The Honest Abe Era

Introduction

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assasination in April 1865.   Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and an event often considered its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.  Learn about key events in this famous president's life and about his important ideas on democracy.  This webquest will take you on a journey through the Honest Abe Era: from his presidency to his untimely death. You will learn to recognize characteristics of Abraham Lincoln, and identify events that occurred. This webquest will also help you to identify the contributions made by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War era, and the main issues concerning the Civil War that dominated his presidency. You will analyze this information, and apply it as you create a skit for the events that occured.  Good Luck!

Task

You will follow directions to learn about Abraham Lincoln and his presidencial era.  You will be provided several links throughout this webquest to gather information about the civil war, slavery, and that cold night at Ford's Theatre. After informatin is gathered, create a timeline from Abraham Lincoln;s presidency, including the civil war, until his assasination.

1. As you explore the webquest, you will complete a timeline on Abraham Lincoln's presidential era.

2. You will also use the information you gathered to create a skit.

The skit must include important characters that played a vital role in Lincoln's era.


Process

Evaluation

You will be evaluated based on the completion of your Timeline, your quoting of the Gettysburg Address and your completion and participation in the skit.  Be sure to reference the Civil War, the emancipation proclamation, and slavery in your skit.  You can create your own timeline or you can go here to use the one i provided for you athttps://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/timeline.pdf

Conclusion

Great job students!  I hope you learned alot about The Honest Abe Era, the key events that still play a part of the world today and i hope you had fun doing this.  Well if you didnt have fun feel free to complete a crossword puzzle about Abraham Lincoln.  This will be for 20 extra credit points if turned in no later that 1 day after your assignment is due.

Click on the puzzle

crossword puzzle

Credits

Teacher Page

Hello Teachers,

This webquest has been created to teach 6th-8th grade students the social studies concept of American democracy, and the historic figures who exemplify these principles.  It is intended to be used to introduce the students to Abraham Lincoln and the contributions that he made to the United States during his presidency, but this lesson is also a good introduction to the issues concerning the Civil War.  Through this webquest the students will engage in critical thinking, reflective writing,  and cooperative learning activities.  They will compare and contrast Abraham Lincoln to other persons from the Civil War era, as they investigate the web sites to fill in a timeline that will serve as a resource when they perform their skit. Through this webquest, students participate in critical thinking, while they sharpen their cooperative learning skills. Most importantly, this webquest is intended to engage students in the Civil War era, as they learn about Abraham Lincoln, the most tested president in American history.

This lesson will need 4 class periods of sessions that are 30 - 45 minutes in length to allow the students the time to explore the web resources carefully and complete the assigned activities.     

Thank you for visiting my webquest!

Anson Couch