America in the Civil War Era, 1829–77: A History Institute for Teachers

A History Institute for Teachers

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Saturday and Sunday, May 17–18, 2008

Todd Wehr Center, Carthage College
Kenosha, Wisconsin

Sponsored by

The Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Wachman Center

Clausen Center for World Business, Carthage College
Adult Education, Carthage College

This year sees the publication of a wealth of important new literature on America in the 19th century, including History Institute co-chair Walter McDougall’s Throes of Democracy: America in the Civil War Era, 1829–77. This abundance of excellent new contributions to the scholarship on these important years is an exciting opportunity to revisit what we all think we know about America in the 19th century, and to rethink what our students need to know.

Conference Report

Topics and Speakers:

Welcoming Remarks
Arthur Cyr, Clausen Distinguished Professor, Carthage College
Alan Luxenberg, Director, FPRI’s Wachman Center
Throes of Democracy: America in the Civil War Era, 1829-1877
Walter A. McDougall, Co-Chair, FPRI History Institute for Teachers, and Alloy-Ansin Professor of International
Relations, University of Pennsylvania
Multimedia: Walter A. McDougall on “Throes of Democracy: America in the Civil War Era, 1829-1877”
Read Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era, 1829 – 1877, FPRI FootNotes, 5/2008
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848
Daniel Walker Howe, Professor of History Emeritus, UCLA, and Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus, Oxford University
(Note: The title of Prof. Howe’s talk is taken from his new book, which just won a Pulitzer Prize)
Multimedia: Daniel Walker Howe on “What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848”
What Hath God Wrought, FPRI FootNotes, 8/2008
Teaching about Slavery
Michael Johnson, Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University
Multimedia: Michael Johnson on “Teaching about Slavery”
Teaching about Slavery, FPRI FootNotes, 8/2008
The Technological Revolution
Maury Klein, Professor of History, University of Rhode Island
Multimedia: Maury Klein on “The Technological Revolution”
Keynote Address: Honest Abe: Abraham Lincoln and the Moral Character
Introduction by Tom Noer, Valor Distinguished Professor of Humanities, Carthage College
Address by Daniel Walker Howe, Emeritus Professor of History, UCLA
Multimedia: Daniel Walker Howe on “Honest Abe: Abraham Lincoln and the Moral Character”
Read Honest Abe: Abraham Lincoln and the Moral Character, FPRI FootNotes, 6/2008
Women in the Civil War
Jane Schultz, Professor of English and Adjunct Professor of Women’s Studies and American Studies, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Multimedia: Jane Schultz on “Women in the Civil War”
Read Ten Common Myths about Women in the Civil War and How to Dispel Them, FPRI FootNotes, 7/2008
Teaching Military History: The Civil War as Case Study
Karl Walling, Professor of Strategy, Naval War College
Multimedia: Karl Wallingon “Teaching Military History: The Civil War as Case Study”
Postwar Reconstruction
Herman Belz, Academic Advisor to the President, James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
Multimedia: Herman Belz “Postwar Reconstruction”

Classroom Lessons

1848: A Turning Point Year (55K Microsoft Word document)
Bridget Leiskau Dickler, St. Joseph’s School
The 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition (52K Microsoft Word document)
Paul Dickler, FPRI’s Wachman Center
American Civil War Reading and Discussion Guide (164K Microsoft Word document)
Kathryn Lerch, Park Tudor School
Civil War Scrapbook (54K Microsoft Word document)
Abigail Brazina, William Penn Middle School
Civil War Technology
  • Lesson (42K Microsoft Word document)
  • Slides (5.64MB Microsoft Powerpoint presentation)
Sarah J. Pica, Cameron High School
Reconstruction Plans (53K Microsoft Word document)
Charles Minyard, Liberty County High School
Study of John Brown (46K Microsoft Word document)
Jeanne Blair
The Truths About Slavery (831K Microsoft Powerpoint presentation)
Devon LaRosa, Jefferson High School
Using Literature to Learn About the Boys Who Fought in the Civil War (58K Microsoft Word document)
Natasha Cooper, Southeast Warren Jr/Sr. High, Liberty Center, Iowa
Using Literature to Learn about the Underground Railroad (40K Microsoft Word document)
Natasha Cooper, Southeast Warren Jr/Sr. High, Liberty Center, Iowa
Wartime Powers (65K Microsoft Word document)
Kathryn Gabriele, Bryan High School
Women in the Civil War (74K Microsoft Word document)
Robert Naeher, Emma Willard School, Troy, NY

About FPRI

Founded in 1955, FPRI is devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S. national interests abroad. We add perspective to events by fitting them into the larger historical and cultural context of international politics. A font of ideas for policymakers, a trusted resource for journalists, a center for scholars, a prolific publisher online and in print, FPRI aspires like Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin to embrace the nation and the world.

The Wachman Center

Begun in 1990, the Wachman Center is a project of FPRI dedicated to improving civic and international literacy in the community and in the classroom. The Fund is named for FPRI’s former president, the late Marvin Wachman, who inaugurated the Institute’s program of international education in 1985 with the Inter-University Seminar on Foreign Affairs.

History Institute for Teachers

In 1996, FPRI inaugurated a series of weekend history institutes, chaired by David Eisenhower and Walter McDougall. Designed to bring high school teachers from around the country together with the nation's top scholars on world history and politics, the History Institute offers intensive weekends of lectures and discussion. The History Institute is supported by a grant from The Annenberg Foundation. Materials from previous history weekends can be found on our website.

Foreign Policy Research Institute
1528 Walnut Street, Suite 610
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Tel. 215-732-3774, ext. 305
Fax 215-732-4401