UPDATE: Technical issues -- troubles commenting

Those of you having trouble posting comments may want to consider registering for Blogger/Google. It is free, and seems to allow one to skip the image verification step that seems to be troubling people. Another thing to try would be lowering your security settings, especially ones governing "mixed content" and the display of images on web pages. Finally, try switching browsers. I use Mozilla Firefox and have never had the slightest issue with Blogger.

UPDATE: I have changed some settings to avoid the word verification hurdle. Let's see if that fixes the problems.

Office hours Friday 8/31/07

I will not be able to make into the office on Friday because of some family responsbilities, but please feel free me to call me on the cell phone (529-3163) anytime Friday afternoon if you need something.

Megan Boccardi's Section Questions

For this upcoming section please make sure you have done all of the assigned reading. We will be paying particular attention to Henry David Thoreau's "Plea for Captain John Brown," available in the back of Clotel and Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech.

For this weeks questions, I would like you to think about the cultural differences between North and South. How were these differences expressed in their understanding of the nation and its future? How did members of each region view each other? What was the impact of their cultural difference?

What role do individuals play in this crisis? How do we view Lincoln? John Brown? Can individuals impact a nation?

Please answer these questions as completely as possible using lecture and readings in your answers.

See you all in class!

Honors section discussion questions: John Brown, Terrorist?

Make sure you have done the assigned reading, especially the material through 1860 in the textbook and Henry David Thoreau's "Plea for Captain John Brown," available in the back of Clotel or here. [If you still feel like you need to know more about Brown to write or talk about him, look at his Wikipedia entry or this page at PBS.]

Were northern writers like Thoreau right to make Brown into a hero? Brown's reputation has waxed and waned, but he has always had his admirers, like John Steuart Curry, painter of the controversial Kansas State Capitol murals. [For more on Curry and the murals, see this page from the Kansas State Historical Society or listen to this PBS segment on him.] His standing among historians is probably higher right now than it has ever been. Was John Brown a terrorist?

Answer the bolded questions in the comments below, and also consider some follow-up questions for class:

Can political violence that includes civilian targets (as good a definition of terrorism as any) ever be justified, in any situation? What about a situation, like slavery, in which the perpetrators of tyranny are a whole class of private individuals in addition to government officials? As further food for thought, look at "David Walker's Appeal", along with William Lloyd Garrison's response to it.

Questions for Jonathan Jones' Discussion Sections

For this week's discussion, you will need to have finished all of this week's assigned readings. Pay close attention, however, to the section in the Henretta textbook dealing with the Dred Scott case (p. 414). Also take a good look at Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech which can be found in the online reader, and also be prepared to discuss Henry David Thoreau's "A Plea for Captain John Brown," in Brown, Clotel, pp. 503 - 512. Please answer, as completely as you can, the following questions:

1. From these selections, what can we discern about the differences between Northern and Southern cultural and political values? Specifically, what were the varying views on slavery and liberty?

2. Were the individual people involved in these events (John Brown, President Buchanan, Chief Justice Taney, John C. Calhoun and Abraham Lincoln) members of a "blundering generation?" Did there actions directly contribute to the coming of the Civil War or was the war inevitable?

3. Finally, was John Brown what Thoreau describes or was he what we may today view as a terrorist?

Answer as completely as you can on this blog, making sure to cite specific examples from the documents to support your arguments, and come to class prepared to discuss these questions. Thanks.

Sarah Haskins' Sections Discussion Questions

Only students in my sections need to respond to this thread.

These questions incorporate all assigned readings for this week, including the speeches, editorials, and addresses. Be sure to use specific examples and refer to specific readings to substantiate your claims (good practice for your essays!) NOTE: You will need to read a selection of the Sumner and Brown editorials from both the North and the South. I want you to be sure to read the Brown editorial from the Chicago Press and Tribune (26 October 1859), "The Patriarchal Tenure" for its particular viewpoint.

Questions:

1. How did Northern and Southern politicians, editors, and other intellectuals view the character of each other?
2. What reasoning did the Northerners and Southerners give as to the split of the nation? Did they view the war as inevitable?

A good answer will integrate both questions to gain an understanding of the sectional tensions in the immediate years before the Civil War.

Decline of slavery in the North

In answer to Matthew Ryan's question in the comments above, the turning point in the North was 1775-1776, when Lord Dunmore's proclamation offered freedom to slaves to escaped to help the British and then the Declaration of Independence brought the contradictions between slavery and American rhetoric about liberty and equality to the forefront. Many revolutionary state governments eventually had to match the British offer. Slaves began escaping, serving in the armies on both sides, and petitioning for their own freedom. Beginning with a Massachusetts
court decision in 1780, the northern states abolished slavery in various ways one by one over the next 24 years, with New Jersey bringing up the rear in 1804.

We will talk a lot more about this later when we talk about the Revolution.

Any questions? Ask them by commenting here

The syllabus pdf has been posted and the online reader is ready to go, so we should be up and running. If you have any technical questions about the course, please ask them here as a comment.

We won't be starting the formal discussion questions until next week, but for this week's section you might think of examples from your own reading and viewing of approaches to the past that are and are not history, as defined today in lecture.

On the negative side, apparently for Christmas we can look forward to a new edition of National Treasure. It looks like Lincoln and the presidency get the treatment this time. Ugh.

Welcome 2007 students!

There is not much here yet, but by the end of the day there will be a .pdf of the syllabus and other materials. Please check the date on anything you find here, because last year's materials are still present.

Discussion questions for section will start next week.