U.S. History Survey, 1000-1877
History 133.002
Spring 2010
MWF 10-10:50am
Ferguson 472
Dr. Matthew Babcock
Ferguson G72
936-468-2724
[email protected]
Office Hours: MF 11-12, W 1-2,
and by appointment.
Out of Many:
History of the United States to 1877
Course Description
This class surveys the history of the United States from pre-European contact to the Era of
Reconstruction. It examines the social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental
developments that gave rise to the American Republic. Throughout the semester we will focus
on the interaction of three cultures—European, Indian and African—and how their aspirations
collided and sometimes fused. Primary source readings will allow students to gain a better
understanding of the lived experience of history from the perspectives of its participants.
Required Texts and Materials
John Mack Faragher, Mari Jo Buhle, Daniel Czitrom, and Susan H. Armitage, Out of Many: A
History of the American People, Vol. I, TLC, 5th edition
Primary Souce: Documents in United States History (CD-ROM included with Out of Many)
David E. Shi and Holly A. Mayer, For the Record: A Documentary History of America, Vol. I.
3rd Edition
Course Requirements
Attendance
Faithful class attendance is crucial since lectures complement the readings, rather than duplicate
them. After the fourth missed class, each additional absence, whether excused or unexcused,
will result in a five-point grade reduction from your final grade in the course.
Participation
Participation is an important component of this class. Lectures are interactive and approximately
fifteen minutes of each class will be set aside for discussion of documents, maps, paintings, and
film clips. I encourage you to participate both by answering my questions and by asking me
your own. The quality of your comments is more important than the quantity.
Readings
Readings should be completed prior to the class for which they are assigned. This is especially
important for the documents, which we will be discussing together in class. To help you
synthesize the most important terms and concepts from the textbook, I will provide you with
study guides for each chapter. If it becomes apparent to me that the majority of the class is not
doing the reading, I reserve the right to give a pop quiz at any time and count it towards your
participation grade.
Exams
Three equally weighted exams will consist of identifications and an essay question that will ask
you to support an argument with evidence from your readings and class notes. The final exam
will be given during finals week but is not cumulative. You will receive a review sheet with
potential essay questions prior to each exam. There will be no make-up exams for unexcused
absences. In the case of truly exceptional circumstances, such as a serious illness, I will permit
you to make up an exam, provided that you contact me BEFOREHAND and provide valid
documentation afterward, such as a doctor's note.
Writing Assignments
In addition to doing outside reading and studying for exams, this class requires you to analyze
three of the assigned primary documents—one from each of the three sections of this course.
You will assess them using document analysis worksheets from the National Archives that I will
provide. The purpose of these assignments is to improve your analytical skills and the quality of
class discussion.
Academic Integrity
All work is to be completed by the individual. Cheating and plagiarism are serious offensives
that will be dealt with severely. The penalty for academic dishonesty of any kind in this class
will be no credit for the assignment or exam. For further elaboration on university policy, see
page five of this syllabus or http://www.sfasu.edu/policies/academic_integrity.asp.
Students with Disabilities
To obtain disability related accommodations, alternate formats and/or auxiliary aids, students
with disabilities must contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS), Human Services Building,
and Room 325, 468-3004 / 468-1004 (TDD) as early as possible in the semester. Once verified,
ODS will notify the course instructor and outline the accommodation and/or auxiliary aids to be
provided. Failure to request services in a timely manner may delay your accommodations. For
additional information, go to http://www.sfasu.edu/disabilityservices/.
Grading
The final grade will be based on the following:
Class Attendance and Participation
3 Primary Document Analyses
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
NOTE: In order to pass this course you must complete all of the exams and assignments.
2
Tentative Course Schedule
I. Colonial North America
Week 1
Jan. 20
Jan. 22
Introduction
Native America
Faragher, Chapter 1
Primary Sources:
Images of John White (1585-6) (on CD-ROM).
Film: Apocalypto (2006)
Week 2
Jan. 25, 27, 29
Contacts and Exchanges
Faragher, Chapter 2
Primary Sources:
1-3: Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, “Indians of the Rio Grande” (1528-36).
1-9: Jose de Acosta, “The Columbian Exchange” (1590).
Week 3
Feb. 1, 3, 5
North American Colonies
Faragher, Chapter 3
Primary Sources:
Captain John Smith, “The Generall Historie” (1624)
in Shi and Mayer, 17-19.
John Winthrop, “General Observations and Model of Christian Charity
(1629-30) in Shi and Mayer, 25-29.
2-10: “The Examination and Confession of Ann Foster at Salem Village”
(1692).
Film: Black Robe (1991)
Week 4
Feb. 8, 10, 12
Colonial Slavery
Faragher, Chapter 4
Primary Sources:
Newspapers, “Ads for Runaway Servants and Slaves” (1733-1772)
in Shi and Mayer, 80-85.
3-12: Olaudah Equiano, “The Middle Passage” (1788).
3
Week 5
Feb. 15, 17, 19
Native and Colonial Adaptations
Faragher, Chapter 5
Primary Sources:
3-13: Cadwallader Coldon, “An Iroquois Chief Argues for his Tribe’s
Property Rights” (1742).
3-8: George Washington, “Manners and Etiquette in the Eighteenth
Century” (1748).
3-16: Jonathan Edwards, “A Puritan Preacher Admonishes His Flock”
(1741).
Week 6
Feb. 22
Exam #1
II. The Creation of the United States
Feb. 24, 26
Imperial Wars and Crises
Faragher, Chapter 6
Primary Sources:
4-3: Benjamin Franklin, “Testimony Against the Stamp Act” (1766).
Week 7
Mar. 1, 3, 5
The American Revolution
Faragher, Chapter 7
Primary Sources:
Thomas Paine, “Common Sense” (1776)
in Shi and Mayer, 133-9.
Thomas Jefferson, “Draft of the Declaration of Independence” (1776)
in Shi and Mayer, 139-43.
5-11: “The Declaration of Independence” (1776).
Week 8
Mar. 8, 10, 12
Nation and Empire
Faragher, Chapters 8 and 9
Primary Sources:
Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia” (1785)
in Shi and Mayer, 213-15.
“Constitution of the United States” (1787) in Shi and Mayer, 189-96.
Lewis and Clark, “Journals of Exploration” (1804-5)
in Shi and Mayer, 252-59.
James Monroe, “The Monroe Doctrine” (1823)
4
in Shi and Mayer, 300-6.
Week 9
Mar. 15, 17, 19
Week 10
Mar. 22, 24, 26
No Class—Spring Break
Antebellum Slavery
Faragher, Chapter 10
Primary Sources:
8-1: Isaac, “Memoirs of a Monticello Slave” (1847).
Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” (1845)
in Shi and Mayer, 461-3.
Film: Amistad (1997)
Week 11
Mar. 29
Exam #2
III. A Nation Expanding and Dividing
Mar. 31
Jacksonian America
Faragher, Chapter 11
Primary Sources:
10-5: Andrew Jackson, “First Annual Message to Congress (1829).
John Ross, “The Chief’s Annual Message” (1831)
in Shi and Mayer, 331-5.
Week 12
Apr. 5, 7, 9
The Market Revolution
Faragher, Chapter 12
Primary Sources:
9-7: Henry Clay, “Defense of the American System” (1832).
9-9: “A Lowell Mill Girl Tells Her Story” (1836).
Images of Development and Nature in Shi and Mayer, 344-53.
Week 13
Apr. 12, 14, 16
Immigration, Abolition, and Reform
Faragher, Chapter 13
Primary Sources:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions”
(1848) in Shi and Mayer, 412-415.
Film: Gangs of New York (2002)
5
Week 14
Apr. 19, 21, 23
Western Expansion
Faragher, Chapter 14
Primary Sources:
James K. Polk, “War Message to Congress” (1846)
in Shi and Mayer, 437-41.
12-5: Thomas Corwin, “Against the Mexican War” (1847).
Week 15
Apr. 26, 28, 30
Sectional Crisis and Civil War
Faragher, Chapters 15, 16
Primary Sources:
14-2: Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (1852).
13-7: George Fitzhugh, “The Blessings of Slavery” (1857).
15-9: Abraham Lincoln, “Gettysburg Address” (1863).
Civil War photographs in Shi and Mayer, 563-72.
Week 16
May 3, 5, 7
Emancipation and Reconstruction
Faragher, Chapter 17
Primary Sources:
16-1: “Address from the Colored Citizens of Norfolk, Virginia to the
People of the United States” (1865).
“Black Codes of Mississippi” (1865) in Shi and Mayer, 13-15.
Film: Cold Mountain (2003)
Week 17
May 10
Exam #3: 10:30am-12:30pm
6
Additional Information on Learning Outcomes and University Policies Relevant to this
Course
Program Learning Outcomes:
This is a general education core curriculum course and no specific program learning outcomes
for this major are addressed in this course.
General Education Core Curriculum Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes:
HIS 133 is part of the university’s Core Curriculum and as such strives towards both the general
goals of the core and the specific objectives for social science classes set by the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board. The Board has identified six skills, or “intellectual
competencies,” as the foundation for all university-level work: reading, writing, listening,
speaking, critical thinking and computer literacy. This section of HIS 133 offers students
experience in all of these areas, except for speaking. In addition, this course will emphasize the
Coordinating Board’s objectives for social science classes:
•
Students will demonstrate an understanding of key developments in American political
history from the colonial period to 1877, with emphasis on colonial government, the
creation and ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the formation of the
federal government and its relation with the states, and Texas independence and
annexation.
•
Students will demonstrate an understanding of key developments in American economic
history from the colonial period to 1877.
•
Students will demonstrate an understanding of key developments in American social
history from the colonial period to 1877 with emphasis on immigration and social
change, reform movements, race and ethnicity, family and gender roles, and religion and
culture.
•
Students will demonstrate an understanding of American foreign policy from the colonial
period to 1877.
•
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the methods historians use to gather and
analyze evidence.
•
Students will be able to use the knowledge and skills gained in the course in the
fulfillment of their responsibilities as active citizens in a democratic society.
Academic Integrity (A-9.1)
Academic integrity is a responsibility of all university faculty and students. Faculty members
promote academic integrity in multiple ways including instruction on the components of
academic honesty, as well as abiding by university policy on penalties for cheating and
plagiarism.
Definition of Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty includes both cheating and plagiarism. Cheating includes but is not limited
to (1) using or attempting to use unauthorized materials to aid in achieving a better grade on a
component of a class; (2) the falsification or invention of any information, including citations, on
7
an assigned exercise; and/or (3) helping or attempting to help another in an act of cheating or
plagiarism. Plagiarism is presenting the words or ideas of another person as if they were your
own. Examples of plagiarism are (1) submitting an assignment as if it were one's own work
when, in fact, it is at least partly the work of another; (2) submitting a work that has been
purchased or otherwise obtained from an Internet source or another source; and (3) incorporating
the words or ideas of an author into one's paper without giving the author due credit.
Please read the complete policy at http://www.sfasu.edu/policies/academic_integrity.asp
Withheld Grades (Semester Grades Policy, A-54)
Ordinarily, at the discretion of the instructor of record and with the approval of the academic
chair/director, a grade of WH will be assigned only if the student cannot complete the course
work because of unavoidable circumstances. Students must complete the work within one
calendar year from the end of the semester in which they receive a WH, or the grade
automatically becomes an F. If students register for the same course in future terms the WH will
automatically become an F and will be counted as a repeated course for the purpose of
computing the grade point average.
8