Unit 6 Discussion Post

Unit 6 Discussion:
Slavery and the Civil War

In this final discussion for the course, you will reflect upon the following quote:

In August of 1862, Abraham Lincoln wrote these words in a letter to Horace Greeley “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.”
[Library of Congress]

Required Readings

–How Slavery Really Ended in America

-Any other materials assigned for this course (textbooks, articles, videos, etc.) that are relevant to your answer

Instructions

A) POSTING: For this assignment, discuss the connection of slavery to the Civil War. How did northern war goals in relation to slavery change as the war progressed? What impact did the war have on slavery, and conversely, what impact did slavery have on the war? I am deliberately leaving this assignment open-ended to allow you flexibility to address whatever you think is significant AS LONG AS your posting addresses some aspect of slavery and the Civil War.

Your posting should be a minimum of THREE SUBSTANTIVE PARAGRAPHS (remember, a paragraph that is 1-2 sentences is NOT a substantive paragraph). You can also choose to be creative and use PowerPoint, YouTube, or any other kind of medium to convey your thoughts. But like with a traditional paragraph posting, you need to make sure that your creative posting comprehensively identifies and explains your chosen topic, as well as includes frequent references to the assigned reading (including the article How Slavery Really Ended, which must be incorporated into your answer).

The key here is effort: minimal effort = low grade. I want your posting to be insightful and reflect your critical thinking about the connection of slavery to the Civil War. Most of your posting should be in your own words. If you do use the exact wording from a particular source, please be sure to put the quoted words in quotations and include the page number where it is taken from.

B) RESPONSE: I want you to read over postings by other students. Choose one that you think is insightful or offers an alternative viewpoint to your own. Offer feedback and comments on why you think that particular posting is effective. If you have additional questions for the classmate, feel free to ask them, but do so in a respectful manner. You should base your response on what you have learned in the class and not simply personal conjecture. Effective responses will make direct references to materials covered in the class. Responses that are not based on evidence (ex: no connection materials you have read in the class) will receive a lower grade. Hopefully one thing you have learned in this class is that all assertions or interpretations should be backed up with evidence.

As you can imagine, the class might have very different perspectives on this subject, which is fine. As you read through the responses, feel free to respond to any postings that you agree/disagree with. But please make sure that all responses are respectful and based on evidence that you have encountered in the class. The goal for the responses is not to prove who is right or wrong, but rather, offer a particular perspective based on evidence (after all, that is what historians do in every book and article that they write).

I WILL NEED POST AND RESPONSE!!