Week 13 · Readings & resources

Week 13 — Readings & Resources

U.S. History to 1877 Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 13 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 58–76 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text. Two items quote or reenact the racist language of the period's speakers and documents; the course quotes none of it, so take those items at your own pace.

Pick-one quick path (17–21 min total)

① A new party and the debates of 1858

Chapter 13, Section “Hear two candidates argue: the Lincoln–Douglas debates of 1858” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Expansion, not abolition” · Remember: the Republicans opposed slavery's spread, and Lincoln lost the Senate race of 1858 but became known nationwide.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 — Lincoln Home National Historic Site, National Park Service — the National Park Service's page on the debates, from the park at Lincoln's Springfield home. Read its two short paragraphs and look over the map and the list of the seven towns. The candidates agreed to meet in the seven of Illinois's nine congressional districts where Douglas had not already spoken. In each debate one man opened for an hour, the other answered for an hour and a half, and the first replied for half an hour. Douglas, as the incumbent, opened four of the seven. Then open the Freeport debate from the list and read its short summary and the start of Lincoln's speech, through his answers to the seven questions Douglas had put to him at Ottawa. In the sixth answer Lincoln says he is bound to the belief that Congress may, and should, bar slavery from all the territories, north and south of the Missouri Compromise line. This builds on Week 9's work with the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the first answer to the territories question the debaters were still arguing over. The debate days the page lists are taught in words; the course keys only the years. It shows how the debates were arranged and what Lincoln said he was and was not pledged to; it does not show who won the arguments. (reading, 5–8 min)
At Home with the Lincolns Episode 12: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates — Lincoln Home National Historic Site — a park ranger in Lincoln's Springfield home explains how the Whig Party was torn apart by slavery, why Lincoln joined the Republicans in 1856, and what the two men argued over: slavery's future in the territories and whom the Declaration of Independence included. Actors read short passages aloud, including Douglas's racist claims about citizenship; none of those lines is pinned, so the course quotes none of them. Listen for the ranger's point that Lincoln did not call for abolishing slavery where it already existed. (video, 5 min) (captions: creator)

② Harpers Ferry and the election of 1860

Chapter 13, Section “Weigh John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry” · Session 1, Segment 2, “A raid and a split” · Remember: the raid failed and still hardened both sections, and Lincoln won in 1860 without a single Southern state.

John Brown — e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia — the state humanities council's encyclopedia entry on Brown. Read the paragraphs on the raid: the plan to arm enslaved people from the armory, the rising that never came, the last stand in the engine house, and the trial at Charles Town. Notice that the entry ends with a judgment of Brown as well as a record of him, and keep the two apart. Its counts of men and killings are the entry's own, and the course keys none of them. It shows what the record of the raid contains; it does not settle what Brown should be called. (reading, 6–10 min)
The Raid on Harpers Ferry — Smithsonian Magazine — a historian of the Underground Railroad tells the story of the raid in four minutes, from the night crossing to the hanging. Compare his closing verdict on Brown with the encyclopedia entry's: they agree on the events and judge the man differently. His figure for the raiders is his own. Listen for his point that the raid frightened white Southerners and sped the move toward secession. (video, 4 min) (captions: creator)
History In Brief: The Election of 1860 — Allen County Public Library — a two-minute summary of the four parties of 1860 and their stands on slavery in the territories, illustrated from the Lincoln collection the library holds. Check its last minute against Chapter 13: it gives the day of the vote and the day of the attack on Fort Sumter, and the course keeps both days in words and keys only the years. Use this summary while completing the Week-13 module overview. (video, 2 min) (captions: automatic)

③ Secession in the secessionists' own words

Chapter 13, Section “Corroborate and sort two claims: Mississippi and the evidence-claims set” · Session 2, Segment 3, “A second witness” · Remember: the secession declarations name slavery in their own words, and one state's words do not prove every state's reasons.

A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi — Avalon Project — Mississippi's own declaration of causes, the second witness for this week's workshop document. Read the first two paragraphs: the convention names slavery as its position and its interest in so many words, in racist language the course does not repeat. Then read down its list of grievances and find the line about a state invaded and a raider honored as a martyr, which refers to John Brown without naming him. Paraphrase everything; none of it is pinned. It shows what Mississippi's convention said its reasons were; it does not show what every person in the state believed. (reading, 8–12 min)
Walk Through the War: 1861 Choices — The American Civil War Museum — two museum educators explain that secession came in stages: the Deep South left before Fort Sumter, Virginia left after it, and the border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware stayed. They state plainly that the Confederacy went to war to protect and expand slavery. Watch the first three minutes for the states' choices. Stop here before the stories of soldiers, spies, and the war itself; next week takes that up. (video, 9 min) (captions: automatic)

④ The inaugural, and the first shots

Chapter 13, Section “Read Lincoln's First Inaugural Address: secession in stages” · Session 2, Segment 4, “A promise and a fort” · Remember: Lincoln promised in 1861 not to interfere with slavery where it existed, and the war began at Fort Sumter.

19th Inaugural Ceremonies: President Abraham Lincoln — Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies — the Senate committee's page on the swearing-in of 1861. Read the short sections on the ceremony, the guarded procession to the Capitol, and the oath, which Chief Justice Roger B. Taney gave, the same justice who read the Dred Scott opinion in Week 12. The page quotes an opening passage of the address; the course quotes only its two pinned fragments. It shows how the inauguration was staged; it does not show how the speech was received. (reading, 4–6 min)
Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, 1861 — Library of Congress — two of the library's historians show the final version of Lincoln's handwritten speech, the Bible used for the oath, and the jewelry Mary Todd Lincoln wore to the inaugural ball. Listen for the reminder that South Carolina had already seceded before the speech. One speaker reads the closing lines aloud; check any line against the text the course quotes. (video, 2 min) (captions: creator)
Where Did The First Shot of the Civil War Come From? — FtSumterNPS — a park ranger standing on an island at the mouth of Charleston Harbor weighs the candidates usually named for the war's first shot, from the guns that turned back a supply ship to the mortars that opened on Fort Sumter. It is a sourcing lesson in three minutes: each claim depends on what a witness counted as the start of a war. The automatic captions mishear some names, so check spellings against Chapter 13. (video, 3 min) (captions: automatic)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union — Avalon Project — the full text of the week's workshop document as the Avalon Project keeps it. Use your browser's find tool to reach the pinned fragment, in the paragraph on the laws for returning people who escaped slavery. The opening paragraphs on 1765 and 1776 and the closing paragraphs on the election are worth reading in paraphrase; the rest is optional. (reading, 10–15 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

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