The Sectional Conflict, 1832-1876
Ricardo A. Herrera, Ph.D.
History 379, Spring 2000
LH 201
LH 241 Hours:
MW 1:30-2:20,
MW 2:30-3:50 TR
8:00-9:20, & by
appointment.
RHerrera@txlutheran.edu
Ext. 6689
OVERVIEW AND GOALS
Course description: History 379 explores the Sectional Conflict from
the Nullification Crisis of 1832 to the end of Reconstruction in 1876.
In this forty-five year period Americans wrestled with state
nullification of federal law, fought a controversial but successful
foreign war, expanded the national domain to the Pacific coast,
quarreled over slavery, formed a new political system, experienced
secession and civil war, ended slavery, and attempted reconstructing the
nation. These years were not, to say the least, dull.
Institutional goals: History 379 will help you achieve TLU's
"Institutional Goals for Graduates" 2, 5, and 8.
Departmental goals: This course prepares students for any of the
department's areas of emphasis (liberal arts, public history, pre-law,
secondary education).
Course goals: Our study of the Sectional Conflict will focus on the
broad sweep of the era and on certain selected issues. The goals of our
inquiry are a deeper appreciation and understanding of this period of
history, developing a familiarity with primary and secondary sources,
and an understanding of the interpretive process that produces written
history.
REQUIREMENTS, ASSISTANCE, AND GRADING CRITERIA
Attendance and participation: Attendance is an important part of your
education and this course. Much of the course revolves around class
discussion and the resulting intellectual ferment. If you are not in
class, you cannot participate and contribute. Absences on days
immediately preceding or following holidays will count double. Four
absences will earn a failing grade for the course. Furthermore, do not
be late. Late nights, obnoxious roommates, bad burritos, capricious
cars, alien abductions, or other like events will not be tolerated. I
will, however, make a one-time exception for global catastrophe. You
are responsible for all information missed.
Late work: Except in cases of extreme hardship extensions will not be
granted for assignments. Athletic or social events, extracurricular
functions, other classes, or travel plans do not constitute extreme
hardship. No late papers will be accepted-do not ask for an extension.
Academic and personal integrity: You are responsible for reading,
understanding, and abiding by TLU's Student Handbook. Understand and
comply fully with the policies regarding "Academic Honesty and
Plagiarism" and the "Code of Conduct." Plagiarism is intellectual
theft. It will result in a failing grade for the course and referral to
your advisor without any opportunity for making redress. Do not
consider attempting it.
A.D.A: See pages 152-53 of the Bulletin for elaboration. Students
with legitimate needs must first consult the Office of the Dean of
Community Life, Beck Center 213.
REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING CRITERIA
Participation: 10%
Book Reviews: 30%
Term Paper: 20%
Midterm: 20%
Final: 20%
A: 100-96 B: 89-86 C: 79-76 D: 69-60
A-: 95-90 B-: 85-80 C-: 75-70 F: 59-0
All reviews and papers will be word processed in twelve-point Times New
Roman font, left justified (ragged right edge), double-spaced with 1.25"
left and right margins, 1" top and bottom margins, paginated (excluding
title pages), and stapled in the upper-left corner. Do not submit any
work in a binder or folder.
BOOK REVIEWS
You will write six two-page book reviews (Blassingame, Foner [2],
Freehling, Horwitz, McPherson). Identify the author's thesis, briefly
summarize the book, point out its most valuable points, discuss the
author's style and develop two questions for the author. Your questions
might, among other things, be directed toward methodology, evidence,
intellectual premises, or conclusions. We will spend the due-date
period discussing the issues raised in the books and by your reviews.
TERM PAPER
Each of you will write a ten to twelve-page paper based on three to
five diaries, memoirs, letter collections, or other form of personal
narrative from the period. The subject and scope of the paper is up to
you. In choosing a topic, focus on a particular individual, section,
state, battle, issue, or development. Contrast several participants'
responses to some historical event or use the writings to illustrate
some point you want to make.
You shall discuss your plans with me early in the semester. During the
week of 14 February we will have individual conferences on the papers.
I will need a one-page proposal from each of you containing a
one-paragraph (not a series of phrases or a sentence or two) explanation
of your topic and your thesis, a preliminary list of sources, and a
brief outline. You will not receive full credit (one full grade will be
deducted) for your paper without first submitting a satisfactory
proposal. Your paper will have a cover sheet with title (centered and
three inches from the top), your name, the course, my name, and date
(single-spaced, left-justified, lower-right corner), and the following
signed statement (centered directly below the title):
I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid, nor have I
represented the work of others as my own on this assignment.
_____________________
Your name
TESTS
The Midterm and Final Examination will have objective, map, and essay
questions. There will be a comprehensive question on the Final.
READINGS
John W. Blassingame, The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the
Antebellum South.
Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the
Republican Party Before the Civil War.
______, A Short History of Reconstruction.
William Freehling, Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy
in South Carolina, 1816-1836.
Herman Hattaway, Shades of Blue and Gray: An Introductory Military
History of the Civil War.
Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished
Civil War.
James M. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil
War.
LECTURE TOPICS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
12 January: Introduction: The American Civil War was about*.
17 January: Sectional America: The North.
19 January: Sectional America: The South.
24 January: The Politics and Culture of Jacksonian America.
26 January: Nullification: Jackson v. South Carolina.
Freehling due.
31 January: Manifest Destiny: Mexico.
2 February: Manifest Destiny: Mexico.
If your schedule permits, you are invited to attend the following
screenings of The U.S.-Mexican War, 1846-1848, LH 120, 3:50-4:20.
3 February: The U.S.-Mexican War, parts 1-2.
10 February: The U.S.-Mexican War, parts 3-4.
7 February: The Class of 1846: Lessons Learned.
9 February: Bondsmen and Their World.
Blassingame due.
14 February: Bleeding Kansas and the Growing Crisis.
16 February: The Final Year of the Union.
21 February: The Secession Winter.
23 February: The Party of Lincoln.
Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men, due.
28 February: Beating Ploughshares into Swords: North and South in
1861.
1 March: From First Bull Run through Shiloh: 1861-1862.
6 March: Spring Break (No classes).
13 March: From the Peninsula through Antietam, 1862.
15 March: Northern Politics: 1861-1862.
20 March: The Winter of Northern Discontent: 1862-1863.
22 March: Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga: 1863.
27 March: Politics and the Home Front.
29 March: Why Men Fought.
McPherson due.
3 April: "If it takes all summer:" The Overland Campaign and Desperate
Measures, 1864.
5 April: "I will make Georgia howl:" The Death Knell of the
Confederacy, 1865.
10 April: Forty Acres and a Mule: Reconstruction.
12 April: An Unfinished Revolution?
Foner, Reconstruction, due.
17 April: Americans and Their Civil War: Hollywood.
Gettysburg
19 April: Americans and Their Civil War: Hollywood.
Gettysburg
Term Paper due.
24 April: Easter Recess (No Class).
26 April: Civil Wargasm: Hardcores, Farbs, and other such Creatures.
Horwitz due.
3 May: FINAL EXAMINATION, 1:30-4:30.
This syllabus is not a contract and can be changed by the professor at
his discretion.