Teacher Note: Read the Introduction, including the Unit Overview, prior to beginning.

Introduce the lesson by discussing these questions as a class:

*What is the definition of a dilemma?

*From the title, what do you think the docu-series Lincoln’s Dilemma is about?

*Have you ever changed your mind about an event in the past? How?

*Do you think studying Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and the emancipation of enslaved people remains relevant today? Why or why not?

Teacher Note: Explain to students that they will be watching a series of documentary film excerpts and interviews from the docu-series Lincoln’s Dilemma and analyzing a range of source materials to gain insight from multiple points of view on Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, the Civil War, and the emancipation of enslaved people. 

Distribute Handout One, Lesson One: Lincoln’s Dilemma Learning Log for students to take notes and synthesize their learning.

Have students review the handout and explain that they will be receiving four Learning Logs (one for each lesson) to chart their ideas, reflections, and questions. These logs will serve as their personal resource for completing the final project – designing their own site of public memory, in response to this prompt:  

After reflecting on and analyzing all of Lincoln’s dilemmas during his presidency, how would you represent the struggle for freedom and equality in our nation?

Watch Film Clip One: Introduction (3:19) 
Discuss

*What interpretations of Lincoln did you see or hear in this clip?

*How is it possible for historians to have differing interpretations about the past?

*What did you see or hear in the clip that changed or deepened your previous answer about the relevance of studying these historical topics today? 

Teacher Note: The following film clip moves students from the introduction and overview of the film to a specific focus on Abraham Lincoln’s rise to the presidency and on the Civil War. 

Distribute Handout Two, Lesson One: Film Clip Transcript  

Have students follow along with the transcript as they watch, underlining words, events, or place names that stand out. Let them know they will learn more about the Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, both of which galvanized popular opinion in the North against slavery in the 1850s.

Watch Film Clip Two: “Lincoln Emerges as an Anti-Slavery Politician” (2:59)
Discuss

*What did you see or hear in this clip that was new or surprising to you?

*At what moments did you hear different perspectives on Abraham Lincoln’s views and opinions about slavery?

Teacher Note: Let students know that in order to understand what is happening in the North at the time, it is important to draw a distinction between those who were “anti-slavery” and those who were for “abolition” of slavery.

Project or read aloud this quote from historian Kellie Carter Jackson: 

"The North was certainly not a bunch of abolitionists. There's a big difference between being anti-slavery and an abolitionist. And you could be… being anti-slavery meant that you were against the institution of slavery, that you believed in free labor] and that you abhorred the institution of slavery because it undercut free labor. So if you're someone in the North who was working for $5 an hour, no one's going to pay you that wage if they can get an enslaved person to do it for free. And so there's a lot of economic and political resentment around slavery because of the way it undercuts free labor in the North. But that did not mean that you are an abolitionist. A lot of Northerners were anti-slavery, but they also still hated Black people. They also still saw them as less than human beings. The abolitionists had a unique agenda to abolish the institution of slavery, wholesale, and Black abolitionists in particular were not just engaged in the abolition of slavery but also full equality for Black people. Those things had to go hand in hand, emancipation and equality, because they understood that being anti-slavery was not sufficient. It was not enough to say that slavery was wrong. You had to actually overturn the system and then go about creating institutional enfranchisement for Black people. And that's something that a lot of Northerners were not willing to do." 

Discuss

Based on Carter Jackson’s quote, how would you define the differences between anti-slavery and abolition?

Teacher note: It may also be helpful to share these definitions, drawn from the Library of Congress:

      Anti-slavery: A belief system focused on the moral wrongs of the practices of slavery, including bondage, family separation, unpaid labor, and other practices of the system of  slavery that violated human rights

   Abolition: A movement focused on ending the institution of slavery and demanding full equality and equal rights for formerly enslaved people and all African Americans

Pair Work

*Have students organize themselves into pairs and instruct them to go back to the film clip transcript, identify and then talk through moments where they saw or heard different perspectives on Lincoln. Dscuss whether he was acting in a way that was pro-slavery, anti-slavery, or abolitionist. 

*Ask students whether they think of Lincoln as pro-slavery, anti-slavery, or abolitionist, using a show of hands.

*Record the numbers on a whiteboard or in a shared online space to come back to as the students move through the lessons.

Ask students to reflect on the differences between anti-slavery and abolition.

Teacher Note: The filmmakers conducted over 30 interviews to produce Lincoln’s Dilemma. The full interviews are available in the Interview Archive. A selection of these interviews, edited together here to create Interview Threads and aligned to the specific lesson topic, are available for your students’ learning.

Explain to students that they are going to continue learning about the influences on Lincoln’s early thinking on slavery through completing a jigsaw model using three interview threads as the “text” to study.

Step One: 
Using a Jigsaw Model split students into groups of three. (Remember, Jigsaw works best when you have the same number of students in each team.)

Thread One: Lincoln’s Upbringing - Historians describe aspects of Lincoln’s youth that may have influenced his thinking about slavery.

Thread Two: Lincoln as a Lawyer and Congressman - Historians describe Lincoln’s experience and actions as a young lawyer and congressman from Illinois to shine a light on his beliefs about slavery and abolition.

Thread Three: Slavery and its Threat to the Union - Historians discuss how The Fugitive Slate Act, Dred Scott, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act led Lincoln and other Northerners to see slavery as increasingly important and problematic.

Step Two: 
Assign each student to individual Interview Threads and distribute the relevant Interview Thread Transcript.

Have students watch their Interview Thread, underlining details that catch their attention and jotting down questions and insights that come to mind.

Step Three:
Have students watch their Interview Thread, underlining details that catch their attention and jotting down questions and insights that come to mind.

Step Four:
Have the students who watched the same Threads come together in “Expert” groups to share what they learned from their historians. In Expert groups, all students will prepare a short presentation to share in their original jigsaw group, using these prompts:

*What was the main idea of your Interview Thread?

*What did you learn about events and influences that shaped Lincoln’s views on slavery?

*From what you learned, how would you characterize Lincoln’s stance on slavery: Was he pro-slavery, anti- slavery, abolitionist, or something in between?

It is crucial that the Expert groups prepare themselves well so that all groups learn this important material.

Step Five:
Students return to their original Jigsaw group to share their presentation.

Have students individually complete their own Learning Log for Lesson One.

End class by having students share their answers to the final question of this log:

What important ideas do you want to remember about the struggle for freedom and equality in our nation for your final project?

Students will use one of the following primary resources, or one they identify through their notes and questions from the film clips and/or Interview Threads, to corroborate or correct something they learned about Lincoln’s stance on slavery before his rise to the presidency. Students will use evidence from the resources to write a few paragraphs summarizing what they learned and why they think it is important.

*Abraham Lincoln papers, A Bill to Abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia, January 1849

*Abraham Lincoln’s Letter to Joshua Fry Speed, August 24, 1855

*“A House Divided” Speech, delivered at the Illinois Republican State Convention, Springfield, Illinois June 16, 1858