| COURSE SYLLABUS |
| WEEK ONE |
| January 14 |
Course Introduction I: Collective Mission and Logistics |
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• What Is a University and Why Are You Enrolled in One?
• What Is a Public University and Why Are You Enrolled in One?
• What Is a Research University and Why Are You Enrolled in One?
• Why Study the Humanities?
• Why Study History?
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| January 16 |
Course Introduction II: Themes — Theories of Empire — What Was/Is Empire? |
| › reaction sheet 0 |
Reading Guide for Week 1 |
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Reading:
Hansen, Suzy. “Unlearning the Myth of American Innocence.” The Guardian, August 8, 2017.
Special Panel — Young Americans Abroad:
Spiro Athanas (based in Hong Kong)
Matthew DuJardin (based in Turin, Italy)
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| WEEK TWO |
| January 21 |
Lecture 1: Comparative Global Empires and American Exceptionalism |
| › reaction sheet 1 |
Reading Guide for Week 2 |
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Reading:
Burbank, Jane, and Cooper, Frederick. Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010. Chapter 1 (“Imperial Trajectories”); Chapter 14 (“Empires, States, and Political Imagination”).
Video:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Story” (TEDGlobal 2009)
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| January 23 |
Lecture 2: Empire Talk and American Exceptionalism |
| › reaction sheet 2 |
Reading Guide for Week 2 |
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Reading:
Maier, Charles S. Among Empires: American Ascendancy and its Predecessors. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006. Chapter 1 (“What Is an Empire?”).
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| WEEK THREE |
| January 28 |
Lecture 3: British Imperial Inheritance, American Expansion, and Native American Resistance |
| › reaction sheet 3 |
Reading Guide for Week 3 |
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Documents:
Continental Congress, land ordinance, April 23, 1784
Henry Knox to President George Washington, July 7, 1789
“Harmar’s Defeat,” 1790; “St. Clair’s Defeat,” 1791
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| January 30 |
Lecture 4: The Law of Nations, Treaty Worthiness, Zones of Violence, and the Legitimation of Empire |
| › reaction sheet 4 |
Reading Guide for Week 3 |
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Class Debate:
Native American strategy in the 1790s: Military resistance or diplomatic negotiation?
Documents:
George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
John Adams, Message to Congress, May 16, 1797
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| WEEK FOUR |
| February 4 |
Lecture 5: Thomas Jefferson’s “Empire of Liberty,” the Louisiana Purchase, and Native Americans |
| › reaction sheet 5 |
Reading Guide for Week 4 |
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Documents:
John Filson, The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke (1784)
Thomas Jefferson’s expansionary vision, 1801, 1803, 1809
William Apess, An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man (1833)
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| February 6 |
Lecture 6: Muslim North Africa and the Barbary Wars |
| › reaction sheet 6 |
Reading Guide for Week 4 |
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Readings:
Manseau, Peter. “The Muslims of Early America.” New York Times, February 9, 2015.
Document:
Archibald Robbins, A Journal Comprising an Account of the Loss of the Brig Commerce, of Hartford, (Con.) James Riley, Master, upon the Western Coast of Africa, August 28th, 1815: also of the Slavery and Sufferings of the Author and the Rest of the Crew, upon the Desert of Zahara, In the Years 1815, 1816, 1817; with Accounts of the Manners, Customs, and Habits of the Wandering Arabs; also, a Brief Historical and Geographical View of the Continent of Africa (1818)
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| WEEK FIVE |
| February 11 |
Lecture 7: Competing with the Ascending British Empire |
| › reaction sheet 7 |
Reading Guide for Week 5 |
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Documents:
Robert Walsh, Jr., An Appeal from the Judgments of Great Britain Respecting the United States of America (1819)
Henry R. Schoolcraft, Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising Observations on its Mineral Geography, Internal Resources, and Aboriginal Population (1825)
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| February 13 |
Lecture 8: Competing with the Declining Spanish Empire |
| › reaction sheet 8 |
Reading Guide for Week 5 |
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Document:
Henry Clay, speech on recognition of the Independent Provinces of the River Plata, March 24-25, 1818
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| WEEK SIX |
| February 18 |
Lecture 9: The Ambiguities of Empire, on the Ground |
| › reaction sheet 9 |
WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE |
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Biographies:
William Davis Robinson, Franciso de Miranda, and Xavier Mina
William Shaler and Bernardo Gutierrez
Charles Whiting Wooster and Jose Miguel Carrera
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| February 20 |
Lecture 10: Latin American Independence, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Panama Congress |
| › reaction sheet 10 |
Reading Guide for Week 6 |
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Class Debate:
Invitation to the Panama Congress, 1826: Accept or reject?
Documents:
John Quincy Adams, speech to the U.S. House of Representatives on foreign policy, July 4, 1821
James Monroe, Seventh Annual Message, December 2, 1823
Simon Bolivar to Jose Sanchez Carrion, December 7, 1824
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| WEEK SEVEN |
| February 25 |
Lecture 11: Manifest Destiny as Imperialism in the North American West |
| › reaction sheet 11 |
Reading Guide for Week 7 |
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Documents:
Memorial of the Cherokee Nation, December 1829
Address of the Committee and Council of the Cherokee Nation, in General Council Convened, to the People of the United States, July 1830
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| February 27 |
Lecture 12: Conquest of a Continent ... Except Canada and Mexico |
| › reaction sheet 12 |
Reading Guide for Week 7 |
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Document:
John O’Sullivan, “Annexation.” United States Magazine and Democratic Review (1845)
Biographies:
Kemper brothers
James Long
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| WEEK EIGHT |
| March 3 |
Lecture 13: Dreams of a Southern Empire of Slavery I |
| › reaction sheet 13 |
Reading Guide for Week 8 |
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Documents:
“Slavery in Central and South America, and Mexico.” DeBow’s Review (1857).
William Walker, War in Nicaragua (1860).
Biographies:
Narciso Lopez
Ephraim Squier
Solon Borland
Pierre Soule
William Walker
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| March 5 |
Lecture 14: Dreams of a Southern Empire of Slavery II |
| › reaction sheet 14 |
Reading Guide for Week 8 |
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Documents:
“The Attack on Cuba.” Littell’s Living Age (1850).
“Rights of Civilization.” The Independent (1854).
“Central America, a Field for Our Beneficence.” The Independent (1858).
Additional Documents for Writing Assignment #2:
“How Is Cuba To Be Annexed?” National Era (1853).
“Mr. Buchanan Must Be Southern, Defiant, and Up to the Ostend Manifesto.” National Era (1856).
“A Well-Seasoned and Well-Timed Address: The People of Nicaragua to the People of the United States.” The Albion (1858).
“On the Acquisition of Cuba.” Merchants’ Magazine (1859).
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| WEEK NINE |
| March 10 |
Lecture 15: Exploring the Pacific Ocean and Punishing Islanders |
| › reaction sheet 15 |
Reading Guide for Week 9 |
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Documents:
Fitch W. Taylor, A Voyage Round the World, and Visits to Various Foreign Countries, in the United States Frigate Columbia (1859).
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| March 12 |
Lecture 16: The “Opening” of Japan |
| › reaction sheet 16 |
WRITING ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE |
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Reading Guide for Week 9 |
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Documents:
Matthew Calbraith Perry, A Paper by Commodore M.C. Perry, U.S.N., Read Before the American Geographical and Statistical Society, at a Meeting Held March 6th, 1856 (1856)
Website:
“Black Ships & Samurai: Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan (1853-1854)”
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| WEEK TEN |
| March 17 |
Spring break — no class |
| March 19 |
Spring break — no class |
| WEEK ELEVEN |
| March 24 |
Extension of spring break (coronavirus pandemic) — no class |
| March 26 |
Extension of spring break (coronavirus pandemic) — no class |
| WEEK TWELVE |
| March 31 |
Lecture 17: From Imperialism to Empire: American Conquest of the Philippines |
| › response sheet 17 |
Reading Guide for Week 12 |
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Documents:
Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” (1899)
U.S. President William McKinley, “Executive Order” (December 21, 1898)
U.S. Congress, Platt Amendment (March 2, 1901)
Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League (Chicago, October 17, 1899)
Emilio Aguinaldo, True Version of the Philippine Revolution (1899)
Websites:
“Savages” in the White House and the 1904 World’s Fair ”
“1904 St. Louis World’s Fair ”
“Tribal Headhunters on Coney Island? Author Revisits Disturbing American Tale
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| April 2 |
Lecture 18: American Empire, Children, and Masculinity |
| › response sheet 18 |
Reading Guide for Week 12 |
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Documents:
Theodore Roosevelt, “The Strenous Life,” speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago (April 10, 1899)
Hezekiah Butterworth, Zigzag Journeys Around the World (1895)
Edward Stratemeyer, Under Dewey at Manila (1898)
Websites:
Civilization & Barbarism: Cartoon Commentary & “The White Man’s Burden” (1898-1902)
Eugen Sandow — Father of Bodybuilding
The First Modern Bodybuilders, 1900s
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| WEEK THIRTEEN |
| April 7 |
Lecture 19: The Panama Canal |
| › response sheet 19 |
Reading Guide for Week 13 |
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Documents:
Alfred Thayer Mahan, “The United States Looking Outward.” Atlantic Monthly, December 1890.
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, “Fourth Annual Message” (December 6, 1904)
Video:
“Panama Canal Construction in 1912”
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| April 9 |
Lecture 20: Albert Beveridge, U.S. Senator from Indiana, 1899-1911 |
| › response sheet 20 |
Reading Guide for Week 13 |
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Documents:
Albert J. Beveridge, “The ‘March of the Flag,’ Beginning of Greater America” (1898)
Albert J. Beveridge, “Our Philippine Policy” (1900)
Albert J. Beveridge, “The Young Man and the World” (1905)
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| WEEK FOURTEEN |
| April 14 |
Lecture 21: U.S. Military Interventions, American Business Enclaves, and the United Fruit Company |
| › response sheet 21 |
Reading Guide for Week 14 |
| April 16 |
Lecture 22: Latin America as a Laboratory
for American Empire |
| › response sheet 22 |
WRITING ASSIGNMENT #3 DUE |
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Reading Guide for Week 14 |
| WEEK FIFTEEN |
| April 21 |
Lecture 23: American Empire on Film Pt. I |
| › response sheet 23 |
Reading Guide for Week 15 |
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Film:
Babel (2006; directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
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| April 23 |
Lecture 24: American Empire on Film Pt. II
| › response sheet 24 |
Reading Guide for Week 15 |
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Film:
Babel (2006; directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
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| April 24-25 (Friday-Saturday) |
Little 500 (CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC) |
| WEEK SIXTEEN |
| April 28 |
Course Conclusion |
| › response sheet 25 |
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Additional Documents for Writing Assignment #4:
“Export.” Time Magazine, May 14, 1956.
“Is Jazz Good Propaganda? The Dizzy Gillespie Tour?” Saturday Review, July 14, 1956.
“U.S. Helps Out: Bill Passed to Make Cultural Tours a Branch of Our Foreign Policy.” New York Times, August 5, 1956.
“Louis Armstrong, Barring Soviet Tour, Denounces Eisenhower and Gov. Faubus.” New York Times, September 19, 1957.
“Marking Time: Cultural Program Abroad Is Modified to Win Congressional Support” New York Times, September 15, 1963.
Video:
“Happy by Pharrell Williams (Babcock University Remake) Nigeria Africa” (2014)
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| April 30 |
Optional class — review session |
| WEEK SEVENTEEN |
| May 4-8 |
FINALS WEEK — WRITING ASSIGNMENT #4 DUE |
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TAKE-HOME FINAL EXAMINATION due by noon, Tuesday, May 5th. |
| WEEK EIGHTEEN |
| May 11-15 |
GRADING WEEK |
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