HIST 4415 U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction

Fulfills the US History Requirement for History Majors. This course examines the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction in the United States from the 1850s through the 1880s, attending to its interlocked social, political, legal, labor, and military dimensions. We will study the expansion of slavery; secession; the course and turning points of the war; freedpeoples central part in the wartime destruction of slavery; the reconstitution of the nation: revolutions in labor and social relations; grassroots politics and battles over what freedom would mean. Course materials reflect enduring themes and new directions in the scholarship, and include an array of letters, diaries, speeches, testimonies, and court cases.