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Introduction to United States History: Colonial Period to the Civil War

Purpose of Course  showclose

Course Information  showclose

Welcome to HIST211.  Below, please find some general information on the course and its requirements.

Course Designer: Angela Bowie

Primary Resources: This course is comprised of a range of different free online materials.  However, the course makes primary use of the following materials:

• Sage American History: Henry J. Sage's Academic American History

Requirements for Completion: In order to complete this course, you will need to work through each unit and all of its assigned materials.  Pay special attention to Units 1 and 2, as these lay the groundwork for understanding the more advanced material presented in the latter units.  In order to pass this course, you will need to complete the final exam and earn a 70% or higher.  Your score on the exam will be tabulated as soon as you finish it.  If you do not pass the exam, you may take it again.

Note that you will only receive an official grade on your final exam.  However, in order to adequately prepare for it, you will need to work through the assignments and all the reading material in the course.

Time Commitment: This course should take you a total of 143.25 hours to complete.  Each unit includes a time advisory that lists the amount of time you are expected to spend on each subunit.  These should help you plan your time accordingly.  It may be useful to take a look at these time advisories and to determine how much time you have over the next few weeks to complete each unit, and then to set goals for yourself. 

Tips/Suggestions: Make sure to review the learning outcomes for the course and those set out for each unit.  Keep these in mind as you work through the course materials and take notes on each of the resources in the course.  These notes will be a useful review as you study for your final exam.

A version of this course is also available in iTunes U. Preview the course in your browser or view our entire suite of iTunes U courses.

Learning Outcomes  showclose

Course Requirements  showclose

• Unit 1
• Unit 2
• Unit 3
• Unit 4
• Unit 5
• Unit 6
• Unit 7
• Unit 8
• Unit 9
• Unit 10
• Final Exam
• All Units

Unit Outline show close

Unit 1: Creating British America  

That North America eventually became British America was not a given. During the 16^th and 17^th centuries, several European powers – including the Netherlands, France, Spain, and England – struggled with Native Americans and with each other for control of the land that lay between what is now Canada and the Caribbean. Settlement boundaries were constantly drawn and re-drawn as a result of conflicts in the New World and wars in Europe. Additionally, the cultures and customs of diverse native peoples both shaped the nature of European settlements in the New World and were ultimately destroyed by European war and settlement.

This unit will begin with an investigation of European colonization and settlement patterns in New France, New Spain, New Netherlands, and English/British North America, paying close attention to the impact that these New World colonies had on Native American Indians. You will then shift your focus to the formation of the Anglo-American colonies: New England, the Middle Colonies, and the Lower Colonies. You will examine the economy, society, and government of these colonies. Finally, you will conclude the unit in the mid-18th century with the Seven Years’ War and the rapid change that this world conflict produced in British America.

Unit 1 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 1 Learning Outcomes   show close


1.1 New World Encounters  

• Reading: America.gov Archive’s Outline of U.S. History: “Chapter 1: Early America”

  Link: America.gov Archive’s Outline of U.S. History: “Chapter 1: Early America” (PDF)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link titled “View PDF” to download the text and read the first chapter (pages 4-21).
   
  Reading and note-taking should take you approximately one hour to complete.
  
  Terms of Use: This material is in the public domain.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: Concepcion Saenz-Camba’s “The Atlantic World, 1492–1600”

  Link: Concepcion Saenz-Camba’s “The Atlantic World, 1492–1600” (PDF)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this article, which discusses the history of early European exploration and colonization of North America and the effect of New World societies on native peoples. Note that this reading will cover the material you need to know for subunits 1.1.1 through 1.1.4 and for subunit 1.3.3.
  
  Reading this article should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: The linked material above has been reposted by the kind permission of Concepcion Saenz-Camba.  Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Web Media: United States Library of Congress’ Jay I. Kislak Collection: “Exploring the Early Americas”

  Link: United States Library of Congress’ Jay I. Kislak Collection: “Exploring the Early Americas” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and then select “Explore” for each of the three sections of this website: “Pre-contact America,” “Exploration and Encounters,” and “Aftermath of the Encounter.” Click the links in each section, examine the images, and read the accompanying text. The images on this website narrate through the diverse artifacts displayed the culture of pre-conquest American societies, the history of the contact between European explorers and native cultures, and the impact of European exploration on the history of the Americas.
  
  Studying this resources should take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.1.1 The Native Americans  

• Reading: University of Groningen: George M. Welling’s American History, from Revolution to Reconstruction: Edward J. Dodson’s “Civilizations under Siege: The European Conquest of the Americas”

  Link: University of Groningen: George M. Welling’s American History, from Revolution to Reconstruction: Edward J. Dodson’s “Civilizations under Siege: The European Conquest of the Americas” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: First, click on the link above, click the links for “7. Pattern of Exploration and Annihilation” and “8. Resisting the European Onslaught,” and read those webpages. This reading compares and contrasts the views of Europeans and Native Americans during the exploration and settlement of the Western Hemisphere.
  
  Reading this chapter and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Native American Cultures”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Native American Cultures” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this article for an overview of the history of Native Americans and their interaction with Europeans. This article explores the impact of European colonization on Native American cultures with the introduction of firearms, liquor, and epidemic disease to native populations. In addition, the author assesses the cultural differences of Europeans and Native Americans at this time of first contact with one another.
  
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: Fordham University’s Medieval Sourcebook: “Christopher Columbus: Extracts from Journal”

  Link: Fordham University’s Medieval Sourcebook: “Christopher Columbus: Extracts from Journal” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read these extracts, focusing specifically on the entry from Thursday, October 11, in which Columbus claims that the native peoples would be “good servants” and proclaims his intention to take six of them back to Spain. 
  
  Christopher Columbus has become a controversial character in the history of the Americas. Some hail him as a brave discoverer who opened the continent for European exploration and trade, while others criticize him for his exploitation of native peoples, great desire for riches, and determination to bring Christianity to the Americas, all of which played a role in the extermination of native peoples and the eventual subjugation of those who survived. The passage above is from Columbus’ diary of his 1492 journey to the New World. Which sections provide special insight on Columbus’ mindset?
  
  Reading these excerpts and answering the question above should take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: Project Gutenberg: Bartolomé de las Casas’ “A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies”

  Link: Project Gutenberg: Bartolomé de las Casas’ “A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this text. As you read, look for consistencies in the way that native peoples were treated across different geographic regions.
  
  Bartolomé de las Casas was a Catholic monk who was one of the first European explorers and settlers in North and Central America. Although he at first participated in the subjugation of the native peoples of the New World, he soon came to oppose and then document the brutal enslavement and torture of native peoples all over the region by the European colonizers. His documentation of such treatment was part of his larger crusade to establish universal human rights for conquered people, and he used this material to argue with kings and emperors for better treatment of native peoples.
  
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 2 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 1: Discovery and Settlement of the New World – Pre-Columbian Era”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 1: Discovery and Settlement of the New World – Pre-Columbian Era” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentation for the first topic, “Pre-Columbian Era.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “The Anasazi” and “The Iroquois Constitution” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text.
   
  The video as well as the text and links offer an overview of the distinctive civilizations of North America prior to European exploration. The links, “The Anasazi” and “The Iroquois Constitution” concern the architecture and culture of the Anasazi civilization of the American Southwest and the complex political organization of the Iroquois Confederation in the American Northeast.
   
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 1: Discovery and Settlement of the New World – Christopher Columbus, Cortés Defeats the Aztecs”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 1: Discovery and Settlement of the New World – Christopher Columbus, Cortés Defeats the Aztecs” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for the second topic, “Christopher Columbus,” and the third topic, “Cortés Defeats the Aztecs.” Then click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Columbus’ First Encounter,” “Letter to Columbus,” and “Treatment of the Aztecs” links under “Explore” and read the accompanying text.
   
  The videos and the accompanying text as well as the link “Columbus’ First Encounter” examine the historic discoveries of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca Empires of Mexico and Peru. The link “Letter to Columbus” considers the motivation of European powers for exploring the Americas through analysis of a historic document while the link “Treatment of the Aztecs” explores the perceived attitudes of the Spanish conquerors toward the Aztecs.
   
  Viewing this presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: United States National Park Service’s “Ancient Architects of the Mississippi”

  Link: United States National Park Service’s “Ancient Architects of the Mississippi” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and click the links for “Life along the River,” “The Moundbuilders,” “Traders and Travelers,” “Delta Voices,” “The Context,” and “Timeline.” Read each of these webpages. Click on any in-text links to read associated content. This website examines the culture of the Native American Moundbuilders, an extensive civilization that flourished in the Mississippi Valley in the Pre-Columbian period.
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.1.2 New France  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 3: Spanish and French Exploration – French Explorers”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 3: Spanish and French Exploration – French Explorers” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentation for the second topic, “French Explorers.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the link to “Routes of Exploration” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. The video and accompanying text focus on the motivations and activities of French explorers. The link “Routes of Exploration” is an interactive map detailing the routes taken by early French and Spanish explorers. Please consider the questions posed in this link.
  
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: The United States Library of Congress and the National Library of France: “France in America”

  Link: The United States Library of Congress and the National Library of France: “France in America” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the links for “General Introduction,” “Exploration and Knowledge”, “The Colonies”, and “Franco-Indian Relations” and read each of these webpages. Click on any associated links that appear below these main links in the table of contents to read additional content. “Exploration and Knowledge” examines the different French explorers. The “Colonies” discusses the French colonies established in Canada and Louisiana. “Franco-Indian Relations” explores the history of the interaction between the French colonizers and native societies.
  
  This reading should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.1.3 New Spain  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 3: Spanish and French Exploration – Spanish Explorers, Mission System”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 3: Spanish and French Exploration – Spanish Explorers, Mission System” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for the first topic, “Spanish Explorers,” and the third topic, “Mission System.” Click on the “Text” tab for each topic and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the link to “Black Legend” and “Mission San Juan Capistrano” and read accompanying text.
   
  The videos and accompanying text discuss the Spanish explorers in North America in the future United States and the establishment of missions in Texas, Florida, California, and New Mexico. The link “Black Legend” offers a visual representation that considers the perception of Spanish explorers as brutal and rapacious while the link “Mission San Juan Capistrano” provides an illustration of the layout of a Spanish mission.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: University of Michigan’s MLibrary Digital Collections: The Making of America: William H. Prescott’s History of the Conquest of Mexico: “Chapter 4”

  Link: University of Michigan’s MLibrary Digital Collections: The Making of America: William H. Prescott’s History of the Conquest of Mexico: “Chapter 4” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read chapter 4, on pages 266–292. American historian William H. Prescott’s 1843 work on the conquest of Mexico is based on primary sources. This excerpt concerns the opening stages of the Spanish conquest of Mexico and offers insight into the motives of the Spanish conquistadors and the reasons for their success in their struggles with Native Americans.
  
  Reading this chapter should take approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.1.4 New Netherland  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 6: The Middle, Chesapeake, and Southern Colonies – New York and New Jersey”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 6: The Middle, Chesapeake, and Southern Colonies – New York and New Jersey” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentation for the first topic, “New York and New Jersey.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the pages. Then click on the link to “Release of New Jersey” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text.
  
  The video and accompanying text examine the Dutch exploration and colonization of the Hudson and Delaware River valleys in the future states of New York and New Jersey as well as the acquisition of this region by the English in 1664. The link “Release of New Jersey” features a primary document, a grant of the land of New Jersey by the Duke of York. Please consider the question posed in this link after reading this document.
  
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.1.5 The English in North America  

• Reading: The Berkeley Electronic Press: John Smith’s A Description of New England

  Link: The Berkeley Electronic Press: John Smith’s A Description of New England (PDF)
  
  Instructions: Please download the PDF file and read the text to get a sense of an Englishman’s perception of uncharted territory in northern North America in the early 17^th century.
  
  Smith’s 1616 work is the first to apply the term New England to that portion of North America from Long Island Sound to Newfoundland. Seeking a new arena for colonial opportunities in the New World, Smith saw New England as a place where English life could be brought to America.
  
  Reading this text should take approximately 2 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: George Bancroft’s History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the American Continent: “Chapter 4”

  Link: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: George Bancroft’s History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the American Continent: “Chapter 4” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read chapter 4, on pages 117–158. George Bancroft was a noted historian of the 19^th century. His commentary, terminology, and point of view reflect the values and perception of his era. This chapter examines the motivations of the English to establish a colony in Virginia and narrates the early history of the Jamestown colony including the successful efforts of John Smith to salvage the colony with the aid of the local Powhatan tribe and Pocahontas.
  
  Reading this chapter should take approximately 2 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: University of Michigan’s Making of America: Jacob Harris Patton’s The History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the Continent to the Close of the Thirty-Sixth Congress

  Link: University of Michigan’s Making of America: Jacob Harris Patton’s The History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the Continent to the Close of the Thirty-Sixth Congress (HTML)
                                                                                                                                     
  Instructions: Please click the link above and read chapter eight (pages 37-44).  Jacob Harris Patton was a noted historian of the nineteenth century.  His commentary, terminology, and point of view reflect the values and perception of his era.
   
  This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History Course: Unit 1: Exploration and Colonial America: Chapter 2: English Colonies, 1600 - 1650: “Lesson 4: The First English Settlements

   Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History Course: Unit 1: Exploration and Colonial America: Chapter 2: English Colonies, 1600 - 1650: “Lesson 4: The First English Settlements” (Adobe Flash)
   
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, select the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for the first topic, “The Jamestown Colony,” and the second topic, “The Plymouth Colony.”  Click on the “Text” tab for each topic and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading.  Then click on the links to “The House of Burgesses,” “'Tobacco's but an Indian Weed,” “The First Virginia Charter,” and “The Mayflower Compact” and “Explore” and read the accompanying text.
   
  Viewing these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: Henry J. Sage's Academic American History: “Virginia: The London Company”

  Link: Academic American History: Henry J. Sage's “Virginia: The London Company” (HTML)
   
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entire webpage.  Click on any in-text links to read associated content.
   
  This reading should take you approximately one hour to complete.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.2 Building Anglo-America, 1660 - 1750  

1.2.1 The English Civil War  

• Reading: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Marcius Willson’s American History: “Appendix to the Colonial History”

  Link: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Marcius Willson’s American History: “Appendix to the Colonial History” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read “Appendix to the Colonial History” on pages 285–324, in which Willson discusses the history of England from the reign of James I through William III and Mary and how events in England shaped the history of the American colonies. Please note what factors increased the influence of British culture on the American colonies. Marcius Willson was a noted historian of the 19^th century. His commentary, terminology, and point of view reflect the values and perception of his era.
  
  Reading this appendix and taking notes should take approximately 2 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: The Constitution Society: “The English Bill of Rights”

  Link: The Constitution Society: “The English Bill of Rights” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read the English Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was created in 1689, at the height of the English Civil War, which was a struggle between King Charles I and Parliament and its followers, called parliamentarians, who rebelled against the King’s absolutism. After several years of conflict, Charles I was executed and Parliament established a republican commonwealth, and then a Puritan dictatorship, and finally reestablished the monarchy under the authority of Parliament. The English Civil War established the precedent of representative government that limited the power of the monarch. Please read the English Bill of Rights and determine which ideas may have been influential in the colonies.
  
  Reading this text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.2.2 New England and the Puritans  

• Reading: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Marcius Willson’s American History: “Chapters 2–5”

  Link: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Marcius Willson’s American History: “Chapters 2–5” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read chapters 2 through 5 on pages 178–218, which provide a narrative history of the New England colonies.
  
  Reading these chapters and taking notes should take approximately 2 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: Hanover College: John Winthrop’s A Modell of Christian Charity

  Link: Hanover College: John Winthrop’s A Modell of Christian Charity (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this text. John Winthrop was the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Puritan settlement that would become Boston. Before he and his fellow settlers embarked for the New World from their ship, the Arbella, in 1630, he delivered the sermon linked above, in which he urged the settlers to establish the colony as a model Christian “city on a hill” from which the world could learn how to live a godly and principled life. In many ways, Winthrop’s vision has remained a part of American ideology since the 17^th century. As you read the sermon, note Winthrop’s main ideas and suggestions for the creation of the new colony.
  
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Puritans of New England” (HTML) and “New England Expands to New Colonies”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Puritans of New England” (HTML) and “New England Expands to New Colonies” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link titled “The Puritans of New England” and read this webpage. Then click on the link titled “New England Expands to New Colonies” and read the first section only. In these readings, you will learn about colonial expansion in New England. Click on any in-text links to read associated content. These readings provide a comparative analysis of the economic, political, religious, and demographic characteristics in the New England colonies and the Virginia colony in the Chesapeake region of the South.
  
  Reading these webpages and taking notes should take approximately 2 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 5: The New England Colonies”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 5: The New England Colonies” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, then select the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for all three topics: “Massachusetts Bay Colony,” ”The Puritan Religion,” and “Dissention in the Bay Colony.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Massachusetts Bay Charter,” “‘A Model of Christian Charity,’” “Old Ship Church,” “Mrs. Anne Hutchinson,” and “Fundamental Orders” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. The videos and accompanying text provide an overview of the New England colonies. After reading the primary texts and Puritan artifacts in the links under “Explore,” please consider the questions that are posed to obtain insights into Puritan culture of the New England colonies.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.2.3 The Middle Colonies  

• Reading: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ Making of America: Marcius Willson’s American History: “Chapters 6, 7, and 9”

  Link: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ Making of America: Marcius Willson’s American History: “Chapters 6, 7, and 9” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read chapters six, seven, and nine, on pages 218-239 and 246-250.
  
  Reading these chapters and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Middle & Southern Colonies”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Middle & Southern Colonies” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, scroll down, and read the section titled “The Middle & Southern Colonies.” Click on any in-text links to read associated content. This reading also covers the topic for subunit 1.2.4. This reading offers an overview of the foundation and early history of the Middle colonies of New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania and the Southern colonies of Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
  
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 6: The Middle, Chesapeake, and Southern Colonies – Pennsylvania and Delaware; Maryland, Carolina, and Georgia”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 6: The Middle, Chesapeake, and Southern Colonies – Pennsylvania and Delaware; Maryland, Carolina, and Georgia” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, then select the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for the second topic, “Pennsylvania and Delaware,” and the third topic, “Maryland, Carolina, and Georgia.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Penn’s Treaty,” “Penn’s Frame of Government,” “Maryland Toleration Act,” “13 Original Colonies,” and “Colonial American Agriculture” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. This resource also covers the topic outlined for subunit 1.2.4.
  
  The videos and the accompanying text concern the foundation of the Middle colonies of Pennsylvania and Delaware and the Southern colonies of Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia. The links under “Explore” provide primary documents associated with the founding of these colonies. Please watch the video for “Colonial American Agriculture” and answer the questions posed, which concern the development of slavery in the Southern colonies.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.2.4 The Lower Colonies  

• Reading: University of Michigan’s: Marcius Willson’s American History: “Chapter 8 and Chapters 10-12”

  Link: University of Michigan’s: Marcius Willson’s American History: “Chapter 8 and Chapters 10-12” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read chapters 8 and 10 through 12 on pages 240–246 and 250–266. These chapters provide a narrative history of the foundation and early history of the colonies of Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia. Please note that in these colonies the colonists faced conflicts with Proprietors, Native American tribes, and the Spanish.
  
  Reading these chapters and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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1.2.5 Geography and Population of the Original Thirteen Colonies  

• Reading: Wikipedia’s “Thirteen Colonies”

  Link: Wikipedia’s “Thirteen Colonies” (PDF)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this article. In reading this subunit as well as subunits 1.2.2, 1.2.3, and 1.2.4 above, please compare and contrast the economic, cultural, political, and social conditions of the regions of 1) New England, 2) the Middle Colonies, and 3) the Southern Colonies. What are the differences between these three different sections of the colonies?
  
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: The article above is licensed by a Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. You can find the original Wikipedia version of this article here.

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1.3 Britain’s America  

1.3.1 The British Empire and Provincial Government  

• Reading: Henry William Elson’s History of the United States of America: “Chapter 10: Colonial Government”

  Link: Henry William Elson’s History of the United States of America: “Chapter 10: Colonial Government” (PDF)
  
  Available in:
  eText Format for Google Books (Available for free). Start on page 293.
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read chapter 10 on pages 293–300 to get a good historical overview of the system of provincial government in British America. Please note that colonial governments largely imitated the system in place in Great Britain with the colonial governors serving in the same capacity as the British monarch. Transcribed by Kathy Leigh, this document is an electronic version of Elson’s original 1904 text (Macmillan).
  
  Reading this chapter and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: This material is in the public domain.

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• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “America and the British Empire”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “America and the British Empire” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage. Click on any in-text links to read associated content. This reading focuses on the ways in which the British government governed the colonies and regulated colonial trade in this period. Please note that changes in these policies after 1763 would lead to colonial unrest as we shall see in section 2.1.1 below.
  
  Reading this webpage and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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1.3.2 Labor Systems  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Colonial Life: Work, Family, Faith”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Colonial Life: Work, Family, Faith” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage. Click on any in-text links to read about associated content. This webpage concerns slavery in the colonies, but also includes a discussion on women in colonial society. Please note how the status and conditions for European women changed when they migrated to America as a result of the economic and social environment in the American colonies. Also please observe that the development of slavery over time in the Southern colonies resulted from economic and social conditions unique to this region.
  
  Reading this webpage and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: George Mason University’s History Matters: “They That Are Born There Speak Good English: Hugh Jones Describes Virginia’s Slave Society, 1724”

  Link: George Mason University’s History Matters: “They That Are Born There Speak Good English: Hugh Jones Describes Virginia’s Slave Society, 1724” (PDF)
   
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read the text in its entirety to get a sense of early Virginia slave society and whites’ perceptions of enslaved Africans.
   
  In this document, Hugh Jones details the beginnings of the culture of slavery in the Chesapeake; Virginia’s slave population grew from 3,000 in 1680 to 27,000 in 1720.  Jones depicts the enslaved population’s contact with whites, the growth of a smaller group that spoke English, and the emergence of strong kinship bonds among enslaved people.
   
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: The material above is in the public domain.

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• Reading: Virtual Jamestown’s First Hand Accounts of Virginia, 1575–1705: “Leah and Rachel”

  Link: Virtual Jamestown’s First Hand Accounts of Virginia, 1575–1705: “Leah and Rachel” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this text. In this 1656 pamphlet published in London, author John Hammond described for his readers the colonies of Maryland and Virginia where he had resided.
  
  After reading this text, please consider the following questions: What were the attractions, according to Hammond, of these two colonies that could lead men and women to leave England and settle in these colonies as indentured servants? Based on Hammond’s testimony what were the factors discouraging immigration to these colonies from England? How could this primary document help explain why slavery eventually replaced indentured servitude by the early 18^th century in the Southern colonies?
  
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
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1.3.3 The African Slave Trade  

• Reading: Emory University: David Eltis’s “A Brief Overview of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade”

  Link: Emory University: David Eltis’s “A Brief Overview of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade” (PDF)
  
  Instructions: This article provides a general history of the African slave trade.
  
  Reading this article should take you approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States license. It is attributed to David Eltis and the original version can be found here.

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• Reading: Emory University: Stephen D. Behrendt’s “Seasonality in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade”

  Link: Emory University: Stephen D. Behrendt’s “Seasonality in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade” (PDF)
  
  Instructions: This article examines the trade patterns and exchange systems of the African slave trade.
  
  Reading this article should take you approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States license. It is attributed to David Eltis and the original version can be found here.

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1.3.4 Colonial Society  

• Lecture: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “Being a British Colonist” and “Being a British American”

  Link: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “Being a British Colonist” (iTunes U) and “Being a British American” (iTunes U)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and select “View in iTunes” for the lectures titled “02 – Being a British Colonist” and “03 – Being a British American.” Please listen to both lectures, in which Professor Freeman discusses the typical life and outlook of the American colonists as part of the British Empire in the mid-18^th century.
  
  Listening to these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 2 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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1.4 War and Social Change  

1.4.1 The Enlightenment: Europe and British America  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Enlightenment in America”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Enlightenment in America” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage to learn about how the Enlightenment in Europe extended its influence to America. The ideas of the Enlightenment in the mid-18^th century would inspire the future leaders of the American Revolution.
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 8: Scientific and Religious Transformations”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 8: Scientific and Religious Transformations” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for both topics: “The Enlightenment” and “The Great Awakening.” Click on the “Text” tab for each topic and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Witchcraft Trial,” “John Locke Essay,” and “‘Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God’” under “Explore” and read the associated content.
  
  The videos and accompanying text examine the two intellectual movements of 18^th-century Colonial America, the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening, which together shaped the views and values of the colonists in the period leading up to the American Revolution. Please click the links under “Explore,” read the primary documents concerning the Salem Witch Trials, John Locke, and Jonathan Edwards, and answer the questions that are posed.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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1.4.2 The Seven Years’ War  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Second Hundred Years’ War”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Second Hundred Years’ War” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage for an overview of the Second Hundred Years War. Click on any in-text links to read about associated content. The Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) was the culmination of nearly a century of conflict between France and Great Britain for the control of territory in North America. This reading surveys the series of wars between these two imperial powers leading to the Seven Years’ War, which resulted in a British victory.
  
  Reading this webpage and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 9: The French and Indian War”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 9: The French and Indian War” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for both topics: “North American Alliances” and “Proclamation of 1763.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Paris Peace Treaty, 1763,” “‘Join, or Die,’” and “Proclamation of 1763” under “Explore” and read the associated content.
  
  The videos and accompanying text discuss the Seven Years’ War and how the actions taken by the British government during and immediately after this war fueled American resentment toward the British government by 1763. Please answer the questions posed after reading the primary documents in the links under “Explore.” This resentment would continue to mount in the following decade.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the associated content should take approximately 45 minutes.
  
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Unit 2: A New Nation Forms  

In the wake of the Seven Years’ War, Britain imposed new taxes and restrictions upon the British American colonies to help pay for the war. The colonies balked at these measures and argued that the British Parliament was not authorized to regulate trade or impose duties and that these matters could only be handled by provincial assemblies. Although many colonists protested the new imperial taxes, few believed it warranted their secession from Britain. It was not until 1775, after George III failed to address the grievances of the colonists, that a break with Britain seemed legitimate and necessary.

In this unit, you will learn how the Revolutionary War made America independent of Britain but also brought many unresolved questions to the fore. What constituted an American “people”? What was the nature of power and liberty? How would America survive in a dangerous world dominated by European empires? What would the American union look like, and how would it be bound together? In this unit, you will consider how these questions dominated debates about the Imperial Crisis, the American Revolution, the Articles of Confederation, the creation of the federal Constitution, and the nature of the new federal union.

Unit 2 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 2 Learning Outcomes   show close


2.1 The Imperial Crisis  

2.1.1 Imperial Reforms  

• Lecture: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “Outraged Colonials: The Stamp Act Crisis”, “Resistance or Rebellion”, and “Being a Revolutionary”

  Link: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “Outraged Colonials: The Stamp Act Crisis” (iTunes U), “Resistance or Rebellion” (iTunes U), and “Being a Revolutionary” (iTunes U)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and select “View in iTunes” for the lectures titled “05 – Outraged Colonials: The Stamp Act Crisis,” “06 – Resistance or Rebellion,” and “07 – Being a Revolutionary.” Please listen to all three lectures, in which Professor Freeman discusses the actions of the British government and the colonists’ reactions to these policies from the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 through the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
  
  Listening to these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 3 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: United States Library of Congress’ American Memory: “British Reforms and Colonial Resistance, 1763–1766”

  Link: United States Library of Congress’ American Memory: “British Reforms and Colonial Resistance, 1763–1766” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage to get a sense of why British legislators imposed reforms – new taxes – on British Americans as well as how Americans responded to these reforms.
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: This material is in the public domain.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

2.1.2 Colonial Resistance  

• Lecture: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “The Logic of Resistance”

  Link: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “The Logic of Resistance” (iTunes U)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and select “View in iTunes” for the lecture titled “08 – The Logic of Resistance.” Please listen to this lecture, in which Professor Freeman discusses events following the passage of the Coercive Acts and the meeting of the First Continental Congress.
  
  Listening to this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: United States Library of Congress’ American Memory: “British Reforms and Colonial Resistance, 1767–1772”and “The Colonies Move Toward Open Rebellion, 1773–1774”

  Link: United States Library of Congress’ American Memory: “British Reforms and Colonial Resistance, 1767–1772” (HTML) and “The Colonies Move Toward Open Rebellion, 1773–1774” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and read these webpages to get a sense of Britain’s increasingly oppressive legislative tactics – more taxes, tighter restrictions on commerce, and more British troops stationed in British America.
  
  Reading these webpages should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: Samuel Adams’ “The Rights of the Colonists”

  Link: Samuel Adams’ “The Rights of the Colonists” (PDF)
  
  Also available in:
  eText Format for Google Books (Available for free). Start on page 350
  eText Format for Kindle (Available for purchase, $0.99)
  
  Instructions: Please read Adams’ treatise to get a sense of how British Americans perceived their rights in 1772. In this document, Samuel Adams of Massachusetts asserts that colonists are entitled to the same English and natural rights as the inhabitants of Britain. Although he does not argue for independence from the mother country, he does wonder “how long such treatment will or ought to be borne” by the colonists.
  
  Reading this treatise should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: This material is in the public domain.

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• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The American Revolution: 1763–1800: Background Events, 1761–1775”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The American Revolution: 1763–1800: Background Events, 1761–1775” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage for an overview of events leading up to the American Revolution and an exploration of how and why the Revolution happened. Click on any in-text links to read about associated content.
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.1.3 Reconciliation or Independence?  

• Reading: Bartleby.com: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

  Link: Bartleby.com: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (HTML)
  
  Also available in:
  eText Format for Google Books (Available for free). Start on page 19.
  eText Format for Kindle (Available for free)
  
  Instructions: Please read part III of this pamphlet. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was the most popular and radical pamphlet of the Revolutionary War era. Published in January 1776, Paine’s work had the largest circulation of any book in American history. Addressed toward middling British Americans, not elites, Paine used plain language to argue for the “common sense” answer to British America’s problems with Britain: independence. Although few colonists supported independence in early 1776, Paine’s 46-page pamphlet mobilized new support for separation from Britain.
  
  When reading this document, please consider the following questions: What, according to Paine, are the benefits of a republican form of government as opposed to a monarchal system? How had the British monarch harmed the interests of the American colonists?
  
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: Smithsonian Source: William Smith’s “Reconciliation Better than Independence”

  Link: Smithsonian Source: William Smith’s “Reconciliation Better than Independence” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this excerpt of a letter by the clergyman William Smith. Using the pseudonym Cato, Smith argues that independence would have devastating effects on British America.
  
  Reading this text should take less than 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: This material is in the public domain.

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• Reading: Thomas Johnson, Jr.’s “Letter to Horatio Gates, May 3, 1775”

  Link: Thomas Johnson, Jr.’s “Letter to Horatio Gates, May 3, 1775” (PDF)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this letter. In the wake of the skirmishes between American militiamen and British troops in 1775, Maryland delegate Johnson nonetheless advocates future reconciliation with Britain.
  
  Reading this letter should take less than 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: This material is in the public domain.

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2.2 The American Revolution  

2.2.1 Beginning of the Revolution  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The American Revolution 1775–1777”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The American Revolution 1775–1777” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage to learn about the American Revolution. Click on any in-text links to read about associated content. Please note that this resource also covers the topics outlined for subunits 2.2.2 through 2.2.5. This reading offers an overview of the Revolutionary War from the outbreak of the war in 1775 through the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and Battle of Saratoga in 1777 which marked a turning point in this conflict in favor of the Americans.
  
  Reading this webpage and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.2.2 The War  

• Lecture: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “Common Sense”, “Independence”, and “Civil War”

  Link: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “Common Sense” (iTunes U), “Independence” (iTunes U), and “Civil War” (iTunes U)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and select “View in iTunes” for the lectures titled “10 – Common Sense,” “11 – Independence,” and “12 – Civil War.” Please listen to all three lectures, in which Professor Freeman discusses the debate among Americans concerning the issue of independence, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the events surrounding the outbreak of hostilities in 1775.
  
  Listening to these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 3 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.2.3 Declaring Independence  

• Reading: United States Library of Congress: “Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents” and “Jefferson’s ‘original Rough draught’ of the Declaration of Independence”

  Link: United States Library of Congress: “Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents” (HTML) and “Jefferson’s ‘original Rough draught’ of the Declaration of Independence” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the first link above to read an overview of the historical context of the Declaration of Independence; then click the second link to read Jefferson’s draft. In this document, Thomas Jefferson eloquently asserts British America’s independence from Britain. Jefferson was nominated to write the draft; it was later revised by the Committee of Five and by members of Congress.
  
  Reading these webpages should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: “The Declaration of Independence”

  Link: “The Declaration of Independence” (PDF)
  
  Also available in:
  eText Format for Google Books (Available for free)
  eText Format for Kindle (Available for purchase, $0.99)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read the final document and compare it with Jefferson’s draft. The original text, housed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., is the final copy of the Declaration signed by the 56 delegates of the Continental Congress on August 2, 1776.
  
  Reading this text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: This material is in the public domain.

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• Lecture: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “The Importance of George Washington”, “The Logic of a Campaign”, and “Fighting the Revolution: The Big Picture”

  Link: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “The Importance of George Washington” (iTunes U), “The Logic of a Campaign” (iTunes U), and “Fighting the Revolution: The Big Picture” (iTunes U)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and select “View in iTunes” for the lectures titled “16 – The Importance of George Washington,” “17 – The Logic of a Campaign,” and “18 – Fighting the Revolution: The Big Picture.” Please listen to all three lectures, in which Professor Freeman discusses the role and historical significance of George Washington as the commanding general of the Continental Army, the decisive factors that enabled the United States to win the American Revolutionary War, and the events leading up to and surrounding the Treaty of Paris which ended the war in 1783.
  
  Listening to these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 3 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.2.4 Loyalists  

• Lecture: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “Who Were the Loyalists?”, and “Heroes and Villains”

  Link: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “Who Were the Loyalists?” (iTunes U), and “Heroes and Villains” (iTunes U)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and select “View in iTunes” for the lectures titled “09 – Who Were the Loyalists?” and “14 – Heroes and Villains.” Please listen to both lecture, in which Professor Freeman explores why some Americans as Loyalists opposed rebellion and resistance to British policies, and the second lecture examines the story of the notorious American traitor Benedict Arnold.
  
  Listening to these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 2 hours.
  
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2.2.5 Revolution and Society  

• Reading: TeachingAmericanHistory.com: Abigail Adams’ “Letter to John Adams, March 31, 1776”

  Link: TeachingAmericanHistory.com: Abigail Adams’ “Letter to John Adams, March 31, 1776” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this letter. The language of revolution and the demands of the colonists for liberty and equality were heard throughout the colonies, with many unintended consequences. For example, women responded to these ideas with a reconsideration of their own status in American life. This letter from Abigail Adams to her husband, a leader of the American Revolution, reflects this application of new ideas to social and political conditions for all, including women. In what ways does this letter compare to the revolutionary goals of the male colonists?
  
  Reading this letter and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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• Reading: PBS’ Africans in America: Benjamin Banneker’s “Letter to Thomas Jefferson, August 19, 1791”

  Link: PBS’ Africans in America: Benjamin Banneker’s “Letter to Thomas Jefferson, August 19, 1791” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this letter. Just as women responded to the rhetoric of revolution, blacks also considered the political values of the new nation and argued that if liberty and equality were to be truly honored in the United States, the status of black Americans, including slaves, needed to be examined and altered. In what ways did Benjamin Banneker inherit and apply the ideals of the American Revolution in his letter to Thomas Jefferson?
  
  Reading this letter and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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2.3 Postwar Uncertainties: The Articles of Confederation  

• Reading: United States Library of Congress’ American Memory: “Identifying Defects in the Confederation”

  Link: United States Library of Congress’ American Memory: “Identifying Defects in the Confederation” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage to get a sense of how the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation left the new nation almost totally impotent because of the ineffectiveness of the Continental Congress and the inability of the national government to regulate commerce and collect revenue.
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Lecture: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “A Union Without Power”

  Link: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: Joanne B. Freeman’s HIST-116 The American Revolution: “A Union Without Power” (iTunes U)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and select “View in iTunes” for the lecture titled “21 – A Union Without Power.” Please listen to this lecture, in which Professor Freeman discusses how the central government under the Article of Confederation was too weak to govern the new nation at the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783.
  
  Listening to this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “America under the Articles of Confederation: 1783–1789”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “America under the Articles of Confederation: 1783–1789” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage, which provides an overview of political issues and the economy in the U.S. under the Articles of Confederation. Click on any in-text links to read about associated content. Please note that diplomatic humiliation, a debt crisis, and the Shays Rebellion in the 1780s all served to highlight the weakness of the national government under the Articles of Confederation and the need for a new national constitution.
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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2.4 The Federal Union  

2.4.1 The Federal Constitution  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Constitutional Government”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Constitutional Government” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage for an overview of events that led up to the creation of the United States Constitution as well as more specifics on articles within the Constitution. Click on any in-text links to read about associated content. Please be sure to click the link “Additional Section on Ratification” and read this webpage. On this page there is a link to the Bill of Rights, which is the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. You should be familiar with these amendments. This reading covers material in section 2.4.2 below.
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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2.4.2 Federalists and Anti-Federalists  

• Lecture: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: HIST-116 The American Revolution: Joanne B. Freeman’s “The Road to the Constitutional Convention,” “Creating a Constitution,” and “Creating a Nation”

  Link: iTunes U: Open Yale Courses: HIST-116 The American Revolution: Joanne B. Freeman’s “The Road  to the Constitutional Convention” (iTunes U), “Creating a Constitution” (iTunes U), and “Creating a Nation” (iTunes U)
   
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and select “View in iTunes” for the lectures titled “The Road to the Constitutional Convention” (44:20), “Creating a Constitution” (45:59), and “Creating a Nation” (40:55).  Please listen to all three lectures in their entirety.
   
  Listening and note-taking should take you approximately three hours to complete.
   
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage.

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• Reading: The Online Library of Liberty: Richard Henry Lee’s Empire and Nation: Letters from a Federal Farmer: “Letter I: October 8, 1787”

  Link: The Online Library of Liberty: Richard Henry Lee’s Empire and Nation: Letters from a Federal Farmer: “Letter I: October 8, 1787” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this letter to get a sense of why Anti-Federalists such as Richard Henry Lee objected to the Constitution. In this document, an anonymous Anti-Federalist author, thought to be Richard Henry Lee, criticizes the new Constitution and argues against states ratifying the document. The author suggests that the Constitution would demolish the sovereign states and create a consolidated government that would undermine American liberties.
  
  Reading this letter should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: This material is in the public domain.

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• Reading: The Online Library of Liberty: James Madison’s “Federalist No. 10”

  Link: The Online Library of Liberty: James Madison’s “Federalist No. 10” (HTML)
  
  Also available in:
  eText Format for Kindle (Available for purchase, $7.69)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this text, using Quentin Taylor’s “The Federalist Papers: American’s Political Classic” to provide historical background. Virginia Federalist James Madison, writing under the pseudonym “Publius,” pens this famous essay of the Federalist Papers, which articulates one of the clearest visions of what the American republic should look like.
  
  Reading this text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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• Reading: University of Groningen: George M. Welling’s American History, from Revolution to Reconstruction: Lisa Marie DeCarolis’ A Biography of Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804): “Origins of a System” and “Jefferson and Madison Create a Party”

  Link: University of Groningen: George M. Welling’s American History, from Revolution to Reconstruction: Lisa Marie DeCarolis’ A Biography of Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804): “Origins of a System” (HTML) and “Jefferson and Madison Create a Party” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and read these articles, which provide an overview of the political and economic views of Alexander Hamilton (Federalist) and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (Republicans). These articles provide the historical background for the emergence of the Federalist Party under the leadership of Alexander Hamilton and Hamilton’s disagreement with James Madison, who along with Thomas Jefferson led the Democratic Republican Party.
  
  Reading these articles should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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2.4.3 The Turbulent 1790s  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The New Republic: The United States, 1789–1800, Part 1” and “The New Republic: The United States, 1789–1800, Part 2: The Adams Administration”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The New Republic: The United States, 1789–1800, Part 1” (HTML) and “The New Republic: The United States, 1789–1800, Part 2: The Adams Administration” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above. For the first article, begin at the subheading “Foreign Affairs: The Best of Times, the Worst of Times” and read the remainder of the page. For the second article, read to the last subheading, “The Peaceful Revolution” (this topic will also be covered in the next section). These articles provide a sense of the new nation’s early conflicts in terms of domestic and foreign affairs under George Washington and John Adams.
  
  Reading these articles should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 18: Development of the Two-Party System”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 18: Development of the Two-Party System” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for all three topics: “Hamiltonians vs. Jeffersonians,” ”Federalists and Democratic-Republicans,” and “Washington’s Farewell Address.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Currency of the United States,” “Proclamation of Neutrality,” “The Jay Treaty,” and “Washington’s Farewell Address” under “Explore” and read the associated content.
  
  The videos and accompanying text concern the presidency of George Washington (1789–1797) and the formation of the first two-party system under his watch. Please note that the text portion of the first topic discusses the compromise between Hamilton and the southern states that resulted in the creation of Washington D.C. as the nation’s capital. Also, after reading the primary documents and examining the artifacts in the links under “Explore,” take some time to answer the questions posed.
  
  Watching this presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 1 hour.
  
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Unit 3: The Early Republic  

The Early American Republic emerged amidst a period of modernization, expansion, and international conflict. The fragile new nation faced a number of threats that challenged its strength and stability, including the emergence of factionalism, divisive political parties, international crises, and the new pressures brought about by westward expansion. The Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, slavery, and new agricultural and commercial developments forced Americans to rethink the nature of their union.

In this unit, you will begin by examining Jefferson’s ascendancy to the presidency – what he termed the “revolution of 1800” – as well as the successes and pitfalls of his tenure in office. You will then examine the tremendous innovation and expansion characteristic of the growing nation, including the development of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin and new settlements in the Louisiana territory. Finally, you will define the period known as the Era of Good Feelings, characterized by a wave of nationalism and new foreign policy.

Unit 3 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 3 Learning Outcomes   show close


3.1 The “Revolution of 1800”  

3.1.1 Jefferson’s “Revolution”  

• Reading: Princeton University Press: Thomas Jefferson’s “First Inaugural Address”

  Link: Princeton University Press: Thomas Jefferson’s “First Inaugural Address” (HTML)
  
  Also available in:
  eText Format for Kindle (Available for purchase, $0.99)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read the address. In this March 4, 1801 speech, a newly sworn in President Jefferson attempted to bridge the divide between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans and proclaim his belief in the fundamental right of religious freedom.
  
  Reading this address and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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• Reading: Henry Sage’s Academic American History: “The Jeffersonian Republic: The United States 1800–1840”

  Link: Henry Sage’s Academic American History: “The Jeffersonian Republic: The United States 1800–1840” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this text Jefferson’s political philosophy and governing style during the beginning of the 19th century. This reading provides an overview of the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison up to the outbreak of the War of 1812. This reading will also cover the topics outlined in subunits 3.1.2 through 3.1.4.
  
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 19: John Adams”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 19: John Adams” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for all three topics: “XYZ Affair,” ”Alien and Sedition Acts,” and “Election of 1800.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “President John Adams,” ”Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions,” ”President Thomas Jefferson,” ”U.S. Capitol Building,” and “Jefferson vs. Hamilton” under “Explore” and read the associated content.
  
  The third presentation provides a sense of the hotly contested presidential election of 1800 between Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic-Republican candidate, and John Adams, the Federalist candidate. This election was one of the most controversial in American history, marked with intrigue, betrayal, and a tie in the Electoral College. However, many historians refer to this election as a case study in the peaceful transition of power.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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3.1.2 The Louisiana Purchase  

• Reading: United States Library of Congress: Thomas Jefferson’s “Instructions for Meriwether Lewis”

  Link: United States Library of Congress: Thomas Jefferson’s “Instructions for Meriwether Lewis” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and this transcript. Jefferson’s instructions for Meriwether Lewis contain not only the commission for the journey but also reveal Jefferson’s hopes for the trip and set an agenda for all future exploration on the North American continent. Taking note of what Jefferson wanted Lewis and Clark to investigate will help you gain insight into Jefferson’s long-term goals for the western territories.
  
  Reading this transcript and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: Wikipedia’s “U.S. Territorial Acquisitions Map”

  Link: Wikipedia’s “U.S. Territorial Acquisitions Map” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and view this map. Note the continual expansion of the United States and the changing frontier line. Consider the political implications of such expansion.
  
  Studying this map should take less than 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 20: Jefferson as President”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 20: Jefferson as President” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for all four topics: “The Louisiana Purchase,” “Lewis and Clark,” “The Aaron Burr Conspiracy,” and “Marbury v. Madison.” Click on the “Text” tab for each topic and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links under “Explore” and read the associated content.
  
  The first video will give you a sense of why and how Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 as well as other important events of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency (1801–1809). Please watch especially the interactive video on the Louisiana Purchase, which is one of the links under “Explore.” Also, under “Explore” click and read the historic Supreme Court decision Marbury v. Madison.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 2 hours.
  
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3.1.3 War and Embargo  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The War of 1812: The ‘Forgotten War’”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The War of 1812: The ‘Forgotten War’” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this text to learn about the causes, military campaigns, and aftermath of the War of 1812. Why has this conflict been dubbed the “forgotten war”?
  
  Reading this text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 21: The War of 1812”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 21: The War of 1812” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for all three topics: “Jefferson’s Embargo,” “Election of Madison,” and “The War.” Click on the “Text” tab for each topic and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “What’s the Mater, Tail?,” ”President James Madison,” ”Battles of the War of 1812,” and “How They Voted” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text.
  
  The videos and the accompany text cover the events leading up to the War of 1812, the 1812 election of James Madison, and the major events of the War of 1812. Under “Explore” click the link and examine the interactive map showing the major battles and military campaigns of this war.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 1 hour to study.
  
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3.1.4 Party Tensions  

• Reading: Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Avalon Project: “Amendments to the Constitution Proposed by the Hartford Convention: 1814”

  Link: Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Avalon Project: “Amendments to the Constitution Proposed by the Hartford Convention: 1814” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this text. The New England Federalists, who convened at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1814, rejected secession and instead proposed a series of amendments to the Constitution designed to weaken the political influence of southern and western states, which were dominated politically by the Republican Party.
  
  Reading this text should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
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3.2 Expansion and Innovation  

3.2.1 Internal Improvements  

• Reading: H-Net: Tom Downey’s “We Have Met the Market Revolution, and It Is Us!”

  Link: H-Net: Tom Downey’s “We Have Met the Market Revolution, and It Is Us!” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this artile. In this review of John Lauritz Larson’s Internal Improvement: National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States, Tom Downey discusses the topic of internal improvements in the early American Republic.
  
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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3.2.2 Expansion West  

• Reading: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Frederick Jackson Turner’s “Rise of the New West, 1819–1829”

  Link: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Frederick Jackson Turner’s “Rise of the New West, 1819–1829” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, read pages 3–9, and then skip ahead to read pages 67–83. In these chapters, noted American historian Frederick Jackson Turner (1861–1932) discusses the rapid western expansion of the United States following the War of 1812. Turner focuses on the impact of this western expansion, on the values and views of the young republic, and especially the growth of democratic ideals.
  
  Reading these chapters should take approximately 1 hour.
  
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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 24: The Transportation Revolution”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 24: The Transportation Revolution” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for both topics: “Westward Movement” and “Innovative Transportation.” Click on the “Text” tab for each topic and read these pages, using the next and previous tabs to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Conestoga Wagons,” ”The Canal Song,” ”Roads and Canals,” and “Railroads” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text.
  
  The videos and accompanying text cover the westward expansion and the development of transportation networks following the War of 1812. Please examine the links to maps under “Explore,” which illustrate the growth of roads, canals, and later, railroads in early 19^th century.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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3.2.3 The Cotton Gin  

• Reading: Economic History Association: William H. Phillips’ “Cotton Gin”

  Link: Economic History Association: William H. Phillips’ “Cotton Gin” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this article to get a sense of how Eli Whitney’s cotton gin transformed the American economy and signaled the rise of “King Cotton.” On this webpage, maintained by the Economic History Association, Professor William H. Phillips of the University of South Carolina traces the rise in cotton production in the Early Republic.
  
  Reading this article should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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3.3 James Monroe and the Era of Good Feelings  

3.3.1 Monroe as President  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “James Monroe and the Era of Good Feelings”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “James Monroe and the Era of Good Feelings” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this article to learn about the Monroe Administration and the vast political and economic changes experienced in the U.S. during this time. The years from 1816 to 1824 became known as the Era of Good Feelings in part because of the political cooperation stemming from one-party politics (the Republican Party) and also because of America’s high morale after the War of 1812. This reading also covers the topics outlined in subunits 3.3.2 through 3.3.4.
  
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
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3.3.2 Sectional Issues  

• Reading: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Frederick Jackson Turner’s “Rise of the New West, 1819–1829”

  Link: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Frederick Jackson Turner’s “Rise of the New West, 1819–1829” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read pages 134–148. In these chapters, noted American historian Frederick Jackson Turner (1861–1932) discusses the Panic of 1819 and the impact of this economic crisis on the country, which was becoming increasingly divided along sectional lines.
  
  Reading these chapters should take approximately 45 minutes.
  
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• Reading: Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Avalon Project: “Monroe Doctrine; December 2 1823”

  Link: Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Avalon Project: “Monroe Doctrine; December 2 1823” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this document, in which James Monroe asserts that the Western Hemisphere cannot be further colonized by European powers and pledges that the United States will not interfere in the affairs of existing European colonies or in the internal affairs of European nations. The Doctrine demarcates a separation of Old World and New World regimes and argues that they maintain independent spheres of influence.
  
  Reading this document should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Chapter 22: James Monroe”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Chapter 22: James Monroe” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for all four topics: “The Era of Good Feelings,” “The Missouri Compromise,” “John Marshall,” and “The Monroe Doctrine.” Click on the “Text” tab for each topic and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. The third and fourth topics cover what you need to know for subunits 3.3.3 and 3.3.4.
  
  The videos and accompanying text discuss the important events of the presidency of James Monroe (1817–1825), such as the acquisition of Florida, the Missouri Compromise, and the publishing of the Monroe Doctrine as well as the important decisions of the Supreme Court at this time under the leadership of Chief Justice John Marshall. Be sure to click the links and read the primary documents under “Explore” and consider the questions posed.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 1 hour.
  
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3.3.3 Monroe Doctrine  

• Reading: Ludwig von Mises Institute: Murray N. Rothbard’s The Panic of 1819: Reactions and Policies

  Link: Ludwig von Mises Institute: Murray N. Rothbard’s The Panic of 1819: Reactions and Policies (PDF)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and download the PDF. Please read pages 1–25. You will get a good overview of why the Panic of 1819 occurred and how Americans reacted to it. This book, originally published by Columbia University Press in 1962, has been reprinted in an online version by the Mises Institute.
  
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Avalon Project: “Monroe Doctrine; December 2 1823”

  Link: Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Avalon Project: “Monroe Doctrine; December 2 1823” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this document, in which James Monroe asserts that the Western Hemisphere cannot be further colonized by European powers and pledges that the United States will not interfere in the affairs of existing European colonies or in the internal affairs of European nations. The Doctrine demarcates a separation of Old World and New World regimes and argues that they maintain independent spheres of influence.
  
  Reading this document should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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3.3.4 The Marshall Court  

• Reading: University of Missouri, Kansas City, Law School: Doug Linder’s “The Power of Judicial Review”

  Link: University of Missouri, Kansas City, Law School: Doug Linder’s “The Power of Judicial Review” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage.  Click on any in-text links to read associated content.  The webpage discusses the origins of the judicial review while John Marshall was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
  
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
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• Reading: University of Groningen: George M. Welling’s American History, from Revolution to Reconstruction: John Marshall’s “Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 1819” and “McCulloch v. Maryland”

  Link: University of Groningen: George M. Welling’s American History, from Revolution to Reconstruction: John Marshall’s “Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 1819” (HTML) and “McCulloch v. Maryland” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and read Chief Justice John Marshall’s views regarding these two important Supreme Court decisions in 1819. What do the opinions expressed by Marshall in these decisions tell us about his views concerning the role and function of the Federal government under the Constitution?
  
  Reading these decisions and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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Unit 4: Democracy in America  

In the 1820s and 1830s, all signs seemed to point toward the rise of a mature democratic nation: the period saw record-high voter turnouts at elections, a number of new reform agendas, and unprecedented economic growth, which fostered optimism about the future of the new nation. Still, the emergence of Jacksonian Democracy did not obscure growing rifts in the American people, as Northerners and Southerners perceived equality differently, and slavery and federal Indian removal policies threatened to undermine what appeared to be a more democratic America.

In this unit, you will begin with an examination of the impact that Andrew Jackson had on American politics and interrogate the term Jacksonian Democracy by asking what democracy truly meant in America in the 1830s. Next, you will consider the problems facing the nation during Jackson’s presidency, including the Nullification Crisis and the Bank War.

Unit 4 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 4 Learning Outcomes   show close


4.1 Andrew Jackson and Populist Politics  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Age of Jackson”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Age of Jackson” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this article about the presidency of Andrew Jackson. President Jackson’s tenure in office helped usher in a newly democratic age marked by increased voter turnout. Jackson, for better or worse, turned the presidency into a vastly more powerful office than previous administrations. However, these years would also be marked by significant sectional differences and an increasingly hostile debate over federal versus state power. This reading also examines the presidency of Martin Van Buren (1837 –1841) and the Panic of 1837. This reading covers the topics outlined in subunits 4.1.1 through 4.2.3.
  
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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4.1.1 The Election of 1828  

• Reading: University of Groningen: George M. Welling’s American History, from Revolution to Reconstruction: Hal Morris’ “Andrew Jackson, 1767–1845, A Brief Biography: The 1828 Election”

  Link: University of Groningen: George M. Welling’s American History, from Revolution to Reconstruction: Hal Morris’ “Andrew Jackson, 1767–1845, A Brief Biography: The 1828 Election” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this article for a biography of Andrew Jackson. This article emphasizes how Jackson’s victory in the election signified the expansion of democratic ideals as he was able to mobilize broad popular support through a well- organized political campaign.
  
  Reading this article should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
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4.1.2 Jacksonian Democracy  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 26: Democracy and the Common Man”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 26: Democracy and the Common Man” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for all three topics: “Election of 1824,” ”Election of 1828,” and “New Political Parties.” Click on the “Text” tab for each topic and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the pages. Then click on the links under “Explore,” and read the accompanying text.
  
  The videos and accompanying text cover the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837) as well as his unsuccessful bid for the White House in 1824. Under “Explore” please click the links and read the texts of the primary documents presented there. Also, take some time to examine the charts and maps, which illustrate the growth of universal male suffrage and the political positions of the Democratic and Whig Parties that emerged in this period.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 45 minutes.
  
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• Reading: University of Virginia: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America: “Why Democratic Nations Show a More Ardent and Enduring Love of Equality than of Liberty”

  Link: University of Virginia: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America: “Why Democratic Nations Show a More Ardent and Enduring Love of Equality than of Liberty” (HTML)
  
  Also available in:
  eText format for Google Books (Available for free)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this excerpt, in which Alexis de Tocqueville, an emissary of the French government, examines why democracies – particularly the United States – are more supportive of equality than liberty. This denotes a shift from the Revolutionary era emphasis on liberty to the antebellum era emphasis on equality.
  
  Reading this excerpt should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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4.1.3 The Whig Party  

• Reading: University of Groningen: George M. Welling’s American History, from Revolution to Reconstruction: Hal Morris’ “The American Whig Party (1834–1856)”

  Link: University of Groningen: George M. Welling’s American History, from Revolution to Reconstruction: Hal Morris’ “The American Whig Party (1834–1856)” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the links for “Historical Background” and “The End of the Party,” and read these webpages, which provide an overview of the origins and the history of the Whig Party, which originally emerged as an alternative to Andrew Jackson’s Democratic Party.
  
  Reading these webpages should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
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4.2 Challenges in the Age of Jackson  

4.2.1 Indian Removal  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 29: Indian Removal”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 29: Indian Removal” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for all three topics: “Native Americans and the New Republic,” ”The Indian Removal Act,” and ”Jackson and Van Buren.” Click on the “Text” tab for each topic and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the readings. Then click on the links under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. These presentations will provide an overview of the aggressive policies of settlers and the American government toward Native American tribes in the early 19th century.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 45 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: United States Library of Congress: Statutes at Large, 21st Congress, 1st Session: “Indian Removal Act”

  Link: United States Library of Congress: Statutes at Large, 21^st Congress, 1^st Session: “Indian Removal Act” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read pages 411–412 to understand what the Indian Removal Act of 1830 stipulated. This document, signed into law by President Andrew Jackson in 1830, outlines the beginning of the forced migration of tens of thousands of Native American Indians to the West. Although Indian removal was supposed to be voluntary in theory, in practice great pressure was placed on Native American leaders to sign removal treaties.
  
  Reading this document should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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4.2.2 Nullification Crisis  

• Reading: United States Library of Congress: Andrew Jackson’s “Letter to Martin Van Buren discussing the Nullification Crisis, 13 January 1833”

  Link: United States Library of Congress: Andrew Jackson’s “Letter to Martin Van Buren discussing the Nullification Crisis, 13 January 1833” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read the summary. Then click on the image of the letter and read the four-page letter from Jackson to his new vice president, Martin Van Buren, to get a sense of how he perceived the nullification crisis.
  
  Reading this letter should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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4.2.3 Bank War  

• Reading: Jeffrey Sklansky’s Common-Place: “A Bank on Parnassus: Nicholas Biddle and the Beauty of Banking”

  Link: Jeffrey Sklansky’s Common-Place: “A Bank on Parnassus: Nicholas Biddle and the Beauty of Banking” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this article. In the context of the Bank War, Professor Jeffrey Sklansky of Oregon State University asks what banks and paper money represented in the American republic.
  
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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4.2.4 The American System  

• Reading: United States Library of Congress: Henry Clay’s “In Defense of the American System”

  Link: United States Library of Congress: Henry Clay’s “In Defense of the American System” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this speech by Henry Clay from February of 1832. Please read the speech, on pages 257–295, to understand how Clay presented his arguments for protective tariffs, a national bank, and federally-subsidized “internal improvements.”
  
  Reading this speech and taking notes should take approximately 2 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.<

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Unit 5: North and South  

The new democratic spirit of the early 19th century was also threatened by growing sectional differences and ideologies: Northerners believed that their society was characterized by antislavery beliefs, a system of wage labor, and efficient urban factories, while Southerners, by contrast, thought that their society was premised on the “positive good” of slavery, a system of enslaved labor, and a profitable plantation network.

In this unit, you will explore how the North and the South came to view their societies during the antebellum years. You will examine the social conditions, economic policies, and racial attitudes of each region in order to understand how and why these two sections of the United States could coexist within the same federal union despite such seemingly drastic differences.

Unit 5 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 5 Learning Outcomes   show close


5.1 Yankee Society  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 4: A Northern World View: Yankee Society, Anti-slavery Ideology, and the Abolition Movement”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 4: A Northern World View: Yankee Society, Anti-slavery Ideology, and the Abolition Movement” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  HTML, Flash, MP3, or QuickTime
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and listen to this excellent lecture to get a sense of how the North’s worldview differed from that of the South. Using abolitionist and anti-slavery ideas, Blight demonstrates the creation of a distinctly Northern antebellum ideology.
  
  Watching this lecture should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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5.1.1 Antislavery Thought  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 31: Reform Crusades – Abolitionism”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 31: Reform Crusades – Abolitionism” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentation for the fourth topic, “Abolitionism.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “David Walker’s Appeal” and “President James Polk” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text.
  
  This presentation gives a good overview of northern antislavery thought and abolitionism. It is important to note, however, that abolitionists – those who called for immediate emancipation – comprised a tiny minority in the northern states. Instead, most northerners were anti-black, anti-slavery, and pro-colonization.
  
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: United States Library of Congress’ African-American Mosaic: “Colonization”

  Link: United States Library of Congress’ African-American Mosaic: “Colonization” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage, which offers a nice overview of colonization, which involved the settlement of freed slaves from the United States in the new nation of Liberia in West Africa. Prior to the emergence of the abolitionist movement in the 1830s, colonization was the focus of anti-slavery reformers, including some prominent slave owners, such as President James Monroe.
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: University of Virginia: Stephen Railton’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture: David Walker’s “Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World”

  Link: University of Virginia: Stephen Railton’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture: David Walker’s “Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage. This 1829 call for a slave revolt by David Walker, a free black living in Boston, rejected the moral suasion and gradualism of the antislavery movement of the time in favor of more radical action on the part of slaves. As you read, note Walker’s approach to the issue of slavery and how to abolish it. Why might Walker have been considered a radical at the time?
  
  Reading this text and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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5.1.2 Wage Labor  

• Reading: University of Massachusetts Center for Lowell History: “A Description of Factory Life by an Associationist, 1846”

  Link: University of Massachusetts Center for Lowell History: “A Description of Factory Life by an Associationist, 1846” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage. The city of Lowell, Massachusetts was the birthplace of a new kind of industrial factory system, in which the spinning and weaving of cloth were completed under the same roof. The Lowell System, as this innovation was called, attracted thousands of young women from poor farming families to work in factories, but workers soon discovered the dangerous, oppressive, and exploitative nature of the system and a rebellion occurred in 1834, as the Lowell Mill Girls agitated for better treatment. The strike was unsuccessful; in this eyewitness report from 1846, note the possible reasons why the mill workers were dissatisfied.
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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5.1.3 Factories and Cities  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “American Economic Growth, 1820 –1860”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “American Economic Growth, 1820 –1860” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage to learn about the market revolution in the early to mid-19th century. This era marked a dramatic change in the manual labor system of the United States. As you read these selections, compare some of the positive and negative impacts of consumerism and urbanization on American life.
  
  Reading this webpage and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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5.2 Southern Society  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 3: A Southern World View: The Old South and Proslavery Ideology”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 3: A Southern World View: The Old South and Proslavery Ideology” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  HTML, Flash, MP3, or QuickTime
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and listen to this excellent lecture to learn what proslavery ideology was and how it defined the intellectual and cultural contours of the “Old South.” Through an examination of proslavery ideology, Professor Blight shows that antebellum southerners believed slavery was the bedrock of their civilization.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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5.2.1 Proslavery  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Ante-Bellum South: Life on the Plantation”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Ante-Bellum South: Life on the Plantation” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click the link and read this webpage, which examines the economy of the antebellum South and its defense of the institution of slavery as well as the oppression and indignities experienced by African American slaves.
  
  Reading this webpage and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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5.2.2 Slave Labor and the Domestic Slave Trade  

• Reading: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: William Goodell’s “The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice”

  Link: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: William Goodell’s “The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read chapter 2, on pages 44–62. William Goodell was an abolitionist and one of the founders of the New York Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. This chapter from Goodell’s 1853 pamphlet discusses the domestic slave trade in the antebellum period.
  
  Reading this chapter should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: Boundless: “Forming a Slave Community”

  Link: Boundless: “Forming a Slave Community” (PDF)
  
  Instructions: This article examines the experiences of slaves on plantations in North America and the way in which slaves resisted and rebelled against their conditions.
  
  Reading this article should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
  
  Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. It is attributed to Boundless and the original version can be found here.

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• Reading: Antislavery Literature Project: William John Grayson’s “The Hireling and the Slave”

  Link: Antislavery Literature Project: William John Grayson’s “The Hireling and the Slave” (HTML)
  
  Poem also available in:
  eText format for Google Books (Available for free)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage in order to understand the historical context of Grayson's poem.  Then read the entire poem in XHTML, Microsoft Word, or PDF format.  In this poem, Grayson, a South Carolina planter, contrasts the grim lives of urban factory workers in New England industrial towns with southern slaves.  In response to growing criticism from antislavery supporters in the North, southerners like Grayson argued that slaves were treated better than the “hirelings” of northern factories.
  
  Reading this article should take approximately 3 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage.

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• Reading: United States Library of Congress’ American Memory: “Interview with W.L. Bost, Ex-Slave”

  Link: United States Library of Congress’ American Memory: “Interview with W.L. Bost, Ex-Slave” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read the interview on pages 138–147. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Federal Writers’ Project conducted oral histories of former slaves who were still alive to preserve their memories of slave life. This testimony from W.L. Bost recounts the sale and enslavement of blacks in North Carolina in the 19th century. How does this oral history provide insight into the daily life of slaves?
  
  Reading this interview and answering the question above should take approximately 45 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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5.2.3 The Plantation South  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 2: Southern Society: Slavery, King Cotton and Antebellum America’s ‘Peculiar’ Region”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 2: Southern Society: Slavery, King Cotton and Antebellum America’s ‘Peculiar’ Region” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  HTML, Flash, MP3, or QuickTime
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and listen to this excellent lecture to get a sense of the contours of antebellum southern culture. Professor Blight examines the roots of southern distinctiveness in the antebellum era and suggests that a commitment to honor, anti-modernity, and profitable slave labor helped shaped the “peculiar” nature of the region.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
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Unit 6: An Age of Reform and Resistance  

The antebellum years were a period of rapid social change in America. Many distinct groups – including religious sects, slaves, free blacks, and women – asserted their claim to equal rights in a democratic nation. Perceiving that American society was in need of reform, these groups either sought to change existing institutions or to forge new ones. Evangelicals (particularly in the South) as well as Shakers and Mormons sought to restore an earlier, more primitive form of Christianity to America. And in order to solve the problem of southern slavery and northern free blacks, many antislavery reformers devised plans to colonize blacks in Africa. Other bleak aspects of American society, including the prison system and the prevalence of alcoholic beverages, spurred the formation of the Temperance Movement and prison reform movement. Meanwhile, southern slaves planned or carried out revolts in Virginia and South Carolina in an attempt to resist enslavement and gain their freedom.

In this unit, you will examine how the antebellum era was also an era of reform. Some Americans, such as antislavery proponents and members of new religious groups attempted moral reform, while others (prison reformers, Temperance Movement supporters, Utopians and transcendentalists, public educators, women’s rights activists, and rebellious slaves) focused on social reform. By studying all of these groups and their reform objectives, you will understand that reform cut both ways in antebellum America: While many groups had seemingly progressive and democratizing goals, they were also often racist and socially conservative.

Unit 6 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 6 Learning Outcomes   show close


6.1 Religious Reform  

6.1.1 The Second Great Awakening  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 31: Reform Crusades”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 31: Reform Crusades” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for the following three topics: “Humanitarian Reforms,” ”Social Reforms,” and “Women’s Rights.” Click on the “Text” tab for each topic and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to move through the readings. Then click on the links to “Dorothea Dix,” ”Tree of Temperance,” and “Declaration of Sentiments” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text.
  
  The videos and accompanying text discuss the various reform movements in antebellum (before the Civil War) America, including the emergence of a women’s movement. In many cases reformers were inspired to reform American society by their religious convictions during this period of religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 45 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Social and Cultural Issues in the Antebellum Period”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Social and Cultural Issues in the Antebellum Period” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this section of text until you get to “The Antebellum South: Life on the Planation,” which you read earlier in this course. This reading will give you a sense of the evangelical worldview that emerged in the 1820s and 1830s – the phenomenon referred to as the Second Great Awakening – and will provide an overview of the various reform movements of this same period.
  
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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• Reading: TeachingAmericanHistory.org: Charles Finney’s “What a Revival Religion Is”

  Link: TeachingAmericanHistory.org: Charles Finney’s “What a Revival Religion Is” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this 1835 sermon by Charles Grandison Finney, who is often considered the Father of Modern Revivalism. This sermon was printed and distributed in thousands of copies of the New York Evangelist, a popular religious publication of the era. How does this sermon express the goals and values of the Second Great Awakening?
  
  Reading this sermon and answering the question above should take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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6.1.2 Religious Pluralism  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 30: Transcendentalism, Religion, and Utopian Movements”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 30: Transcendentalism, Religion, and Utopian Movements” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentation for the second topic, “The Second Great Awakening.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Second Great Awakening” and “Millerites” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text.
  
  The video and accompanying text discuss the diverse religious movements of the Second Great Awakening. Please be sure to click the links under “Explore” and consider the questions posed there after examining the primary documents presented.
  
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Lecture: The Saylor Foundation’s “The Second Awakening and Antebellum Reform, Part 1” and “Part 2”

  Link: The Saylor Foundation’s “The Second Awakening and Antebellum Reform, Part 1” (YouTube) and “Part 2” (YouTube)
  
  Instructions: Please watch these videos, which discuss new religious movements that arose as a result of the Second Great Awakening and examine the impact of this historical development on diverse religious groups in the United States.
  
  Watching these lectures and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

6.1.3 African Americans and Religion  

• Reading: National Park Service: “African American Churches of Beacon Hill”

  Link: National Park Service: “African American Churches of Beacon Hill” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this article, which discusses the history of the African American churches in Boston and their most prominent members, who were often involved in the abolitionist movement. Why was religion such a central component of black life during this time?
  
  Reading this article and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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6.2 Antislavery  

6.2.1 Antislavery: Moral and Social Reform  

• Reading: Cornell University’s Carl A. Kroch Library: “‘I Will be Heard!’: Prominent Abolitionists”

  Link: Cornell University’s Carl A. Kroch Library: “‘I Will be Heard!’: Prominent Abolitionists” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage. Then select the “Continue the tour” link at the bottom of the page and progress through each page with this link, reading each page from William Lloyd Garrison through Pennsylvania Hall. These links concern the biographies of prominent abolitionists and discuss their efforts to oppose slavery.
  
  Reading these webpages should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: United States Library of Congress’ African-American Mosaic: “Abolition”

  Link: United States Library of Congress’ African-American Mosaic: “Abolition” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read the overview of the abolition movement at the top of the webpage. Then scroll down the page, click on each link on the left-hand side, and study these images; these broadsides, songs, and pamphlets have helped define abolition as a social movement. These webpages illustrate the efforts of Abolitionists through their organizations and publications to persuade the American public to reject slavery.
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Lecture: The Saylor Foundation’s “Anti-Slavery Movements Part 1”

  Link: The Saylor Foundation’s “Anti-Slavery Movements Part 1” (YouTube)
  
  Instructions: Please watch this video, which examines how and why abolition replaced emancipation and colonization as the main thrust of reformers bent on opposing slavery in the United States. The Second Great Awakening inspired the emergence and growth of the abolitionist movement.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

6.2.2 Colonization and Liberia  

• Reading: United States Library of Congress’ African-American Mosaic: “Colonization” and “Liberia”

  Link: United States Library of Congress’ African-American Mosaic: “Colonization” (HTML) and “Liberia” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and re-read the overview of the colonization movement, which was introduced in subunit 5.1.1, and read the page about Liberia. Then scroll down each page and click on the images on the left-hand side; these broadsides, songs and pamphlets help define colonization and the experiment in Liberia in the context of the larger antislavery movement.
  
  Reading these webpages should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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6.3 Reform Associations  

• Lecture: The Saylor Foundation’s “The Second Awakening and Antebellum Reform, Part 3”

  Link: The Saylor Foundation’s “The Second Awakening and Antebellum Reform, Part 3” (YouTube)
  
  Instructions: Please watch this video, which discusses the motivations of social reformers in Antebellum America and examines the main reform movement of this period.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.

  See a broken link? Please let us know!

6.3.1 Crime and Punishment  

• Reading: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s University Libraries: Documenting the American South: “Dorothea Dix’s Advocacy for the Mentally Ill in North Carolina”

  Link: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s University Libraries: Documenting the American South: “Dorothea Dix’s Advocacy for the Mentally Ill in North Carolina” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage to learn about the efforts of famed social reformer Dorothea Dix to reform mental health care. Also, you can read Dix’s address to the state legislature. Dix’s address and reform efforts revealed the harsh conditions the mentally ill endured as well as the poor conditions of the nation’s jails and prisons. Please consider how Dix’s reform work overlapped with other reform movements of the period, such as abolition and temperance (see sections 6.2.1 and 6.3.2).
  
  Reading this webpage should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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6.3.2 The Temperance Movement  

• Reading: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Henry Ward Beecher’s “Common Sense for the Young Man on the Subject of Temperance”

  Link: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Henry Ward Beecher’s “Common Sense for the Young Man on the Subject of Temperance” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read pages 9–34 of this sermon by the noted clergyman Henry Ward Beecher. Beecher was a prominent reformer who was involved in both the temperance and abolitionist movements in the antebellum period. He was the son of the preacher Lyman Beecher and the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In this sermon, Beecher expresses the common themes of the Temperance movement, such as the vices associated with consuming alcohol and the virtues associated with self-control and temperance.
  
  Reading this sermon should take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: Internet Archive: University of California's California Digital Library: Timothy Shay Arthur's Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, and What I Saw There (1854)

  Link: University of California’s California Digital Library: Timothy Shay Arthur's Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, and What I Saw There (1854) (HTML)
  
  Also available in:
  eText format for Google Books (Available for free)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and choose to read the selection in XHTML or PDF format.  Read chapter 1, on pages 7-36, chapter 5 on pages 106-133, and chapter 9 on pages 221-234.  Originally published in 1854, Ten Nights in a Bar-Room was the most important Temperance novel, rivaling Uncle Tom’s Cabin in popularity.  Arthur’s work highlights the moral depravity and wickedness that resulted from addiction to drink.
   
  Reading these chapters and taking notes should take approximately 3 hours.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage.

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6.3.3 Utopianism and Transcendentalism  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 30: Transcendentalism, Religion, and Utopian Movements – Transcendentalism, Utopian Movements”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 30: Transcendentalism, Religion, and Utopian Movements – Transcendentalism, Utopian Movements” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentations for the first topic, “Transcendentalism,” and third topic, “Utopian Movements.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Transcendentalists,” “Thoreau, Emerson and King,” and “Alternative Communities” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. The videos and accompanying text examine Transcendentalist philosophy, which inspired reformers and abolitionists in this era, and the emergence of Utopian communities, which sought to create model societies as a means to stimulate social and religious reform.
  
  Watching these presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: The Walt Whitman Archive: Jerome Loving’s “Ralph Waldo Emerson (1809 -1882)”

  Link: The Walt Whitman Archive: Jerome Loving’s “Ralph Waldo Emerson (1809 -1882)” (PDF)
  
  Instructions: Please read this biography of Emerson to get a good overview of his work. In his 1836 essay “Nature,” Emerson relies on nature – as well as his own spirituality and intuition – rather than reason to explain mankind’s role in the world.
  
  Reading this biography and taking notes should take you approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. It is attributed to Jerome Loving and the original version can be found here. 

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6.3.4 Public Education  

• Reading: Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society’s Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography: Susan Ritchie’s “Horace Mann”

  Link: Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society’s Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography: Susan Ritchie’s “Horace Mann” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this biography of Horace Mann, the most prominent proponent of free public education in the antebellum period. Please note how his Unitarian faith inspired his effort to improve public education across the nation.
  
  Reading this biography should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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6.3.5 Women’s Rights  

• Reading: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: “The Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Conference, 1848”

  Link: Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook: “The Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Conference, 1848” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage. The first convention for women’s rights was held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, partly in response to the limitations placed on women’s participation in the antislavery movement.
  
  “The Declaration of Sentiments” was modeled on the Declaration of Independence and incorporates that document’s emphasis on the limitation of power and the goal of equality. In this manifestation, however, the oppressor is not the King but American men. A total of 68 women and 32 men signed “The Declaration of Sentiments.” How does “The Declaration of Sentiments” signify a new interpretation of rights and liberty in the United States?
  
  Reading this webpage and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Lecture: The Saylor Foundation’s “Anti-Slavery Movements Part 2”

  Link: The Saylor Foundation’s “Anti-Slavery Movements Part 2” (YouTube)
  
  Instructions: Please watch this video, which explores the links between the abolitionist movement and the nascent women’s rights movement.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.

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6.4 Slave Resistance  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 33: Decade of Crisis – Slave Resistance”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 33: Decade of Crisis – Slave Resistance” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, select “Start Lesson,” and watch the presentation for the first topic, “Slave Resistance.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Henry Box Brown” and “Nat Turner” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. The video and accompanying text discuss slave insurrections, such as Nat Turner’s Revolt and the Underground Railroad, which facilitated the escape of slaves in the South to freedom in Canada.
  
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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6.4.1 Gabriel’s Rebellion  

• Reading: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s University Libraries: Documenting the American South: Nat Turner’s “The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, VA”

  Link: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s University Libraries: Documenting the American South: Nat Turner’s “The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, VA” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this text, which is Nat Turner’s first-person account of the slave rebellion he led in Virginia in 1831. Dictated to the lawyer Thomas Gray, these “confessions” detail the death and destruction that Turner and his co-rebels unleashed.
  
  Reading this text should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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6.4.2 The Denmark Vesey Conspiracy  

Note: This topic is covered by the reading for sub-subunit 6.4.1.

6.4.3 Nat Turner’s Rebellion  

Note: This topic is covered by the reading for sub-subunit 6.4.1.

Unit 7: Westward Expansion  

John L. O'Sullivan, editor of the influential United States Magazine and Democratic Review, gave the expansionist movement now referred to as “Manifest Destiny” its name in 1845, when he wrote that it was “the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.”  Manifest Destiny was an ideology of expansion stimulated by nationalism and an idealistic vision of American progress.  Many believed that it was America’s providential duty to extend the blessings of liberty and equality across the continent.  But, according to its nineteenth century proponents, Manifest Destiny was a vision reserved for white Americans alone; black slaves, Native American tribes, and other “foreigners” were displaced and exploited.

In this unit, you will consider the events and conflicts that grew out of Manifest Destiny.  You will first learn about the advent of western expansion in the 1830s and 1840s, examining which native peoples lived in the present day American West and why settlers pioneered there.  You will learn to distinguish between the myths and realities of “the West.”  Next, you will study the California Gold Rush, the contested boundary between the U.S. and Britain in the Pacific Northwest, and the clash between the U.S. and Mexico over the possession of Texas, a region that was transformed from a Mexican territory to an independent republic to a slave-holding state through war and violence.

Unit 7 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 7 Learning Outcomes   show close


7.1 The Making of the West  

7.1.1 Pioneers and Travelers  

• Reading: America.gov Archive’s Outline of U.S. History: “Chapter 5: Westward Expansion and Regional Differences”

  Link: America.gov Archive’s Outline of U.S. History: “Chapter 5: Westward Expansion and Regional Differences” (PDF)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and select “View PDF” to download the text. Read pages 123 (beginning under the heading “Westward”) through the end of the chapter to learn about western settlement and frontier life in the early 19^th century. Be sure to study the map on page 127. This chapter also discusses the territorial expansion of the United States after the War of 1812 and Indian Removal in the 1830s when the United States government forced Native Americans to migrate westward from their homes east of the Mississippi River to the southern plains.
  
  Reading this chapter and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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7.1.2 The Idea of Manifest Destiny  

• Reading: Mount Holyoke College: Vincent Ferraro’s Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy: “John L. O’Sullivan on Manifest Destiny, 1839”

  Link: Mount Holyoke College: Vincent Ferraro’s Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy: “John L. O’Sullivan on Manifest Destiny, 1839” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this excerpt. Pay special attention to why O’Sullivan believes that the United States was destined to be a “Great Nation of Futurity.” This text represents a portion of O’Sullivan’s article “The Great Nation of Futurity,” featured in The United States Democratic Review, Volume 6, Issue 23, pages 426–430. Although Sullivan coined the phrase “manifest destiny” in 1845, this article demonstrates that the idea was already apparent to him several years earlier.
  
  Reading this excerpt should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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7.2 California and the Pacific Northwest  

7.2.1 The U.S.-Canadian Border  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Expansion and War: The United States, 1840–1865”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Expansion and War: The United States, 1840–1865” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and scroll down to the subheading “American Foreign Relations in the Tyler Years.” Read this section to learn about the conflicts that erupted on the eastern Canadian border in the 1830s and 1840s.The Webster-Ashburton Treaty resolved the long standing border issue with Great Britain concerning the US-Canadian border.
  
  Reading this section and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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7.2.2 “Fifty-four Forty or Fight!”  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 32: Manifest Destiny – The Oregon Country”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 32: Manifest Destiny – The Oregon Country” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and watch the presentation for the first topic, “The Oregon Country.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to move through the reading. Then click on the link to “John O’Sullivan Editorial” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. This resource discusses the border dispute between Great Britain and the U.S. in the Pacific Northwest in the 1840s. How did this dispute figure into the country’s larger philosophy of manifest destiny?
  
  Watching this presentation, reading the accompanying text, and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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7.2.3 Forty-Niners  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 32: Manifest Destiny – California Gold”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 32: Manifest Destiny – California Gold” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and view the presentation for the fourth topic, “California Gold.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Walter Colton Diary” and “President Zachary Taylor” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. The Gold Rush was one of the most significant events in California history. It brought people from all over the United States and the world to California in search of gold and helped to fuel westward settlement. What were some of the hardships experienced by these speculators?
  
  Watching this presentation, reading the accompanying text, and answering the question above should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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7.3 Texas and Mexico  

7.3.1 The Republic of Texas  

• Reading: Lone Star Junction: “The Texas Declaration of Independence (March 2, 1836)”

  Link: Lone Star Junction: “The Texas Declaration of Independence (March 2, 1836)” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this text. Pay special attention to how it echoes the American Declaration of Independence. Texas became an independent republic after the fall of the Alamo Mission in San Antonio and Sam Houston’s victory at San Jacinto. The 1836 Declaration cemented Texas’ independence from the United States and Mexico.
  
  Reading this text should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
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• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “A Brief History of Texas from American Settlement to Annexation, 1820–1845”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “A Brief History of Texas from American Settlement to Annexation, 1820–1845” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage to learn about how Texas was settled, why war broke out between Texans and the Mexican government, and how Texas became an independent republic. Why were some Americans opposed to the annexation of Texas?
  
  Reading the selection and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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7.3.2 The Mexican War  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Part 4: Expansion and War: The United States, 1840–1865”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “Part 4: Expansion and War: The United States, 1840–1865” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and scroll down to read the sections titled “Manifest Destiny and Mexico” and “The Mexican-American War.” Read the first section. Read the second section until you reach the subheading “The Oregon Boundary Dispute.” These readings provide a comprehensive overview of the annexation of Texas and the subsequent armed conflict between the United States and Mexico, which lasted from 1846 to 1848, under the Polk Administration. Scholars have ranked Polk favorably on the list of greatest presidents for his ability to set an agenda and achieve all of it. Do you agree that he was a successful president in this regard?
  
  Reading these selections and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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7.3.3 The Wilmot Proviso  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 32: Manifest Destiny – The Mexican-American War”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 32: Manifest Destiny – The Mexican-American War” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and view the presentation for the third topic, “The Mexican-American War.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the link to “Zachary Taylor” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. This resource will help you learn about how Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot’s proposal inflamed sectional tensions in the midst of the Mexican-American War.
  
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
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Unit 8: Impending Crisis  

In the 1850s, the “slavery question” fomented sectional crises that threatened to destroy the very existence of the federal union. Two main questions manifested themselves in sectional disputes: The first was whether or not slavery should exist in new territories and new states; the second was whether or not the federal government had a legislative role in the formation of new western states. These questions were never fully resolved during the 1850s, despite the adoption of the idea of popular sovereignty, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

In this unit, you will examine how this lack of resolution exacerbated Northerners’ fears of Southerners’ “slave power conspiracy,” while the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, the Dred Scott case, and John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry all deepened the growing rift between the North and the South.

Unit 8 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 8 Learning Outcomes   show close


8.1 The Question of Slavery  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 6: Expansion and Slavery: Legacies of the Mexican War and the Compromise of 1850”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 6: Expansion and Slavery: Legacies of the Mexican War and the Compromise of 1850” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  HTML, Flash, MP3, or QuickTime
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and listen to this excellent lecture to get a sense of why northerners and southerners were so divided over the westward expansion of slavery. Professor Blight examines how the Mexican War and the Compromise of 1850 exacerbated the question of the expansion of slavery.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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8.1.1 The Slave Power  

• Reading: Economic History Association: Roger Ransom’s “The Economics of the Civil War”

  Link: Economic History Association: Roger Ransom’s “The Economics of the Civil War” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read the article up to the subheading “The Costs of the War.” This article provides an in-depth comparison of the regional economies of the North and South in the years before the Civil War. While reading, please consider how these two regions compared to one another in terms of their respective urban populations, banks, railroads, and industry.
  
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 45 minutes.
  
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8.1.2 Fugitive Slaves  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 33: Decade of Crisis – The Compromise of 1850”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 33: Decade of Crisis – The Compromise of 1850” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and view the presentation for the second topic, “The Compromise of 1850.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the links to “Compromise of 1850,” “Fugitive Slave Act,” and “President Millard Fillmore” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. The Fugitive Slave Act was one of the most controversial parts of the Compromise of 1850. Passage of the law incensed many northerners, who refused to be complicit in enforcing slaveholders’ rights above the Mason-Dixon Line, and only served to heighten northern fears of a slave power conspiracy. Do you believe that the law’s supporters were caught off guard by the vocal and widespread opposition to it?
  
  Watching this presentation, reading the accompanying text, and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 5: Telling a Free Story: Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in Myth and Reality”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 5: Telling a Free Story: Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in Myth and Reality” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  HTML, Flash, MP3, or QuickTime
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and view this excellent lecture to get a sense of the experiences of escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad. Professor Blight examines the Underground Railroad and narratives written by slaves, including Frederick Douglass, who escaped from slavery in the South. Opinions of the Underground Railroad in this era illustrate the gulf that separated Abolitionists and slave owners. Whereas Abolitionists viewed this enterprise as a noble crusade, slave owners considered it to be a criminal activity.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
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8.1.3 The Dred Scott Decision  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 34: The Approaching War”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 34: The Approaching War” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and view the presentation for the first topic, “Kansas-Nebraska Act.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the link to “Kansas-Nebraska Act” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. This presentation discusses events that occurred in the aftermath of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Many historians point to these occasions as emblematic of the complete breakdown in civility over the slavery issue in the years before the Civil War.
  
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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• Lecture: The Saylor Foundation’s “Anti-Slavery Movements, Part 3”

  Link: The Saylor Foundation’s “Anti-Slavery Movements, Part 3” (YouTube)
  
  Instructions: Please watch the this video, which examines the story behind the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and how this controversial novel mobilized public opinion against slavery in the North while alienating Southerners.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.

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8.2 Sectional Politics and “Popular Sovereignty”  

8.2.1 The Compromise of 1850  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “America in the 1850s: Slavery, States’ Rights, and Popular Sovereignty and the Approach to Civil War”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “America in the 1850s: Slavery, States’ Rights, and Popular Sovereignty and the Approach to Civil War” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and scroll down to “The Compromise of 1850 – Trying to Save the Union.” Read this section until you reach the subheading titled “The Rise of Stephen Douglas.” The text provides an informative overview of the bitter and divisive Congressional debates on the passage of the Compromise of 1850.
  
  Reading this text and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 7: ‘A Hell of a Storm’: The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Birth of the Republican Party, 1854–55”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 7: ‘A Hell of a Storm’: The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Birth of the Republican Party, 1854–55” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  HTML, Flash, MP3, or QuickTime
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and listen to this excellent lecture to get a good overview of the Compromise of 1850. Professor Blight considers the implications of California’s admission into the union as a free state and the Compromise of 1850 that followed as well as the events leading to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, also covered in section 8.2.3.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
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8.2.2 Nativism and the Know Nothing Party  

• Reading: Wikipedia’s “Know Nothing Party”

  Link: Wikipedia’s “Know Nothing Party” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage. The article summarizes the origin, membership, and political beliefs of the American (“Know Nothing”) Party in the 1850s. How did the demise of the Whigs contribute to the emergence of this party?
  
  Reading this article, taking notes, and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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8.2.3 The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Issue of Popular Sovereignty  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 34: The Approaching War”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 34: The Approaching War” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and view the presentation for the first topic, “Kansas-Nebraska Act.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the link to “Kansas-Nebraska Act” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. This presentation discusses events that occurred in the aftermath of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Many historians point to these occasions as emblematic of the complete breakdown in civility over the slavery issue in the years before the Civil War.
  
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 8: Dred Scott, Bleeding Kansas, and the Impending Crisis of the Union, 1855–58”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 8: Dred Scott, Bleeding Kansas, and the Impending Crisis of the Union, 1855–58” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  HTML, Flash, MP3, or QuickTime
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and view this lecture to understand the implications of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Professor Blight examines the aftermath of the Kansas-Nebraska Act – Bleeding Kansas – and the severe beating of Senator Charles Sumner as well as the election of 1856 also covered in section 8.2.4.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
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8.2.4 The Election of 1856  

• Reading: The American Presidency Project’s Political Party Platforms: “Republican Party Platform of 1856”

  Link: The American Presidency Project’s Political Party Platforms: “Republican Party Platform of 1856” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage. The year 1856 was the first time the Republican Party would hold national stage with a presidential nominee, John C. Frémont, of its own. Frémont (and the party) condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act and crusaded against the expansion of slavery during his campaign. He lost, but his strong showing would lay the foundation for Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860.
  
  This reading should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
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• Reading: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Hinton Rowan Helper’s Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South

  Link: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: Hinton Rowan Helper’s Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read chapter 8, “Testimonies of Living Witnesses.” Helper’s Compendium, originally published in 1857, became quickly a popular book among the newly established Republican Party. This chapter includes quotations from many prominent Republicans, such as John C. Frémont, who, in the 1856 election, was the first presidential candidate of the Republican Party. The opinions expressed by these Republicans and abolitionists reveal the party’s strong objections to the institution of slavery. What are the common objections that they assert in this chapter?
  
  Reading this chapter and answering the question above should take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
  
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• Reading: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: John B. Alley’s “Principles and Purposes of the Republican Party”

  Link: University of Michigan, MLibrary Digital Collections’ The Making of America: John B. Alley’s “Principles and Purposes of the Republican Party” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read pages 1 through 8. John B. Alley of Massachusetts presented this speech on the floor of the United States House of Representatives in 1860 and laid out the principles of the Republican Party. When reading this speech, please imagine how a slave owner in the South would have reacted to the views expressed here. What is the speaker’s attitude toward slavery and the South in general?
  
  Reading this speech should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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8.2.5 The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “America in the 1850s: Slavery, States’ Rights, and Popular Sovereignty and the Approach to Civil War”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “America in the 1850s: Slavery, States’ Rights, and Popular Sovereignty and the Approach to Civil War” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, scroll down, and read the sections titled “The House Dividing, 1857–1860: The Rise of Abraham Lincoln” and “Lincoln and Nebraska”. They provide a glimpse into Lincoln’s early political philosophy regarding the slavery issue.
  
  Reading these sections and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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8.2.6 John Brown's Raid  

• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 34: The Approaching War – John Brown’s Raid”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 34: The Approaching War – John Brown’s Raid” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and view the presentation for the fourth topic, “John Brown’s Raid.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the link to “John Brown” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. John Brown was a failed farmer and businessman who became fiercely opposed to slavery and believed that he was divinely inspired to lead a slave revolt that would destroy slavery. After his participation in Bleeding Kansas and against the advice of other antislavery advocates, including Frederick Douglass, he led an assault on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in Virginia in 1859. The intent of the plan was to seize the arsenal, arm local slaves with weapons, and bring down the institution of slavery. The raid failed, however, and Brown was tried and convicted of treason in 1859. His address to the jury during his trial indicates the depth of his antislavery convictions.
  
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
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Unit 9: Secession  

In 1860, it was by no means clear that the South would secede or that civil war would be unleashed between two rival sections of the same nation. Instead, most Americans, though wearied by a decade of sectional disputes, were still in favor of preserving the federal union. But following Abraham Lincoln’s election to the presidency, the skirmish at Fort Sumter, and Lincoln’s order of federal troops into the southern states, southern states began to secede from the union.

In this unit, you will study the four-way political contest of the presidential election of 1860 between Northern Democrats, Southern Democrats, the Republicans, and the Constitutional Unionists. Because Abraham Lincoln, the winner of that contest, was elected without the support of a single southern state, some southerners felt alienated from their own country, which led to the establishment of the Confederate States of America.

Unit 9 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 9 Learning Outcomes   show close


9.1 The Election of 1860  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 10: The Election of 1860 and the Secession Crisis”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 10: The Election of 1860 and the Secession Crisis” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  HTML, Flash, MP3, or QuickTime
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and view this excellent lecture to get a sense of the presidential election of 1860 and its immediate aftermath. Professor Blight examines the election of 1860, a four-way contest, and the Deep South’s decision to secede from the federal union after Abraham Lincoln was elected to the presidency.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 35: Secession – The Election of 1860”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 35: Secession – The Election of 1860” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and view the presentation for the first topic, “The Election of 1860.” Click on the “Text” tab and read these pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then click on the link to “President Abraham Lincoln” under “Explore” and read the accompanying text. This resource will provide a good overview of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Constitutional Union Party, and the presidential election of 1860.
  
  Watching this presentation and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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9.2 The South Secedes  

9.2.1 Secession  

• Reading: Shotgun’s Home of the American Civil War: “The Confederate States of America” and “The Secession of the Southern States”

  Link: Shotgun’s Home of the American Civil War: “The Confederate States of America” (HTML) and “The Secession of the Southern States” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the links above and read these articles, which discuss the causes of secession and the establishment of the Confederate government in Richmond, Virginia in 1861. While South Carolina was the first southern state to secede from the Union, 10 additional states soon followed. Secessionists argued that the U.S. Constitution was a contract among states that could be abandoned at any time without consultation and that each state had a right to secede. On the other hand, the Union rejected secession as illegal. In your opinion, which position had more merit? Why?
  
  Reading these articles and answering the questions above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Avalon Project: “Confederate States of America: Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union”

  Link: Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Avalon Project: “Confederate States of America: Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union” (HTML)
  
  Also available in:
  eText format for Google Books
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage. In this Declaration, the people of South Carolina assert their legitimate claim to independence from the federal union. Just as the colonies seceded from Britain because of relentless oppression and tyranny in 1776, so too does South Carolina secede from an oppressive and tyrannical federal government in 1860.
  
  Reading this declaration and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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9.2.2 Compromises  

• Reading: Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Avalon Project: “Amendments Proposed by the Peace Conference, February 8–27, 1861”

  Link: Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Avalon Project: “Amendments Proposed by the Peace Conference, February 8–27, 1861” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this webpage to learn about the last ditch efforts at compromise between the North and the South. These proposals, of course, ultimately failed to resolve the crisis. Why do you think this was the case?
  
  Reading these proposals and answering the question above should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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9.2.3 Fort Sumter  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 12: ‘And the War Came,’ 1861: The Sumter Crisis, Comparative Strategies”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 12: ‘And the War Came,’ 1861: The Sumter Crisis, Comparative Strategies” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  HTML, Flash, MP3, or QuickTime
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and view this excellent lecture to get a sense of the crisis that erupted at Fort Sumter in 1861. Professor Blight considers how the Sumter Crisis prompted four other Southern states – Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas – to secede.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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Unit 10: The Civil War  

The outbreak of a civil war between the Union and the Confederacy marked the collapse of the federal union created by the Founders in 1776. Two separate nations emerged – the Union in the North and the Confederate States of America in the South – where one had once existed. In fact, some historians consider the American Civil War the first modern war because it pitted two modern nation-states against one another in a bitter contest over property rights, economy, and the role of federal and state governments. While Thomas Jefferson had defined Americans as a single “people” in his Declaration of 1776, Northerners and Southerners went to war in 1861 precisely because they considered themselves to be two separate “peoples” unable to reconcile their differences.

In all, over 620,000 soldiers died in the Civil War, more than the total American casualties in all other wars combined until the Vietnam War. The extraordinary scale of death and devastation during the Civil War made it one of the most pivotal events in American history.

In this unit, you will examine the emergence of the North and the South as two distinct nations, the major battles and military strategies that determined the course of the conflict, Lincoln’s leadership, and the social and economic impact of the Civil War.

Unit 10 Time Advisory   show close


Unit 10 Learning Outcomes   show close


10.1 What Caused the Civil War?  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 11: Slavery and States Rights, Economies, and Ways of Life: What Caused the Civil War?”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 11: Slavery and States Rights, Economies, and Ways of Life: What Caused the Civil War?” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  HTML, Flash, MP3, or QuickTime
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and view this lecture to get a sense of the presidential election of 1860 and its immediate aftermath. Professor Blight examines historians’ various interpretations of what caused the American Civil War. Which of these interpretations do you consider the most accurate?
  
  Watching this lecture and pausing to take notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.2 Beginnings of War  

10.2.1 Confederate Ascendancy  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 13: Terrible Swift Sword: The Period of Confederate Ascendancy”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 13: Terrible Swift Sword: The Period of Confederate Ascendancy” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  Flash
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and view this lecture to get a sense of the Northern and Southern perceptions of how the Civil War would play out. Professor Blight considers Northern and Southern expectations for war and the first important battle of the war, Bull Run.
  
  Watching this lecture and pausing to take notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.2.2 Bull Run  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Civil War Part 1: 1861–1865”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Civil War Part 1: 1861–1865” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Go to the above website and scroll down to the subheading “First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas. July 21, 1861.” Please read only this section on the first major land battle of the Civil War. How did the outcome of this battle alter Northern and Southern expectations on the course of the war?
  
  Reading this section and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.3 Lincoln and Race  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 15: Lincoln, Leadership, and Race: Emancipation as Policy”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 15: Lincoln, Leadership, and Race: Emancipation as Policy” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  Flash
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and view this lecture to get a sense of the Battle of Antietam and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Professor Blight considers the origins of Lincoln’s decision to make the Emancipation Proclamation, including the bloody Battle at Antietam in 1862.
  
  Watching this lecture and pausing to take notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: University of Notre Dame Open Course Ware: HIST 30800 – African American History II: Professor Richard P. Pierce’s “Lincoln’s Plan and its Critics”

  Link: University of Notre Dame Open Course Ware: HIST 30800 – African American History II: Professor Richard P. Pierce’s “Lincoln’s Plan and its Critics” (PDF)
  
  Instructions: Read this article which concerns Lincoln’s thoughts on Reconstruction after the war. While history has immortalized Lincoln as the Great Emancipator, Professor Pierce indicates that Lincoln was not quite prepared to secure equal rights for all freedmen.
  
  Reading this article should take you approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. It is attributed to Richard P. Pierce and the original version can be found here. 

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10.3.1 Emancipation Proclamation  

• Reading: National Archives and Records Administration’s Featured Documents: “The Emancipation Proclamation”

  Link: National Archives and Records Administration’s Featured Documents: “The Emancipation Proclamation” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please read the introductory text as well as the transcript of Lincoln’s famous declaration, which proclaimed all enslaved people in the “rebellious states” to be free. To access the transcript, click on the link under “Additional Resources.” Also, view the thumbnail images of the primary source document of the proclamation.
  
  Reading this proclamation and viewing the images should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.3.2 Impact and Meanings of the Emancipation Proclamation  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 16: Days of Jubilee: The Meanings of Emancipation and Total War”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 16: Days of Jubilee: The Meanings of Emancipation and Total War” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  Flash
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and view this lecture to get a sense of the impact and implications of the Emancipation Proclamation. Professor Blight argues that the Emancipation Proclamation made the Union Army an army of emancipators, encouraged slaves to mobilize against slavery, transformed the Union into an emancipator in the eyes of Europe, and allowed African Americans to enlist in the Union Army.
  
  Watching this lecture and pausing to take notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.3.3 Black Soldiers  

• Reading: America.gov Archive’s Outline of U.S. History: “Black Soldiers in the Civil War”

  Link: America.gov Archive’s Outline of U.S. History: “Black Soldiers in the Civil War” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this webpage to learn about the important contributions made by African American soldiers during the Civil War. Why did the federal government eventually decide to allow black soldiers to fight after initially being so opposed to it?
  
  Reading this article, taking notes, and answering the question above should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.4 The Long War  

10.4.1 Confederate Ascendancy, 1861 - 1862  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 14: Never Call Retreat: Military and Political Turning Points in 1863”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 14: Never Call Retreat: Military and Political Turning Points in 1863” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  Flash
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to this lecture to get a sense of the Confederate Army’s steady push northward. Professor Blight examines several military battles, culminating with Robert E. Lee’s decision to invade the North in 1862.
  
  Watching this lecture and pausing to take notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 36: The Civil War”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 36: The Civil War” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start lesson” button, and view the presentations for all three topics: “Military Strategy,” “The Battles,” and “The Economy during the Civil War.” Click on the “Text” tab for each topic, and read these additional pages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through this reading. Then, click on the thumbnail images below “Explore,” and read the associated content. These topics summarize notable facets of the war, including the Antietam conflict, the role of military commanders, and foreign alliance building.
  
  Watching this presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.4.2 Turning Points in 1863: Gettysburg and Vicksburg  

• Reading: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Civil War Part 2: Gettysburg to Appomattox”

  Link: Henry J. Sage’s Academic American History: “The Civil War Part 2: Gettysburg to Appomattox” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please read the above webpage from the beginning of the article until the subheading “The Final Years: 1864 & 1865.” This reading provides a nice overview of the major military campaigns of the year 1863, which was a turning point in the Civil War and marked the beginning of the ultimate victory of the Union and the demise of the Confederacy.
  
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 30 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 18: ‘War So Terrible’: Why the Union Won and the Confederacy Lost”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 18: ‘War So Terrible’: Why the Union Won and the Confederacy Lost” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  Flash
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and view this lecture to get a sense of the theories of why the South lost and the North won the Civil War. Professor Blight examines the many explanations for the South’s defeat and the North’s victory and outlines two major battles in 1863 – Gettysburg and Vicksburg.
  
  Watching this lecture and pausing to take notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Reading: OurDocuments.gov: Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”

  Link: OurDocuments.gov: Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please read the webpage, entitled “Document Info.” Then, click on the link in the upper right corner on the link “Document Transcript;” read Lincoln’s short speech.
  
  Abraham Lincoln delivered this speech, one of the most famous in United States history, after the bloody battle at Gettysburg in July of 1863. Lincoln invoked the natural rights principles of the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle for “a new birth of freedom.”
  
  Reading this speech should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.4.3 1864: Toward the End of the War  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 19: To Appomattox and Beyond: The End of the War and a Search for Meanings”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 19: To Appomattox and Beyond: The End of the War and a Search for Meanings” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  Flash
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and view this lecture to get an overview of the bloody and fateful battles of 1864. Professor Blight considers the conclusive and deadly battles of 1864, including William Tecumseh Sherman’s famous “March to the Sea.”
  
  Watching this lecture and pausing to take notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.4.4 Lincoln’s Re-Election and Appomattox  

• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 20: Wartime Reconstruction: Imagining the Aftermath and a Second American Republic”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 20: Wartime Reconstruction: Imagining the Aftermath and a Second American Republic” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  Flash
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and view this lecture to get an overview of Lincoln’s re-election to the presidency and the conclusion of the war. Professor Blight examines a critical turning point in the war – Lincoln’s re-election – as well as the events leading up to Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in April of 1865.
  
  Watching this lecture and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Web Media: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 38: Ramifications of the Civil War”

  Link: University of California College Prep’s U.S. History: “Lesson 38: Ramifications of the Civil War” (Flash)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, click the “Start Lesson” button, and view the presentations for the three topics: “Election of 1864,” “Effects of the War on the South,” and “Reconstruction Begins.” Click on the “Text” tab, and read the webpages, using the next and previous buttons to navigate through the reading. Then, click on the thumbnail images below “Explore,” and read the associated content. The video and accompanying text discuss Lincoln’s re-election campaign in 1864, the devastating impact of the Civil War on the South, and the first efforts to reconstruct the South through the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1865 to provide assistance to the millions of freed slaves in the South.
  
  Watching this presentations and reading the accompanying text should take approximately 45 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.5 Social Impact of the War  

• Reading: George Mason University’s History Matters: “Susie King Taylor Assists the First South Carolina Volunteers, 1862–1864”

  Link: George Mason University’s History Matters: “Susie King Taylor Assists the First South Carolina Volunteers, 1862–1864” (HTML)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and read this article. While the Civil War is often rightly recognized for its dramatic impact on the lives of black Americans, who were finally freed from slavery, and the assertion of federal over state power, the social cost of the war was felt by all Americans, both North and South. This source provides insight into the daily experience of war from the point of view of a non-combatant. Explain how this source illustrates the devastating disruption of the Civil War.
  
  Reading this article and taking notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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• Lecture: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 17: Homefronts and Battlefronts: ‘Hard War’ and the Social Impact of the Civil War”

  Link: YouTube: Open Yale Courses: David Blight’s HIST119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era: “Lecture 17: Homefronts and Battlefronts: ‘Hard War’ and the Social Impact of the Civil War” (YouTube)
  
  Also available in:
  Flash
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above, and view this lecture to get a sense of the social impact of the Civil War. Professor Blight examines how individuals experienced the war, as well as the impact of the conflict on governments and economies.
  
  Watching this lecture and pausing to take notes should take approximately 1 hour.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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10.6 Lincoln’s Assassination  

• Lecture: Khan Academy’s “Appomattox Court House and Lincoln’s Assassination”

  Link: Khan Academy’s “Appomattox Court House and Lincoln’s Assassination” (YouTube)
  
  Instructions: Please click on the link above and watch this lecture. Abraham Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated. How might his death have affected potential sympathy for the South?
  
  Watching this lecture and answering the question above should take approximately 15 minutes.
  
  Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.

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Final Exam  

• Final Exam: The Saylor Foundation's “HIST211 Final Exam”

  Link: The Saylor Foundation's “HIST211 Final Exam”
  
  Instructions: You must be logged into your Saylor Foundation School account in order to access this exam.  If you do not yet have an account, you will be able to create one, free of charge, after clicking the link.

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