Antebellum/ Civil War Project
Overview & Directions
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The antebellum period in American history refers to the period immediately preceding the Civil War. Ante is Latin for before and bellum is a Latin word meaning “war of all against all.” There are three parts to the project: product, presentation and bibliography.
Some Sites for you to Start with
The product of your research.
Poster board or Google Slide Show
If you do a poster board or slide show, you must have 4 subtopics plus and instruction and conclusion. For example, if your topic is slavery in America then slave code is a subtopic, religion might be another subtopic. Each of the subtopics must have a minimum of six facts about the topic. You also need two images per subtopic if you do a slideshow and one image per topic if you do a poster board. A slide show must have 2 slides per subtopic. The introduction and conclusion must have the following:
Introduction
Conclusion
Physical Model
If you do a physical model it needs to be clearly related to your topic. You also need to have subtopics with a minimum of six facts per subtopic plus the introduction and conclusion, in short, everything that is required of a poster board or presentation except the images. This is to be done as a shared Google Doc.
Oral Presentation - 3 parts – introduction, body, conclusion
Introduction:
Why you chose the topic, your compelling questions and an overview of the topic.
Body:
The body will focus on the 4 subtopics, giving facts about each subtopic. If you did a model you will need to identify your subtopics, but you do not need to discuss them in detail. Instead your oral presentation should focus on the model. Explain how you made the model, what the model shows and how it connects to your topic.
Conclusion:
Give a summary of your presentation by explaining what went well, what you could do to improve the project and your concluding thoughts on the topic.
Essay
If you do an essay you will follow nearly all the elements of the other three options except, of course, the oral presentation. Since it is an essay it will be structured slightly differently than the requirement of a slide show or poster board. It will have a minimum of six paragraphs.
Introduction - like other essays, it will have a hook. Then move to background – an overview and explanation of the topic. Thirdly state your three compelling questions – you may use “I” in this section. Lastly, end with a thesis statement. The thesis statement answers at least one of the compelling questions
Subtopics – one paragraph per subtopic that provides support for your thesis as well as facts about the subtopic.
Conclusion – here you give concluding thoughts on the topic. Directing your focus to the compelling questions and any connections between your topic and other aspects of U.S. history.
View the project model
Topics for Research
Some Sites for you to Start with
- American History - Revolution to Reconstruction - documents and biographies
- Ken Burns Film The West
- Teaching History
- Annenberg-Learner
The product of your research.
- There are four choices for your product:
- Poster Board with in class oral presentation
- Google slide show with in class oral presentation
- Physical Model with in class oral presentation
- Essay – no in class oral presentation
- Bibliography in MLA format of the sources that you used, the textbook and Grolier must appear as sources.
- The name of shared Google docs should follow this format: civilwar_lastname
Poster board or Google Slide Show
If you do a poster board or slide show, you must have 4 subtopics plus and instruction and conclusion. For example, if your topic is slavery in America then slave code is a subtopic, religion might be another subtopic. Each of the subtopics must have a minimum of six facts about the topic. You also need two images per subtopic if you do a slideshow and one image per topic if you do a poster board. A slide show must have 2 slides per subtopic. The introduction and conclusion must have the following:
Introduction
- Explain why you chose the topic.
- List your 3 compelling questions
- Explanation and Overview – a short paragraph of the topic
Conclusion
- What went well with the project?
- What could you have done to improve the project?
- Concluding thoughts on the topic – this may contain some answers on the compelling questions.
Physical Model
If you do a physical model it needs to be clearly related to your topic. You also need to have subtopics with a minimum of six facts per subtopic plus the introduction and conclusion, in short, everything that is required of a poster board or presentation except the images. This is to be done as a shared Google Doc.
Oral Presentation - 3 parts – introduction, body, conclusion
Introduction:
Why you chose the topic, your compelling questions and an overview of the topic.
Body:
The body will focus on the 4 subtopics, giving facts about each subtopic. If you did a model you will need to identify your subtopics, but you do not need to discuss them in detail. Instead your oral presentation should focus on the model. Explain how you made the model, what the model shows and how it connects to your topic.
Conclusion:
Give a summary of your presentation by explaining what went well, what you could do to improve the project and your concluding thoughts on the topic.
Essay
If you do an essay you will follow nearly all the elements of the other three options except, of course, the oral presentation. Since it is an essay it will be structured slightly differently than the requirement of a slide show or poster board. It will have a minimum of six paragraphs.
Introduction - like other essays, it will have a hook. Then move to background – an overview and explanation of the topic. Thirdly state your three compelling questions – you may use “I” in this section. Lastly, end with a thesis statement. The thesis statement answers at least one of the compelling questions
Subtopics – one paragraph per subtopic that provides support for your thesis as well as facts about the subtopic.
Conclusion – here you give concluding thoughts on the topic. Directing your focus to the compelling questions and any connections between your topic and other aspects of U.S. history.
View the project model
Topics for Research
- 19th Century Notable African Americans
- Agricultural developments 1820-1860
- Antebellum inventions
- Bleeding Kansas
- John Brown
- Causes of the Civil War
- Civil War Amendments
- Civil War – Battlefield medicine
- Civil War Music (mid 19th century music)
- Civil War – strengths and weaknesses of each side
- Civil War Technology
- Civil War Weapons
- Henry Clay
- Clipper Ships
- Compromise of 1850
- The Confederacy
- Cotton Kingdom
- Cottonocracy
- Dred Scott
- Dorothea Dix & the Mentally Ill
- Education Reform 1820-1860
- Election of 1860
- Emancipation Proclamation
- Frederick Douglass & William L. Garrison
- Free African Americans 1820-1865
- Gettysburg
- Great Triumvirate
- Hudson River School (art)
- Irish Immigration 1820-1865
- Irving, Hawthorne and Cooper (literature)
- Lee and Grant
- Abraham Lincoln
- Longfellow and Whittier (poetry)
- Missouri Compromise
- Mexican War
- Nativism 1840-1860
- Northern Factories 1820-1860
- Plantation Life
- Railroads 1840-1860
- Republican Party
- Second Great Awakening
- Seneca Falls Convention
- Slavery in America
- Transcendentalism
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Underground Railroad