Week 14 — The Civil War

Why this matters

A future nurse or social worker who will see a crisis reach families far from its center, and a business student watching prices climb faster than wages, both meet this week's question: how did people turn a war over the Union into a war for freedom?

In plain language

This week covers the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865. The Union (the United States government and the states loyal to it) fought the Confederacy (the government the seceding slave states formed). The war began as a fight to restore the Union, and over four years it became a war that destroyed slavery. That change came from Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (his order of 1863 declaring enslaved people free in the areas in rebellion) and from enslaved people who fled to Union lines and freed themselves. You will read two dated documents, the Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, and you will ask what each one did, and what it did not do.

• Already covered: Week 5's Declaration, Week 12's Dred Scott, and Week 13's secession and First Inaugural.
• This week: the two sides, self-emancipation, the Proclamation, Black soldiers, Gettysburg, and the home fronts.
• How they connect: the slavery the 1850s protected is the slavery this war destroyed.
• Where we're going next: Week 15, Reconstruction.

Focus

How did a war for union become a war for freedom between 1861 and 1865?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] tell the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) from the 13th Amendment (1865)
• [ ] keep each pinned phrase with its proclamation
• [ ] explain how enslaved people freed themselves by fleeing to Union lines

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 14 (~65–75 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes).
3. Work the practice set (15–25 minutes).
4. Do the Primary Source Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
5. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: for any order or law, ask what it reached on paper and what changed on the ground.

You've got this

Take it one section at a time, and ask your instructor if a step snags.

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