Fall 2015 Paul A. Gilje
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Office Phone: 325-1348 9:30-10:30
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History 1483
Each student is required to read the assignments in the following books:
Daniel K. Richter Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Past (Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press, 2013) ISBN 9780674072367
Paul A. Gilje, The Making of the American Republic, 1763-1815 (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2006) ISBN-10: 0131836676 ; ISBN-13: 9780131836679
Harry Watson, Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America (New York: Hill and Wang, 2006) ISBN 9780809065479
John Ashworth, The Republic in Crisis, 1848-1861 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) ISBN 9781197639232
You are also expected to read the documents package for the first paper, The Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution
There will be two in-class exams and a final. All tests are closed book. Study guides will be provided approximately two weeks before each exam to assist your preparation. To guarantee the integrity of the exam you will bring two blue books to class, with your name upon them, on the date indicated. The in-class exams will consist of a set of items you will have to identify in clear and coherent paragraphs focusing on who, what, where, and why of the item – the why refers to why the item is important in American history. The final will include an identification part from the third unit and a comprehensive essay.
Regular class attendance is also mandatory. Every fifth missed class lecture will bring your grade down one letter. Every third missed discussion session will bring your grade down one letter. Class participation is encouraged in both lecture and discussion sections. Be prepared to ask and answer questions on the course material every class meeting.
The Research Papers for the American History Survey
The research papers are exercises in research and writing. They are designed to enhance both analytical and communication skills and provide a deeper understanding of the interpretive function of thinking about and studying history.
The first paper will be approximately 1000 words and is based on the set of documents on English and Native American contact in early Virginia provided on the course website. Using the three documents provided, write an essay on the English view of Native Americans in early seventeenth-century Virginia. What are the limitations of these documents in understanding contact between Native Americans and Europeans?
Writing this paper will entail four steps. 1. Each student will read the documents to gain command of what they say. 2. Then each student will develop a thesis (an argument) based on your evaluation of the documents. 3. Each student will then create a structure for the essay, focused around an argument, with a clear introduction and conclusion, and a main body that discusses how the documents substantiate the thesis. 4. Finally each student will write the paper.
The completed paper will be submitted in hard copy in lecture on September 21, 2015 and on D2L sometime on the same day.
The second paper builds on the learning experience of the first paper and begins with the pairing of a single primary and a single secondary source in a list provided on the course website. The second paper will be approximately 2,000 words. The pairing of a primary and secondary source offers some background on the key issues surrounding the paper topic and includes suggested areas for continued research. The student’s paper can focus on the document itself, or build out from the document to examine a related area of inquiry. If focusing on the document the student might explore how the document was viewed at the time or look to provide a larger context for the document. If the student wishes to build out further from the document, the document and secondary source might serve as a launching point to examine a subject close to the document. Rather than looking at the emancipation proclamation, for instance, the student might want to write about the process of dealing with blacks freed by the fighting in the Civil War.
The students will be guided through the process of researching and writing these papers in discussion section and by material found on the course website. Each student must have selected a paper topic by the discussion section meeting in week seven. In discussion section after November 9 each student will submit an annotated bibliography on the primary sources to be used in the paper (one page with one or two sentences on each source). The following week an introductory paragraph stating the thesis (200 to 300 words of text) is due in discussion section. The research paper is due Monday, November 23, 2015. Each student will submit the paper in hard copy in lecture and on D2L sometime that day. In addition, each student will submit the graded annotated bibliography and the graded introductory paragraph in class along with the final paper.
The website contains several videos focused on a variety of different writing skills. Students are encouraged to view these tutorials as needed. In particular prior to writing the first essay students should view the “Thesis” and “Integrating Quotations I” tutorials. Students should also watch the “Paragraph Unity” and “Introductions” video while working on the second paper.
There is no absolute number of sources each student should use. A great deal will depend on the subject matter and length of the sources. As a rule of thumb, however, in addition to the primary source in the original pairing, each student should aim to have at least ten primary sources as a target figure, and a total of approximately 50 pages of primary source material. The students will also need to work with at least one additional secondary source, preferably another journal article or an essay in a book.
Summary of Grading:
Your grade will be determined by your work in the following proportions:
Document Based Essay 100 points
Bibliography and Introductory Paragraph 25 points
Research paper 225 points
First Exam 100
Second Exam 100
Final Exam 250
Discussion Participation 200
All late work will be severely penalized
Any student in this course who has a disability that may prevent him or her from demonstrating his or her abilities should contact me personally so we can discuss accommodations necessary to ensure full participation and facilitate your educational opportunities.
Religious Observances: It is university policy to excuse the absences that “result from religious observances and to provide without penalty for the rescheduling of examinations and additional required work that may fall on religious holidays.”
LECTURE TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Unit I: Colonial America
Discovery and First Plantations
Aug. 24: First Class and Perspectives
Aug. 26: Two Worlds Meet
Richter, Preface and Chaps 1-3
Aug. 31: Virginia
Richter, Chaps 4-5
Documents
Sept. 2: New England
Richter, Chap 6
Maturing Society
Sept. 9: Building an Empire
Richter, Chaps 7-10
Sept. 14: Social Instability
Richter, Chaps 11-12
Sept. 16: Slavery
Richter Chaps 13-14
Sept. 21: Provincial Society
Document Based Paper Due
Sept. 23: Eighteenth Century Society
Richter 15-16
Sept 28: First Examination
Unit II: The Democratic Revolution
The Rebellion
Sept. 30: Crisis of Empire
Gilje, Preface, Chap 1
Oct. 5: Resistance
Declaration of Independence
Oct. 7: Republicanism
Gilje, Chap 2
Oct. 12: Revolutionary War
Oct. 14: Creating a Republic
Gilje, Chap 3
Oct. 19: Revolution as a Social Movement
Gilje, Chap 4
Oct. 21: Constitution
US Constitution
The Early Republic
Oct. 26: Rise of Party Politics
Gilje 5-7
Oct. 28: Dawning of Democracy
Gilje 8-10, Epilogue
Nov. 2: Second examination
Unit III: Development of Modern America
Two Nations Apparently One
Nov. 4: Politics of the Common Man
Watson, Preface, Introduction, Chap 1
Nov 9: Slavery
Watson, Chap 2
Bibliography Due
Nov. 11: The Southern World
Watson, Chap 3
Nov. 16: Northern Economy
Watson, Chaps 4
Introduction and Thesis Statement Due
Nov. 18: Middle Class Culture
Watson, Chap 5-6
Nov. 23: Romanticism and Reform
Research Paper Due
Nov. 25: Abolition
Watson, Chap 7-8, Afterward
Nov. 30: Manifest Destiny
Ashworth, Chap 1
A Nation in Conflict
Dec. 2: House Divided
Ashworth, Chap 2-4
Dec. 7: Civil War
Ashworth, Chap 5-9
Dec. 9: Conclusion
Final Dec 16, 10:30-12:30 DAH 211