Class Meeting Time: Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:30-3:45PM

Description of the Course: The forty years before the Civil War were a period of intense change in America. New transportation networks meant news, goods, and germs could travel faster than ever before. Religious movements inspired people to radically change their society by eliminating drinking, outlawing slavery, eradicating marriage or living in a commune. The Mexican American War added new territories, new groups of people and new tensions over slavery, which helped to create the Democratic and Republican parties we know today. More white men got the right to vote, while Indians, black people and women all claimed, but did not always receive, equal status. This course will help us understand this crucial and delightfully weird period in American history, focusing particularly on political conflicts, Indian removal, and moral reform movements.

This course is taught by: Professor Beth Salerno

Click here to see a syllabus from the last time Professor Salerno taught this course. Please note that the syllabus can change substantially from semester to semester.

Saint Anselm College, a Benedictine, Catholic, Liberal Arts College
100 Saint Anselm Drive, Manchester, New Hampshire 03102

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