US HISTORY I: FROM THE COLONIAL PERIOD TO 1877
AMST 201—Fall 2008
Colin S. Cavell, Ph.D. Course
Room No.: S17-229
Class UTH:
11:00-11:50 [Ramadhan—10:50-11:30] INTERNET: cscpo@arts.uob.bh
Office Hours: By appointment only Office No.: S17-263
VOICE: 17438775 (W) 39631156 (H)
Survey
of American history from the early American experience to the end of the Era of
Reconstruction, with an overview of political institutions, constitutional development,
the revolution, the sectional crisis, the Civil War, race relations, economic
development, foreign policy, and intellectual and cultural ideas.
Grading
Policy: 20% for Attendance*; 20% for the Class
Presentation; 20% for the Midterm Exam; 20% for the Research Paper; and 20% for
the Final Exam. A Guidelines sheet will be distributed outlining the
requirements for your Class Presentation and for your Research Paper.
Attendance
Policy*: Attendance in class is mandatory. It is the student’s responsibility to sign
the attendance sheet each day of class; failure to sign the attendance
sheet—even if in attendance—will be counted as an absence. If your unexcused absences exceed 25% of the
total number of lectures of the course in this semester, you will be
automatically withdrawn from the course and be given a grade of (WF) which will
be counted towards your GPA. As well,
you are expected to follow the syllabus and accordingly be prepared for each
day's class. This means that you must
read the pre-assigned readings before class so that you will be prepared to
discuss and debate in class the subject matter scheduled for that day and
answer questions related to the issues being covered. NOTE:
TURN OFF all cell phones during class.
* Absence from class may be made up by preparing a two-page, typed (i.e. using maximum 12 point font size and maximum
double-spaced text with one-inch margin on all sides), summary on the missed material scheduled to be covered the
day(s) of your absence. The summary must
be in your own words and must not be copied material from the text(s),
the internet, or any other source(s). All
summaries must be turned in to me by the last day of classes if you want
credit for your absences.
Required Texts:
Nash,
Gary B. & Julie Roy Jeffrey, et al.
2006. The American
People: Creating A Nation and A
Society. SVE. Seventh Edition.
Combined Volume. New York, NY: Prentice Hall.
[ISBN-10: 0321337654 ISBN-13:
9780321337658]
InfoUSA: Information USA [CD-ROM].
2007-2008. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International
Information Programs. [Supplied by
professor.]
Sept. 14: Introduction to U.S. History: What
Is History? What Is Its Utility? Why Study U.S. History? [Ramadhan—10:50-11:30]
PART ONE:
A COLONIZING PEOPLE, 1492-1776
Sept. 16: Ancient America and Africa [Ramadhan—10:50-11:30]
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 1 “American Stories: Four Women’s Lives Highlight the Convergence
of Three Continents,” “The Peoples of
America Before Columbus,” “Recovering the Past:
Archaeological Artifacts”
Sept. 18: [Last day for dropping courses]
Sept. 18: Ancient America and Africa [Ramadhan—10:50-11:30]
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 1 “American Voices: The Legend of the Great League of the Iroquois,” “Africa on the Eve of
Contact,” “Europe on the Eve of Invading the Americas,” “American
Voices: Gomes Eannes de Zurara, The
Arrival of a Slave Ship at Lagos, Portugal,” “Conclusion:
The Approach of a New Global Age”
Sept. 21: Europeans and Africans Reach the Americas [Ramadhan—10:50-11:30]
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 2 “American
Stories: Old World Sojourners Mingle with New
World Inhabitants,” “Breaching the Atlantic,” “American Voices: Christopher
Columbus, The Encounter with the Taíno,” “The Spanish Conquest of America,” “American Voices:
Titu Cusi Yupanqui, The Inca Attempt to Repulse the Spanish at Cuzco,” “Analyzing History:
The Columbian Exchange,” “England Looks West”
Sept. 23: Europeans and Africans Reach the Americas [Ramadhan—10:50-11:30]
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 2 “African
Bondage,” “Recovering the Past:
Illustrated Travel Accounts,” “Conclusion: Converging Worlds”
Sept. 25: Colonizing a Continent in the Seventeenth
Century [Ramadhan—10:50-11:30]
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 3 “American
Stories: An African on the Virginia
Frontier,” “The Chesapeake Tobacco Coast,” “Recovering the Past: Houses,” “Analyzing History: The Atlantic Slave Trade,” “Massachusetts and Its Offspring”
Sept. 28-Nov. 20: Withdrawal Period with (W)
Sept. 28: Colonizing a Continent in the Seventeenth
Century [Ramadhan—10:50-11:30]
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 3 “How Others See Us: John Josselyn, A Description of New
Englanders,” “From the St. Lawrence to
the Hudson,” “Proprietary Carolina: A
Restoration Reward,” “The Quakers’ Peaceable Kingdom,” “American Voices: William Penn, To the Delaware Chiefs,” “New
Spain’s Northern Frontier,” “An Era of Instability,” “Conclusion: The Achievement of New Societies”
Sept. 30-Oct.
1-3: Eid Al-Fitr holidays 1429—[no classes]
Oct. 5: The Maturing of
Colonial Society
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 4 “American Stories: A Struggling Farmer’s Wife Finds True
Religious Commitment,” “The North: A Land of Family Farms,” “The Plantation
South,” “American Voices: Charles Woodmason, A Congregation in the
Southern Backcountry,” “Contending for a Continent,” “American Voices: Susanna Johnson, Adoption into a Native
American Tribe,” “The Urban World of Commerce and Ideas”
Oct. 7: The Maturing of Colonial Society
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 4 “Recovering
the Past: Household Inventories,” “How
Others See Us: Andrew Burnaby, On the
Pennsylvanians,” “The Great Awakening,” “Political Life,” “Conclusion: America in 1750”
Oct. 9: The Strains of Empire
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 5 “American
Stories: A Shoemaker Leads a Boston Mob,” “The
Climatic Seven Years’ War,” “The Crisis with England”
Oct. 12: The Strains of Empire
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 5 “The Ideology
of Revolutionary Republicanism,” “The Turmoil of a Rebellious People,”
“Recovering the Past: Poetry,” “American
Voices: A Petition from Massachusetts Blacks to Governor Thomas Gage,” “American
Voices: George Sims, From ‘An Address to
the People of Granville County’,” “Conclusion:
On the Brink of Revolution”
PART TWO:
A REVOLUTIONARY PEOPLE, 1775-1828
Oct. 14: A People in Revolution
Film:
Independence/Revolution,
Episodes 1 & 2, VHS (60 minutes)
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 6 “American Stories:
Struggling for Independence,” “Bursting the
Colonial Bonds,” “The War for American Independence,” “The Experience of War”
Oct. 16: A People in Revolution
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 6 “Recovering
the Past: Military Muster Rolls,”
“American Voices: Anna Rawle, From Her
Diary, October 25, 1781,” “The
Ferment of Revolutionary Politics,” “American Voices: Timothy Dwight, ‘Columbia, Columbia,
to Glory Arise’,” “Conclusion: The
Crucible of Revolution”
Oct. 19: Consolidating the Revolution
Film:
Liberty for All?/Wake Up, America, Episode 3, Part I, VHS (30 minutes)
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 7 “American
Stories: Extending the Revolution,” “Struggling with the Peacetime Agenda,” “How
Others See Us: A View of Postwar America,” “Sources of Political Conflict,” “American
Voices: Philadelphia Jews Seek Equality Before the Law, 1783,” “Political
Tumult in the States”
Oct. 21: Consolidating the Revolution
Film:
Liberty for All?/Wake Up, America, Episode 4, Part II, VHS (30
minutes)
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 7 “American
Voices: Massachusetts Regulators Appeal to the People,” “Toward a New National Government,”
“Recovering the Past: Patriotic
Paintings,” “Conclusion: Completing the
Revolution”
Oct. 23: Creating a Nation
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 8 “American Stories: Questioning Authorities,” “Launching the National Republic,” “The Republic in a Threatening World,” “Recovering
the Past: Foreign Travel Journals,”
“American Voices: A Member of the Boston African Society, Celebrating the End of the African Slave
Trade,” “The Political Crisis Deepens,” “American Voices: Samuel Miller, From Retrospect of the
Eighteenth Century,” “Restoring American Liberty”
Oct. 26: Creating a Nation
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 8 “Building an
Agrarian Nation,” “A Foreign Policy for the New Nation,” “Conclusion: A Period of Trial and Transition”
Oct. 28: Society and Politics in the Early Republic
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 9 “American
Stories: Creating New Lives,” “A Nation of Regions,” “How Others See
Us: Frances Trollope, Domestic
Manners of the Americans,” “Indian-White Relations in the Early Republic,”
“Recovering the Past: Census Returns,”
Oct. 30: Society and Politics in the Early Republic
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 9 “Perfecting a
Democratic Society,” “American Voices:
Abraham Camp Longs for True Freedom,” “The End of Neo-Colonialism,” “Knitting
the Nation Together,” “American Voices:
On First Viewing the Clermont,” “Politics in Transition,”
“Conclusion: The Passing of an Era”
PART THREE:
AN EXPANDING PEOPLE, 1820-1877
Nov. 2: Economic Transformations in the Northeast and
the Old Northwest
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 10 “American Stories: Discovering Success in the Midst of Financial
Ruin,” “Economic Growth,” “How Others
See Us: Alexis de Tocqueville, An
Analysis of the Lure of Commerce and Manufacturing,” “American Voices: Julia Hieronymus, Trials of a Teacher,”
“Early Manufacturing”
Nov. 4: Economic Transformations in the Northeast and
the Old Northwest
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 10 “A New England Textile Town,” “Urban Life,” “Recovering the Past: Family Paintings,” “Rural Communities,”
“Conclusion: The Character of Progress”
Nov. 6: Midterm Exam
Nov. 9-13: Mid-Semester
break holiday—[no classes]
Nov. 16: Economic Transformations in the Northeast and
the Old Northwest
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 11 “American
Stories: A Young Slave Discovers the
Path to Freedom,” “Building a Diverse Cotton Kingdom,” “Analyzing History:
Slavery Expands with the Cotton Boom”
Nov. 18: Slavery and the Old South
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 11 “Morning: Master and Mistress in the Big House,”
“American Voices: George Fitzhugh, A
Southern White Justification of Slavery”
Nov. 20: Slavery and the Old South
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 11 “Noon: Slaves in
House and Fields,” “American Voices:
Harriet Jacobs, A Female Slave Sasses Her Abusive Master,” “Night: Slaves in Their Quarters”
Nov. 23: Slavery and the Old South
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 11 “Recovering the Past: Folktales,” “Resistance and Freedom,” “How
Others See Us: Frederick Douglass, ‘What
to the Slave Is the 4th of July?’,” “Conclusion: Douglass’s Dream of Freedom”
Nov. 25: Shaping America in the Antebellum Age
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 12 “American Stories: Experiencing the Costs of a Commitment,” “Religious Revival and Reform Philosophy,”
“The Political Response to Change,” “American Voices: Speckled Snake, A Native American Reply to Jackson’s Removal Policy”
Nov. 27: Shaping America in the Antebellum Age
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 12 “Perfectionist Reform and
Utopianism,” “Reforming Society,” “Abolitionism and the Women’s Rights
Movement,” “Recovering the Past: Slave
Narratives,” “American Voices: Martha
Wright’s New York Family Helps a Fugitive Slave,” “Conclusion: Perfecting America”
Nov. 30: Moving West
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 13 “American Stories: The Surprises of a Missionary Life,” “Probing the Trans-Mississippi West,”
“Winning the Trans-Mississippi West,” “How Others See Us: A French Newspaper Comments on President
Polk’s Oregon Policy,” “Going West and East,” “Recovering the Past: Personal Diaries”
Dec. 2: Moving West
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 13 “Living in
the West,” “American Voices: Mollie
Dorsey Sanford, On Arriving in Denver, June 1860,” “Cultures in Conflict,” “American
Voices: Four Bears, From His Last
Speech,” “Conclusion: Fruits of Manifest
Destiny”
Dec. 4: The Union in Peril
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 14 “American
Stories: Four Men Respond to the Union
in Peril,” “Slavery in the Territories,”
“Recovering the Past: Senate Speeches,”
“American Voices: Henry David Thoreau,
Essay on ‘Civil Disobedience’, 1849,” “Political Disintegration”
Dec. 7: Arafh holiday—[no classes]
Dec. 8-10: Eid Al-Adha holidays 1429—[no classes]
Dec. 11: The Union in Peril
Film:
The
Civil War: The Cause, Episode One—1861,
VHS (50 minutes/99 total)
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 14 “American
Voices: Henry Villard, A German
Immigrant Discovers American Politics,”
“Kansas and the Two Cultures,” “Polarization and the Road to
War”
Dec. 14: The Union in Peril
Film:
The
Civil War: The Cause, Episode One—1861,
VHS (49 minutes)
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 14 “The Divided
House Falls,” “Conclusion: The
‘Irrepressible Conflict’”
Dec. 16-17: National Day of Bahrain holidays—[no classes]
Dec. 18: The Union Severed
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 15 “American
Stories: A War That Touched Lives,” “Organizing for War,” “How Others See
Us: ‘The American Difficulty,’ From Punch,
1861,” “Clashing on the Battlefield, 1861-1862”
Dec. 21: The Union Severed
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 15 “American
Voices: Isaac Watts, A Description of Camp Life with the Vermont Heavy Artillery,”
“The Tide Turns, 1863-1865,” “American Voices: Susie King Taylor, From Reminiscences of
My Life in Camp,” “Changes Wrought by War”
Dec. 23: The Union
Severed [Research Papers Due]
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 15 “Recovering
the Past: Photography,”
“Conclusion: An Uncertain Future”
Dec. 25: The Union
Reconstructed [Last Day for In-Class
Presentations]
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 16 “American
Stories: Blacks and Whites Redefine
Their Dreams and Relationships,” “The
Bittersweet Aftermath of War”
Dec. 28: The Union Reconstructed
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 16 “American Voices: Calvin Holly, A Black Union Soldier’s Letter
Protesting Conditions After the War”
Dec. 29: Al-Hijra new year
holiday—[no classes]
Dec. 30: The Union Reconstructed
Readings: Nash, et al.,
Ch. 16 “American Voices: James A. Payne, A Southern White Man’s Letter
Protesting Conditions After the War”
Jan. 1, 2009: New Year’s
holiday—[no classes]
Jan. 4, 2009: The Union Reconstructed
Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 16 “National
Reconstruction Politics,” “The Lives of Freedpeople,” “Reconstruction in the
Southern States” “Recovering the Past:
Novels,” “Conclusion: A Mixed Legacy”
Jan. 5, 2009: Last day of classes; Review
Jan. 7-8, 2009: Ashura Holiday
Jan. 17,
2009: Final Exam
11:30-13:30
Jan. 25, 2009: Last day for submitting first semester’s
grades
Jan. 25-Feb. 21, 2009: Inter-semester Break [Holidays]