Module 14: Chapter 14 Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s

Image from Chapter 31 of U.S. History (opens in new window) from OpenStax, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License v4.0 with the image information: In Southern Chivalry: Argument versus Club’s (1856), by John Magee, South Carolinian Preston Brooks attacks Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner after his speech denouncing “border ruffians” pouring into Kansas from Missouri. For southerners, defending slavery meant defending southern honor.

Module 13 covered some important idealistic reform movements that aimed to improve the lives of Americans during the antebellum years.  Unfortunately, American lives were about to get much worse during the 1850s, which this module will explore.  Divisive legislation like the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas Nebraska Act, Supreme Court decisions like the one made in a case involving a slave named Dred Scott, and radical and sometimes violent acts over slavery committed by extremists like John Brown all fast-tracked the nation to the start of the Civil War.  This module covers those factors (and more), in depth.  It will help students understand how Americans got to the point of taking up arms against each other in 1861.

1. Demonstrate knowledge of the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act. (CO 1 and 2)
2. Recognize key facts about the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Republican Party of the 1850s. (CO 1 and 2)
3. Identify the importance of the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision. (CO 1 and 2) 
4. Show knowledge of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry and/or the election of 1860. (CO 1 and 2)
5. (Assignment Only):  Choose and defend a position about John Brown on a discussion board backed up with evidence from your textbook.  (CO 1, 2, and 4)

To achieve these objectives:

1. Read the Module 14 Introduction above.
   
2. Read and view the materials in the Chapter 14 Pressbooks book below.
3. View Chapter 14 PowerPoint below.
4. Complete Module 14 quizzes/assignments/discussion boards based on chapter reading and PowerPoint.

Module Pressbooks Resources and Activities