Civil War at 150

In 2010, in anticipation of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the Georgia Historical Society hosted college and university faculty from across the nation during a summer seminar funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to view the reasons behind, the players within, and the consequences of the war in new ways. Through lectures and discussions with leading scholars in the field, readings, directed research in primary source documents, and analysis of selected local sites, participants were encouraged to approach the causes of the war in new ways, analyze the choosing of sides, explore issues of slavery and emancipation, and consider the war as it is remembered in our collective history and memory. The following pages contain content developed during this four-week summer seminar entitled, “The American Civil War at 150: New Approaches.” Though originally intended to provide a resource for the scholars and participants of the seminar itself, the ideas and content developed as a result are shared here in hopes of highlighting the importance of the American Civil War at 150.