SMITH COLLEGE
American Studies
Fall 2013
AMS 226
T/Th 10:30-11:50
Location: BURTON B01
Prof. Christen Mucher
[email protected]
205 Dewey House
Weds 1-3 & by appt
Introduction to Colonial North America, 1492-1763
Description
This course provides an overview of early American history from before 1492 to the beginning of the
colonial period’s end, 1763. We will examine the imaginaries, motivations, migrations, and
technologies of the era, thinking through the events and desires that led to European settlement in
North America. Our studies will lead us to interrogate the models that have explained and maintained
the concepts of “old” and “new” in relation to colonial history, and we will concentrate on
understanding the themes and sites that have shaped scholarly and popular thinking about this period.
Throughout, we will seek to understand the commonalities and interactivity between the various
peoples and projects of the colonial era. Our readings and discussions will bring in seldom-heard
voices and perspectives, and help students to think through argument, method, and the presentation of
sources.
Objectives
The goal of this course is to twofold: 1) to challenge and complicate common ideas of early “US”
history by expanding the focus to take in much of North America (comprising the colonial regions of
New Spain, New France, New England, and Virginia as well as the Caribbean, Atlantic World, Native
Space, and the Middle Ground). 2) to developing ways to “think historically.” We will do this by
reading various primary sources—including maps, engravings, letters, narratives, oral histories, and
treaties—and secondary literature to attend to the lives, motivations, and imaginaries of colonial-era
peoples and places. In learning to “think historically,” we will ask evaluate the use of evidence and
compare and contrast historical interpretation by reflecting on how histories are created and
perpetuated, and how certain voices are selected (over others) to tell those histories.
Students will become familiar with a variety of primary and secondary documents, develop new
research skills, and learn to better evaluate documents and historical arguments. Frequent writing and
multiple drafts will help students develop a clear, critical writing voice and a deeper knowledge of the
construction of history and historical texts.
Required Texts: Available at the Smith College Bookstore and on reserve at Neilson Library.
Obtaining used copies or older editions is fine.
1. Abulafia, The Discovery of Mankind: Atlantic Encounters in the Age of Columbus (Yale, 2008)
2. Breslaw, Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies (NYU, 1997)
3. Cronon, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England
(Hill & Wang, Revised ed, 2003)
4. Kupperman, Providence Island, 1630-1641: the Other Puritan Colony (Cambridge, 1995)
5. Smallwood, Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora (Harvard,
2007)
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6. Townsend, Malintzin's Choices: an Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico (New Mexico, 2006)
7. Van den Bogaert, Journey Into Mohawk & Oneida Country (Syracuse, Revised ed, 2013)
8. (Highly Recommended) Alan Taylor, Colonial America: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2013)
Other readings will be available via Moodle. Please have access to all assigned readings during class.
Requirements
Class Participation (readings, discussions, attendance, quizzes): 25% of grade
Short Essays: 25%
Annotated Bibliography: 15%
Group Presentations: 10%
Final Research Paper: 25%
Readings, Class Participation, and Quizzes:
To receive full marks for class participation, you must attend every class and contribute to each
class discussion (i.e., asking questions, sharing observations, demonstrating that you have read
and understood the readings).
For each class period, plan on committing about 4 hours to reading, note taking, and review
outside of class time.
Excused absences will require make-up work; unexcused absences will count against your daily
participation and ultimately your grade. You cannot receive an A or A- in this class if you have
2 or more absences.
Occasionally there will be short, unannounced reading- and lecture-related pop quizzes to help
students synthesize and retain the semester’s material. No one quiz or answer will impact your
grade; instead, the quizzes are an overall way of tracking reading progress and retention over
time, and will be considered holistically.
Students are expected to meet with the instructor outside of class to discuss progress and any
questions at least once during the semester.
2 Short Essays:
1) 2 pages, exploratory essay based on a footnote followed from one of the secondary readings
we’ve done so far. Explain the relationship between the primary and secondary source: how
does the historian interpret or use her source? Is the use clear, or is it difficult to know how she
gets from point A to point B? Does the source seem to have been used in an ethical, balanced
manner? Why has she selected this source, and not another? (no outside research required aside
from tracking down the source of the footnote). Due 9/26
2) 3 pages, open topic, argumentative essay. This is ideally the chance to explore an idea you
want to return to in your final project (no outside research required, engage with the readings
provided in class). Due 10/24
Students may revise any essay once; the highest grade a revised paper can receive is a B.
2
Annotated Bibliography:
3-4 pages. Students should choose the theme they want to return to for their final project and
locate 5 resources (2 primary and 3 secondary) for researching this theme. Students will read
the selected resources, provide a proper bibliographic citation, and summarize and evaluate
each resource in 1-2 paragraphs. This is not an essay: it is a collection of stand-alone paragraphs
along with corresponding bibliographic data. This assignment is designed to support your final
research paper. Due 11/14
Group Presentation:
Students will choose one topic to learn and present in a group (from the material listed under
11/12: “Conflict, Rumblings, and Signs”). Presentations should last around 10 minutes; the
cumulative effect will be a student-led class, and students will be responsible for drawing
connections between their own readings and all of the in-class presentations during discussion.
Due 11/21
Final Research Project:
Students will take a draft of Essay 2 and, using the resources from the annotated bibliography,
expand it into a 6-page argumentative paper. Due 12/17
All written work should be typed in 12-point standard font, be double-spaced, and should have 1-inch
margins. Please submit all assignments on time via Moodle and remember to include your name on
your work. Please do not send me assignments as email attachments unless we have made
arrangements beforehand.
I strongly suggest that all students take their writing to the Jacobson Center for assistance; we can all
use help with our writing, no matter what kind of writer we are. http://smith.edu/jacobsoncenter/
Absence Policy
Unexcused absences will count against your daily participation and ultimately your grade. You cannot
receive an A or A- in this class if you have 2 or more unexcused absences.
Excused absences are those that are medically necessary or due to religious observation, and require
the completion of make-up work. It is the student’s responsibility to notify me within the first week of
class regarding any religious observance absence(s) for the entire semester. Upon returning to class,
students are expected to present a self-signed note documenting the date and reason for the missed
class(es). This note must include an acknowledgement that (a) the information provided is true and
correct, and (b) that the student understands that providing false information is a violation of the Smith
Honor Code. For an absence to count as excused, the student will need to complete a make-up
assignment as arranged with me in advance.
Communication
Please feel free to email me at [email protected], but do allow at least 48 hours for a response. For
more immediate issues, please reach out to your classmates or attend my drop-in office hours (Weds 13pm). I have set up a communal Gmail account for students who may want to send me questions
anonymously. The login and password are:
[email protected]
americanstudies
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Academic Integrity
Smith College has an Honor Code, which is enforced by the Academic Honor Board. Faculty have a
responsibility to report any suspected violations of the Honor Code—such as, but not limited to, cases
of plagiarism (copying or incorrect/absent citation), dishonesty, cheating—to the Honor Board and
relevant Deans. For more information, see:
Smith College Honor Code http://www.smith.edu/sao/handbook/socialconduct/honorcode.php
Smith College Libraries Tutorial “How to Recognize Plagiarism”
http://www.smith.edu/libraries/services/faculty/infolit/tutorial/tuthome.php
Accessibility:
If you need ability accommodation, please speak with me or contact Laura Rauscher in the Office of
Disability Services (104 College Hall) [email protected] as soon as possible.
Laptop Policy: The use of laptops and tablets for note taking, reading, or other course-related activities
is welcome in this class. As a courtesy, please disable the Wi-Fi capability during class time.
Semester Schedule
Week 1
T 9/3 Introduction, Overview
Th 9/5 Shapes of the Old World
• Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Before Columbus: Exploration and Colonization from the
Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1229-1492 (1987): 151-168; 203-22.
• John Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800 (1998): 1342.
• Kathleen DuVal, Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent (2006):
13-28.
Week 2
T 9/10 Shapes of the Old World
• Mappae Mundi (c1300) http://www.herefordcathedral.org/visit-us/mappa-mundi-1
• David Abulafia, The Discovery of Mankind: Atlantic Encounters in the Age of Columbus
(2008): 33-101.
Th 9/12 Inventing the New World
• “Catalan Map” (c1450)
http://iccu01e.caspur.it/ms/internetCulturale.php?id=oai%3Awww.baicr.it%3A37%3ARM0238
%3ASGI_IT_SGI_CASTA_168&teca=Baicr
• Sebastian Münster, “Monsterous Races of Men,” from Cosmographia (1544)
http://www.tablespace.net/prints/Munster/hires/MunsterMandeville.jpg
• Thomas Johnson Westropp, “Brasil and the Legendary Islands of the North Atlantic: Their
History and Fable. A Contribution to the ‘Atlantis’ Problem,” Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy: Section C 30.8 (1912/1913): 223-260.
• James Axtell, Natives and Newcomers: the Cultural Origins of North America (2001): 18-45.
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Week 3
T 9/17 Terra Ulteri Incognita
• Amerigo Vespucci, “Letter to Pier Soderini,” (1504)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1497vespucci-america.asp
• Waldseemüller Map (1507) http://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/waldexh.html
http://scholar.library.miami.edu/floridamaps/view_image.php?image_name=dlp000200001500
01001&group=spanish
• David Abulafia, The Discovery of Mankind (2008): 10-30; 105-114; 145-161; 175-186; 241261.
Th 9/19 Rethinking: Discovery
• Christopher Columbus, “Letter to the Sovereigns” (1493).
• Margarita Zamora, from Reading Columbus (1993): 9-20.
• Jack Forbes, The American Discovery of Europe (2007): 5-40.
Week 4
T 9/24 Rethinking: Right
• Pope Alexander VI, Inter caetera (1493) http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0214a.htm
• The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/15th_century/mod001.asp
• Henry VII, Two Letters Patent, in H P Biggar, The Precursors of Jacques Cartier, 1497-1534
(1911): 7-10; 22-24
o 5 March 1496 http://archive.org/stream/precursorsofjacq01bigg#page/n49/mode/2up
o 3 Feb 1498: http://archive.org/stream/precursorsofjacq01bigg#page/22/mode/2up
• Henry VII, Letters Patent to the Company of Adventurers to the New Found Lands, in H P
Biggar, The Precursors of Jacques Cartier, 1497-1534 (1911): 40
o 19 March 1501http://archive.org/stream/precursorsofjacq01bigg#page/40/mode/2up
• David Abulafia, The Discovery of Mankind (2008): 213-223.
Th 9/26 Rethinking: Contact
• Giovanni da Verrazzano, from “Letter to King Francis I of France Reporting on His Voyage to
the New World” (1524)
• Josiah Jeremy/Silas Tertius Rand, “The Dream of the White Robe and the Floating Island”
(1894): 225-227.
• Bruce J. Bourque and Ruth J. Whitehead, “Trade and Alliances in the Contact Period” in
American Beginnings: Exploration, Culture, and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega
(1994): 131-147.
SHORT ESSAY 1 DUE
Week 5
T 10/1 The Conquest of Mexico [1520s
• Anonymous Authors of Tlatelolco, from “The Story of the Conquest” (1528)
• Camillia Townsend, Malintzin's Choices: an Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico (2006):
1-84.
Th 10/3 The Conquest of Mexico [1520s]
• Camillia Townsend, Malintzin's Choices (2006): 85-213.
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Week 6
T 10/8 Exploring, Projecting, Promoting [1520s-1580s]
• Richard Haklyut, from Divers Voyages Touching the Discovery of America and the Islands
Adjacent (1582) and Voyages and Discoveries: Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and
Discoveries of the English Nation (1589-90)
o The booke made by the right worshipfull Master Robert Thorne (1527)
o “The true and last discovery of Florida made by Jean Ribault” (1562)
o “Voyage Made by John Hawkins to Guinea and the Indies” (1564)
o “Second Voyage of Martin Frobisher into the Northwest” (1577)
o “First Voyage to the Country Now Called Virginia” (1584)
• Karen Ordahl Kupperman, from The Jamestown Project (2007): 12-72.
Th 10/10 Picturing America [1580s-1590s]
• Susi Colin, “Wild Men and the Indian in Early Sixteenth-Century Book Illustration” in Indians
and Europe (1987): 5-29.
• Thomas Hariot, John White, and Theodore de Bry, from A Briefe and True Report of the New
Found Land of Virginia (1590)
o http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/jamestown-browse?id=J1009b
o http://www.virtualjamestown.org/images/white_debry_html/introduction.html
• Theodore de Bry, America (1592) http://cowley.lib.virginia.edu/america.html
• John McGrath, The French in Early Florida: In the Eye of the Hurricane (2000): 8-32.
Week 7
Tu 10/15 No Class: Fall Break
Th 10/17 Atlantic World
• Charles Carrol, from The Timber Economy of Puritan New England (1973): 41-54.
• William Cronon, from Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New
England (1983/2003): pp 34-53; 109-126; 159-170.
• Judith Carney, from In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa's Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World
(2011) pp 123-158.
Week 8
T 10/22 Virginia [1600-20s]
• Wahunsenacawh/Chief Powhatan's Speech (1609)
• Jamestown Project: “Paspahegh 3D Indian Village Fly Over” (video)
http://www.virtualjamestown.org/paspahegh/examine.html
• William Strachey, The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia (1612)
• Captain John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles
(1624): 44-53 (book 3, chapters 2-3) http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/smith/smith.html
• Frederic Gleach, Powhatan’s World and Colonial Virginia (1997): 22-60.
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Th 10/24 Iroquoia: The Two Row Treaty/ Teioháte Kaswenta [1613/2013]
• Neal Salisbury, Manitou and Providence: Indians, Europeans, and the Making of New England,
1500-1643 (1984): 50-84.
• Robert Venables, “The 1613 Treaty” (2009) http://honorthetworow.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/01/VenablesonTwoRow-1.pdf
• Gwendolen Cates, “Two Row Journey” Video (2013) http://honorthetworow.org/two-rowjourney-a-new-short-video-by-gwendolen-cates/
SHORT ESSAY 2 DUE
Week 9
T 10/29 Iroquoia: Mohawk & Oneida Country [1630s]
• Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, Journey Into Mohawk & Oneida Country (1634-35)
Th 10/31 New France [1630s-1640s]
• from The Jesuit Relations (2000): 20-28, 94-106; 122-123
o Paul LeJeune, “Journal of a Winter Hunt, 1634”
o Barthélemy Vimont, “Treaty of Peace between the French, Iroquois, and Other Nations,
1644-1645”
o Jérôme Lalement, “Various Matters, 1647-1648”
• Luca Codignola, “The Holy See and the Conversion of the Indians in French and British North
America, 1486-1760” in America in European Consciousness, 1493-1750 (1995): 195-242
Week 10
T 11/5 Puritans, Dutch, and Natives in New England [1620s-1630s]
• William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (1630-1645): 11-31.
• James & Patricia Scott Deetz (2000). The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love, and Death in
Plymouth Colony (2000): 31-79
• John Mason, “A Brief History of the Pequot War” (1637/1677): 246-254.
• “Treaty of Hartford” (1638)
Th 11/7 Puritans in the West Indies
• Karen O. Kupperman, Providence Island, 1630-1641: the Other Puritan Colony (1995): 1-49;
118-148
Week 11
T 11/12 West Indies
• Karen O. Kupperman, Providence Island, 1630-1641: the Other Puritan Colony (1995): 149180.
• Susan Dwyer Amussen, from Caribbean Exchanges: Slavery and the Transformation of
English Society, 1640-1700 (2007): 5-42.
Th 11/14 West Indies
• Stephanie Smallwood, Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora
(2007): 33-100.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
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Week 12
T 11/19 West Indies
• Stephanie Smallwood, Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora
(2007): 101-181.
• Jennifer Morgan, from Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery
(2004):50-68.
Th 11/21 Conflict, Rumblings, and Signs [1660s-1680s]
• Daniel Richter, Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Pasts (2011): 212-238.
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
• Supernatural signs, 1662-1680
o Jérôme Lalement, “Three Suns and Other Aerial Phenomena Which Appeared in New
France, 1662-1663”
o Increase Mather, from “Heaven’s Alarm to the World” (1681)
o David Hall, from Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in
Early New England (1990): 71-116.
•
King Philip’s War, 1675-1676
o Mary Rowlandson, The Soverignty and Goodness of God (1682): 283-322
o Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Age of Homespun (2002): 42-74.
o Jill Lepore, “Chronology,” from The Name of War (1999)
•
Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676
o Nathaniel Bacon, “Declaration in the Name of the People, 30 July 1676”
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5800
o Stephen Saunders Webb. 1676: The End of American Independence (1984): 3-82
•
Pueblo Revolt, 1680
o Po’pay: Leader of the First American Revolution (2005)
o David Weber, What Caused the Pueblo Revolt of 1680? (1999):
o Ramón A. Gutiérrez, When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage,
Sexuality, and Power in New Mexico, 1500-1846 (1991): 130-140.
Week 13
T 11/26 West Indies and New England [1680s-1690s]
• Elaine Breslaw, Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies
(1997)
• “Tituba” from The Salem Witch Hunt: A Brief History with Documents (2011): 81-91
Th 11/28 No Class: Thanksgiving Break
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Week 14
Tu 12/3 Deerfield, 1704
• Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney, from Captive Histories: English, French, and Native
Narratives of the 1704 Deerfield Raid (2006): 1-31.
o Samuel Partridge, “An Account of the Destruction of Deerfield” (1704): 63-66.
o Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Letter to the Minister of the Marine (1704): 79-82.
o Stephen Williams, “What Befell Stephen Williams in His Captivity” (c1707): 159-170.
o Elizabeth Oakes Smith, “The Story of the Bell” (1882): 213-220.
o Taiaiake Alfred (Mohawk), “A Descendant Recounts the 1704 Attack” (1995): 244-252.
o Elizabeth M. Sadoques (Abenaki), “The History and Traditions of Eunice Williams and
Her Descendants” (1922): 255-261.
Th 12/5 Freedom in the Atlantic World, 1720s-50s
• Daniel Defoe/Captain Charles Johnson, “The Life of Mary Read” and “The Life of Anne
Bonny” in A General History of the Pyrates (1725): 157-173.
• Briton Hammon, A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprizing Deliverance of
Briton Hammon, a Negro Man (1760) http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/hammon/hammon.html
• Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, from The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves,
Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (2001): 143-173.
Week 15
Tu 12/10 Looking ahead [1730s-1760s]
• Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British
North America, 1754-1766 (2001): 11-32.
• Colin Calloway, A Scratch of the Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America (2006):
19-46, 165-171.
• “Treaty of Paris, 1763” http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/paris763.asp
• “Royal Proclamation of 1763” http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/proc1763.asp
12/17 Final papers due by 11:59pm
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