Grade 8 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 11, Lesson 3

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A More Perfect Union

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 11, Lesson 3: The Road to Bleeding Kansas (pp. 325-329)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Conflict Conflict over the issue of slavery in the new territories continued to intensify in Kansas, erupting in violence.

Outline the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and discuss the idea of popular sovereignty. Explain why the North opposed popular sovereignty and review the creation of the Republican Party as a the antislavery party.

Review the efforts of both sides to make Kansas a slave state or free state. Discuss how these efforts led to violence, including John Brown's actions, and how violence extended even to the Congress. Talk about the significance of the Democrats' narrow victory in the presidential election of 1856.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Have students create two columns, one headed "What the South has at stake in Kansas," the other "What the North has at stake in Kansas." Ask students to fill in these columns as though it were 1856. Discuss their answers.
Have each student choose a candidate from the 1856 Presidential election. Ask them to draw a political poster supporting that candidate, and showing his views on slavery or popular sovereignty. Review their posters and discuss.

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