\ COURSE OUTLINE, SEMESTER 1

\ The Instructor reserves the right to change the syllabus and/or calendar if necessary.

\ Week 1:

\ I. PreColumbian Indians and the age of exploration (1 week)
\   a. Themes
\      i. Native America
\      ii. European quest for empire
\      iii. Clash of cultures
\   b. Content
\      i. Native cultures in North and South America
\      ii. The age of exploration
\     iii. Spanish, French, and English models of colonization, social, political, and biological exchange
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text, Chapter 1, “Meeting of Cultures”
\      ii. Diamond, Jared, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Chapter 18, “Hemispheres Colliding”
\   d. Project question: What causes the ascendancy of one society overanother?
\   e. Essay test: free response, regarding motivations of the Europeans in coming to the Americas.

\ Week 2:

\ II. Colonial America (1 week)

\   a. Themes
\      i. English legacy in America
\      ii. Development of pluralism
\      iii. Emerging regional patterns in the 13 colonies
\   b. Content
\      i. Settlement of the 13 colonies
\      ii. Social, economic, and religious patterns: southern, middle, and New England colonies
\      iii. Wars with the Indians and the French
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text: Chapter 2, “English Transplantations, “pp. 3770 and Chapter 3, Society and Culture in Provincial America,” pp.   75110
\      ii. Excerpts from David Hackett Fisher, Albion’s Seed
\      iii. Mayflower Compact
\   d. Projects and assessments
\      i. Multiple choice test, from text
\      ii. Essay: What was the synergy of the two societies (English and Indian) represented in colonial America?
\      iii. Project: create a chart detailing the points of the Mayflower Compact

\ Week 3 and 4:

\ III. Causes of the American Revolution (2 weeks)
\
\   a. Themes
\      i. Changing English policies and attitudes toward the colonies
\      ii. Our “rights as Englishmen”
\      iii. The tortuous road to independence
\   b. Content
\      i. The acts of Parliament and the American response
\      ii. The ambiguity of “no taxation without representation”
\      iii. The road to war
\      iv. From the Olive Branch Petition to Independence
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text, Chapter 5, “The American Revolution,” pp. 151185
\      ii. Selected readings, Thomas Paine, Common Sense, John Locke, Two Treatises on Government, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, JeanJacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, The Declaration of Independence
\   d. Projects and assessments
\      i. DBQ, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau and their impact on the founding fathers
\      ii. Project: create a graph showing the percent of population that were loyalist and patriot

\ Week 5:

\ IV. The Revolution and its aftermath (1 week)

\   a. Themes
\      i. Washington’s leadership, French Alliance, and British blunders
\      ii. A conservative or radical revolution?
\      iii. The difficulties of starting a nation
\   b. Content
\      i. Evolution of the Revolution
\      ii. Military victory and the Treaty of Paris
\      iii. The failure of the Articles of Confederation
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text, Chapter 5, “The American Revolution,” pp. 151185
\      ii. Selected readings, Thomas Paine, The Crisis, David McCulloch, 1776
\      iii. The Articles of Confederation
\   d. Assessments
\      i. Multiple choice test
\      ii. Essay: “A little blood” the legacy of Bacon’s and Shay’s Rebellion

\ Week 6:

\ V. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights

\   a. Themes
\      i. The importance of compromise
\      ii. Balance of power and the rule of law
\      iii. States rights and unity
\   b. Content
\      i. The call for federal power
\      ii. Writing the constitution
\         1. separation of power
\         2. fear of the mob
\         3. large state, small state
\         4. ratification and the Bill of Right
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text: Chapter 6, “Framing a New Government,” pp. 193203
\      ii. The United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights
\      iii. Selected readings from The Federalist Papers
\   d. Assessments
\      i. Multiple choice test
\      ii. Project: Essay, Why did the founding fathers distrust democracy?

\ Week 6 and 7:

\ VI. The Early Republic (2 weeks)

\   a. Themes
\      i. Leadership of Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson
\      ii. National growth and the growth of Nationalism
\      iii. Keeping Europe at arms length
\   b. Content
\      i. Getting started: Washington, Adams, and the Marshall Court
\      ii. The debate of national vision, Jefferson and Hamilton, states rights versus federal power
\      iii. Napoleon and the U.S.
\      iv. The war of 1812
\      v. The Era of Good Feeling and the “corrupt bargain”
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text: Chapter 6, “Constitution and the New Republic,” pp. 204215, Chapter 7, “The Jeffersonian Era,”236260,
\ Chapter 8, “Era of Good Feelings,” pp. 273282
\      ii. Jefferson’s 1800 inaugural speech
\   d. Assessments
\      i. Essay: Agrarian Republic or Manufacturing Republic?
\      ii. Project: Create a chart for landmark Marshall Court rulings, giving circumstances, ruling, rationale, and effect
\      iii. Compare Jefferson’s 1800 inaugural address with George W. Bush’s 2000 inaugural address

\ Week 8 and 9:

\ VII. The Age of Jackson (2 weeks)

\   a. Themes
\      i. Party politics and the advance of democracy
\      ii. The phenomenon of Andrew Jackson
\      iii. The specter of sectionalism
\   b. Content
\      i. Jackson’s election, a new breed of leader
\      ii. The spoils system
\      iii. Jackson and the Indians
\      iv. Nullification and John Calhoun
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text, “Revival of Opposition,” pp. 283286, Chapter 9, “Jacksonian America,” pp. 291320
\      ii. Alexis d’Tocqueville, Democracy in America
\      iii. Excepts from the WebsterHayne debates
\   d. Assessments
\      i. Multiple choice test
\      ii. Essay, Tocqueville, Liberty or Equality?

\ Week 10 and 11:

\ VIII. The Birth of the Modern Age (2 weeks)

\   a. Themes
\      i. Our changing civilization
\      ii. The evolution of national thought, art, and culture
\      iii. Emerging sectional economies
\   b. Content
\      i. Invention and the beginnings of the industrial revolution in America
\      ii. Changes in society and the development of cities
\      iii. Abolition, women’s rights, and reform
\      iv. Utopian societies
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text: Chapter 7 “Rise of Cultural Nationalism” and “Stirrings of Industrialism” pp. 371395, Chapter 10, “America’s Economic Revolution” pp. 325365, Chapter 12, “Antebellum Culture and Reform” pp. 399424
\      ii. Seneca Falls, Declaration of Sentiments
\   d. Assessments
\      i. Terms test
\      ii. Essay; Why were the Utopian Societies important in our development as a nation?

\ Week 12 and 13:

\ IX. The Westward Movement before the Civil War (2 weeks)

\   a. Themes
\      i. Manifest Destiny
\      ii. U.S. expansion, the Mexican point of view
\      iii. U.S. expansion, the Indian point of view
\   b. Content
\      i. Penetration of the TransMississippi West
\      ii. The Mexican War and its consequences
\      iii. The gold rush and its aftermath
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text, Chapter 8 “Expanding Westward,” pp. 269273, Chapter 13, “Looking Westward,” and “Expansion and War.” Pp. 429442
\      ii. Excerpt from David Lavender, Bent’s Fort
\      iii. Albert Pike’s impressions of the Great Plains
\   d. Assessments
\         1. Multiple choice test
\         2. Essay: Was genocide a part of U.S. policy concerning the Indians?

\ Week 14 and 15:

\ X. Causes of the Civil War (2 weeks)

\   a. Themes
\      i. Manifest Destiny and slavery
\      ii. Sectionalism and southern nationalism
\      iii. Slavery as core of conflict
\   b. Content
\      i. The history of American Slavery
\      ii. Sectional issues after 1848
\      iii. Lincoln’s election, secession, and Fort Sumter
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text: Chapter 11, “Cotton, Slavery, and the Old South,” pp371395 Chapter 13, “Sectional Debated” and “Crisis of the 1850’s,” Chapter 14, pp. 442462, “Secession Crisis” pp. 467474
\      ii.Dred Scott v. Sanford
\      iii. Excerpts from LincolnDouglas debates
\      iv. I. A. Newby, The South, A History
\   d. Assessments
\      i. Essay: Race and Racism in the Coming of the Civil War
\      ii. Terms test
\      iii. Project: Identify the main qualities of the Missouri Compromise, The Compromise of 1850, and the Dred Scott decision that would bring the U.S. to civil war

\ Week 16 and 17:

\ XI. The Civil War and Reconstruction (2 weeks)

\   a. Themes
\      i. The American people and the Civil War
\      ii. Restoring the Union
\     iii. From slave to Freedman
\   b. Content
\      i. Waging the Civil War, Gettysburg and Vicksburg
\      ii. Northern victory
\      iii. Reconstruction
\         1. Reconstruction plans
\         2. Reconstruction Acts
\         3. Compromise of 1877
\      iv. Jim Crowism
\         1. court cases
\         2. dejure segregation
\   c. Readings
\      i. Text; Chapter 14, “The Civil War,” pp. 474501, Chapter 15 “Reconstruction and the New South,” pp. 507549
\      ii. Selected readings from Shelby Foote
\      iii. Excerpts from Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage
\      iv. Slaughterhouse Case, Civil rights Cases
\   d. Assessments
\      i. Projects, choice of one
\         1. White paper: Protocols of War: logistics, objectives, philosophy
\         2. Create a diary of a common soldier on either side, North or South, detailing life in army. Your soldier must be with
\ the Army of the Potomac or the Army of Virginia.
\         3. Write a report of a social worker for the Freedman’s Bureau.  This report is going back to Washington, D.C. and will be read before Congress. Detail life in the south for the Freedmen and what the Freedman’s Bureau is doing for them.
\