CLASSROOM PROCEDURES:

1. Lead a large group discussion about the first 15 minutes of the film The Conspirator, using some or all of the following questions as a guide:

- How did the beginning of the film illustrate how society was in flux, or great change, during this time? What specific lines of dialogue do you recall that showed this?

- How might this intense level of upheaval set the stage for a presidential assassination attempt?

- Throughout the clip you just watched, what details did you notice that showed a society in the throes of change?

- What was the immediate reaction to the news that the president was shot? How did the people around him respond?

- What did Booth call out after he assassinated the president? Why is this significant?

- What details do you remember from the scene just after the president was shot?

- What was Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's response to the attacks? Why might this have been an important influence in terms of society's response?

- How did the montage of newspaper headlines depict the country's response to Lincoln's assassination? Based on this information, how might you describe the emotional tone of society at this time?

2. Write the following quote on the chalkboard or on chart paper:

"'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'
...I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -
I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect
it will cease to be divided. It will become all one
thing, or all the other."
-Abraham Lincoln

3. Allow 10 minutes for students to write in response to the quote. Ask them to consider both the Lincoln era (1860s) as well as the Kennedy era (1960s) as they write. Consider: was the United States a "house divided" during both times in our history? Were the divisions ever reconciled? If so, how? How are we a house divided today? Can today's divisions be reconciled? If so, how? What effects does social division have on society?

4. Allow 5-10 minutes for volunteers to share what they wrote. Use some or all of the following questions to guide a large group discussion:

- When Lincoln said that the Union would become "all one thing or all the other," what do you think he was referring to?

- Based on your research for last night's assignment, how was the US a house divided during the Kennedy administration?

- What other times in US history have we been a house divided? How has society responded to this division during those times?

- In the same speech, Lincoln said, "...[society's] agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed." What was the crisis that ceased the agitation in the US at that time? What crisis or crises occurred during the 1960s that might have paved the way for society's agitation to cease?

- What positive outcomes might result from having such a division in society?