Dr Brian Kelly
Tel: 90.973435
Office: 14UQ.105
E: b.kelly@qub.ac.uk
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
& RECONSTRUCTION
School of History & Anthropology
HIS3035  Semester One 2013-14
Lectures: Tuesdays 2-3pm, PFC 3/005
Seminar I: Thursdays, 12-2pm, PFC 1/024
Seminar II: Thursdays, 2-4pm, 13 UQ/105
Office Hours: Mondays, 10-11am; Wednesdays, 12-1pm (by appointment)
‘Lincoln’s Drive through Richmond, 1865’ (Dennis Malone Carter, 1866)
Module Content
Against the backdrop of increasing tensions over slavery, Abraham Lincoln posed the
question in 1855 of whether the United States could “as a nation, continue together
permanently—forever—half slave and half free.” The answer came in 1861, when war
broke out between the federal government at Washington and the newly seceded
Confederacy. The American Civil War and the period of Reconstruction that followed
are sometimes referred to by historians as a “Second American Revolution”: together
they constitute one of the most dramatic social upheavals of the nineteenth century
world, and their outcome established the foundations upon which—for better or
worse—the modern United States would be built.
Making use of a range of primary sources and some of the best recent scholarship in the
vibrant field of Civil War & Reconstruction historiography, we will approach the
events through close examination of key historical problems: sectionalism and the
causes of war; Lincoln, war and emancipation; slavery and grand strategy, North and
South; and Reconstruction & the limits of black freedom.
Module Aims and Methods
This module aims to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of one of the
most critical periods in American history. Each week, we will make use of a selection of
readings from the scholarly literature and original documents and artefacts from the
historical record. In particular, we will be making extensive use of primary sources—
from government and military documents to public speeches and newspaper editorials,
political cartoons, diary entries and broadsides, private correspondence, sermons,
courtroom and other oral testimony. But in order to make sense of these materials, it
will be necessary that you devote a considerable effort to becoming familiar with the
chronology of and major themes arising in the period under discussion, and that you
develop a sense of how historians have agreed and disagreed in interpreting these
issues. Much of your time will therefore be spent acquainting yourself with the
substantial secondary literature in the field, including interpretive essays beyond the
assigned texts.
Seminars
All of you know by now that a seminar can only work well when all of us come to class
fully prepared to take part in discussion. That means, above all, having completed any
assigned reading, but it should also mean that each of you sets some time aside before
each weekly meeting—an hour or so—to gather your thoughts about the material we
will be discussing. Some of you might be interested in booking a study room at the
McClay Library to meet up outside of organized class meetings: if so let me know and I
will liaise with library staff to arrange this. But regardless of how you choose to review
you work each week, all of you should make it a point to sit down regularly before
each weekly meeting: go over your notes on the readings; write down a list of questions
for anything that is unclear to you; make it a point to raise any interesting problems or
ambiguities in the material. And bring these thoughts and ideas to seminar with you.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Student performance inevitably varies. But by the end of the semester those of you who
undertake the assigned coursework conscientiously should be able to:
 speak and write with fluency about the chronology of and major problems
related to the American Civil War and Reconstruction;
 critically evaluate primary documents and understand their importance for
reconstructing the past;
 evaluate the quality of a range of online resources and make use of them in an
historical essay;
2


recognize and evaluate interpretive differences in historical writing on the
subject;
plan and implement an extended research project on a centrally related theme.
Coursework
There will be no written exam in this module. Instead you will be required to
complete one online assignment and two written assignments.
1. Web Assignment (10%)
In the first weeks of the semester, we will devote some of our seminar time to a
discussion of how to make use of the internet for historical research. Coinciding with
this, each student will complete an online assignment on ‘Evaluating Online Resources
in History.” The assignment will be explained in Week Two and must be submitted
electronically by Monday, 14 October (Week Three) by 12 noon.
2. Essay (30%)
A 2500-3000 word essay on one of several suggested themes will be due on Monday, 18
November by 12 noon. The assignment will be explained in Week Three and must be
submitted electronically.
3. Extended Research Project (50%)
A second paper (4500-5000 words) on a research topic chosen by you in consultation
with the module convener will be due on Monday 13 January by 12 noon, to be
submitted electronically.
Submitting your assessed work:
Students must submit one electronic copy (via Queen's Online) of all written
assessments. This must include an ‘Assessed Work Coversheet’ as the first page of
your essay. The coversheets cannot be submitted separately.
Procedure for Submitting Assessed Work:
1. Download the coversheet from the Course Submission Documents Section.
2. Complete all sections of the coversheet online.
3. Cut and paste the coversheet into the first page of your essay.
4. Submit your assessed work via QOL Assignment for your module.
PLEASE NOTE:
All assessed coursework is anonymously marked. Therefore students must ensure that
neither their name nor their student number appears on any part of their essay, except
for the coversheet.
Coursework must be submitted electronically by 12.00 noon on the dates specified in
the module handbooks for each course. Coursework submitted after 12:00 will be
marked ‘LATE’.
Assessment
Your final mark will be based on four criteria:
3
Online Assignment
Essay (2500-3000 words)
Research Project (4500-5000 words)
Seminar Participation
10%
30%
50%
10%
4