Reconstruction · 1864-1877

Victory, assassination and Reconstruction

The Union wins, Lincoln is murdered and four million people are free. For twelve years the country tries to rebuild the South with new rights for Black Americans, until those rights are taken away again. Students ask why Reconstruction is called an unfinished revolution.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1870
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

The Union wins, Lincoln is murdered and four million people are free. For twelve years the country tries to rebuild the South with new rights for Black Americans, until those rights are taken away again. Students ask why Reconstruction is called an unfinished revolution.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe how the Civil War ended in 1864-1865.
  • Explain the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.
  • Explain what Reconstruction achieved and why it ended in 1877.
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

March to the sea

Zoom in on Georgia. Find Atlanta and Savannah. In late 1864 Sherman's army marched about 450 km between them. Why did it destroy railways and farms on the way?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1865

Surrender in Virginia

Type "Where is Appomattox Court House?" in Ask the atlas. Compare its distance from Richmond with its distance from Washington.

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1870

The South after the war

Zoom out over the former Confederate states. During Reconstruction, Black voters here elected hundreds of Black officials. Why did that frighten many white Southerners?

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 was killed five days after Lee's surrender. How might Reconstruction have been different if he had lived?
  2. Freedom came with no land and no money. What do freed families need to be truly free?
  3. The 14th Amendment made everyone born in the United States a citizen. Why was that so important?
  4. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan used terror to stop Black people from voting. Why did the government fail to stop them for long?
  5. Why do some historians call Reconstruction an "unfinished revolution"?
4

Game round

10 min

Play the 1865 round of Rule History as Abraham Lincoln: the South is beaten and you must decide how to treat it. Then tell students that Lincoln was killed days later. Discuss: who should decide how a defeated region is rebuilt?

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.