History 150: American History Since 1865
Spring 2015
Section 01 2:00 - 3:20pm MW
Section 02 3:30 - 4:50pm MW
Popplewell Hall 105
Dr. Orion Teal
Phone: (816) 271-4346
Email: [email protected]
115H Popplewell
Office Hours: MW 10am-12pm;
TuTh 3:30-4:30pm
This course examines United States history, from the end of the Civil War to the present. We
will pay particular attention to the hotly contested idea of “freedom.” The struggle over the
meaning of freedom has taken many forms in our nation’s past: Former slaves asserted their
newfound rights as free people despite violent resistance; women repeatedly sought recognition
as equal partners in society; immigrants from all over the globe flocked to America in hope of a
better life yet struggled for inclusion; business people promoted the “free market”; trade union
leaders advocated for a living wage and “industrial democracy”; some grassroots activists called
on the government to protect civil rights and expand the welfare state, while others saw the
government’s dramatic growth over the 20th century as a threat to liberty. At times, these
different “freedoms” seemed almost incompatible. Indeed, as historian Eric Foner reminds us:
“Freedom is not a fixed, timeless category with a single unchanging definition…Over the course
of our history, American freedom has been both a reality and a mythic ideal—a living truth for
millions of Americans and a creul mockery for others.” (Foner, Give Me Liberty, xxiv)
Surveying American history with an eye to the ever-changing meaning of freedom will not only
help us to better understand the past, but also the poltics of the present.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Part of the General Studies Program at MWSU, this course will focus on building the following
skills:
1. Thinking critically and reasoning analytically
2. Writing and speaking clearly and effectively
3. Understanding common phenomenon in social environments as well as the methods by
which they are studied
4. Gaining a greater awareness of the present through an understanding of other cultures and
times
5. Understanding and appreciating moral values and ethical choices
6. Understanding and appreciating technological concepts and their influence on society
Students will also hone specific historical literacy skills, including:
• Identifying, explaining, and analyzing the major events of United States history, from the
Civil War to the present
• Evaluating multiple and competing points of view
• Interpreting primary source documents
• Constructing sound historical arguments with appropriate evidence
THEMATIC STANDARDS
For those students intending to teach History and the Social Sciences at the secondary level,
please be aware that the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) requires the promotion
of ten thematic standards that are designed especially to assist students who are preparing for
such a teaching career. These ten thematic standards are:
1. Culture and cultural diversity
2. Time, continuity, and change
3. People, places, and environments
4. Individual development and identity
5. Individuals, groups, and institutions
6. Power, authority, and governance
7. Production, distribution, and consumption
8. Science, technology, and society
9. Global connections
10. Civic ideals and practices
Each of these thematic standards will be integrated into the course. Students preparing for a
teaching career must save all tests, quizzes, and papers for their electronic portfolios.
ASSIGNMENTS
Reading – Most classes will require an average of 12-20 pages of reading from the textbook and
primary source reader. Be sure to set aside sufficient time to complete your reading before each
class; the textbook is dense and the selections from the reader are often written in an unfamiliar
style. You are required to bring your reader as well as printed copies of any additional texts
posted to Moodle to class.
Short Papers (3) –Three short papers built around primary source material, include:
1. Document analysis – Select a document from Chapters 15-17 of the Voices of Freedom
reader that does not appear on the syllabus. This short paper has several parts:
1. Read this document and take careful notes, looking up terms that you do not know.
2. Answer all the questions on the “How to Read a Primary Document” handout posted on
Moodle.
o It will help to research everything you can about the author. In some cases, you
may need to make educated guesses about authors’ background or the intended
audience.
o Your answers to these questions should be in complete sentences.
o Be sure to identify the document and author!
3. After you answer the questions on the handout, write a 3-6 sentence thesis statement
defending your answer to the following question: Does this define freedom in a way
consistent with the current meaning of the word? Or, is this definition unique to the time
period in which the document was written?
o Be sure to provide specific evidence (historical or contemporary) to back up in
your thesis.
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2. American Dream paper– The “American Dream” was a powerful symbol during the
twentieth century. The idea was perhaps most potent during the decades immediately following
World War II, when mass consumerism remade the American cultural and physical landscape in
profound ways. Using a set of specific advertisements from the 1940-50s, your textbook, and
current advertisements as evidence, write a 250-300 word essay addressing the following
questions:
a) What is the “American Dream”? How does the American Dream relate to the history of
freedom in the United States?
b) How was the American Dream depicted in advertisements during the postwar era? Was
this depiction based in myth or reality?
c) Is the American Dream still used in advertisements today? If so, has the dream changed
or remained largely the same? If not, why do you think it is no longer used to sell
products?
Be sure that your paper includes a thesis statement and specific evidence. Cite your sources!
3. “First Rough Draft of History” paper – It is often said that journalism is the “first rough
draft of history.” No one knows precisely who coined this phrase, but there is a truth to it. US
historians often rely on newspaper coverage to piece together events in the past. In this paper,
you will be doing something different: assessing what journalists can learn from history. Using
the library database “Newspaper Source” locate at least 5-6 newspaper articles on a current
political or social issue that interests you. Read through the articles and take careful notes. Select
the article that provides the best background on your issue. Then locate the section of the
textbook that you feel best illuminates the issues raised in the article. Write a short 250-300 word
essay addressing the following questions:
a) Does the author of your article use historical background information effectively? If so,
what did they get right? If not, what did they get wrong or miss?
b) What historical information from our textbook would you add to the article? Why?
Be sure to list your 5-6 articles at the end of your paper. Cite your sources!
Quizzes (6) – Six short Moodle quizzes will test knowledge and concepts from the textbook
readings. You will have 20 minutes to complete the question(s). The Moodle testing module will
open 24 hours before class and close 30 minutes before class begins.
Exams (3) – Three longer exams will include a variety of multiple choice, short answer, and
document-based essay responses.
GRADING
Your grade in the course will be based on the following:
Points
20
60
30
90
200
Participation
Short papers (3)
Quizzes (6)
Exams (3)
3
Percent
10%
30%
15%
45%
100%
Final grades will be assigned according to the following scale:
Grade
A
B
C
D
F
Points
179-200
159-178
139-158
119-138
0-118
COURSE POLICIES
Participation
Students are expected to attend each class, take detailed notes, turn in assignments on time, and
participate in discussions and group assignments. Your participation grade is comprised of
engagement with the readings, respectful discussion of the material, and active involvement in
classroom activities.
Disruptive behavior will severely affect your participation grade. Such behavior includes
repeated tardiness, cell phone use, leaving class early, and side conversations during lecture. This
behavior is distracting and disrespectful to your fellow students and will not be tolerated. If you
persist in disruptive behavior, you will be asked to leave the class and receive an unexcused
absence.
Attendance
Because this course includes a great deal of interactive learning, missing class severely affects
your grade. Absences may be excused only in the following circumstances: illness or other
extraordinary personal circumstance; religious observance; or varsity athletic participation.
These absences must be documented.
Because life beyond the classroom can and does intervene, each student is allowed two
unexcused absences in this course, no questions asked. After this point, however, unexcused
absences will affect your final grade in the course as follows:
3 unexcused absences: 2% off final grade
4 unexcused absences: 5% off final grade
5 unexcused absences: 10% off final grade
6 unexcused absences: 15% off final grade
7 or more unexcused absences: automatic “F” in course
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Late work
Each student may turn in one written assignment late. However, I must be notified by email
before the assignment is due and a half letter grade will be deducted for each day that the
assignment is late. No other late work will be accepted.
Moodle quizzes cannot be made up once the module closes. Students who arrive late on a
scheduled exam day will not be allowed to complete the exam.
Departmental make-up exam policy
The Department of History and Geography has established the following policy for making up
exams:
1.
Provide two days for make-up exams each semester. The first day will occur prior to midterm grades. The second day will occur prior to final exams.
2.
Provide make-up exams for daytime students and evening students on the same day (one
session during the afternoon and one session during the evening). One or two classrooms
will be reserved for specific exam times. Each of the classrooms will be proctored by
departmental faculty on a rotating basis.
3.
At the discretion of the professor, each student will be allowed to take only one make-up
per class per semester. This includes major exams and book reviews only. All other
missed assignments will receive a failing grade. The professor still retains the prerogative
to deny make-ups if the student does not provide a valid reason for missing the exam. A
make-up is not a right. It is a privilege granted by the professor.
4.
If a student misses a final exam, she/he will receive a “zero" for that exam or a course
grade of “Incomplete,” depending on the discretion of the professor.
5.
All disputes concerning this policy will be brought to the chair of the department for a
final decision.
Grade appeal process
Students are responsible for meeting the standards for academic performance established for
each course in which they are enrolled. The establishment of the criteria for grades and the
evaluation of student academic performance are the responsibilities of the instructor delegated by
this University. The grade appeal procedure is available for the review of allegedly capricious
grading or clerical error by the instructor and not for the purpose of evaluating the student’s
academic excellence in any particular course.
Academic dishonesty
The University and I take plagiarism very seriously. As stated in the student handbook:
“Plagiarism is a specific kind of academic dishonesty in which you take another’s ideas or words
and claim them as your own. When you draw on someone else’s work, you must indicate the
source of that material, whether you are repeating another’s words, argument or thought. Even if
you paraphrase another’s work and are not using the exact wording, you are still required to
indicate the source of the material. This material must be clearly identified with appropriate
citations. If you do not do that, you have plagiarized those materials. Any time you copy and
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paste any writing that is not your own for an assignment, you must use quotation marks and give
the source of that material. If you cut and paste without noting what you have done, you will be
guilty of plagiarism. Even if the writing is your own, if it has been used for a previous
assignment that should be indicated.” (MWSU Student Handbook, p.11)
Students who plagiarize will receive a zero on the assignment for the first offense. Second
offenses of plagiarism are grounds for an automatic “F” in the course.
The consequences are severe because academic dishonesty is a serious offense. Please review
this helpful guide on the library website: http://libguides.missouriwestern.edu/plag2
Disability accommodations
Students seeking accommodations must first provide documentation of needed accommodations
to the Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) located in Eder Hall, Suite 203. Once
accommodations have been approved by the ARC, students are responsible for notifying their
instructors of those accommodations. This should be done within the first two weeks of
classes. Accommodations are not retroactive.
Classroom culture
It is crucial that the classroom be a civil space for free discussion. Demeaning or hateful speech
violates University policy and will not be tolerated. If at any point you become uncomfortable
with the subject matter or how we are approaching the material, please speak up, or, if you
prefer, contact me privately.
Technology in the classroom
While you may use a laptop or tablet to take notes in the class, if your use of any device becomes
a distraction to others, I reserve the right to prohibit its use in class.
Cell phones must be turned off and put away once class begins. Use of cell phones once class
begins is prohibited with one exception: if you anticipate that you may need to take an
emergency call. If this is the case, you must let me know before class begins and quietly exit the
classroom to take the call.
REQUIRED BOOKS
Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: An American History, Vol II Brief Fourth Edition (W.W. Norton
Publishing, 2014) ISBN 9780393920345
Eric Foner, Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History, Vol II Fourth Edition (W.W. Norton
Publishing, 2013) ISBN 9780393922929
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SCHEDULE
Week /
Topic
Navigating
New
Freedoms
Reconstruction: Promise
and Failure
The Gilded
Age
Date
M
1/12
W
1/14
M
1/19
W
1/21
M
1/26
W
1/28
Freedom’s
Boundaries
at Home and
Abroad
M
2/2
The
Progressive
Era
M
2/9
W
2/11
M
2/16
W
2/18
World War I
and Civil
Liberties
The Roaring
Twenties
and the
Great
Depression
The New
Deal
W
2/4
M
2/23
W
2/25
M
3/2
W
3/4
World War II
M
3/16
W
3/18
Reading
Assignment
due
Introduction
Give Me Liberty, 442-460
VOF, A Sharecropping Contract (1866)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - No Class
Give Me Liberty, 461-473
VOF, Robert B. Elliott on Civil Rights (1874)
Give Me Liberty, 476-491
VOF, Frederick Douglass, “The Composite Nation” (1869)
Give Me Liberty, 494-506
VOF, Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth (1889)
VOF, Ira Seward, “Second Declaration of Independence” (1879)
Give Me Liberty, 509-523
VOF, The Populist Platform (1892)
VOF, John Marshall Harlan, Dissent in Plessy (1896)
Give Me Liberty, 529-541, 575-580
VOF, Rudyard Kipling, “White Man’s Burden” (1899)
VOF, Emilio Aguinaldo on American Imperialism (1899)
Give Me Liberty, 544-565
VOF, John Ryan, “A Living Wage” (1912)
Give Me Liberty, 566-572, 580-587
VOF, Carrie Chapman Catt, Address on Women’s Suffrage (1917)
President’s Day Holiday – No Class
Quiz 1
Document
Analysis Paper
Quiz 2
Exam I
Give Me Liberty, 587-606
VOF, Woodrow Wilson, A World “Safe for Democracy” (1917)
VOF, A Critique of the Versailles Peace Conference (1919)
Give Me Liberty, 619-631
VOF, Congress Debates Immigration (1921)
Give Me Liberty, 609-618, 631-637
Quiz 3
Give Me Liberty, 640-652
VOF, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Speech to the Democratic National
Convention (1936)
VOF, Herbert Hoover on the New Deal and Liberty (1936)
Give Me Liberty, 652-670
***Spring Break 3/8-3/15 – No Class***
Give Me Liberty, 674-687
VOF, Franklin D. Roosevelt on the Four Freedoms (1941)
Give Me Liberty, 687-705
VOF, Henry R. Luce, The American Century (1941)
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Quiz 4
The Cold
War
M
3/23
W
3/25
M
3/30
The
American
Dream
W
4/1
The Sixties
The Triumph
of
Conservatism
M
4/6
W
4/8
M
4/13
W
4/15
Globalization
and its
Discontents
M
4/20
W
4/22
The War on
Terror
M
4/27
Give Me Liberty, 708-720
VOF, Walter Lippmann, A Critique of Containment (1947)
Give Me Liberty, 720-734
VOF, Joseph McCarthy on the Attack (1950)
Give Me Liberty, 737-754
VOF, Will Herberg, The American Way of Life (1955)
VOF, Richard M. Nixon, “What Freedom Means to Us” (1959)
Give Me Liberty, 754-766
VOF, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)
VOF, The Southern Manifesto (1956)
Give Me Liberty, 769-782
Give Me Liberty, 782-804
VOF, Paul Potter on the Antiwar Movement (1965)
Give Me Liberty, 807-823
Justice Department Memo Considering Indictment of Nixon
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/watergateconstitution/#documents
VOF, Brochure on the Equal Rights Amendment (1970s)
Give Me Liberty, 823-838
VOF, Phyllis Schlafly, “The Fraud of the Equal Rights
Amendment” (1972)
VOF, Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address (1981)
Give Me Liberty, 841-857
VOF, Bill Clinton, Speech on Signing of NAFTA (1993)
Give Me Liberty, 857-872
Exam II
American
Dream paper
Quiz 5
Quiz 6
“First rough
draft of
history” paper
Give Me Liberty, 875-895
VOF, Robert Byrd on the War in Iraq (2003)
***Exam III: Sec 01 (2:00-3:20 pm) - Wednesday, April 29, 2:00-3:50pm
Sec 02 (3:30-4:50pm) - Friday, May 1, 2:00-3:50pm
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