WORDS AND BOUNDARIES
IN A SECESSIONIST AGE

COURSE
PURPOSES:

A unique feature of the course will be the use of a computerized anthology and almanac of primary documents. This database will allow participants to evaluate interpretive theories of Civil War causation using the words and following the boundaries of the participants themselves. We will address as a matter of course the standard questions about secession such as what role slavery played, what impact did political leaders have in stirring up conflict, and to what degree was secession rooted in fundamental economic, social, and cultural differences between the sections. Because the course is explicitly interdisciplinary, though, we will devote much of our time considering questions such as how the vocabulary and language patterns of antebellum Americans affected their perception of events, how subtle the differences both between and within regions could be, and how constructs of family and community motivated the behavior of the secessionists and their opponents. Participants are expected to use the issues raised in course readings and discussions to formulate their own interpretive questions to be explored in a research project.

FORMAT AND ASSIGNMENTS:

This seminar will meet once a week for approximately two hours. Attendance at all meetings is mandatory, and all assignments will be due at meeting time. Because the format will be discussion and document-exploration, oral participation will be especially important. A one page research proposal and preliminary bibliography will be due in week three, and a research paper of 1700-2000 words based on your own selection and transcription of original sources will be due at the end of the semester. Participants will be expected to make use of the computerized 1850s document database or an appropriate substitute in some aspect of their own research. Instruction in the use of the database will be provided and no prior computer experience beyond familiarity with Netscape, minimal typing ability and an e-mail account is required. During the second half of the course participants will be asked to distribute one or two of their own primary sources to the class for discussion during each meeting. Participants will be required to contribute substantively at least once a week before our class meeting to the electronic discussion groups that have been established for each topic.

SCHEDULE:

Topic and Assignments:

Welcome.
Introduction to the 1850s Document Collection.
Overview of Civil War Causation Theories.

• South Carolina Secession Declaration.
• Address to the People of the Slaveholding States.
• Edward Pessen: "How Different were the Antebellum North & South" (On Reserve)
  
• (Optional) Grob and Billias, "Interpretations of American History." (On Reserve)

On-line discussion topics: (Due by Monday March 8) Compare and contrast the two South Carolina secession documents. Which of the causation theories discussed in the seminar meeting seems to best explain these texts? What explains the differences that exist between the two documents, as well as the resolutions discussed in class?

How Different Were Northern and Southern Communities?

• William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis (chapters 1-3, 6-7, Epilogue), or
• Lacy K Ford, Origins of Southern Radicalism, or
• Mary Ryan, Cradle of the Middle Class, or
• Don Doyle, Social Order of a Frontier Community, or
• Frederick Law Olmsted, The Slave States, Before the Civil War

On-line discussion topics: How effectively (if at all) did the local leaders in each of these communities set the tone of public discussion? How distinctive were the midwestern communities described by William Cronon and Don Doyle from the middle class world of Utica as described by Ryan or the South of Ford and Olmsted? Were the northern communities more or less internally fractious and contentious than the Southern communities? Were the economic structures, or the cultural antecedents of each community more important in shaping its regional identity?

3-5 page essay due in class.

Southern Households and the Gendered Language of Secession.

• Stephanie McCurry, "The Two Faces of Republicanism: Gender and Proslavery Politics in antebellum South Carolina" (On Reserve)
• Rebecca Edwards, Angels in the Machinery, Introduction, Chapter 1 (On Reserve)
• Gendered language and political debate in the On-line editorial collection and editorial collection keyword search tool.

On-line discussion topics: Look through the editorial collection for examples where the writers express their political positions using family or gender as expository devices. How important were differing conceptions of household, women's place in society, and the domestic order to the political conflict between Northerners and Southerners? You may also want to re-examine the South Carolina declarations in this light. What exactly do the authors mean when they talk about domestic institutions? How would you compare these treatments of regional and and partisan differences with interpretations found in last week's books?

Presentation and discussion of participant's preliminary research proposals. These should be one page plus bibliography, submitted to the On-line discussion system at least 24 hours before the seminar meeting time.

The Unity of the South.

• William Freehling, The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay.

On-line discussion topics: Assess Freehling's claim that there were many Souths, each suspicious of the others. Based on the readings from the last two weeks and your general knowledge of the period, how accurate is he to describe the region as a "democratic despotism?" Is he correct to claim that actions by the slaves themselves were the most important cause of the secession crisis? To what extent did the Secessionists "manufacture" Southern identity to advance their own ambitions? He highlights several lesser-known events and personalities as being the most pivotal things about the period. What are the most important of these, according to the author, and do you agree with his assessment?

Religious Dimensions of Sectionalism.

• Mitchell Snay, Gospel of Disunion, or
• Joel H. Silbey, The American Political Nation, 1838-1893, chapters 5,8,9, or
• Paul Kleppner, The Third Electoral System
• Mapping the Denominations: the 1850 and 1860 census records.
• Browse the On-line editorial collection and editorial collection keyword search tool for examples of religious language.

On-line discussion topics: Assess the role of religion in party and sectional politics. To what extent were criticisms of each region by the other perceived to be moral and spiritual failings rather than economic or political conflicts? What does the religious geography of the nation in the 1850s tell us about sectional differences? In what ways did quasi-religious concepts (honor, virtue, truth, and providence, for example,) play out in these political debates? How consciously does the language of the editorialists echo Biblical passages and themes? (Post your choice of significant editorials to the On-line Discussion Assistant. )

3-5 page essay due in class.

Kansas, Sumner, and the Emergence of Sectional Parties.

• Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men, or
• Kenneth Greenberg, Masters and Statesmen , or
• William Geinapp, The Origins of the Republican Party, or
• William Cooper, The South and the Politics of Slavery
• Document Collection: Nebraska and Sumner editorials and editorial collection keyword search tool.

On-line discussion topics: Was the ultimate success of the Republican party inevitable? Why did the Republicans fail to build a successful party in the South? How important was the lens of party in focusing perceptions of events such as the Nebraska bill, bleeding Kansas, and the caning of Sumner? Did Southern political leaders have a distinctive rhetorical and political style that was incompatible with those of Northern leaders? Was the only serious partisan division in the South over which party would best defend the institution of slavery? Discuss how at least two of the editorials combined region and party in an interesting way. Do the editorials tend to sustain or contradict the basic theses of these books? (Post your choice of significant editorials to the On-line Discussion Assistant before class. )

2-3 page book review essay due in class.

Discussion of participant's sources. Be prepared to give a 2-4 minute discussion of the sources you will be working with in your final paper.
Session Log

Race Relations and Race Control.
**Meet in Furman Hall 222**

• Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or
• Kenneth Stampp, America in 1857
• Document exercise: The Dred Scott Case in editorials and editorial collection keyword search tool.

On-line discussion topics: Was Harriet Beecher Stowe racially prejudiced? Why was Uncle Tom's Cabin so offensive to Southern political and cultural leaders? What was her political agenda, and why did she pursue it by addressing the book predominantly to women? How directly did the book affect discussions of black citizenship? On what basis does Stampp claim that 1857 was the pivotal year of the secession crisis? How did the events he describes change popular opinion in each section? Had the Buchanan administration been more adept in its leadership would the crisis been prevented? How important was racial subordination to the worldview of Southern leaders? Were northern reactions to Dred Scott more concerned with the impact of the decision on blacks, or its potential effects on whites? (Post your choice of significant editorials to the On-line Discussion Assistant before class. )

2-3 page essay on Stowe or Stampp due in class.

Session Log

Week Eight: (Apr. 22)

• Edwin A. Pollard, The Lost Cause, chapters I-VIII, XXI, XLIV, or
• A. C. Cole, The Irrepressible Conflict, or
• Roy Nichols, The Disruption of American Democracy, or
• Bruce Levine, Half Slave and Half Free, or
• Brian Reid, The Origins of the American Civil War

In-Class Debate.
Teams will be assigned to defend the views of each author listed above. A 1-2 paragraph summary of the author's position and a bibliography of additional sources consulted must be posted by each team on the on-line discussion group at least two days before class.

Each team will make a 3-4 minute opening statement, have 2 minutes to question any of the other teams, and have 3 minutes to offer a summation of why their arguments were the most persuasive.

Week Nine: (Apr. 29)

• The Harper's Ferry Raid in editorials and editorial collection keyword search tool.
• Approx. one month of an 1860 newspaper and any relevant secondary sources you can find. (Assignments TBA)

Each individual will be responsible for researching the election related events from one of the ten months leading up to Lincoln's election and secession. Presentation of research results will be made in class.

On-line discussion topics: What effect did John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry have on editorial opinion? Specifically, how did the reactions of each party differ? Were the conservative (ie: Opposition and Douglas Democratic parties) or the sectional parties more affected by the incident? Did the incident render any further compromise impossible? (Post your choice of significant editorials to the On-line Discussion Assistant before class. )

The Secessionist Moment.

• William Barney, The Secessionist Impulse or
• Anthony Gene Carey, Parties, Slavery, and the Union in Antebellum Georgia
• J. Mills Thornton, Power and Politics in a Slave Society, or
• Jonathan Atkins, Parties, politics, and, the sectional conflict in Tennessee, 1832-1861, or
• Steven A. Channing, Crisis of Fear or
• Daniel Crofts, Reluctant Confederates, or
• Kenneth Stampp, And the War Came, or
• Richard Current, Lincoln and the First Shot, or
• Michael Holt, Political Crisis of the 1850s, or
• Earl J. Hess, Liberty, Virtue, and Progress: Northerners and Their War for the Union

• Documents: South Carolina Governor's Message and the N.Y. Legislative Resolutions or,
• Virginia Governor's Message or,
• The Crisis at Fort Sumter

On-line discussion topics: Analyze the relationships among local economic and demographic conditions, party competition (or lack thereof), and the defense of slavery and racial subordination as forces in how the secession crisis unfolded. Why was South Carolina first, and why did the upper South hesitate? Was a Northern military response to secession inevitable, or could the North have just "let the South go?" What were the most important reasons advanced by Northern anti-secessionists for maintaining the Union by force?

Combat Motivations.

• James McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, or
• O. Vernon Burton, A Gentleman and an Officer.

On-line discussion topics: What connections, if any, existed between the soldier's reasons for fighting and the causes of secession? How different were Northern and Southern soldiers? How did the experience of the war itself change these motivations?

1700-2000 word primary source essay with transcriptions of associated documents, in web format, due in class.

REFERENCE:

Essentials.

During class discussion we will be using the On-line Discussion Assistant. A web version of the session log produced each week will be posted afterwards for your comments and review. The on-line discussion system will be another key part of our conversations. Finally, there is an on-line course guide with information about standards and requirements for the various assignments.

Every scholar new to the web should look at the Ohio State Library On-line Quick Guides, which explain how to judge the quality and accuracy of on-line information. When you begin on-line research a good starting point for historical links is the History Scholar's Guide to the World Wide Web. There are several guides to citing Internet and other resources, including the Citing Electronic Sources page from the Library of Congress, and H-NET's Brief Guide to Citation of Internet Sources. For some of the books and exercises you may find Statistics Every Writer Should Know to be helpful. Finally, all participants in this course are expected to be familiar with William Strunk's Elements of Style, which is the classic handbook of clear writing.

Overviews.

These on-line textbooks are a good source of contextual information for events leading up to the secession crisis. Brinton's Abridged History of the United States is the most visually appealing. The on-line edition From Revolution to Reconstruction: An Outline of U.S. History has a clear narrative and excellent links to primary source documents, including one text contributed by a previous participant in this seminar.

Links.

The American Civil War Home Page at South Dakota State University and the U.S. Civil War Center at Louisiana State University are two of the best link collections maintained by academic scholars. A useful site containing many important documents related to the secession crisis is Jim Epperson's Causes of the Civil War.

Documents.

Douglass Archive of American Public Address (Northwestern U.)
Making of America (Michigan)
Letters and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln
Text of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (Yale)
Franklin Pierce's Inaugural Address (1853)
James Buchanan's Inaugural Address (1857)
Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Address (1861)
Slave Narratives (UNC)
Secession Ordinances from 13 Confederate States (Sunsite)