WHAT CAUSED THIS WHOLE MESS?

CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR

A WebQuest for 10
th
grade history by Ashley Sulla
Introduction
The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the
stormy present. The occasion is piled high with
difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion.
As our case is new, so we must think anew, and
act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then
we shall save our country.
December 1, 1862 Lincolns Second Annual
Message to Congress

The year is 1862 and President Abraham Lincoln is adamant about
restoring faith in the Union and saving his country. He believes that
in order fix the problems of the present, we must know and
understand the past. Mr. President is recruiting YOU and two of your
colleagues to figure out why the Civil War happened? President
Abraham Lincoln wants the answer to the important questions,
Could the American Civil War have been prevented? If so, how?
He plans to use this new found information to mend the United
States and put an end to the Civil War.
Your Task
Each group must submit a report to the President
of the United States on the cause(s) of the Civil
War. You should include an introductory paragraph
to introduce the topic, and a conclusion paragraph
documenting your findings and answering the
Presidents questions. (Remember, the questions
are Could the American Civil War have been
prevented? and If so, how?) The body of your
proposal should consist of the cause(s), why you
think the causes are legitimate, and a graph
ranking the causes from most important to least
important. There is no required format for the
graph, it is up to you to decide what you believe will
best represent your findings. You are also to include
any graphics that you think will help the President.
All of your information should be organized and
placed into a PowerPoint presentation. You and
your colleagues are to present your report to the
President (myself and the rest of your classmates).
Remember, you are going to
help many Americans, but
only if you can convince the
President of your argument,
so do your best! Good luck
to you all!
Process
First, you will be assigned to a group with two other
students.
Although you and your colleagues will each be choosing a
role, you are all to share the responsibility of the assignment.
Please pick the role that is best suited for you:
Production Coordinator: Responsible for putting the sections
of the report together and adding all final touches.
Main Presenter: Responsible for being the main speaker
during the presentation for the President.
Recorder: Responsible for recording all of the information,
including introduction and conclusion paragraphs, causes
and explanations, and the graph, all found by the group as a
whole.
After your roles are chosen, you are to begin brainstorming
ideas. Each group member must participate in this process.
This is a good time to construct your introduction paragraph.

Process
Once you are done brainstorming, you are to begin researching the cause(s) of the
Civil War. Please use the websites I have provided for you.
As a group you are to decide the causes of the Civil War. The recorder will be
writing all of the information down. Once you have researched and agreed on the
causes, your group will rank them from most important to least important. (This
step will take the most amount of time.)
After the causes are ranked, you will construct a graph that will display your
findings.
Once you have all your findings, your group will discuss and answer the questions,
Could the American Civil War have been prevented? If so, how? This is a good
time to construct your conclusion paragraph.
Now that you have all of the your steps completed, you are to put your findings
into a PowerPoint presentation. This must consist of your introductory paragraph,
your causes and explanations, your graph ranking the causes, and your conclusion.
Include any illustrations or pictures that you believe support your research.
This is your final step. You are to present your PowerPoint containing your findings
to the President (myself and your fellow classmates). Props are encouraged, but
are not required.

Process
You will have one week to complete
this project. You will be given five full
school days in the library to consult
with your group. Although this
sounds like a lot of time, it will go by
extremely quickly! I suggest planning
out each days goals and tasks during
your brainstorming session.

Your References
I have chosen the following websites to help you gather the
data you are to base your analysis on:

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/causes-of-the-civil-war/
This website provides a short written section about the causes of the Civil War, as well as
detailed videos of the causes.

http://www.ket.org/civilwar/causes.html
This website has brief paragraphs about some of the causes. It also contains links to other
primary sources.

http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/catalogs/bysubject-hst-northamerican.html
This website includes Abraham Lincolns first and second Inaugural Addresses.

http://www.civil-war.net/pages/timeline.asp
This website includes an extremely detailed timeline of events leading up to the Civil War
beginning in 1619.

http://www.craighighschool.org/Portals/0/Academic/Social%20Studies/Ulrich/Causes%20of
%20Civil%20War.pdf
This website contains information about the causes of the Civil War with illustrations.

Evaluation
Novice Semi-
Professional
Professional Expert
Brainstorming
Students wrote
down a few
nonsensical ideas
on a sheet of
paper.
Students
recorded some of
the main causes
of the war.
Students has a
substantial
number of
potential causes
that
demonstrated
some upper level
thinking.
Students had a
large list of
potential
causes. The list
demonstrated
high level
synthesis.
Causes &
Explanations
Students wrote
numbers beside
the causes of the
Depression with
little to no
supporting
information.
Students gave
some
consideration to
their
ranking. Listed a
few supports for
the ranking.
Students ranked
all the causes and
gave supports for
each cause.
Students ranked
each cause and
gave a strong
support for its'
position.
Graph
Students did not
display clear
findings on
graph.
Students
displayed few
findings on
graph.
Students
displayed all
findings on graph.
Students clearly
displayed all
findings on graph.
Evaluation
Novice Semi-
Professional
Professional Expert
Introduction
& Conclusion
Paragraphs
There were
numerous
misspellings and
grammatical
mistakes
throughout. Para
graphs were
poorly designed.
There were a few
misspellings and
grammatical
mistakes. Paragr
aphs were
elementary in
structure.
There were very
few misspellings
and very few
grammatical
mistakes. Paragr
aphs were well
constructed.
There were no
misspellings and
no grammatical
mistakes in the
report. Paragrap
hs were well of
excellent quality.
PowerPoint
Presentation
Rough looking
PowerPoint.
Students just
read text on
slides. Contained
no graphics.
PowerPoint
looked fine, no
major problems.
Students read
text on slides,
adding a few
comments.
Contained few
graphics.
PowerPoint had
some degree of
polish. Students
read text on
slides and
elaborates
comfortably.
Contained
multiple graphics.
Stylish and classy
looking
PowerPoint.
Students used
text on slides as
prompts for
original narration.
Contained many
graphics.
Conclusion
You did it! You gave a detailed and
informative report to the President
of the United States. You should
now have an advanced
understanding of the causes of the
Civil War. Also, you should have
gained valuable experience
working collaboratively with your
peers in creating a top notch
report and PowerPoint
presentation.
Now that youre an
expert on the
causes of the Civil
War, do you
believe we could
ever have another
in the United
States?
Credits & References
http://www.civil-war-enthusiast.com/abraham-
lincoln/