Module Identifier | HY38630 | ||
Module Title | FOUNDING OF MOD AMERICA:SECTIONALISM+SOCIAL CHANGE 1850-1900 | ||
Academic Year | 2000/2001 | ||
Co-ordinator | Dr Robert Harrison | ||
Semester | Intended For Use In Future Years | ||
Next year offered | N/A | ||
Next semester offered | N/A | ||
Mutually Exclusive | HY39420 | ||
Course delivery | Lecture | 18 Hours | |
Seminars / Tutorials | 10 Hours | ||
Assessment | Exam | 3 Hours | 60% |
Essay | 2 essays (1 x 4,000 words, 1 x 2,500 words) | 40% |
Brief description
"My country in 1900," wrote the historian Henry Adams, "is something wholly different from my own country in 1860. I am wholly a stranger in it." Between the world of Adam's boyhood and his old age lay two transforming experiences: the Civil War, in which most of the young men of his generation were engaged, and the process of economic and social change which converted the predominately agrarian society of the early nineteenth century into the largely urban-industrial society of 1900. These two historical experiences form the the subject of this option module. We shall consider how far they were related to one another: how far the sectional conflict was fuelled by the social and economic developments of the Civil War era; and how far, in turn, the outcome of the conflict accelerated the process of industrialisation. A major theme in the module is the diverging experiences of North and South. We consider how far the South had by 1860 become socially and culturally distinct from the rest of the nation. We then consider whether the war, along with the emancipation of the slaves and federal policies designed to reconstruct southern society, created a New South fundamentally different from the Old.
Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students should have command over a body of historical knowledge in the field of nineteenth-century US history; an ability to investigate the relationship between war, political conflict and social change; an understanding of a variety of approaches to the interpretation of the period; an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically on selected historical texts; an ability to develop and sustain historical arguments; an ability to gather and sift appropriate items of historical evidence; an ability to work independently and collaboratively and to participate in group discussions.
Reading Lists
Books
** Recommended Text
Bruce Levine. (1992)
Half Slave, Half Free: The Roots of Civil War.
James M McPherson. (1988)
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era.
Eric Foner and Olivia Mahoney. (1995)
America's Reconstruction: People and Politics after the Civil War.