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Host: Joan Neuberger, Professor of History and Editor, Not Even Past Guest: H.W. Brands, Dickson, Allen, Anderson Centennial Professor of History, UT-Austin After the chaos of the American Civil War, Congress and lawmakers had to figure out how to put the Union back together again-no easy feat, considering that issues of political debate were settled on the battlefield, but not in the courtroom nor in the arena of public opinion. How did the defeated South and often vindictive North manage to resolve their differences over issues so controversial that they had torn the Union apart? Historian H.W. Brands from UT's Department of History reflects on this issues and how he has dealt with them in his thirty years of experience in teaching about Reconstruction: "It's one of the hardest parts of American history to teach, in part because I think it's the hardest to just understand."

A wiki of resources for teaching about the Civil War - includes curriculum and lots of links

Journalism class at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada creates news maps based on news stories of the week.

In which John Green teaches you about the Mexican-American War in the late 1840s, and the expansion of the United States into the western end of North America. In this episode of Crash Course, US territory finally reaches from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific Ocean. After Oregon was secured from the UK and the southwest was ceded by Mexico, that is. Famous Americans abound in this episode, including James K Polk (Young Hickory, Napoleon of the Stump), Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, and Winfield Scott. You'll also learn about the California Gold Rush of 1848, and California's admission as a state, which necessitated the Compromise of 1850. Once more slavery is a crucial issue. Something is going to have to be done about slavery, I think. Maybe it will come to a head next week.

Youtube Playlist The Civil War and Reconstruction - 1850 -1861 Discover how the issue of slavery came to dominate American politics, and how political leaders struggled and failed to resolve the growing crisis in the nation. A House Divided: The Road to Civil War, 1850-1861 is a course that begins by examining how generations of historians have explained the crisis of the Union. After discussing the institution of slavery and its central role in the southern and national economies, it turns to an account of the political and social history of the 1850s. It traces how the issue of the expansion of slavery came to dominate national politics, and how political leaders struggled, unsuccessfully, to resolve the growing crisis. We will examine the impact of key events such as Bleeding Kansas, the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, and end with the dissolution of the Union in the winter of 1860-61. This course is part of the series, The Civil War and Reconstruction, which introduces students to the most pivotal era in American history. The Civil War transformed the nation by eliminating the threat of secession and destroying the institution of slavery. It raised questions that remain central to our understanding of ourselves as a people and a nation - the balance of power between local and national authority, the boundaries of citizenship, and the meanings of freedom and equality. The series will examine the causes of the war, the road to secession, the conduct of the Civil War, the coming of emancipation, and the struggle after the war to breathe meaning into the promise of freedom for four million emancipated slaves. One theme throughout the series is what might be called the politics of history - how the world in which a historian lives affects his or her view of the past, and how historical interpretations reinforce or challenge the social order of the present. Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor o

Teaching History with Tech site that has resources, ideas, lesson plans

EdTach Teaching resource of history sites with lesson plans, guides, activities, other resources

Teachers can consider starting students in their Reconstruction unit with this article. Why not start with a popular writing piece that asks why a particular era in history is important?

This section includes recommended resources for further study on the Civil War as well as links related to the Civil War.

Classroom resources relating to Ken Burns' The Civil War. Video clips, lesson plans, and links to Library of Congress resources.

A house divided against itself cannot stand. The United States could no longer remain half-slave and half-free, and the ensuing war over the fate of slavery ripped apart the nation.

From Lincoln's election to the formation of the Confederacy and Fort Sumter.

Early phases of Civil War and Antietam

Text Analysis of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Spread of Cotton and of Slavery 1790-1860

Compromises over Slavery

The Presidential Election of 1860

The US Civil War, Part I

The US Civil War, Part II

Reconstruction