The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

A WebQuest on the events that led to the assassination of our sixteenth President

Designed by Trevor Kent

kent4437@pacificu.edu

 

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page

Introduction

Consider yourselves the prosecutors it the case against the coconspirators in the assassination of President Lincoln. It is your jog is to retrace the events that led to the slaying and present them to the jury. We need a time line of the five most important events that led up to assassination of the President. Remember that you are working for the prosecution so the information that you choose must be absolutely bulletproof. Here is a telegram from the lead prosecutor.

 

The Task

Hello, and thank you for your help. This is possibly the most important trial in the court of law in the history of the United States. We have apprehended John Wilkes Booth who is believed to be the man that assassinated the President. We have witnesses that put him at the scene of the murder but we need to know how this could possibly happen to the president. We must establish a timeline of events in chronological to explain to the jury exactly happened on that fateful night. Here are the four things I need you to accomplish.

1. 1.Gather the information that you think is most relevant to your case.
   

 

2. 2.Choose the five most important pieces of information that you think tells the Jury exactly what happened and will lead to a  conviction.
   

3. 3.Establish a timeline of events that explains the events immediately before and after the assassination.
   

4. Present your evidence to the Jury/class and we will decide who has the most compelling case.   

  

The Process

Part 1: Gathering Essential Information

1. 1.You will be divided into prosecution teams of 4-5 students.
   

2. 2.You are encouraged to work collaboratively to gather five to seven pieces of information that you feel are the most important for the construction of your case.
   

3. 3.Here are the links that you will be using. Look for the most concrete information that you can find, and have fun exploring.
   

    http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/books/kauffman.htm

    http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/books/kauffman2.htm

    http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln.html

   

    http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0414.html#article 

    http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/lincolnconspiracy.html

    http://civilwarstudies.org/tours.shtm

    http://www.somd.lib.md.us/MUSEUMS/Mudd.htm

    http://www.surratt.org/

    http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/aplaces.htm

Part 2: Presentation

1. 1.Now that you have gathered the information that is most relevant as a group choose what you think are the three most important to your case.
   

2. 2.Create a timeline of events that organizes your information chronologically and will tell the jury what happened.
   

3. 3.Your timeline must be a visual representation of the evidence. You are encouraged to use pictures you have found for this assignment. There is paper of different colors, markers, scissors, and paint for your visual representations. You may also want to create a skit that represents your timeline. Use what ever method you think will be most convincing to the jury.
   

4. 4.Each prosecuting team will have five minutes to present their timelines as a visual or physical representation to the class/jury. The teacher is the judge ensuring that each group has equal time for their presentation. Each member of the group is expected to contribute to the final product.
   

 

    

Conclusion

Thank you for your help on this extremely important case. The time line of events that you have created will be used in the court room to establish the exact sequence of events tat led to the assassination ensuring a conviction. I know that you have learned much through your exhaustive research and on behalf of the entire team of prosecutors  I would like to say thank you.

Credits & References

Image of Lincoln Memorial found at:

Smithsonian Office of Imaging - http://smithsonianimages.si.edu/siphoto/siphoto.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=home

Evaluation

Information for Timeline:

5. 5.Gathered seven important pieces of information that clearly, accurately, and chronologically informs other classmates of the events that led to the assassination of President Lincoln. Chose the three most convincing to present to the class.
   

3. 3.Gathered three to five pieces of information that accurately, and chronologically informs other classmates of the events that led to the assassination of President Lincoln. Chose the three most convincing to present to the class.
   

1. 1.Gathered information about the of the events that led to the assassination of President Lincoln but it dose not clearly, accurately, and chronologically inform other classmates.
   

Small Group Work:

5. 5.Students worked together collaboratively as a team. Each member contributed during the project and disagreements were resolved thoughtfully.
   

3. 3.Students worked well together. Most of the group members contributed during the project with few disagreements.
   

1. 1.Students did not work together as a team or collaborate on decisions. Each member did their own work independently.
   

Navigation of appropriate websites for the purpose of gathering needed information:

5. 5.All of the listed websites were used to gather information for this project.
   

3. 3.Five or six of the websites were used to gather information for this project.
   

1. One or two websites were used to gather information. 

Creation of Historical Timeline:

5. 5.Students demonstrated the ability to synthesize important historical information by creating a timeline of events that is chronologically organized. The three events chosen as the most important inform others of exactly what happened during this historical event.
   

3. 3.Students identify relevant historical information and create a timeline but the sequencing is not exactly accurate. The three events chosen as the most important gives others an idea of what happened during this historical event.
   

1. 1.Timeline of events contains little relevant information with no organization. The three events chosen as most important does not inform others what happened during this historical event.
   

Presentation: 

5. 5.Three important events were visually or physically represented in a clear and concise format and were understood by others with all group members contributing equally during the final presentation.
   

3. 3.Three events were presented visually or physically some of the information was unclear and not understood by others with most group members contributing during the final presentation.
   

1. 1.Three events were not visually or physically represented and few of the group members contributed during the final presentation.