Module Three
As you can see from the “table of contents” page, there are five modules, each lasting for three weeks. The dates for the module are delineated on that previous page. This is your third module and we will pass the halfway point of the semester at its midpoint. While you read about the Antebellum Period in the first part of the module, those living then did not see it as such. To them, it was life and the Union would find a way to persist, as it always had (the theme of one of the essay questions). While Professor Ayers has shaped our thinking more holistically when thinking of the causes of the war, the centrality of slavery is inescapable (the other essay question). Once war came, each side hardened their positions: breaking away to refocus the country versus maintaining the Union. As central as war was, whites did not see slavery having anything to do with the war. But as the historian Barbara Fields will explain to you, slaves knew what the war was about.
Special assignment: this module is going to have a “mini-module” in it. You should plan on completing that work in the first week (there are two parts to do, see announcement). For the rest of the module, you will have the entire three-week period. Again, a caution: do not put your work off until the last minute (very easy to do, BUT NOT in your best interests). You will be assessed on the quality of your writing and the variety of assigned sources you use.
Course textbook readings for Module Three: From Gallagher/Waugh, The American War, read through chapter three. From Fetter-Vorm/Kelman. Battle Lines, chapters one through four** Henry David Thoreau, “Slavery in Massachusetts” **Ari Kelman is an award-winning historian at the University of California – Davis. He wanted to write a history of the Civil War for a general audience. Faced with word limitations that were too constraining, he came upon the idea of a graphic novel. I think it works quite well (full disclosure: I have been reading comic books for fifty-plus years and graphic novels for forty-plus years. Couldn’t resist, especially as it is well done).
Videos for this first module: -From the Prudence Crandall Museum, “To All on Equal Terms” -From the Federal Judicial Center, “Amistad: The Federal Courts and the Challenge to Slavery” (did you spot the connection with Prudence Crandall?) -From The Biography of America, watch “Slavery” and “The Coming of the Civil War” -From The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns, “The Cause” -From C-SPAN, Fort Sumter -From Discerning History, Manassas -First Battle of Bull Run (these have a short video at the top and a narrative below)
Below are websites that have content connected to this module. They should be used as part of your discussion posts and essays. Use them to further your own learning or as a starting point for a possible research topic. -Abraham Lincoln, “A House Divided” speech -Changes in transportation, linking a continent -On slavery (at bottom of page, click “Next” three more times) -Using maps to illustrate the impact of slavery in the Southeast (seventh one may not work) -Political cartoons were important editorial tools for newspapers. They addressed elections (click left cartoon in title bar) and battles (click right cartoon) -Presidential election of 1860 -This addresses the “double name” confusion you may encounter -This essay may help you understand some of the terminology used in the videos and texts -Connecticut-born Nathaniel Lyon was instrumental at the war’s outset
This module’s essay, you choose one of the two below: A. What to do about slavery was both a moral and economic question during the antebellum period. Analyze the debate over slavery and emancipation that took place during this period being sure to explain what role it played in the first year of the war. B. Americans believed themselves to be great compromisers, trusting in Union to make everything right in the end. Secession, however, brought that to an end. Why did compromise fail? You will want to use specific events and political conflicts in answering this question.