COURSE
INFORMATION
Syllabus
(Wed evening class)
Major
Themes in United States History
Guidelines for Thematic Essays and Presentations
Sample
Essay
WEEK 1: COURSE INTRODUCTION
Week 1 Assignments
and Progress Report Cover Sheet
Topic 1.1. Personal Course Objectives
Topic 1.2. History as an Academic Discipline
Topic 1.3. The
Historian's Toolbox
Topic 1.4. Why Study History?
Week 1 Discussion
Questions
THE COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY
EXPERIENCES
WEEK 2: The Settlement of North America
Week 2
Assignments and Progress Report Cover Sheet
Topic 2.1. Background for Colonization
Topic 2.2. The Motives for British Colonization
Topic 2.3. Spanish, French, and English Settlement
Topic 2.4. What Historians Say: Christopher Columbus
Week 2 Discussion
Questions
WEEK 3: The English
Transplantation
Week 3
Assignments and Progress Report Cover Sheet
Topic 3.1. The Southern Colonies
Topic 3.2. The New England Colonies
Topic 3.3. The Middle Colonies
Week 3 Discussion Questions
WEEK 4:
Society & Culture in Provincial America
Week 4
Assignments and Progress Report Cover Sheet
Topic 4.1. Colonial Pop., Econ., & Society
Topic 4.2. The Enlightenment in America
Topic 4.3. The Great Awakening
Leyrman's
Article on Great Awakening
Week 4 Discussion Questions
WEEK 5: The Empire Under
Strain
See Announcement in Blackboard for This Week's Assignments
Topic 5.1. The Imperial Problem
Topic 5.2 The Western Problem & Origins of National Character
Topic 5.3. The Problem of Colonial Taxation
WEEK 6: The American Revolution
Topic 6.1. The American Revolution
Topic 6.2. War and American Society
THE EARLY NATIONAL/DEMOCRATIC EXPERIENCE
WEEK SEVEN
Development of a Federal Constitution
Topic 7.1 Creating Republican Institutions
Topic 7.2 The Constitution of 1787
Topic 7.3 Ratification of the Constitution
WEEK EIGHT
The New Nation
Topic 8.1 Establishing a New Government
Topic 8.2 The Political Crisis of the 1790s
Topic 8.3 The First Party System: Federalists v. Republicans
WEEK NINE
The Republicans Take Office
Topic 9.1 The Jeffersonian Presidency
Topic 9.2 Foreign Entanglements and the War of 1812
Topic 9.3 The Quest for a Republican Society
WEEK TEN
An Expanding Economy
Topic 10.1 Economic Development and Expansion of Markets
Topic 10.2 Changes in the Social Structure
Topic 10.3 Maintaining the Balance of Power
WEEK ELEVEN
A Democratic Revolution
Topic 11.1 The Rise of Popular Politics
Topic 11.2 The Jacksonian Presidency
Topic 11.3 The Second Party System: Whigs and Democrats
EXAM 2
WEEK
TWELVE
THE CIVIL WAR EXPERIENCE
The Reform Impulse in America
Topic 12.1 The Second Great Awakening
Topic 12.2 Efforts to Reform Society
Topic 12.3 The Women's Movement
WEEK
THIRTEEN
Regional Distinctiveness
Topic 13.1 The Industrial North
Topic 13.2 The Agrarian South and the System of Slavery
WEEK
FOURTEEN
Westward Expansion
Topic 14.1 Manifest Destiny
Topic 14.2 The Push to the Pacific
Topic 14.3 The War with Mexico
WEEK
FIFTEEN
Sectional Conflict
Topic 15.1 The Compromise of 1850
Topic 15.2 the End of the Second Party System
Topic 15.3 The Triumph of the Republicans
WEEK
SIXTEEN
The Civil
War and Reconstruction
Topic 16.1. The American Civil War
PowerPoint Version (for fast connections)
PDF Version (for average connecions)
Outline Version (for slow connections)
Topic 16.2. The Civil War in Perspective
Sectional Conflict and Compromise Worksheet (PDF Format)
Section Conflict and Compromise Worksheet (RTF Format) |
