History 220: The Civil War and Reconstruction
Virginia
Wesleyan College
Dr.
Dan Margolies
Office: Blocker 31
Office
Hours: M, 4:30-6:00, T, 11-1; W,
4:30-6; TH, 11-1; 4:30-6:00,
or by appointment. Come on by!
Email: dmargolies@vwc.edu
Webpage:
http://facultystaff.vwc.edu/~dmargolies/
Phone: 455-5716
Class Meeting: Mon, Wed, Fri, 11:30-12:20, Blocker
215
This
course examines the causes, experience, significance, and lasting legacies of
the Civil War and Reconstruction. It
covers, among many other topics, the ongoing crisis of sectionalism and
nationalism, the political and moral conflict over slavery, the impact of
expansionism, the ideological development of a revolutionary South, and the impact
of the war on national politics, culture, and memory. Heavy emphasis is given to the war itself: the battles, leaders,
common soldiers, tactics, diplomacy and economics of this great conflict. Finally, we explore the mixed results of
this war for the victorious North, the defeated South, and the restored nation
during the Reconstruction era and beyond.
Required Readings: (books on sale at the college bookstore)
Henry Steele
Commager and Erik Bruun, The Civil War Archive: The History of the American
Civil War in Documents
Eric
Foner, A
Short History of Reconstruction
Gary W.
Gallagher, The Confederate War
Mark Grimsley,
The Hard Hand
of War : Union Military Policy toward Southern Civilians, 1861-1865
Bruce C. Levine,
Half Slave
and Half Free: The Roots of Civil War
Gerald Linderman,
Embattled
Courage : The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War
Russell F.
Weigley, A Great Civil War: A Military and Political History, 1861-1865
Abraham Lincoln,
(William E.
Gienapp, ed.), This Fiery Trial: The Speeches and Writings of Abraham Lincoln
Course Requirements:
Attendance and Participation:
Regular
attendance in class is, of course, mandatory, as is prompt completion of all
readings and assignments. You are
expected to read and reflect upon the
assigned materials before coming to class each week so you can get the most out
of lectures and discussion.
Pariticpation in discussion requires that you have read the material
first.
Because
we will cover a large amount of material over the course of the semester, you
should be prepared to spend the time it takes to complete the reading
thoroughly and thoughtfully. You
MUST do the reading before each class to be prepared for discussions and exams,
and to do well in this class. Your
active participation in all aspects of the class is expected, and your final
grade will reflect your level of involvement and commitment.
Late assignments (such
as homework, essays, papers, or other assignments) will be graded down one
grade per day and are accepted only at the discretion of the
professor.
More
than two absences that are not expressly approved by the professor will result
in a lower final grade for the semester.
For each absence after two excused absences, your discussion grade
will be lowered one-half grade.
Excused
absences include legitimate illness, a field trip, or a pre-appproved athletic
event. However, such excused absences
will require extra work to make up for the missed class time.
If
your cell phone rings during class (unless authorized by the professor) your
final grade will be lowered by one-half letter grade.
Grading:
This
course has several different opportunities for you to demonstrate what you have
learned. In general, you will be graded
on your knowledge of the subject matter, your mastery of the readings and the
ideas discussed in class, on your ability to connect and utilize the themes and
interpretations we have covered in class, and on the sophistication of your
ideas and writing. We will work on
reading and writing skills and test-taking strategies during the course of the
semester.
Short Written Assignments and Quizzes:
There
will be regular reading quizzes and/or homework assignments to gauge your
understanding of the materials and reward your hard work in doing the
readings. These short exercises will
help prepare you for class discussion and will help hone your analytical and
writing skills. In addition, they will
give you an opportunity to express your opinion on the argument, evidence, and
style of each book. You will be asked
to discuss terms, individuals, and events from the reading, to explain concepts
covered in the documents, and to write short explanatory paragraphs about the
material we are studying. These quizzes
will not always be announced ahead of time, yet they form a significant
part of your final grade. Doing the
reading regularly and with some care will be essential to doing well on these
quizzes and in the class generally.
Late assignments (such as essays, papers, or other assignments) will
be graded down one grade per day and are accepted only at the discretion of the
professor. Quizzes may be made-up only
in case of an excused absence and only at the discretion of the professor.
Exams:
There
will be a midterm and a final. Each
test will require you to write identifications of people, events,
battles, or concepts, including a discussion of their significance, as
well as one or more essays.
These tests will be based upon the material covered in lecture,
discussion, and on all of the readings.
They are intended to give you an opportunity to demonstrate your
understanding of the course material and its possible meanings, and are not
designed to trick you or to reward simple memorization of factual
material.
Map Quizzes:
Since
knowledge of both physical and cultural geography is essential to historical
understanding, there will be several map quizzes to encourage you to learn
basic physical and cultural geography of the nineteenth century United States
and of specific areas and battlefields central to the Civil War.
Student Presentations on battles:
Each
student will choose a battle (or battles, for the energetic) to study
intensively and will present their findings (singly or as a group, depending on
the battle) to the class in a short (10-15) presentation. This presentation, which must be based on
both published and internet sources, will also be described in a short paper
due at the time of the presentation.
Some
of the things you can explore are strategy, leadership, the experience of
battle, logistics, relationship to broader war aims, etc. This format will
allow each individual to concentrate on particularly interesting aspects of the
war, and will provide an opportunity for the rest of the class to benefit from
your findings.
Field Trips:
Our
location in Virginia, the major battleground of the Civil War, provides an
unmatched opportunity for our class to see and experience many of the sites of
the events we are studying. We can look
forward to several field trips over the semester (increasing in number
depending on student interest) to nearby sites, especially the many
battlefields around Richmond, Petersburg, and the sites on the Peninsula. There will be 2-3 day trip to Gettysburg
Battlefield as well during Spring Break .
All students are encouraged to attend all of these voluntary field
trips, which will be detailed during the course of the semester.
Grades:
Class
Participation: 20%
Midterm:
15%
Written
assignments and quizzes: 25%
Battle
Presentation/paper: 20%
Final:
20%
The following grading point scale
will be used in determining your grade, subject to the discretion of the
instructor: A= 93-100; A- = 90-92; B+ = 88-89; B = 83-87; B- =
80-82; C+ = 78-79; C = 73-77; C- = 65-69; D = 50-64; F = less than 50
Email
policy:
I do not respond to or read emails that lack capitalization, proper
punctuation, or a salutation.
Email
is a vital tool of communication for educators and scholars and all students
must be familiar with its effective use.
I encourage you to contact me via email whenever you have questions or
comments about the course or the assignments.
We will have at least one homework assignment that will be submitted in
the form of an email attachment. This
will be discussed later in the semester.
However, please do NOT send me assignments or papers through email as a
general policy, unless it is part of an assigned exercise, or prior
arrangements were made.
ACCOMMODATION
FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
In accordance with Title 5, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and
the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, reasonable accommodation will be
provided to any student who has followed the College's procedures as outlined
in the current Academic Bulletin. It
is best to begin this process by contacting the disability services
coordinator, Fayne Pearson (455-3246) at the beginning of the semester.
Once the need for accommodations has been officially established, the student
should consult with the instructor to insure that the student's needs can be
met as effectively as possible.
Any other changes or addition in the course will be announced in
class. The daily breakdown of reading (particularly in the Commager reader) will
be discussed in class. It is your
responsibility to contact the professor if you miss class in order to find out
about these changes. Please be sure to
bring the books we are discussing that day with you to class.
Week 1 Jan. 26, 28, 30 Course
Introduction; The Civil War in History
and Memory; The
New Nation and the Old South
Sectionalism
and Nationalism
Reading: Weigley, introduction
Levine,
ch. 1-5
Week 2 Feb 2, 4, 6 The
Politics of Slavery and Anti-Slavery
Slave Expansionism and Ideological Crisis
MAP QUIZ ON MONDAY
Reading: Levine, ch. 6-9
Lincoln, ch 1-2 (selections)
Week 3 Feb 9, 11, 13 The Southern Revolution and the Formation of the
Confederacy
Reading:
Levine, ch. 10
Weigley, ch. 1
Commager, 1-2 (selections)
handout:
THE CONFEDERATE CONSTITUTION
Week 4 Feb. 16, 18, 20 The
Coming of War and the Reality of War
MAP QUIZ ON MONDAY
Reading: Weigley, ch. 2-4
Commager, 3-5 (selections)
Lincoln, ch. 3
Week 5 Feb. 23, 25, 27 Stalemate
in the East and Movement in the West
Reading: Weigley, ch. 5-7
Commager, 6, 7, 10, 11 (selections)
Week 6 Mar 1, 3, 5 The Diplomatic Front
Emancipation and the New Birth of Freedom
The War at Sea
MAP QUIZ ON MONDAY
Reading:
Commager, 15, 25-7 (selections)
Lincoln, ch. 4
Week 7 Mar. 8, 10, 12 The
Soldiers Life in Blue and Grey
Reading: Linderman, all
Commager, 8-9; 12-13,14, (selections)
MIDTERM on MARCH 12
Week 8 Mar. 15, 17, 19 Spring Break Enjoy!
Week 9 Mar. 22, 24, 26 Gettysburg
and Vicksburg ( and after)
Reading: Weigley, ch. 8
Commager,
18-19 (selections)
Lincoln, 5-6
Week 10 Mar. 29, April
5, 7, 9 Was the Civil War a Total War?
Reading: Grimsley, all
Gallagher, introduction
Map quiz
Week 11 Apr. 12, 14,
16 The Political Economy of the War
Confederate
Strategy and Ideology
Reading: Weigley. Ch. 9
Gallagher,
all
Commager, 20-24, 33 (selections)
Week 12 Apr. 19, 21,
23 Grant, Union Victory,
Defeat, and the Devastation of War
Reading: Weigley, ch. 10-12
Commager, 28-32
Foner, 1
Map quiz
Week 13 Apr. 26, 28,
30 The
return of the Union
Post-War
Crisis and the Question of Liberty
Reading: Weigley, ch. 13
Commager, 34
Foner, 2-4
Week 14 May 3, 5, Failures
of Presidential Reconstruction
Radical Reconstruction
Reading:
Foner, 5-9
Week 15 Apr. 29, May
1, 3 The New South and the New Departure
Reading: Foner, 10-12