First Group Discussion (Chapter 1 & 2)

Wednesday, January 11 was our first group discussion.  I was not sure exactly how this debate would work, but Michael had excellent questions that got me thinking about many different things.  Ever since I was little I was always told that Lincoln was a good president because he ended slavery and won the Civil War for the Union, but that is not the entire truth.  The first question on the agenda discussed Lincoln's racist views.  The class talked about how someone can be racist, but still believe that slavery is morally wrong.  Lincoln was similar to this because in order to win the Civil War Lincoln needed troops, so he wanted to end slavery and use the freed African Americans in his Army.  Lincoln knew that if he didn't get more soldiers the south would win.  He actually asked Frederick Douglas for help in recruiting!  Lincoln didn't particularly like slavery, but he did think that African Americans were on a different intellectual, social, and economic level than himself.

Michael did a good job in creating questions, especially hypothetical ones.  One of the best questions was "What would have happened to the Constitution of the United States if the South had instead won the Civil War?  (Would it have been rewritten, would it have been replaced with the Confederacy's Constitution?) 
This is an excellent question because there are so many possibilities!  Many people, including myself, do not know that the Confederate actually had their own constitution.  After doing some research I found a website that has the Confederate Constitution.  http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_csa.asp
This constitution actually sounds quite similar to that of the Union, but with a greater emphasis on the power of the states, not the federal government.  I do actually believe that if the South had won the Civil War they would have instituted their constitution over the entire country.  Though this constitution would probably have been changed over the years (like our current one has), it addresses many main points. 

Professor Butters brought up an excellent idea for our senior seminar papers: compare and contrast the constitutions of the Union and Confederacy.  This seems like it would be a very detailed, in depth, and interest essay and I plan on keeping that idea in mind when the time comes. 

One thing I realized from this first group discussion was that the leader should be able to answer his/her own questions and have specific points to be made on each question.  It seemed like Michael just wrote the questions down and had a little idea of what the answers were, but he could have done a better job engaging the class and promoting more debate.  Overall, I believe it was a good first discussion and I look forward to more!  I do, however, need to take more notes from my readings and mark certain passages that make good points.  These discussions are exactly what real historians do on topics because it is easy to believe that your own answer is correct and the only answer, but after discussions with fellow peers, a person's eyes can be opened to new possibilities and ideas.  I can't wait for the next discussion with new ideas, questions,a and points to be made.