History 457, Part II: CIVIL WAR: 1840-1865

Winter Quarter 2009: Tuesday and Thursday, 12:00 - 13:20
185 Lillis

Professor: James C. Mohr
Office: 383 McKenzie
Hours: Tues and Thurs 13:30 - 14:30 and by appointment
Phone: 346-5903
E-mail: jmohr@uoregon.edu

Required readings:

Potter, The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861
McPherson, Ordeal By Fire, Vol. 2
Faust, Mothers of Invention
DuBois, “Women’s Rights and Abolition”
Hersh, “Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?”

(The books are available in paperback at the UO Duckstore; the articles are on electronic reserve)

This will be primarily a lecture course, with some discussion along the way and one class session set aside specifically for discussion of the Faust book (see syllabus).

There will be a mid-quarter exam (35% of your final grade); a seven-to-nine page paper (30% of your final grade); and a final exam (35% of your final grade). The paper assignment follows the syllabus.

Week I:
Jan 06: Introduction and Overview

Jan 08: The politics of slavery through the 1840s
(Potter, Impending Crisis, 1-62)

Week II:
Jan 13: Abolitionism
(DuBois, “Women’s Rights,” and Hersh “Am I Not”)

Jan 15: The Mexican War and the Compromise of 1850
(Potter, Impending Crisis, 63-144)

Week III:
Jan 20: The Kansas Crisis
(Potter, Impending Crisis, 145-198)

Jan 22: The Political Revolution of the 1850s
(Potter, Impending Crisis, 199-266)

Week IV:
Jan 27: Dred Scott and the law of slavery
(Potter, Impending Crisis, 267-296)

Jan 29: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
(Potter, Impending Crisis, 297-355)

Week V:
Feb 03: John Brown and the Election of 1860
(Potter, Impending Crisis, 356-447)

Feb 05: MID-QUARTER EXAM

Week VI:
Feb 10: The Secession Crisis and the Outbreak of Civil War
(Potter, Impending Crisis, 485-583)

Feb 12: Public lecture for Lincoln’s 200th birthday, TBA

Week VII:
Feb 17: Causes and Historiography
(Potter, Impending Crisis, 448-484)

Feb 19: Comparing the Belligerents and Mobilizing for War
(McPherson, Ordeal, 163-226)

Week VIII:
Feb 24: PAPERS DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS
The Confederacy as a Success
(McPherson, Ordeal, 227-227-302)

Feb 26: The Confederacy Unravels
(McPherson, Ordeal, 303-303-372)

Week IX:
Mar 03: READERS ONLY discussion of Faust, Mothers of Invention

Mar 05: The Union War Effort, Part I
(McPherson, Ordeal, 373-424)

Week X:
Mar 10: The Union War Effort, Part II
(McPherson, Ordeal, 425-494)

Mar 12: The End of the War and the Roots of Reconstruction
(McPherson, Ordeal, 495-526)

FINAL EXAM : March 18 (note this is a Wednesday) at 0800. Professor Mohr is NOT responsible for picking this time or day, but please make any departure plans appropriately)

PAPER ASSIGNMENT:

The Knight Library holds the New York Times newspaper (both on microfilm and by means of electronic access) from its first issue in 1851 through the end of the Civil War in April 1865. Using the Times as your chief source, you are to do the following for your seven-to-nine page paper:

Select any one week between January 1, 1852 and May 1, 1865 and read the Times thoroughly for that week (articles, editorials, ads, everything). Then write a paper that (a) summarizes one (or more) of the chief issues of that week and how the Times dealt with it (or them), or (b) discusses any aspect of American everyday life that was revealed in the pages of the Times during the week you chose. You may explore subjects beyond your chosen week and in sources other than the Times, if you wish to do so, but you are not required to do so, and your paper must be based principally on the materials you found in the Times itself for your week.
Your papers may vary a great deal depending upon what you decide to write about, what context you place the materials into, and which themes you develop for analysis. There is no “right or wrong” approach, and this assignment is not intended to make you wrestle with huge general questions about this period of US history. Instead, it is designed to let you think seriously about a tiny snippet of American history (the material that appeared in one newspaper for one week), and to give you a free hand in writing something from a genuinely original historical source – the same paper that the people we are studying picked up and read for themselves every day that week.