Focus: History
This course covers the period from (roughly) 1820 to 1877 in U.S. History, focusing on the origins, course, and consequences of the Civil War. Note that, while the course does cover military aspects of the war in some detail, it is not primarily a course in military history.
This course is designed to give graduate and undergraduate students an introduction to the main factors that led to a war between the Northern and Southern states. It is intended primarily for professional preparation for teaching at the college level, and more specifically, to provide students with an introduction to US history. The course will include both lectures and discussions.
Grades will be based on a final exam in the last class. The exam will be based on these books, as well as on lectures:
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, ed. by David Blight (New York: Bedford Books, 1993)
Melton McLaurin, Celia, A Slave (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1991)
Michael P. Johnson, ed., Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War: Selected Writings and Speeches (2nd. ed., New York: Bedford Books, 2011)
William W. Freehling and Craig M. Simpson, eds., Secession Debated: Georgia’s Showdown in 1860 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992)
Gary Gallagher, The Union War (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011)
Chandra Manning, What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007).
Izecksohn, Vitor. Estados Unidos: uma História (São Paulo: Contexto, 2021).
LeeAnna Keith, The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror, and the Death of Reconstruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008)
Plagiarism—using others’ words (including paraphrasing), ideas, and arguments, without proper attribution, is a violation of the university’s rules and will be sanctioned accordingly. Penalties for plagiarism can include failure for the course.
Please silence all cell phones and put them away during class. Save your communications – voice or text – until after class.
TOPICS:
1- Andrew Jackson and the Second Party System: The Nullification controversy.
2- Slavery in the US: The Missouri Crisis.
3- Slave life and culture.
4- Masters and Slaves.
5- Reform and abolitionism: the idea of a “Slave Power.”
6- Texas, Mexico, and the territorial issue.
7- The Compromise of 1850: fugitive slaves;
8- The Nebraska Act and its consequences: Know-Nothings and Republicans.
9- Kansas; the Dred Scott case; Abraham Lincoln’s early career.
10- John Brown; the election of 1860.
11- The secession crisis.
12- The formation of the Confederacy; Fort Sumter and the Second Secession.
13- Mobilization.
14- 1st Bull Run (1861); Civil War diplomacy.
15- Shiloh; Seven Days (1861-62).
16- The road to Emancipation; Antietam.
17- Robert E. Lee; Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Grant at Vicksburg.
18- Southern politics; the southern homefront: women; slaves.
19- Northern politics and emancipation; women in the North.
20- Chickamauga & Chattanooga; Black soldiers.
21- Grant in command; Wilderness to Petersburg; Sherman to Atlanta.
22- Sherman’s March to the Sea; the end of the War; the assassination of Lincoln.
23- The issues of Reconstruction.
24- Social and economic Reconstruction.
25- Southern politics in Reconstruction.
26- The end of Reconstruction; legacies of war.
Language:English
Host: Leandro Pereira Gonçalves
Lecturer: Vitor Izecksohn (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Place: Science Center, Auditorium 2
Courseload: 15h
Date&Time: Jul22-26, 2-5pm
Target audience: undergraduate and graduate students
Spots available:50
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): 4