Students learn how resistance to slavery, harsh reactions from enslavers, and violent conflicts like Bleeding Kansas and John Brown’s actions deepened national divisions and created an increasingly unstable climate in the United States by the 1850s.
Students learn how resistance to slavery, harsh reactions from enslavers, and violent conflicts like Bleeding Kansas and John Brown’s actions deepened national divisions and created an increasingly unstable climate in the United States by the 1850s.
Students read an introduction explaining how public debates over slavery shaped Americans’ views in the years before the Civil War. They closely examine a political cartoon related to slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, then complete a See–Think–Wonder chart describing what they notice, what they think the image suggests about slavery and power, and what questions it raises. Students then review the lesson objectives and preview that they will investigate how resistance to slavery and reactions to it intensified national tensions.
Teacher MovesIntroduce the experience by explaining that students will explore how resistance to slavery and responses from enslavers and political leaders deepened national conflict. Review or briefly revisit prior learning about the Kansas-Nebraska Act, popular sovereignty, and Free-Soilers to activate background knowledge. As students share their See–Think–Wonder responses, highlight details that connect to these concepts and prompt them to consider authorship and purpose of the cartoon (who created it, intended audience, and message). Emphasize how political cartoons use exaggeration to express a point of view and connect students’ “wonder” questions to broader debates over slavery in the 1850s. Clarify the lesson objectives and how the day’s activities will help students meet them before moving on.
Students are introduced to Nat Turner’s rebellion and broader resistance to slavery. They watch Nat Turner’s Rebellion and read The Road to Civil War: Resistance to Slavery to learn how enslaved people and abolitionists resisted slavery and how enslavers and lawmakers responded. Using these sources, students answer a series of multiple-choice and inline-choice questions about the outcomes of Nat Turner’s rebellion, patterns of enslaved resistance, the impact of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and how Southern enslavers reacted to growing resistance.
Teacher MovesFrame the scene by explaining that students will examine how resistance to slavery evolved from moral challenge to open confrontation and how this reshaped national tensions. After students complete the questions, review responses to identify common understandings and misconceptions. Lead a discussion that first focuses on enslaved resistance, asking why enslavers responded with fear, harsher laws, and tighter control, and prompting students to consider threats to physical safety, economic power, and social control. Then extend the conversation to abolitionist resistance, asking why speeches, newspapers, and petitions felt threatening even though they were nonviolent, and how they influenced public opinion and visibility of slavery’s brutality. Help students connect how fear of rebellion and fear of losing public support reinforced each other and led to stricter laws, patrols, and limits on speech and assembly. If time allows, introduce the idea that much of what is known about Nat Turner comes from Thomas R. Gray’s Confessions of Nat Turner, and model sourcing questions about authorship, audience, and bias to show how power dynamics shape the historical record.
Students investigate how conflicts over slavery in the 1850s escalated in new territories. They read Bleeding Kansas and John Brown’s Fight Against Slavery and watch Bleeding Kansas: causes, events, and John Brown’s Pottawatomie massacre, looking for key events and actions that heightened conflict. Using a graphic organizer, they identify three events from the 1850s that increased tensions (describing what happened and how each added to conflict) and then synthesize how these examples together created an increasingly unstable national situation by the late 1850s. Finally, students respond to a discussion wall prompt explaining why the shift from peaceful to violent resistance against slavery mattered for the nation’s growing conflict, using evidence from the sources.
Teacher MovesIntroduce the scene by explaining that students will connect specific events in Kansas and John Brown’s actions to the broader pattern of rising national tensions. As students work on the graphic organizer, circulate to prompt them to choose concrete events and clearly explain how each escalated conflict. When reviewing organizers, ask students what connections they see among the events they selected and how each shaped attitudes, increased fear, or undermined compromise. Broaden the discussion to consider what kind of environment was forming in the United States by the late 1850s and how repeated violence and strong reactions affected people’s views of the nation’s future. Encourage comparisons between these later events and earlier uprisings like Nat Turner’s rebellion to determine whether the problem of slavery was fading or growing. When reviewing the discussion wall, highlight responses that explain why violent resistance signaled a new phase in the conflict and press students to consider how this shift narrowed options for peaceful resolution and made sectional conflict more likely.
Students analyze a mural of John Brown titled The Tragic Prelude, painted by John Steuart Curry in the Kansas State Capitol. After reading background information about Brown’s controversial role in the fight over slavery, they closely examine the mural image. Using a graphic organizer, students answer questions about who created the mural, when and where it was made, and why that context matters; describe specific visual details and what they suggest; explain how John Brown is represented; compare this portrayal with what they learned about his actions in Kansas and at Harpers Ferry; and infer the artist’s message about the rising conflict over slavery, supporting their ideas with evidence from the artwork.
Teacher MovesExplain that this optional extension invites students to apply what they have learned by interpreting a historical mural. Emphasize the importance of sourcing visual evidence by discussing the artist, time period, and location of the mural and how these factors might shape its message. As students share their responses, prompt them to identify key visual details—such as Brown’s size and posture, the Bible and gun, stormy skies, fallen bodies, and the African American family—and explain how these elements influence viewers’ understanding of Brown’s role in the conflict over slavery. Ask how the mural’s portrayal compares with textual and video accounts of Brown’s actions in Kansas and at Harpers Ferry, and what message the artist may be sending about the inevitability or tragedy of the coming conflict. Use student observations to highlight how art can reflect, reinforce, or challenge historical perspectives and deepen understanding of why tensions over slavery felt increasingly impossible to resolve.
Students complete the exit quiz by answering all the questions.
Teacher MovesFacilitate the assessment and use student data to evaluate understanding, address misconceptions, and identify areas for growth.
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