Emancipation Proclamation

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

4, 5

Overview

In this video from PBSLearningMedia, students learn the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. It declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” It only applied to states that had seceded from the Union, exempting parts of the Confederacy.

More About This Resource:

With the Emancipation Proclamation, the aim of the war changed to include the freeing of slaves in addition to preserving the Union. Although the Proclamation initially freed only the slaves in the rebellious states, by the end of the war the Proclamation had influenced and prepared citizens to advocate and accept abolition for all slaves in both the North and South. The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States, was passed on December 6th, 1865.

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 4

SS10.4.9

Analyze political and economic issues facing Alabama during Reconstruction for their impact on various social groups.

UP:SS10.4.9

Vocabulary

  • Reconstruction
  • political parties
  • "Redeemer" Democrats
  • Radical Republicans
  • military rule
  • readmittance
  • restoration
  • Union
  • scarcity

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Alabama faced many political issues during Reconstruction including military rule, presence of Freedmen's Bureau, and Alabama's readmittance to the Union.
  • Alabama faced many economic issues during Reconstruction including sharecropping, tenant farming, scarcity of goods and money.
  • Many African Americans, including James Rapier, Benjamin Turner, William Savery, and Jeremiah Haralson, had an impact on Alabama during Reconstruction.
  • The major political parties in Alabama, including Radical Republicans, Bourbon Democrats, and Populists.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify political issues facing Alabama during Reconstruction including military rule, presence of Freedmen's Bureau, and Alabama's readmittance to the Union.
  • Identify economic issues facing Alabama during Reconstruction including sharecropping, tenant farming, scarcity of goods and money.
  • Summarize the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
  • Recall African Americans who had an impact on Alabama during Reconstruction in Alabama.
  • Identify major political parties in Alabama during Reconstruction.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Reconstruction was the rebuilding of Alabama's government and economy after the Civil War.
  • Alabama had to meet several specific criteria before being granted re-admittance to the Union and that the criteria was see as controversial by some people in the state.
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 5

SS10.5.11

1Identify causes of the Civil War, including states’ rights and the issue of slavery.

UP:SS10.5.11

Vocabulary

  • Civil War
  • Missouri Compromise
  • insurrection
  • opposition
  • rebellion
  • personalities
  • political conditions
  • confederacy
  • secession

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Causes of the Civil War, including issues of states' rights and slavery.
  • The importance of the Missouri Compromise, Nat Turner's insurrection, the Compromise of 1850, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's rebellion, and the election of 1860.
  • Key Northern and Southern personalities, including Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Joseph Wheeler.
  • Social, economic, and political conditions that affected citizens during the Civil War.
  • Alabama's role in the Civil War (Montgomery as the first capital of the Confederacy, Winston County's opposition to Alabama's secession).

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Locate key places and events on a physical and political map.
  • Identify and analyze the causes of political conflict Identify key people and explain their role throughout the Civil War.
  • Describe and draw conclusions about the war affected the citizens of the United States.
  • Interpret and define the role of Alabama in the Civil War.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • There were many factors that led to the Civil War.
  • Key people and ordinary citizens contributed to and were impacted by the Civil War.
  • Alabama responded to, participated in, and was impacted by the Civil War.
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 5

SS10.5.12

Summarize successes and failures of the Reconstruction Era.

UP:SS10.5.12

Vocabulary

  • Reconstruction Era
  • extension
  • citizenship rights
  • amendments
  • impact
  • education reform
  • black codes
  • Jim Crow
  • tenant farming
  • distribution
  • sharecropping
  • Radical Republicans
  • 13th Amendment
  • 14th Amendment
  • 15th Amendment

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Successes and failures of the Reconstruction Era.
  • The extension of citizenship rights to African Americans included in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
  • The impact of Reconstruction for its effect on education and social institutions in the United States( Horace Mann and education reform, Freedmen's Bureau, establishment of segregated schools, African-American churches, among others).
  • The black codes and the Jim Crow laws.
  • Post-Civil War land distribution, including tenant farming and sharecropping.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Evaluation successes and failures of historical events.
  • Compare and contrast changes in historical and political realities as a result of a historical event.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • The Reconstruction Era was a period of success, failures, and conflict that greatly impacted the lives of citizens, including African-Americans.

CR Resource Type

Audio/Video

Resource Provider

PBS

License Type

Public Domain

Accessibility

Video resources: includes closed captioning or subtitles
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