Blog Assignment #3 – Journal Articles
History 2311
November 27, 2009
Due before class, December 2, 2009
PLEASE READ THIS ASSIGNMENT AND ALL INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY.
Read either Menahem Blondheim, “‘Public Sentiment is Everything’: The Union’s Public Communications Strategy and the Bogus Proclamation of 1864,” The Journal of American History 89, no. 3: 869-899 (December 2002)
OR
Jacqueline G. Campbell, “‘The Most Diabolical Act of the Barbarous War’: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Burning of Columbia, February 1865,” American Nineteenth Century History 3, no. 3: 53-72 (Fall 2002) (Please note you will have to scroll down two pages of notes from the previous article to reach the first page of this article).
PLEASE NOTE: Clicking on the above links will take you directly to the article, after you sign in with your student library account. These are .pdf files and you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to view them. It may take a few seconds for the document to load, so be patient.
ALSO NOTE that these articles are to be read in conjunction with brief sections of several chapters from your textbook, Out of Many, as well as Chapter 10 from Constructing the American Past (if you choose the Campbell article).
After you have retrieved your journal article, read it and then answer the following questions. Different questions are posed for each article, so read them carefully. If you have any questions about posting to your page or think you do not know how to do it properly, please e-mail me for directions, or see me after class Monday for further instructions.
On your Student Page, scroll down to the bottom of the page, until you reach the end of your second assignment, and label your next entry:
Blog Assignment #3 – Blondheim (or Campbell). Then label each of your answers, 1, 2, 3, etc. and respond to each question with a thoughtful, substantial paragraph or two. If you quote directly from the article, cite your reference using the proper format as discussed in class and presented on the style and format sheet attached to your first paper. Total words for this assignment should probably be about 400. Make sure you save a copy to your hard drive before you copy it to your page.
Questions for Blondheim article, “‘Public Sentiment is Everything’: The Union’s Public Communications Strategy and the Bogus Proclamation of 1864”:
1. What historical question or interpretation does the author examine? Restate his thesis or argument in your own words.
2. What are his main points, and what is his overall conclusion?
3. Identify some of the most important primary sources used to support his argument.
4. How does the article address, support, supplement, or challenge the information about the enormous communications advances that transformed American politics, public print culture, economic conditions, and government utilization and/or censorship of the press presented by Out of Many?
In answering this question, see Chapter 11 on the growth of newspapers, 284-285 and the graph on 286, the invention of the telegraph, 301; Chapter 13, abolitionist mass mailings, 355-356; Chapter 15, the Panic of 1857, 411, see painting on same page as well); Chapter 14, the U.S.-Mexican War, 380-381, see painting on 381 as well; and Chapter 16, top of 440-441, “The Limits of Civil Liberties in Wartime.”
5. Did you find the article well-argued and persuasive? Why or why not? Cite an example from the article to support your opinion. Did it change or enhance your previous understanding of the Civil War? If so, cite a specific example from the article that you found especially interesting or thought-provoking. Or do you see any parallels or comparisons to the role of the mass media in subsequent military conflicts? What do you think Blondheim meant when he speculated that the “third millennium” may have ushered in a new “decentralized communications environment?”
Questions for Campbell’s article, “‘The Most Diabolical Act of the Barbarous War’: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Burning of Columbia, February 1865”:
1. What historical question or interpretation does the author examine? Restate her thesis or argument in your own words.
2. What are her main points, and what is her overall conclusion?
3. Identify some of the most important primary sources used to support her argument.
4. How does Campbell’s article address, supplement, support, or challenge Out of Many’s and Constructing the American Past’s presentation of the ideology of “true womanhood,” Southern white women’s support or opposition to the Civil War, and the impact of “Sherman’s March to the Sea” on Southern civilian populations?
In answering this question, see Out of Many, Chapter 10, 270, for antebellum Southern white women; see Chapter 16, 440-441 and 442-443 for Southern white women’s reactions to the Civil War; see also Chapter 16, 442-443 for Union strategy and “Sherman’s March.” For the development of the doctrine of “separate spheres” and “true womanhood,” see Out of Many, Chapter 12, 327-329 and Chapter 13, 359-360; and Constructing the American Past, Chapter 10, 183-188.
5. How does Campbell incorporate the notions of “true womanhood” and “female honor” into her argument about the response of Southern white women to the pillaging and burning of Columbia, South Carolina? Cite a specific example from the text. Historian Drew Gilpin Faust has argued that elite white women’s disillusionment with and growing resistance to the war, especially after Sherman’s march, played a significant role in the Confederacy’s defeat. Does Campbell agree or disagree? Why? Do you believe that Sherman’s march constituted “total war” as it is understood today? Why or why not? Can you think of historical examples from our course that challenge Out of Many’s assertion that the Union’s “decision to broaden the war so that it directly affected civilians was new in American military history?” Or do you agree with this statement?