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COURSE SYLLABUS
I) The Sectional Conflict, 1832-1860
September 1 Course Information
3 Introduction to the Sectional Conflict
8 Slavery as a Fact of Life: Slave Culture, White Attitudes
10 Slavery as a Constitutional and Economic Issue
Discussion of William Lloyd Garrison and the Fight Against Slavery
Paper Due
Paper Question: Write a 300-word, single-spaced answer to the following: Abolitionists were, of course, opposed to slavery on moral
grounds. But name and explain the single most important personal value or quality or characteristic that influenced their
opposition to slavery. In other words, other than their revulsion at the prospect of a person having the power of life and death
over another person, why did they believe slavery was wrong?
17 An Empire for Slavery?: Expansion and Conflict
22 The Rise of Southern Nationalism/ Rise of the Republican Party
29 Mobilization and Military Overview I
TAKE HOME MIDTERM DISTRIBUTED VIA EMAIL
October 1 NO CLASS MIDTERM EXAM DUE BY NOON VIA EMAIL
Klement Lecture/Lincoln Conference
6 Mobilization and Military Overview II
Klement:/Conference Report Due
Discussion of Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War
Paper Due
22 NO CLASS: MIDTERM BREAK
27 Total War
29 Home Front Politics and Dissent
November 3 Global Contexts
5 NO CLASS
10 Endings: Surrender and Assassination
III) Swords Into Plowshares: Reconstruction
12 Victors and Vanquished: Introduction to Reconstruction
17 
Preparing for Constitutional Convention; Opening Resolutions
Prospectus Due
19 Constitutional Convention
26 NO CLASS: THANKSGIVING
December 1 Reconstruction II: Race
3 
Discussion of Confederates in the Attic and 
This Republic of Suffering
Paper Due
8 Legacies
10 Review