1. Robert E. Lee The Civil War and the Lost Cause: The contradictions of the Southern bid for secession

2. The Road to War  The Election of 1860 – The two Democratic conventions. – The Republican convention and the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. – John Bell and the Constitutional Union Party. – The campaign and the election: electoral college calculations.  “Secessionitis” – The question of the Constitution and the Union. – The lower south secedes. – Lincoln and the attempts at balance. – Fort Sumter and after.

4. From “Short War” to “Long War”  Honor and Glory! – The first call for volunteers and the idea of a short war. – 1 st Bull Run and the end of the short war myth.  Strategic realities. – The problem of the North: from the “Anaconda” to total war. – The South: defensive war at a disadvantage.  Real war begins. – War in the west: Donelson, Henry, and Shiloh. – The Peninsular Campaign, George McClellan, and the rise of Robert E. Lee.

5. Robert E. Lee  Lee the man vs. Lee the “marble model”. – The paradox of Lee’s personality as a product of his heritage: honor above all. – Lee as a leader: “I’d charge hell itself for that old man.”  Lee in action: his effect on the war. – Second Bull Run and Lee’s audacity. – The invasion ideas: Antietam and Gettysburg. – Lee on the defensive: active defense. – Lee’s limits as a general.

6. The Late War: the “Lost Cause”  The Emancipation Proclamation and it’s reception.  Gettysburg and after: Lincoln finds a general. – The problems of “standing the arithmatic”. – Grant and the new war in 1864.  The final act. – The Richmond and Atlanta campaigns. – Seige and surrender. – The final costs of war.

7. Reconstruction  Presidential Reconstruction. – Lincoln’s 10% plan vs. Wade-Davis bill. – The Thirteenth Amendment. – Lincoln’s assassination and Johnson’s plans.  Congressional Reconstruction. – Veto of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. – The Fourteenth Amendment. – The four Reconstruction Acts.  Grant: managing Reconstruction. – Johnson impeached and Grant’s election. – The Freedman’s Bureau and the fate of ex-slaves. – Terrorism and the fight against the KKK.

8. The End of Reconstruction  Reconstruction fades. – Conservative resurgence in the south after 1872. – Corruption and the Grant administration. – Economic and party issues gain prominence.  The election of 1876. – Hayes vs. Tilden: the uncorrupted, corrupted. – The electoral dispute and electoral sleight-of- hand. – The Compromise of 1876 and the “solution” to the problem.