PART ONE:
Over 600,000 Americans lost their lives in the Civil War, with the Northern troops suffering higher losses. The North believed the sacrifice was worth it: The slaves were freed and the Union was preserved. The people of the South, on the other hand, began almost immediately to glorify the "lost cause." Their generals became mythic heroes, and they looked wistfully back at the antebellum period. They almost regretted surrendering.
Historian Shelby Foote said,"Any understanding of this nation has to be based . . . on an understanding of the Civil War. . . . The Civil War defined us as what we are, and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things. It is very necessary if you're going to understand the American character in the 20th century to learn about this enormous catastrophe of the mid-19th century. It was the crossroads of our being."
--Burns, K. & Burns, R. (Writers). (1990). Episode 1: The cause (1861). In K. Burns (Producer), The Civil War. Arlington, VA: Public Broadcasting Service.
Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper in which you answer the following questions:
- What do you think Foote meant in the passage quoted above? How does the Civil War define the United States?
- If the Southern generals like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were so brilliant, and if the South lost fewer men than the North, why did the North win?
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Cite all of your sources consistent with APA guidelines.
PART TWO:
Write a 350-word response to each of the following groups of questions. Outside sources can be used in addition to the course materials provided:
- What roles did Northern women play in the war effort on the Union side during the Civil War? What roles did Southern women play in the war effort on the Confederate side during the Civil War? How did the war affect each group?
- What roles did Black slaves play in the Civil War? What roles did free Blacks play in the Civil War? How did the war affect each group?
Format your responses consistent with APA guidelines.
PART THREE:
Write a 100- to 150-word response to each of the following questions:
- How did Congress deal with the issue of slavery as new states were admitted and new territories acquired (be sure to address the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850)? How did these actions affect the tensions between the North and the South?
- What were some of the arguments centered on slavery and territorial expansion? How did the Compromise of 1850 fail to solve them?
- Identify at least three key events that took place in the 1850s. How did each of the events lead the country toward civil war?
Cite your sources consistent with APA guidelines.