UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA
SCHOOL OF AMERICAN STUDIES
AUTUMN SEMESTER 2013
AMSF4004A: Containing Multitudes: American History 1
Course Convenor:
Emma Long ([email protected])
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Aims and Objectives
This is an introductory survey module that will provide students with knowledge of the
broad outlines of American history to the end of the nineteenth century. It will follow a
chronological sequence with weekly topics on the major themes and events in U.S. history
from colonial settlement to the closing of the frontier. Students will attend a weekly lecture
during which they will take personal notes, before participating in a seminar in which they
will debate the key issues. They will complete the required readings from the course
textbooks (see below) before the seminar meeting, including primary documents and
articles. Students will discuss these readings and the key issues with the rest of the group.
Textbooks
The required books for this module are:
Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, Edward J. Blum and Jon Gjerde (Eds.), Major Problems in
American History Volume I: To 1877 (Boston: Wadsworth Cengage, 2012) [noted in the rest
of the syllabus as Major Problems I].
Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! An American History [Seagull Third Ed] (New York: W.W.Norton,
2011) [noted in the rest of the syllabus as Foner].
Students can purchase the books from the campus bookstore.
Students taking both AMSF4004A (Containing Multitudes 1) and AMSF4002B (Containing
Multitudes 2) are recommended to purchase both volumes of Major Problems in American
History as they are required reading in each module. Both volumes are available to buy as a
bundle, with special access to web resources, at the campus bookstore.
There are numerous survey textbooks on American history that students may find of use.
These are not compulsory to buy and offer solid chronological histories that students are
encouraged to consult. Copies can be found in the library or as e-books. Some of the best
surveys include:
Paul S. Boyer, American History: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2012)
David Reynolds, America, Empire of Liberty: A New History (London: Allen Lane, 2009)
Mary Beth Norton et al. (eds.), A People and a Nation: A Brief History of the United States
[9th Ed] (Boston: Wadsworth Cengate, 2012)
James Oakes et al. (eds.), Of the People: A History of the United States (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2011)
George Tindal and David Shi, America: A Narrative History (New York and London: W.W.
Norton & Co., Brief 9th Ed., 2013)
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Learning Outcomes
By the end of the semester students will have gained:
 a broad knowledge of American history from colonial settlement to the end of the
nineteenth century;
 an awareness of different interpretations and approaches to the study of this era;
 experience in working with scholarly literature, including monographs and articles;
 practice in analysing primary texts;
 familiarity with student-directed small group discussions;
 experience participating in a traditional UEA seminar;
 experience in oral presentations and essay-writing.
Lectures and Seminars
Students are reminded that they should attend both the weekly lecture and the seminar.
Lectures are an important part of the learning process of this module. They introduce
seminar topics and provide the opportunity to hear different points of view on key issues
from different members of staff. Your learning experience will be enhanced by regular
attendance at lectures.
A note on lecture notes: copies of the PowerPoint slides from all lectures will be added to
Blackboard after the relevant lecture each week. No additional lecture notes will be
provided: the skills of critical listening and note taking are important to develop during your
degree. Arrangements can be made for students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SpLD)
on an individual basis: please speak to your seminar leader or to Emma Long, the course
convenor.
The seminars will NOT replicate and repeat material from the lecture. The main purpose of
the seminar is to encourage discussion of the issues raised by the lectures and/or by the
readings for each week. You are responsible for preparing thoroughly and participating fully
in each seminar. You can do this by ensuring you complete the essential reading for each
week (details below) and coming to the seminar with questions, ideas, and views. Take the
time to think about what you read. You will often be asked for your interpretation or what
you think of the argument made: think about this in advance. Seminars will feature weekly
student presentations, roundtable discussion, and structured group work. If, for any reason,
you find that you have difficulty joining in discussion, immediately talk to your tutor during
office hours.
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Assessment
The module is assessed as follows:
1. Primary source analysis (500-750 words) – due 3pm, Monday 14 October 2013
(Week 4) – 10%
2. Article review (500-750 words) – due 3pm, Monday 11 November 2013 (Week 8) –
20%
3. Essay (2000 words) – due 3pm, Monday 9 December 2013 (Week 12) – 50%
4. In class presentation – 10%
5. Seminar attendance and participation – 10%
Please note that each assignment must be on a different topic.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious offence and all students should consult the website that has been
created by the Learning Enhancement Team in the Dean of Students' Office:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/plagiarism
Primary Source Analysis (10%)
This exercise is designed to encourage you to think about the significance of individual
sources and what they tell us as historians. While source analysis is the foundation of what
historians do, this exercise asks you to undertake this directly. You should now be familiar
with the questions you should ask of your sources, however, some suggestions for starting
points are:
-
What is the source (e.g. diary, memoir, government report, legislation)? Why is this
important?
Who wrote the source? Are they important and, if so, how?
For what purpose was the source intended?
When was the source written?
What was the intended audience for the source?
What was the impact of the source?
How has the perception of the source changed over time?
Has there been historical debate about the significance of the source?
What does the source add to our understanding of key events?
What does the source fail to tell us about key events?
This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of possible questions, merely a starting point for
the exercise.
You should choose one source for this assignment. Sources can be taken from Major
Problems I or you may choose a source from elsewhere (however, if you choose this option
you must get the permission of your seminar leader before starting work on the
assignment).
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The assignment should not simply be summary of what the source is or the argument it
makes: you should look to think critically about what it is and why it is important. It will
require you in many instances to think about your chosen source in light of other sources
and articles that you have read. You should, therefore, also include a bibliography as part of
this assignment.
The deadline for this assignment is: Monday 14 October 2013 (Week 4), by 3pm
Article Review (20%)
In addition to analysing primary sources, historians also spend a lot of time reading and
analysing the ideas and arguments of other scholars. This assignment is intended to
introduce you to this process and ask you to engage closely with one particular piece of
work. You should choose one scholarly article on a subject relating to the course. This
article may not be an essay from Major Problems I: the library has a vast range of electronic
and print journals and you should look to use these resources to find an appropriate article.
Some relevant journals are:
Diplomatic History
Journal of African American History
Journal of American History
Journal of American Studies
Journal of Southern History
The American Historical Review
William and Mary Quarterly
You must get your choice of article approved by your seminar leader before starting to
research and write this assignment.
In this assignment, as with the primary source analysis, you should not simply summarise
the argument of the author but look to question and critique it. Is the argument wellmade? Is it convincing? Do you agree with the argument, and why or why not? How does
the argument made by this author fit with arguments made by other historians? The
purpose is to think critically about the article you choose, in the same way you should think
critically about your weekly seminar reading.
As with the primary source analysis, a good critique will require additional reading among
primary and secondary sources. A bibliography should, therefore, also be included.
The deadline for this assignment is: Monday 11 November 2013 (Week 8), by 3pm
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Essay (50%)
This assignment builds on the skills you have already developed and provides the
opportunity to develop your argument in more detail and more depth.
You should look to organise the essay as follows:
1. Introduction that defines (but does not repeat) the question and outlines your
argument. Briefly explain your reasoning and how the essay will be structured to
prove your point. A useful way to approach a historical argument is to ascertain how
and why a historian is trying to correct another historian.
2. In the main body, present the evidence for your argument. Ensure that you analyse
the evidence and the issues rather than merely describe them. Strong analysis
makes for strong essays. Pay attention to how different historians have approached
the topic and why this has led to disagreements. Why do historians disagree over
the past? Sometimes these are subtle differences so take care to appreciate their
positions. Moreover, consider where your argument stands in relation to these
interpretations. Which historians do you agree with and which do you disagree with,
and why? Ensure that you cite the secondary literature (not just Major Problems I)
and draw on primary sources too. Quote from your primary sources and explain their
significance.
3. Provide a conclusion that summarises your argument and how you came to this
opinion. Do not aim for your conclusion to be the final answer to a long-debated
historical issue (it will not be) and, instead, try to conclude more cautiously by noting
how the evidence lends support to one particular view of the past. Consider how
future research could approach the issue.
A note on sources: students frequently ask how many sources they should look to use for an
essay. There is no definitive answer to the question: the essay should make the strongest
argument possible and use the necessary number of sources to achieve this. As a very
general guide you should have a minimum of one primary source or example to illustrate
each argument you make. In terms of secondary sources, at this stage you should look to
include a minimum of four sources (in addition to any material used from Major Problems I).
If you have any concerns or questions then please ask your seminar leader who will be able
to help.
The deadline for this assignment is: Monday 9 December 2013 (Week 12), by 3pm
A Note on Spelling, Grammar, and Sentence Structure:
One of the skills that you learn (or are expected to learn) while at university is the ability to
write clearly, fluently, effectively, and perhaps most importantly, correctly. The ability to
write in grammatically correct English is a requirement for almost everything that you do
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and this is the time to learn and refine that skill (if you are not convinced please see the BBC
article,
“Spelling
Mistakes
‘Cost
Millions’
in
Online
Sales”
at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14130854). I highly recommend Lynne Truss, Eats,
Shoots & Leaves (London: Profile Books Ltd., 2003) for anyone who feels they need some
additional instruction in the correct use of punctuation.
Some of the most frequent mistakes are listed below for your information.
Italics
Italics should be used for all book, film, play, journal, magazine, and newspaper titles. Italics
are also required for all formal names of court cases, e.g. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857).
Capitalization
There is a current debate among scholars of the English language about the use of capitals
versus lower case letters. For this course the following should be capitalized:
- Congress (the name of the institution).
- Constitution and Articles of Confederation (when referring to the document which
structures the American system of government, i.e. the American Constitution).
- Laws and legislation (if these are titles then they should be capitalized, e.g. the
Stamp Act, the Quartering Act).
Contractions
Examples include it’s, would’ve, can’t, didn’t, won’t, and so on. These represent informal
use of words; since an essay should be written as a formal piece of work, all such
contractions should be avoided.
Sentence Structure
Be aware of the difference between a properly formed sentence, a ‘run-on’ sentence and a
sentence fragment. A ‘run-on’ sentence contains separate thoughts joined by misused
punctuation. A sentence fragment lacks a subject. Both should be avoided in essays.
Plural v. Possessive
The plural is formed by adding an “s”, the possessive by adding an apostrophe and an “s”.
Words ending in “s” are made plural by adding “es” or possessive by adding just the
apostrophe or by adding an apostrophe and an “s” (e.g. “The general’s decision to retreat
was successful” is singular and refers to one particular general, “The generals were well
trained but lacked battle experience” is plural, “The generals’ actions during the War of
Independence helped the new nation to achieve separation from Britain” is plural,
possessive and refers to the actions taken by a number of generals).
Names of People
When referring to a person for the first time, give his or her full name (at least the first and
last name or two initials and the last name, e.g. Thomas Paine, President George
Washington, General Thomas Gage). Thereafter use only the last name.
Bibliographies
All assignments should include a full bibliography. Material should be divided between
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primary sources and secondary sources. Primary sources should be presented either
alphabetically or chronologically. Secondary sources should be presented alphabetically by
author’s surname.
Referencing
For structure and presentation guidelines for footnotes please see the Modern Humanities
Research Association’s style guide (American Studies’ standard for formal student writing).
For detailed guidance on various issues, particularly footnote and bibliography styles, see:
http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/download.shtml.
In Class Presentation (10%):
Each week a pair of students will give a presentation (approximately 10 minutes) – you will
be asked to sign up for a topic in your first seminar. As a pair you should choose one
primary source to analyse. This source may be chosen from Major Problems I or you may
choose a source from elsewhere (however, if you choose this option you must get the
permission of your seminar leader before starting work on the presentation).
Each presenter should look to provide a different interpretation of the source. For example,
if choosing the Emancipation Proclamation one person might argue why it was a positive
thing while the other might argue for its limitations. Alternatively, if looking at the
American Constitution, one person might argue for success of the Framers in achieving the
Constitution at all, the other might argue for the failure to address certain key issues (e.g.
slavery and the rights of African Americans or the status of unsettled territory). The aim of
the presentation should be to show how the same material can be interpreted in many
different ways. Please note: copies of your presentation must be submitted to your seminar
leader within one week of your presentation. Failure to submit a hard copy may result in
your not being awarded the mark.
While students will present in pairs you will be assessed individually. Presentations will be
assessed on the following criteria:
-
-
Structure - is there a structure to the argument being made? Is it easy for those
listening to follow and understand?
Quality – how effective is the argument being made? Is the argument supported
by evidence or examples? Is it clear that thought has been put into the
presentation or does it seem as if it was put together in a hurry?
Clarity - can those listening hear the presenters? Is the material presented too
quickly or too slowly? Are there slides or handouts to aid the presentation?
Collaboration - how effectively do the two parts of the presentation fit together?
Informal feedback on your presentation can be obtained from your seminar leader during
their office hours.
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Seminar Attendance and Participation (10%)
Attendance and participation are linked elements. If you do not attend, you cannot
participate, and marks will reflect your frequency of attendance. However, good
attendance does not automatically mean you are participating in the seminar; if you do not
ask a question, or contribute to the debate, or make a suggestion then you are not fully
participating. Your mark for participation will reflect the degree to which you engage in the
activity of the seminar: this may be through asking questions of presenters, asking questions
of your seminar leaders, sharing your views of a particular source, essay, or piece of reading
for a particular week, and participating in small group activities, among others. While this
may seem daunting to many at first, the more you participate the easier it becomes and the
more you are likely to take from your seminar experience.
If you are concerned about this element of the assessment or encounter any problems then
please speak to your seminar leader who will be able to help and advise.
Lecture Programme
Week 2:
Introduction to the course/Colonial America
Emma Long
Week 3:
The Revolutionary Era
Emma Long
Week 4:
The Constitution and Shaping the New Nation
Emma Long
Week 5:
Jackson, The Great Awakening, and the Developing Nation
Rebecca Fraser
Week 6:
Study Week (no class) - TBC
Week 7:
Western Movement and Indian Removal
Week 8:
Differing Visions of the Nation I: The North Before the Civil War
TBC
Week 9:
Differing Visions of the Nation II: The Antebellum South
Rebecca Fraser
Week 10:
The Path to Civil War
Emma Long
Week 11:
The Civil War and Reconstruction
Rebecca Fraser
Week 12:
The ‘Closing’ of the Frontier
Jackie Fear-Segal
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Jackie Fear-Segal
Seminar Programme
The rest of this module handbook outlines the weekly seminar programme. It identifies the
key issues that will be explored in each seminar and the required weekly readings. Readings
must be completed before the meeting since discussion will be based on them. Students
are expected to come to class with notes and be prepared to interrogate the arguments
raised within. The aim is to critically engage with the readings and incorporate ideas and
themes in seminar discussion and assessed work.
For each week, details of several key books or articles are also provided (under
Supplemental Reading) that students are encouraged to consult. Further titles are also
listed at the end of each chapter from Major Problems I. Students should not, however, feel
restricted to these titles and are actively encouraged to consult further texts. The literature
on American history is vast and rapidly expanding, with new titles emerging regularly. As
such, students should look to explore other scholarly works in the library, via e-resources,
and online.
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Week 2: Introduction and Colonial America
Required reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 2 (The Southern Colonies in British America)
2. Foner, Chapter 3 (Creating Anglo-America, 1660-1750)
Recommended additional reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 3 (Colonial New England and the Middle Colonies in
British America)
2. Foner, Chapter 4 (Slavery, Freedom, and the Struggle for Empire, to 1763)
How did southern plantation slavery develop? How did the population of the northern
colonies differ from that of the South in terms of occupation and ethnic background? To
what extent were similarities and differences in the colonial experience a result of the
places in which colonists lived?
Supplemental reading:
1. Peter Charles Hoffer, The Brave New World: A History of Early America (2d. ed.,
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006).
2. Jack P. Greene, Pursuits of Happiness: The Social Development of Early Modern
British Colonies and the Formation of American Culture (Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 1988).
3. Alan Taylor, American Colonies: The Settlement of North America to 1800 (New
York: Penguin, 2003).
***************************************************************************
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Week 3: The Revolutionary Era
Required reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 4 (The American Revolution)
2. Foner, Chapter 5 (The American Revolution, 1763-1783)
Recommended additional reading:
1. Foner, Chapter 6 (The Revolution Within)
The Revolution affected virtually everyone in American society. How did it alter the lives of
various groups – men and women; Indians and slaves; loyalists and patriots – in different
ways? Do the British measures leading up to the Revolution in retrospect look reasonable?
If so, how can one explain the American response to them? Would you characterise the
Revolution as a conflict that looked forward or backward?
Supplemental reading:
1. Benjamin L. Carp, Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of
America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011).
2. Woody Holton, Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the
American Revolution in Virginia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1999).
3. Silvia R. Frey, Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).
***************************************************************************
Week 4: The Constitution and Shaping the New Nation
Required reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 6 (Competing Visions of National Development in the
Early National Period)
2. Foner, Chapter 7 (Founding a Nation, 1783-1789)
Recommended additional reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 5 (The Making of the Constitution)
2. Foner, Chapter 8 (Securing the Republic, 1790-1815)
Would the United States have survived as a nation if the Articles of Confederation
remained the framework of government? Was the framing and ratification of
Constitution “counterrevolutionary”? How important was slavery in this chaotic time
how did the Framers defend it? How did the differences between the Hamiltonian
Jeffersonian visions of the new nation influence the way society developed?
had
the
and
and
Supplemental reading:
1. Gordon S. Wood, Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1998).
2. Saul T. Cornell, The Other Founders: Antifederalism and the Dissenting Tradition in
America, 1788-1828 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999).
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3. Rosemarie Zagarri, Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early
American Republic (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008).
4. John Ferling, Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the
American Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)
***************************************************************************
Week 5: Jackson, the Great Awakening, and the Developing Nation
Required reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 9 (Nationalism, Sectionalism, and Expansionism in the
Age of Jackson)
2. Foner, Chapter 10 (Democracy in America, 1815-1840)
Recommended additional reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 10 (Reform and the Great Awakening in the Early
Nineteenth Century)
2. Foner, Chapter 12 (An Age of Reform, 1820-1840)
To what extent was this a period of expanding democracy? How did ideas and celebrations
of the “common man” influence ideas about American national identity? What role was
played by the knowledge of westward expansion? In what ways did the religious revival of
the Second Great Awakening influence ideas about the individual and their role in society?
What were the reasons for the Second Great Awakening and what did it achieve?
Supplemental reading:
1. Nathan Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1989)
2. Glenn Altschuler and Stuart Blumin, Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in
the Nineteenth Century ((Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000)
3. Daniel Feller, The Jacksonian Promise: America 1815-1840 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1995)
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Week 6: Study Week
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Week 7: Western Movement and Indian Removal
Required reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 7 (Foreign Policy, Westward Movement, and Indian
Removal in the Early Nineteenth Century)
2. TBC
What advantages might the United States have gained from its policies toward Europe
ranging from Washington’s Farewell Address to the Monroe Doctrine? How could whiteIndian interaction reflect a combination of cooperation and savagery? Which strategy used
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by Indians – resistance or acculturation – was more successful in grappling with the
westward migration of white Americans?
Supplemental reading:
1. Eliga H. Gould, Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and the
Making of a New World Empire (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012).
2. Theda Purdue, Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835 (Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1999).
3. Stephen Aron, How the West was Lost: The Transformation of Kentucky from Daniel
Boone to Henry Clay (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999).
***************************************************************************
Week 8: Differing Visions of the Nation I: The North Before the Civil War
Required reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 11 (Commercial Development and Immigration in the
North at Midcentury)
2. Foner, Chapter 9 (The Market Revolution, 1800-1840)
How were economic and geographical mobility central to the experience and ideologies of
northerners? Why would immigrants move to the North if they experienced oppression
there? Why do you think northerners were so sensitive to terms like wage slavery and
white slavery? In what ways did immigration create a more volatile northern society when
it increased dramatically in the decades after 1830?
Supplemental reading:
1. Noel Ignatieve, How the Irish Became White (New York and London: Routledge,
1995).
2. David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race And the Making of the American
Working Class (New York: Verso, 1999).
3. Christine Stansell, City of Women: Sex and Class in New York, 1780-1860 (Urbana and
Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987
***************************************************************************
Week 9: Differing Visions of the Nation II: The Antebellum South
Required reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 12 (Agriculture and Slavery in the South at Midcentury)
2. Foner, Chapter 11 (The Peculiar Institution)
How might southern apologists for slavery have used the northern “wage slave” (discussed
last week) to justify slavery? To what extent do you agree with this argument? How did
slaves use religious belief and kinship to temper their plight? Did this strategy play into the
hands of slaveholders? Did white women benefit from slavery or suffer because of it? How
were non-slaveholding whites and “free people of colour” affected by the institution of
slavery?
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Supplemental reading:
1. Edward E. Baptist and Stephanie M. H. Camp, (eds.), New Studies in the History of
American Slavery (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 2006).
2. Ira Berlin, Generations of Captivity: A History of African American Slaves (Cambridge,
Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 2004).
3. James Oakes, The Ruling race: A History of American Slaveholders (New York: Knopf,
1982).
4. Marli Weiner, Mistresses and Slaves: Plantation Women in South Carolina (Urbana
and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998)
***************************************************************************
Week 10: The Path to Civil War
Required reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 13 (Careening to Civil War)
2. Foner, Chapter 13 (A House Divided, 1840-1861)
Was the Civil War inevitable? Can you think of ways in which compromise might have
forestalled the division between the North and the South? Were economic or political
issues at the base of the conflict? Of the documents you have read for this week, which is
most conciliatory toward the other side? Which is most antagonistic?
Supplemental reading:
1. Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil
War (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).
2. Stephanie McCurry, “The Two Faces of Republicanism: Gender and Proslavery
Politics in Antebellum South Carolina,” Journal of American History 78 (1992) 12451264.
3. Michael D. Pierson, "All Southern Society Is Assailed by the Foulest Charges": Charles
Sumner's "The Crime against Kansas" and the Escalation of Republican Anti-Slavery
Rhetoric,” New England Quarterly 68 (1995) 531-557.
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Week 11: The Civil War and Reconstruction
Required reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 14 (The Civil War)
2. Foner, Chapter 15 (“What is Freedom”? Reconstruction, 1865-1877)
Recommended additional reading:
1. Major Problems I, Chapter 15 (Reconstruction)
2. Foner, Chapter 14 (A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, 1861-1865)
Why did the Union ultimately win the war? How did war strain and change the societies in
both the North and the South? What freedoms would the former slaves most anticipate
and desire? Which questions about the future of the United States were answered by the
Civil War? Which questions were not? How were the defeated Confederate states
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integrated, politically and socially, to create a more perfect union?
consequences?
What were the
Supplemental reading:
1. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (New
York and London: Penguin Books, 2009).
2. Stephanie McCurry, Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South
(Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 2010).
3. James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (New York and
London: Penguin Books, 2nd ed. 1990
4. Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (New York:
Harper & Row, 1988).
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Week 12: The ‘Closing’ of the Frontier
Required reading:
1. Major Problems II, Chapter 2 (Western Settlement and the Frontier) – on
Blackboard
2. Foner, Chapter 16 (America’s Gilded Age, 1870-1890)
As American settlers moved westward, occupying all the land to the Pacific Ocean, what
were ramifications of the ‘closing of the frontier’? How did this influence American
identity? What was the impact on Native Americans?
Supplementary reading:
1. Elliott West, The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2010).
2. John Mack Faragher (ed.), Rereading Frederick Jackson Turner: “The Significance of
the Frontier in American History” and Other Essays (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1999).
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