This is a half-year course examining the causes, course and character of the American Civil War. It will begin with the sectional crisis beginning in 1793 and follow through the official end of Reconstruction in 1876.
Emphasized topics will include: factors leading to American sectionalism, economic infrastructure of America before and after the Civil War; military strategies, campaigns and tactics of Civil War era; cultural changes and impacts of the Civil War; persons of special interest before, during and after the Civil War; changes brought about by the Civil War.
It will involve a combination of lecture, discussion, multimedia and student presentation with an emphasis on reading and essay.
Graded Requirements:
This class will be taught as an elective �seminar� course. This will be a drastic change for many of you. You will not simply listen to me lecture and let knowledge soak into you. You will responsible for generating knowledge and understanding. You will be creating your own notes. I will simply facilitate. You will have more to read in this class than probably any other class you have taken. You will be held responsible for your reading and your reading comprehension.
You will be graded on the following criteria:
Essay and objective tests
At least 2 major presentations per 9-weeks (1 class period long including hands on activity, map, PowerPoint and 2-4 page typed essay)
At least 2 minor presentations per 9-weeks (15-30 minutes long with 1-2 paged typed essay)
Various in class & out-of-class projects as assigned in class
Regular (but unscheduled) pop quizzes covering various reading materials.
The texts for this course are paperback and will be purchased by you for your keep. The cost is approximately $21 and will be assessed on your student fees.
Various volunteer projects & trips at your expense. I will be paying the same as you for most activities and will keep cost at a minimum. (Food, souvenirs, project materials, entrance fees, etc)
Gettysburg - DC Summer Trip
Main Page American History
World History Government
Picture Pages Civil War Links
Jan. 26 � Feb. 12: The Road to War (Mr. Foster)
Sectional Differences
a. Colonization
b. Economics & Politics
Slavery: The Peculiar Institution
a. Origins and History
b. The Middle Passage & Life as a Slave
The American Revolution
a. Why?
b. British and American Policies towards Slavery
American Government & Slavery
c. Articles of Confederations
d. Northwest Ordinance
e. U.S Constitution
Growing Sectionalism
a. Industrialization (Eli Whitney)
b. Henry Clay�s American System
c. Nationalism vs. States� Rights
d. Missouri Compromise
e. Tariff of Abominations & Nullification (Henry Clay & John Calhoun)
The 2nd Great Awakening
a. Who? What? Why?
b. American Colonization Society
c. Temperance & Abolitionists
(Elijah Lovejoy, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth & William Lloyd Garrison
d. The Underground Railroad (Harriet Tubman)
North vs. South
a. Economy & Politics
b. Culture & Demographics
c. Transportation & Industry
d. Communications
e. Diversity, Leading Cities, Social Structure
Manifest Destiny Divides the Nation
a. Wilmot Proviso
b. Popular Sovereignty
c. Free Soil Party
d. Calhoun�s Southern Caucus
Compromise of 1850
a. All 5 parts including Fugitive Slave Act
* Each of the following presentations is to be assigned for students. *
February 13: The War Begins
Minor Presentations
Rising Tensions
a. Uncle Tom�s Cabin & Harriet Beecher Stow (____________________________)
b. Kansas-Nebraska Act & Bleeding Kansas (John Brown & Henry Ward Beecher) (____________________________)
c. Charles Sumner & Preston Brooks(____________________________)
d. The Dred Scott Decision (____________________________)
e. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (____________________________)
f. John Brown�s Raid (____________________________)
g. Election of 1860
f. Fort Sumter (____________________________)
(Robert Anderson & PGT Beauregard)
g. Crittendon Plan & Secession (____________________________)
Major Presentation
Abraham Lincoln Biography (____________________________)
Minor Presentation
Jefferson Davis Biography(____________________________)
Major Presentation
Maryland & the Border States & Writ of habeas corpus & Martial Law (____________________________)
Major Presentation (Mr. Foster)
The North vs. the South:
A. Motivations to Fight
B. Basic Goals & Strategies
C. Political Leadership & Military Structure
Major Presentation (Mr. Foster)
A. The Common Soldier & The Political Army
B. �A Rich Man�s War, A Poor Man�s Fight�
Major Presentation (____________________________)
C. A Diverse Military
i. Irish, Native-Americans, Germans, & African Americans
ii. Robert Gould Shaw & the 54th Massachusetts)
February 27: The First Year
Major Presentation (____________________________)
Civil Unrest
Copperheads, Spies & Privateers
(John Breckinridge, Belle Bord and Clement Vallandingham)
______________________________________________________________________________
(From this point forward, BOLD TYPE indicates a major presentation. All others will be minor. Each major battle can be accompanied by a minor presentation describing modern tourist visit or battlefield preservation.
Onward to Richmond, 1861-1862
A. (Winfield Scott, Edwin Stanton, & Henry Halleck,) (________________________)
B. (First Bull Run (____________________________)
C. Shenandoah Valley (____________________________)
D. Peninsula Campaign & George McClellan (____________________________)
E. (Robert E. Lee (____________________________)
F. (Thomas �Stonewall� Jackson ( ____________________________)
G. (JEB Stuart (____________________________)
March 9: 1862-1863
The War at Sea & The War in the West
A. (Blockades & Blockade Runners, Merrimac, Monitor/Virginia, Alabama, Shendoah, and Hunley) (____________________________)
B. Fort Donnelson & Fort Henry (____________________________) ,
C. Shiloh & Albert Sidney Johnston (____________________________)
Lee�s Northern Invasion, 1862
D. Antietam & Mathew Brady (____________________________)
Onward to Richmond, 1862-1863
E. Fredericksburg & Ambrose Burnside (____________________________)
F. Chancellorsville � Joseph Hooker & Jackson�s Death) (____________________________)
G. POW�s (Andersonville, Libbey Island, Johnston�s Island (_____________________)
H. Medicine (__________________________)
War in the West, 1863
I. New Orleans & David Farragut & Benjamin Butler (__________________)
J. Vicksburg & U.S. Grant (____________________________)
K. Nathan Bedford Forrest (____________________________)
L. Morgan�s Raid
April 17: Lee�s 2nd Northern Invasion, 1863
A. George Meade (____________________________)
B. Winfield Scott Hancock (____________________________)
C. James Longstreet (____________________________)
The Gettysburg Campaign
Mr. Foster
D. Civilians at Gettysburg - Jennie Wade, The Rupp House, etc.
E. Gettysburg Day 1- John Buford & John Reynolds
F. Gettysburg Day 2 � East Cemetery Hill, Devil�s Den, The Wheatfield, Joshua L. Chamberlain & Little Round Top
G. Gettysburg Day 3 � George Custer, George Pickett, Lewis Armistead
May 1: Total War to the Bloody End
H. Chickamauga & Chattanooga (____________________________)
I. William Tecumseh Sherman & Sherman�s March (____________________________)
J. Philip Sheridan & the Shenandoah Campaign (____________________________)
K. The Wilderness & Spotsylvania (____________________________)
L. Cold Harbor (____________________________)
M. Petersburg (____________________________)
N. Appomattox Courthouse (____________________________)
April 25 The Civil War: What was it good for?
Lincoln�s Assassination & John Wilkes Booth (____________________________)
Reconstruction
Lincoln�s 10% Plan & Andrew Johnson�s Plan (____________________________)
Radical Reconstruction & 13, 14th & 15th Amendments & Civil Rights Act & Freedmen�s Bureau (____________________________)
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (____________________________)
Booker T. Washington & Share cropping (____________________________)
Southern Reactions & the End of Reconstruction (____________________________)
Ku Klux Klan, Black Codes, Missippi Plan, Voting Restrictions, Jim Crow Laws & Segregation, Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
Rutherford B. Hayes & the Election of 1876 (____________________________)
Overall Results and the Civil War Today (Mr. Foster)