Grade 8 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 12, Lesson 2

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A More Perfect Union

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 12, Lesson 2: A Nation at War (pp. 347-354)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Conflict As the war went on, the North freed the slaves in the Confederacy and gradually began defeating the South.

Compare the challenges and problems of Union President Lincoln and Confederate President Davis. Discuss how and why the war lasted so much longer than either side had thought it would. Encourage students to understand how this war split families and how the number of casualties compared with other wars the United States had fought.

Describe the emancipation process, and summarize its effects on slaves, free blacks, the Northern army, and the South. Then discuss the two Northern victories that served as turning points in the war.

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 each student write two brief newspaper accounts: one describing the outcome of the Battle of Antietam in 1862, and the other describing the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Have students describe how the North's position had changed by the end of the second battle.
Organize students into working groups. Have each group work together to create a poster to recruit free blacks into the Union army. Encourage students to think of reasons why blacks would want to fight for the Union and to show those reasons in their posters.

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