U.S. History to 1865 Return to U.S. Survey course main page

Michael Trotti History Department 412 Muller  (607)274-1591

Venture B

The Coming of the Civil War

In this venture, you will investigate a website and write a brief response to the experience. Unlike other written assignments, this in informal -- the point is for you to dive into some materials about our period and informally respond to what the experience teaches you.

Option 1. Political Crisis of the 1850s

Investigate the destruction of the second party system via a fascinating website on American elections. This site, Voting America: U.S. Politics 1840-2008, shows maps by state and even by county giving the outcome of every presidential election in American history. You'll look at the ones from 1840-1860, seeing vividly the polarization of the American electorate.

There are a variety of ways to look at this period and this website. Explore the site as you want to, but be sure to do the following:

1. Click, obviously, on the website above
2. Click on the "Voting and the Civil War" analysis under the "Scholar's Corner" category (it's at the bottom of a long list of commentaries) and listen to/watch this brief explanation of developments in our period. This brings up maps, some text, and audio from a very prominent historian, Ed Ayers, who discusses some important issues in the period. Surf around here.
3. Click on the "individual elections" and then click on our time period, "1840-1880." From the bottom of the page, click each election to see how the party affiliations are shifting. Note: every few seconds, the map will shift as the slide show moves through a variety of maps for the election. Press pause at any time and/or replay the series of images as you care to.
4. You can also click on "Elections, 1840-2004" (also under "Cinematic Maps" pull-down menu) to see the broad sweep of electoral change in our history up to the present. It doesn't apply to this class, but it is very very interesting. This will offer a variety of very interesting maps -- state, county, raw votes, different party densities, etc. -- and show how these things change over time. Pausing this at each election is another way of surfing through our period, by the way. This is really quite interesting, but be sure your response that you write is focused upon the period 1840-1860.

After surfing through this material, write a page (double spaced, typed) giving an engaged (meaning you discuss important issues you find here, not, say, the font used by the website) but informal response to the experience of investigating these maps. Turn in that brief response when syllabus says it is due.

Or

Option 2. The Civil War Hits Home

Investigate the impact of the Civil War upon two communities -- one a (Confederate) county in Virginia and the other a (Union) county in Pennsylvania. A fascinating exploration in "microhistory", this site -- The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War -- is one of the most interesting historical sites on the web; it has won several awards.

This site is so huge and interesting that I've not figured out the best way to lead you through it. But here's a start, then it is up to you to explore!

1. Click, obviously, on the website above
2. Click on "Click Here for Resources On Using the Valley Project" at the bottom of the page to get an overview. Even here there are several overviews possible. I suggest at least a perusal of "The Story of the Valley Project" to get the big overview of what this is, and the "walking tour" of the sections of the site to get a better idea of where you might want to go.
3. Surf whatever part of this site is most of interest to you. Try a variety of different sorts of resources here. If you are at a loss, try reading a few letters from the war period in "Letters and Diaries" section. Read some from both Augusta County (Virginia) and Franklin County (Pennsylvania); note that there is a page "about" these letters that can give some context.

After surfing through this material, write a page (double spaced, typed) giving an engaged (meaning you discuss important issues you find here, not, say, the font used by the website) but informal response to the experience of investigating these communities. Turn in that brief response when syllabus says it is due.

This website is occasionally maintained by Michael Trotti. (Last update: 1 December 2011).