History 170: History of the United States To 1865
Syllabus, Fall 2007

Professor David L. Carlton. For contact information, click here. For my home page, click here. All lectures meet MW 2:10-3:00 PM, 114 Furman Hall

Introduction News Discussion Sections Nuts 'n Bolts Class Schedule and Assignments

History 170 is designed to provide a general introduction to American history from its beginnings to the end of the War for Southern Independence.  We begin by examining the motives of Europeans, and more specifically the English, for expanding into the New World, then proceed to explore the ways in which English imperatives shaped their New World settlements and the peoples they displaced.  We will also note how the environment of the New World itself produced a special sort of English man and woman, and how they came to conclude that their "liberties" were best served by declaring independence from their Mother Country.

    Once independent, the "Americans" had to frame new political institutions for themselves and learn how to use them to settle conflicts without falling into anarchy.  As they learned how to govern themselves, they gained increasing security and freedom to expand across the continent (albeit at the expense of the original inhabitants).  Americans' explosive surge into the West greatly increased their wealth, not simply through the settlement of fertile land but also through the creation of  a continental economy that encouraged industrialization and urbanization.  With increased economic opportunnity and the erosion of ties to traditional communities, Americans democratized their political institutions; no longer reliant on traditional rulers to provide social institutions such as churches and schools, they devised new, voluntary approaches to building their communities.  Some Americans went further, imagining that they had the capacity to create a society in which all were equal and liberated to develop their fullest capacities.

    This expansive, egalitarian society, though, was also hamstrung by contradictions.  Native Americans were "outsiders" to be pushed aside; women were accorded a sort of "equality" but were still subject to male dominance.  Above all, American wealth and American white libertywasintimately bound up with the use of African slave labor--a system that pervaded all the British colonies before the Revolution, but became increasingly identified with the American South.  While most white northerners had little interest in extending the promise of American life to African-Americans, the slavery issue increasingly became bound up with a complex of issues separating North and South, issues that ultimately led to Secession and War.  In the end, the War itself, more than any human intent, would purge slavery from American society--but only after the bloodiest slaughter in American history.

News

Discussion Sections

Your discussion section leader is responsible for all grading. The final grade in the course will be determined as follows:

20 per cent for class participation, including regular attendance, preparation, and contribution to the discussion.

15 per cent each for two short papers (3-5 pp) dealing with two of the three assigned primary source books (Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography; Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America; Frederick Douglass, Narrative) to be handed in to the section leader at the appropriate section meeting as indicated in the schedule below. The topics will be set by the teaching staff and will be handed out two weeks in advance. Grading will be based not only on factual content and cogency of argument, but also on the quality of the writing (In our eyes, the three are inseparable). A student completing all three essays will have her lowest grade dropped.

20 per cent for the midterm examination, scheduled for October 10, and covering the readings and lectures for the first half of the course (through Week 5).

30 per cent for the final examination, testing both the material covered since the midterm exam and the student's general grasp of the course.  The primary final exam is scheduled for Wednesday, December 19 at 9:00 AM; the alternate final exam is scheduled for Saturday, December 22 at Noon.

It is of the utmost importance that the student attend the discussion section in which he or she is enrolled; the first meetings will be held on Thursday and Friday, August 30 and 31.

Your attention is called to that portion of the VU Student Handbook dealing with the Honor System. Note in particular that it is the student's responsibility to understand the principles of intellectual honesty as they apply to this course (to say nothing of how they apply to life in general). Feel free to consult the instructor or the section leaders if issues of genuine moral ambiguity arise.

Assigned Readings:

• John M. Murrin et. al., Liberty, Equality, Power: A HIstory of the American People, Fifth Edition (Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2008).
• Melvin Yazawa, ed., Documents to Accompany America's History, Sixth Edition, Volume 1: To 1877 (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007).
• Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Louis P. Masur, 2nd Ed. (Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 2003).
• Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Abridged with an Introduction by Thomas Bender (New York: The Modern Library, 1981).
• Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, ed. David W. Blight, 2nd Ed. (Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 2003).