Overview:
Fourth grade students often associate Abraham Lincoln
with three things: He wore a tall hat, he issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, and he was assassinated. The murder of Lincoln,
whom most historians consider one of the country’s
two most important presidents, had major consequences
for our nation and for the Reconstruction period that
followed the Civil War.
John Wilkes Booth’s premeditated attack was a
carefully orchestrated plot involving at least eight
other participants. The fact that President Lincoln
was shot while enjoying a show at Ford’s Theater
on April 14, 1865 leaves students wondering how it could
have happened. A week earlier General Lee had surrendered
to General Grant. The nation was finally looking forward
to peace. Yet out of the shadows came Booth to kill
the president, while one of his conspirators attempted
to murder the secretary of state.
Students exploring this type of turning point in American
history are frequently frustrated by a lack of understanding
of the event. While comprehensive answers may never
be available to explain how these crimes could have
taken place, we can examine the circumstances surrounding
them to gather a partial understanding of why they happened.
Abraham Lincoln’s assassination was yet another
wound that our country suffered due to the “peculiar
institution” of slavery. In studying the Civil
War, students will discover that slavery was at the
core of the conflict that tore our nation apart and
that ultimately killed the sixteenth president. States’
rights, while often cited as the reason why Southern
states seceded, masked the political and moral arguments
over slavery. Lincoln’s legacy, the abolition
of slavery in the United States, was also the cause
of his death.
Materials:
Primary sources:
Secondary sources include encyclopedias, textbooks,
and trade books such as Robert E. Jakoubek's The
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Millbrook Press,
1993).
Objectives:
1. Students will identify arguments supporting and
opposing the position that Lincoln’s assassination
could have been avoided.
2. Students will enhance their research and writing
skills as a result of this lesson.
Aim/Essential Question:
Using information from given references, including primary
sources, find information that will help you answer
the question, “what events led to Lincoln’s
assassination?”
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