H105 course syllabus | American History I

COURSE SYLLABUS
WEEK ONE
August 27	Course Introduction I — Course Logistics and Conditions of Learning
› student profile
› conditions of learning
August 29	Course Introduction II — Collective Mission
	*Discussion:* • 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?
WEEK TWO
September 3	Lecture 1: European Invasion of the Americas and a New Atlantic World
› response sheet 1	Reading Guide for Week 2
	*Documents:* Columbus, Letter (1493) Requerimiento (1513) *Video:* Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Story” (TEDGlobal 2009)
September 5	Lecture 2: European Moral Dissension; Native American Moral Resistance
› response sheet 2	Reading Guide for Week 2
	*Documents:* Sepulveda, Democrates Alter (1547) Las Casas, Brevissima Relacion (1552) Thomas Hariot, A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia (1590)
WEEK THREE
September 10	Lecture 3: Achieving Stability and Dominance in the Chesapeake
› response sheet 3	Reading Guide for Week 3
	*Document:* Richard Frethorne, letter to his parents (1623) *Video:* Rockman, Seth. “What Is Historical Reasoning?” Brown University, August 2014. [up to 2:32] *Discussion:* • How Is Knowledge Made? • How Is History Made?
September 12	Lecture 4: From White Servitude to Black Slavery in the Chesapeake
› response sheet 4	Reading Guide for Week 3
	*Documents:* Virginia laws of servitude (1643-1691) Robert Beverley, The History and Present State of Virginia (1705)
WEEK FOUR
September 17	Lecture 5: Social Utopia and Confronting Dissent in New England
› response sheet 5	Reading Guide for Week 4
	*Documents:* John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity” (1630) John Winthrop, “Reasons to be considered for justifying....” (ca. 1629) *Reading:* Victoria Freeman, “Not-So-Distant Relations?” (common-place.org 3:1, October 2002)
September 17	National Voter Registration Day
September 19	Lecture 6: Social Hierarchy and Confronting Disorder in New England
› response sheet 6	Reading Guide for Week 4
	*Documents:* Thomas Shephard II, letter to his son Thomas Shepard III at college (1672) Increase Mather, An Arrow Against Profane and Promiscuous Dancing (1684) Nicholas Noyes, “Reasons against Wearing of Periwiggs” (ca. 1703) *Reading:* Elizabeth Reis, “The Trouble with Angels” (common-place.org 1:3, April 2001)
WEEK FIVE
September 24	Lecture 7: Social Expansion — Migration and Consumerism
› response sheet 7	Reading Guide for Week 5
	*Documents:* William Byrd, diary extracts (1709-1712) George Washington, “Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation” (ca. 1744-1748) [see Files in Canvas]
September 26	Lecture 8: Cultural Diversity — Enlightenment and Awakening
› response sheet 8	Reading Guide for Week 5
	*Document:* Charles Woodmason, diary and sermon notes (1767-1768)
WEEK SIX
October 1	Lecture 9: Global War and Imperial Crisis
	WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE
› response sheet 9	Reading Guide for Week 6
	*Documents:* Benjamin Franklin, Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. (1751) John Adams, A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law (1765)
October 3	Lecture 10: Local Resistance and the Politicization of Everyday Life
› response sheet 10	Reading Guide for Week 6
	*Documents:* Continental Association (1774) Continental Congress, Tory acts (1775-1776) Continental Congress, negotiations with King George III (1775-1776) *Writing Exercise #1:* Working Hypothesis
October 3 - October 6	Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, Bloomington IN
WEEK SEVEN
October 7	Indiana voter registration deadline
October 8	Lecture 11: Independence and War — Dilemmas of Choosing Sides
› response sheet 11	Reading Guide for Week 7
	*Documents:* Connecticut slaves’ petition for freedom (1779) “The Sentiments of an American Woman” (1780)
October 10	Lecture 12: Revolutionary War — Creating New Alliances, Creating New Solidarities
› response sheet 12	Reading Guide for Week 7
	*Documents:* Appeals for religious freedom (1783, 1786) Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1787) Benjamin Rush, “An Address ... on the Defects of the Confederation” (1787) *Writing Exercise #2:* Thesis Statement and Topic Sentences
October 11-13	“Fall Break”
WEEK EIGHT
October 15	Lecture 13: Confederation and Constitution — Creating a New Government, Creating a New Nation
› response sheet 13	Reading Guide for Week 8
	*Documents:* United States Constitution (1787-1789) Bill of Rights (1789-1791)
October 17	Lecture 14: Citizenship in the Early Republic — Creating a New People
› response sheet 14	Reading Guide for Week 8
	*Documents:* United States naturalization laws (1790, 1795) John Adams appraises the people (1765, 1776, 1790) William Manning, “The Key of Liberty” (1799) *Writing Exercise #3:* Diagnosing a strong versus weak paper
WEEK NINE
October 22	Lecture 15: Transition to Capitalism — Slavery and Freedom after the American Revolution
› response sheet 15	Reading Guide for Week 9
	*Document:* Benjamin Banneker, public exchange with Thomas Jefferson (1791)
October 24	Lecture 16: Transition to Capitalism — Industrialization in New England
› response sheet 16	Reading Guide for Week 9
	*Documents:* John S.C. Abbott, The Mother at Home (1833) Harriet Robinson, autobiography (1831-1836) New England factory protest (1845-1846)
WEEK TEN
October 29	Lecture 17: Transition to Democracy — White Male Voting and American Identity
› response sheet 17	Reading Guide for Week 10
	*Documents:* William Otter, autobiography (1807) Northern working men’s declarations (1829-1844) Abraham Lincoln, “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions” (1838) Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1840)
October 31	Lecture 18: Transition to Democracy — Immigration and American Identity
	WRITING ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE
› response sheet 18	Reading Guide for Week 10
	*Documents:* “Declaration of Principles of the Native American Convention” (1845) Thomas R. Whitney, A Defence of the American Policy (1856)
WEEK ELEVEN
November 5	Lecture 19: Perfectionism — Religious Revival and Social Reform
› response sheet 19	Reading Guide for Week 11
	*Documents:* Robert Owen, critique of individualism (1825-1826) Ralph Waldo Emerson, critique of social conformity (1841-1844)
November 7	Lecture 20: Abolitionism — Politics of Race and Politics of Gender
› response sheet 20	Reading Guide for Week 11
	*Documents:* David Walker, Appeal To the Coloured Citizens of the World (1830) American Anti-Slavery Society, “Declaration of Sentiments” (1833) Woman’s Rights Convention, Seneca Falls, New York (1848)
WEEK TWELVE
November 12	Lecture 21: Slavery in the Antebellum South (and North) — White Perspectives
› response sheet 21	Reading Guide for Week 12
	*Documents:* George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or Slaves without Masters (1857) United States Supreme Court, Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
November 14	Lecture 22: Slavery in the Antebellum South — Black Perspectives
› response sheet 22	Reading Guide for Week 12
	*Documents:* Henry Highland Garnet, speech on slave resistance (1843) Frederick Douglass, speech on the Fourth of July (1852) The Narrative of James Roberts (1858)
November 15-17	IU Dance Marathon
WEEK THIRTEEN
November 19	Lecture 23: Westward Expansion — From Gold Rush in Georgia to Gold Rush in California
› response sheet 23	Reading Guide for Week 13
	*Documents:* Andrew Jackson and John Ross, annual messages related to Cherokee Removal (1830) John C. Calhoun, speech on Mexico (1848) John C. Calhoun, speech on Oregon (1848) William Walker, The War in Nicaragua (1860)
November 21	Special class — Stump the Chump
› response sheet 23b	WRITING ASSIGNMENT #3 DUE
WEEK FOURTEEN
November 25-29	Thanksgiving Break — no classes
WEEK FIFTEEN
December 3	Lecture 24: Sectional Crisis and the Outbreak of Civil War
› response sheet 24	Reading Guide for Week 15
	*Document:* Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863)
December 5	Lecture 25: Civil War
› response sheet 25	Reading Guide for Week 15
	*Documents:* letter of former slave to former slaveowner (1865) Frederick Douglass, “What the Black Man Wants” (1865)
WEEK SIXTEEN
December 10	Lecture 26 (Course Conclusion): Emancipation and the Legacies of American Identity
› response sheet 26
December 12	Optional class — review session
WEEK SEVENTEEN
December 16-20	FINALS WEEK
	TAKE-HOME FINAL EXAMINATION due no later than **
WEEK EIGHTEEN
December 23-27	GRADING WEEK

H105, American History I, Fall 2024

Prof. Konstantin Dierks