From Reconstruction to World War I - The Coming of the American Century

The end of the Civil War in 1865 marked a major watershed in American, and indeed world history. To begin, the Union would endure -- the great experiment of the nation state with a democratically elected government in Lincoln's phrase -- of the people, by the people and for the people, would go on and thrive. To be sure, state's rights would remain strong, but the superiority of the federal government would never be challenged again. It was now the United States of America, not the United States of America.

Reconstruction

Presidential Reconstruction

Radical Reconstruction

Presidential Impeachment


Secondly, the clash between the agrarian South and the industrial North had paved the way for a future that would be dominated by the rise of great cities and powerful industrial giants fuelled by a growing demand for consumer goods. Technology was seen as a way to improve one's living standard and conditions and was applied as an elixir to all the problems of the world. Blind faith in technology resulted in such catastrophes as the Titanic.

The Gilded Age

The Titans of the Gilded Age - Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Morgan

New Attitudes About Wealth

Politics in the Gilded Age

The Rise of American Labor

The Great Upheaval

The American Federation of Labor

The Ugly Side of Cities

A New Wave of Immigrants

Literature and Art in the Gilded Age

Rapid Urbanization

The Growing Cult of Sports and Leisure

Money in Newspapers

Another outcome of the Civil War was the continued expansion of the nation across the continent. Manifest Destiny became a reality, as Southerners tried to start anew, Northerners speculated on future riches, and adventurers from both sections sought to stake their claim to the last American frontier of the west.



This newly transformed America thrust the young country headlong into the spotlight of the world a second time. However, unlike the Revolutionary War, which garnered international discussion as to whether or not a nation really could be governed on democratic principles, the period leading from Reconstruction to World War I saw America take its place for the first time as a mover and shaker of world events.

Civil War Essay Due Date

The civil war paper will be due Monday, June 1, 2009.

Civil War Essays

As discussed in class, you are expected to write a 5 - 7 page research paper covering some aspect of the Civil War that will involve primary historical documents.



Browse the Valley of the Shadow Archive to help you decide the topic for your paper.



http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/choosepart.html



You may use the page below to help you decide on a topic if you like.



http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/teaching/vclassroom/vclasscontents.html#topics

Here are some primary sources for you to use:

http://www.awod.com/gallery/probono/cwchas/firstper.html


Other possible essays:



Was the Civil War inevitable?



Shelby Foote has said the Civil War changed the United States from an "are" to an "is"; as in prior to the conflict, people would say, "The United States are..." and after the conflict they would say, "The United States is..." Agree or disagree with this assessment.



Explain how the South was able to win the war through to 1863. Were the Confederacy's generals so much superior to the Union's? How was the North unable to exploit it's numerical, financial, and technological superiority?


Compare a civil war personality with another historical figure of another era.


Who should get the blame or the credit for military victory at Gettysburg?


How would North America have been changed had the South won its independence?



Any other topic as approved by me. Please ensure that your topic has enough material to allow you to write a substantive paper. Also make sure your topic has a research question to it that allows you to justify a position rather than tell about something.

You may also write a researched short story, much like the novel, "Shiloh," by Shelby Foote.

Civil War

We have completed our study of the Civil War period. Continued below you will find the supplemental material that we covered in class:

First Manassas/Bull Run:

http://www.historyanimated.com/BullRunAnimation.html

Birth of the Rebel Yell:

One of the first accounts of the yell was given at the battle of First Battle of Manasses (Bull Run) during then Brig. General Thomas Jonathan Stonewall Jackson's assault at Henry House Hill where the order was given during a bayonet charge to "yell like furies", and was instrumental in routing the Federal forces under General Irvin McDowell back to Washington D.C.

“Then arose that do-or-die expression, that maniacal maelstrom of sound; that penetrating, rasping, shrieking, blood-curdling noise that could be heard for miles and whose volume reached the heavens–such an expression as never yet came from the throats of sane men, but from men whom the seething blast of an imaginary hell would not check while the sound lasted.” -Colonel Keller Anderson of Kentucky's Orphan Brigade

Zouaves

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zouave#Zouaves_of_the_United_States_of_America_and_of_the_Confederate_States

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

http://learn.bowdoin.edu/joshua-lawrence-chamberlain/overview/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_ChamberlainMilitary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Chamberlain

Military Drill (Including moving from Column of Fours to Line of Battle)

http://www.public.asu.edu/~roblewis/ACW/hardee%20toc.htm

Fredericksburg

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/civilwar/p/fredericksburg.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fredericksburg


Irish Brigade

http://irishvolunteers.tripod.com/irish_brigade_history.htm

http://88ny.net/Battles.htm

http://www.28thmass.org/history.htm


A Civil War Christmas

http://www.awod.com/gallery/probono/cwchas/fredxmas.html

http://www.premiumchristmastree.com/a39/Christmas-During-the-Civil-War/article_info.html

William Pendleton --Artillery Chief of the Army of Northern Virginia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_N._Pendleton

Civil War Music

http://www.civilwarmusic.net/

Origin of the Term "Dixie" to Describe the South

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie


The Emancipation Proclamation

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/

Symbolism of the Pineapple

http://www.mindspring.com/~sixcatpack/pineappl.htm

Chancellorsville

http://www.civilwaranimated.com/index.php/chancellorsville-east-35

Gettysburg

http://www.civilwaranimated.com/index.php/gettysburg-east-50

http://www.usa-civil-war.com/Gettysburg/g_view_f.html

Iron Brigade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Brigade

Artillery Drill

http://www.melfisher.org/cannonsurvey/firing.htm

http://www.nps.gov/archive/vick/interp/lhcannon.htm

1863-1865 Timeline

http://www.eagleton.rutgers.edu/e-gov/e-politicalarchive-CivilWar2.htm

Gods and Generals

After a brief introduction, we have started watching Gods and Generals, the story of the Civil War up to Gettysburg.

We are using the film to go through a chronology of the war that will be supplemented in class with other material.

We have covered the following topics:

Battle Flags

http://www.oldstatehouse.com/collections/flags/

Robert E. Lee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

http://www.civilwarhome.com/jackbio.htm

The Black Flag

The Black Flag was flown by certain irregular Confederate Army units to symbolize that they would neither give, nor accept quarter; symbolizing the opposite of the white flag of surrender.
Dates of Secession

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215469/secession.htm

Test Scheduled - Finally!

Tuesday, April 28 is TEST DAY!!!!!! Mark it down!

Where We Are In American History

The following will provide you with a review of our progress to date. This material is all part of the first test, which will be sometime in the next two weeks.











I. Beginnings











Jamestown Settlement





Growth of Tobacco Trade





House of Burgesses

The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony

Puritan Life

Dissent in Massachusetts Bay

II. Expansion

New England Colonies

Middle Colonies

Southern Colonies

III. Growing Conflict with Britain

Tea Act

Stamp Act

Townshend Act

IV. Revolutionary War

Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)

Declaration of Independence

Continental Congress

Loyalists

Patriots

Lexington

Concord

Bunker Hill

Valley Forge

Saratoga

French Support

Yorktown

Treaty of Paris

V. Principles of American Democracy

Check your notes considering the following:

Republican Democracy

British Parliamentary Democracy