A Journey Through Economic Differences During the Civil War Era

Sarah Beers History

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Estimated reading time: 24 minutes for the text on this page.

Summary

Jaime Miller leads a group of students through an engaging session revisiting the economic differences between the North and South of the United States before the Civil War. The focus of the lesson is to compare and contrast their economies, which is pivotal to understanding the underlying tensions that led to the war. Through active participation, reading, and discussions, students explore the crucial roles played by agriculture in the South and industry in the North, highlighting the significant disparities in labor systems, namely wage labor in the North and slave labor in the South.

Highlights

The lesson revisits the economic differences between North and South, pivotal pre-Civil War era 🌍
Students learn about wage labor in the North and slave labor in the South as primary economic elements 🔥
Activity involves students highlighting economic elements from the text with pink and yellow markers 🖍️
Educator emphasizes the use of complete sentences to share insights during discussion 🗣️
Students engage in 'whip around' to contribute insights into economic differences 🤝
Talking Stick activity helps students articulate thoughts on economic contrasts 🎤
'Give One, Get One' exercise promotes peer-to-peer learning on economic narratives 📚

Key Takeaways

Understanding economies is crucial to grasping historical conflicts 📜
The contrasting economies of the North and South fueled Civil War tensions ⚔️
Interactive teaching methods help solidify historical knowledge 🏫
Economy is defined as how a country makes money – through industry or agriculture 💰
Slave labor vs. wage labor: A stark contrast between South and North 🚜
Using language frames can enhance academic discussion skills 🗣️

Overview

In this exhilarating classroom session led by Jaime Miller, students embark on a journey through the history of economic differences that sowed the seeds of the American Civil War. The lesson is designed to revisit key historical insights and refresh students' memories about how divergent economic paths between the North and South contributed to the war. Through immersive activities and discussions, students compare economies, identifying wage labor in the North and slave labor in the South as distinct economic characteristics.

The session is rich with interactive exercises, such as highlighting important economic aspects in the provided text using pink and yellow highlighters to distinguish between the North and South. Adding to the excitement, Jaime introduces a 'whip around' exercise, where students actively share their insights in complete sentences, reinforcing their learning and ensuring they understand the broader historical context of economic disparities.

By the end of the class, students not only grasp the fundamental economic differences that fueled tensions but also enhance their communication skills using language frames. Engaging activities like the Talking Stick and 'Give One, Get One' foster a dynamic learning environment, allowing students to discuss and write about the economic narratives with newfound confidence and clarity, making history an active and tangible part of their learning journey.

Chapters

00:00 - 01:00: Introduction to Economies The chapter introduces the concept of economies by recalling previous lessons about the Civil War, focusing on refreshing students' memories concerning the economic conditions in the Northern and Southern states preceding the Civil War. The objective of the chapter is to engage students in a comparison and contrast of the economic structures in the North and South during that period.
01:00 - 02:30: Understanding Economies The chapter focuses on understanding different economic structures, with a specific emphasis on the economy in the South during the Civil War era. It mentions a comparison between the economies in the North and the South, suggesting a review of familiar information, and hints at further questions and information to deepen the understanding.
02:30 - 03:30: Reading and Analyzing Text The chapter 'Reading and Analyzing Text' introduces the concept of an economy. It begins with a question to engage the reader: 'What is an economy?' The chapter explains that an economy refers to the way a country generates financial resources. It uses the example of the country earning money from Lumber to illustrate practical aspects of an economy.
03:30 - 07:00: Whip Around Activity The chapter titled "Whip Around Activity" discusses the components that make up an economy, including businesses, factories, and agriculture. It explains that these elements contribute to a country's financial system by generating money through various means. The chapter begins with a reading exercise where the narrator reads the first paragraph aloud while encouraging the audience to read along. The following paragraphs are to be read independently by the audience, giving them more control over their learning process.
07:00 - 10:00: Talking Stick Activity The chapter titled 'Talking Stick Activity' delves into the historical context leading up to the American Civil War. It encourages readers to examine the various elements and tensions in the Northern and Southern states that contributed to the onset of the war. Through a guided reading of the initial paragraphs, the activity seeks to engage readers in identifying and understanding the underlying causes and developments that escalated into the Civil War.
10:00 - 20:00: Writing Sentences The chapter discusses the growing economic divide between the North and South in the United States during the early 1800s. This separation in economic development served as a warning sign for potential conflict, as the different economies contributed to the increasing discord between the regions. The chapter suggests that understanding these differences is crucial in predicting or identifying the elements leading to war.
20:00 - 23:00: Give One Get One Activity The chapter discusses the shifting political landscape within nations due to growing populations. As populations expand, the balance of political power changes, leading to potential conflicts and disagreements. People are concerned that these changes might disrupt their lives, fearing their needs may not be addressed. The chapter also explores how fear stemming from these changes could escalate into conflicts or disagreements.
23:00 - 25:00: Conclusion The conclusion chapter emphasizes understanding the differences between the economies of the North and the South. The readers are instructed to focus on the economic aspects mentioned in the text, specifically highlighting information about the northern economy using a pink highlighter. The chapter implies an interactive and collaborative reading approach, encouraging students to discuss and share insights while reading with their partners.

Sarah Beers History Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 um so what we are going to do is we are going to kind of think back to some of the work that y all did with the Civil War do you guys remember doing that when you worked on the Civil War stuff awesome so we're going to think back to some of that that we did then and we're just going to kind of refresh our memories on what it's all about and talk about what was going on in the North and the South right before the Civil War began so our objective today you guys can see up on the board is to compare and contrast economies in the the North to
00:30 - 01:00 the economy in the South so that's going to be our Focus for today so we're going to kind of we're going to talk about the Civil War but that's where we're really going to focus all of our energy right okay so take a look at this paper this should be pretty familiar to you guys this information should be familiar and I've got some more coming for you okay we're going have some more question in just a minute all right so what we're going to do is take a look at the information in this text and use that information to compare the economies in the North to the economy in the South all right and when I say economy talking
01:00 - 01:30 about the economy what do I mean when I say economy what is that any ideas no no ideas on what an economy is all right an economy is how a country makes its money so like how do we make money in our country what do we have sorry okay yeah good from Lumber awesome
01:30 - 02:00 what else any other ideas factories factories good we produced things awesome so we have businesses we've got do we have farms in our country we go food good yeah so we've got some agriculture so that's what your economy is made of all those different things that help you make money in your country all right so we are going to start out by looking at paragraph one here and on paragraph one I'm going to read that one out loud and you guys can follow along with me and then I'm going to give you all some more control over reading the second two paragraphs on your own okay all right so take a look at paragraph one here and I'm going to read over your
02:00 - 02:30 shoulder if that's okay with you and before we get started I really want to make sure that we have a purpose for reading so why are we even reading this so as you read this paragraph I want you to be thinking about what elements were going on in the north and in the South that led to war so what was going on what kind of tensions were building to even lead to the Civil War in the first place all right so let's go ahead look down at that first paragraph with me put your paragraph put your finger on the first paragraph you guys might have to kind of
02:30 - 03:00 share with a partner if you can um and I'm going to read this one out loud all right here we go throughout the early 1800s many issues and disagreements caused divisions among the people of the United States economies in the North and South had developed differently over the years okay so that's going to be kind of a red flag for me so I know I'm wanting to look for what elements were leading to a war right so that one kind of tells me something the economies are developing differently and so they're growing and just becoming more and more different as people and
03:00 - 03:30 Nations right so that's that might lead to some fights too all right growing populations were changing the balance of political power Across the Nation so that might also be something political power is changing so there might be more political power in one place than in another people worried that these changes would affect their lives many C citizens feared that their needs would not be met and that's a big deal too right when you have fear when somebody's afraid of something sometimes that can lead to war also or lead to disagreement as well just because you're afraid you
03:30 - 04:00 might not have food to feed your family or you might not have a dog right all right so we want to keep these things in mind as we read the next two paragraphs about the economy in the North and the economy in the South okay all right so I'm going to let you guys read these to your shoulder partners and as you do I'm going to have you use a pink highlighter on this first section to highlight any information that you find about the economy in the north this one's going to be about the north okay all right so you're going to read it with your
04:00 - 04:30 shoulder partner and I want the person with the longest hair to read it out loud and the person with the shortest hair can listen okay I'll bring all your pinks [Music] table it's the same oh one person to read this
04:30 - 05:00 paragraph and then private bu ab ab toity the
05:00 - 05:30 stop anything but now we need to go back what are those that tell us about the econom tell us about the economy they believe in the rights people depended on good yeah so go ahead and highlight that se that's great I see some great things highlighted on that paragraph so now
05:30 - 06:00 you're going to switch so the person with the shortest hair is going to read the final paragraph and as you read that one I'm going to give you all some yellow highlighters and you're going to highlight okay you're going to highlight the information about the economy in the South okay so we did we looked at the information about economy the economy in the north and now we're looking at the [Music] South okay all right so person with the shortest hair can go ahead and read that paragraph out loud okay
06:00 - 06:30 the South most people theying to agricultural Pur plantation owners depended he heavily on slave labor to raise carton sugar can rice in tobacco they worried that Americans leader leaders did not value The Sovereign way of life they believe the so you all were highlighting some really good information from over your shoulders I think you guys found the
06:30 - 07:00 most important information in these texts about what the economy look like in the North and what it look like in the South so what we're going to do is we're going to do something called a whip around because I want to hear your ideas I want to hear the information that you found in this text and we're going to put it into these te- charts okay so um what I want you to do first actually before we do that with around is talk with your partners and take the information from those two paragraphs and put it down into the t- chart you don't have to write it out word for word but just pick out
07:00 - 07:30 the words that you think are most important and the information that you think is most important and put that down into the teacher okay like right now like right now work alongside your partners to do that do this table working together to figure out the information that they need and put it into the t- chart if you haven't been already if you've got something in your teach make sure you check in with your shoulder partner and make sure they've got that information too
07:30 - 08:00 yeah you can just use the mark for now okay so you've got some good things in here make sure check the same
08:00 - 08:30 you're working super hard on that you're doing a great job so what we're going to do now is kind of do a whop around probably a couple times through and I'm going to have each of your groups share out something that you found about the economy in the North or the economy in the South okay and when you share it out I want you to make sure you use a complete sentence too so we're going to say for example the North had wage labor okay so make sure you're being really specific and really clear and using that full complete sentence all right girls let's start with your group right here what did you find anything about the economy in the North or the economy in
08:30 - 09:00 the South the South has slave labor the South has slave labor perfect okay so I'm just going to put the bullet points up here because we're really just looking for those key wordss and that most important information from our text awesome all right boys let's come back here what did y'all find the Northeast wage lab the Northeast wage labor good and I'm glad you said that because when we're comparing and contrasting it's really important to make sure that
09:00 - 09:30 they're balanced right so if I know that they use slave labor in the south then I also want to think about well what did they use then in the north and that helps me kind of compare and contrast and see what the differences and similarities are between the two awesome all right this group right here what did you guys find they have private businesses okay who had private businesses the northern okay so can you say that again in complet the northern eony have private business awesome okay so I'll put private businesses good
09:30 - 10:00 and if you don't have this on your te- chart what should you do add it in yeah exactly so if you don't have private businesses go ahead and throw it on your tart Perfect all right girls we're back at you what else did you find uh the sh believe the rights of IND St the rights of who individual State Should protected okay get it
10:00 - 10:30 that's a great one did everybody have that one yes yeah believe in the rights of individual thing good all right boys what else got kind of look and see what you have and don't have don't you is there anything else that you have on your tach chart that we don't have up here
10:30 - 11:00 yet the NORAD small family farm the NORAD small family farm is awesome great okay you too what else did you guys have anything else on there that we should add wait Norther Cy growing Industries
11:00 - 11:30 okay growing Industries good okay girls anything else cotton awesome cotton sugar can
11:30 - 12:00 rice and tobacco okay and when we say that they raise cotton sugar cane rice and tobacco that's all part of what agriculture good agriculture so you could also say that so you all told me about how they got money the economy in the north and how they got money in the North and then how they got money in the South what they what their economy depended on this South awesome okay anything else that we need to add up there any
12:00 - 12:30 nothing else okay all right so what we're going to do now is talk it out and we really want to make sure that once we have this information on paper we know what we're going to be talking about we want to practice talking about it in a really Academic Way right so we're going to use these language frames right here some of youall have them on your table some of you don't yet and that's okay we'll have them to everybody in just a minute um but what I'm going to have you do is I'm going to show you how we're going to talk about it what activity we're going to use to talk about it so
12:30 - 13:00 I'm going to have I'm going to model it with um this group of girls right here so boys could you stand up and come on over here I want you guys to be able to see exactly what we're doing so come on over and stand up and just kind of make a circle around this group right here all right so on your tables you all have something that looks kind of like a nail file but it's not talking stick so we're going to take our Talking Stick
13:00 - 13:30 can you see okay and the person that has it gets to be the one that's talking have you all done talking stick before okay awesome so we're going to take our Talking Stick and I'm going to look at my tart and I'm going to look at my language frames and I'm going to use those my language frames to think about how I can communicate this information comparing and contrasting those economies okay so I might say something like uh let's see while the North had wage labor the South had slave labor and so that's just one sentence kind of
13:30 - 14:00 putting it all together because we don't want to leave it just in the cart right we want to know how to communicate that information too all right so then I'm going to pass my Talking Stick on to the next person and you can use your language frames you can use any of those frames the information in your chart to think about um to think about what you want to say and if you're not ready yet you can pass it to the next person
14:00 - 14:30 if you need help too you can always ask your group for help and say oh I'm having trouble thinking about it and your group can help you out well the nor is focused on industry the sound focused on agriculture awes is that yours you can just let
14:30 - 15:00 wait we got to go too you are ad good perfect that's awesome so they use these FRS that they had and the information their chart to talk about it and that's great and so once you go around one time are you just done you stop finish now I want you to go around
15:00 - 15:30 again and think of a new way to say it so she talked about the different kinds of ways that they made money in the North in the South but then the next time she could talk about the different types of Labor she could use a different sentence or she did an awesome job with those bullet points she could move on down here and try one of these harder ones too okay all right so go ahead and go on back to your seat guys make sure good you already got one awesome once you get back to your seat grab your Talking Stick langage go ahead
15:30 - 16:00 and start sharing with [Music] start ma
16:00 - 16:30 [Music] difference wait do we have depended on where your label depended on
16:30 - 17:00 allc indidual okay you can ask so what could he say I know engl what we talk about let decide what you can talk about first look at your paper you can look at your paper at your teach chart what you want to talk [Music] about while the
17:00 - 17:30 South lab so wage labor right say that sentences use this one and just say something like the north okay one you be right the north the north has slave l or had wage
17:30 - 18:00 labor however the South had slave labor good okay you try um with this yeah perfect it all right okay so once you feel really good we've talked it out a little bit you've practiced some of these frames you've practiced with this information now we're going to write it
18:00 - 18:30 out so at the very bottom of your page there it says to write three or four sentences comparing and contrasting the economy in the North and the economy in the South so you guys talked it out so I know that if you can think about it and you can say it then that means that you can write it that's what we're going to do right now okay so I'm going to model for you right here what this might look like all right so I'm going to need your attention right up here boys can I get your attention up here please thank you all right so some of you use those first
18:30 - 19:00 frames up there and that's awesome but you know one thing that we didn't talk about as much are these signal words right here did any of you use these I no yeah yeah some of you did okay awesome if you did that's great if you didn't no worries I didn't really model that for you to begin with so if you want to use something like that you could say something like um what could I say unlike in the North
19:00 - 19:30 the South did not have wage labor okay so I've got one sentence there that communicates my thoughts maybe it's something that I said to my group and that's great maybe it's something that my partner said when they were sharing and I just really like that sentence you can use any of those okay or it can be something completely new that you just thought of on the spot so so go back think about the things that
19:30 - 20:00 you talked about with your groupmates look at your language frames think of some new sentences either way go ahead and write now three or four sentences comparing and contrasting the economy in the North and the economy in the South only one or just four right now one or like three or four I just did one up there model for you guys and then you all try three your for
20:00 - 20:30 you don't have to but I'm just curious what you're think about so you make it sound even more academic
20:30 - 21:00 with me to say people in the north use wage labor however people in the Southeast that's a gr and here's what we're going to do I want give you guys a chance to share these with people from different groups
21:00 - 21:30 because you got to get some ideas from people in your same group but I want to give you a chance now to get some ideas from people around the room too so we are going to do what's called a give one get one where you're going to stand up and you're just going to kind of walk around the room and when I say stop you'll find a partner and you'll read your paragraphs to each other okay and when I say go again you can thank your partner and then keep wandering and we'll do it again and we'll read it to a new partner okay and then you'll get some new ideas about what your partners wrote and then you'll also get to share your ideas with other people outside of
21:30 - 22:00 your group all right so let's go ahead and try this out huh so you can stand up and just kind of start stretch a little bit walk around the room a little bit wake up a little bit all right kind of walk around a little bit you don't want to be right by the same people in your group and you can do it all right and then stop and find a
22:00 - 22:30 partner who is not at your table anybody that not at your table and read your paragraph [Music] [Music] to
22:30 - 23:00 huh all right thank you partners and kind of walk a little bit [Applause] more and find a new partner somebody talked to you somebody was at your table [Music]
23:00 - 23:30 thank and head on to your SE guys I heard some awesome paragraphs and some awesome sentences you really showing off all that academic language and all that knowledge you had about the economies in the north and economies in the sou so what I want you to do is pick
23:30 - 24:00 your very best very favorite sentence that you either heard or said or wrote today and write it down on that poit note and that'll be your ticket out the door okay um the South depended on SL North had industry to run and go on the other hand the South was focused on one major difference between the North and the South the states rights and slavery because the north wanted to
24:00 - 24:30 bought abolitionist and the South believ that they should have States right people in the north use wage labor how people in the South use slave the North and the South are different because the north has wage labor and the South has slavy while the northern economy ran Industries and private businesses and small Family Farms the South economy raised cotton sugar can rice and tobacco all of the South believe that the rights of individual states should be protecting the North had abolitionists that began to speak out against labor
24:30 - 25:00 awesome thank you