BTAN23004BA & BTAN3304OMA
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A SEMINAR FOR SECOND-YEAR IEAS STUDENTS, FALL 2016
Time: Tuesday 14:00-15:40 PM
Place: Studio 111
Tutor: Tibor Glant
Office hours: MON 9-10, TUE 12-13, and by appointment (office: 120/2; email: )
DESCRIPTION OF COURSE:
These 3-credit parallel seminars are designed to serve as a basic introduction for English majors to the history of the United States of America. Please note that this course will, as it should, serve as the basis for all subsequent American Studies courses. Topics for discussion will range from the relations between England and her North American colonies and the War of Independence through the Civil War and the two world wars to the post-cold war era. Domestic and foreign affairs as well as social and cultural issues will be addressed in an attempt to help the students prepare for the in-class final exam.
COURSE GOALS:
Combining mini lectures with seminar discussion, the students will develop a better understanding of United States history and prepare for subsequent American Studies courses. Since this is predominantly a seminar course, our emphasis will be on further developing the four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) of the students. As this course is a seminar, students may under no circumstances miss more than three classes. Students are requested to inform the instructor as soon as possible if they know that they are going to miss a class, and make arrangements to complete any work missed. Missing a class is not an excuse to turn in assignments late or to come to class unprepared. Failure to notify the instructor at least a day in advance in case of a missed presentation will result in the loss of all the credit points for the assignment.
READINGS:
The basic textbook of the course is Davis D. Joyce and Tibor Glant, United States History: A Brief History for Hungarian Students [USH] (Debrecen: Kossuth Egyetemi kiadó, 2012). Students will also read some primary documents that are available online. Additional study guides (lecture guides, lists of events, people, terms, and essay questions) are also available from my website at http://ieas.unideb.hu/glant under “Current Courses.” Students are required to consult these resources BEFORE each class, and will have the opportunity to ask for clarification from the instructor in case they have any questions.
GRADING POLICY:
Students will be graded on the strength of their class performance (including contributions to discussion: 20%), occasional written tests (20%), one short (3-5 minutes) oral presentation (10%), a mid-term (20%) and an end-term paper (30%). Grading: 0-60% = fail (1); 61-70% = satisfactory (2); 71-80% = average (3); 81-90% = good (4); 91-100% = excellent (5).
RULES OF THE GAME:
The end-term paper may not be missed or rescheduled under any circumstances. More than three absences will result in a “not fulfilled” grade.
Presentations: Students will choose their presentation topics on the first class. If anyone misses the orientation, it will be their responsibility to ask the instructor to assign them a topic. The oral presentations will be supported by a one-page outline distributed before class. A typed handout strictly not longer than one page should be sent or handed in to the instructor ONE WEEK before the presentation for overview. Late submission will result in a reduction of the grade by one percent per day. Only handouts approved by the instructor can be presented.
The handout should only be a guideline to the presentation and not a word-by-word transcript. The use of PowerPoint slides for the presentation is optional, but recommended. You must not read out your presentation. The content of your talk, the lay-out of your handout, your performance and presentation skills as well as your pronunciation will be evaluated. If someone does not show up when their presentation is due and does not notify the instructor in advance, they will lose all the credit points on the assignment.
Written tests: At the beginning of each class during the semester, students will be tested on their knowledge of the terms, names and dates from the reading for the class in question. These short tests will not necessarily be announced beforehand; students are expected to come prepared for each class.
Mid-term and end-term papers: These will be a combination of dates, names, terms, and short essays.
Academic dishonesty or Plagiarism (failure to acknowledge and note the use of another writer’s words and ideas) is both unethical and illegal and will result in a failure of the course.
Tardiness and early departures are not allowable. They are offensive to your fellow students and to the instructor because they disrupt class work. If you have a compelling reason for arriving late or leaving early, speak with your instructor about the problem. If you regularly cut the beginning and/or the end of class sessions, it can add up to unexcused full-class-time absences.
Please remember that not knowing the rules is no excuse to break them.
WEEK-BY-WEEK DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE:
Week 1 (September 20): Introduction and Orientation (syllabus, rules of the game, study aids, lists, how to use them);
Week 2 (September 27): Relations between England and Her North American Colonies.
Readings: USH, pp. 9-38 (2012 book: 9-36), lecture notes and The Declaration of Independence available at the institute website.
Focus point: Why did the colonies rebel? What was at the core of the conflict?
Presentations topics: Sam Adams, Captain John Smith, Benjamin Franklin
Week 3 (October 4): From the Washington Administration to the War of 1812. Readings: USH, pp. 39-43 (37-40), 50-59 (48-57), lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: What made it necessary to amend the first constitution?
Presentations topics: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton
Week 4 (October 11): Territorial, Cultural and Economic Expansion between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The Road to the Civil War: American Politics, 1812-1860.
Readings: USH, pp 43-49 (41-47), 59-77 (57-73), lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was the War of 1812 the “second war of independence?”
Presentations topics: the Monroe Doctrine, abolitionism, the frontier theory, Sitting Bull, Buffalo Bill, Andrew Jackson
Week 5 (October 18): Civil War (1861-65) and Reconstruction (1865-77).
Readings: USH, pp. 77-81 (73-78), lecture note, lists and Abraham Lincoln, The Emancipation Proclamation available at the institute website.
Focus point: Why did the Civil War break out? Why was secession a constitutional issue? Presentations topics: Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant
Week 6 (October 25): MID-TERM TEST
Week 7 (November 1): CONSULTATION WEEK, No Class
Week 8 (November 8): The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.
Readings: USH: Chapters 6-7, lecture notes, lists and the Progressive Amendments to the US Constitution.
Focus point: Why was it a “gilded” historical period?
Presentations topics: Muckrakers, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt
Week 9 (November 15): World War I.
Readings: USH, Chapter 9, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why did the US enter the war as an Associated and not as an Allied power?
Presentations topics: the Zimmerman Telegram, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the League of Nations and the Paris Peace Treaties
Week 10 (November 22): The Interwar Years.
Readings: USH, Chapter 10, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was depression viewed as a great American tragedy?
Presentations topics: Charles Lindbergh, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding, Calvin C. Coolidge, Herbert Hoover
Week 11 (November 29): World War II.
Readings: USH, Chapter 11, lecture notes, lists-
Focus point: What did the US learn from WWI?
Presentations topics: the Manhattan Project, Douglass MacArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower
Week 12 (December 6): The US Since 1945.
Readings: USH, Chapter 12, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: The atomic bomb: pro and contra.
Presentations topics: the Cuban Missile crisis, Henry Kissinger, George F. Kennan, JFK, Richard Nixon
Week 13 (December 13): The US Since 1945.
Readings: USH, Chapter 13, lecture notes, lists and Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream” available at the institute website.
Focus point: The idea of equality: myth or reality.
Presentations topics: Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Betty Friedan, Elvis Presley
Week 14 (December 20): END-TERM TEST
Evaluation in the exam period by appointment
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