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8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 7 of 9

The Civil War

Slavery, secession and war

What your child practices

How the conflict over slavery led to secession and war, Lincoln's leadership, key events and people from Fort Sumter to Appomattox, and how enslaved people helped win their own freedom.

Alaska content standards learning standard: SS.8.7.4.1; SS.8.7.21.2; SS.8.7.22.1 · slavery and the sectional tensions behind the Civil War, and the war's key events

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The Union was the North; the Confederacy was the South.
  2. The North had more people, factories and railways; the South fought on home ground with skilled generals.
  3. Turning points: Union wins at Gettysburg and at Vicksburg (led by Grant) in 1863. Lee surrendered in 1865.

Example: Which side was called the Union? The South formed the Confederacy. The other side stayed loyal to the national government. That was the North. Answer: the North

The Civil War in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 7 of 9 in 8th grade Social Studies, after Reconstruction and before Sources & Evidence.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Ulysses S. Grant led the Union to victory at…

    • Vicksburg in 1863
    • Fort Sumter in 1861
    • Yorktown in 1781
    • the Alamo in 1836

  2. Question 2

    Why do historians use soldiers' letters to study the Civil War?

    • They were written by generals only
    • They are always neutral
    • They show how ordinary people experienced it
    • They list every battle exactly

  3. Question 3

    Why did the Emancipation Proclamation not free enslaved people in border states like Kentucky?

    • Kentucky was in Canada
    • There was no slavery there
    • Lincoln forgot
    • It applied only to areas in rebellion

  4. Question 4

    In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln described the war as a test of whether a nation…

    • Could win gold
    • "Conceived in liberty" and dedicated to equality could survive
    • Could build railroads
    • Could rule Europe

  5. Question 5

    The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) was…

    • A naval battle
    • A turning point Union victory in Pennsylvania
    • A Confederate victory that ended the war
    • The first battle

  6. Question 6

    The states that seceded formed the…

    • Northwest Territory
    • Confederate States of America
    • United Kingdom
    • Union

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