HIST 2620: United States History Since 1865
(Big Questions in U.S. History, 1865-Present)
WH 222
SECT 007 - 8am-9:20am
SECT 008 - 9:30-10:50am
Dr. Rachel Louise Moran
Department of History
Office WH 248
Office phone: 940-369-5120
Office Hours:T/TH 2-4pm & by appointment
Teaching Assistants (TAs)
If you have questions about lectures, assignments, grading, etc. etc., your TA is your first line of defense.
SECT 007 - 8am-9:20am
Last name A-HLast name I-Z
Mr. Tyler TrevorrowMr. Aaron Fichera
SECT 008 – 9:30am-10:50am
Last name A-KLast name L-Z
Ms. Desirae HamiltonMr. Jacob McKinnon
You need to buy from the bookstore:
-American Stories: A History of the United States,Volume 2, Books a la Carte Edition, 3/E, Brands, Breen, Williams & Gross, 978-0205961689
- Runs about $100 in paperback 978-0205960903
- Runs about $65 for the a la carte version – provide your own binder
- This is the version in the UNT bookstore, and my version of choice
- Runs about $37 to rent the text for 180 days at
- KEY: VOLUME 2 (after the Civil War) and 3rd EDITION (published in 2014)
-University of North Texas Department of History Reader (Reader in American History HIST 2620), Ed. Richard Lowe
- Electronic copy, $20, purchase through bookstore
You need to find on Blackboard:(print or otherwise make accessible in and out of class)
-Primary sources, on Blackboard
-Essays on Blackboard, as listed below
Graded Assignments
Exam 1 (250 points)*
-25 multiple choice questions (6 points each, 150 total)
-1 essay (100 points)
Exam 2 (250 points)*
-25 multiple choice questions (6 points each, 150 total)
-1 essay
Exam 3 (250 points)*
-25 multiple choice questions (6 points each, 150 total)
-1 essay
Quizzes (250 points total)**
-Quizzes are taken online, and must be taken by 8am the morning of class
-You can take them as early as you want, so there are no make-ups – plan ahead.
-These are “open book,” but closed internet.
-You take a total of 11 quizzes, and drop one (only the highest 10 count)
-Each quiz has 5 questions.
-Each of these 10 is worth 25 points (2.5% of your final grade each).
*Exams are approximately 60% lecture, 40% reading (including American Stories, PPs, Blackboard readings and RAH)
** Quizzes are 100% reading (only from American Stories)
How class is structured:
We meet twice a week, for 70 minutes a session. There will sometimes be time-period appropriate music playing in the couple minutes leading into class. I urge you to listen to it as you get settled. I will turn off the music and begin class promptly at 8am/9:20am, please quiet down quickly.
Each class begins with course announcements, if there are any. Otherwise, we proceed with the lecture.
Lecture begins with a BIG question. This is an historiographical question, meaning a question historians still argue about today. Some questions are juicier than others, but all are designed to guide us through the process of historians – the work of sifting through various sources for evidence that can help us answer the BIG question. There is NOT a “right” answer. There ARE better and worse answers, though, based on how good the evidence we can bring to bear is.
The BIG question slide also lists key vocabulary terms for the day. Write down these “testable terms,” and try to make sense of them as we go. The goal is not just to DEFINE the terms, but the know the SIGNIFICANCE of the terms, aka, why THOSE specific terms are worth knowing long after you forget the nitty-gritty details.
I discuss the BIG question, especially providing some background information and broader context. Then, with class participation, we begin outlining the material we need to answer that question.
Each lecture class will include at least one Primary Pause (PP) as we consider how historians try to deal with BIG questions. The primary pause is listed on the syllabus because you will want to print or download a copy of the document and do a quick read of the document before class. Always have the PP listed WITH YOU in class. We will discuss the document, its context, and how to use it to support a thesis about the BIG question of the day.
At the end of the class we return to our BIG question. I’ll raise a couple points about the question, which, I hope, will leave you thinking about the complexities of it. When you leave class each day, you should have a grasp on the BIG question and the testable terms.
Your grade in the course is based on a combination of multiple choice and essay examinations.
Week 1:
Aug 26 – Big questions of history
Aug 28 – DidReconstruction Succeed or fail?(Government)
Due by class: American Stories (AS) chapter 16
PP: Speech by Thaddeus Stevens (BB)
Week 2:
Sept 2 – Did Reconstruction Succeed or Fail? (Citizenship)
Due by class: RAH 1, David Chalmers, “The History of the Ku Klux Klan: Rule by Terror”
PP: The First Vote (image), Harper’s(BB)
Sept 4 –How Do We Bring American Indians into the American Historical Narrative?
DUE: by class:AS chapter 17
PP:Dawes Act (BB)
Quiz 1 (Chapter 17) due on Blackboard by 8am
Week 3:
Sep 9 –Just how “Wild” was the Wild West?
DUE by class: RAH 3: Robert Kyff, “Frederick Jackson Turner and the Vanishing Frontier”
PP: John Lester, Hydraulic Mining (BB)
Sep 11 –Was 19th Century Capitalism the Domain of “Robber Barons” or of “Captains ofIndustry?”
AND – How to write a short essay!
DUE by class:AS chapter 18
Quiz 2 (Chapter 18) due on Blackboard by 8am
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Week 4:
Sep 16 –Did Opportunities Outweigh Hardships for Early 20th Century Immigrants?
DUE by class: RAH 4, Maury Klein, “The Robber Barons”
PP: George Engel, Address by a Haymarket Anarchist (BB)
Sep 18 – Should the U.S. Have Acquired Territories Overseas?
DUE by class: AS chapter 21 (yes, you’re skipping two chapters!)
PP: collected political cartoons (BB)
Quiz 3 (Chapter 21) due on Blackboard by 8am
Week 5:
Sep 23 –Was the Spanish American War a Necessary War?
DUE by class: RAH 6 – John M. Taylor, “Remembering the Maine”
PP: Yellow Journalism - Headlines (BB)
Sep 25 – Exam 1, in class - BRING EMPTY BLUE BOOK
Week 6:
Sep 30 –Were Progressive Reformers Really “progressive”?
DUE by class: AS chapter 22
PP: photographs by Jacob Riis (BB)
Quiz 4 (Chapter 22) due on Blackboard by 8am
Oct 2 – After 75+ Years of Fight, Why Was 1919 the Year for Women’s Suffrage?
DUE by class: RAH 7, William and Mary Lavender, “Suffragists Storm Over Washington D.C. in 1917”
PP: poster for suffrage parade (1913), photograph of suffragist with Kaiser Wilson banner (1918) (BB)
Week 7:
Oct 7 – Should the U.S. Have Entered World War I?
Due by class: RAH 8 – John M. Taylor, “Fateful Voyage of the Lusitania,” p. 81-92
PP: Zimmerman note(BB)
Oct 9 – Should a Democratic Government Tolerate Dissent During War?
DUE by class: AS chapter 24
PP: Sedition Act(BB)
Quiz 5 (Chapter 24) due on Blackboard by 8am
Week 8:
Oct 14 – Were the 1920s Liberal or Conservative? [Answer: Liberal]
DUE by class: AS chapter 25
PP: Eleanor Rowland Wembridge, “Petting and the Campus” (BB)
Quiz 6 (Chapter 25) due on Blackboard by 8am
Oct 16 – Were the 1920s Liberal or Conservative? [Answer: Conservative]
DUE by class: RAH 11, Robert Maddox, “The War Against Demon Rum”
PP: Hiram Evans, “The Klan’s Fight for Americanism” (BB)
Week 9:
Oct 21 – What caused the Great Depression?
Due by class:AS chapter 26
PP: FDR’s First Fireside Chat (BB)
Quiz 7 (Chapter 26) due on Blackboard by 8am
Oct 23 –Was the New Deal Radical?
DUE by class: RAH 15, Robert J. Maddox, “The ‘Kingfish’”
PP: “Rizzo Goes to Work,” Time (BB)
Week 10:
Oct 28 –Why did the U.S. Enter WWII?
DUE by class:AS chapter 27
PP: FDR address, “A Date which will Live in Infamy” (BB)
Quiz 8 (Chapter 27) due on Blackboard by 8am
Oct. 30 – Did WWII Help or Hurt Americans of Color/Women?
DUE by class: RAH 17, William R. Wilson, “World War II: Navajo Code Talkers” The GI Bill
PP: “Rosie the Riveter” lyrics (BB)
Week 11:
Nov 4 – Was the Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb the Right Decision?
DUE by class:AS chapter 28
PP: John A. Siemes, An Eyewitness to Hiroshima (BB)
Nov 6 –Exam 2, in class – BRING EMPTY BLUE BOOK
Week 12:
Nov 11 –Why did Communism Cause So Much Anxiety in Early Cold War America?
DUE by class: AS chapter 29
PP: Harry S. Truman, The Truman Doctrine (BB)
Quiz 9 (Chapter 29) due on Blackboard by 8am
Nov 13 –To what Extent did the Civil Rights Movement change America?
DUE by class: RAH 20, David J. Garrow, “Martin Luther King: The Man, the March, the Dream”
PP: TBD
Week 13:
Nov 18 – Did JFKmake the rightdecision with the Cuban Missile Crisis?
DUE by class: Blackboard: LietteGidlow, “The Great Debate: Kennedy, Nixon, and Television in the 1960 Race for the Presidency”
PP: executive meeting minutes on the Cuban Missile Crisis (BB)
Nov 20–Who was Responsible for the Vietnam War?
DUE by class: AS chapter 30
PP: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (BB)
Quiz 10 (Chapter 30) due on Blackboard by 8am
Week 14:
Nov 25 –How did Nixon Win the 1968 Presidential Election?
DUE by class: AS chapter 31
PP: Nixon campaign ad, “Crime”
Quiz 11 (Chapter 31) due on Blackboard by 8am
Nov 27 – THANKSGIVING/NO CLASS
Week 15:
Dec 2 –Did the Policies of the Reagan Administration Strengthen or Weaken the U.S.?
DUE by class:Blackboard, Michael Cox, “Ronald Reagan and the End of the Cold War: The Debate
Continues”
PP: National Security meeting minutes (BB)
Dec 4 –What Caused the “Culture Wars” of the 1990s?
DUE by class:Blackboard, Mark Anthony Neal, “Pop Music and the Spatialization of Race in the 1990s”
PP: Patrick Buchanan, Address to the Republican National Convention (BB)
Finals Week:
Sometime Dec 6-12 – Exam #3 - BRING EMPTY BLUE BOOK
Grading:
Exam 1: 250 points
Exam 2: 250 points
Exam 3: 250 points
Quizzes: 250 points
TOTAL: (out of) 1000 points
900+A
800-899B
700-799C
600-699D
Below 600F
Code of Academic Integrity: Cheating and plagiarism are academic crimes that result in a failing course grade. You cheat by copying or providing answers, hints, or help to or from another student. You commit plagiarism if you use another person’s ideas or expression in your writing without acknowledging the source. Read “Categories of Academic Dishonesty” at:
Behavior in lecture: Students will turn their cell phones off or put them on silent mode while in class. They will not answer their phones or text in class. In the classroom, students may use computers only for class-related activities. These include activities such as taking notes on the lecture underway, reviewing readings, and finding Web sites to which the instructor directs students at the time of the lecture. Students who use their computers/tablets/phones for other activities or who abuse the equipment in any way, at a minimum, will be asked to leave the class. Students are urged to report to their TAs computer use that they regard as distracting. TAs sit in the back of the class.
Accommodations: Students with disabilities who want accommodations must be registered with the Office of Disability Accommodation. Bring your letter of accommodation to me as soon as possible and before graded work is due. ODA is at the Union Suite 321, 940-565-4323.
The University of North Texas makes reasonable academic accommodation for students with disabilities. Students seeking accommodation must first register with the Office of Disability Accommodation (ODA) to verify their eligibility. If a disability is verified, the ODA will provide you with an accommodation letter to be delivered to faculty to begin a private discussion regarding your specific needs in a course. You may request accommodations at any time, however, ODA notices of accommodation should be provided as early as possible in the semester to avoid any delay in implementation. Note that students must obtain a new letter of accommodation for every semester and must meet with each faculty member prior to implementation in each class. For additional information see the Office of Disability Accommodation website at You may also contact them by phone at 940.565.4323.
Make-Ups: Students must arrange work schedules and travel plans in order to take the tests on the scheduled dates. There are no make-ups unless you have some kind of documented medical emergency or university sponsored activity. No excuses will be accepted more than 48 hours after the scheduled test date. Make-up exams will be given only to students who have a legitimate excuse, such as a severe illness, or absence due to a University-sponsored activity. The burden of supplying sufficient documentary proof rests upon the student. Students will take a different format of the exam/quiz than the original.