1. The teacher will review student responses.
   
2. The teacher will then assign a different role to each student in the committee (each student will represent one of the following groups: enslaved people, free blacks in the North, abolitionists, plantation owner in the South, Union soldiers, Confederate soldiers, factory workers in the North, factory owners). The students in each committee will be asked to complete the Character Sheet from the viewpoint of the population group they represent.
   
3. The teacher will separate the class into population groups and have a full-class debate.
   
4. To start the debate, the teacher will post the statement, “The Emancipation Proclamation should become the law of the land.” As the students present their arguments, the teacher should make sure they are doing so from a first-person point of view.

Application:

At the conclusion of the lesson, the teacher will ask the following question: Should the Emancipation Proclamation be considered one of the greatest documents in American history?


Homework:
Assume you were in Lincoln's cabinet and he asked your advice on whether or not he should issue a proclamation freeing slaves. Write a position paper in which you give him your recommendation. Be sure to include reasons to support your opinion.

For additional resources or interesting information:

Letters and a painting about the Emancipation Proclamation:

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/search/display_results.php?id=GLC05508.272
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/search/display_results.php?id=GLC03790
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/search/display_results.php?id=GLC02598
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/search/display_results.php?id=GLC01569
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/search/display_results.php?id=GLC03229