HIST 276: Study of History Abroad
“The Special Relationship: Britain and America”
Christopher Newport University
Mid-May to Early-June 2016
Dr. Andrew J. Falk
McMurran Hall 301-H
[email protected]
757-594-8431
Dr. Phillip Hamilton
McMurran Hall 301-J
[email protected]
757-594-7251
Course Description, Methods, and Rationale
This course represents an opportunity for CNU students to study in Europe during the summer to examine
the dynamic relationship between Britain and the United States across 400 years – from its roots in
colonialism to its wartime alliances in modern times. We will use history as our laboratory to examine
the economic ties, political transformations, and cultural interactions, and we will observe themes of
Anglicization and Americanization in their various forms.
Please understand that the schedule is tentative and, therefore, subject to change. If you have questions,
please contact one of the professors.
Day
Activities and Class Meetings
Day 1
Americans Meet the World
Evening: Arrive with passport, course materials, and no more than 1 bag (50 lbs) and 1 carry-on, at the
British Airways Departure/Ticketing Terminal at Dulles Airport at xx:xx pm. British Airways #xxx departs
Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) at xx:xx pm.
Day 2
“Introduction to London”
Morning: British Airways #xxx arrives Heathrow Airport (LHR) at xx:xx am. Take airport shuttle to St.
Giles Hotel, followed by Orientation Walking Tour of Bloomsbury, money exchange, market visit, London
Underground passes, Parliament, Buckingham Palace
Evening: Group Dinner at TBA
Day 3
“The Power of the Crown”
Morning: Discuss “The World is Your Classroom;” Tower of London and the Crown Jewels
Afternoon: Westminster Abbey
Day 4
“When London was the Capital of America (1607-1775)”
Morning: Discuss Benjamin Franklin letters from London; Blackwall Yard at Virginia Quay; Benjamin
Franklin House
Afternoon: Discuss the Atlantic Slave Trade; Greenwich Maritime Museum; boat tour aboard the Thames
Clipper
Day
Activities and Class Meetings
Day 5
“The Era of Bad Feelings: Two Wars and Independence (1776-1815)”
Morning: Discuss John Adams’ Journal of the Peace Negotiations with the British (1782) and John Adams
and Thomas Jefferson Meet George III (1785); tour of the Houses of Parliament
Day 6
“Cotton, Sugar, Slaves and Abolitionism (1816-1860)
Morning: Discuss Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842); Frederick Douglass’ Farewell Speech to the British
People, Delivered in London (1847); Museum of London exhibit “London, Sugar, and Slavery”
Day 7
“Great Britain and the American Civil War (1861-1865)”
Morning: Discuss diary excerpts from US Ambassador to Britain, Charles Francis Adams (1861-1865);
diary excerpts from William L. Yancey, Confederate commissioner in London (1861-1865); and Treaty for
the Suppression of the Slave Trade (1862); American Civil War London Walking Tour
Day 8
“Anglo-Saxonism, Rapprochemont, and the Age of Imperialism (1865-1914)”
Morning: Discuss Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden (1899);” Senator Albert Beveridge, floor
speech (1899); The British Museum
Day 9
“Over Here: Yanks and Tommies in the Great War and After (1914-1920s)”
Morning: Discuss British Prime Minister David Lloyd George’s address to the American Club (1917);
Imperial War Museum; Piccadilly Circus and the West End
Day 10
“Pax Atlantica”
Daytrip: Chartwell, home of Winston Churchill in Kent. We will discuss Gretchen Rubin, Forty Ways to
Look at Winston Churchill (excerpts)
Day 11
“The Grand Alliance of the Second World War (1930s-1941)”
Morning: Discuss Atlantic Charter; excerpts of wartime correspondence between Winston Churchill and
Franklin Roosevelt; Churchill War Rooms; walking tour around St. Giles Hotel includes Edward R.
Murrow’s flat #5 at 84-94 Hallam Street
Day 12
“The Grand Alliance of the Second World War (1941-1945)”
Morning: Discuss excerpts from David Reynolds, Rich Relations: American Occupation of Britain, 19421945; Eisenhower’s Headquarters in Grosvenor Square; St. Paul’s Cathedral American Memorial Chapel
Day 13
“American Invasion, British Invasion: Cultural Exchange in the Cold War (1950s-1980s)”
Morning: Discuss excerpts from Richard Pells, Not Like Us: How Europeans Have Loved, Hated, And
Transformed American Culture Since World War II; Abbey Road; McDonald’s (gotta do it once!)
Day
Activities and Class Meetings
Day 14
“Uncle Sam & John Bull in the 21st Century”
Morning: United States Embassy in London at Grosvenor Square (which was home to our first ambassador,
John Adams). We will meet with the Cultural Attaché of the Public Affairs Section to discuss the
contemporary Anglo-American relationship. Please dress appropriately and bring your passport to get
through security. We also will visit the 7/7 Memorial in Hyde Park.
Day 15
Morning: The Identification Exam will be completed in the morning, so bring a pen.
Afternoon: Open for individual site visits
Evening: Group Dinner at TBA and wrap-up discussion
Day 16
Cheers, London! In the morning we will take a charter shuttle to Heathrow Airport (LHR). We will arrive
with passports and no more than 1 bag and 1 carry-on, at the airport at xx:xx am. British Airways #xxx
departs at xx:xx am. and arrives Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) at xx:xx pm. (Again, flight times are
subject to change without notice.)