November 1 — The Reform Impulse

• The Nature of Reform
  • Liberation
  • Social Control
• The Antebellum Context
• Second Great Awakening
  • Charles Grandison Finney
  • Revivalist Message
  • Moral Free-Agency
  • Perfections
  • “Call to Arms”
• Temperance
  • The “Alcoholic Republic”
  • Pre-industrial Work & Leisure
  • “Industrial Morality”
  • Lyman Beecher
  • American Temperance Society
• Oneida Community
  • John Humphrey Noyes
  • Utopian Community
  • Oneida Ideals
• Women’s Movement
  • Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
  • "Declaration of Sentiments"
• Abolitionism
  • William Lloyd Garrison & The Liberator
  • Frederick Douglass
  • Divisions
  • Motivations
  • Goals
  • Pro-Slavery Response
• Others
  • Transcendentalism
  • Prisons/Asylums
  • Education
    

November 8 — The American Renaissance

• Background
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Biography
  • Major Works
  • Major Themes
• Henry David Thoreau
  • Biography
  • Major Works
  • Major Themes
• Walt Whitman
  • Biography
  • Major Works
  • Major Themes
• Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Biography
  • Major Works
  • Major Themes
• Emily Dickinson
  • Biography
  • Major Works
  • Major Themes
• Herman Melville
  • Biography
  • Major Works
  • Major Themes
• Edgar Allan Poe
  • Biography
  • Major Works
  • Major Themes
• Conclusions

November 10 — Sectionalism

• Major Questions
• America's Successes?
• What North & South Shared
• Economic antislaveryism
  • Redefinition of work
• Moral antislaveryism
  • The movement's maturation in 1830s
  • The movement's effects
• Political antislaveryism
  • Crusade against planters
  • Dream of an all-white west
• Republican party
  • Winning synthesis
• Southern Modernization
• What Made the South Different
  • Slavery?
  • Black population
  • Consequences
• Mounting pressures on the South
  • From the slaves
  • From world opinion
  • From abolitionists
  • From freesoilers and Republicans
  • Within the Upper South
  • Within the poor white community
  • Within the yeoman community
• Succeeding Southern Responses
  • Necessary Evil
  • Positive Good
  • Black slavery better than white slavery
  • Stricter enforcement of the slave codes
  • Reinterpret Northern conduct as affront to Southern honor and a threat to white women
• Conclusions

November 15 — Secession

• Sectional Stereotypes
  • North looking South
  • South looking North
  • Enemy Images coalesce in matrix of sectional differences
• Major Questions
  • How did "Four Crises" of 1850s reinforce stereotypes?
  • How did "Four Crises" of 1850s acclimate the nation to violence?
• Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
  • Background
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe
  • Response
  • Uncle Tom?
  • Themes
  • Significance
• Caning of Charles Sumner (1856)
  • Background
  • Sumner's Speech
  • Preston Brooks
  • Significance
• Dred Scott case (1857)
  • Background
  • Roger Taney
  • Decision
  • Significance
• John Brown's Raid (1859)
  • Background
  • Harper's Ferry
  • Conduct at Trial
  • Northern reaction and the "Secret Six"
  • Significance
• Lincoln's Election
  • Formation of Republican Party
  • Lincoln's nomination
  • Election of 1860
• Timetable for Secession

November 22 — Civil War

• The Balance Sheet
  • Confederates advantages/disadvantages
  • Union advantages/disadvantages
• Initial Expectations
  • Popular perceptions
  • Winfield Scott
• First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run (1861)
  • Description
  • Significance
• Major Turning Points
  • September 1862
    • Robert E. Lee's invasion of the North
    • George B. McClellan
    • Battle of Sharpsburg/Antietam
      • Description
      • Impact/significance
    • Emancipation Proclamation
      • Description
      • Impact/significance
  • July 4, 1863
    • Gettysburg
      • Robert E. Lee's second invasion of the North
      • Battle
      • Impact/significance
    • Vicksburg
      • Rise of US Grant
      • Siege
      • Impact/significance
  • Summer 1864
    • Election of 1864
      • Context
      • Outcome
• End of the War

November 29 — Civil War (Part II)

• Why war was so long and bloody?
  • Modern war
  • Tactics
  • Medicine
    • Nature of wounds
    • Infection
    • Recovery
  • Total war
    • Definition
    • Evolution
• Aftermath
  • Death
  • Partial men
  • Widows and orphans
  • Codas
• Economic costs
• Questions answered by CW
• Questions left for Reconstruction

December 1 — Reconstruction

• Reconstruction: History of the History
• The Unresolved Issues
  • Restoring the union
  • Status of the former slaves
• Obstacles to Success
• Presidential or Conservative Reconstruction
  • The plan
  • 13th amendment
  • Implementation
  • Reaction
• Political Tug-of-war
  • Freedmen's Bureau
  • Civil Rights Act
  • Impeachment
• Congressional or Radical Reconstruction
  • Reconstruction Acts (1867)
  • 14th amendment
  • 15th amendment
  • Implementation
• The Legacy of Reconstruction
  • Promise of Equality
  • Reaction & Redemption
• Success or Failure?