HIS 218 - Civil War America 1850-1877

Credits: 3
Lecture Hours: 3
Lab Hours: 0
An examination of the causes, course, and consequences of the American Civil War and Reconstruction, from the 1840s to 1877. The class will go beyond the Civil War and Reconstruction as a political crisis and a military conflict, and explore this time period as transformative in America, radically changing the trajectory of American history. In particular the course will cover several broad themes: the crisis of union and disunion; slavery, race, emancipation, and its consequences in both regional and national contexts; the experience and consequences of modern war; the political, social, and constitutional challenges of Reconstruction; and the construction of Civil War memory by different groups that shaped post-war politics and the popular culture of the late 19th century.