Sectionalism, Civil War and Reconstruction
History 436/636Spring, 2005
Professor James Oberly
HHH 713 (Tel. 836-4599/836-5501 Email: )
Desire2Learn Page:
Office Hours: Tu-Th 10:00-10:50; 1:00-1:50; M 2:00-3:00
Course Goals
History 436/636 covers the buildup, events, and aftermath of America’s greatest and most terrible war. We will seek to understand the causes of the Civil War, how and why the Union was preserved, and how the victors altered and failed to alter southern society. We will study these questions with an eye toward making connections between the Civil War and America in 2003.
Course Components
1) Assigned Readings--There are three texts required for the course: James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (1988) available for rent at the University Bookstore; Eric Foner, Reconstruction (1988); and David Potter, The Impending Crisis (1977) are all available for purchase in paperback at the University Bookstore.
2) Class Attendance--Lectures, class discussions, Library bibliographical instruction, computer lab work, field trips, etc. will start where the reading leaves off, so come to class having read the assignments.
3) Student Research--A 400-level course in history carries with it the obligation for the student to “do” history through active study and writing. I have devised two types of assignments that will have you doing Civil War era history.
3a) Archival Research—Students will examine one of three sets of primary sources: the Congressional Globe, which is the record of speeches made on the floor of the House and Senate; Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, which is the compilation of messages, dispatches, telegrams, and reports of both armies during the war; and, third, the Joint Congressional Committee Hearings into the Ku Klux Klan, which investigated the terrorism in the South in 1870-71. In a five page paper, students will describe their findings in the primary sources, and analyze their meaning with help from the readings and class lectures and discussions. Due Date: March 1st or April 14th or May 12th
3b) Quantitative Analysis—Students will examine one of three datasets containing quantitative information about the Civil War Era: 1) the records of the New Orleans slave market, 1804-1862, which contains valuable information about the workings of slavery; 2) Black volunteers in the Union Army, 1863-1865; and 3) the U.S. national election of 1864. In a five page paper, students will describe their findings from the datasets and then analyze their meaning with help from the readings and class lectures and discussions. Due Date: March 1st or April 14th or May 12th
We will devote class time to learning the necessary research techniques for you to succeed in this aggregate research-and-writing assignment. There will be full handouts for completing this assignment posted to our class Desire2Learn pages.
4) Exams—I ask that each student undertake to write three review essays of about three pages in length that address a major question raised in the readings. In effect, this is a set of take-home exams. Due Dates: March 1stand April 14th and May 12th
Note 1: I well know that I am asking a lot of students. The reading assignments increase in quantity as the semester progresses. It only seems fair to give students the opportunity to share their work with others in class. We can do this informally with oral presentations and online with email and the Web.
Note 2: Graduate students taking History 636 should meet with me after the first class to discuss additional assignments appropriate to a graduate level class.
History 436 and Becoming an Educated Person at UWEC
History 436 is a general education course designed, as the University Catalogue says, "to help each student attain the basic competencies, breadth of knowledge, and critical judgement which characterize a mature and responsible individual in modern society." The faculty at UWEau Claire have placed the "development of an historical consciousness" as one of the fundamental elements of a baccalaureate degree. I start with the assumption that every educated man and woman should have a familiarity with the American Civil War. Moreover, I believe students in General Education courses should work to improve their skills of reading, writing, listening, analyzing, and speaking. I have designed the assignments in and out of class to help you develop those skills and as a way to introduce you to the manner in which historians think and work.
Helping Students with Disabilities—
I welcome the opportunity to help students with disabilities succeed in History 125, and in general at the University. Please come see me at the beginning of the course and let me know of any special needs you may have
Grading
Your grade will be based on your performance in completing your written work and in contributing to the class discussion. The formula followed is that the review essays are each worth 15 percent (total of 45%); the research projects are worth 25% each for a total of 50%; and attendance/class participation is worth 5%.
Course Outline and Reading Assignments
Part I--The Coming of the Civil War
Jan. 27: Introduction: George W. Bush’s America and the Legacy of the Civil War
Feb. 1: Life and Labor in the Old South (McP, ch. 1; Potter, chs. 1-3)
Feb. 3: The Free Labor North (McP, ch. 2; Potter, ch. 4-6)
Feb. 8: The two-party system of Democrats and Whigs (McP, ch. 3)
Feb. 10: Collapse of the two-party system, 1853-54 (McP, ch. 4; Potter, chs. 7-8)
Feb. 15: Bleeding Kansas and Bleeding Sumner (McP, ch. 5; Potter, ch. 9)
Feb. 17: Wreck of the Buchanan Administration (McP, ch. 6; Potter, ch. 10
Feb. 22: The Emergence of Lincoln (McP, ch. 7; Potter, chs. 11-13)
Feb. 24: The Election of 1860 (Potter, chs. 14-17)
March 1: 1861--Secession (McP, chs. 8-9; Potter, chs. 18-20) [Note: first set of review essays and research project(s) due]
Part II--The War Between the States
Mar. 3: First Bull Run--preview of warfare (McP, chs. 10-12)
Mar. 8: The 1862 Union drive to Victory...and Defeat (McP, chs. 13-15)
Mar. 10: Diplomacy and the War at Sea (McP, chs. 16-18)
Mar. 15: “Manliness” and Masculinity & Femininity at war (Foner, ch. 1)
Mar. 17: Civil War Treasure Hunt: Individual Library Research Day
Mar. 29: 1862: The Other Civil War in Minnesota (Foner, ch. 2)
Mar. 31: 1863--Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and Chattanooga (McP, chs. 19-20)
Apr. 5: The Spring, 1864 campaigns (McP, chs. 21-22)
Apr. 7: The March to the Sea (McP, chs. 23-24)
Apr. 12: The General Strike Against Slavery (McP, chs. 25-26; Foner, ch. 3)
Apr. 14: Collapse of the Confederacy (Foner, ch. 4) [Note: second set of review essays and research projects due]
Part III--Reconstructing the South
Apr. 19: What if? Lincoln, Freedom, and the Art of the Possible (McP, chs. 27-28; )
Apr. 21: Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction (Foner, chs. 5)
Apr. 26: Congressional Reconstruction (Foner, chs 6)
Apr. 28: Impeachment of a President (Foner, chs. 7-8)
May 3: White Terror in the South (Foner, chs 9)
May 5: The Labor Question of the North (Foner, ch. 10)
May 10: Black Life in the South and the Origins of Strom Thurmond’s America (Foner, ch. 11)
May 12: 1877--the Prussian Road to Southern Capitalism (Foner, chs. 12) [Note: third set of review essays and research projects due]
May 20—Bivouac of the Dead: I will meet the class during our scheduled final exam period (8:00 a.m.) at the Civil War Memorial Obelisk in LakeviewCemetery to honor the dead and to return all essays and papers in History 436/636.
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