– Read Bruce Levine’s “Half Slave and Half Free: The Roots of the Civil War.” (Hill and Wang 1992) and answer the prompt. The book is available online(free): https://archive.org/stream/halfslavehalffre00levi#page/56/mode/2up
– The essay must have a thesis that responds to the prompt and your thesis must be supported with evidence/examples from the Levine book. Underline your thesis statement in the final draft. The thesis should be in the first or second paragraph of the essay.
– Essay Prompt:
Levine writes, the original project of the Founding Fathersto hold together a society half slave and half freebecame untenable by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 (Levine 16). What went wrong? According to Levine, what caused the United States to fracture into a Northern Union and a Southern Confederacy in 1861?
– Essay Tips:
When answering the essay prompt, make sure to analyze the economic, social, and cultural transformations in the North and South after the American Revolution that help to explain the causes of Civil War.
Before writing your essay, make sure to review the introduction, where Levine provides a detailed breakdown of the main argument for the entire book.
– Please add in-text citation as well as works cited in MLA format for the book