A TEACHING STRATEGY

Main Ideas
During the period 1830-1840 south-central Illinois witnessed extensive frontier lawlessness and disorder due in large part to the construction of the Cumberland Road across four of its counties—Clark, Cumberland, Effingham, and Fayette. As the problems of moral laxity and violence surfaced, Illinoisans were confronted with a problem fundamental to all democracies: how the communal stability necessary to a civil society could be established without infringing on the liberty of the individual.

Illinois citizens protected their personal freedom and yet controlled antisocial behavior in two basic ways: through episodic enforcement by vigilantees and the vigorous proselytizing of pioneer church congregations and their ministers. As a result, the characteristics of a stable, civil society eventually emerged in the four counties through which the Cumberland Road was built. Conflict can end when one group prevails.

Connection with the Curriculum
This material could be used to teach Illinois history as well as U.S. history, government, or sociology classes.

Teaching Level
Grades 10-12

Materials for Each Student

• A copy of this article

• Facsimiles or copies of two early Illinois newspapers

• Copies of excerpts from: the Northwest Ordinance, President Washington's Farewell Address, Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America

Objectives for Each Student
• Appreciate the tension between the need for individual liberty and the need for social order that characterizes democracies.

• Recognize the role of the pioneer church in bringing social stability to Illinois during the construction of the Cumberland Road.

• Know the role vigilantism played in Illinois during the period of the road's construction.

• Analyze and evaluate historical data contained in primary sources.

Accompanying activities will take some time and effort to implement. It thus may not be desirable to employ accompanying activities as part of the lesson but to instead select one that fits the particular students and class being taught. The activity not chosen could be used as an evaluation tool at the conclusion of the lesson.

Opening the Lesson
• Ask the students to read this article.

• For Activity 1, divide the class into teams of five. Ask students to create a newspaper about the Cumberland Road. Have three students write articles, one prepare an editorial, and one design the advertisement using examples of Illinois newspapers from the time the Cumberland Road was being built.

• For Activity 2, place students in

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groups of four. Tell each group to identify one person as a recorder who will keep the group's answers. Then ask the students to read the excerpts from Washington's Farewell Address, the Northwest Ordinance, and de Tocqueville. Ask each group to share their analysis of the documents as outlined in the "Activities" section.

Developing the Lesson

• Be sure to allow students adequate time to finish each activity.

• Move from group to group to assist, monitor progress, and answer any questions.

Concluding the Lesson

• Check the results of each activity.

• Discuss with the students the key points they were to have learned. (See objectives.)

Extending the Lesson

• Place the newspapers prepared in Activity 1 on the classroom bulletin board.

• Ask the students if they can identify other periods in Illinois or United States history when similar kinds of social developments occurred.

• Ask the students if they can identify contemporary situations in which citizens face the problem of maintaining social stability and safety without infringing on civil liberties and individual rights.

Assessing Student Learning
• If one of the two activities is not used during the teaching of the lesson, it can be reviewed and used to determine student achievement.

• Ask the students to write a short essay in which they discuss positive and negative aspects of each of the two approaches used by Illinois residents to bring social order to the area along the Cumberland Road.

Using the format of the following excerpts from early Illinois newspapers as a guide, create a newspaper that contains (1) three articles about the harshness of life on the Cumberland Road, (2) an editorial concerning the need for reducing violence on the frontier; and (3) advertisements typical of the 1830s.

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Read the following selections that deal with the significance of religion and morality in a democracy, then answer the questions below:

I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion—for who can search the human heart—but I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions.

1. What common theme is expressed in the selections above?

2. On November 13,1993, in Memphis, Tennessee, President Clinton delivered an important speech concerning the need to control violence in today's world. He spoke in a church (a symbolic gesture), stressing the need for family values as a means for combating the mayhem that rules many neighborhoods in modern America. In what ways do you think he would agree with the above statements?

3. What are some ways that society can encourage the role of religious institutions and yet guarantee freedom of religion and the separation of church and state?

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