US HISTORY I

AMST 201—Spring 2005

Colin S. Cavell, Ph.D. Course Room No.: S17-229

Class SMW: 9:00-9:50 INTERNET: cscpo@arts.uob.bh

Office Hours: By appointment only Office No.: S17-263

VOICE: 17438775 (W) 17729091 (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unexcused absences exceed 25% of the total number of lectures of the course in this semester, you will be automatically withdrawn from the course and be given a grade of (WF) which will be counted towards your GPA.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). Times New Roman font is strongly recommended; however, if you use an alternative style, make sure your font does not resemble italic or bold text. Also, Comic Sans MS font is not allowed.

Required Texts:

Nash, Gary B. & Julie Roy Jeffrey, et al. 2001. The American People: Creating A Nation and A Society. SVE. Sixth Edition. New York, NY: Longman Publishers USA.

The Longman American History Atlas. 1999. New York, NY: Longman Publishers USA.

InfoUSA: Information USA [CD-ROM]. 2002. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, Office of International Information Programs. [Supplied by professor.]

Feb. 21: Introduction to U.S. History: What Is History? What Is Its Utility? Why Study U.S. History?

PART ONE: A COLONIZING PEOPLE, 1492-1776

Feb. 23: Ancient America and Africa

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 1 “The Peoples of America Before Columbus,” “Recovering the Past: Archaeological Artifacts”

Feb. 26: Ancient America and Africa

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 1 “Africa on the Eve of Contact,” “Europe on the Eve of Invading the Americas,” “Conclusion: The Approach of a New Global Age”

Feb. 28: Europeans and Africans Reach the Americas

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 2 “Breaching the Atlantic,” “The Spanish Conquest of America,” “Analyzing History: The Columbian Exchange,” “England Looks West”

Mar. 2: Europeans and Africans Reach the Americas

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 2 “Recovering the Past: Illustrated Travel Accounts,” “African Bondage,” “Conclusion: Converging Worlds”

Mar. 5: Colonizing a Continent in the Seventeenth Century

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 3 “The Chesapeake Tobacco Coast,” “Recovering the Past: Houses,” “Analyzing History: The Atlantic Slave Trade,” “Massachusetts and Its Offspring”

Mar. 7: Colonizing a Continent in the Seventeenth Century

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 3 “From the St. Lawrence to the Hudson,” “Proprietary Carolina: A Restoration Reward,” “The Quakers’ Peaceable Kingdom,” “New Spain’s Northern Frontier,” “An Era of Instability,” “Conclusion: The Achievement of New Societies”

Mar. 9: [Last day for dropping courses]

Mar. 9: The Maturing of Colonial Society

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 4 “The North: A Land of Family Farms,” “The Plantation South,” “Contending for a Continent,” “The Urban World of Commerce and Ideas”

Mar. 12: The Maturing of Colonial Society

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 4 “Recovering the Past: Household Inventories,” “The Great Awakening,” “Political Life,” “Conclusion: America in 1750”

Mar. 12—Apr. 27: [End of withdrawal period with a “W”]

Mar. 14: The Strains of Empire

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 5 “The Climatic Seven Years’ War,” “The Crisis with England”

Mar. 16: 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,” “Conclusion: On the Brink of Revolution”

PART TWO: A REVOLUTIONARY PEOPLE, 1775-1828

Mar. 19: A People in Revolution

Film: Independence/Revolution, Episodes 1 & 2, VHS (60 minutes)

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 6 “Bursting the Colonial Bonds,” “The War for American Independence,” “The Experience of War”

Mar. 21: A People in Revolution

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 6 “Recovering the Past: Military Muster Rolls,” “The Ferment of Revolutionary Politics,” “Conclusion: The Crucible of Revolution”

Mar. 23: Consolidating the Revolution

Film: Liberty for All?/Wake Up, America, Episode 3, Part I, VHS (30 minutes)

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 7 “Struggling with the Peacetime Agenda,” “Sources of Political Conflict,” “Political Tumult in the States”

Mar. 26: Consolidating the Revolution

Film: Liberty for All?/Wake Up, America, Episode 4, Part II, VHS (30 minutes)

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 7 “Toward a New National Government,” “Recovering the Past: Patriotic Paintings,” “Conclusion: Completing the Revolution”

Mar. 28: Creating a Nation

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 8 “Launching the National Republic,” “The Republic in a Threatening World,” “Recovering the Past: Foreign Travel Journals,” “The Political Crisis Deepens,” “Restoring American Liberty”

Mar. 30: 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”

Apr. 2: Society and Politics in the Early Republic

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 9 “A Nation of Regions,” “Analyzing History: The Movement of White and Black Population into Trans-Appalachia, 1790-1830,” “Recovering the Past: Census Returns”

Apr. 4: Society and Politics in the Early Republic

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 9 “Indian-White Relations in the Early Republic,” “Perfecting a Democratic Society,” “The End of Neo-Colonialism”

Apr. 6: Society and Politics in the Early Republic

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 9 “Knitting the Nation Together,” “Politics in Transition,” “Conclusion: The Passing of an Era”

PART THREE: A EXPANDING PEOPLE, 1820-1877

Apr. 9: Economic Transformations in the Northeast and the Old Northwest

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 10 “Economic Growth,” “Early Manufacturing”

Apr. 11: Economic Transformations in the Northeast and the Old Northwest

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 10 “A New England Textile Town,” “Urban Life”

Apr. 13: Midterm Exam

Apr. 16-20: Mid-semester break [No classes]

Apr. 21: Prophet's birthday—Holiday [No classes]

Apr. 23: Economic Transformations in the Northeast and the Old Northwest

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 10 “Recovering the Past: Family Paintings,” “Rural Communities,” “Conclusion: The Character of Progress”

Apr. 25: Slavery and the Old South

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 11 “Building a Diverse Cotton Kingdom,” “Analyzing History: Slavery Expands with the Cotton Boom”

Apr. 27: Slavery and the Old South

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 11 “Morning: Master and Mistress in the Big House,” “Noon: Slaves in House and Fields,” “Night: Slaves in Their Quarters”

Apr. 30: Slavery and the Old South

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 11 “Recovering the Past: Folktales,” “Resistance and Freedom,” “Conclusion: Douglass’s Dream of Freedom”

May 1: Labor Day Holiday [No classes]

May 2: Shaping America in the Antebellum Age

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 12 “Religious Revival and Reform Philosophy,” “The Political Response to Change,” “Perfectionist Reform and Utopianism”

May 4: Shaping America in the Antebellum Age

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 12 “Reforming Society,” “Abolitionism and the Women’s Rights Movement,” “Recovering the Past: Slave Narratives,” “Conclusion: Perfecting America”

May 7: Moving West

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 13 “Probing the Trans-Mississippi West,” “Winning the Trans-Mississippi West,” “Going West and East,” “Recovering the Past: Personal Diaries”

May 9: Moving West

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 13 “Living in the West,” “Cultures in Conflict,” “Conclusion: Fruits of Manifest Destiny”

May 11: The Union in Peril

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 14 “Slavery in the Territories,” “Recovering the Past: Senate Speeches,” “Political Disintegration”

May 14: The Union in Peril

Film: The Civil War: The Cause, Episode One—1861, VHS (50 minutes/99 total)

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 14 “Kansas and the Two Cultures,” “Polarization and the Road to War”

May 16: 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’”

May 18: The Union Severed

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 15 “Organizing for War,” “Clashing on the Battlefield, 1861-1862”

May 21: The Union Severed

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 15 “The Tide Turns, 1863-1865,” “Changes Wrought by War”

May 23: The Union Severed

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 15 “Recovering the Past: Photography,” “Conclusion: An Uncertain Future”

May 25: The Union Reconstructed

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 16 “The Bittersweet Aftermath of War,” “National Reconstruction Politics”

May 28: The Union Reconstructed [Research Papers Due]

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 16 “The Lives of Freedpeople,” “Reconstruction in the Southern States”

May 30: The Union Reconstructed

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 16 “Recovering the Past: Novels”

June 1: The Union Reconstructed [Last Day for In-Class Presentations]

Readings: Nash, et al., Ch. 16 “Conclusion: A Mixed Legacy”

June 4: Final Remarks & Unfinished Business

June 6: Last day of class; Review

June 11, 2005: Final Exam 11:30-13:30

June 23, 2005: Last day for submitting grades