Reconstruction: North and South

The Paper: Each student is expected to write a five page paper on a topic of their choice within the readings. Rather than a small ideas examination of the topic, it should take a wider view, examining and explaining the event's importance and how it fits into the wider historical narrative of the course. Essentially, you should be answering the question “Why are you being asked to learn about this?” You will use at least three secondary sources beyond the textbook consisting of scholarly books & articles; final papers that make use of primary sources will be awarded an additional five points. The final paper will consist in three pieces: the submitted topic (5%), the one page outline (5%) and the final paper itself (15%).