Emancipation Proclamation
Subject: Language Arts, US History
Grades: 7-9
Description:
Learn the importance of this document and its importance in the Civil War.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn the importance of this document to slaves
- Learn the importance of this document to the civil war
- Time, continuity, and change
- Power, authority and
governance
Keywords:
- Emancipation Proclamation, Civil Was, plantation, refugees, Union, Confederates
Materials needed:
- A hard copy of the Emancipation
Proclamation (can be found in the
World Book Encyclopedia) or a Computer with internet access - Paper
- Pen or pencil
Activities:
Read the Emancipation Proclamation to your child or have them read it. Discuss the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation together. Write a brief essay that addresses the following:
- When did the Emancipation Proclamation take effect?
- Briefly summarize the message of the speech.
- How do you think most Northerners and most Southerners responded to the speech?
- The essay should be grammatically and mechanically correct.
- Reread to edit and correct
errors
Answers should include:
The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on
January 1, 1863. The speech outlawed slavery
in the Confederate states but it was still legal for Union families
to own slaves. The Confederate were angry
and felt that their way of life was threatened.
Slave owners took their slaves and moved to state that had
been loyal to the Union.
Thousands of slaves fled to Northern states to join the Union Army. After the speech the war began to take on new meaning as the war became a moral crusade against slavery. Check the grammar and mechanics used in the essay.
