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Review the instructions and expectations listed before each prompt.

Topical Discussions include prompts that ask you to offer an informed argument or point of view on a given topic and reply/respond to three (3) of your classmates’ posts (three different posts). Each prompt includes formatting guidelines and expectations for initial posts and replies.

Initial Posts Due 3/2; Three Replies Due 3/4

Choose one of the questions below and respond (for this discussion, each question can have a maximum of 6 posts). Put the question you’re responding to in the title of the post. When you post your 3 replies later, make sure that at least 2 of them respond to posts about questions you did not pick.

1. George Fitzhugh and Richard Furman (A Minister Defends Slavery) represent the prevailing arguments among white defenders of slavery in the South. Nat Turner, Solomon Northup, and Harriet Jacobs, on the other hand, share their experiences as enslaved men and women (Week 6 “Read” Folder). Taken together, how do the experiences of those who lived through enslavement undermine white southern arguments about the supposed benefits of slavery?
2. Read Turner’s explanation of his rebellion and ch. 11 in the textbook. Nat Turner led one of only three major slave rebellions in the Old South during the nineteenth century, and it ultimately didn’t succeed. But there were other forms of resistance as well. Discuss why it’s important to learn about rebellions like Turner’s as well as the other forms of resistance against slavery.
3. White society reacted strongly to Nat Turner’s Rebellion. What were their reactions, and what can those reactions tell us about the stability of the peculiar institution in the South?
4. Discuss what role Black Americans played in the abolition movement (Ch. 12). How did their view of freedom differ from that of the white abolitionists? Why were they so opposed to the colonization movement?
5. In addition to the two sources mentioned below, consider the other documents available for week 7 that involve secession (especially the Prigg v. Pennsylvania document).

   According to Texas’s Declaration of Causes of Secession and Alexander Stephens on Slavery and the Confederate Constitution, how should we understand the most important causes of secession and the Civil War?

   In other words, what was the secession movement and the Confederacy based on according to these sources from that point in the past? (Be careful not to confuse the first reasons mentioned in the Texas document with the most important reasons … pay attention to what the authors of both documents spend most of their time discussing.) 

6. Why is it ironic that the South supported the Fugitive Slave Act? And why does that matter?

Instructions:

When making your choice, remember that for this discussion each question can have a maximum of 6 threads (meaning that no more than 6 people can post about the same question). This setup favors those who get their work done early, so if you’re picky, don’t wait until the last minute.

Your initial posts should be more than 250 words. Your answer should do the following:

• begin with a concise thesis as a direct answer to the question,
• analyze the main ideas presented in the readings and videos,
• and cite specific supporting details from the reading (I mean that you need to bring in specific examples from the textbook, other books, and primary source documents).

Posts should be original (can’t be something you copied and can’t be something that someone else has already said), detailed, and include specific examples to back up your points and/or quotations from the primary source readings (which must be accompanied by your analysis of that quotation).

Replies should be more than 100 words, and they must advance the conversation by replying with additional details and information. In other words, you need to say something that they haven’t said yet. Think of them as a mini initial post.

As a guide, I expect that you follow a framework called “3C+Q.” You must include a Compliment (this is where you identify something specific in the original post and explain what stood out), a Comment (this is where you specifically engage the post by saying something like, “I agree/disagree that … because … ), a Connection (this is where you really move things forward. You could write something like “I also read/thought/heard/saw … and noticed this …”), and a Question (I wonder how/who/why/what/where …).

Please note that I am NOT asking you to critique the grammar, clarity, spelling, etc. of your classmates’ posts (it’s pedantic in regular conversations, and it kills any kind of good faith dialogue).

Generally, original posts receive a grade out of 45 points, and each response (3) receives a grade out of 10 points, for a total possible score of 75 points for each discussion assignment.