Students are instructed to write an original 1,500 word essay responding to the prompt of whether the U.S. Civil War was unavoidable or not. They should discuss why civil war broke out by connecting overarching issues like slavery, politics, economics, and geography to specific historical events and figures from the antebellum period. The essay should demonstrate knowledge of all assigned course readings for Unit II, especially the lectures, textbook, and other works to earn full credit.

1. You will write and submit an original essay (approximately
1,500 words) based on the Unit II materials assigned during
weeks 10-16 of the course. Your essay is to be based on the
following prompt:
Our theme in Unit III has been "A Nation and its Discontents,"
and as you studied the Civil War in Week 16, you saw how
those discontents led to the most destructive era in American
history. So the question is, why civil war? Was it
un
avoidable, and if so, why? If it was avoidable, then why did the
country not avoid it? In writing this essay, find the connections
between "big picture" issues like slavery, politics, economics,
and geography, and the details of specific events and
personalities that you have learned about in the antebellum
period.
Reminder: be sure to read the detailed instructions for this essay
under our Week 16 module as well as the final essay scoring
rubric also posted there. Students hoping to earn full credit
should expect to show familiarity with ALL the assigned
sources, especially lecture, but also the OpenStax textbook,
Master of the Mountain
, and other assigned readings.