Spring Semester
February 10, 2010
The Confederacy: A Social and Political History of the Confederate States of America.
Millersville University HIST 308–Special Topics–Spring 2010
Required Texts:
Fowler, John D. ed. The Confederate Experience Reader
Levine, Bruce. Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves During the Civil War
Roland, Charles P. Reflection on Lee: A Historian’s Assessment
Thomas, Emory M. The Confederate Nation: 1861-1865
Course Objectives: To examine the Confederate States of American as an independent nation that existed on the North American continent from 1861-1865. While the military experience is essential in understanding the Confederate nation, the class will focus on the social, cultural, political, diplomatic, and economic history of the Confederacy in relation to military events. Accordingly, this course should empower the student to challenge simplistic projections of Confederate Americans as “evil” Rebels and to understand the Confederate experience as a fundamental part of American history.
Course Précis: The course will begin with the roots of the Confederacy as a part of the American colonial and early national experience and examine political, economic, and social aspects of sectionalism that gave the South a distinct identity. We will spend considerable time on secession, establishing a new nation, and creating a government. The class will look at the lives of Confederate Americans in terms of gender, ethnicity, race, and class as well as through the eyes of soldiers and politicians. Finally, we will explore elements of Confederate defeat and the post-war period as well as the Confederacy in historical and cultural memory. Please be aware that our concern is learning and understanding the facts & truths & myths of history. Thus, we will take an objective approach to all topics and politically correct notions will not carry the day in this class. Moreover, the instructor’s objective is for students to take with them an experience that will transcend the classroom and that this course will help the student understand what it means to be an American.
