Instructor: Charles W. Sanders, Jr.
Time: 10:30 -11:20 Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Class Location: Waters 350
Office Location: Eisenhower 221
Office Hours: 12:00 - 1:00, Wednesday and Friday, and by Appointment
Phone: 532-6730. This is the number of the History Department Office. I do not recommend
this method of contacting me, but if you must, leave a message, and I will return your
call when I receive it. Be forewarned that telephone communications on campus are
notoriously slow and unreliable. Our primary means of communication in this class will be
through the class electronic list or through e-mail to my personal e-mail address.
Electronic Mail: You can contact me with personal messages at chassan@ksu.edu
Web: http://www.personal.ksu.edu/ ~chassan
I. Required Texts
II. Course Scope, Requirements
III. Tentative Schedule of Lecture Topics, Readings
IV. In-Class Presentations
V. Internet Search Assignments
VI. Lincoln-Douglas Debate Assignments
VII. Article Summaries
VIII. Research Paper Guidelines, Sources and Topics
IX. HISTCWAR: The Class Electronic Discussion List
James McPherson, Ordeal by Fire, Volume I, The Coming of War, 2d Edition (McGraw -Hill, 1993).
James McPherson, Ordeal by Fire, Volume II, The Civil War, 2d Edition (McGraw -Hill, 1993).
Michael Perman, ed., Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction, 2nd Edition, (Houghton Mifflin, 1998).
Robert W. Johannsen, ed., The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 (Oxford, 1965).
Eric Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction. (Harper, 1990).
Optional, but strongly recommended: Joseph Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, 3rd ed., (Scott, Foresman, 1989).
Plus occasional handouts as assigned.
All students are required to obtain a userid and password for access to the campus network. This class will have its own electronic list, and students should check for messages daily. You will be required to post assignments to this list and retrieve information from the World Wide Web. The list will also be our primary means of communication. I will post important course information, study guides and research sources to the list, and it will be your most effective and expeditious means of communicating with me.
II. Course Scope, Requirements, Grading.
Welcome to History 529! In this course we will study what, in my humble opinion, is the most important and interesting period in American history. The course will combine lecture, discussions, essays, and readings into a comprehensive survey of the period from 1848 to 1876. That survey will begin with the development of the sectional crisis prior to 1860 and carry through the important military, social and political events of the war and Reconstruction. Although we will devote significant time to the war’s important battles and campaigns, this will not be a military history course. The main focus of the course will be on the social and political history of the era.
I expect our time together to be lively as well as informative. The course will not be a recitation of dry and lifeless facts. This is a period of much drama, humor and sadness. It is a time of great achievements and unspeakable horrors. In short, it is the era of our nation’s most staggering trials and its greatest triumphs. The type of history I will offer you will be that which Bruce Catton has described as "history with the blood in it." The objective of this sort of history is to capture the "feel" of the era as well as the "facts."
Course requirements are as follows: three essay exams (two midterms each worth 15% of your grade and a final worth 30%; a critical review (explained on an attached sheet) worth 25% of your grade, and a class participation grade worth 15%. The latter will be derived from the following four components:
This will be a fast-paced session in which we must cover a mountain of history in our lecture/discussion periods. As in all upper-level courses, the work required is substantial. Some weeks the assignments are heavier than others. Study the schedule and plan ahead. Note especially the due dates for your Lincoln-Douglas debate reports, your in-class presentations, your research paper synopsis and outline and your completed paper.
Do not miss class. If you must miss, notify me in advance. If an emergency precludes contact prior to the absence, contact me as soon as possible. I will work with you if you communicate with me.
Questions are always welcome, either during class or in meetings with me. If some point in the readings or the lecture is troubling you, odds are that it is troubling others as well. History 529 is about learning, and together we will attempt to provide answers to the questions the course raises. You will not agree with all my conclusions on the topics we discuss. I sincerely encourage alternative interpretations. Be prepared to support your arguments with evidence gained from your readings.
My office hours are listed at the beginning of the syllabus, and you may always contact me via my personal e-mail address. Please feel free to meet with me to discuss any aspect of the course. I look forward to our study together.
K.S.U. Plagiarism and Cheating:
Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses and may be punished by failure on the examination, paper or project; failure in the course, and/or expulsion from the University. For more information refer to "Academic Dishonesty" policy in Inside KSU.
Copyright Statement:
The lecture materials presented in this course are copyrighted. Reproduction of class notes for commercial purposes without the express permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.
Student Disabilities:
Any student seeking an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact the instructor at the earliest opportunity.
Distribution of grade weights:
A = 4.00
AB = 3.50
B = 3.00
BC = 2.50
C = 2.00
CD = 1.50
D = 1.00
Grading System Example:
1st Exam, CD: 1.5 x 15% = .23
2nd Exam, B: 3.0 x 15% = .45
3rd Exam, A: 4.0 x 30% = 1.20
Paper, B: 3.0 x 25% = .75
Class Participation, AB: 3.5 x 15% = .53
Final Course Grade: B 3.16
III. Tentative Schedule of Lecture Topics and Readings
Listed below is the schedule of dates, topics and readings. This schedule is tentative and subject to change based on the requirements of the class.
| August: | |
| 24. | Course Introduction and Orientation: Why Study the American Civil War and Reconstruction? McPherson, Preface and Prologue. |
| 26. | America on the Eve. Readings: McPherson, chap. 1; Perman, chap. 1. |
| 28. | Lincoln-Douglas Debate Group Organizational Meetings. Come prepared to meet in your assigned group and begin work on your assigned debates. See assignment #1 on the web page for specifics on your assignments. |
| 31. | The South, the North, and the Slave: McPherson, chaps. 2-3. |
| In-Class Presentation # 1. "The Arguments For and Against Slavery: Pro-Slavery Ideology vs. Free-Labor Ideology." | |
| September: | |
| 2. | The Fire Spreads: Annexation and Expansion. McPherson, chap. 4 |
| 4. | The Compromise of 1850 and its Aftermath. McPherson, chap. 4-5; Perman, chap. 2. |
| 7. | Labor Day Holiday (Union) |
| 9. | "A Hell of a Storm:" The Kansas-Nebraska Act, & "Bleeding Kansas" and the Election of 1856. McPherson, chap. 6. |
| Internet Search Assignments Posted to Class List | |
| 11. | "An Imaginary Negro in an Impossible Place"? Dred Scott, Lincoln-Douglas and Hardening Sectionalism. McPherson, chap. 7. |
| In-Class Presentation # 2. "The Arguments For and Against the Expansion of Slavery Into the Territories." | |
| 14. | "The Crimes of this Guilty Land." John Brown and the Harper's Ferry Raid. McPherson, chap. 8. |
| 16. | "The Tug Must Come." The Election of 1860 and Secession. McPherson, chap 8; Perman, chap. 3. |
| In-Class Presentation # 3: "The Arguments that Each of the Two Sections Sought to Destroy the Way of Life of the Other." | |
| 18. | Attempts at Compromise and Ft. Sumter. McPherson, chap. 9. |
| In-Class presentation # 4: "Jefferson Davis and the Fort Sumter Crisis: Did the President Select the Best Course of Action?" | |
| Lincoln-Douglas Debate Reports Due. | |
| 21. | Mobilization. McPherson, chap. 11. |
| 23. | Arms and Men: The World of Johnny Reb and Billy Yank. McPherson, chap. 12, through page 200); Perman, chap. 5. |
| 25. | Exam # 1. Review Questions and Sample Essays will be posted to the class list. |
| 28. | Amateurs Go to War. Guns, Butter, Strategy and the First Clash. chap. 12 (200-207), chap. 13 (208-217); Perman, chap. 4. |
| 30. | Civil War Medicine. McPherson, chap. 21 (385-392); Perman, chap. 9. |
| October | |
| 2. | Europe and the War. McPherson, chap. 13 (217-221); 17 (300-301); 19 (340-342). |
| 5. | Slavery, Emancipation, and Northern Politics, 1861-1862. McPherson, chap. 16. Perman, chap. 6. |
| 7. | Horror on the Rappahannock: The Fredericksburg Campaign, December 1862. McPherson, chap. 18 (302-306). |
| 9. | "What Will the Country Say?" The Chancellorsville Campaign. McPherson, chap. 18 (315-321). |
| In-Class Presentation # 5: "Confederate Strategy at Mid-War: Should Lee Have Been Allowed to Invade the North in 1863?" | |
| 12. | "The Pinnacle of Success:" The Gettysburg Campaign, Part 1. McPherson, chap. 19. |
| 14. | "All My Fault": Gettysburg, Part II. McPherson, chap. 19. |
| 16. | "Brown-Water War": The Vicksburg Campaign. McPherson, chap. 18 (309-315), chap 19 (330-332); Perman, chap. 8. |
| 19. | Domestic Issues and Politics at Mid-War. McPherson, chap. 20; Perman, chap. 7. |
| 21. | The Homefronts at Mid-War. McPherson, chap. 21 (368-385), chap. 22. |
| 23. | "If It Takes All Summer": The Battle of the Wilderness, May 1864. McPherson, chap. 23, (410-418). |
| 26. | The Overland Campaign, Spotsylvania to Petersburg. McPherson, chap. 23 (418-429). |
| 28. | The Election of 1864. McPherson, chap. 24. |
| 30. | The Last Citadel: The Petersburg Campaign. McPherson, chap. 23 (423-429), chap. 24 (478-481). |
| November: | |
| 2. | Appomattox. McPherson, chap. 25.(481-488). |
| 4. | The Legacy of the American Civil War. |
| 6. | Exam # 2: Study Questions and Sample Essays will be posted to the class list. |
| 9. | "Bottom Rail on Top": Foner, chaps. 1-2; Perman, chap. 10. |
| 11. | Open |
| 13. | Open |
| Term Paper Synopsis and Outline Due on Class List Today. | |
| 16. | "To Do Like A White Man." The New World of the Freedmen. Foner, chap. 3; Perman, chap. 13. |
| 18. | The Freedmen's Bureau and the "Beauties of Free Labor." Foner, chap. 4. |
| 20. | The Triumph of the Radicals. Foner, chaps. 5,6; Perman, chap. 11. |
| 23. | The "Reconstructed" South. Readings: Foner, chaps. 7,8; Perman, chap. 12. |
| 25. | Thanksgiving Holiday. |
| 27. | Thanksgiving Holiday. |
| 30. | "New Departure," Old Methods: The First Redemption. Foner, chap. 9. |
| Term Papers Due In Class Today | |
| December: | |
| 2. | Retreat From Reconstruction. Foner, chaps. 10, 11; Perman, chap. 13. |
| 4. | Redeemers Resurgent: The Second Redemption. Foner, chap. 12; Perman, chap. 14. |
| 7. | "Birth of a Nation," Death of an Idea: D.W. Griffith and the "New" History of Reconstruction. Foner, Epilogue; Perman, chap. 15. |
| 9. | Course Review. |
| 11. | No Class. |
| 14. | Final Exam, 11.50-1.40, in our usual classroom. The final exam time indicated in the syllabus should be double-checked as the semester's end approaches. The Final Examination Schedule printed in the Line Schedule frequently contains errors. Study Questions and Sample Essays will be posted to the class list. |
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