Linda Brent [Harriet A. Jacobs] Incidents in the Life of a Slave
Girl. Written by Herself (Boston, 1861).
Peter Kolchin, American Slavery, 1619-1877 (New York, 1993).
Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the
Republican Party Before the Civil War (New York, 1970).
Michael Perman, ed., Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction
2nd Edition (Boston, 1998).
Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels (New York, 1974).
Overview
This is a comprehensive survey of the Civil War era. Our approach will be interdisciplinary, with particular emphasis on the social/cultural and political dimensions of the period. I have divided the course roughly into two segments. In the fist six to seven weeks of the semester, we will focus on the origins of the conflict. We will examine in detail the politics, economy and culture of the North and South in order to understand why the two sections came to blows over the system of slavery. In the second half of the course we will examine the war itself and the efforts to remake the South during Reconstruction. Again, the focus here will be on politics, culture/ideology, and social history. We will cover some basic military strategy, analyze some aspects of northern and southern generalship, and attempt to understand the experience of a common soldier during the Civil War. Nevertheless, the primary focus in this class will not be military history.
Objectives
1) Students should increase their factual knowledge of the era.
2) Through paper assignments and essay exams, students should
improve their research skills and their ability to write clear, persuasive
prose.
3) Through weekly readings, discussions, and paper assignments,
students should improve their ability to think critically about historical
issues.
Course Requirements
Along with completing
the required readings and participating in discussions, your assignments
include preparing a research essay of around 10-15 pp. on a topic of your
choice on any aspect of the Civil War Era, subject to my approval.
The paper should incorporate a minimum of five secondary sources -- articles
books, or parts of books that are not already assigned for this
course (Note: encyclopedias, CD-ROMS, or secondary Website historical summaries
are not acceptable sources for this paper). In addition, I
expect some research into primary sources such as newspapers, government
documents, or other printed material from the era. A rich array of
such sources are available at the university library and at area archives.
There is also a growing amount of primary source materials on the Civil
War and related themes available on the Internet (for starters, visit the
History Department website at http://www.eiu.edu/~history/ and click "History
on the Web"). Web-based primary sources that are fully identified
are acceptable, as a supplement to your other primary source materials.
The possible topics for this assignment are extensive. Stop by
and talk to me about the paper as soon as possible; discuss your
ideas with other members of the class.
In this course you are asked to make observations,
raise questions, develop ideas, and draw conclusions about key themes in
American history during the Civil War era. You'll be asked to do
this formally in your exams and paper and less formally in discussion.
The position papers are a fourth way that you will be asked to do this.
Every three weeks or so, I will ask you to write a 1-2 page position statement
on an important theme in this course. These should be typed and printed
and brought to class on the day they are due. You should keep copies
of all of your position statements on disc and in a separate folder.
Think of these as a rough draft or a set of preliminary notes to a more
polished paper. I will collect your statements periodically and grade
them on your use of evidence and your logic. These are the same kinds
of things I look for in the discussions, paper and exams, so the position
papers will also provide you with clear introductions to my expectations
on the other requirements.
Finally, there will be a midterm and final exam -- another good reason to keep up with the weekly readings and to take notes on them.
Grading Formula:
Position Papers & Discussion Participation 25%
Research Paper
25%
Midterm Exam
25%
Final
25%
NOTE: The above requirements are subject to modification. I reserve the right to alter or amend them as I deem appropriate. Students with documented disabilities should contact me to request additional accommodations, if needed.
All dates, topics, reading assignments, and deadlines here are tentative; be alert to in-class announcements.
Week I: Historians and the Civil War; New World
Slavery: From Origins to Constitutional Compromise
Read: Foner, pp. 1-10
Kolchin, pp. 3-92
Week II: Culture and Society in the Old South
Read: Kolchin, pp. 93-168
Begin Brent, Incidents
Week III: Culture and Society in the Antebellum
North: Evangelicalism, Abolitionism, and the Family in the Age of the Market
Revolution
Read: Finish Brent, Incidents
* Handouts: Catherine Kish Sklar: Catherine Beecher, excerpts
Week IV: Texas, Mexico & James K. Polk: The
Mexican-American War and the Politics of Expansion
Read: Foner, pp. 11-148
Week V: The Crisis of the 1850s: Free Labor and
the Origins of the Republican Party
Read: Finish Foner.
Week VI: Toward Secession: The Triumph of
Southern Nationism
Read: Perman, Ch. 3
Week VII: Farewell to the Ninety Days' War
Read: Perman, Ch. 4
*** Midterm Exam ***
Week VIII: 1862
Read: Perman, Ch. 5
Week IX: The Road to Emancipation: Lincoln, Race
and Freedom in the Crucible of War
Read: Ch. 6, & pp. 277-80; 288-97
Week X: The Homefronts
Read: Perman, Chs. 7 & 8
Week XI: Women in Wartime
Read: Perman, Ch. 9
Start Shaara
Week XII: Total War: From Gettysburg to Appomattox
Read: Finish Shaara
Week XIII: The Political Economy of Presidential
Reconstruction
Read: Perman, Ch. 11
Week XIV: The Political Economy of Radical Reconstruction
Read: Perman, Ch. 12
Week XV: Southern Redemption
Read: Perman, Chs. 13 & 14
*** Paper Due ***
*** Final Exam ***