History 17A, Section 31304 
  United States History to 1865

Time: TR: 11:10-12:35
Location: H 18
Instructor: Erin Miller
Office:  Humanities 39
Email: emiller@bakersfieldcollege.edu
Webpage: http://emillerbakersfieldcollege.weebly.com
Phone:  661-395-4350 (office), 574-532-6963 (mobile). Feel free to text me, but identify yourself.
Office Hours: M, W: 12:20-12:50, T&R: 8:25-9:25 and 2:35 to 3:35, or by appointment. Come see me. I am here  and happy to help! 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is a survey of American history from the arrival of Europeans in the New World through the Civil War. We will explore the social, economic, and political developments in America during the Colonial, Revolutionary, antebellum and Civil War periods. Throughout the course we will attempt to view these developments from a variety of perspectives, focusing not just on politicians and statesmen but also on the experiences of "ordinary" Americans of diverse backgrounds in all regions of the nation. The organizing principle for the course has three parts: to investigate how our nation came to dedicate itself to securing liberty, equality, and justice for its citizens; to examine the consequences of this commitment; and to assess how well we have done in realizing such an ambitious goal. Emphasis shall be placed on using this knowledge to make historical arguments in class discussions and in writing. Thus, the course is designed to introduce students not only to the subject of U.S. history, but to the discipline of history itself with its distinctive modes of inquiry and interpretation. One question will frame much of our discussion; how did the United States develop as a land of freedom and slavery? What consequences resulted?

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS (See end of packet for photos)

•	Norton, Marybeth, et. al., A People and a Nation to 1877, vol. 1, 9th edition. Required. Other editions may be allowed; touch base with me to confirm which edition you’re considering.
•	Marcus, Robert D. et. al., America Firsthand: From Settlement to Reconstruction, vol. 1, 9th edition. Required.
•	Both required textbooks are also on hold at the reserve desk in the BC Library and can be borrowed for an hour at a time, as long as you keep the book in the library.
•	Two types of scantrons, 886-E (for exams and essays) and Quiztrips (for quizzes). Both are available at the counter in the bookstore.

SUGGESTED MATERIALS

•	Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. Suggested/Optional. ISBN: 9780312664800.
•	Strunk and White, The Elements of Style. Suggested/Optional. ISBN: 9780205309023.
•	Graff, They Say, I Say. Suggested/Optional. ISBN: 9780393065459. Three to six blue books for midterms and final exam purchased in the campus bookstore.
•	Class Packet. Available on my website.
•	Additional articles not included in this list will be available on my website, will be emailed to you, or will be provided in hardcopy in class.
•	Please obtain a Bakersfield College email address, which can be forwarded permanently to your personal email if you wish, for our class email list. Please let me know if you do not have access to a computer and/or the internet. You are responsible for logging into InsideBC, accessing our class, and printing required articles. Thanks!

Habits of Mind

How will you succeed at BC this semester? What determines success is not circumstance, but habit. Habits of Mind, It’s POSSIBLE at BC has many free tools intended to help you accomplish your goals in school. Only you can overcome the challenges you face this semester and in life. Start out successfully with these steps:

•	Visit the Habits of Mind website: www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/habits-of-mind .
•	Download the app for Habits of Mind at BC for power in your palm.
•	Ask for help, do the work, and refuse to quit.
Success takes energy, planning, and strategies for both the expected challenges in school as well as the unexpected twists life can take. Ask your professor for more information. Now is the time to develop new habits.

IMPORTANT DATES

January 30th: Last day for refunds for semester length classes.

February 1st: Last day to drop semester-length classes without receiving a “W”. Students can no longer repeat a class more than three times within the Kern Community College District, whether they receive an F or a W. Think hard about whether you plan on doing the work to finish the class successfully. I believe you can do it. Resist the W! Anything you quit now, you just have to finish later.

February 12th: Writing Assignment One is due in paper/hardcopy at the beginning of class.

March 3rd: Mid-term Exam 1

March 27th: Last day to withdraw and receive a “W” in semester-length classes.

March 30th- April 4th: No classes. Spring Break! Enjoy!

April 9th: Midterm Exam 2

April 28th: Writing Assignment Two is due in paper/hardcopy at the beginning of class.

Thursday, May 14th, 10:00-11:50 am, Final Exam

GUIDELINES

The following rules apply to everyone equally. This promotes a sense of fairness, learning, and professionalism.

•	Do your best. Let’s be people of excellence!
•	No cell phones. They must be placed in your belongings. See me in advance if there is an emergency that requires you to have your phone on. Yes, that means NO TEXTING either.
•	Please be quiet and listen when someone else has the floor. Ideally you should be taking notes, including when your peers speak.
•	Take care of all personal needs before class begins. Please do not leave the class once class is in session.
•	Only students who arrive on time to class will have the full allotted time for quizzes.
•	All assignments will be accepted only on the date they are due and by the assigned time. In emergency instances, I may allow a student to submit late work, but they will lose a letter-grade per day it is late.
•	Assignments must be submitted in paper copy and must be turned in when due. Do not email assignments. They will not be accepted. (Our email doesn’t have the capacity for this.)
•	Be sure to drop the course if you are not attending. Doing so is your responsibility.
•	Due to demand for enrollment, students who do not attend the first day of class or miss two consecutive days, excepting emergencies, will be dropped from the class.
•	History is a debate. Everyone will listen, be respectful, and use appropriate language.
•	Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. A failing grade on the assignment and expulsion are the consequences of either behavior. Besides, you have what it takes! You can do this work on your own! I believe in you.

FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES OR SPECIAL NEEDS

Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact Supportive Services (661-395-4334), Student Services Building 1st Floor, Counseling Center, as soon as possible to better ensure such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. See the following website for additional information and links: http://bakersfieldcollege.edu/student/dsps/

LIBRARY RESEARCH WORKSHOPS

Library Research Workshops will assist students in learning essential, college-level research skills. Seven different research topics are addressed in separate workshops. Students who attend and evaluate these free workshops rank their usefulness midway between ESSENTIAL and QUITE USEFUL. The workshops begin in the third week of school and last 10 weeks. Attending workshops earlier in the semester is recommended. Not only can students use newly learned skills to improve their research, they will not risk being turned away from a full classroom.

EXPECTATIONS

The history of mastery, slavery, and freedom in the United States provokes sensitive discussions about race, sex, equality, and diversity. This sensitivity, I believe, arises from the imperative to continue to grow beyond the current status quo, from the desire to be a people who truly embrace equality, but are uncertain at times about how to do so, uncertain about how to overcome the consequences, responsibilities, and promises of our country’s past and present, uncertain about how to balance freedom and equality. This class will be and must be a safe place to engage these ideas, ask questions, and express vulnerable opinions. Race, gender, class, and sexuality are tough subjects in the U.S. It is my hope that everyone will respectfully express themselves, listen to others, and keep their minds open to learn from each other’s perspectives.

COURSE GOALS AND STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

1.	A main goal of this course is to teach you how to ask and answer your own questions about Colonial America, Revolutionary America, the Early Republic, the antebellum South, slavery, race, the Civil War, and Reconstruction in America from 1607 to 1877.
2.	We will analyze major forces, events, and people instrumental in shaping U.S. History.
3.	We will describe examples of outstanding citizenship and productivity and explain the impact of dissent and disruption. We will juxtapose them to current events.
4.	We will analyze the various racial, ethnic and social subgroups, which have played a role in the shaping of America and determine the common, underlying theses of American life.
5.	We will examine past social-cultural value systems, which have formed a basis for human beliefs and challenges to those beliefs.
6.	We will engage in the reading of contradictory sources, primary and secondary, enabling you to decipher arguments and evidence, as well as to defend the subsequent position you take on the debate.
7.	We will analyze the complexities created by having slaves in a “free” society, scrutinizing the tensions between slaves’ humanity and commodification.
8. You will have rigorous opportunities to develop essential skills; the ability to critically analyze arguments about the past, the capacity to consider the perspective of all of those involved, the confidence and skill to articulate your ideas and arguments orally and in writing in an organized, convincing, engaging, and professional manner, to manage your time and resources, to lead, and to respect the work of your peers by engaging them and defending your own ideas.
9.	Provide an African and European context and background to American history.
10.	To that end, this syllabus is designed to help you learn a number of historical skills, frameworks, and methods that have been developed by historians. By the end of the course, you should be able to: analyze primary source documents (including Hollywood movies) in light of the frameworks that historians of US History, African American History, Native American History, race, slavery, and gender have developed; identify the subject, thesis, organization, and sources used in primary and secondary source articles; assess the strengths and weaknesses of those articles.
11.	Write critical, analytical essays utilizing the methodologies and vocabulary of the history to express your own thoughts and ideas about the materials we have studied.
12.	Develop useful strategies of asking and answering your own questions about American History by using the above skills.

Creative, critical thinking is the ultimate objective!

MAIN QUESTIONS THAT FRAME DISCUSSION

1.	What are the origins and evolutions of slavery, democracy, freedom, and race in the US?
2.	What role did gender play in the relationship between freedom and slavery?
3.	What is the relationship between race, slavery, sexuality and US History?
4.	What is the significance of region in understanding US History?
5.	What role does responsibility play in maintaining freedom?
6.	What role did Early Americans think capitalism played in freedom and equality?
7.	How can we apply what happened then to what occurs today?

1.	European and African Encounters
2.	Creolization
3.	The Atlantic
4.	Freedom
5.	Middle Passage
6.	Enslavement and variations in slavery
7.	Self-Presentation
8.	Propaganda

THEMES

9.	Law
10.	Democracy
11.	Resistance
12.	Struggle for Equality and Freedom
13.	Family
14.	Ethnicity
15.	Religion, Faith, and Spirituality
16.	Identity

REQUIREMENTS

Participation in discussion, in-class (10% or 100 points)
Online Quizzes: (15% or 150 points)
In-class Quizzes: (5% or 50 points)
Writing Assignment 1: (5 % or 50 points)
Office Visit: (5% or 50 points)
Midterm 1 (15% or 150 points)
Midterm (15% or 150 points)
Writing Assignment 2 (15% or 150 points)
Final Exam (15% or 150 points)

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

•	Come to class and take good notes.
•	Be organized and read assignments in advance of our meeting.
•	Take notes while you read, as well as when your peers speak.
•	Form study groups.
•	Come prepared with questions.
•	Visit me during office hours.
•	Take advantage of the Student Success, Writing, and Tutoring Centers. 
•	Listen to each other.
•	Generally speaking, in-class quizzes will be impromptu and cover key terms from lectures. You are allowed to use handwritten notes from class for these.
•	Complete online moodle classes not later than 10:40 am on the day we cover a new chapter.
•	Keep up with the reading, even if it doesn’t match my lectures and our discussions; it provides background context.
•	On the second day of class weekly, we generally focus on primary sources from the Marcus book. If students come prepared to discuss their group’s readings, quizzes on those readings a quiz will not be required. However, if the syllabus requires Marcus, primary source readings for Monday and Wednesday of the same week, be sure to read them.
•	With all primary source documents read in the Marcus volume, as well as those handed out separately, you should do the following: first read the study questions printed before and after the document; then read the introduction to the document, create a timeline and list of characters, and last consider how you would answer the questions you read about the document. Bring your list of characters, their descriptions, and your timeline with you to class for group discussion.

I expect three things from each of us: excellence (our best effort), attendance (come to class), effort (do all of your work and seek help outside of class).

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION

I suggest that students bring 2 written questions about the readings to each class. In addition to listed readings, I may occasionally include additional primary sources. Our class time will be devoted primarily to discussion, debates, role-playing, and short lectures. Every student must therefore do the readings prior to class, attend class, and pull her or his weight in discussions. You bring individual insight that will help bring different aspects of the sources to light for the rest of us. So, do the reading, thinking, and sharing. We want to hear what you have to say. If you are shy and fear public speaking, please take time to talk to me, and we’ll develop strategies to help you succeed. 10% of your grade is participation. I want to help you succeed, but you have to let me know if you’re not speaking out of fear as opposed to not being prepared.

WRITING REQUIREMENTS

(All writing assignments must be completed with 1 inch margins, be double spaced, with size twelve Roman Times font.)

Each student will complete at least a ten-page writing assignment that compiles work you complete throughout the semester that relates to primary sources read for class. More information to come. It is worth 15% of your grade. I will provide an additional handout with more detail as the semester begins. You will be able to visit my website for more detailed information as well. The main objective is to combine all skills learned to date, reading, analysis, writing, time organization, general historical comprehension and context. You may earn 5% extra credit per paper by working with the free tutors in the Writing Center, Tutoring Center, or Student Success Lab.

ADDITIONAL WRITING

Your midterms and final exams are a combination of matching, fill-in-the-blank, maps, and essays. They each require approximately 3 to 6 pages of in-class writing.

EXTRA CREDIT

The Departments of Social Science, as well as various other departments and institutes, at Bakersfield College and CSUB hold numerous public symposiums and town hall meetings each semester. They complement the intellectual projects of this course. The dates, times, and locations of the presentations will be given well in advance. Students who attend any of these events will receive extra credit. In order to receive credit, students must submit one page that relates what they heard in the symposium to what we are doing in class. You may also opt to complete journal assignments on primary source readings for extra credit. If you are interested in this, please ask me for a handout. I also allow vocabulary for extra credit. I will explain this in class.

LIVING HISTORY

It is also possible to earn extra credit by attending an event at a living history museum, Fort Tejon. The museum offers a program on the Dragoons who settled disputes with Indians and were strategic in “overawing” the Indians of the region. Colonel Allensworth is also a great place to visit!

RECOMMENDED LINKS

The following sources allow you to do a key word, subject, or author search of primary documents. Yale, Avalon Project:	http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/major.asp
Documenting the American South: http://docsouth.unc.edu/

COURSE STRUCTURE

Our course will be conducted in a seminar/lecture format, which calls for the committed participation of all class members (including the instructor). Time will be devoted to three principle activities: (1) lectures, (2) and student- centered discussions, debates, role-playing, and activities pertaining to assigned texts. Success in these areas (and so success in the course) will depend on steady participation and work. Good analysis of historical text and assimilation of historical arguments are acquired virtues, meaning that they are habits that must be learned and cultivated over time. I am eager to assist you in acquiring these habits, but ultimate responsibility falls to you; you must practice discipline and make the course a regular component of your daily routines and thinking. As you read, look for key moments that provide examples of the main themes that concern this class. Learning takes place everywhere, and each of you has many valuable insights to offer the rest of us.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

I will assign each of you a time to make a presentation regarding each of your assigned primary sources to the rest of the class. Prior to making your presentation, you will have the chance to discuss the document in your small groups, so you’ll have additional time to get your group’s thoughts together before presenting to the class.

TIME REQUIREMENTS

I expect each student to average about six hours outside of class reading, writing, or viewing films for this class each week. If most students need much more time than that, let me know. The syllabus might need adjusting.
Individuals who are unable to complete their work averaging 6 hours per week should see me--I will try to help you streamline your efforts.

Final Exam Meeting Time: Thursday, May 14th, 10:00-11:50 am, Final Exam

ATTENDANCE

Your contributions are important to this class. Your success and that of your classmates depends upon your participation. This is not solely a lecture course. Classes are discussion-based and discussion-driven. This means that for the course to work, people have to contribute to class. For this reason, more than three unexcused absences will result in your participation grade being lowered. More than four unexcused absences may result in a failing grade in the area of participation or in being dropped from the class. Because much of our work is based on in-class interaction, you must contact me immediately when you have an excused absence.

GRADING SCALE
90-100	00=A, 80-89.9=B, 70-79.9=C, 60-69.9=D, below 60= F. Failure to complete all formal assignments (especially the writing assignment) or to exceed the number of permitted absences could result in an F for the course.

Overall Grade/Point Scale

As
980-1000= A+	
880-899=B+	Bs	Cs
780-799=C+	Ds
680-699=D+	Fs
599 or Below	
940-979=A
900-939=A-	840-879=B
800-839=B-		740-779=C
700-739=C-	640-679=D
600-639=D-		

The assignments and requirements set forth in this syllabus are guidelines. I reserve the right to modify them as necessary. Dates for reading assignments may adjust as we focus on discussion and analyzing sources.

FREE ADDITIONAL HELP OUTSIDE OF CLASS

To help you succeed in your classes and complete your degree!

Document's web location (to use the embedded links): http://www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/nstrobel/student- announce/freeBCstudentresources.htm

The Writing Center offers free help with all steps of the writing process, except proofreading. Professional writers help with anything from understanding an assignment, to thinking out your essay, to writing it. The Center is located in Student Services 133 and can be contacted at (661) 395-4735 or by email at writingcenter@bakersfieldcollege.edu. Walk-ins or pre-arranged appointments are welcome. Hours Mondays through Thursdays 8:00 am - 6:00 pm and Fridays 8:00 am - 12 pm (noon). You earn an extra 5% on your exams and writing assignments in my classes for working with any of the tutoring services on campus. All you have to do submit proof of it with your exam or paper.

The Student Success Lab offers FREE reading, writing and math guided tutorials. The lab is open Mondays+Wednesday at 8:00 am - 6:00 pm, Tuesdays+Thursdays at 8:00 am - 7:00 pm, and Friday 8:30 am - 12:20 pm. It is located in SS 143. The tutors are exceptional! New computer technology, upgraded PLATO software, and a friendly atmosphere are just some of the reasons to come to the Student Success Lab. Here's one more reason: It will improve your writing! Call for an appointment: (661) 395-4654 or email the Coordinator Kimberly Nickell at knickell@bakersfieldcollege.edu. Available for credit or no credit:

•	ACDV B201 abc (0.5/1.0 unit or FREE no credit): Individualized/diagnostic math, reading, and English learning modules. Individually prescribed lessons in spelling, reading, vocabulary development, study skills, critical thinking and/or English. Supervised repetition and practice in the laboratory on assigned tasks which may range from general communication skills to specific problems.
•	ACDV B281 abc (FREE no credit): Computer-assisted tutoring courses. Provides tutoring in various academic subjects, conducted in a computer lab, to augment classroom instruction. Open entry/open exit.

The Tutoring Center is upstairs from the Student Success lab in room SS 203. The Tutoring Center provides FREE tutoring to all students with drop-in tutoring for Math and English with pre-scheduled tutoring for most other subjects. Tutoring is offered for multiple courses and provided by trained, certified student tutors. Hours Mondays+Thursdays at 8:00 am - 5:30 pm and Tuesdays+Wednesdays at 8:00 am - 7:30 pm. For more information call (661) 395-4430 or email the Tutorial Coordinator Midge Ladd at mladd@bakersfieldcollege.edu.

Critical Academic Skills Workshops are free, short workshops for all BC students with no appointments needed! Workshops in Reading, English, and Student Success. Dates and times vary: see "InsideBC" (under the Student tab) for scheduled sessions or the BC CAS website or the Delano CAS website. For more information call (661) 395-4005 or email the coordinator Christina Mody at cmody@bakersfieldcollege.edu.

The Department of Academic Development offers numerous classes that will help you succeed in this class, in college, and in life. They include, but are not limited to the following; study habits, problem solving, reading for academic success, and writing.

Library Research Workshops: The librarians offer 8 different 60 minute workshops several times over the course of 8 weeks each semester. For a description of the workshops as well as the workshop schedule go to: http://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/library/workshop.asp

Counseling Department (first floor, Student Services): Crisis Counseling, 395-4689 or 395-4421. Counselors and advisors are able to provide you with guidance in the following areas:

•	Reviewing your assessment (placement) test results and other information to determine appropriate course options;
•	Exploring academic and educational goals, and identifying possible educational options;
•	Developing abbreviated and comprehensive educational plans;
•	Explaining certificate programs and degrees available at Bakersfield College;
•	Assisting with identification of transfer options and course requirements for University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), independent and out-of-state institutions, and;
•	Providing referral information to other student support service programs on the BC and Delano campuses, as well as to other off-campus resources.

In addition to one-on-one advising and counseling sessions, the center also provides you answers to quick questions during peak enrollment times, drop-in advising, New Student Counseling workshops, Educational Planning workshops and transfer-related workshops throughout the Academic year. In addition Counseling faculty also teach student development courses for educational planning, career development and student success. Find these courses listed in the online class schedule under “Student Development”.

Financial Aid (second floor, Student Services): 395-4428. Scholarships, tuition waivers, vouchers for textbooks for the start of the semester (so you don't start out your classes already being behind). Check out the Financial Aid TV for video answers to all your financial aid money questions.

Health Center (Campus Center 3): Provides free physical and mental health services for students who paid their campus health fee (Most of you paid this; it's built into your registration fees). You may call for an appointment at (661) 395-4336. The clinical therapist (LCSW) has office hours at the following times: Tuesdays at 8:00 am - 2:00 pm, Wednesdays at 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, and Thursdays at 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm. A month into the semester, she begins offering group sessions as well. The physician, holds office hours daily: Mondays through Wednesdays at 8:00 am - 5:00 pm and Thursdays at 10:00am -7:00pm. Health Center hours are Mondays through Wednesdays at 7:30 am - 5:30 pm, Thursdays at 9:30 am - 7:30 pm, and Fridays at 8 am - 12:00 pm (noon).

Extended Opportunity Program and Services (EOPS) (second floor, Student Services next to the Financial Aid Office) is a state funded program offering access and retention services including books for low-income, educationally-disadvantaged students. (661) 395-4351.

Disabled Student Programs & Services (DSP&S) (first floor, Student Services) provides services for students with physical disabilities (including temporary disabilities), psychological disabilities, learning disabilities, speech and language disorders, students who are blind or have visual impairments, students who are deaf or hard of hearing, and students with health limitations. Call (661) 395-4334 for more information.

Renegade Pantry: Provides free box of food two times per month to BC students in need. In order to take advantage of this service, you can sign up for a food order the week of distributions, all sign ups must be done before the actual day of distribution. Distributions will always be on Thursday unless otherwise noted. Schedule is posted at the Student Activities office in Campus Center 4 and on the Renegade Pantry website. Sign-up at Campus Center 4 on the designated dates. Delano Campus students sign-up at A&R on the designated dates.
Distribution date hours are 8:00 am - 12:00 pm (noon) and 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm.

 Veterans’ Resource Center: Provides a place of respite for our veterans to decompress, enjoy a cup of coffee, access Wi-Fi, and unwind. The center holds a meeting every other Tuesday from 11:30 am -12:30 pm. It is located in Campus Center 36. History Professor Paul Beckworth is the advisor for the center and can be reached at 395-4586. It is open Monday through Thursday at 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. Other services for veterans are given on the Veteran Services website at http://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/student/veterans/

Find It Here: concise, one-page sheet that answers questions of the type: "Where is <xxx> at BC?" How do I
<xxx> at BC?" find.it.here (PDF)

In case of emergency on campus, dial 4555 from any campus phone. Non-emergency security number 4554.

SUMMARY OF BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE PLAGARISM POLICY
http://www2.bc.cc.ca.us/dkoeth/plagiarism.html

1.	All written work submitted for credit is accepted as the student's own work. It may not, therefore, have been composed, wholly or partially by another person.
2.	The wording of written work is taken as the writer's own. Thus, one may not submit work that has been copied, wholly or partially, from a book, article, essay, newspaper, another student's paper or notebook, or any other written or printed or media source. Another writer's phrases, sentences, or paragraphs may be included only if presented as quotations and the source acknowledged.
3.	The ideas expressed in a paper or report are accepted as originating with the writer. Written work that paraphrases any written or printed media material without acknowledgment may not be submitted for credit. Ideas from books and essays may be incorporated in the writer's work as starting points, governing issues, illustrations, and the like, but in each case the source must be cited.
4.	Students may correct and revise their writing with the aid of reference books. They may also discuss their writing with peer writing groups or with peer tutors. However, students may not submit writing that has been revised substantially by another.
5.	No written work may be submitted for credit that has been used to fulfill the requirements of another course, in whatever department, unless permission to coordinate work has been granted by both teachers.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

STANDARDS FOR LETTER GRADES FOR ASSIGNMENTS

A	Work that goes beyond instructor's expectations: is careful, thoughtful, original, thorough, all at once.
Truly outstanding work.
A-	Very good work with most of the attributes of "A" work but either deficient in some technical aspect, in thoroughness and care or just not as strikingly incisive, original or creative as "A" work. Still, excellent work.
B+	Better than good competent work. Good competent work with aspects that really shine or creative  original work that needs more thoroughness to pin it down.
B	Good competent work, which meets all requirements, the instructor could specify in advance. Reasonably thorough. Alternatively, work with some excellent aspects that are balanced by serious deficiencies.
B-	Almost up to the specifiable standards. Often characterized by some vagueness and signs of lack of effort or insufficient engagement with the material. Sometimes the result of correctable misunderstanding. Talk to instructor.
C+	Below the specifiable standards for good work. Talk to instructor.
C	Minimally passing work, showing serious misunderstanding or lack of effort and engagement. Talk to instructor.
C-	to F Talk to instructor immediately!!

QUIZZES

Twenty percent of your grade for this course is determined by quizzes given regularly throughout the semester. There are two types of quizzes, online (worth 15%) and in-class quizzes (worth 5%). The online quizzes must be completed by Tuesday mornings before 10:40 a.m., unless otherwise stated. Online quizzes will be based on each week’s required readings. You have two attempts at each Moodle quiz, and your score will be based on the average of points earned for both attempts. We will have occasional in-class quizzes; the questions for these will come from in-class lecture material. They will be administered ONLY during the beginning of class and be based on lecture notes covered over a few weeks.  During the in-class quizzes you may consult written notes you have completed in advance.  There will be no make-up quizzes administered to absentees; only students who arrive on time will receive the quiz. I will drop your lowest two quiz grades.   Each in-class quiz may have six to eight questions. Each question will be worth one point, and you’ll earn two to four points for participating in the quiz. Generally speaking, reading quizzes will cover key terms listed in the instruction box of each moodle quiz. I’ll give some great study tips for these on the first few days of class. Be sure to attend.

EXAMINATION POLICY

Make-up exams will be administered only in extraordinary cases of an emergency nature. You must make every effort to contact me prior to the exam to discuss your circumstances. Do not otherwise assume that you will be permitted to take a make-up exam should you fail to show up on the scheduled date without having made prior arrangements.
ADDITIONAL COURSE GOALS

1.	An ability to engage in lifelong education by learning to acquire knowledge and to use it for intelligent ends.

2.	An ability to communicate, orally and in writing, at a level acceptable for college graduates.

3.	An ability to clarify one's personal values and to be sensitive to those held by others.

4.	An ability to recognize and seek solutions for the common problems of living by drawing on an understanding of historical knowledge, of historical and contemporary events, and the elements of the cultural heritage related to those events.

What you learn about and what you learn to do in this class will help you resolve the dilemmas you must confront in your own lives and in the lives of your fellow citizens. Learning to think critically about the past will help you be better prepared for life in both the present and the future. You will, furthermore, be challenged to see how your hard-gained knowledge and analytical skills may be applied to ‘real world’ situations outside the walls of the classroom.  Finally, you will be encouraged to participate actively as an informed citizen.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

You should plan to read carefully all selections by the date they are assigned, regularly consulting a dictionary for any unfamiliar terms. I strongly recommend that you take notes on the readings (in addition to completing the reading assignment study questions) to aid you in studying for the exams; you may also consult these notes during the quizzes. Be prepared to discuss the readings in class.

SCHEDULE OF READING ASSIGNMENTS AND EXAMS
Week 1:  Week of January 20th 
Day 1: Freedom and Equality: Can We Really Have Both? Discuss Syllabus: What is history anyway? What defines American history and culture in the period we’re about to study?

Homework: Read your syllabus, complete syllabus quiz (due next class), and diagnostic writing (final question on the syllabus quiz). Read over and sign your student contract. Turn it in to me at our next class meeting (counts as a ten-point quiz).

Day 2: Syllabus and So, how and why did Europeans conquer most of the world?: Understanding the European Roots of North American Settlement.

Reading: All: Norton, chap. 1, Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492-1600.

Homework: 
1.	Online moodle syllabus quiz. 
•	Read your syllabu
•	Complete syllabus quiz
•	Do diagnostic writing (final question on the syllabus quiz). 
2.	Read over and sign your student contract. 
•	Turn it in to me at our next class meeting (counts as a ten-point quiz). 
3.	Synch your gmail with your smartphone (worth a ten point quiz)
4.	Schedule your assignments and exams into your Gmail calendar with reminders and text alerts (worth a ten point quiz). Use any of the scheduling tools provided that will work best for you.

Week 2: Week of January 26th 

Day 1:		So, how and why did Europeans conquer most of the world?: Understanding the European Roots of North American Settlement. Group Activity on “Othering.”

Reading: All: Norton, chap. 1, Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492-1600

Homework: Moodle quiz on Jennifer Morgan’s article “Some Could Suckle.” Use the study guide at the top of the quiz to prepare.

Day 2:  What’s sex got to do with it?: Sex, Gender, Racism, and Slavery

Reading:	All: Morgan, Jennifer. ‘“Some Could Suckle over Their Shoulder”: Male Travelers,  Female Bodies, and the Gendering of Racial Ideology, 1500-1770.” In William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 54, No.1 (Jan., 1997), 167-192. QUIZ on this article! You may use any handwritten notes you take.

Also read in the Marcus, America Firsthand book, An eyewitness account of the African slave trade by Olaudah Equiano, Ibo prince supposedly kidnapped in the early 1760s

Homework: 
•	Moodle quiz on Chapter 1 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use key terms at the top of the moodle quiz to prepare. 
•	Work on your Jennifer Morgan writing assignment due next Thursday.

Week 3: Week of February 2nd

Day 1:  Deconstructing the Myth of American Indians & was it because they were “superior” people?: the Role of the Environment and Culture in Conquest. Introduction to Civilization and Savagery.

Reading: All: Norton, chap. 1 (review), Marcus, introduction and pages leading up to first document.

Suggested Films: Elizabeth (1988), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Guns, Germs, and Steel (2005)

Suggested Films: Roots (TV Miniseries, 1977), The Middle Passage (2000), Enslaved (1999), Pocahontas (1995),
500 Nations (1995)

Homework: Moodle quiz on Chapter 2 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use key terms in quiz description to prepare.

Day 2:  Who is the “savage”?: Understanding America’s Legacy of Conquest and Violence in Context

Reading All: Norton, chap. 2, 1600-1650, Europeans Colonize North America, (all);

Group A: Marcus, Dispatches of the Conquest from the New World: Hernando Cortés, In a letter to King Charles V of Spain, Hernando Cortés recounts his recent conquest of Mexico, Marcus, Adriaen Van Der Conck, Debating the Value of the American Colonies, Marcus, Captain John Smith describes Virginia …1607, Mary Jemison, Captivity in a Different Light, and New World Images,  European and Native American artists convey differing perspectives on Native Americans.

Group B: Marcus, An anonymous Nahua Account of the Conquest of Mexico describes the Spanish conquest and suggest possible reasons for their defeat, Pedro Naranojo and Josephe, Testimony of Pueblo Indians, Marcus, The French Jesuit missionary Father Paul Le Jeune reports from Quebec in 1634, where he lived among North
American Indians, and New World Images, European and Native American artists convey differing perspectives on Native Americans.

Group C: Marcus, Bartolomé de Las Casas, The Dominican Friar Bartolomé de
Las Casas’s Powerful Report of the Horrors of the Spanish Conquest is often described as the Black Legend, Marcus, Mary Rowlandson describes her captivity and experiences  with the Wampanoag Indians during King Philip’s War, and New World
Images, European and Native American artists convey differing perspectives on Native Americans.
Homework: 
•	Moodle quiz on Chapter 3 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use key terms in quiz description to prepare.
•	Writing assignment on Jennifer Morgan due next Thursday.

Suggested Films: The New World (2005), Apocalypto (2006), Black Robe (1991), The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)

Week 4: Week of February 9th 

Day 1: So, can you believe a former slave in 17th-Virignia not only received equal treatment before the law, but he owned a slave as well?: Class, Slavery, and Racism in Early Anglo-America

Reading:  All:  Norton, chap. 3, North America in the Atlantic World, 1650-1720;

Morgan, Edmund. “Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox,” In Journal of American History, Vol. 59, No. 1 (June, 1972), 5-29. QUIZ on this article. You may use any handwritten notes you take.

Day 2 : So, can you believe a former slave in 17th-Virignia not only received equal treatment before the law, but he owned a slave as well?: Class, Slavery, and Racism in Early Anglo-America

Writing Assignment 1 is due at the beginning of class. Earn an extra 5% for working with a tutor at the Writing Center, Tutoring Center, or Student Success Lab.

Reading:  All:  Norton, chap. 3, North America in the Atlantic World, 1650-1720

Morgan, Edmund. “Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox,” In Journal of American History,
Vol. 59, No. 1 (June, 1972), 5-29. You may use any handwritten notes you take.

Group A: Governor William Berkeley on Bacon’s Rebellion: http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1651- 1700/governor-william-berkely-on-bacons-rebellion-19-may-1676.php

Group B: Bacon’s Declaration in the Name of the People: http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1651- 1700/bacons-declaration-in-the-name-of-the-people-30-july-1676.php

Group C: An Account of the Civil War in Virginia in 1676 (read only on Bacon’s Rebellion: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/jamestown-browse?id=J1054

Homework: 
•	Moodle quiz on Edmund Morgan’s article “Slavery and Freedom.” Use moodle quiz description to prepare.

Week 5: Week of February 16th 

Day 1: So, which is it, Christianity or Capitalism?: the Initial Founding of British North America & How is it that people want freedom for themselves but not for others?: Puritan Authority in 17th Century Massachusetts

Reading:  All:  Norton, chap. 3, North America in the Atlantic World, 1650-1720

Day 2: So, which is it, Christianity or Capitalism?: the Initial Founding of British North America & How is it that people want freedom for themselves but not for others?: Puritan Authority in 17th Century Massachusetts

Reading: All: Do a little background research on the person for your primary source below, so your group can provide a biography and timeline to the class, in addition to the information you convey from the source.

Group A:   Winthrop, John. A Model of Christianity: http://www.winthropsociety.com/doc_charity.php

Group B: The Trial of Anne Hutchinson: http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/hutchinson.html

Group C: Roger Williams, A Plea for Religious Liberty http://www.constitution.org/bcp/religlib.htm

Week 6: Week of February 23rd 

Day 1: Was William Penn a hero or a hypocrite and did his Christian faith enable the birth of American democracy?: The Founding and Development of Pennsylvania.

Day 2: Was William Penn a hero or a hypocrite and did his Christian faith enable the birth of American democracy?: The Founding and Development of Pennsylvania.

Group A: Pennsylvania, pamphlet, Some Account of the Province of Pennsylvania: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~original13/penns-pamphlet.htm

Group B: William Penn, Frame of Government, http://www.constitution.org/bcp/frampenn.htm

Group C: William Penn, Charter of Privileges, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/pa07.asp

Homework: Study for midterm.

Suggested Films: The Crucible (1996), The Scarlet Letter (1995)

Week 7: Week of March 2nd

Day 1: Midterm

Homework: Moodle quiz on Chapter 4 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use key terms in quiz description to prepare.

Day 2: How did such diverse colonies forge a common identity?: Trade, Faith, and Indian “Savages” in 18th-Century Anglo America; Mercantilism.

Reading All: Norton, chap. 4, American Society Transformed, 1720-1770.

Group A: Marcus, Franklin explains colonial opposition to the Stamp Act in 1766 and A 1763 French map of North America reveals much about geography as a  cultural and political construct.

Group B: Marcus, Gottlieb Mittelberger, On the Misfortune of Indentured Servants and A 1763 French map of North America reveals much about geography as a  cultural and political construct.

Group C: Eliza Lucas Pinckney, Daughter, Wife, Mother, and Planter and A 1763 French map of North America reveals much about geography as a  cultural and political construct.

Homework: Moodle quiz on Chapter 5 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use key terms in quiz description to prepare.

Suggested Movies: Last of the Mohicans (1992), Benjamin Franklin (2002), John Adams (2008), George Washington (1984), Avatar (2009)

Week 8: Week of March 9th

Day 1: So, should we have expected revolution?: An End to Salutary Neglect: The French and Indian War, American Expectations, and A Shift in Economic Policy

Reading All: Norton, chap. 5, Serving the Bond of Empire, 1754-1774; Marcus, Examine Paul Revere’s Engraving of the Boston Massacre. How would you tell the story of the Boston Massacre from this engraving?, and Marcus, read the introduction to Part Three, “Resistance and Revolution: Struggling for Liberty.”

Group A: Marcus, A British Officer stationed in Boston before the American Revolution Recalls why his soldiers fired on Americans.

Group B: Marcus, A Patriot shoemaker, A Boston Merchant, and the Boston Gazette and Country Journal relate this bloody event from the colonists’ perspective.

Group C: Marcus, Patriot and Loyalist Propaganda, A Variety of British and American Visual Propaganda…”

Suggested Movies: Liberty: The American Revolution (PBS Series), You Are There (1953), The Patriot (2000)

Homework: Moodle quiz on Chapter 6 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use key terms in quiz description to prepare.

Day 2: So, were the Founding Fathers reluctant revolutionaries?: A Demand for British Rights Leads to an American Nation.

Reading: All: Norton, chap. 6, A Revolution, Indeed, 1774-1783; Marcus, 109-144;

Group A: Marcus, Martin, who joined the Revolutionary Army before his sixteenth
birthday, writes about life as a common soldier and Abigail Adams dispenses love, wisdom, and advice in letters to her husband and son.

Group B: Marcus,  A South Carolina slave escapes to enlist in the British army and
is rewarded with Freedom in Canada in 1783 and George Richards Minot describes Shays’s Rebellion of 1786-1787.

Group C: Marcus, Catherine Van Cortlandt send letters to her Tory husband
behind British lines in 1776 and 1777 and A Scots-Iroquois chief supports the British Army in the War of 1812.

Homework: Moodle quiz on Chapter 7 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use key terms in quiz description to prepare.

Suggested Films: 1776 (1972), Amazing Grace (2006), The Crossing (2000)

Week 9: Week of March 16th 

Day 1: Was the American Revolution Radical?: Ideas, Class, and the Documents that Changed America and the World

Reading: All: Norton, chap. 7, Forging a National Republic,1776-1789, Marcus, Abigail Adams, Republican Motherhood and George Richards Minot, Shays’s Rebellion: Prelude to the Constitution.

Homework: Moodle quiz on Chapter Gordon Wood’s introduction to The Radicalism of the Revolution. Use study guide in moodle quiz description.

Day 2: So, with all the talk about Ron Paul revolution bring us back our Constitution, what powers does the Constitution give to whom?: Federal, States, and Individual Rights in the Making of the New Republic; Were we founded as a Christian nation?

Reading: Gordon Wood, Radicalism of the American Revolution, handout.  QUIZ on this Wood article.

Homework: Moodle quiz on Chapter 8 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use key terms in quiz description to prepare.

Suggested Films: Amistad (1997)

Week 10: Week of March 23rd 

Day 1: So, what happened to the promise of the New Republic?: Civic Virtue, Shame, Race, and the Defining of the Citizenry

Reading:  All: Norton, chap. 8, the Early Republic: Conflicts at Home and Abroad, 1789-1800.

Group reading this week is optional. You can find each of the below on the internet.

Group A: Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, A Narrative of the proceedings of the black people, during the late awful calamity in Philadelphia, in the year 1793.

Group B: Mathew Carey, A short account of the malignant fever. . .

Group C: James Hardie, An Account of the Rise, Progress, and Termination, of the Malignant Fever.

Homework: Moodle quiz on Chapter 9 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use key terms in quiz description to prepare.

Suggested Films: Thomas Jefferson (1997), American Experience: Alexander Hamilton (2007)

Day 2: So, what’s Christianity and money got to do with?: the Second Great Awakening, the Idea of Perfectibility, the Emergence of Abolitionism, and Diverging Ideas of the American Dream, Already

Reading:  All: Norton, chap. 9, Defining the Nation, 1801-1823.

Group A: Marcus, A Passionate evangelical minister describes camp meeting revivals in Kentucky.

Group B: Marcus, Richard Allen, Early Steps Towards Freedom.

Group C: Marucs, A Passionate evangelical minister describes camp meeting revivals in Kentucky.

Homework: Moodle quiz on Chapter 10 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use key terms in quiz description to prepare.

Suggested Films: Not For Ourselves Alone (1999)

Week 11: Week of March 30th, Spring Break. 

SPING BREAK! Midterm Next Week!
Week 12: Week of April 6th 

Day 1:  So, how can one have honor and be a liein’, cheatin’, rapin’, and human traffickin’ son of a gun?: Southern Honor, Work Ethic, and Identity

Reading: All: Norton, chap. 10, the Rise of the South, 1815-1860;- chap. 12, Reform in the Age of Jackson, 1824-1845.

Group A: Marcus, Nat Turner confesses to leading a slave Uprising in Southhampton County, Virginia, were at least fifty whites were killed.

Group B: Marcus, William Lloyd Garrison et al.

Group C: Marcus, John Ross, of mixed Cherokee and white ancestry, protest efforts by President Jackson and Congress to remove his tribe from Georgia to Oklahoma Territory…

Suggested Films: Trail of Tears (1995), The President’s Lady (1953), Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil, and the Presidency (PBS, 2008)

Day 2:  MIDTERM

Week 13: Week of April 13th

Day 1: Becoming the South & Nat Turner: Freedom Fighter, Terrorist, or Lunatic? Assigned reading highlighted in class.

Reading:

Group A: Marcus, John Brown, abolitionist

Group B: Marcus James Henry Hammond, Defending Slavery. Group C: Marcus, Nat Turner Rebellion.
Day 2:  TBD (To be Determined)

Homework: Quiz on Chapter 11 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use your chapter study guide to prepare.

Week 14: Week of April 20th 

Day 1:  So, how can the North be racist and anti-slavery?: White Wage Labor, Westward Expansion, and Tariffs

All:  Norton, chap. 11, The Modernizing North, 1815-1860.

Homework: Quiz on Chapters 12 and 13 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use your chapter study guide to prepare.

Day 2:  So, how did Westward expansion lead to the Civil War?: Land, Power, and Political Balance Reading:  

Reading: All: Norton, chapters 12 and 13 in a People and a Nation.

Group A: Marcus, Priscilla Merriman Evans, An emigrant woman arrives in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1856, after walking one thousand miles from Iowa City, Iowa and Dispatches from the U.S. Army describe a mix of  power and persuasion in taking New Mexico.

Group B: Marcus, Guadalupe, Vallejo et. Al, Aging Californios remember their lives in California before the 1846 “Bear  Flag Revolt” and the 1849 gold rush brought thousands of Anglo settlers to
the region.

Group C: Marcus, Daguerreotype by Joseph B. Starkweataher, A photograph from 1852 provides a glimpse of the olives of Chinese and  Anglo miners in the California gold fields.

Homework: Quiz on Chapter 14 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use your chapter study guide to prepare.

Suggested Films: The Donner Party (2009), The Claim (2000), The Alamo (2004)

Week 15: Week of April 27th

Day 1:  So, was violence necessary to end slavery?: Rebellions, Fanatics, and Broken Compromises

Writing Assignment 2 is Due at the beginning of class.

Reading: All: Norton, chap. 14, Slavery and America’s Future: The Road to War, 1845-1861; Marcus, 155-159, 249-266;

Group A: Marcus, Henry “Box” Brown. Group B: Marcus, Harriet Jacobs.
Group C: Marcus, John Brown, abolitionist . . .

Homework: Quiz on Chapter 15 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use your chapter study guide to prepare.

Suggested Films: The Race to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad (1994)

Day 2: So, who’s the bad guy, the South (because of slavery)?: Understanding the War’s Origins

All: chap. 15, The Transforming Fire: The Civil War, 1861-1865; Marcus, 267-296; Excerpts from Gangs of New York

Group A: Marcus, Henry Williams Ravenel, A Slave Owner’s Journal at the End of the War. Group B: Marcus, Samuel and Rachel Cormany, A Young Couple with a new baby . . .
Group C: Marcus, Black Union Soldiers, Fighting for the Union, African American Soldiers Express their Concerns

Homework: Quiz on Chapter 16 of Norton’s A People and a Nation. Use your chapter study guide to prepare.

Suggested Films: North and South (1985) , Gone With The Wind (1939), Glory (1989), Gangs of New York
(2002), Gettysburg (1993), Lincoln (2012), The Abolitionists (2013)

Week 16: Week of May 4th

Day 1:  Who won the Civil War? Did Reconstruction Fail or Succeed? What is freedom?

Reading:  All: Norton: Chapter 16, Reconstruction: An Unfinished Revolution and Marcus, Felix Haywood    et. al., African Americans During Reconstruction, and handout by Frederick Douglass, What the    Black Man Wants.   

Day 2:	TBD

Week 17: Week of May 11th

Day 1: Study Day. 

Day 2: Final Exam, 10:00 to 11:50 am

FINAL EXAM

Thursday, May 14th 10:00-11:50 am, Final Exam FINAL GRADES

I must submit final grades to Admissions and Records (A & R) within three school days after you complete your final. A & R will have your grades “rolled” onto Banner within three additional school days. However, your  grades and academic standing will not reflect these new grades in your overall status later in May.

Ponder this quote form Alexis de de Tocqueville: “Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.”

REQUIRED TEXTS

A People and a Nation, Vol. 1	America Firsthand, Vol. 1

8th Edition	9th Edition

8th Edition	OR	9th Edition
(Pick either 8th or 9th Edition (not both). Quizzes and Exams will likely contain maps.

SUGGESTED/RECOMMENDED TEXTS