Virginia SOL USI.9

USI.9 is a Standards of Learning history and social science standard. These are the skills expectations under it.

• USI.9.a

  describing how slavery and its expansion was the primary cause of the cultural, economic, and constitutional issues that divided the nation and led to the seces...

• USI.9.b

  describing the differences in the economies of the North and the South, growth of agriculture and industry, and how those economies impacted the outcome of the ...

• USI.9.c

  evaluating the leadership and impact of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War

• USI.9.d

  describing how individuals influenced the course of the Civil War, including, but not limited to Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William Tecum...

• USI.9.e

  describing major political texts during the war including, but not limited to Lincoln’s Inaugural Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address...

• USI.9.f

  analyzing the effects of the war from various perspectives of Union and Confederate soldiers, Indigenous people, women, European Americans, and enslaved and fre...

01

What Students Need to Do

Students explain why slavery and its expansion drove sectional conflict and secession. They connect Northern industry and Southern agriculture to each side's wartime strengths and limits. They examine leaders, political texts, and personal accounts to explain major events and effects from several perspectives.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

A student can explain secession with slavery at the center and use economic evidence to explain Union and Confederate advantages. They can explain how leaders, activists, spies, nurses, soldiers, and commanders changed events. They can interpret wartime speeches and compare effects on soldiers, Indigenous people, women, and enslaved and free Black people.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may say states' rights alone caused secession without identifying slavery as the central issue. They may assume everyone in the North opposed slavery, every Southerner supported secession, or emancipation immediately freed every enslaved person. They may also treat speeches, battles, and individual actions as unrelated facts.

04

How to Assess It

Give an exit ticket with this prompt: Explain why southern states seceded and how one economic difference affected the war's outcome. Use two specific details.

1. 01

   Students sort cause, event, leader, document, and effect cards, then connect eight cards with yarn and explain each link.

2. 02

   Was Lincoln's greatest wartime impact military, political, or moral? Write a claim using two details from his speeches or actions.

3. 03

   Run a matching relay pairing Grant, Lee, Douglass, Tubman, Smalls, Barton, Van Lew, and Bowser with evidence of their impact.

4. 04

   Compare a Civil War newspaper account with a modern local news report, noting audience, viewpoint, evidence, and missing voices.

• VS.7

  The students will apply history and social science skills to understand the key people, events, and issues of the Civil War and Virginia’s role by

• USII.3

  The student will apply history and social science skills to understand how industrialization changed life in rural and urban America after the Civil War by

• USII.9

  The student will apply history and social science skills by

• 1.4

  The student will apply history and social science skills to understand Virginia’s history by