***NOTICE***

Below is the syllabus used in a prior semester. The overall structure will remain the same, but there may be some additions/subtractions in terms of readings.

History 151: American History: 1607-1877

Fall 2018

Monday & Wednesday 11:00-11:50

Lapham 162

Dr. Brian MuellerOffice Hours:

ffice: Holton

Course Description

This course will examine American history from the early encounters between Indians, Europeans, and Africans through the Reconstruction era. The course will look at the political, economic, social, and cultural events that occurred in America during this period. We will also explore how various politicians, artists, writers, and everyday peopleresponded to America’s political institutions, foreign policy, economic system, and cultural and social norms. There are no prerequisites.

Course Goals

Upon successful completion of this course, a student should be able to:

  • Identify key individuals, places, events, groups, and trends in U.Shistory prior to 1877 and explain how they affected the development of the nation (their historical significance).
  • Understand the global context of U.S. history prior to 1877 and provide specific examples of links between the US and foreign nations during this time.
  • Explain how social categories such as race, class, and gender shaped an individual’s position and opportunities in American society.
  • Understand the difference between a primary and secondary source as well as how historians use them to construct historical interpretations.
  • Offer both written and oral interpretations and criticisms of both primary and secondary sources.
  • Write a historical argument that displays an understanding of the concepts of continuity and change, and support that argument with evidence from multiple sources.
  • Work collaboratively with others to discuss and examine historical sources and express your findings regarding those sources to the larger class.

Course Structure

The lectures will provide historical background information to help you interpret and understand the primary source documents that you will need to read before your weekly discussion meeting. You should be prepared to spend a significant amount of time analyzing the primary sources that are assigned for each class; it is much more difficult to read primary sources than it is to read a textbook.

Unless you require a special accommodation, I ask that you please refrain from using computers during lecture. You’ll get far more out of this course if you use just a pen and paper to take notes. Cell phones should be silenced and put away. Lastly, arrive on time, and do not leave early.

Course Requirements

1.) Discussion Section Attendance & Participation (25%)

Attend the section you enrolled in and be ready to discuss the questions on the primary source documents with your peers and TA.

2.) In-Class Exams

There will be three exams given over the course of the semester. Each will consist of multiple choice and/or short answer and an essay. These exams are not cumulative. The exams are open book. You may use lecture notes and the course readings during the in-class exams.

a)Exam #1 (20%)

b)Exam #2 (25%)

c)Exam #3 (30%)

Required Textbook

David E. Shi’s For the Record: A Documentary History of America, Volume 1: From First Contact Through Reconstruction, Sixth Edition.

*Additional readings are posted on D2L.

Course Outline

September 5: Introduction

September 10: First Contact: Native Americans & European Conquest

  • Journal of the First Voyage of Columbus(D2L)
  • Jesuit Observations on the ‘Enslavement’ of Native American Women (D2L)
  • A Challenge to European Stereotypes of Native American Gender Relations (D2L)
  • The Jesuit Relations (FTR, 9-13)

September 12: England’s Early Colonies

  • John Smith's Impressions of the Jamestown Experience, 1607 (D2L)
  • The Generall Historie (FTR, 16-18)
  • A Declaration of the state of the Colonie and Affaires in Virginia …(D2L)
  • Bacon’s Manifesto (FTR, 20-22)
  • Wampanoag’s Grievances Before Metacom’s War (D2L)
  • Colonists’ Views of Metacom’s War (D2L)

September 17: Puritanism, the Salem Witch Trials, & the Great Awakening

  • General Observations& Model of Christian Charity (FTR, 23-26)
  • The Massachusetts Bay Colony Case Against Anne Hutchinson (FTR, 26-29)
  • Accounts of the Salem Witchcraft Trials (FTR, 45-48)
  • Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion (FTR, 51-56)

September 19: Road to Revolution

  • The Second Treatise of Civil Government (FTR, 80-86)
  • The Albany Plan of Union (FTR, 86-89)
  • Common Sense(FTR, 97-103)
  • A Loyalist Rebuttal to Common Sense(D2L)
  • Draft of the Declaration of Independence(FTR, 104-108)

September 24: The American Revolution

  • A Newspaper Debate on the Eve of the War(D2L)
  • Continental Congress Declaration of War (D2L)
  • George Washington’s1783 “Circular Letter to the States”(D2L)
  • Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, #13 (D2L)

September 26: Creating a New Republic

  • Massachusetts Bill of Rights (FTR, 116-120)
  • The Articles of Confederation (FTR, 122-125)
  • A Proclamation of Shaysite Grievances (FTR, 136-137)
  • Letters About Shay’s Rebellion (FTR, 137-138)

October 1: The People Debate the Constitution

  • Debates on Slavery (FTR, 139-143)
  • Arguments Against Ratification at the Virginia Convention (FTR, 151-158)
  • The Federalist Papers(D2L)
  • Constitution of the United States (FTR, 143-151)

October 3: Federalists in Power

October 8: Jeffersonian Republicanism

  • Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions (FTR, 173-178)
  • First Inaugural Address (FTR, 181-183)
  • John Randolph Opposes War with Britain(D2L)
  • Special Message to Congress on the Foreign Policy Crisis -- War Message (June 1, 1812)(D2L)

October 10: Exam #1

October 15:The Commercial Revolutionthe Modernization of America

  • The American System (D2L)
  • On the Election, the Court, and Improvements (FTR, 261-264)
  • The Lowell Offering(D2L)
  • The Factory System of Yankeedoodledum (FTR, 212-216)

October 17: Women & the Reformist Tradition

  • Appeal to Women to Take Part in Moral Reform (D2L)
  • What are the Duties of Woman at the Present Time (D2L)
  • Duty of American Females & Grimke’s Liberator Article (D2L)
  • Woman in the Nineteenth Century (FTR, 336-339)
  • Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions (FTR, 339-342)

October 22: The Rise of Jacksonian Democracy

  • The Democratic Principle(D2L)
  • McCulloch v. Maryland (FTR, 249-255)
  • The President’s Nullification Proclamation (FTR, 272-278)
  • Bank Veto Message (D2L)
  • A Disquisition on Government (D2L)

October 24: Revivals, Nativism, & Indian Removal

  • Lectures on Revivals of Religion (FTR, 325-328)
  • Camp Meeting (D2L)
  • The Irish in America (FTR, 219-224)
  • Imminent Dangers to the Free Institutions of the United States (FTR, 224-230)
  • Removal of the Indians (D2L)
  • The Chief’s Annual Message (FTR, 281-285)

October 29: Manifest Destiny & the West

  • Reflections on the Cession of Louisiana to the United States (FTR, 190-192)
  • Monroe Doctrine (FTR, 255-260)
  • The Great Nation of Futurity (D2L)
  • A Pioneer Woman’s Westward Journey (FTR, 348-353)
  • On the Plains (D2L)

October 31: Mexican-American War

  • Oregon—Adjourned Meeting (FTR, 353-358)
  • The President’s War Message to Congress (FTR, 358-362)
  • Speech about the Mexican War (FTR, 362-369)
  • My Country, Right or Wrong (D2L)

November 5: The Old South, King Cotton, & Slavery

  • Cotton is King (D2L)
  • Cotton—Its Political and Financial Effects (D2L)
  • The South Vindicated from the Treason . . . . (FTR, 312-318)
  • Cannibals All! Or, Slaves Without Masters(D2L)
  • The Impending Crisis of the South (FTR, 399-403)

November 7: American Slavery

  • Olaudah Equiano Recalls the Middle Passage (D2L)
  • 1740 South Carolina Slave Code (D2L)
  • Twelve Years a Slave Excerpt (D2L)
  • Trials of Girlhood (FTR, 303-306)
  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (FTR, 301-303)

November 12: Abolitionism

  • Rankin’s Letters on American Slavery (D2L)
  • Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (FTR, 244-249)
  • Propositions Defining Slavery and Emancipation (FTR, 306-309)
  • Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Society (FTR, 309-312)
  • Prejudices Against People of Color (FTR, 318-321)

November 14: Exam #2

November 19: Sectional Politics

  • Reflections on the Missouri Question (FTR, 263-266)
  • The Democratic Platform (FTR, 378-382)
  • The Republican Platform (FTR, 382-384)
  • Dred Scott v. Sanford (FTR, 384-391)
  • The Irrepressible Conflict (D2L)

November 26:The Road to Disunion

  • South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession (FTR, 403-406)
  • Speech Upon Leaving the Senate (FTR, 407-410)
  • “Corner Stone” Speech (D2L)
  • The Reasons for Our Troubles (FTR, 413-418)

November 28: The Civil War

December 3: The Civil War

December 5: The Civil War, Lincoln, & Emancipation

  • The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (FTR, 391-399)
  • Emancipation and Its Results—Is Ohio to be Africanized? (D2L)
  • Abraham Lincoln Letters (D2L)

December 10: Reconstruction

  • Wade-Davis Bill(D2L)
  • Freedmen’s Bureau Letter on Labor Contracts (D2L)
  • One Man Power vs. Congress (D2L)
  • Home-Life (D2L)

December 12: What Reconstruction? The Response of Women, African Americans, and Whites

  • The Late Convention of Colored Men (FTR, 469-470)
  • Black Codes of Mississippi (FTR, 470-473)
  • Organization and Principles of the KKK (FTR, 475-476)
  • Klan Terrorism in South Carolina (FTR, 477-481)
  • Address to the First . . . . (FTR, 481-482)
  • Preface (FTR, 428-432)