DRAFT

 

H105

ACP US History

 

Course Description:

US History to 1877.

Course Objectives:

Students will:

• Distinguish between primary and secondary sources
• Identify appropriate sources to help explain historical change, including:
  • The origins of the American Revolution
  • the role of Westward Expansion (including Indian Removal and the Conquest of Mexico) in the impending crisis
  • the causes and consequences of the Civil War
• reflect on historical problems, including perennial conflicts along lines of race, class and gender
• Synthesize primary and secondary sources in addressing a historical question

 

1. Required Texts and Course Materials:

 

Melton McLaurin, Celia, A Slave

 

 

1. Assessment:

 

• Class Participation and Observation: 10%
• History Labs (aka Microthemes,etc.) : 20%
• Analytical Papers: 30%
• Research Related Assignments: 20%
• Exams: 20%

 

         

Class Participation and Active Observation.

 

Your instructor may utilize any of the following methods to assess your regular class participation and observation.

• Quizzes (announced or unannounced)
• Daily Questions (single question quizzes)
• In-Class Writing Assignments
• Out-of-Class Reflective Writing Assignments
• Reading Logs

 

Example of Reading Log Assessment Tool:

In your reading log, note: 1) Document title, author and year. 2) A brief summary of the text: what the document says. Feel free to use short quotes within your summary. 3) Your analysis: What does the document tell us? Why is this document important? 4) How does this document confirm or challenge common narratives of US History? Why/is this document important? 5) What questions do you have about this document? What questions might this document raise for all historians? Each entry does not need to address every question in the same amount of detail. Your entry on any particular document may range from 3 sentences to two paragraphs.

 

At the end of your reading log for the day, reflect on all the readings for that particular class session. Taken as a whole, are these documents suggesting? What conflicts do you see among any of the sources? What do you take away from this group of readings?

 

Daily Question Assessment tool:

At the start of every class, all students will answer a “daily question” prompted from homework. These are open-note and open-book tests but students only have 5-10 minutes to complete them. Bring your reading logs to class and these questions will be easy to answer.

History Labs are opportunities to focus on a particular document or documents with the tools and questions that inform the historical discipline. These tools include, but are not limited to, attention to authorship, audience, and historical context

 

Analytical Papers are opportunities to practice the skills that are central to the discipline of history, including research, analysis, argumentation, and attribution.

 

Research Related Assignments are opportunities to isolate the skills of research and analysis without the

 

 

 

 

 

1. Tentative Class Schedule and Outline
   
   

 

Unit 1: What was European Colonization like for regular people?

Why did Europeans colonize North America?

Papal Bull, Inter Catera

1493, Doctrine of Discovery

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/04093_FPS.pdf

“An English Landlord Describes a Troubled England” 1623 p. 19-20 Kennedy/Bailey

“Hakluyt Sees England’s Salvation in America” 1584 p. 20-21 Kennedy/Bailey

 

What was Spanish colonialism like for colonizers and indigenous peoples? What sustained slavery?

“English Artist John White Depicts Indian Land Use” 1619 p. 10 MP

Michael Johnson, Reading the American Past, pp. 23-32 (Two chronicles of the conquest of Mexico—from the perspective of Bernal Diiz del Castillo and a Mexican Account)

“Francisco Coronado Describes the American Southwest” 1541 pp. 11-12 Kennedy/Bailey

A Reflective Account of the Pueblo Revolt.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6527/

Secondary Source: Andres Resendez, “Caribbean Debacle,” in The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Slavery, chapter 1.

 

How were the British Colonies settled?

“Indentured Servant Richard Freethorne Laments His Condition in Virginia,” 1623 p. 36-38 MP

“George Alsop, a Resident of Maryland, Argues that Servants in Maryland Profit from Life in the Colonies” 1666 p. 38-40 MP

Bernard Bailyn, “Worlds in Motion,” The Peopling of British North America, 3-19.

How should we tell the story of slavery?

Excerpt: An Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. http://www.evanfriss.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Equiano-excerpt.pdf

“A Brief History of Slavery You didn’t Learn in School,” in NYT Interactive, 1619 Project, by Jazmin Hughes and Mary Elliot https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/history-slavery-smithsonian.html

New York Times, The Barbaric History of Sugar in American History, 1619 Project

1619 Project

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/20/magazine/1619-intro.html

 

What can we learn from the rebellions of the 17^th century?

“Bacon’s Rebellion,” “Leisler’s Rebellion,” and “Stono Rebellion,” in Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations and Rebellions in American History: An Encyclopedia.

Research-Related Assignment 1: Each group is assigned expertise on a particular rebellion. In class, students will discuss the main grievances and think about what they had in common with each other. What do these rebellions tell us?

 

Whom did mercantilism benefit? Whom did it hurt?

 

“Colonial Trade and the British Empire” (Charts) 1701-1770 pp. 57-59 Kennedy/Bailey

Alfred Young, “George Robert Twelves Hewes: A Boston Shoemaker…” William and Mary Quarterly 38:4 (1981), 561-623.

 

What were the main grievances among Americans on the eve of Revolution? To what extent were they segmented by class?

 Gary Nash, “The Radical Revolution from the Bottom Up,” Major Problems in US History, Vol 1, pp. 122-133.

“Stamp Act Congress Condemns the Stamp Act” 1765 p. 104-105 MP

“Benjamin Franklin Testifies against Stamp Act” 1766 p.79-82 Kennedy/Bailey

Thomas Jefferson, “Third Draft of a Constitution for Virginia,” June 1776 in Declaring Rights, pp.79-81

Pennsylvania Convention, Declaration of Rights, 1776, 85-87

A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1780p, 88-94

“African Americans Petition for Freedom,” 1777 MP pp. 112-113 MP

Analytical Paper 1: What were worries and concerns that animated regular people after the War? How do you know?

 

 Was the New Republic Committed to Slavery?

Howard Zinn, “Persons of Mean and Vile Condition,” A People’s History of the United States, 39-75.

Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence” 1776 p.97-101 Kennedy/Bailey

“The Abortive Slave Trade Indictment” 1776 p.101 Kennedy/Bailey

“Abigail and John Adams Debate Women’s Rights” 1776 p. 109-110 MP

“Mohawk Leader Joseph Brant Commits the Loyalty of His People to Britain,” 1776 p.111-112 MP

 

Midterm.
Long Essay Exam Question. To what extent was the new republic, formed by the Revolution, committed to slavery?

 

PU Here

Unit 2: What held together the Early Republic?

To what extent did the Constitution support the interests of the poor (tenant farmers, slaves, apprentices)?

Alfred Young, “The Pressure of the People on the Framers of the Constitution,” pp. 147-154 MP

James Madison (Publius), Federalist Paper #10 1788 pp. 106-109 VOCE

George Mason, “Objections to this Constitution of Government” 1787 pp. 109-111 VOCE

Amy Greenberg, Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion, 1-37.

Constitution, 1789
Here are research links for the task.

https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html

https://www.loc.gov/rr//program/bib/ourdocs/billofrights.html

1789 Constitution

1789 Bill of Rights ( required for ratification): https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript

Observation Paper/ Position Paper 1 and Class Debate.

To what extent did the Constitution of 1791 (including the Bill of Rights) support the interest of the poor (tenant farmers, slaves, apprentices, etc)?

 

Who had a better vision for the future of America: Thomas Jefferson or Alexander Hamilton?

Hofstadter, “Thomas Jefferson, the Aristocrat as Democrat,” American Political tradition, 18-43.

“Federalist Alexander Hamilton Envisions a Developed American Economy,” 1791 p. 168-170 MP

Alexander Hamilton, “The Farmer Refuted,” 23 Feb 1775

“Republican Thomas Jefferson Celebrates the Virtue of the Yeoman Farmer,” 1785 p. 166-167 MP

Alexander Hamilton, “Introduction to the Report on Manufactures,” 1791 in Jefferson vs. Hamilton: Confrontations that Shaped the Nation, 68-75

 Alexander Hamliton, “The Farmer Refuted,” 1775, in Jefferson vs. Hamilton: Confrontations that Shaped the Nation, 10.

Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on a Conversation between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson,” in Jefferson vs. Hamilton: Confrontations that Shaped the Nation, 65.

 

Was the Jacksonian Era characterized by an expansion in “American democracy”?

“Council of 1793” in Amy Greenberg, Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion, 49-52.

“Tecumseh’s Appeal,” in Amy Greenberg, Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion, 57-59

“James Bowlin, a Congressman, Marvels at the Possibilities of Western Lands,” 1846 p. 337-339 MP

John O Sullivan, “The Great Nation of Futurity” 1845 180-182 VOCE

 “A Lowell Factory Girl Describes a Week in the Mill” 1845 p. 335-336 MP

Daniel Immerwahr, How To Hide An Empire, 25-45.

The Cherokee Constitution of 1827, The Cherokee Removal, pp.58-60\

Georgia State Assembly, Laws Extending Jurisdiction over the Cherokees, 1829 pp. 76-79

Worcester v. Georgia, pp. 81-84

Memorial of Protest to the Cherokee Nation, pp. 87-92

Andrew Jackson, State of the Union Address, 1830 pp.125-127

 

How and why did the US “win” the Mexican Cession?

Mexican Government, National Colonization Law 1824 (US War with Mexico pp.47-49

Benjamin Lundy, “Conditions for African Americans in Mexican Texas,” (US War with Mexico, pp.55-57

El Mosquito Mexicano, (article criticizing US interests in Mexico), pp.62-64

Walt Whitman, “War with Mexico, “ 1846, pp.82-84

Theodore Parker, “A Sermon of the Mexican War, 1846 pp.84-86

Henry David Thoreau, “On Civil Disobedience” 1848 pp.86-88

Ramon Alcatraz, Observations on the American Occupation of Mexico City, 1850 pp. 116-118

United States and Mexico, Treaty of Guadelupe-Hidalgo p. 120-123

President Manuel de la Pena y Pena, An Address in Support of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, pp.123-126

Nathan Clifford, “The Protocol of Queretaro,” pp. 128-130 (response to Treaty)

The Los Angeles Star, An Interview with Noted Bandit Tiburcio Vasquez, 1874 pp. 140-143

 

Research Related Assignment 2. Each group is assigned a state or region to research. Each team of 5 students should curate 10 newspaper articles, published between 1840 and 1855, which illustrate the conversation among regular people in this particular region about the War with Mexico. How were Americans in your region thinking about Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and the Mexican American War—before, during and after the conflict? How did these discussions compare to the way they discussed and debated Indian removal?

What does this conversation tell us about the history of American expansion and its role in the impending crisis?

 

Was the Cotton Kingdom a throwback to feudalism or a pioneer in industrialization?

 

Fitzhugh, Cannibals All, excerpts.

“Hinton Helper’s Banned Book,” 1857

“The South Condemns Helperites” 1859

“James Hammond Proclaims Cotton King” 1858

Chapter from _Slavery’s Capitalism_ by Ed Baptist to outline and read

Alexander Stephens, “Slavery and the Confederacy” 1861 (email)

 

How was the midwest transforming in the 1840s and 1850s?

Indiana Constitution, 1818. https://www.in.gov/history/2460.htm

Indiana Constitution, 1851. https://www.in.gov/history/2473.htm

Anna-Lisa Cox on African American settlement in the early 19^th century in Indiana https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unheralded-pioneers-19th-century-america-were-free-african-american-families-180969400/

 “Roger Taney Determines Legal Status of Slaves”

https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/coretexts/_files/resources/texts/1857_DredScott.pdf

“Debates over Compromise of 1850” MP in US History

 

Observation Paper 2: Why did African Americans in Indiana lose their rights to property and voting in 1851? What does this story tell us about the sectional crisis?

 

To what extent did the conditions of “free labor” give liberty?

Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty, “The Free Individual,” p.338-347

“Abraham Lincoln Denies Black Equality” 1858 p.314-316 MP

 “Senate Candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debate their Positions on Slavery,” 1858 p. 394-397 MP

Stephen Douglas Opposes Black Citizenship” 1858 p. 313-314 Kennedy/Bailey

Chief Justice Roger Taney Determines the Legal Status of Slaves,” 1857 pp. 393-394 MP

William Lloyd Garrison Launches the Liberator” 1831

“Manifesto of the Anti-Slavery Society” 1833

“Daniel Webster is Critical” (1850)**

“Abraham Lincoln Appraises Abolitionism” 1854

Analytical Paper 2. To what extent did the conditions of “free labor” give liberty to the working classes?

 

Do people have the right to resist unjust laws?

Fugitive Slave Act, 1850

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/fugitive.asp 

Melton McLaurin, Celia, A Slave

Observation Paper 3:. Did Celia have the right to self-defense at the hands of her cruel and abusive master? Did those who resisted slave catchers have the right to defy the law? The New York Times’ 1619 project attracted a lot of attention in their claim that slavery is the foundation of our republic, including its legal system. In your essay, explain how the legal system that Celia struggled within, and against, was founded in slavery.

 

What was the Civil War about?

Abe Lincoln on Purposes of War: “A War to Preserve the Union,” 1863 and

“A War to End Slavery,” 1865

“Black Leaders Express their Views,” 1865

“Lincoln Expresses Misgivings” 1862

“Jefferson Davis Deplores Emancipation” 1863

“Southern Blacks Ask for Help” 1865

 

What was accomplished in the Civil War? How should we remember it?

“The White South Asks for Unconditional Reintegration into the Union” 1866

“The Radical Republicans Take a Hard Line” 1866

“The Controversy Over the Fifteenth Amendment” 1866

Point and Counterpoint: Holland Carter,” We need to remove, not destroy, confederate monuments” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/20/arts/design/we-need-to-move-not-destroy-confederate-monuments.html

Miles Parks, “Confederate Statues were Built to Further a White Supremacist Future,” https://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544266880/confederate-statues-were-built-to-further-a-white-supremacist-future

Fitzhugh Brundage,” Here’s what to do…” https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/8/18/16165160/confederate-monuments-history-charlottesville-white-supremacy

More Links: https://www.historians.org/news-and-advocacy/everything-has-a-history/historians-on-the-confederate-monument-debate

http://www.galesburg.com/opinion/20170820/cate-denial-wrestling-with-americas-past g

Exam 2. Long Essay Question: What did the Civil War accomplish?