NEW HAMPSHIRE COMMUNITY TECHNICAL COLLEGE
2020 Riverside Drive, Berlin, NH 03570
COURSE OUTLINE
HIS216 U.S. HISTORY TO 1877_____
Course Number Title
_____Fall______Berlin______
Semester Location
Prepared by
Glenn R. Gagne
Instructor
September, 2006
Date
COURSE OUTLINE
COURSE NUMBER AND TITLE: HIS216 US History to 1877
CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
American History from earliest colonial settlements to the conclusion of the Civil War. Emphasis will be on the European Discovery of the Americas, development of cultural, economic and political institutions in colonial times, the coming of the revolution and consolidation of the republic, the expansion of democracy, the westward movement, and the civil war.
PREREQUISITE(S): None
Class Hours: 3
Lab Hours: 0
Credit Hours: 3
INSTRUCTOR: Glenn R. Gagne
Phone: (603) 752-1113 x 2082
E-Mail:
TEXTBOOK(S) REQUIRED: The Enduring Vision
A History of the American People
Volume 1 to 1877
Fifth Edition
Houghton Mifflin
ISBN 0-395-96078-9
GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF COURSE:
The course is intended to provide the student with historical precepts which will demonstrate the background of current social structures, of the present-day United States.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
Five exams, one research paper carrying the equivalent of one exam, no final examination. Lecture, student discussions of chapter assignments in the textbook.
GRADING POLICY:
Five exams, one term paper which carries the equivalent weight of one exam and no final exam. Each activity carries the weight of 16.66% of the final grade.
INSTRUCTOR’S POLICIES:
Examinations due on the date indicated, research paper due on the date indicated at time of first
class meeting. Late papers not accepted. In the event that a student’s cell phone, beeper, pager,
etc. goes off during class time the student will be removed from class for the remaining portion
of the period. If this occurs during the exam the exam will be collected, student removed from
class and the student will be allowed to complete the exam in the instructor’s office immediately
at the conclusion of the class period. No exceptions. Only one make up exam is permitted and
must be made up during the instructors next regularly scheduled office hour following the exam.
Failure to make up the exam as noted will result in a ZERO for the exam.
ATTENDANCE: Attendance is in keeping with all College Policies After three consecutive weeks of absences, or six cumulative absences, (eg: day class meets twice per week) prior to the 60% mark of the semester, a student will receive an AF for the course. For evening classes, that meet once per week, after three consecutive weeks of absences or three cumulative absences, prior to the 60% mark of the semester, a student will receive an AF for the course. After the 60% mark of the semester, a student will receive a WF or AF as appropriate to their academic performance at the time contingent upon the above stated absence policy. One make-up exam permitted. Term paper due on date assigned, and is due at the start of class session, e-mailed reviews posted after the class time start will not be accepted. eg: class begins at 1:00 p.m. Thursday, e-mail posted 6:00 p.m. that same day. Papers may be turned in earlier than due date. Late papers will not be accepted. Should a student not attend class the number of times the class meets per week, they will forfeit the opportunity for any make up exam. See Grade of Administrative Withdrawal in the Student Handbook for a further clarification of the instructor’s attendance policy. This policy will be adhered to for this course.
SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS OR RECOMMENDATIONS:
Students are expected to have all chapter assignments read by the beginning of the week of classes in which the material is reviewed in the lecture/discussion format.
REQUIRED TOOLS OR EQUIPMENT:
Tape recorder if desired.
COURSE TIMETABLE
CLASS/UNIT CLASS/UNIT LEARNING LEARNING ACTIVITY
NUMBER OBJECTIVE READING ASSIGNMENT
______
Week #1 The student will at the conclusion Roger—Chapter 1
of the learning activities be able Lecture/Discussion
to demonstrate through written
examination material of a cumula-
tive nature and class discussions
knowledge of the following:
a) The relationship between envi-
ronmental changes in North America
and cultural changes among its
Indian inhabitants.
b) The nature and consequences of
Native American communities’ inter-
actions and exchanges with one another.
c) The basic values Native Americans
had in common despite the vast cultural
differences that often separated them.
How these shared values compared
with those of the Europeans who
arrived after 1500.
Week #2 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 2
conclusion of the learning
COURSE TIMETABLE
CLASS/UNIT CLASS/UNIT LEARNING LEARNING ACTIVITY
NUMBER OBJECTIVE READING ASSIGNMENT
______
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination material
of a cumulative nature and class
discussions knowledge of the following:
a) How trade and warfare affected
West African and Western European
societies in the sixteenth century.
b) Which developments within
Europe were most critical in
facilitating expansion to the Americas.
c) Why other European powers were
unable to match Spain’s imperial
successes in the early years.
d) Why Native Americans sometimes
welcomed and other times resisted
European traders and colonizers.
Week #3 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 3
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) How and why did the four regions
of English North America develop
in such different ways during the
seventeenth century.
b) Why did indentured servitude give
way to racial slavery in England’s
plantation colonies. Why were both
these institutions more limited in the
nonplantation colonies.
c) How one would characterize and
compare Indian-European relations in
the various colonial regions of North
America during the seventeenth century.
d) What factors contributed most
significantly to England’s supremacy
among European powers colonizing
North America during the seventeenth
century.
Unit I Exam—Chapters 1-3
COURSE TIMETABLE
CLASS/UNIT CLASS/UNIT LEARNING LEARNING ACTIVITY
NUMBER OBJECTIVE READING ASSIGNMENT
______
Week #4 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 4
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) Why were France and Spain
unable to match Britain’s imperial
success in mainland North America
during the first half of the eighteenth
century.
b) What were the advantages and
disadvantages of British mercantilism
for the mainland colonies.
c) In what ways was the racial and
ethnic composition of North America
transformed during the first half of the
eighteenth century? What were the
principal causes of these changes?
d) The most fundamental differences
between the Enlightenment and the Great
Awakening. What, if anything, did the
two movements have in common?
Week #5 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 5
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) How and why did the Seven
Years’ War lead to a rupture between
Britain and its North American colonies.
b) The fundamental differences
between British officials and their
colonial opponents with respect to
the status and role of the colonies
within the British Empire.
c) In what ways did protests against
British policies affect political life
within the colonies.
COURSE TIMETABLE
CLASS/UNIT CLASS/UNIT LEARNING LEARNING ACTIVITY
NUMBER OBJECTIVE READING ASSIGNMENT
______
d) How colonial protesters overcame
the distinct histories and identities of
the various colonies to mount a united
front against British policies.
Week #6 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 6
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) The most critical factors enabling
the Americans to win the War of
Independence with Britain.
b) The ways the Revolution advanced
the ideals of liberty and equality in
American society, and in what ways
did it stifle them.
c) Why did it take the new nation
twelve years, from the Declaration
of Independence until the ratification
of the Constitution, to design a lasting
form of national government.
Unit II Exam – Chapters 4-6
Week #7 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 7
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) How and why did the political
consensus prevailing at the time of
Washington’s first inauguration
fracture into a two-party system by
1796.
b) Why the United States at various
times was at odds with Spain, Britain,
and France at the end of eighteenth
century.
COURSE TIMETABLE
CLASS/UNIT CLASS/UNIT LEARNING LEARNING ACTIVITY
NUMBER OBJECTIVE READING ASSIGNMENT
______
c) The principal issues that divided
Federalists and Republicans in the
presidential election of 1800.
d) The primary factors contributing to
the declining status and welfare of
nonwhites in the new republic.
Week #8 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 8
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) How Jefferson’s philosophy of
government shaped his policies toward
public expenditures, the judiciary, and
the Louisiana Purchase.
b) The divisions that emerged within
Jefferson’s Republican party during his
Second term.
c) What led James Madison to abandon
Jefferson’s policy of “peaceable coercion”
and go to war with Britain in 1812.
d) How the War of 1812 influenced
American domestic politics.
e) How the conflict in Europe worked
To the advantage of the United States
between 1800 and 1820.
Week #9 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 9
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) What caused the upsurge of westward
Migration after the War of 1812.
b) How the rise in the prices of farm
commodities after 1815 related to the
growth of banks, and how the spread of
banks related to the Panic of 1819.
c) How to account for the vast public
investment in canals during this era, and
COURSE TIMETABLE
CLASS/UNIT CLASS/UNIT LEARNING LEARNING ACTIVITY
NUMBER OBJECTIVE READING ASSIGNMENT
______
how the rise of canals and railroads
affected where Americans lived and how
they made their living.
d) How the combined effects of the
transportation revolution and the rise of
industry influenced relationships within
families and communities.
e) The winners and the losers in this
Period of swift change.
Unit III Exam – Chapters 7-9
Week #10 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 10
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) The ways American politics
became more democratic by 1840
than at the time of Jefferson’s election
in 1800.
b) What factors explained Andrew
Jackson’s popularity. How Jackson’s
policies contributed to the rise of the
rival Whig party.
c) How the Panic of 1837 and its
Aftermath solidify the two parties,
Democrats and Whigs.
d) The new assumptions about human
nature that lay behind the religious and
reform movements of the period.
Week #11 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 11
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) The ways technology transformed
the daily lives of ordinary Americans
between 1840 and 1860.
COURSE TIMETABLE
CLASS/UNIT CLASS/UNIT LEARNING LEARNING ACTIVITY
NUMBER OBJECTIVE READING ASSIGNMENT
______
b) How technological change
Contributed to new kinds of national
unity and also to new forms of social
division. The main unifying features
of technology, the principal dividing
or segmenting features.
c) How technological advances and the
expansion of the marketplace affected
American intellectual and artistic life.
Which features of technological progress
did writers and artists welcome, and
which ones dismayed or alarmed them.
Week #12 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 12
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) The major social divisions that
segmented the white South.
b) Why nonslaveholding whites came
to see their futures as bound up with
the survival of slavery.
c) The conditions in the Old South that
made it possible for a distinctive culture
to develop among the slaves, and the
predominant features of that culture.
Unit IV Exam – Chapters 10-12
Week #13 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 13
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) Why the Whig party, which had
won a thumping victory in 1840,
suffered a reversal of fortunes in the
next four years.
b) Why the annexation of Texas was
so critical an issue. How the Democrats
“sold” Texas annexation to the North
COURSE TIMETABLE
CLASS/UNIT CLASS/UNIT LEARNING LEARNING ACTIVITY
NUMBER OBJECTIVE READING ASSIGNMENT
______
in the election of 1844. Why were the
results of that election so important.
c) How the outcome of the Mexican War
intensified intersectional conflict. Why,
specifically, it split the Democratic party.
Week #14 The student will at the Boyer—Chapter 14
conclusion of the learning
activities be able to demonstrate
through written examination
material of a cumulative nature
and class discussions knowledge
of the following:
a) To what extent the Compromise
of 1850 represented a genuine meeting
of the minds between northerners and
and southerners. How, specifically,
the controversy over enforcement of the