Lincoln – Douglas Debates: How It All Began
by Nicole Cox
Download a copy of this Learning Experience
Through studying and analyzing correspondence between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas regarding the debates of the 1858 election, students will understand why the debates occurred, where the debates occurred, and the significance of the debates. This lesson is presented in the form of a powerpoint presentation with a follow up activity that assesses the students’ understanding of the locations and chronological order of the debates.
Overview
- Subject:
- Language Arts / Social Sciences
- Time Required:
- One 50 minute class period.
- Grade Range:
- K - 5
- Understanding Goal:
- The students will learn the locations, dates, and significance of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
- Investigative or Essential Question:
- How did the Lincoln-Douglas debates come to happen? Where were they held, and why were they important?
Materials
- Purpose of Library of Congress Items:
- Primary sources are used to introduce students to the importance of the political debates. Also, they show the tensions between Lincoln and Douglas on the campaign trail.
- Library of Congress Items:
- Bibliographical Information can be found in the PDF of this Learning Experience.
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- Additional Materials:
- Required Vocabulary:
- debate, candidate
- Prior Content Knowledge:
- This lesson would be a part of a unit about Abraham Lincoln’s life and the politics of Illinois’s history. The students would have prior knowledge of Lincoln’s life in Illinois politics.
- Technology Skills:
- None.
Standards
- Illinois Learning Standards:
- 16.A.2c, 16.B.2d, 17.A.2b
- For information on specific Illinois Learning Standards go to www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/
Actions
- Description of Teacher Actions:
- Build Prior Knowledge
- Share “Lincoln – Douglas Debate” poster and brainstorm what students know about the subject.
- Present the PowerPoint which introduces the letters written between Lincoln and Douglas leading to the debates.
- Lead the class discussion based on the material and questions in the presentation.
- Present Library of Congress primary sources in the PowerPoint and help the class analyze the items through discussion of the material.
- Student Investigative Activity
- Students plot the locations of the debates on a map of Illinois and order of the debates based on a color code.
- Best Instructional Practices:
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Teaching for Understanding
Students are encouraged to use critical thinking skills in this lesson with the "Think about it" questions through out the slides. The questions address various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy to ensure that higher levels of thinking skills are used. The assignment will assess the knowledge gained in the lesson about the order and locations of the debates.