TASCLASS: The U.S. Civil War: October 2007

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Friday's Class (October 26)

We will be watching part of the wonderful Ken Burns' documentary for this class.

There will be two homework assignments for this weekend: first, illustrate on a map the general thrusts of the Anaconda Plan. Second, I will ask you to do a little research: List the advantages that the North had and the advantages that the South had. There should be at least three each. Be sure to explain them.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Review for Wednesday's Exams.

Most of the following will be on either the in-class exam or the take home test due on Friday.
All take home exams must be emailed to me by 4:00 Friday afternoon.
Friday we will be viewing the beginning of the Ken Burns documentary.

What are the basic outlines of the Dred Scott Case?

What was the conflict between property and personhood?

How did the Dred Scott case reflect the philosophy of government in the south?

What is natural law. What is positive law?

Describe the Missouri Compromise. When was it? Who wrote it?

Compare the centrality of factories in the north to the centrality of slavery in the south.

How did the north and south change in relation to slavery from 1830-60?

How was the early wealth of the north created?

What was that wealth invested into?

What did the south depend on the north for?

How did cheap labor, immigration, and industrialization relate to one another?

Describe the southern elite.

How did attitudes towards work differ between the elites of the north and south?

How did slavery differ between Virginia, South Carolina, and the lower Mississippi?

Describe the following conditions for industrialization in the north:
labor (skilled and unskilled); buildings, land, and equipment;
power (coal, water); capital; raw materials; ports; transportation

Contrast northern and southern agriculture. How did the growth of cities affect the specialization of farming in the north? What was the main influence on farming in the south?

Who was Henry Clay? Who was John Calhoun?

Why were "improvements" important to the north, and anathema to south?

Describe the biggest influences on the US in the mid-19th century:
slavery, immigration, technology (agricultural, industrial, communication),
democracy, and land.

According to Calhoun what was the only constitutional role for the federal government?

Describe the Compromise of 1850: how was a state traded for theory? Who brokered it?

Why were Californians against coming in as a slave state?

Why did their representatives vote with the south throughout the 1850's?

Class Overview

Part Three: War and Politics (4 weeks)

Here we look at the cascade of events that followed Lincoln's election in 1860, leading through the secession of the southern states, to the beginning of the war. We then will consider three of four crucial battles, each of which could have changed the war's outcome: Shiloh, the first battle with huge casualties; Antietem, both ghastly and inconclusive, the first invasion of a Union state; and Gettysburg, another attempt by the South to push to devastation off of its crucial farmland.

We then look at the two political leaders, Lincoln and Davis, and the two new and consequential military leaders, Grant and Lee. We will discuss the intersection of politics and military strategy in a democracy and the very important realization that in modern war, the political dimension is far more significant than what happens on the battlefield.

Then on to the most important aspect of the war: the vast changes the country begins to undergo, particularly the way in which slaves take their fate into their own hands and decisively shift the advantage to the northern armies.

We will then discuss the battle of Petersburg. As with so many of these battles it was notable for both tragic incompetence and incredible determination, was also strangely modern in its weaponry and tactics. This is the finally turning point of the war, the last realistic chance the South had for a military victory.

This portion of the class will end with a week long look at Lincoln's key speeches: Cooper Union, Gettysburg, and the Second Inaugural. We will then compare their effectiveness and clarity with those of some of his political opponents.
(thanks to P.W. for the idea...)

Part Four: Surrender and Reconstruction (3 weeks)

Grant has won. He offers very generous terms to the defeated Confederates, once again showing that he understands Lincoln's intentions better than any of the previous generals. Lincoln is assassinated and the country is plunged into mourning, fear, and anger. Reconstruction of the South begins with President Johnson handing the task over to southern whites, which eventually so infuriates northern voters that they hand over Congress to the radical Republicans, who promptly pass of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. The Civil Rights Era had, in a way, begun. For the first time, Black Americans have a significant political voice in the South. Yet it does not last. The Federal Government begins to pull back and violent, reactionary elements in the South begin to terrorize, kill, and otherwise suppress these newly enfranchised citizens . A new political order forms, not based on slavery per se, but with the goal of pushing Black Americans out of power and into a new kind of servitude.

Part Five: The Civil War Now (1 week)

We end the class with a brief look at the rise of the Civil Rights Movement in the early 20th century and the various ways that the Civil War has shaped modern American. We will also consider how the struggle continues over what the war means for us today.

Part One: Dred Scott (3 weeks) (finished)

Dred Scott vs. Sanford is unquestionably one of the three or four most consequential court cases in American History. Scott was a slave transported by his owner from the slave state of Missouri through several territories in which slavery was not permitted. His claim was that since he had lived in a free state, he was thus free. The case forced the Supreme Court to decide a number of very important issues, among them the management of slavery in the rapidly expanding territories and the status of slaves in these territories.

We will discuss how and why the case was decided as it was and explore several crucial events that led directly to it including the Fugitive Slave Clause in the U.S. Constitution, the Missouri Compromise, the rise of the Republican Party, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Compromise of 1854, and "Bleeding Kansas".

Part Two: Economics (1 week)

The two regions of the United States had changed enormously since the country's founding. As the northern economy diversified and industrialized, the south grew ever more reliant on slaves and agriculture.

TASCLASS: The U.S. Civil War

Monday, October 29, 2007

Homework for Wednesday Oct 31

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Friday's Class (October 26)

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Review for Wednesday's Exams.

Class Overview

Dred Scott

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