|
View the H-Ohio Discussion Logs by month
View the Prior Message in H-Ohio's October 2009 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] View the Next Message in H-Ohio's October 2009 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] Visit the H-Ohio home page.
CALL FOR PAPERS:
"Secessions: From the American Revolution to Civil War"
October 22-23, 2010
Louisville, Kentucky
Conference Conveners:
Manisha Sinha (University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Departments of Afro-
American Studies and History)
Kevin Barksdale (Marshall University, Department of History)
The Filson Institute for the Advanced Study of the Ohio Valley and the
Upper South
proposes a two-day academic conference to examine calls for secession or
disunion in
the United States from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War. The
conference,
which takes place in Louisville, Kentucky, at The Filson Historical
Society, marks
the 150th anniversary of South Carolina's secession.
The conference seeks to explore the moments in U.S. history between 1783
and 1865
when Americans threatened or acted upon a perceived "right" to secede from or
nullify the laws of national or state authorities. Nearly hundred and
fifty years
ago, in December 1860, South Carolina declared its independence and
seceded from the
Union, helping to plunge the nation into Civil War. Secessionists
believed they
defended and upheld political values and traditions established during the
Revolutionary era. Some claimed that the Declaration of Independence
established a
precedent for principled rebellion in opposition to "tyranny," while
states' rights
advocates defended secession as a constitutional right. But southern
secessionists
were not the first to appeal to the Revolutionary tradition of disunion and
rebellion or to the Constitution: between the Revolution and the Civil War
many
groups and political leaders, discontented with conditions in the nation,
invoked
the right to leave the union or nullify federal laws.
The organizers of the conference welcome paper and panel proposals that
adopt a
variety of approaches to the study of secession, including the social,
economic, and
cultural causes of secession; the political theories Americans used to
justify
secession; secession and the contested meanings of the American Revolution;
secession as a means to effect progressive social change or conservative
counter-revolution; the sources of opposition to secession within a
seceding region;
the factors that led some states or regions to reject secession; the role
of the
media in secession debates; the role of Native Americans in secession and
separatist
movements; secession and state formation; secession in trans-Atlantic and
transnational perspective; and the memory of secession and war.
The organizers seek paper and panel proposals that explore a variety of
nullification and separatist movements, such as:
* The State of Franklin
* The Spanish Conspiracy
* The Whiskey Rebellion
* The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
* The Burr/Wilkinson/Blennerhassett Conspiracy
* The Hartford Convention
* The Nullification Crisis and States' Rights Theory
* The Republic of Texas
* Abolitionist Disunionism
* Northern Opposition to the Fugitive Slave Laws
* Secession in South Carolina and the Deep South States
* Secession in the Ohio Valley and Upper South
* Southern Unionism
* Secession within the Confederacy (West Virginia, Eastern Tennessee,
the Free
State of Jones)
A selection of revised essays from the conference will be published as
part of The
Filson's "Ohio Valley and the Nation" book series with Ohio University Press.
Please send three copies of a proposal of no more than two pages clearly
outlining
subject, arguments, and relevance to the conference topic, and a vita of
no more
than two pages, to The Filson Institute Conference, The Filson Historical
Society,
1310 S. Third St., Louisville, Kentucky 40208.
Proposal deadline is April 5, 2010 (postmarked). Single papers or
conference panels
are welcomed. For panel proposals please provide a one-page summary of
the panel in
addition to paper proposals and vitas from each participant. The
conference will
meet in consecutive single sessions, with three sessions each day. Papers
will be
placed on-line on The Filson Historical Society's website prior to the
conference.
Funds will be available to help defray some travel costs for presenters. For
questions concerning the conference, please contact Dr. A. Glenn Crothers
at the
address above or e-mail at
crothers@filsonhistorical.org<mailto:crothers@filsonhistorical.org>, or
consult The
Filson website at http://www.filsonhistorical.org/institute.html.
Dr. A. Glenn Crothers
Director of Research, The Filson Historical Society
Co-Editor, Ohio Valley History
1310 South Third Street
Louisville, KY 40208
502-635-5083, ext. 235
crothers@filsonhistorical.org<mailto:crothers@filsonhistorical.org>
Assistant Professor of History
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
502-852-6817
glenn.crothers@louisville.edu<mailto:glenn.crothers@louisville.edu>
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
|