HIS 3420 (LUOA), HIUS 420 (LUO): Civil War and Reconstruction

11/08/2019 to 04/16/2020 • Modified 08/20/2025

Course Description

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog

Rationale

The course is an upper level history course needed to support the history major and minor for Liberty University Online. The Civil War was a critical pivot point in early U.S. history, at which the country finally and painfully broke with slavery and began the process of applying its founding ideals, as laid out in the Declaration of Independence, to the difficult issue of race. The Civil War also marked the triumph of nationalism over sectionalism and set the stage for the next major phase of American history.

Course Assignment

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions (4)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to provide a thread in response to the provided prompt for each discussion. Each thread must be at least 300 words, demonstrate course-related knowledge, and include at least 1 scholarly citation to the to the Woodworth text (refer to the Discussion Thread: Significant Individuals in the Civil War Era for specific citation requirements for the thread). In addition to the thread, the student is required to reply to 2 other classmates’ threads. Each reply must be at least 150 words.

When citing from the course materials (including the Woodworth text), the student will simply put a parenthetical citation after the relevant passage/quotation. For any outside sources the student uses, he/she should cite them as per current Turabian Guidelines. The student must include a current Turabian-formatted bibliographical citation at the end of his/her posts for any source used

Book Review Assignments (2)

The student will read two academic press monographs and write a book review for each title. The reviews will analyze and evaluate the content of each book and be between 2 and 3 full pages in length. The book under review should be the only source cited. The review should provide a brief synopsis of the book’s content and set forth a critical commentary and evaluation of the book. The student’s review should end with a brief concluding statement that reiterates the major points of the review. 

Midterm Essay Assignment

The student will have the opportunity to reflect on the major issues, events, and personalities covered in the first half of the course in a 3-4-page essay. The student will select one of 4 provided prompts to research. The student should cite a minimum of 4 scholarly sources in his/her essay response. One of these can be Woodworth’s This Great Struggle. Each submission should include a bibliography (this does not count towards the page count requirement). The essay should adhere to current Turabian formatting (no title page is necessary).

Primary Source Analysis Assignments (2)

The student will submit two primary source analyses. The student will identify the author, date, and title of the source. He/she will then concisely describe the document’s historical context, summarize its content, and outline the historical significance of each source. Submissions should be between 200 and 300 words.

For the Primary Source Analysis: Emancipation Proclamation Assignment, the only outside source that the student is allowed to (and must) cite in this assignment is Woodworth’s This Great Struggle. For the Primary Source Analysis: General Order #9 Assignment, the only outside sources the student is allowed to (and must) use are the Woodworth text and Janney’s “The Lost Cause.” If the student chooses to also cite the primary source, he/she must do so sparingly. When quoting or paraphrasing from the Woodworth book, the student will simply provide a parenthetical citation in the style of (Woodworth, x) after your quotation. When the student cites from the Janney source or the primary source, he/she will do so using Turabian guidelines.

Final Essay Assignment

The student will have the opportunity to reflect on the major issues, events, and personalities covered in the entirety of the course in a 4-to-5-page essay. The student will select one of 4 provided prompts to research. The student should cite a minimum of 3 scholarly secondary sources in his/her essay response. One of these can be Woodworth’s This Great Struggle. Unlike the Midterm Essay Assignment, this final essay also requires students to cite 2 primary sources. Each submission should include a bibliography (this does not count towards the page count requirement). The essay should adhere to current Turabian formatting (no title page is necessary).