The document provides instructions for students to write three essays on topics related to the causes and early phases of the American Civil War. The essays should be 1-2 pages each, follow APA or MLA formatting, include bibliographies, and be submitted by Friday at 11:59 PM through the assignment dropbox or by email. Six potential essay topics are listed covering modernization and the conflict over slavery, abolitionism and the Underground Railroad, the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its consequences, military mobilization efforts of the North and South, the influence of emancipation, and the war goals of both sides.