Lesson One – The North and South in Pre-Civil War

Civil War Unit

I Can:I can identify characteristics of the North and South by creating an entry for my interactive notebook.

Objectives Students will recognize that the “North” and “South” were very different places before The Civil War.

Slavery - a practice in which one person (a slave) is owned by another person

Free laborer - a worker who was not owned by another person, they were paid for the work they did

Plantation - large area used to grow crops such as rice, tobacco, and cotton

Factory - a building used for manufacturing goods such as turning cotton into cloth

Slave - a person who is owned by another human being, often required to work long hours with no pay and not allowed to leave owner’s property

Slave owner - a person who owned another human being

Vocabulary Words

Time was moving along and the way people were living was changing. People had settled in to the America territories and life was different in the northern and southern parts.

The Civil War was a war that was fought between two parts of the same country. America had a Civil War that was fought between the Northern and the Southern states. Over the next two weeks we will be studying the Civil War, what the war was about, who fought in it, and why it happened

Life in the Americas

The North

The north favored small farms rather than large plantations. They needed less workers to farm their lands. Most northern households that owned slaves usually had at least two. They did housework and helped in small businesses. These first slaves were probably freed after a few years. Gradually the northerns began to see less and less need for slaves.

Jobs  Less than half in farming Manufacturing

CitiesMany large cities

TransportationMost railroads were in the North

Slavery Many anti-slavery groups Immigrant labor instead

Land Better for small farms

North Pre-Civil War

The South

In the south they had large farms called plantations. Slaves were vital to their way of life. They worked plantations that produced crops, such as tobacco, rice, sugar, or cotton. Running a plantation took a lot of work and money. Slaves became the cheapest and efficient form of labor. As a result, many plantation owners became very wealthy, Enslavement usually lasted a person’s entire life. Even children born to slaves were enslaved.

JobsMost in farming

CitiesVery few large cities Ports

TransportationFewer railroads Difficult except

by water Slavery

Labor force for large plantations Land

Fertile soil Good for tobacco and cotton

South Pre-Civil War

Read – Now Let Me FlyDiscuss the story. What is a slave?Who owned slaves?Where did slaves come from? How did the slaves get to America? How would you have felt if you were a slave?

What war will we be studying? What country fought in the Civil War? What was the main reason for the war? Tomorrow we will be talking about a woman who helped many slaves escape.