This year we are doing a small group class on the Civil War with a small group of middle school students. As a part of this class our goals are:

• To understand that by the end of the American Revolution, slavery had already become an issue in the new and growing country. Beginning with the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 that prohibited slavery in the new territory and the Constitutional Convention that accepted slavery, creating the 3/5^thCompromise we will move through the growth of America from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast.
• As we look at Westward Movement we are recognizing that it was already settled by many peoples and cultures. We began class by reading 3 different historical fiction novels that illustrate the clash of settler cultures and Native American cultures.
• But as the migrating settlers and immigrants settled various states the issue of slavery is raised over and over and only partially resolved: in the Compromise of 1820, 1850, The Kansas Nebraska Act, the Dredd Scott Decision and continuing through the Civil War.
• Students will work on learning to take information from the non-fiction reading they are doing to answer questions and write short essays.
• Students will also become more familiar with the complete map of the United States as it developed into today’s configuration.