As you listen, watch, and read...

about the Civil War, keep your mind open for a person, battle, event, or cultural representation that you would like to explore through a paper and an alternative digital medium. What medium you choose may depend on your topic.

While you search, take time to make yourself conversant in the lives and historic effects of two men, Dred Scott and Frederick Douglass. They are covered in your text and in many places online.

My goal is for you, during Wednesday's class, to explore these two men together, using notes you take between now and Wednesday afternoon, and arrive at one or more big question or observation about their places in our country's complexion.

Also, after you listen the last ten minutes of the first Civil War episode, defend or challenge the filmmakers' use of Sullivan Ballou's letter in the closing minutes of their introduction.

Write this as a short essay, three to five paragraphs. Revise it at least once, edit it and put it in a Google Doc. Then share it with me by Friday, sooner is fine.

Leta's Answers... [post #1]

1. Why did Wilmer McLain say the Civil War "began in his front yard and ended in [his] front parlor"?

The first major battle of the Civil War occurred on July 21, 1861 at McLean’s farm in Manasses, Virginia. This battle is known as Bull Run and at the time was the largest bloodiest battle in American history. In the spring of 1863 McLean wanted to move away from the war, so he and his family moved west of Richmond, Virginia. On April 9, 1865 the Civil War ended with Robert E. Lee surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant in McLean’s parlor. 

2. What percentage of the male population died in the Civil War?

Over three million men fought in the Civil War and two precent of the male population, over 620,000, died in the war.

3. How did the friction between states rights and a federal government contribute to the start of the Civil War?

Each state had its own opinion on the legality of slavery. As states become more divided, the federal government’s becomes more difficult as the mediator between the states. It also brought into question the extent of the federal government’s power and whether the federal government or the states could decided whether to allow or abolish slavery.

4. Discuss writer Shelby Foote's premise that the "Civil War defines us" as Americans.

The Civil War decided the kind of a country the United States wanted to be on many levels, not just an equal or unequal country but also as a divided or unified country. The Civil War left some scars of slavery and prejudice that still exist today and it has effected and continues to effect political decisions.

5. Discuss Thomas Jefferson's comment that to keep slavery in the U.S. was like "holding a wolf by the ears.."

I agree with Craig on this one, and would add that if you let go of the wolf’s ears there is a risk that it might turn around and bite you.

7. Who is Alexis de Toqueville? How did his 1830s era observations and books inform the non-slave owning world of what America was like?

Alexis de Toqueville was a French aristocrat, political thinker, and historian. His book Democracy in America is his best known work. It includes his observations of America as it developed as a country during the Civil War. One point he makes is the contradiction between America’s nationalism and sectionalism. The United States presented itself as a unified country and wanted the complete country it began as, however within America great division and conflict between states transpired during the period of the Civil War.

8. Who was John Brown?

John Brown was an (in my opinion radical) abolitionist. He wanted complete abolition of slavery in America. He led that Pottawatomie Massacre, however he is most well known for his raid of Harpers Ferry in 1859. He was executed because of this raid and was seen as a martyr for slavery.

9. Who was William Lloyd Garrison?

  William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent abolitionist and journalist. He wanted slavery entirely eliminated in the United States. Garrison was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, however he is most well know for his newspaper, The Liberator.

10. Who was Elijah Lovejoy?

Elijah Parish Lovejoy was born in Albion, Maine and attended Waterville College (now Colby College). After he moved to St. Louis, Missouri he promoted the abolition of slavery in a newspaper he started, the St. Louis Observer. He was also an active member of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Lovejoy received abuse from many pro-slavery groups and eventually they murdered Lovejoy. “Elijah Parish Lovejoy was America’s first martyr to freedom of the press.”

11. What is meant by "Bleeding Kansas"?

“Bleeding Kansas” refers to the period in Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska act passed. The Kansas-Nebraska act ruled that the decision to make Kansas and Nebraska would be left up to the people living there, also known as “popular sovereignty.” This caused Northerns and Southerners to race to Kansas to claim the area and take it over as a free or slave state which led to high tension in the area and then resulted in violence.

13. Who was Hannibal Hamlin?

Hannibal Hamlin was President Lincoln’s Vice President during the Civil War. Interestingly, before his vice presidency he was the 26th Governor of Maine.

14. How did the presidential election of 1860 lay the groundwork for Civil War?

When Abraham Lincoln was elected as president in 1860 South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana seceded from the Union, wrote a new constitution and created the Confederate States of America. These secessions directly impacted the Civil War’s commencement. The text also mentioned that Abraham Lincoln did not hate the South, and in fact was married to a Southern. He was against slavery, however one of his main goals was to bring the states together as one country. His election in 1860 prompted the beginning stages of uniting the states.

15. What state was the first to pass a secession bill? What significance does this have today, if any?

South Carolina was the first to pass the secession bill. As the leader of the movement towards the Confederate States of America it played a large role in the start of the Civil War. I am not sure if that has any implications today in South Carolina, perhaps it is a more conservative state?

For You Devoted Students of the Civil War:

First, aspiring to be a student of history demonstrates scholarship and an appreciation of human nature in the face of all manner of misery, so congratulations.

Second, we are a disparate little group. Today, for instance, apparently only one of you will attend class.

Third, thank the cosmos for the Internet.

Here are questions from Ken Burns' Civil War for you to discuss/answer/elaborate on in the comments:

Those in bold type are mandatory to meet expectations for this assignment. Keep in mind, those who answer first have some advantage in that their observations might be more general, though they must be correct and point in a useful direction for further discussion. Posing another question within your comment is always good, even if it feels a little contrived. The deadline for at least three contributions is this Friday, 13.April.2012. To meet expectations, begin or continue at least seven more discussions by the Monday after vacation. Feel free to get all 10 out of the way this week. Though every comment counts, do your best to write and think generously in each one.

Use your memory, the oracle Google (and a good resource), or your text for information. Use good organization, provide sources (even if you simply say, According to...), vary your sentence beginnings. Attempt to write as if a prospective boss were reading your comments.

1. Why did Wilmer McLain say the Civil War "began in his front yard and ended in [his] front parlor"?

2. What percentage of the male population died in the Civil War?

3. How did the friction between states rights and a federal government contribute to the start of the Civil War?

4. Discuss writer Shelby Foote's premise that the "Civil War defines us" as Americans.


5. Discuss Thomas Jefferson's comment that to keep slavery in the U.S. was like "holding a wolf by the ears.."

6. If one in seven Americans were owned by another American and essentially no one in the northern states held slaves, discuss the complexion (literal and figurative) of the population in the South. How did slavery remain as part of the culture?

7. Who is Alexis de Toqueville? How did his 1830s era observations and books inform the non-slave owning world of what America was like?

8. Who was John Brown?


9. Who was William Lloyd Garrison?

10. Who was Elijah Lovejoy?

11. What is meant by "Bleeding Kansas"?

12. How did Southern Militias play a part in the rise of the Confederacy?

13. Who was Hannibal Hamlin?

14. How did the presidential election of 1860 lay the groundwork for Civil War?

15. What state was the first to pass a secession bill? What significance does this have today, if any?

On through Chapter 12

The weekend and Monday's work includes reading and blogging. Please attach any notes or notable topics as comments here.

Also, Leta and Riley should demonstrate good bloggy protocol. Please check the notes Craig has posted and add or discuss any aspect. Craig, you can comment on the comments.

More Ch.11 notes.

Mason Dixon Line: Northeastern border of slave states (Pensilvania/Maryland) (Ohio River)

Underground Railroad: used to bring slaves from southern states to northern states.

Ohio: back and forth between whether or not someone could be processed for hiding slaves.

Manifest Destiny: God-blessed choice of own destiny.

City on a Hill: Beacon of all other cultures: THE BEST.

Burning up the chapters...

That is my optimistic titling of what we did today. Craig took great notes while I read Section 1 from Chapter 11. We discussed headings and major topics and used the review section to make sure the notes included important bits.

I was going to have Craig send the notes to me, but I am going to contact him and ask that he post them here, either in a separate post or comment.

Wednesday, you will finish the poster and assess our reading. Ken Burns' Civil War is on deck.

Tall Order

Nice work on the poster, today.  It's inspiring already. By June, we'll all be headed out on a road trip West, thanks to you.

As for my tall reading order, my admittedly possibly unrealistic goal would have us reading 630-ish pages in about 60 days. That's 10-plus per day, or about half as fast as of my most recent grad school schedule. If we're to approximate this goal we will have to be serious and smart about our time in and out of class.

For the short term, let's make a commitment to get through Chapter 12, right up to the brink of the Civil War, by Tuesday, 70-ish pages. I think you understand how pared down this gigantic textbook is, so I'm loathe to leave out any more than we absolutely must, and since today's America still reflects the repercussions of decisions made in these crucial years surrounding the Civil War, I am eager for you to digest well this particular part. We will write in class, so you can read and take notes at home.

So, Chapter 10 for tomorrow, and, of course, if you have time keep going. No need to answer the questions at the end of each section. Look at them before you read, though. Please take at least three notes per chapter about the most interesting period, event, fact, person or something else. If you want to put them on an electronic doc that would be great--or the blog, for that matter.