TASCLASS: The U.S. Civil War

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Homework Due Friday, Sept 28

Get those geography tests in! You will be assigned another for Monday.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Geography Take Home Test, Part One, Due Wednesday

Draw the following on a blank map. Be accurate!

Cities:

Cincinatti
Louisville
Cairo
Memphis
Vicksburg
Baton Rouge
New Orleans
Savannah
Nashville
Knoxville
Richmond
Montgomery
Atlanta
Columbia
Pittsburg
Boston
New York
Brooklyn
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Washington D.C.
Norfolk
Charleston
Mobile
Trenton

Why such mind boggling changes north and south?

We begin our exploration of the massive change in the U.S. between 1830 and 1860. Some argue that the tremendous differences between north and south made war inevitable. I do not believe that.

But combine tremendous increases in population, huge shifts in geography, and new technologies with incompetent political leadership and you have a big problem.

By the 1850's, the U.S. had a big, big problem.

First, however a review of Monday's class. Basically we discussed the conditions necessary for economic growth, capitalist style:

What did one need back then to get a factory underway?

LABOR: a large, cheap labor force. Both skilled and unskilled.

BUILDINGS, LAND, AND EQUIPMENT: the materials to build, the land to build on, land that is near labor, power, and supplies, and other factories and businesses to produce the supplies

POWER: Small rivers to power water wheels and coal to fire furnaces.

TRANSPORTATION: Roads, railroads, and canals to carry raw materials, replacement parts, and to ship finished goods out to other markets.

CAPITAL: investors to help raise money, banks to make and secure loans

RAW MATERIALS: iron, wood, cotton, hemp, etc

FOOD: Industrial workers do not raise their own. It has to be raised elsewhere.

Each of these elements build upon one another. How?

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Dred Scott: Discussion

Please post intelligent comments regarding the following:

Was the Dred Scott decision racist? Or was it political? Explain what the difference may be to you.
Was it constitutional to support property rights over Black civil rights? If so, do you think the Constitution was racist at that time?

Monday, September 17, 2007

Review of class Monday Sept. 19th

We reviewed Dred Scott and discussed it as the Supreme Court's smack-down of the newly powerful Republican Party. The court asserted that slaves are not "persons" under the Constitution, that they cannot sue in court, and that the Missouri Compromise is an unconstitutional extension of Congress' power.
We discussed a definition of "racism" as a clear program, by a government, supported by law, to deny rights to people of a certain race. The United States was not clearly "racist" in this sense early in its history, but became increasingly so during the first half of the 1800's.

Homework due Wed. Sept 19th

On the blank map handed out today:

Fill in the states admitted to the U.S. prior to 1860.
Draw the line created by the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Upcoming Blog Discussion: Sept 17-21

Dear Students,

All next week we will be discussing the nature of democracy, the Constitution, and the idea of expanding rights. You will be asked to keep in mind the many tensions that influenced 19th century America, such as black freedom and property rights, federal power and state power, empire and republic, southern society and social justice, etc.

We will begin with a quote or a question. All students are expected to participate.

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.