Overview

"Warning Signs" explores national events in the pre-Civil War period (1849-1860). Resources provided include transcribed primary sources, films featuring noted experts on historical events and politics, and thematic lesson plans designed by award-winning educators to promote inquiry and historical literacy. Explore crucial evidence, historical context, and different perspectives about an extremely polarized moment in U.S. history and what it reveals about maintaining a healthy democracy today.


Digital Media

Warning Signs Lesson Plans

  High School Lesson Plans   

"Lincoln's Response to Rising Threats to Freedom, Justice, and Democracy" as evidenced through Lincoln's Cooper Union Address

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Middle School Lesson Plans

"Lincoln's Response to Rising Threats to Freedom, Justice, and Democracy" Unit Plan

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Grades 4-6 Lesson Plans

"Scott Free? Warning Signs: Lincoln’s Response to Dred Scott"

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Primary Sources

Report of Speech at Leavenworth, Kansas

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Report of Lincoln's Speech in Peoria

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Speech Fragment on Dred Scott Case

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Lincoln's Letter to Joshua Speed 

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Lincoln's Notes for a Debate

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Lincoln to John Palmer

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Fragment on Sectionalism July 23, 1856

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Lincoln Douglas Debates Speech

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Cooper Union Speech Feb 27, 1860

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Fragment on Slavery

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House Divided Speech Fragment

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Lincoln on Abolition in England and the United States

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Resolution Recommending Amendment of the Kansas-Nebraska Act

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A Bill to Abolish Slavery

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