Page 34 - Civil War Curriculum Book

Topics for Discussion and Writing

To Stimulate Discussion or to Begin Your Discovery of the Civil War, you might
ask the following:

• What do you already know about the Civil War?
• What do you think you will learn?
• What do you want to find out? Write down at least three of your questions.

Topics and Questions You Might Want to Consider for Discussion or Writing:

 One of the causes of the Civil War was the issue of

slaveryo. Students: Do you think that today there is a conflict so deep that it could

cause this country to go to war against itself again? Explain.
 Some of your students may have never visited other regions of the country.

o Students: Have students who have lived in or visited a different part of the

country and tell the class about the differences between that area and your own.

 Throughout the history of the United States, some people have argued that the
states should have more power than the national government.

o Students: Do you think the national government had the right to outlaw
slavery, for instance? What about outlawing drugs? Outlawing certain types
of guns?
 Young people fought in the Civil War and young people are still fighting in
conflicts around the world (i.e., Afghanistan, Africa and Israel).

o Students: What effect do you think a war has on the young people who
fought it? (remember Vietnam?) How is the effect of war on young people
different from the effect of war on older soldiers? How is the effect of war on
young people different from the effect of war on young civilians? Explain.

 About 10 to 20 percent of the soldiers in the Civil War were under the age of 18
when they enlisted.

o Students: Under what circumstances would you enlist in the army? What
would the war have to be about? Do you think children under 18 should ever fight
in a war? Explain.
 The Civil War was the first war in history to be documented in photographs.
During World War II, war news came over the radio and on news reports at the
movies. Today, we see wars being fought as they happen, via television.

o Students: What do you think are the different effects of seeing a war on
TV, seeing it in photographs, reading about it in newspapers, and hearing about
it on the radio? What are the advantages and disadvantages to the general
public of each?
• Pacifists believe that wars should not be fought under any circumstances.
In Indiana, the religious group called the Quakers refused to fight in the Civil War
(well, some of them, anyway).