Grade 8 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 13, Lesson 1

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A More Perfect Union

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 13, Lesson 1: A Time for Reconciliation (pp. 376-384)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Rights After the war, several different plans were proposed to bring the South back into the Union and to protect the rights of freedmen.

Outline the various Reconstruction plans and the positions of the Moderate and Radical Republicans. Discuss the effect of Lincoln's death and Johnson's Southern roots. Describe the efforts of freedmen after the war to reunite their families, get an education, and find work.

Describe the Reconstruction Amendments and talk about how and why they were created. Discuss what they say, and what protections they provided and did not provide to freedmen in the 1860s.

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

Organize students into groups and have each group study the chart outlining the Reconstruction Amendments on page 384. Ask each group to list the ways each amendment helped, or did not help the freedmen. Have groups share their lists and discuss.
Ask each student to draw a scene showing how an institution like a black church or school, or the Freedmen's Bureau, helped freed blacks to meet a basic need during Reconstruction. Students' drawings might show how the same institution could meet more than one need.

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