Indiana Social Studies 4.H.5

Social Studies4th GradeHistory

The Standard

Explain the roles of various individuals, groups, and movements in the social conflicts leading to the Civil War.

2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students explain how people took different positions on slavery before the Civil War. They use actions by freedom seekers, abolitionists, slaveholders, and lawmakers to show why conflict grew.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can explain that Harriet Tubman helped people escape slavery while Frederick Douglass used speeches and writing to oppose it. They can describe how slaveholders defended slavery and how the Fugitive Slave Act sharpened disagreements.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think everyone in the North opposed slavery or everyone in the South owned enslaved people. They may think the Underground Railroad was a train or that enslaved people waited for others to free them.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: How did Harriet Tubman, slaveholders, and Congress each act as conflict over slavery grew? Give one action for each.

Lesson moves

Have pairs match cards for Tubman, Douglass, slaveholders, and Congress with cards describing escape routes, speeches, defense of slavery, and federal laws.
Ask students to write two sentences: How did Tubman and Douglass oppose slavery differently, and why did slaveholders oppose their work?
Play a card game: draw a person or group, name one action, and explain how it affected conflict over slavery.
Locate Levi Coffin's home in Fountain City on an Indiana map, then discuss how a safe house helped people escaping slavery.

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A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 4.H.5, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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