Show
Learning Objectives
12.1 Activity: Image Review
Purpose Process View the image and quotes below, or review the Visual Info Brief: Patrick Henry and Slavery slides. Discuss as a large group the contradiction between young America’s fight for freedom with the existence of chattel slavery during the same period.
“Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!” “Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace – but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Patrick Henry, Letter to Robert Pleasants, January 18, 1773 “Is it not amazing that at a time when the rights of humanity are defined and understood with precision, in a country, above all others, fond of liberty . . . that in such an age and such a country we find men professing a religion the most humane, mild, meek, gentle and generous, adopting a principle as repugnant to humanity as it is inconsistent with the Bible and destructive to liberty? I shall honor the Quakers for their noble efforts to abolish Slavery. It is equally calculated to promote moral and political good. Would any one believe that I am master of slaves by my own purchase? I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living without them. I will not—I cannot justify it, however culpable my conduct. I will so far pay my devoir to Virtue, as to own the excellence and rectitude of her precepts, and to lament my want of conformity to them. I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be afforded to abolish this lamentable evil.” Launch A range of voices—both pro-slavery and anti-slavery—turned to the Constitution’s language and constructed arguments to favor their side of the great constitutional battles over slavery in the 1800s. We’ll cover many of those constitutional debates in detail in this module. Activity
Synthesis
The quote below is from a biography of Harriet Tubman. Echoing Patrick Henry, Tubman writes about her work on the Underground Railroad and the fight for liberty: “Harriet was now left alone, . . . She turned her face toward the north, and fixing her eyes on the guiding star, and committing her way unto the Lord, she started again upon her long, lonely journey. She believed that there were one or two things she had a right to, liberty or death.” After making her own escape, Tubman returned to the South 19 times to bring over 300 fugitives to safety, including her own aged parents. Activity Extension (optional) What is the role of America’s founding creed (perhaps, most notably, as written into the Declaration of Independence) in pushes for reform? How has our nation’s founding creed served as both a tool to expose our contradictions and a north star guiding us to do better? Constitution 101 Resources 12.2 Video Activity: Slavery in America
Purpose Process Then, complete the Video Reflection: Slavery in America worksheet. Identify any areas that are unclear to you or where you would like further explanation. Be prepared to discuss your answers in a group and to ask your teacher any remaining questions. Launch Activity Synthesis Activity Extension (optional)
Constitution 101 Resources 12.3 Abolitionist Movement in America
Purpose In this activity, you will examine some key figures in the fight to end slavery in America. Here is an Info Brief: Anti-Slavery Movements Thoughout American History to support your understanding of the movement. Process Create a short presentation or flier about your assigned person,their actions, and their ideas. Include visuals and at least one primary source quote. Share your presentation with your classmates. Launch Next, assign each group a key figure in the fight to end slavery and/or advance the rights of African Americans. Students will analyze the excerpt of a primary source authored by that person and share findings with the larger group. Activity Synthesis Activity Extension (optional)
Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources 12.4 Activity: Building to Crisis
Purpose Process Then, we will review primary sources from key Southern states explaining their decisions to leave the Union after the election of Abraham Lincoln as the nation’s first antislavery President. Explore the procolmations of secession and the relationship between the Civil War and slavery. Secession is the act of withdrawing formally from membership in a nation. These secession ordinances were formal acts passed by the seceding states when they decided to leave the Union. Like the Declaration of Independence, these ordinances were meant as written statements explaining their reasons to the rest of the world. As part of this activity, you will also read key primary sources from the North, namely, key texts by Abraham Lincoln, explaining why secession was unconstitutional and offering Lincoln’s own account of the meaning of the Civil War. Through these sources, we will explore two key questions:
Your teacher will break you into
groups and assign you a set of primary sources. Answer the questions on the worksheet and reflect on these key questions. Launch Activity Synthesis Group 1: Primary Sources: Reasons for Secession and Lincoln’s Initial Response
Group 2: Primary Sources: Lincoln and Preserving the Union
Have students share their responses in small groups and then discuss as a class. As a class, consider the following question:
Activity
Extension (optional) Interactive Constitution Common Interpretation essay on the 13th Amendment and an excerpt from George Julian’s Political Recollections that describes the moment when Congress approved the 13th Amendment and sent it to the states for ratification. You can ask students again: How did the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment connect to the reasons for secession and shape the meaning of the Civil
War? Connect the cause of the war with the outcomes of the war. Following the ratification of the 13th Amendment, what more was needed to ensure “a new birth of freedom” for African Americans in post-Civil War America? Constitution 101 Resources 12.4 Info Brief: Slavery in America This activity is part of Module 12: Slavery in America: From the Founding to America’s Second Founding from the Constitution 101 Curriculum Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources 12.5 Activity: Constitution and Slavery
Purpose The period after the Civil War is known as Reconstruction. During this critical moment, the Reconstruction Republicans—the party of Lincoln and the party of Union—worked to place the post-Civil War nation on a strong constitutional foundation. In this activity, you will explore the challenges facing the nation after the Civil War and reflect on how the 14th and 15th Amendments responded to them. While the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment wrote the Declaration of Independence’s promise of freedom and equality into the Constitution and the 15th Amendment promised to end racial discrimination in voting. Many scholars refer to these Reconstruction Amendments as America’s “Second Founding.” Process Read the texts of the 14th Amendment and 15th Amendment as a class. Analyze the text of each amendment and pull out the big ideas. Then, read America’s Unfinished Second Founding written by Jeffrey Rosen and Tom Donnelly for The Atlantic. Discuss as a class. From there, your teacher will divide you into groups or you can work individually. Each group will review one of the sources listed below. For this activity you will be collecting examples from the primary sources that connect to the protections that the framers wrote into the 14th and 15th Amendments. If relevant, take notes on the author of the source and the author’s importance to Reconstruction. Who were they and why should we listen to them? Finally, come back together as a class and share your findings from your assigned source. Explore the essential questions:
Launch Activity Synthesis Students will focus on the following questions:
Activity Extension (optional)
Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources Constitution 101 Resources 12.6 Activity: Martin Luther King Jr. and Founding Values
Purpose Process Compare your assigned source to the Declaration of Independence to cite convergence and divergence between the two documents. Answer the following questions:
Share as a large group and write a complete list of convergent and
divergent statements of the pairings. Launch Activity Synthesis Ask the students to reflect on the following questions:
Ask the students to give other examples from this course of reformers that draw on America’s founding principles to call on us to become “a more perfect Union.” Constitution 101 Resources 12.7 Test Your Knowledge
Purpose Congratulations for completing the activities in this module! Now it’s time to apply what you have learned about the basic ideas and concepts covered. Process Complete the questions in the following quiz to test your knowledge. Launch This activity will help students determine their overall understanding of module concepts. It is recommended that questions are completed electronically so immediate feedback is provided, but a downloadable copy of the questions (with answer key) is also available. Knowledge Check Constitution 101 Resources Education
Modal body text goes here. What were the effects of the 13th Amendment?On December 18, 1865, the 13th Amendment was adopted as part of the United States Constitution. The amendment officially abolished slavery, and immediately freed more than 100,000 enslaved people, from Kentucky to Delaware.
What was the significance of the ratification of the 13th Amendment?Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.
What impact did the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments have on American society?The 13th Amendment abolished slavery. The 14th Amendment gave citizenship to all people born in the US. The 15th Amendment gave Black Americans the right to vote.
What did the 13th Amendment do quizlet?The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States and was the first of three Reconstruction Amendments adopted in the five years following the American Civil War.
|