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Teacher: Reilly Finnegan

Course: 11th grade US History, 1st & 2nd Period
Length: 47 minutes
December 13 & 14, 2017

Topic: Reconstruction Debates

Overview & Rationale:

This lesson plan covers 1-2 days of group activity that will conclude a week-and-a-half long focus on the
Reconstruction after the Civil War. To start the week students turned in essay that involved personal
reflection, taking a stance, and formulating an argument to answer one key abstract question about
Reconstruction for example, options included the question of freedom for former slaves and the
fragility of equality under the law. This group-work activity will demand they engage more deeply with the
actual on-the-ground politics of the era. Each student will be assigned to one of four caucuses in the
Senate African American, Radical Republican, Moderate Republican, or Southern Democrat and each
caucus with be proportioned in accordance with their relative degree of power during Reconstruction
debates[a] of the 1860s and 1870s. Each caucus will be assigned a leader. After identifying the platform
of their caucus and their core beliefs, the leaders of each caucus will convene to negotiate votes around
various bill proposals and other caucus members will debate, negotiate, and maneuver. Afterwards, bills
and other key ideas from the time period will be voted on by the class.

Enduring Understandings:.
The Radical Republicans advocated for Reconstruction policies that would have punished the
Southern aristocracy[b] and provided more supports for freedmen to enjoy equal rights in society
Republicans were divided over key issues such as land confiscation, readmission protocols, and
punishment for Confederates
African Americans achieved a great deal of political representation in the years immediately
after the 15th Amendment[c]
Moderate Republicans prioritized national unity and were concerned that Radical policies would
be too harsh and offensive to the Southern states
The political process involves negotiation, organization, bargaining, and compromise

Essential Questions: How do bills really become laws? What were the key debates that divided Congress
during Reconstruction and how were they settled[d]?

Goals:
Students will understand the way democratic politics involves organization, negotiation,
bargaining, and compromise
Students will better understand the political spectrum and how moderates fall in the middle
Students will understand the key issues in the Reconstruction debates and gain insight into how
they were settled

Standards:
Materials:
Assignment sheets
Cards for different bills

Procedures:
Opener: (5-8 minutes) - Do Now. Students will be assigned to caucus as they walk in and will
also be given an assignment sheet to read over as they find their caucus-mates.[e] Students will
get into their caucuses and as a full group we will quickly go over the plan for the day teacher
will call Ss attention to relative numbers of each caucus, the number needed for a majority vote,
and highlight the dynamics those numbers suggest in order to illustrate the need to compromises
and negotiations.
Body of Lesson: (40 minutes) -

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Caucuses begin conversing[f] in order to identify their core values (some of which are
outlined on the assignment sheet), their voting priorities, and their plans for negotiating
with the other caucuses (7-8 minutes).
Group leaders will meet in the hall to discuss voting plans and negotiate over bills.
Meanwhile the other caucus members will try to recruit allies from other caucuses and
make arrangements of their own. (5-7 minutes)
Caucuses will reconvene to go over the plans that have been made and to prepare their
brief statements [g]about each bill (5-7 minutes)
One bill at a time caucuses will make statements and then class will cast votes[h] (by
standing) on various the bills..
Closure: Wrap up. (2-5 minutes) - Review the EQs, explain the plan for the next day.

Accommodations:
Group work

Assessment
Student participation in group work and group statements to the class will be assessed for understanding
Student participation will be assessed for their Attitude Towards Learning grade

Notes:
[a]This idea needs some work. It would help to show a graphic or some other statistics about
the number of seats various groups held in the Senate of 1865. It also would have been
helpful to show a map at the beginning to better establish which states were even in the Union
at the time as students often conflated the Southern Democratic caucus with Confederates.
[b]It would have helped the activity if more time was given for students to engage with the
actual logic and arguments of the time period (ie fear that the Confederate leaders would
remain in power). The rush of the activity did not orient students to the time period enough.
Perhaps if one day was for plan, statements, and negotiations and the following day was the
actual voting.
[c]Again, a set of graphics to quickly introduce some facts about the actual 39th Congress
would have helped underscore this.
[d]This piece fell through the cracks somewhat. The class engagement was high and they
likely came away with a better understanding of the different debates, but there was not time to
review the actual historical outcomes of certain debates (40 acres and a mule, funding for the
Freedmen's Bureau, etc).
[e]This was a successful and efficient way to sort the students. Also handing them things as
they walk in seems to increase engagement and helps avoid start-of-class inertia. The
spontaneity of the random assignment seemed successful in that it was transparent and had
an element of excitement/chance. However, upon reflection, assigning students to different
caucuses would have allowed for more intentional accommodation for student needs.
[f]The numbers of each group should be planned a little better. Straying somewhat from the
historical proportions for the sake of better groupwork is necessary. The Moderate Republican
Caucus was 13-15 students which is too large for productive group discussion (it could be split
into two groups). The AfAm Caucus was only two students and because they were assigned
randomly, one of the pairs was a bad fit in terms of personalities. Making it a group of 3-4 or
assigning the groups intentionally could avoid this next time.
[g]Groups needed more guidance about this step and probably more time to do it. A list of
points, a suggested length, a group member or two assigned to be the scribe or the speaker,
etc. This part was entertaining and lively but was lacking in terms of historical substance. In
one class I had the idea to show a clip from the movie Lincoln to model the way the Senators
of the time period spoke and made points and insulted the other caucuses and it seemed to
improve the effort students put into their statements.
[h]The level of participation by this point was quite high and the class was invested in the
outcomes of the votes, which made for an exciting finale and some uncommon passion.

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