Table of Contents
SYLLABUS
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ColumbiaX: HIST003 Civil War and Reconstruction, Part III Course 3 of a 3-course series on edX Professor Eric Foner, Columbia University Prerequisites: None |
10-week course starting April 6, 2016 Weekly lectures released every Wednesday at 16:00 UTC Last lecture and final exam posted June 1, 2016 Quizzes and final exam must be completed by June 14, 2016 |
There are no prerequisites for the course, but you may find the video lectures from Course 1 and Course 2 helpful and informative.
Verified Certificate of Achievement
Honor Code Certificate of Achievement (free)
Auditor status / No credit (free)
(You can find more information about certificaters on the edX Student FAQ Page)
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the third course in this three-course series on the American Civil War and Reconstruction period. In this course, we will focus on the period 1865-1890, Reconstruction.
You should allocate between 4 and 8 hours per week to get the most out of the course. This includes time for watching the video lectures, participating in discussion forums, taking the weekly quizzes, and doing the recommended readings.
You may also wish to view lectures from the previous two courses in the series (ColumbiaX: HIST001x & ColumbiaX: HIST002x), in which we examined the origins of the Civil War. But those two courses are not a prerequisite to this one.
Nearly a century and a half after its conclusion, the Civil War remains the central event in our history. And no period has been as persistently fascinating to Americans. The reasons for the war's continued relevance lies not only in its great accomplishments -- the preservation of the Union and the destruction of slavery -- but in the fact that it raised so many questions that remain central to our understanding of ourselves as a nation. What should be the balance of power between local authority and the national government? Who is entitled to American citizenship? What are the concrete meanings of freedom and equality in the United States? These questions, central to the meaning of the Civil War, remain subjects of controversy today. In that sense, the Civil War is not yet over.
In the physical destruction it brought to the South, the economic changes it produced throughout the nation, the new technologies it diffused, and the new ideas it spawned, the Civil War permanently affected the future course of national development. The war produced a loss of life unprecedented in the American experience. The 700,000 or so combatants who perished in the conflict nearly outnumber those who died in all other American wars combined. For those who lived through it, the Civil War would always remain the defining moment in their lives.
Central to the war's meaning was the abolition of slavery. Slavery lay at the root of the crisis that produced the Civil War, and the war became, although it did not begin as, a struggle for emancipation. Union victory eradicated slavery from American life, bringing the entire nation, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, a "new birth of freedom." Yet the war left it to future generations to confront the numerous legacies of slavery and to embark on the still unfinished quest for racial justice. This was the essential problem of Reconstruction, the era that followed the Civil War and that remains one of the most controversial and misunderstood periods in American history. How would the South be reintegrated into the Union? Who would rule the nation? And, especially, what would be the place of emancipated slaves in American life? These were the questions on which the politics of Reconstruction persistently turned.
This series of three courses will examine the events leading up to the Civil War, the war itself, and the era of Reconstruction to gain insight into this central turning point in the American experience. The focus lies less on the battlefield than in the nation's politics, culture, and race relations, and how the Civil War and the destruction of slavery affected these. A new nation emerged from the Civil War, laying the foundations for the world we live in today.
This 10-week online course is divided into 9 sections. A new section will be released every Wednesday at 16:00 UTC. You will receive an email from edX when a new section is released.
Schedule:
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Section (week) |
Date of release |
Topic |
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1 |
April 6th |
Reconstruction and the Politics of History |
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2 |
April 13th |
Meanings of Freedom |
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3 |
April 20th |
Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction |
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4 |
April 27th |
The Making of Radical Reconstruction |
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5 |
May 4th |
The Republican Coalition |
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6 |
May 11th |
Southern Republicans in Power |
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7 |
May 18th |
The End of Reconstruction |
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8 |
May 25th |
The Reconstruction of the North |
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9 |
June 1st |
New South and New Nation |
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Wrapping Up |
June 8th |
The week will be used to complete the final exam as well as any incomplete quizzes |
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Course Closes |
June 14th |
All quizzes and final exam must be completed by June 14th in order to receive a certificate |
Each weekly section contains the following elements:
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A short introductory video detailing what will be covered during the week. |
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An introductory poll question, to gauge pre-existing students views. You may see how your views compare to those of your peers. |
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A weekly video lecture, about 60 minutes in length. The lecture is segmented into 7 short clips, for your convenience; you may take a break at anytime, and edX will return you to where you left off. |
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A question between each of the 7 lecture video clips (7 questions total). Each is multiple-choice question, and relates to content covered in the preceding clip. |
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2 quizzes per week, each containing 5 multiple choice questions (10 questions total). All quiz questions relate to material covered in the lectures. Required for certificate. |
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Primary source documents with descriptions. You may click on the documents to view them in high-resolution, and zoom in and out. |
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Discussion thread related to the primary source documents, with prompts provided by the instructor and teaching assistants. |
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A short interview of Professor Foner, conducted by a teaching assistant, related to the week’s theme. |
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Discussion forum. Share views and ask questions; interact with your peers. The instructor and TAs will take part in some discussion threads; these will be “pinned” for easy identification. |
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Exit poll. Have your views changed since you’ve watched this week’s lecture and participated in the activities? How do your views compare to your peers’ now? |
Additional course components:
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At the beginning of the 9th week, a final exam will be posted, containing 20 multiple-choice questions. All of the exam material is covered in the video lectures. Required for certificate. |
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There will be suggested readings each week (details below). These will deepen your understanding of the material, but are not necessary to passing the quizzes or final exam; all quiz and exam questions pertain to material covered in the lectures. |
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Professor Foner will host a Live Online Video Conversation and answer student questions through a live video format. You will receive information and instructions closer to the event. |
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Towards the end of the course, you will have the opportunity to assume the role of curator, choosing from among the primary sources used in the course to create your own exhibition on the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction. This assignment is optional and ungraded. Your exhibition will be reviewed by several of your peers using edX’s peer assessment process. Stay tuned for more information about this assignment. |
If you are taking the course for a Verified or an Honor Code certificate, you must receive a course grade of 70 or above to receive a certificate of completion. Your grade will comprise:
60% Quizzes. The average of your 14 best quiz scores will be worth 60% of your final grade. There are 18 quizzes total; your lowest 4 quiz scores will be dropped.
40% Final exam. The final exam will be worth 40% of your course grade.
If you complete the quizzes and final exam by June 14th and receive a course grade of 70 or higher, your certificate will be available for download through your edX account several days after the course ends. For more information, please see the edX FAQ page.
Other elements of the course (discussions, readings, etc.) are optional. But the more you participate, the more you will get from the course!
The following list of works is assigned in the course as it is taught at Columbia University. Although readings are not required for the online version of this course, they will deepen your understanding of material.
Blight, D. W. (2001). Race and reunion: The civil war in American memory. Belknap Press. | Buy from Amazon
Foner, E. (1990). A short history of Reconstruction, 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row. | Buy from Amazon
Gienapp, W. E. (2001). The Civil War And Reconstruction: A Documentary Collection. W. W. Norton & Company.
Buy from W.W. Norton | Buy from Amazon
Litwack, L. F. (1980). Been in the storm so long: The aftermath of slavery. Vintage. | Buy from Amazon
Here is a schedule for the readings:
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Sections (weeks) |
Dates |
Recommended readings |
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1-2 |
April 6 - 19 |
Litwack, chs. 5, 7 Gienapp, pages 232-234, 377-381 |
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3-4 |
April 20 - May 3 |
Foner, chs. 1-7 Gienapp, pages 325-327, 332-24, 339-342, 360-362 |
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5-6 |
May 4 - 17 |
Foner, chs 8-12, epilogue Gienapp, pages 362-375, 387-391 |
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7-9 |
May 18 - June 7 |
Blight, chs 7-8, epilogue Gienapp, pages 395-402, 408-410, 416-417 |
One of the most powerful and dynamic components of this edX course will be your contributions! It’s your course, so openly discuss the material. Help each other!
Here are some things to consider to help make the discussion forums as engaging and productive as possible:
- Tone - Tone is a very important part of online communication. Before posting, read your message out loud. Ask yourself if you would say this to a fellow student in your class in a face-to-face discussion.
- Peer support - Make an effort to understand and support your peers. People have different perspectives - but everyone is here to learn! And the more we learn from each other, the better!
- Disagree vs. attack - Disagreeing with peers in debate and discussion is fine and welcome, but make sure to avoid challenges that may be interpreted as personal.
- Check previous postings - Take a minute to read read previous posts to ensure that the conversation you want to have is not happening elsewhere in he board.
- Delete the extraneous - When replying to another's post, be specific about the sentence, phrase, or comment that you are addressing. This will help to keep the thread focused, and it will make it easier for all of us to understand how the conversation is progressing.
- Be open to challenges and confrontations
- Encourage others to share their ideas
Here are four approaches to consider when engaging in our weekly discussions:
Agree/Disagree - It is perfectly fine to agree or disagree with others in the discussions, but explain the "level" of your agreement or disagreement. Avoid posting short responses such as "Yes! I agree!", or "No! That is wrong!" Explain WHY you agre or disagree.
Critique - Thoughtful and constructive criticism of each other's posts will help to keep the discussions positive, academic, and interesting.
Expand - If you find a post interesting or thought provoking, use your reply to expand upon it.
Exemplify - Bring in examples to support your ideas and comments.
Can I download videos? Videos are now available for download both online and on your mobile device.
Can I download the transcripts? Yes. Transcripts can be downloaded as .srt or .txt file format.
Can I share course material? Yes. The Civil War and Reconstruction course series is Copyright © 2014, Eric Foner and the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. Professor Foner’s course lecture videos in the series are licensed with the Creative Commons license BY-NC-SA 4.0, which means that edX students – anyone anywhere, in fact – may copy, share, adapt, even remix the videos and the videos’ key media components, including transcripts, without having to ask for prior permission, as long as such sharing is done for noncommercial purposes and the original author, work, and copyright notice above are cited. For more information, visit creative commons.
Why can't I zoom into the images on the Primary Resources page? If you don't see the magnifying glass on your broswer. Try pressing command and + on the Mac and on the PC try pressing CTRL and +. This will allow you to zoom into the images.