumter. Students map the divided country, compare the two sides and see why both expected a short war.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why eleven Southern states seceded in 1860-1861.
  • Compare the strengths of the Union and the Confederacy.
  • Locate the key places of the first years of the war on the map.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1870

A divided country

The map opens in 1870, just after the war. Zoom out over the United States. The 11 Confederate states lay in the south-east, from Virginia to Texas. Why did the Union want to control the Mississippi River?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1861

Two capitals

Open the map in 1861 and zoom in between Washington and Richmond. The two capitals were only about 160 km apart. Why did so much of the fighting happen in this small area?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1862

The great river

Follow the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois, south to New Orleans. The Union planned to take the river and blockade the coast. How would that hurt the South?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Lincoln promised to stop slavery spreading to the West, not to end it in the South. Why did the South still secede?
  2. The North had more people, factories and railroads. Why did the war not end quickly?
  3. Four slave states stayed in the Union. Why was keeping them so important for Lincoln?
  4. About 4 million people were enslaved in the United States in 1860. How might the war have looked to them?
  5. How might the war have looked different to a soldier, a factory worker and an enslaved family?
4

Game round

10 min

Play the 1861 round of Rule History as Abraham Lincoln: Southern states are leaving the Union. Let the class vote before you choose. Discuss: what would have happened to the enslaved people of the South if the Union had let the states go?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.