edX
edXThe Civil War and Reconstruction
520 studentsBEGINNEREnglish
Korshub's take
How Historians Interpret a Nation's Crisis
Historians interpret the Civil War and Reconstruction through evolving lenses, and this course traces how interpretation has shifted. Begin with the road to secession and slavery's economic centrality—not just moral weight, but the financial logic binding North and South. Track how slavery's expansion became the wedge that split national politics.
Understand emancipation not as abolition's triumph but as contested, fragile freedom for four million formerly enslaved people. Examine how Reconstruction grappled with translating freedom into political and economic reality—struggles that remain unresolved today. The course's strength: seeing the period through multiple generations of historians' debates, not one settled narrative.
About this course
How generations of historians have explained the road to secession, the causes and conduct of the war, the coming of emancipation, and the struggle to breathe meaning into the promise of freedom for four million emancipated slaves ,Slavery's central role in the southern and national economies ,How the issue of the expansion of slavery came to dominate national politics ,The dramatic change in historians' interpretations of the period in the last two generations ,How the Civil War and Reconstruction turned on issues of continued relevance today
Price
$150
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