Analyze an historical debate over an issue of your choice from the first half of U.S. History (pre-1877).
Describe in general the issue. (For example, you may analyze the importance of this issue in terms of to the culture, economics, political system, or social structure at the time.)
Part II. Historical Debate: (45 pts)
Read two perspectives (articles) on this argument from different sides, and describe the authors’ perspectives on this topic: (This assignment is not an article review, however, you need to demonstrate that you understand the readings in order to address the application questions).
After reading the articles, what were the authors’ thesis?
What evidence did the authors use to support those theses?
Does the evidence support his or her thesis?
Did the author(s) of the readings demonstrate an understanding of important elements of the culture’s history, values, politics, beliefs, or practices at the time of the issue? How or how not?
Which author created the clearer argument? Why did you feel that argument is clearer?
Part III. Conclusion (30 pts)
How did the readings change the way in which you understood the subject?
How might your own background influence your perspective on this issue? Provide examples.
Compare and Contrast the cultural issues presented in the readings with a current national or global issue?
Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln’s death right at the end of the Civil War has allowed his legend to grow. Ultimately, we do not know what he would have done for the newly freed slaves, but what do historians think he might have done given his previous actions?
links to articles on the databases
Lincoln Reconsidered
Michael F. Holt
The Journal of American History
Vol. 96, No. 2, Abraham Lincoln at 200: History and Historiography (Sep., 2009), pp. 451-455
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of Organization of American Historians
Stable URL: http://0-www.jstor.org.libcat.sanjac.edu/stable/25622303
Page Count: 5
Reexamining the Racial Record of Abraham Lincoln
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
No. 29 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 126-131
Published by: JBHE Foundation, Inc
DOI: 10.2307/2678865
Stable URL: http://0-www.jstor.org.libcat.sanjac.edu/stable/2678865
Page Count: 6
Abraham Lincoln and American Civil Religion: A Reinterpretation
Melvin B. Endy, Jr.
Church History
Vol. 44, No. 2 (Jun., 1975), pp. 229-241
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Society of Church History
Stable URL: http://0-www.jstor.org.libcat.sanjac.edu/stable/3165195
Page Count: 13
A Man but Not a Brother: Abraham Lincoln and Racial Equality
George M. Fredrickson
The Journal of Southern History
Vol. 41, No. 1 (Feb., 1975), pp. 39-58
Published by: Southern Historical Association
DOI: 10.2307/2206706
Stable URL: http://0-www.jstor.org.libcat.sanjac.edu/stable/2206706
Page Count: 20
Abraham Lincoln and Colonization: An Episode That Ends in Tragedy at L’Ile a Vache, Haiti, 1863-1864
James D. Lockett
Journal of Black Studies
Vol. 21, No. 4 (Jun., 1991), pp. 428-444
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.
Stable URL: http://0-www.jstor.org.libcat.sanjac.edu/stable/2784687
Page Count: 17
On Lincoln’s “Pragmatism”
John Sexton
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Article DOI: 10.1086/669689
Stable URL: http://0-www.jstor.org.libcat.sanjac.edu/stable/10.1086/669689
