John Lloyd of California State Polytechnic University examines important documents in U.S. history, including the U.S. Constitution and documents related to abolitionism and nullification, in order to establish a context for the Civil War.

In this Cool Things podcast, curators at the Kansas Museum of History follow the story of a revolver owned by Albert Hazlett, one of John Brown's men during the raid at Harpers Ferry.

Loren Schweninger of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro describes the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, including their meeting in the White House following Lincoln's inaugural address.

Maurice Jackson discusses Anthony Benezet, the founder of the antislavery movement in America in the mid-1700s. Benezet believed the British ban on slavery should have been extended to the colonies, and worked to convince his Quaker brethren that slave-owning was not consistent with Christian doctrine.

John Lloyd of California State Polytechnic University looks at the political and ideological conflicts between the North and South that led up to the Civil War, including the extension of slavery into the territories and debate over the Fugitive Slave Law.

Michael Johnson of Johns Hopkins University discusses slavery from an educator's perspective, looking particularly at his own techniques for teaching the subject. He examines the topic from a broad view, establishing context for his later discussion of Frederick Douglass. This lecture was delivered as part of "America in the Civil War Era: A History Institute for Teachers," held May 17-18 at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI, sponsored by the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Wachman Center and by the Clausen Center for World Business, Carthage College and Adult Education, Carthage College.

Audio and video options are available.