Fall 2004

HIS 315K • United States, 1492-1865

Course Description

This course will introduce students to the history of the United States from pre-European Contact to 1865. Using primary documents and secondary sources, we will explore the changing worlds that constituted North America over several centuries of human encounters. We will place special emphasis on the conflict and accommodation of ideas, cultural values, and perceptions across ethnic, racial, political, gender, and social lines. We will also uncover how these lines were created and transgressed, how relations of power were established, and how such power was resisted or transformed. Students will also learn the fundamentals of the historian’s craft through their analysis and critique of primary and secondary materials. This course partially fulfills the legislative requirement for American history. Designed to accommodate 100 or more students. Survey of United States History from the Colonial period through the Civil War.

Grading Policy

Exams: Students are required to take two in-class exams, as scheduled in the syllabus. The exams are each weighted to count for one third of your grade. The exams will consist of one essay question and four Ids. More on this near exam time.

Paper: In addition, the students are required to write one 4-5 page paper based upon the course readings. This paper will count for one third of your final grade.

Texts

Demos, John, THE UNREDEEMED CAPTIVE: A FAMILY STORY FROM EARLY AMERICA, Vintage Books. Douglass, Frederick, NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AN AMERICAN SLAVE: WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, Yale Nota Bene. Johnson, Paul E., and Sean Wilentz, eds., THE KINGDOM OF MATTHIAS: A STORY OF SEX AND SALVATION IN 19TH CENTURY AMERICA, Oxford University Press. Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher, THE AGE OF HOMESPUN: OBJECTS AND STORIES IN THE CREATION OF AN AMERICAN MYTH, Alfred A. Knopf. Reading Packet – I will provide more information as to where to purchase this packet

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