• Were the states united before the Civil War?
• How did the Union and the Confederacy explain secession to themselves?
• How did each define itself as a nation?
• What did the North hope to gain through the War?
• What did the South hope to gain?
• What issues did the War resolve?
• What issues did it leave unsettled?

"The Unresolved Crisis: America, 1850-1870" will explore these and other questions through history, literature, and art. Under the direction of leading scholars, participants will examine the role slavery played in the War and in the national identities constructed by the North and the South. They will study what the War meant for Americans in 1860 and what it meant by 1865. And they will consider how the War changed the way Northerners and Southerners thought of themselves and their nation.

Participants will assist National Humanities Center staff in identifying texts and defining lines of inquiry for a new addition to the Center's library of seminar toolboxes for teacher professional development and classroom instruction.

For additional information e-mail Richard R. Schramm, Vice President for Education Programs, at rschramm@ga.unc.edu or call, toll free, 1-877-271-7444. Applications must be postmarked no later than March 5, 2007. All applications should be sent to:

Summer Institutes for High School Teachers
National Humanities Center
7 Alexander Drive
P.O. Box 12256
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709