Alabama Social Studies SS24.4.14a
The Standard
- SS24.4.14
- Evaluate how key figures contributed to events that shaped the United States’ victory in the Civil War.
Identify Alabama’s economic and military contributions to the Civil War, including weapons manufacturing, soldiers, and the use of and resistance to conscripted enslaved labor.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify weapons made in Selma and explain that Alabamians served in both the Confederate and Union armies. They describe how enslaved people were forced to build defenses and how some resisted by escaping or slowing their work.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can name cannons as a product of Selma's factories and identify an Alabama soldier on each side of the war. They can explain why building defenses under threat was forced labor, not volunteer work.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think every Alabama soldier fought for the Confederacy. They may call enslaved workers volunteers or assume resistance only meant fighting with weapons.
How to Assess It
- Ask students to write four short answers: What weapon did Selma make? Which two armies did Alabamians join? What work were enslaved people forced to do? How did some resist?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have pairs sort five fact cards about Selma cannons, Confederate soldiers, Union soldiers, forced earthwork crews, and escapes under four labeled headings.
Ask, 'Why were enslaved people building defenses not volunteers?' Have students answer in two sentences using a fact card.
Label four corners weapons, soldiers, forced labor, and resistance; read fact cards aloud and have students move to the matching corner.
On a map showing Alabama rivers, trace a possible shipping route for Selma's cannons and explain why river access mattered.
Free download
Printable SS24.4.14a Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to SS24.4.14a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetKeep exploring
Related Standards
- SS24.AS.11c
Assess the impacts of the Civil War on Alabama’s economy and infrastructure, and identify battles and campaigns that affected these.
- SS24.AS.11
Outline Alabama’s participation in events leading to the Civil War and in the war itself, and explain how the war created change within the state.
- SS24.5.10a
Explain Alabama’s contributions to military production during World War II.
- SS24.US1.12b
Summarize the political, social, and economic role that Alabama played in the Civil War.
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.
Also for this standard:Make a WorksheetMake a QuizMake a Sub Lesson