The Dred Scott v. Sandford Case

Hello teacher!

 

This webquest is for students of different reading levels.  Though some of the links have a LOT of text, there are also some with comparable information in a much easier to understand format.  For example, the youtube video is very simple.  The timeline is rather simple. The other links are more detailed and contain more text. 

 

If you have a student that is struggling with the wordier sites, just refer them to the timeline and youtube video.  This should be enough for them to be able to respond intelligently to the prompts.

 

Students need not read every word on every link, much of the information is gone over again on the other sites, but in different ways.

 

The main idea of this lesson is to familiarize students with a very important historical case.  But in my humble opinion, it is of even more importance for students to recognize the power of everyday citizens to make the real impact on society.  It was the american people, not the court system or the governement, but everyday people that stood up and said, "Enough!", we will not stand for this any longer.  Government and courts had no choice but to follow the lead of the people's outcry.  Though the resulting war was horrible and bloody, finally the freedom of the people was realized.