American Civil War, Part One: 1619 to 1862
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

This course on the American Civil War covers the years 1619 (the year African Slaves were first landed in England's Virginia Colony) to the end of 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. Included in the presentations are the causes of the Civil War, federal government actions concerning slavery and a growing political discord between the nation's northern and southern states, the presidential election of 1860, non-military battles in the 1850s, military preparations for the "War Between the States," political and military leaders, and the first two years of battles between the Union and Confederate armies.