Socratic Seminar/Group Discussion: The Crisis of the Civil War

In this lesson plan, you will engage your students in a Socratic Seminar-style group discussion about the cause and inevitability of the American Civil War.

Few people dispute the influence of the major events from 1850 to 1861 on the outbreak of the Civil War. Yet, historians offer different interpretations of why war occurred and whether it could have been avoided. 

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1

Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Learning Objectives	Students will review the growth of slavery from the ratification of the U.S. Constitution to Election of 1860 and examine four different historical interpretations of the cause(s) of the Civil War.
Guiding Questions	What caused the Civil War? Was the Civil War inevitable?

Prepared By	Grade	Length
Sean J. Smith and Don Benson, (Weston High School, Massachusetts)	High School

Classroom Activities

• Classroom Activity One: Individual PreparationEach group member will prepare and understand their assigned historical interpretation. Within each historical interpretation are issues that help to clarify/explain/support the historical interpretation.
• Classroom Activity Two: Socratic Seminar ExaminationSocratic Seminar examining four different historical interpretations of the cause of the Civil War.

Procedures:

The class will be divided into four groups that will focus on an assigned question(s).  Each group will have a turn in the inner circle to discuss the question(s) for seven minutes through the viewpoint of a particular historical interpretation.  As one group discusses, the other groups listen.  Students in the outer circle may then ask questions for three minutes.  At the end of ten minutes (7 + 3), a new group will move into the inner circle and the procedure will be repeated. You will need your handouts and class notes from the first half of the year, which include many of the Socratic seminar subtopics.

Lesson Activity One: 

Individual Preparation

(40 mins in class, prior to Socratic seminar)

Each group member will prepare and understand their assigned historical interpretation. Within each historical interpretation are issues that help to clarify/explain/support the historical interpretation:

• Group #1: The moral question of slavery:  The nature of slavery, the Internal Slave Trade, the Fugitive Slave Law (Anthony Burns incident), William Lloyd Garrison/Frederick Douglass and the abolition movement, the ideals of the Founding of the U.S.A., slave rebellions (Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Gabriel’s Rebellion), Harriet Tubman, Underground Railroad, Liberty Party
• Group #2: Constitutional issues (e.g. states’ rights): Slavery clauses in the Constitution, (3/5ths Compromise, International Slave Trade, fugitive slave law), the Alien & Sedition Acts, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, War of 1812, the Hartford Convention, the Nullification Crisis, the Tariff of Abominations, Dred Scott Decision
• Group #3: Cultural differences:  What was the nature of the South and Southern society?  Revisit the South/Cotton, and Slavery and the southern values reflected in the system.  What was the nature of the North and Northern society?  Consider the Market Revolution, reform movements, and the values of the North.
• Group #4: Political blunders and extremism: Compromise of 1850 (stricter Fugitive Slave Law), Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Ostend Manifesto, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lecompton Constitution, Preston Brooks & Charles Sumner, Dred Scott Decision, John Brown’s Raid, Lincoln’s election, William Lloyd Garrison/Frederick Douglass and the abolition movement, slave rebellions (Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Gabriel’s Rebellion)

Additional Preparation: 

• In addition to the above interpretations, each large group should understand the major events of the Crisis of the 1850s:  Compromise of 1850 (stricter Fugitive Slave Law), Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Preston Brooks and Charles Sumner, Dred Scott Decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown’s Raid, Lincoln’s Election.
• Each person should try to also include at least one or two statements (historic primary sources) that help to make or refute a particular point of view.  
• When discussing, each group should also bring up or challenge another historical interpretation.

Examples of Excerpted Primary Sources:

• Thomas Jefferson, “Original Rough Draught” of the Declaration of Independence (1776)
• A Free African American Petitions the Government for Emancipation of All Slaves (1777)
• Phyllis Wheatly, “On Being Brought from Africa to America”
• Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
• “Hartford Convention” (1814)
• State Laws Govern Slavery (1824)
• The Confession of Nat Turner (1831)
• William Lloyd Garrison, First Issue of the Liberator (1831)
• Proclamation Concerning Nullification (1832)
• Frances Ann Kemble, Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation (1838)
• Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass (1845)
• National Convention of Colored People Report on Abolition (1847)
• A Slave Tells of His Sale at Auction (1848)
• Daniel Webster, Speech to the U.S. Senate (1850)
• Sojourner Truth Address to Women’s Rights Convention (1851)
• Harriet Beecher Stowe, A New England Writer Portrays Slavery in 1852
• George Fitzhugh, “The Blessings of Slavery” (1857)
• Hinton Helper, “The Impending Crisis” (1857)
• Opinion of the Supreme Court for Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
• Overseer’s Report from Chicora Wood Plantation (1858)
• Lincoln/Douglas Debates (1858)
• South Carolina Declaration of the Causes of Secession (1860)
• Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
• Slave Culture Documented in Song (1867)

Lesson Activity Two: 

Socratic Seminar examining four different historical interpretations of the cause of the Civil War. (60 mins; 10 mins / group and a whole class discussion/debrief.)

• Each group will have a turn in the inner circle to discuss the question(s) for seven minutes through the viewpoint of a particular historical interpretation.  As one group discusses, the other groups listen.  Students in the outer circle may then ask questions for three minutes.  At the end of ten minutes (7 +3), a new group will move into the inner circle and the procedure will be repeated. 

Assessment

To assist with assessing the groups and individuals, we have provided a grading rubric below.