131-079 Slavery and Freedom in the USA: 1790-1920

Availability

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Usually 25 points of first year History, see Prerequisites.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

The subject will examine the history of the United States during the nineteenth century, focussing on the consequences of the existence of slavery in a free society. This will involve attention to the institution of slavery itself and the distinctiveness of southern society, to the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the plight of the freed slaves after 1865. But the course will also examine the consequences of slavery for the north and for the American understanding of freedom. Here topics will include the relationship of slavery to the democratic and republican ideals of the early republic, the existence of slavery in the north, the emergence of the abolitionist movement, and the ways in which other subordinated groups in American society - such as women, or organised labour - came to think of themselves as also struggling to make a transition from slavery to freedom. Finally the course will examine the relationship of late nineteenth century understandings of market freedoms to earlier republicanism.

Assessment

Written work totalling 4000 words.

Prescribed Texts

• G B Nash et al (eds), The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society. (3rd ed) Harper Collins 1994.
• H B Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin.