Grade 5 Social Studies
Unit 6
Title
Civil War and Reconstruction
War Between the States
Suggested Dates
5​th​ Six Weeks
19 Days
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding
Guiding Questions
Many political, economic, and social changes occurred in the United
States during the 19th century.
Was the Civil War inevitable?
Did the 13​th​, 14​th​, and 15​th​ amendments to the constitution redress all of the
problems caused by slavery?
TEKS
Readiness TEKS
4E​*
7A
8A
Supporting TEKS
12B
Process Skills
6AB, 24ABCDE,
25ABCDE,26AB
Safety Net Standards *
Vertical Alignment Expectations
*TEKS one level above*
*TEKS one level below*
SS TEKS
Sample Assessment Question
Coming Soon
The resources included here provide teaching examples and/or meaningful learning experiences to address the District Curriculum. In order to
address the TEKS to the proper depth and complexity, teachers are encouraged to use resources to the degree that they are congruent with the TEKS
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and research-based best practices. Teaching using only the suggested resources does not guarantee student mastery of all standards. Teachers must
use professional judgment to select among these and/or other resources to teach the district curriculum. Some resources are protected by copyright.
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Ongoing TEKS
6AB, 24A-E, 25A-E, 26AB
Knowledge and Skills
with Student
Expectations
(4) History. The student
understands political,
economic, and social
changes that occurred in
the United States during
the 19th century. The
student is expected to:
Safety Net Standard
(E) identify the causes of
the Civil War, including
sectionalism, states'
rights, and slavery, and
the​ effects of the Civil
War, including
Reconstruction and the
13th, 14th, and 15th
amendments to the U.S.
Constitution;
District Specificity/Examples
Long-term causes of the Civil War:
● Growing anger between the North
and the South;
● Disagreement on the issue of
slavery;
● Disagreement over tariffs;
● Disagreement over which should
be more powerful - the federal
government or the state
governments;
Important events of the Civil War:
● Eleven states ​seceding or
withdrawing from the United
States of America to form the
Confederate States of America.
● The Confederates began the
fighting in April of 1861 at Fort
Sumter, South Carolina.
● 1863 - Two battles at Vicksburg
in Mississippi and at Gettysburg
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Vocabulary
Civil War, Slavery,
Reconstruction,
Emancipation
Proclamation,
Union,
Confederacy,
Industry vs.
agriculture, States
rights vs. Federal
control
Instructional
Resources
Suggested Resources
Resources listed and categorized to
indicate suggested uses. Any additional
resources must be aligned with the TEKS.
The students were introduced to the Civil
War in fourth grade. This is important
content in preparation for social studies in
grades seven and eight.
Help students understand that the Civil
War was like a very serious "family feud"
between two parts of the United States the North and the South. These two parts
(sections) were very different. This war is
sometimes called the "Brothers War"
because it split families as well as the
whole United States.
● North - industrial, lots of
people in cities, many
opposed to slavery, wanted
higher tariffs
● South - agricultural, fewer
people (1/3 of whom were
enslaved); very few cities;
depended on exports of cotton
●
●
●
●
●
in Pennsylvania turned the "tide"
of the war in favor of the North.
April, 1865 - General Lee (South)
surrendered to General Grant
(North) at Appomattox
Courthouse, Virginia to end the
war.
​
April, 1865 - five days after the
war ended, Abraham Lincoln was
assassinated.
Antietam
Emancipation Proclamation
Gettysburg Address
Effects of the Civil War:
● Over 620,000 Americans died
or were seriously wounded.
● The United States stayed
together as "one country
indivisible".
● Slavery ended.
● Reconstruction, or rebuilding,
began and many people let
hatred grow.
● In the south, the economy and
many of the cities and former
plantations were destroyed.
Jobs were difficult to get and
people did not have much
money.
Important individuals:
● Abraham Lincoln - President
of the U.S.
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and imports of manufactured
goods; supported the idea of
slavery, wanted lower tariffs
Use a map to help students see the
division in the country.
Note: The number of Americans who died
in the Civil War exceeds the total
number of American deaths in all
wars since then including World War
I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and
the Persian Gulf War! This loss of
human life alone makes this a
devastating conflict with long-lasting
effects.
A good way to describe this number is
to ask the students if they have ever
been to the Astrodome. Explain to
them that this stadium holds about
50,000 people. So the number lost in
the Civil War would fill the Astrodome
over 12 times!
Have students complete a cause and effect
web or graphic organizer detailing the
major causes and effects of the Civil War.
Give the students a list of possible topics
including such things as important people,
significant battles, the role of women, the
role of African-Americans, medical
treatment, spies, the daily life of a soldier
● Jefferson Davis - President of
the Confederacy.
● General Ulysses S. Grant important general for the
North and later became
president (Union).
● General Robert E. Lee important general for the
South (Confederacy or
Rebels).
● The 13​th​, 14​th​ and 15​th
amendments are called the
Reconstruction Amendments
because they were written and
adopted during
Reconstruction. They were
needed to extend basic civil
rights to the newly freed slaves
after the Civil War.
for the North or the South, weapons used,
and so on. Have students research more
about this one aspect of the war and report
the results of their research in a report,
poster, or oral report.
Give students several primary source
journal entries or letters written by
soldiers during the Civil War. Have the
students read these sources and then
create an at least one journal entry of their
own writing from the perspective of a
soldier or of someone at "home" writing
to a soldier.
Have students illustrate the reasons why
the 13​th​, 14​th​, and 15​th​ amendments are
so important.
Use political cartoons
​
​
These amendments are:
● 13​th​ Amendment - abolished
slavery.
● 14​th​ Amendment – gave Aftican
Americans citizenship, extended
basic civil rights (included in the
Bill of Rights) to all citizens and
set up "due process" to ensure
that all Americans had equal
access to these rights.
● 15​th​ Amendment - made it legal
for all male citizens over the age
of 21 to vote (note: it wasn't until
the 19​th​ Amendment in 1920 that
women got the right to vote; the
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Vocabulary: sectionalism, states rights,
slavery, reconstruction, secede, Civil War,
confederacy, union, abolish, civil rights,
Underground Railroad, free states, slave
states
Children's Literature
Tin Heart by Karen Anderson.
Antheneum, 1990.
The Blue and the Gray by Eve Bunting.
Scholastic, 1996.
voting age was changed to 18 by
the 26​th​ Amendment in 1971).
​
​
Why was the Civil War called the
North vs. South?
Why was the Civil War the most
destructive war in U.S. History
​
When This Cruel War is Over: The Civil
War Home Front by Lerner Publications
Co., 1996.
Just a Few Words Mr. Lincoln: The Story
of the Gettysburg Address by Jean Fritz.
Putnam, 1993.
The House of Dies Drear by Virginia
Hamilton. Macmillan, 1968 and ​The
Mystery of Drear House: The Conclusion
of the Dies Drear Chronicle
(Greenwillow, 1987)
If You Traveled on the Underground
Railroad by Ellen Levine. Scholastic,
1993.
If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War
by Kay Moore. Scholastic, 1993
Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder.
Macmillan, 1989.
Civil War: A Library of Congress Book
by Martin Sandler. HarperCollins, 1996.
Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith. Harper,
1957; 1991.
The Girl in Blue
Ballad of the Civil War
United Streaming /Discovery Education
Civil War
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(7) Geography. The
student understands the
concept of regions in the
United States. The
student is expected to:
As a result of land acquired during
Westward expansion, describe how
political, population, and economic
regions formed.
Describe
Political,
population, and
economic regions
(A) describe a variety of
regions in the United
States such as political,
population, and economic
regions that result from
patterns of human
activity;
(8) Geography. The
student understands the
location and patterns of
settlement and the
geographic factors that
influence where people
live. The student is
expected to:
North: industrialized, urban, railroads,
dense population areas
South: plantations and farming,
agriculture-based, slavery, sparse
population
(A) identify and describe
the types of settlement
and patterns of land use
in the United States;
What were the reasons that the first
colonists settled in the Northeast?
How did the resources available in the
area of settlement affect the success or
failure of the first colonies?
(12) Economics. The
student understands the
impact of supply and
demand on consumers
and producers in a free
enterprise system. The
student is expected to:
In the 19​th​ century in the United
States, the Industrial Revolution was
just beginning. The main idea behind
the Industrial Revolution was to make
more products, faster, cheaper, and
more efficiently.
(B) evaluate the effects
of supply and demand on
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Evaluate
Supply and
Demand
Review with students the concept of the
laws of supply and demand. The
Industrial Revolution was introduced in
second grade.
Help students understand the intensive
labor effort needed to produce goods
business, industry, and
agriculture, including the
plantation system, in the
United States.
The Industrial Revolution was the
direct result of the laws of supply and
demand. As long as people were
producing goods in small shops and
by hand, there were not enough goods
to meet the demand.
Three major changes during the
Industrial Revolution were 1) the use
of interchangeable parts; 2) machines
powered by steam or water power (not
just by hand); and 3) new inventions
that saved time and effort.
Effects of supply and demand on
business and industry in the United
States:
● More products.
● Cheaper products.
● Goods produced more
quickly.
In agriculture there were also major
changes. The three most important
were:
1.
Steel plow.
2.
Mechanical reaper.
3.
Cotton gin.
The cotton gin changed agriculture
because it made it profitable to grow
large amounts of cotton on southern
plantations. Supply and demand
affected the cotton industry by
creating a need for more and more
cotton for textile mills.
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before the Industrial Revolution. For
instance,
● It took over forty hours to
produce enough cloth for and
to sew ONE man's shirt. That
meant that most people did not
have many shirts!
● Guns had to be individually
hand made and the parts for
one gun did not fit
(interchange with) any other
gun.
● All tools had to be
hand-crafted by a blacksmith.
Help students see the cause and effect
"chain" that was affected by supply and
demand in relation to the growing cotton
and the Industrial Revolution. For
instance:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Power looms were invented.
Textile mills needed more cotton
for raw materials.
This increased the demand for
cotton.
Southern plantations began to
produce more cotton, which
increased the supply.
The plantations used more slave
labor to plant and harvest the
cotton.
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin
to process the "raw" cotton more
quickly to send to the textile mills,
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
this increased the demand and the
supply.
The mills made more cloth; this
increased the supply of finished
cloth and the demand for more
cotton.
The plantations needed more land
to grow cotton and more slaves to
work the cotton, to meet the
demand.
The shipbuilding industry and the
railroads grew to meet the demand
to ship the cotton and return with
finished cloth.
Southern plantations were
profitable.
Other people wanted to own
plantations.
And so on…and so on.
Using a graphic organizer, have students
evaluate and explain the effects of
supply and demand on business,
industry and/or agriculture in the 19​th
century.
In a written paragraph, have students
explain how supply and demand has
multiple effects on business, industry or
agriculture in the past or in the present
time.
United Streaming /Discovery Education
Living History: Living on a Slave
Plantation
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(24) Social studies skills.
The student applies
critical-thinking skills to
organize and use
information acquired
from a variety of valid
sources, including
electronic technology.
The student is expected
to:
(A) differentiate between,
locate, and use valid
primary and secondary
sources such as computer
software; interviews;
biographies; orgal, print,
and visual material;
documents; and artifacts
to acquire information
about the United States.
(24) Social studies skills.
The student applies
critical-thinking skills to
organize and use
information acquired
from a variety of valid
sources, including
electronic technology.
The student is expected
to:
(B) analyze information
by sequencing,
categorizing, identifying
cause-and-effect
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relationships, comparing,
contrasting, finding the
main idea, summarizing,
making generalizations
and predictions, and
drawing inferences and
conclusions.
(24) Social studies skills.
The student applies
critical-thinking skills to
organize and use
information acquired
from a variety of valid
sources, including
electronic technology.
The student is expected
to:
(C) organize and interpret
information in outlines,
reports, databases, and
visuals, including graphs,
charts, timelines, and
maps
(24) Social studies skills.
The student applies
critical-thinking skills to
organize and use
information acquired
from a variety of valid
sources, including
electronic technology.
The student is expected
to:
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Political cartoons, journals and letters are
great source documents to use.
(D) identify different
points of view about an
issue, topic, or current
event.
(24) Social studies skills.
The student applies
critical-thinking skills to
organize and use
information acquired
from a variety of valid
sources, including
electronic technology.
The student is expected
to:
Events can include: Civil War,
Emancipation Proclamation, Battle of
Antietam, Battle of Gettysburg
(E) identify the
historical context of an
event.
(25) Social studies skills.
The student
communicates in written,
oral, and visual forms.
The student is expected
to:
(D) create written and
visual material such as
journal entries, reports,
graphic organizers,
outlines, and
bibliographies;
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Use 4(E) as a basis for these student
generated communications.
(25) Social studies skills.
The student
communicates in written,
oral, and visual forms.
The student is expected
to:
(E) use standard
grammar, spelling,
sentence structure, and
punctuation
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This TEK should be expected in all
student generated work (except note
taking).