Read Kansas! Middle School - M-10 Popular Sovereignty Under the Kansas-Nebraska Act

This middle school lesson can be used for Kansas or United States history. It helps the student to understand the concept of popular sovereignty as it relates to the settlement of Kansas Territory. The lesson includes background information on the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The lesson provides students with the opportunity to read a primary source document in the form of a persuasive text. The lesson is designed for two class periods but can be altered to meet the teacher’s needs. Select each image to see a PDF with the front and back of each card.

Kansas History, Government and Social Studies Standards:

Standard #3: Societies are shaped by beliefs, ideas, and diversity.

• 3.2: The student will draw conclusions about significant beliefs, contributions, and ideas, analyzing the origins and context under which these competing ideals were reached and the multiple perspectives from which they come.

Kansas College and Career Ready Standards:

• RH.6-8.5: The student describes how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).

• RH.6-8.6: The student identifies aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).
• SL.7-8 (a-d): The student engages effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7(8) topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

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