Course Description
The origin, conduct, and legacy of the war and the impact of the conflict upon peoples and institutions.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Research paper.
Athena Title
U S CIVIL WAR
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
The “New” North The “Old” South The Antislavery Narrative Acclimating a Nation to Violence Secession and Sumter Amateurs Go to War Bull Run and the Border States The River War in the West The Peninsula Second Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg The Face of Battle Soldier Motivation The African Americans’ War War’s Irregularities The War at Home Gettysburg Vicksburg, Port Hudson, and Tullahoma Grant and the Overland Campaign Sherman vs. Johnston in Georgia Endgames Abraham Lincoln and Belonging to the Ages A Miserable End (the Math of After) Reconstruction in the North Reconstruction in the South Reconstruction Rolling Back Cinematic Memory Fictional Memory Living Memory
Syllabus