The American Civil War

April 12, 2011 marked the 150th anniversary of the official start of the American Civil War. On that day, the Confederacy attacked the Union's Fort Sumter at the entrance of the Charleston harbor in South Carolina.

The Battle of Fort Sumter was preceded by many events that foreshadowed the beginning of hostilities by the slave States of the South. The most significant issue between the Northern states and the Southern states was slavery. In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states in which it already existed.

The Republicans were strong advocates of nationalism and in their 1860 platform explicitly denounced threats of disunion as avowals of treason. After a Republican victory, but before the new administration took office on March 4, 1861, seven cotton states declared their secession and joined together to form the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was elected president of the new Confederacy. President Lincoln rejected the legality of secession, considering it rebellion. The other eight of the fifteen slave states rejected calls for secession at this point.

Now that the battle lines were established between the Confederacy and the Union, Jefferson Davis ordered the surrender of the Union's Fort Sumter. Union Major Robert Anderson, the fort's commander, gave a conditional reply that the Confederate government rejected, and Davis ordered Confederate General Beauregard to attack the fort before a relief expedition could arrive. After a heavy bombardment on April 12–13, 1861, (with no intentional casualties), the fort surrendered.

Lincoln then called for 75,000 troops from the states to recapture the fort and other federal property. Rather than furnish troops and access for an attack on their fellow southern states, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas elected to join them in secession. North and South the response to Fort Sumter was an overwhelming demand for war to uphold national honor. Only Kentucky tried to remain neutral.

Hundreds of thousands of young men across the land rushed to enlist, as both sides raised armies. The Union seized control of the border states early in the war and established a naval blockade that virtually ended cotton sales on which the South depended for its wealth, and blocked most imports. Land warfare in the East was inconclusive in 1861-62, as the Confederacy beat back Union efforts to capture its capital, Richmond, Virginia.

In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South a war goal, and dissuaded the British from intervening. The Civil War would end almost four years after it began at Fort Sumter. On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

Your students can learn more about the leaders and battles of the Civil War by copying a variety of BookCart learning activities that focus on the Civil War—Causes of the Civil War; Civil War Medicine; Civil War Naval Battles; or Civil War Issues and Battles.

BookCart learning activities are a one-stop solution for teachers and students in conducting 21st Century inquiry-based learning activities. Great editor-selected resources, essential questions for critical thinking, and student directions ensure that no time is wasted and that students have everything they need to maximize learning and save time. The learning activities for this month are just one of hundreds of BookCarts (PDF) that teachers and librarians can copy into their local collection and use right away. Here's how to do it:

• Logon to our eLibrary CE TEACHER EDITION.
• Click the BOOKCART ADMIN tab at the top of the Teacher Edition.
• Click the PROQUEST CARTS tab.
• Type Civil War in the SEARCH box; look for the most recent 2011 dates.
• Click the COPY icon (middle one) in the ACTIONS column to the right of the title of choice.
• Click RETURN TO MY LOCAL CARTS.

Librarians or teachers can edit this BookCart to customize it for their students. To edit this BookCart:

• Click the new BookCart TITLE (it will have the prefix "COPY OF".
• Delete "Copy of" and then type your name in the AUTHOR boxes and your initials in the EMAIL box (required info).
• Option: Edit any ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS for your students in the DESCRIPTION box.
• Option: Edit the existing STUDENT DIRECTIONS in the Description box to customize for your students.
• Scroll down and click SAVE.
• Click RETURN TO MY LOCAL CARTS.

Or, you can use this resource collection to learn more about creating, copying, and editing BookCart learning activities, or see a short video.

Assign students to write a report of at least 150 words or a presentation of seven slides. Students should cite at least three resources from the search results using the Pathfinder listed below. Students should address the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can add or substitute others):

• What are at least three causes of the Civil War and which was most important and why?
  
  
• What are three of the most significant battles of the Civil War and why?
  
  
• Who were three of the most significant military leaders of the Civil War and why?
  
  
• What were the major reasons that the Confederacy lost the war?

Type "Civil War" in the Search box.

The overview, gallery, and search results for this topic are an example of one of more than 3,600 Essential Pages (PDF) created by eLibrary editors. Essential Pages focus on the most frequently assigned or explored topics in schools during the last three years. Essential Pages save valuable library and classroom time for teachers and students when they search for relevant and credible K-12 information.

Your students can use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.

Teachers may be interested in a ProQuest flexible rubrics model for evaluating inquiry-based learning activities.

Educators may also wish to employ the Quizinator Web tool (free, but registration required) for creating a variety of printed resources, including short assessments.

April is National Poetry Month. Students can learn to appreciate poetry better when they hear it read by the author or by professionals. Have them select a poet and a poem from the Pathfinder listed below. Students should listen to two poems by the author and then proceed to search for that author. Students should write a summary of at least 150 words about the life of the author, the themes of the most famous works, and the critiques of these works.

Pathfinder 1: Click the "Poets on Screen" tab on the left margin.
Pathfinder 2: Type the name of the author in the Search box.

Your students can use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.

Teachers may be interested in a ProQuest flexible rubrics model for evaluating inquiry-based learning activities.

Educators may also wish to employ the Quizinator Web tool (free, but registration required) for creating a variety of printed resources, including short assessments.

Have students learn about the development of American literature, poets, and authors. Assign students to write a report of at least 150 words or a presentation of at least seven slides that cites as least three resources from the Pathfinder listed below.

Have them select one of the American authors listed in the Study Unit. Students should address the following essential questions for critical thinking:

• What background did this author have that contributed to his/her works?
  
  
• What was his/her most significant work and what was its theme?
  
  
• What do critics say about the works of this author?

Pathfinder: Select the Study Units option > Enter Poets in the Search box > Click "American Literature"

Your students can use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.

Teachers may be interested in a ProQuest flexible rubrics model for evaluating inquiry-based learning activities.

Educators may also wish to employ the Quizinator Web tool (free, but registration required) for creating a variety of printed resources, including short assessments.