“Experience must be our only guide; reason may mislead us.”
John Dickinson, Constitutional Convention., 1787
“Life must be lived forward, but it can only be understood backward.”
Soren Kierkegaard
“A monarchy is like a clipper ship. You get on board and ride the wind and tide in safety and elation but, by and by, you strike a reef and go down. But Democracy is like a raft. You never sink but, damnit, your feet are always in the water.” Fisher Ames (c1790)
“For after all, gentle reader, empires of themselves are nothing without an historian. It is the patient narrator who records their prosperity as they rise–who blazons forth the splendor of their noontide meridian–who props their feeble memorials as they totter to decay–who gathers together their scattered fragments as they rot–and who piously at length collects their ashes into the mausoleum of his work and rears a triumphal monument to transmit their renown to all succeeding ages.”
Washington Irving in Diedrich Knickerbocker, A History of New York
“Unlike scientific knowledge, knowledge of history cannot be . . . practically applied, and is therefore worthless except to those who have made it, in greater or less degree, a personal possession. The value of history is, indeed, not scientific but moral; by liberalizing the mind, by deepening the sympathies; by fortifying the will, it enables us to control not society, but ourselves–a much more important thing.”
Carl Becker
ON FLUNKING A NICE BOY OUT OF SCHOOL
I wish I could teach you how ugly
decency and humility can be when they are not
the election of a contained mind but only
the defenses of an incompetent.
Were you taught
meekness as a weapon? Or did you discover
by chance maybe, that it worked on mother
and was generally a good thing–
at least when all else failed–to get you over
the worst of what was coming. Is
that why you bring
these sheepfaces to Tuesday?
They don’t do.
It’s three months work I want, and
I’d sooner have it
from the brassiest lumpkin in
teendom, but have it,
than all these martyred repentences
from you. – John Ciardi
DAILY SYLLABUS SPRING 2016
History 2610-006 Office: Wooten Room 253
Office Hours MW 1:00-2:00 MW 5:00-6:00
Or by appointment
I DO NOT DO TEXT MESSAGING, nor do I tweet, twitter, caw, cackle, hoot, screech, quack, crow, or make any other sort of bird noises in public.
Generally speaking emails will be answered during my office hours
TEXTS:Berkin, et al MAKING AMERICA: A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.. There are two versions of this text available. The local bookstores have the paper edition available for sale. In addition there is an electronic edition available at a considerable savings.
Mintz, Stephen. African American Voices. 2ndOR 3rd Edition.
RULES:1. The permanent rules are eternal; only I can modify them. IT SHOULD BE NOTED HERE THAT THIS IS A SYLLABUS FOR A CLASS—IT IS NOT A CONTRACT.
!
2. You will be given three (3) hourly exams of two (2) essay questions each. They willbe graded on 100 point basis..
3. The remaining 25% of your grade will come from a 100 question multiple
choice test which will be part of the final exam. This test will be comprehensive.
4. There will be NO extra work assignments. DO NOT EVEN ASK
YOUR GRADE WILL BE BASED ON THE AVERAGE OF THESEGRADES.
SPECIAL ACCOMMODATION PROCEDURE:
Any person with special circumstances covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act should register with the OFFICE OF DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION (ODA), Suite 318A University Union Bldg. and or see the office staff in Rm. 225Wooten Hall. He/she should also inform the instructor and his assistant. Reasonable adjustments such as tape recording, examinations administered by ODA, etc. will be made by the instructor. NOTE: STUDENTS HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF OBTAINING VERIFYING INFORMATION FROM THE OFFICE OFDISABILITY ACCOMMODATION (ODA). MOREOVER, IT IS NOW REQUIRED THAT STUDENTS MUST NOTIFY THE INSTRUCTOR THAT THEY ARE REGISTERED WITH THE ODA NO LATER THAN THE END OF THE FIRST WEEK OF THE SEMESTER. IF THERE ARE SPECIAL DEADLINES OR REQUIREMENTS ESTABLISHED BY THE ODA IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STUDENT TO BRING THEM TO THE ATTENTION OF EITHER THE INSTRUCTOR OR HIS ASSISTANT IN A TIMELY MANNER.
A WARNING
PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS, READING NEWSPAPERS, READING FOR OTHER
ASSIGNMENTS OR COURSES, TELEPHONE CALLS, TEXTING, BEEPERS RINGING, ETC. IS NOT PERMITTED DURING CLASS. YOU WILL BE GIVEN TWO WARNINGS TO DESIST FROM SUCH PRACTICES, THAN OUT YOU GO. THIS IS THE FIRST WARNING.
DATEREADING ASSIGNMENTS
Jan 18-Feb 19 Berkin, et. al., Chap.1-5.
Trevor-Roper, “Europe Turns West”*
Savelle and Middlekauff, “England on the Eve of Colonization”*
Billington, “The Frontier and the American Character”*
Frederick J. Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American
History”*;
Boorstin, Daniel, “Transplanters: The Virginians”* ,
Miller, Perry, “Errand in the Wilderness”*
Bremer, Francis, “Massachusetts: The Erection of the City on the Hill”*
Gipson, L. H. “The Great War for Empire, 1754-1763"*
Feb 19 ESSAY EXAM I You are responsible for having read all of the above.
Feb 24-April 4 Berkin, et al, , Ch 5-10.
Chambers, W. N. “The Genesis of Modern Parties”*
Malone, Dumas, “The Relevance of Mr. Jefferson”*
Roche, James, “The American Constitution...”*
Elkins and McKitrick, “The Founding Fathers: The Young Men of the
Revolution”*
Degler, Carl, “The Great Experiment”*
Ostander, Gilman, “Jacksonian Democracy”*
.
April 6 EXAM II. You are responsible for the above.
.
April 11-May 4 Berkin, et al, Ch 11-15.
Dormon and Jones, “The Afro-American Slave: Life and Culture”*
Elkins, Stanley, “The Peculiar Institution”*
Mintz, AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICES, pp. v-212.
Litwack, Leon, “Abolitionism: Black and White”*
Oates, Stephen B., “The Man of Our Redemption: Abraham Lincoln and
The Emancipation of the Slaves”*
Williams, T. Harry, “The Military Systems of the North and South”*
Schlesinger, Arthur M., “What Then is the American, This New Man?”*
Turner, F. J., “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”*
May 9 1:30-3:30. FINAL EXAM. THIS WILL BE A TWO PART
EXAMINATION.
THE ESSAY PORTION OF THE FINAL WILL COVER ALL OF THE READING MATERIALS SINCE EXAM II.
THE MULTIPLE CHOICE PORTION OF THE FINAL WILL BE BASED SOLELY ON BERKIN ET AL AND CUMULATIVE.
*ON RESERVE UNT LIBRARY AND ONLINE AT BLACKBOARD
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