John Morden is a third year PhD student studying the antebellum U.S. and Civil War era under Dr. Michael Woods. He is particularly interested in nineteenth-century U.S. political culture, with a focus on the politics of slavery, sectionalism and nationalism, and the international dimensions of the Civil War era. His MA research considers the role of conspiracy theories during the secession crisis in Virginia.

Research Interests: U.S. Civil War Era, slavery and emancipation, political history, nineteenth-century U.S. and the world