Course Syllabus
History of the United States, 1789-1896
HIS-2402
St. Francis College, Room 3402
Wednesday/Friday: 12:20-1:45 p.m.
Christopher Adam Mitchell
Office hours: Wednesday, 2-3 p.m. and by appointment
Contact: chmitche@icloud.com
Course Description
How did the foundation of the United States of America shape the national identities, markets, social networks, cultural forms, and everyday lives and interactions of both elites and “ordinary” people in the era of the early republic (1789-1828)? How was “American” identity historically defined by citizenship and participation in mass democracy during the Antebellum Era (1828-1856), and what are the implications of those many people—a clear majority—who could not vote or participate in electoral politics because they were African-American (both slave and free), women, Native Americans, and immigrants? How did the claims of a democratic republic founded on “government by the people” square with the historical consolidation of status, power, and wealth among elite, white, Protestant men? How did the many divisions over slavery—regional and ideological—bring about the failure of the American state during the Civil War era (1856-1865)? How did the United States recover and rebuild during Reconstruction (1865-1877), and how did African-Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and women of all races reshape American culture and society in the aftermath of the country’s deadliest war? How did the radical experiment with racial democracy undertaken during Reconstruction give rise to one of the most virulently racist societies in global history, and how did people of color and immigrants resist and survive the murderously violent racism unleashed during the Jim Crow era? Finally, how can we account for the promise of technological and social progress with the incredible disparities of wealth and poverty in the so-called Gilded Age, from Reconstruction to the 1890s?
Through a combination of in-class discussion, lectures, and interactive on-line exercises, we will attempt to answer these questions through a critical interpretation of primary source documents as well as historiography, or the body of literature written by professional historians and other scholars of the past.
Learning objectives
Through a combination of lectures, student-facilitated class discussion, and writing assignments, students will encounter some of the basic concepts in the history and historiography of the United States from the Early Republican Era to the Gilded Age of the 1890s. Students will learn to define and discuss critical issues from this historical field through a combination of lectures, student-facilitated class discussion forums, and a combination of short written assignments, a historiographical essay, and a comprehensive final examination. Students will learn to identify and interpret primary source evidence, summarize and analyze the arguments and supporting points of secondary assessments by historians, and synthesize these basic elements in class discussion and writing.
Before you continue reading this syllabus, please understand the following:
- This syllabus is akin to a contract between student and instructor, and you need to read it carefully in order to understand the expectations of each role. The student is responsible for attending to the coursework and maintaining the reading and assignment schedule listed in the syllabus, while the instructor is tasked with insuring that the class keeps up with the reading and assignments schedule. The instructor is responsible for providing assignments, podcasts, and supplementary materials with clear instructions, guidelines, and goals. If necessary, the instructor must also upload readings to Blackboard in a timely manner. Students must download, borrow, purchase or otherwise obtain all required readings listed on the syllabus. Additionally, students are responsible for following all written directions on prompts for assignments and supplementary materials. Students are also responsible for reviewing rubrics used to evaluate assignments. If the syllabus needs to be altered for any reason, the instructor will inform you specifically in writing. Otherwise, it is your responsibility to read the syllabus and stay on top of the calendar of readings and assignments.
- Make sure that you understand and participate in the digital components of class, especially Blackboard, especially if this is an on-line course. Check your email on a regular basis so that announcements and messages from the instructor reach you in a timely manner. If you need to communicate with the instructor via email, please make sure that you state your full name, the class in which you are enrolled, and whatever question or issue you need the instructor to address. If you have a problem that cannot be addressed over email, then you need to come into the instructor’s office hours.
- Please do not, under any circumstances, email me coursework for this class and expect it to be accepted as an official submission. All work must be posted to Blackboard and/or through Turnitin.com. Your email will be deleted and you will not earn credit for that assignment. Included in your coursework are quizzes, shorter assignments, papers, journals, and/or take-home exams, all of which must be submitted through Turnitin and/or Blackboard or, where appropriate, turned in as a hard copy. Again, students will not earn credit if they email assignments or submit them in any way other than the instructions require. You may, of course, email me if you have questions about any assignment, but please do not expect to be graded for submissions sent to my inbox.
- Unless directed by the instructor or the assignments, please do not use sources not listed on the syllabus or from outside of podcast material and podcast notes. If you are required to do research, assignments will give you specific directives and the instructor will go over standard research methods. If this is not a class with a research paper or another assignment that asks you to look for outside sources, then please do not, under any circumstances, use sources from outside of the class. The course materials were selected with great care, and the vast majority of undergraduate students (and even many graduate students) may not know how to select the best sources for papers, exams, and other assignments without extensive instruction. The purpose of the class is, in part, for you to critically read and respond to the readings, and if you are using outside sources you will not be able to do this. If this course has a research component, then only include sources from outside the class that are required by specific assignments. The use of Wikipedia.com or any other on-line encyclopedia as well as Sparknotes, Shmoop, or any other study guide website as a source on an assignment will result in automatic failure of any assignment and a request to resubmit the work at a late penalty.
- Grades are generally assessed according to a rubric, and students who attend to the prompt and demonstrate the greatest knowledge and analysis of the details in the readings and podcasts will obviously do better. Please make sure that you read all assignments carefully, since the rubric will be generated from the questions and expectations stated on all assignments. The instructor may not always have time to comment extensively on essay assignments, so students should avail themselves of the rubric in order to understand how they earn and lose credit on assignments. The instructor will always be available for consultation about any evaluation in class for any reason, and rubrics are generally viewable via Blackboard and/or Turnitin.
Classroom policies
Attendance and absences. Attendance is mandatory. The instructor will use lecture time to contextualize and explain readings. Many lectures will introduce students to film clips, images, music, and other primary source media that cannot be obtained outside of class. Occasional illness (including illness of a child, parent, or other dependent), serious injury, transportation delays, and bereavement are inevitable. However, it is not the instructor’s responsibility to “catch you up.” If you must miss a class meeting, please assume personal responsibility for work missed. Exchange contact information with a classmate to help you keep up with your lectures. Given the time constraints and other classmates’ needs, students should not expect the instructor to repeat or summarize a lecture via e-mail or during office hours.
Be on time. Students who are repeatedly late may be documented, which may result in the penalization of the attendance/participation grade.. Students will receive an unexcused absence for every four documented instances of tardiness. Students who are more than half an hour late to class will not be marked present. Tardiness will only be excused with proper documentation.
Stay the entire time. The instructor may mark as absent all students who leave the class and do not return before its conclusion. Students who do so may only be excused in case of a medical emergency or with proper documentation.
The instructor will only excuse absences with proper documentation, and all students who miss classes must meet with the instructor during office hours in order to receive an excuse regardless of documentation. Students who simply e-mail the instructor or provide no documentation will not be excused. Furthermore, students will lose half a letter grade (5 percentage points) of their FINAL COURSE GRADE after the fourth unexcused absence. Students who miss eight or more classes through any combination of excused or unexcused absences will not earn credit for the course. Such students should withdraw from the course.
E-management, organization, and podcasts. Students must participate in all aspects of the course, including Blackboard assignments. Students must have a working Rutgers username and password, as well as the coordination of e-mail and Blackboard usage. The instructor will frequently send e-mail reminders and assign material on Blackboard. In the event that the instructor cannot hold a physical class meeting—typically due to inclement weather or conflict with an academic conference—the instructor will post a podcast and lecture slides. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with podcasts and lecture slides just as they are responsible for attending in-class lecture. Podcasts and lecture slide material may be used for written assignments, quizzes, and exams.
Students are responsible for keeping up with and contributing to any on-line components of the class. Please do not contact the instructor if you have a problem with Blackboard access. If students have e-management issues, students should immediately contact the Newark Computing Services Help Desk, located in Hill Hall 109 at 973-353-5083. In order to ensure a prompt response from the instructor, please familiarize yourself with the document, FAQs about E-mails and Instructor Availability, located on the Syllabus and Course Information Page.
Student conduct. Please be respectful of your peers, your instructor, and the university setting. Students may be asked to leave the class for the following reasons: cell phone use and texting during class (except for students with children and/or other dependents), using laptops to surf social media and other irrelevant websites, sleeping in class, persistently talking or whispering while the instructor or other students are speaking, blatant disruptions, and ad hominem attacks on other students or the instructor, including attacks couched in racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, discrimination based on ability, and religious intolerance.
Course readings. Students must complete the readings before each class meeting, prepared to bring questions and comments for class. Students must purchase or otherwise obtain copies of the required texts. All other texts will be available on the course blackboard page. Students are required to bring the readings to class in order to reference page numbers and other references to the readings in lectures. Students will read an average of 40-45 pages per class meeting. Although on a handful of days we will exceed that limit, many days will consist of only 15-20 pages of readings. Some students may find the amount of reading difficult, and such students should make plans to dedicate extra hours in order to successfully complete the course readings. The instructor suggests that students schedule or otherwise dedicate 3-6 class hours per week reading and studying for this course. The instructor expects students to complete all the assigned readings before the date they appear on the calendar, and students should expect the instructor to call on them and ask questions about the readings at any time. In addition to the readings listed on the course calendar, students are responsible for reading all supplemental materials, including the syllabus, the writing guide, and all prompts.
Late policy. Late work submitted without documentation will be accepted only at the discretion of the instructor. Late work submitted without a documented excuse may be assessed up to a 50-point penalty.
Statement on Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
If you plagiarize, you will at a minimum fail the assignment, and you may possibly fail the course. Students will submit all written work to Turnitin, and students must sign the University honor pledge when submitting any in-class assignments. Any student who commits plagiarism or other acts of academic dishonesty will be asked to withdraw from the course. Violations will be reported to the appropriate university authorities and may result in further disciplinary action. Academic dishonesty includes unauthorized collaboration on homework assignments and, of course, cheating on in-class assignments.
Coursework
Quizzes and short written assignments (45%). Students will complete reading quizzes in class as well as short written assignments (500-1,000 words) to be completed and submitted to Turnitin on-line. Students will complete at least one quiz or short writing assignment about once every two weeks, for a total of about six over the course of the semester.
Historiographical Essay (20%). Students will write a historiographical essay consisting of no fewer than 1,800 words, a more detailed prompt of which will be available on Blackboard. Historiographical essays will examine either a peer-reviewed article or a book. Students will submit a research plan by no later than October 5, outlining the article or book they have chosen, an overview of the article in the article or book they have chosen, as well as a brief description of the primary sources in the article or book.
Final Examination (35%). Students will complete a comprehensive in-class and take-home final to be determined by the College.
Required Readings
All required readings for this course will be posted to Blackboard.
Calendar
Unit 1: The Early Republic (1789-1829)
Week 1. Introducing United States History from 1789-1829
September 7 Introduction
September 9 Constitution (United States of America)
Week 2. The Early National Political Economy
September 14 “Competing Visions of National Development in the Early National Period” from Major Problems in U.S. History: 164-195
September 16 “The Transportation, Market, and Communication Revolutions of the Early Nineteenth Century” from Major Problems in U.S. History: 231-262
Week 3. Westward Expansion and Ethnic Cleansing in the “Empire of Freedom”
September 21 Timothy D. Willig, “Prophetstown on the Wabash: The Native Spiritual Defense of the Old Northwest,” Michigan Historical Review 23:2 (1997): 115-158
September 23 1) Theda Perdue, “Cherokee Women and the Trail of Tears,” The Journal
of Women’s History 1:1 (1989): 14-30; 2) “The Cherokee Memorials”
Week 4. Religious and Social Life in the United States
September 28 “Reform and the Great Awakening in the Early Nineteenth Century” from Major Problems in U.S. History: 295-326
September 30 Anthony Santoro, “The Prophet in His Own Words: Nat Turner’s Biblical Construction,” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 116:2 (2008): 114-149
Unit 2: Jacksonian Democracy (1829-1856)
Week 5. The Political Chronology of the Second Party System and the Culture of Antebellum Slave Society
October 5 “Nationalism, Sectionalism, and Expansion in the Age of Jackson” from Major Problems in U.S. History: 263-294
October 7 Deborah Gray White, “Jezebel and Mammy: The Mythology of Female Slavery” from Ar’n’t I a Woman?
Week 6. Religion and Conflict in the Antebellum Era
October 12 1) Gordon S. Wood, “Evangelical America and Early Mormonism,” New York State History 61:4 (October 1980): 358-386; 2) Jessie L. Embry, “Effects of Polygamy on Mormon Women,” Frontiers: A Journal of Womens Studies 7:3 (1984): 56-61
October 14 William E. Gienapp, “Nativism and the Creation of a Republican Majority in the North before the Civil War,” Journal of American History 72:3 (December 1985): 529-559
Week 7. Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny
October 19 David E. Narrett, “A Choice of Destiny: Immigration, Policy, and the Annexation of Texas,” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 100:3 (1997): 271-302
October 21 Christopher Herbert, “‘Life’s Prizes Are by Labor Got’: Risk, Reward, and White Manliness in the California Gold Rush,” Pacific Historical Review 80:3 (2011): 339-368
Unit 3: The Civil War Era and Reconstruction (1856-1877)
Week 8. “Bleeding Kansas” and Fugitive Resistance
October 26 Stephen Middleton, “The Fugitive Slave Crisis in Cincinatti, 1850-1860: Resistance, Enforcement and Black Refugees,” The Journal of Negro History 72:1/2 (1987): 20-32; 2) Harriet Jacobs (Linda Brendt), “The Flight,” Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
October 28 1) James Baldwin, Frank Shatz, Russell Banks, “John Brown’s Body,” Transition 81/82 (2000): 250-266; 2) “Careening toward Civil War” from Major Problems in U.S. History: 383-413
Week 9. Death, Destruction, and Reconstruction
November 2 “The Civil War” from Major Problems in U.S. History: 414-444
November 4 “Reconstruction” from Major Problems in U.S. History: 445-480
Week 10. Reconstruction and the Contested Meanings of Democracy
November 9 Joel M. Sipress, “From the Barrel of a Gun: The Politics of Murder in Grant Parish,” Louisiana History (2001): 303-321
November 11 “Varieties of Nineteenth Century Feminism,” from Major Problems in American Women’s History: 200-224
Unit 4: Post-Reconstruction Contradictions: The Gilded Age, Populism, and Jim Crow (1877-1896)
Week 11. Technological Transformations
November 16 1) “Who Were the Gilders? And Other Seldom-Asked Questions about Business, Technology, and Political Economy in the United States, 1877-1900,” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 8:4 (2009): 474-480; 2) Worth Robert Miller, “The Lost World of Gilded Age Politics,” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2002): 49-67
November 18 Carlos A. Schwantes, “From Anti-Chinese Agitation to Reform Politics: The Legacy of the Knights of Labor in Washington and the Pacific Northwest,” The Pacific Northwest Quarterly 88:4 (1997): 174-184
Thanksgiving Holiday
Week 12. Losing the West
November 30 1) Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History;” 2) David Wrobel, “The Closing Gates of Democracy: Frontier Anxiety before the Official End of the Frontier,” American Studies 32:1 (1991): 49-66; 3) Robert W. Larson, “Red Cloud: The Warrior Years,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 47:1 (1997): 22-31 and 4) “Red Cloud: The Reservation Years,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 47:2 (1997): 14-25
December 2 Dee Brown, “The Dance of the Ghosts,” from Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: 415-438
Week 13. Feminists, Populists, and other Agitators
December 7 1) Hazel V. Carby, “‘On the threshold of woman’s era’: Lynching, Empire, and Sexuality in Black Feminist Theory,” Critical Inquiry 12:1 (1985): 262-277; 2) Ida B. Wells, “Lynching and the Excuse for It”
December 9 1) Hugh Rockoff, “The ‘Wizard of Oz’ as a Monetary Allegory,” Journal of Political Economy 98:4 (1990): 739-760; 2) William Jennings Bryan, “Cross of Gold” speech
Course Summary:
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