If you need the link to the Google spreadsheet that we edited together in class last Wednesday, it’s right here.
In order to give us another day of class to talk about the results of emancipation, I have decided to change the deadline for the third position paper to Friday, October 14. Below is the prompt for the third position paper:
The Civil War brought freedom to enslaved people in the South, but as two historians have noted, “realizing freedom’s promise … was not an easy task. If at times the war seemed to have changed everything, at other times it seemed to have changed nothing” (Ira Berlin and Leslie R. Rowland, Families & Freedom [New York, 1997], p. 119).
Write a paper describing the extent to which the condition of freedpeople changed or did not change after emancipation. With regard to the millions of former slaves, is Reconstruction best seen as a period of radical change from, or fundamental continuity with, the era of slavery that ended during the Civil War?
Your paper should be no more than 6 pages in length, typed and double‐spaced. Be sure to state your position clearly and cite specific evidence and examples, drawn exclusively from assigned readings and course lectures, to support your answer to the prompt. For example, you may use the Foner book, documents distributed in class, and information provided on the website.
The Honor Code applies to this paper, and in this case that means you should not work together with other students to write your paper or consult resources from outside the course.
I will use the standard rubric I have distributed for your other papers to grade this paper. Please turn it in by the usual electronic method. Let me know if you have any questions.
On this blog I have previously mentioned an ongoing blog at the New York Times called Disunion, which features Civil War experts writing daily posts about the war. There have been several posts on the blog that connect especially well to things we have been talking about recently in class, so check them out if you have a chance:
If you see other posts on this blog or others of particular interest to you or our class, pass them along and I’ll post them up.
If you’re looking for a laugh or two as you work on your second position papers, you might want to look at the real explanation for How the South Was Lost.
Last week, I mentioned the recent and ongoing controversy about a proposal to put the Confederate battle flag on Texas license plates. (You can read more about it here.) I also mentioned that I had met with the editorial board at KPRC Local 2, and asked you what you would have advised. If you’re interested in seeing the editorial that resulted, it aired earlier this week and you can view it here.
Yesterday Zack pointed out that private letters written by Lincoln might shed more light on his views about slavery and emancipation. I mentioned a letter that Lincoln wrote in April 1864 to Albert G. Hodges, and you can view the original manuscript of the letter here. Does the letter change your mind about Lincoln’s positions? Or does it fit what you expected? Feel free to chime in below.
Elizabeth asked where the original copy of the Second Confiscation Act is housed, and I came up empty on that one. But in the process of searching the National Archives, I did discover some documents related to the confiscation of Robert E. Lee’s personal property under the terms of the Second Confiscation Act. You can view those documents by clicking here, and then searching for “confiscation.” Within the top thirteen or fifteen hits you should see several titles related to Lee’s case. After clicking on individual titles, you can click on the tab for “Digital Copies” and look at the original paperwork, including an inventory of Lee’s property.
The packet for Position Paper #2 has now been posted to OWL-Space. More information about the paper will be provided in class tomorrow and especially on Friday.
On Monday, I mentioned some recent historical work that has been done about the painting depicted here–Francis Bicknell Carpenter’s First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln. Historian Susan Schulten of the University of Denver has argued that the map in the lower-right-hand corner helped frame Lincoln’s thinking about emancipation as a wartime measure. You can read all about her argument on the New York Times “Disunion” blog, which is a blog that features Civil War historians writing about the period. The whole blog is worth checking out, but the Schulten post is especially interesting.
I have uploaded two articles to OWL-Space–one by Ira Berlin and one by James McPherson, and both titled “Who Freed the Slaves?” These articles are assigned readings to be completed by class time on Wednesday, so please make plans to read them before then.
Foner Discussion
next WednesdayFriday we will be having a discussion of Eric Foner’s Nothing But Freedom, one of the required books for this course. Those students who are NOT in Brown College need to comment on this post before our class meeting onWednesdayFriday. The rest of you (the Brownians) will post after class. Please use your comments before class to answer one of the following questions. Those of you who post after class can use your comment to expand on points brought up in the discussion, bring up new points, and/or respond to the comments of other students on the post.Since it’s been a few weeks since we had our last discussion, let me know if you have questions about this assignment.