Anyone who knows the history of the Civil War and its aftermath and who talks with members of the public quickly grows frustrated. Most recent high school graduates, many history and social studies teachers, and even some professional historians whose training is in other areas hold basic misconceptions about the era. Questions about why the South seceded, what the Confederacy was about, and the nature and later use of its symbols and ideology often give rise to flatly untrue “answers.” In turn, these errors persist because most Americans do not know and have never read key documents in American history about the Confederacy. The documents included here also make a case for teaching every American the word and the concept “historiography.” Most concisely, historiography means “the study of history,” but not just “studying history.” Historiography asks us to scrutinize how a given piece of history came to be written. Who wrote it? When? With whom were they in debate? What were they trying to prove? Who didn’t write it? What points of view were omitted? Especially on the subjects of slavery, secession, and race—the core of this volume—Confederate and neo-Confederate statements change depending upon where people wrote or spoke, and when and why. Why did Confederates say they seceded for slavery in 1861 but not in 1891? Why did neo-Confederates claim in 1999, but not in 1869, that thousands of African Americans served in the Confederate armed forces? Teachers can use questions like these to get students to understand and do historiography on the documents in this collection.

Кл.слова:
громадянська війна у США -- рабовласництво -- сегрегація -- аболіціонізм