Reconstruction
Reunifying the nation brought many challenges. While freed African Americans created new lives for themselves in the absence of slavery, constitutional amendments and federal legislation sought to expand rights and protect the citizenship of African Americans. These federal initiatives begun during Reconstruction were challenged on many levels impacting the lives of all Americans.
Note: Lessons will vary in length, depending on the amount of time you have with students, the resources that you choose to accompany the unit, the level of rigor within each learning target, and any other factors that may contribute to the pacing of your learning progressions. It is recommended that you adjust the pace and length of each learning progression(s) accordingly in response to these factors.
Download the complete Grade 8 Social Studies Unit 1 framework to customize for your own planning.
Standards
- Standards: 1, 4, 5; Themes: MOV, SOC, CIV, ECO
Essential Questions and Big Ideas of the Unit
- Big Idea of the Unit: Throughout history, when nations face division, they have tried to reunify the citizens with varying degrees of success.
- Can Reconstruction be considered a success or failure?
- Reconstruction restored the United States as a unified nation: by 1877, all of the former Confederate states had drafted new constitutions, acknowledged the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, and pledged their loyalty to the U.S. government.
- Reconstruction settled the states’ rights vs. federalism debate that had been an issue since the 1790s.
- Reconstruction failed to protect former slaves from white persecution and failed to engender fundamental changes to the social fabric of the South.
- Does the success or failure of Reconstruction matter today?
- Effects of Reconstruction still impact social structures in America today.
- How did the institution of slavery impact race relations in the United States?
- Slavery in America was tied directly to race. After the abolition of slavery, this connection continued(s) to impact laws, freedoms and opportunities for people of color in America.
- Can a divided nation be restored?
- Fundamental values can be ingrained in the culture of an area in ways that impact the daily lives of the people for generations.
- For change to occur holistically, all parties must believe in the need for change.
Download the complete Grade 8 Social Studies Unit 1 framework to customize for your own planning.