Students analyze Civil War-era correspondence to better understand the relationship between religion and politics during the war.
Introduction
This exercise uses correspondence to reveal the connections between religion and politics during the Civil War. Students discover the role that religious beliefs played in dividing north and south. They also witness the pervasive influence of religion in the daily attitudes of nineteenth-century Americans.
Students ultimately reflect on the similarities and differences in religious and civic life during the Civil War era and today.
[expand title=”Objectives” tag=”h3″]
Students should be able to:
- Read handwritten primary sources
- Recognize and articulate connections between religious belief and patriotism
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[expand title=”Context” tag=”h3″]Prior to visiting the archives, students need context about the causes of the American Civil War and the role that religion played in these divisions. This can be provided through lectures, course readings, and films (see Further Reading below).
During the Fall 2012 semester, my course used the presidential race as a counterpoint to the documents they examined in the archives. Students followed the public debate around Governor Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith and the religious beliefs of President Barack Obama. Students read and listened to speeches from both candidates in which religious freedom and beliefs were invoked. They engaged in lively discussion about the relevance or appropriateness of a candidates’ real or perceived religious identity.
Current events can provide an excellent contemporary comparison to the nineteenth-century archival documents examined in this exercise.
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[expand title=”Visit” tag=”h3″]Number of Visits: 1
Duration of Visit: 1 hour 10 minutes
Agenda
In groups of 4 – 5, students are assigned to one of three stations:
- Two letters from a devout mother inquiring about her deceased soldier son
- A scrapbook of hate mail to a well-known abolitionist preacher
- A congregant letter protesting the John Brown raids
Students remain at one station during the entire class visit. They read the correspondence at their station and hold a discussion based on questions in the handout.
Wrap Up
Students reconvene to reflect upon their analyses and their responses to the questions posed in the handout.[/expand]
[expand title=”End Products” tag=”h3″]
Blog Posts
After the visit, students respond to the following questions on a class blog:
- What is the connection between religion and politics?
- Does this connection transcend time or was it merely isolated at this period?
- Do you see any links to religious attitudes and the attitudes of what it means to be an American that might correlate to a contemporary issue in America in the 21st century?
Students are required to make substantive comment (more than just, “I agree”) on at least two of the posts written by their colleagues.
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[expand title=”Archival Materials Used” tag=”h3″]
Letter, Mary A. Herbert to Mr. Samuel, November 25, 1863; Bedell, Conklin, and Wahlberg families collection, 2005.021, box 1, folder 14; Brooklyn Historical Society. click for image
Letters to and from Mary Herbert, December 28, 1863 and February 7, 1864; Bedell, Conklin, and Wahlberg families collection, 2005.021, box 1, folder 14; Brooklyn Historical Society. click for image
Group 2
Letter, December 8, 1859, page 15
Scrapbook: clippings and correspondence to Henry Ward Beecher, 1858-1868; Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims and Henry Ward Beecher Collection, ARC.212, box 41; Brooklyn Historical Society. click for image
Group 3
Letter, G. Arthur Seaver to Trustees of the Second Unitarian Society, January 2, 1860; First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, ARC.109, box 101, folder 3; Brooklyn Historical Society. click for image
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[expand title=”Further Reading” tag=”h3″]
Lippy, Charles H. Introducing American Religion. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Orsi, Robert A., ed. Gods of the City. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.
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Alexandria M. Egler, “Politics and Religion in Civil War Letters,” TeachArchives.org, accessed [insert date here], http://wwww.teacharchives.org/exercises/politics-religion/.