Shifting Public Opinion

Lesson Plan

Activity 1: Reflect on the Role of Public Opinion in a Democracy

Begin the class by asking students to reflect on the following questions in their journals: 

• Why is public opinion important in a democracy?  
• In what ways do people have the opportunity to voice their opinions to the government?
• What are some difficulties that a government operating without the support of public opinion might experience?
• What are some factors that might sway public opinion? 

When students have finished writing, discuss the questions as a class.

Activity 2: Lead a Mini-Lecture about the Causes of the Shift in Northern Public Opinion 

Explain to students that in today’s class, they will learn about a variety of factors that influenced white Northern public opinion to shift against Reconstruction, paving the way for future violence against freedpeople and the toppling of Republican governments in the South. 

Pass out the Changing Public Opinion in the North Note-Taking handout and explain that students will be using the handout to take notes as you present a mini-lecture on the causes of the shift in Northern public opinion against Reconstruction in the South. 

Present a mini-lecture using the key points on Changing Public Opinion in the North Mini-Lecture. (Note that you may wish to give this handout to students and simply go over it with them rather than having them take notes.)

Help students process the mini-lecture by asking them to make a text, self-, or world connection to the factors that shape public opinion. With a partner or as a class, have students respond to the following prompt:  

• Describe a time (either in your own life, something you read, or a current event) when war, corruption, the economy, or racism caused a shift in public opinion.

Activity 3: Explore a Wendell Phillips Speech Protesting Northern Disinvestment in Reconstruction

To help illustrate the shift in public opinion in the North, read aloud Wendell Phillips Speaks Out in Support of Reconstruction, a speech given by abolitionist Wendell Phillips in 1875 in Boston before an angry and heckling crowd. The crowd had met to adopt resolutions condemning President Grant’s intervention in the South to protect the lives and rights of freedpeople. Phillips supported continued federal intervention and opposed the resolutions adopted by the group to which he spoke. Read the introductory text on the handout to make sure students understand this context.

Because the transcript of the speech includes repeated interruptions and chants by the crowd, you might consider staging a dramatic reading. Either you the teacher or a student can read Phillips’s words while the rest of the class interjects with the interruptions of the crowd. 

After reading the speech, ask students to consider what they can conclude about the energy and emotion of the event. Lead a class discussion around the following questions: 

• Why do they think Bostonians cared about what happened in Louisiana? 
• Summarize Phillips’s argument in favor of President Grant using the federal government to continue to protect freedpeople in the South.
• What does this event reveal about the changing public opinion over Reconstruction policies?

Activity 4: Return to Students’ Initial Reflection on the Role of Public Opinion in a Democracy

Ask students to return to their initial journal prompts about the role of public opinion in a democracy. Have students add to their reflections by responding to the following prompt:

• How did what you learned in this lesson add to or complicate your existing ideas about the role of public opinion in a democracy and the factors that sway public opinion?