Schedule, Reading List, & Assignments:
The schedule and assignments are subject to change during the semester. If you rely on a printed version of this schedule, please check back here regularly to make sure you have the most current version.
Last revised: December 7, 2011
| Date | Topic | Reading Assignment | Writing Assignment |
| Tues 8/30 | No Class | ||
| Thurs 9/1 | Introduction | Links for US History until 1865 | |
| Tues 9/6 | Freedom and Innovation | 1. Foner, xiii-xxii 2. Inventing America, xxi-xxix |
Reading response 1 due - Foner |
| Thurs 9/8 | Historical Origins of Racism | 1. Jordan, vii-25 2. Inventing America, Chapter 1 |
Essay 1 topic due |
| Tues 9/13 | Empire, Slavery, and Settlement | 1. Inventing America, Chapters 2-3 2. Jordan, 26-54 3. See Links to slavery resources online |
Reading response 2 due - Jordan |
| Thurs 9/15 | American History Online | ||
| Tues 9/20 | Settlement and Slavery in Colonial America | 1. Jordan, 57-110 2. Inventing America, Chapter 4 |
Essay 1 due |
| Thurs 9/22 | Indigenous Encounters | 1. We Shall Remain, episode 1: After the Mayflower | Reading response 3 due |
| Tues 9/27 | Ideologies of Colonization and Conflict | 1. Inventing America, Chapter 5 |
|
| Thurs 9/29 | Political History of the British Colonies in America | ||
| Tues 10/4 | The Ideology of Revolution | 1. Links on the Revolutionary War | Reading response 4 due - Revolutionary documents |
| Thurs 10/6 | Freedom and the Revolution | 1. Wood, Introduction, Chapters 1-2 2. Foner, 3-28 |
Reading response 5 due - Wood or Foner |
| Tues 10/11 | No Class - Monday Class Schedule | ||
| Thurs 10/13 | Washington and the Characters of the Revolution | 1. Wood, Introduction, Chapters 1-2 2. Foner, 3-28 |
Reading response 6 due - Foner or Wood |
| Tues 10/18 | Inventing the American Republic, 1776-1800 | 1. Inventing America, Chapters 6-8 2. Kerber, Women of the Republic, Introduction and Chapter 9 (Moodle) |
Reading response 7 due - Kerber |
| Thurs 10/20 | The Constitutional Convention and its Aftermath | 1. Review Chapter 7 in Inventing America 2. Groups read one chapter in Wood, Chapters 4-8 3. Read The U.S. Constitution (including Amendments 1 through 10) |
|
| Tues 10/25 | Slavery in the Republic | 1. Foner, 29-45 2. Jordan, 111-161 |
Reading response 8 due - Jordan or Foner |
| Thurs 10/27 | Slavery in the Republic, continued | Essay 2 due | |
| Tues 11/1 | Thomas Jefferson | 1. Jordan, 165-193 2. Wood, Chapter 3 3. Explore "Jefferson's Blood" |
|
| Thurs 11/3 | Review for Midterm Exam | Concepts for Midterm Exam | |
| Tues 11/8 | Midterm Exam | ||
| Thurs 11/10 | The Emergence of Republican Technology | 1. Inventing America, Chapters 9-10 | |
| Tues 11/15 | Technology in the Early Republic | 1. Inventing America, Chapters 11-12 2. Kasson, Civilizing the Machine, Preface and Chapter 1 (Moodle) |
Reading reponse 9 due on Kasson, Chapter 1 |
| Thurs 11/17 | Religion, Reform, and Technology in Antebellum America | 1. Inventing America, Chapter 13 2. Kasson, Civilizing the Machine, Chapter 2 (Moodle) |
Reading response 10 due - Kasson, Chapter 2 |
| Tues 11/22 | An Empire of Liberty | 1. Foner, 46-68 |
|
| Thurs 11/24 | No Class - Thanksgiving Recess | ||
| Tues 11/29 | The Boundaries of Freedom | 1. Jordan, 194-226 2. Foner, 69-94 |
Reading response 11 due - Jordan |
| Thurs 12/1 | The Disruption of American Democracy, 1839-1860 | 1. Inventing America, Chapters 14 and 15 | |
| Tues 12/6 | Civil War I | 1. Foner, 95-113 2. Inventing America, Chapter 16 |
Essay 3 due |
| Thurs 12/8 | Civil War II | 1. Review Concepts for Final Exam | |
| Mon 12/12 | Final Exam, Pierce 116, 8 am - 12 pm |