History 263 The American Civil War and Reconstruction
Fall 1999

Design and undertake a short research project on an aspect of the Civil War and Reconstruction that especially interests you. The project should make use of either the Great American History Machine or primary source materials available online and/or in the Oberlin College Library*. Once you have conducted your research, write a 4-5 page report on your methodology and results. The report should explain why you chose your particular topic, the strategies you employed in your research, the sources you investigated, what you found out, and the historical and/or historiographical significance of your findings.

Below are several suggested topics, but you are free to devise your own in consultation with the instructor. You should post your topic on AltaVista Forum by Friday, Nov. 19. You should post a preliminary report on your research by Wednesday, Dec. 1. The finished report is due in class on Monday, Dec. 6.

1. Social and political transformation of a southern state, 1860-1870 or 1860-1880

2. Northern white perceptions of blacks during the Civil War

3. Experience of Confederate women as reflected in diaries and memoirs

4. Black solders' experience during the Civil War

5. History of a particular battle or regiment as recorded in Army Official Records

6. Experience of emancipation as described by ex-slaves and/or ex-masters

7. Comparison of Augusta County, VA, and Franklin County, PA, during the Civil War

8. Northern journalists' reports on the condition of the South in 1865

9. Debate over 14th Amendment and Congressional election of 1866

10. Controversy over the Freedmen's Bureau

11. Evolving views of Reconstruction in The Nation magazine.

12. Andrew Johnson's impeachment and trial (see www.impeach-AndrewJohnson.com)

13 Carpetbaggers' experience of Reconstruction as reflected in memoirs

14. Presidential election of 1864, 1868, 1872, or 1876

15. Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist organizations in the post-war South

*For a guide to published primary sources available in the Oberlin College Library, go to www.oberlin.edu/history/GJK/History422/Hist422resources.htm .