Issues in U.S. History

Week Five Schedule:
Conflict and Compromise.

Monday (10/8)

Conditions and Historians of Slavery.
Read Guarneri, pp. 148-156. Read the WPA slave narrative of George Womble, (Georgia Narratives, Volume IV, Part 4.) [approx. 15 pp.] This interview is typical of WPA accounts. In assessing the conditions of slavery there are some standard experiences shared by large numbers of slave captives. (1) How many times was Womble involuntarily separated from a family member? (2) What impact did the deaths of owners have on Womble? (3) How many instances of physical violence or mutilation did Womble's account contain? (4) What were some typical ways that Womble and his associates used deception to resist the extremes they were subjected to? (5) In what ways did the slaveholders seek to mitigate the harshness of plantation captivity? How did Christianity operate to reinforce slavery or to counteract its excesses? (6) What, if any, political or cultural impact might running away have?

Before class, members of the RED discussion group will need to post to the course discussion board.

Tuesday (10/9)

The Diplomatic Crisis of the 1840s: A Polygonal Analysis.

Read Guarneri, America, pp.145-148.

Wednesday (10/10)

The Coming of the Civil War.
Examine the secession dates and timing page. Which states seceded early? Which eventual Confederate states initially voted against secession? Which states were the most strongly Democratic? Which stateswere the least Democratic? In which of these states did more than one in three free families own slaves? In which of these states did less than one in five free families own slaves? In which states were free people outnumbered by slaves? In which states were free people at least 80 percent of the total population?In raw numbers, which state had the largest number of slaves? Taken as a whole,what does this table tell us about the relationships among political competitiveness,extent of slaveholding, and the rush (or not) to secession?

Read the Mississippi Secession Declaration. Read the South Carolina Secession Declaration, esp. paragraphs16 through 24. Read the Alabama legislative resolutions and proclamationof Gov. A.B. Moore.Read the Merriwether County, Georgia Secession Resolutions. According to these documents, what were the most significant threats posed by the dominance of the Republican party in Northern states and by the election of Abraham Lincolnto the presidency? Why was Lincoln's mere election perceived as sufficient cause for secession? How closely do these speeches match the tabular information consulted above?

Read an editorial on secession from the Rochester, New York, Daily Union and Advertiser. Judging from this editorial, why did Northerners decide to oppose secession by force?

Before class, members of the GREEN discussion group will need to post to the course discussion board.

Thursday (10/11)

The Civil War and American Freedom.
Read the Diary of Belle Edmondson, entries for April 14-20, July 4-26, and Sept. 14-30. Look over the Chronology of Emancipation during the Civil War, on the Freedmen and Southern Society Project website at the University of Maryland.

Friday (10/12)

Reconstruction and the Enduring Civil War.
Read accounts of the New Orleans Massacre of 1866, the Memphis Riots of 1866, the Opelousas Massacre and other Louisiana violence of 1868, the Colfax Massacre of 1873, the Coushatta Massacre of 1874, the Vicksburg Massacre of 1874, the Hamburg Massacre of 1876, and the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898. Perform a Google search on "Memphis Riots" 1866. How many hits were returned? Perform a search on "Burning of Columbia" 1865. How many hits were returned? Which seems to have had more consequence on national policies? What explains the differential?

Before class, members of the BLUE discussion group will need to post to the course discussion board.

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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 9/20/2007.