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Chapter 7: 1844-1860 Inquiry Organizer

Compelling Question: >Was the Civil War inevitable?

Chapter Objectives:

  • Students will be able to explain how the acquisition of new territories changed the social, cultural, and economic landscape of the United States
  • Students will be able to analyze the causes of sectional tensions including slavery, westward expansion, economics, and cultural differences.
  • Students will be able to analyze the causes of the Civil War and whether that war could have been avoided.
Supporting Question 1: How did western expansion contribute to sectionalism? Resources:
Supporting Question 2: What continuities and changes can be seen in the debate over rights and citizenship for various groups within the United States? Resources:
Supporting Question 3: How did ideological and economic differences over slavery affect the relationships among the states? Resources:
Supporting Question 4: How did North and South attempt to compromise in the years leading up to the Civil War? Resources:

Additional Resources:
Unit 4 Essay Activity Was the Civil War inevitable? Option A: Explain the major causes of the Civil War. Through this inquiry, students will analyze the social, political, and economic changes that took place in the 1840s and 1850s. Ultimately, students will use the primary and secondary sources in this chapter to practice constructing an essay, in AP Long Essay Question format, demonstrating their skills in explaining historical causation. Students should be evaluated using the AP Rubric. Assess students’ progress in understanding the compelling question for this chapter by assigning the Unit 4 Essay Activity.

Some components of this resource may contain terminology that is no longer used because the terms are recognized to be offensive or derogatory, and some components may contain images that would be considered offensive or derogatory today. These terms and images have been retained in their original usage in order to present them accurately in their historical context for student learning, including understanding why these are not acceptable today.

You may also need

John O’Sullivan, “Annexation,” 1845

William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass on Abolition, 1845–1852

Daniel Webster, “7th of March,” 1850

Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?” 1851

Dame Shirley (Mrs. Clappe), Letters from a Western Pioneer, 1851–1852

Frank Lecouvreur, From East Prussia to the Golden Gate, 1851–1871

Art Analysis: Hudson River School Landscape Paintings, 1836–1868

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Lesson

Irish and German Immigration DBQ

1 Activities50 Min

Introduce students to the push and pull factors that led to high levels of immigration from Germany and Ireland from 1830 to 1860. Facilitation Notes: This activity is designed for groups of five students. The activity works best if each student only sees their printed primary source. The students should have some background knowledge on the European industrial revolution and its impact on urban growth and immigration in the United States.This lesson targets the foundational skills of analyzing documents, grouping documents, and constructing a thesis as required of the DBQ essay on the AP exam.