Project description

Antebellum American political history generally follows a routine script in which the purpose of the Revolution was to liberate Americans for self-government and economic and social development. Slavery is viewed as an anomaly still needing explanation, and Native American relocation as the consequence of natural forces of immigration and pre-modern social values. In this class, the revolution against traditional political authority embodied in Jefferson's and Thomas Paine's attack on the British crown, the rise of slavery, and the conflict with Native America are seen as coherent parts of a cultural and social development that emerges in the 18th- and 19th-century America. Using both original antebellum materials, including biographies, history, and literature, and contemporary images from American popular culture such as film, news and magazine articles, and music, we will compare and contrast the experiences of antebellum Native Americans, Euopean immigrants, and African slaves as a connection between the past and the present emerges.

Project aims

Project outcome