| [Return to Syllabus] | [19th Century Documents] | On-line Discussions] |
History 95 will meet according to the schedule listed below. This is an upper division history course with a very significant reading and discussion component. Doing all of your assigned reading for the day listed before class meetings is essential. A variety of class exercises will allow you to display this knowledge. You will be evaluated in part on the quality of your pre-class preparation. Because this is an upper division course and because of the concentrated nature of this Summer II course you will need to spend an average four to six hours a day outside of class time on reading and other assignments.
Students with disabilities who need academic accommodations should contact Dr. Susan Clarke, Coordinator of Disability Services, (2322). After an meeting with her, contact me during my office hours. Don't procrastinate: do this EARLY in the term before the first assignments are due.
All required electronic documents and on-line discussions can be reached by clicking the links on this web page.
| Topic | Assignment |
| (WEEK ONE) Tuesday, July 22: |
|
| Welcome and Introduction | Read Simpson, America's Civil War (ACW), Foreward, Preface and Acknowledgments, Introduction, today after class. Please post a short introduction of yourself, your preliminary thoughts about the course, and a reaction to the Simpson introduction and the other documents listed for today, on the online discussion board by the end of the day. (Note: after today, all other assignments listed in this schedule must be done before class on the day listed.) |
| America's Conflict and the meaning of War. | David Hume, Treatise on Human Nature (excerpt); Soldier's Graves at Antietam |
| A Chronology of Crisis and Compromise | Background Chronology |
| Wednesday, July 23 [POST] | |
| Sectional Differences I | George Fitzhugh, Sociology for the South (excerpt); James G. Randall, "The Blundering Generation" Mississippi Valley Historical Review [JAH], 27 (1940), 3-28. (You will need to be on the Furman network to access the JSTOR electronic version of this). (Complete this and all subsequent assignments before class on the indicated day.) |
| Sectional Differences II | Investigate the Valley of the Shadow Project (Eve of War. Especially the newspapers and public records sections). Read the Essay by Ayers and Thomas |
| From Compromise to Crisis, 1850-1854 | Appeal of the Independent Democrats (24 January 1854); Preston Brooks on the Nebraska Bill; The Boston Fugitive Slave Riots. |
| Thursday, July 24: | |
| Fugitives and Foreigners, Kansans and Canings: 1855-1856 | Northern Party Shifts; Sumner caning editorials (comment on one editorial nobody else has yet commented on, and be prepared to discuss at least three posted by others). |
| 1857: Slavery National? | Dred Scott editorials (comment on one editorial and discuss three). |
| Four Men at the Center: Lincoln, Douglas, Brown, and Helper | ACW, 68-87; Abraham Lincoln's 'House Divided' Speech; Douglas's Reply (esp. paragraph 4, "the Freeport doctrine"); John Brown editorials (comment on one editorial and discuss three). |
| Friday, July 25: | |
| The Slave Power | Discussion of Leonard L. Richards, The Slave Power. (You must post a substantive, original and appropriately cited review essay posting to the discussion board before class. |
| The Campaign of 1860 | ACW, 7-9; Republican Platform; Presidential voting by state; (note N.Y., Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois, esp.) Maps of presidential voting by county. |
| (WEEK TWO) Monday, July 28: |
|
| Deep South Secession | ACW, 9-21.; Mississippi Secession Declaration; Alabama Commissioner's Letter to Kentucky Gov. Magoffin; Gov. Magoffin's Response |
| Sumter as a struggle for the Upper South | ACW, 21-23 |
| First In-Class Exam | Exam I |
| Tuesday, July 29 [POST] | |
| War Aims and The Upper South | ACW, 24-36; Lincoln's War Message; Davis's War Message |
| Manassas and the First Summer of War | ACW, 37-45 |
| The Trent Affair | ACW, 45-48. |
| Wednesday, July 30 [POST] | |
| Tennessee, New Orleans and the South's Spring Crisis | ACW, 49-56. |
| The Peninsula | ACW, 57-61. | The Valley and After | ACW, 61-66 |
| Thursday, July 31 [POST] | |
| The Seven Days' Battles | Read Alan T. Nolan, Lee Considered, pp. 73-106, and Emory Thomas, Robert E. Lee, Chapter 19 (on book reserve). |
| Union and Confederate Nationalization | ACW, 66-69, 137-145. |
| Second Manassas and Northward | ACW, 80-83 (except last paragraph) |
| Friday, August 1 | |
| Ordinary Soldiers and their Families | Discussion of Lowe and Hodges, Letters to Amanda (You must post a substantive, original and appropriately cited reaction commentary posting to the discussion board before class. This is not a full book review but should be longer than a regular posting. |
| Antietam: Day of Blood | ACW, 83 (final paragraph)-87; Letter from R.E. Lee to Jefferson Davis, 3 September 1862; View all of the Antietam Photographs from the Library of Congress's collection of Selected Civil War Photographs. |
| (WEEK THREE) Monday, August 4 [POST] |
|
| Emancipation | ACW, 89-93; Chronology of Emancipation; Ira Berlin, "Who Freed the Slaves: Emancipation and its Meaning" in Blight and Simpson, eds., Union and Emancipation (on reserve); Lincoln's Compensated Emancipation Proposal for Delaware (Nov. 1861); Draft proposal for compensated emancipation (Feb. 1862); Lincoln's "Raymond Letter" (March 1862) defending compensated emancipation; Lincoln's "Greeley Letter" (August 1862) on the union vs. slavery; Lincoln's "Conkling Letter" (Aug. 1863) defending Emancipation. |
| Southern Reactions to the Emancipation Proclamation | Reaction of the Richmond Whig; Reaction of the Charleston Courier; Jefferson Davis's Proclamation (Dec. 24 1862) |
| Tuesday, August 5 [POST] | |
| The Kentucky Offensive | Read John Keegan, The Face of Battle (Chapter One's sections on "The Narrative Tradition," and "Verdict or Tradition," pp. 61-77) (On reserve; bring a copy to class.); Gen. Bragg's Proclamation; Perryville: Gen. Buell's account; Cincinnati Gazette account; Gen. Bragg's account; Sam Watkins' account; ACW, 87-88. |
| Fall of Failures: Fredericksburg and Murfreesboro | ACW, 94-99. |
| Wednesday, August 6 | |
| The Civil War as Women's Revolution | ACW, 130-137; Nancy Emerson Diary, Augusta County, Virginia; Drew Gilpin Faust, "Altars of Sacrifice: Confederate Women and the Narratives of War" [JSTOR] Journal of American History 76 (Mar. 1990), 1200-1228; Kristie Ross, "Arranging a Doll's House: Refined Women as Union Nurses" in Clinton and Silber, eds., Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War, 97-113, on reserve). |
| Chancellorsville and Vicksburg | ACW, 100-110. |
| Thursday, August 7 | |
| Gettysburg I: Historical Accounts | ACW, 110-114; Lee's Official Report; Meade's Official Report |
| Gettysburg II: Images of Battle | In-class viewing of excerpts from Ken Burns' Civil War and Ron Maxwell's Gettysburg |
| Second In-Class Exam | Exam II |
| Friday, August 8 | |
| Grant Takes Command: Chattanooga, Chickamauga, and the East | ACW, 114-120 |
| The Impact of Emancipation | ACW, 120-129 |
| Grant and Sherman I: From the Wilderness to Petersburg | ACW, 162-175 |
| (WEEK FOUR) Monday, August 11: |
|
| Grant and Sherman II: The Campaign for Atlanta | ACW, 175-177 |
| Lincoln's Summer of Troubles and the Election of 1864 | ACW, 145-161, 177-187, Geography of Lincoln's Election. |
| Behind Union Lines (Discussion of Ash) | Ash, When the Yankees Came (You must post a substantive, original and appropriately cited review essay posting to the discussion board before class. |
| Tuesday, August 12 [POST] | |
| Atlanta, War Morality and Sherman's March | ACW, 188-197 ; Official exchange over Atlanta: Correspondence of Sherman, Hood, and the Atlanta Mayor |
| The Collapse of the Confederacy | ACW, 197-219 |
| Reconstruction Obstacles and Proposals | Three Months Among the Reconstructionists; Dolly Sumner Lunt Burge Diary (Read entries from 20 Nov. 1864 through 25 Dec. 1865); Nashville Citizen's Petition (Jan. 1865); Sherman's Field Order #15 (Jan. 1865); North Carolina Soldiers to the Freedman's Bureau (Spring 1865) |
| Wednesday, August 13 [POST] | |
| Presidential and ex-Confederate Reconstruction | Donald G. Nieman, Andrew Johnson, the Freedman's Bureau, and the problem of Equal Rights, 1865-1866" [JSTOR] Journal of Southern History (Aug. 1978), 399-420. |
| Learning Free Labor | Labor Contract with Seven Freedmen. |
| Reunification and the Crisis of 1866 | Geography of the 1866 Election; Memphis and New Orleans Cartoon; Mississippi Black Code (1865); Alexander Stephens on Reconstruction (read pp. 631-651). |
| Thursday, August 14 [POST] | |
| Radical Reconstruction | Fourteenth Amendment; Confiscation Speech of Thaddeus Stevens, 19 March 1867 |
| Southern Republicans and the Paramilitary Backlash | Herbert Shapiro, "The Ku Klux Klan During Reconstruction: The South Carolina Episode" [JSTOR] Journal of Negro History 49 (Jan. 1964), 34-55. |
| The Gospel of Prosperity | Discussion of Nelson, Iron Confederacies. |
| Friday, August 15 | |
| The Civil War's Place in American History | David W. Blight, "Quarrel forgotten or a revolution remembered? Reunion and race in the memory of the Civil War, 1875-1913" in Blight and Simpson, eds., Union and Emancipation (on reserve). |
| Final Exam | Final Examination, 10:15-11:45 a.m. |
| Assignment | Due Date | Contribution to Grade |
| Review Essay I: The Slave Power | July 25 | 9 percent |
| First In-Class Examination | July 28 | 17 |
| Second In-Class Examination | August 7 | 17 |
| Essay II: War's Civilian Impact | August 11 | 9 |
| On-Line Discussions | Daily | 10 |
| On-Line Exchange and Engagement | Daily | 4 |
| In-class discussions, exercises, and participation | Daily | 10 |
| Comprehensive Final Examination | Friday, May 15, 10:10-11:45 a.m. | 24 |
Note: The instructor reserves the right to change any provisions, due dates, grading percentages, or any other items without prior notice. All assignments on this schedule are covered under the university's policy on plagiarism and academic integrity. See the syllabus statement for further details. This page was last updated on 7/21/2003.
