History 101

American History to  1877
Fall 2011

 

Professor Terry Bouton

Phone: 410-455-2056

E-MAIL: bouton[at]umbc.edu

Office: 722 Administration Bldg.
Office Hours: Wed., 4:00pm-5:00pm; Fri. 12:00pm-1:00pm and by appointment

 

(It is always best to email before you plan to come to office hours so I can block out time for you.  I typically schedule meetings with students and advisees during office hours, so it's best to contact me before you plan to arrive to make certain I'm available.)

 

Course Webpage: http://research.umbc.edu/~bouton/History101/101WF11.htm

*I would advise bookmarking this page since it has links to all the documents and assignments*
Course Meeting Place: Administration 101

Campus Map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/map_flash.html
Course Meeting Time: Wed./Fri., 1:00pm-2:30pm

 

Course Description:
History 101 will explore the development of early America from 1492 through the period of Reconstruction following the Civil War.  Particular attention will be devoted to examining the changing relationships between European, Native American, and African peoples as well as to the internal evolution of these diverse societies. Along the way we will explore such topics as colonization and cultural interactions between Europeans and Indians, the rise of slavery, the American Revolution, the beginning of industrialization, westward expansion, and the Civil War. The goal of the class will be to determine how race, geography, gender, class, and culture created competing worlds in America prior to 1877.

 

Learning Objectives:

 

Readings:

The following are available for purchase at the campus bookstore.  If you're shopping for used copies, you may be able to save some money by purchasing from www.amazon.com, http://half.ebay.com/index.jsp or www.bookfinder.com.
 

1)  Neal Salisbury, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God
by Mary Rowlandson with Related Documents
, Bedford St. Martins, ISBN 0–312–11151–7

2) Paul Finkelman, Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South A Brief History with Documents, Bedford St. Martins, ISBN 0–312–13327–8

3) William E. Cain, William Lloyd Garrison and the Fight Against Slavery
Selections from The Liberator
, Bedford St. Martins, ISBN 0–312–10386–7

4) Robert O'Meally, ed., Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, Barnes and Noble ISBN  1593080417)

 

Requirements:

The various tests and assignments for the course will produce a possible 400 points.  Your total grade for the class will be determined by tallying your scores the following five elements: 

 

MIDTERM EXAM #1:

100 pts.

25% of your grade

MIDTERM EXAM #2:

100 pts.

25% of your grade

FINAL EXAM:

110 pts.

27.5% of your grade

DISCUSSION POSTINGS:

90 pts.

22.5% of your grade

TOTAL GRADE:

400 pts.

 

 

 

At the end of the semester:   360-400 points will be an A

                                                 320-359 points will be a B

                                                 280-319 points will be a C

                                                 240-279 points will be a D

                                                 Below 240 points will be an F

NOTE: Students taking HIST 101 on a Credit/No Credit basis should remember that the university requires that you earn a final grade of at least a C to receive credit for the course. History majors and potential history majors need a C or better for the credits to count toward the major.

Examinations:

The Midterm and the Final Exam will be composed of an essay or short answer section and a series of identifications (define and explain the significance of various names, events, places, ideas, etc., drawn from lectures and readings).

 

The First Midterm Examination will be held in class on: Fri., Sept. 23

The Second Midterm Examination will be held in class on: Wed., Oct. 26

The Final Examination will be held in class on: Wed., Dec. 21 from 1:00pm-3:00pm

Make-up Policy: I will offer make-up examinations for both midterms and the final, but only if arrangements for a make-up are made by midnight the day the examination is scheduled. If you miss a midterm or the final and have not notified me in advance, you may not take a makeup and will earn 0 points for the missed exam. Note also that the make-up exam will be a different and more challenging exam, which I will grade with greater scrutiny.  Warning: I am strict about this policy. 

Blackboard Reading Discussion:
The grade for reading discussion will depend on the quality of your posts to the Blackboard Discussion Board, which I will treat as short papers. There will be TEN posting assignments throughout the semester, each worth ten points.  At the end of the semester, I will drop the lowest grade so that only your nine highest scores will count toward your final grade.  Each posting will answer a specific question based on the material being read for that particular assignment.  I have listed the questions below in the schedule.  I will also post them on Blackboard.  Your posting will be graded based on the quantity and quality of your response.  Each posting must use SPECIFIC EXAMPLES and QUOTATIONS from the reading to support your argument and, when appropriate, provide PAGE NUMBERS from the books.  I will be looking to make sure that your quotations come from THROUGHOUT the reading and not just from a few pages at the beginning or end of the book.  Think of the postings as mini-papers of about a page of single-spaced text. Remember to ANSWER the QUESTION rather than just reporting what the reading said.  These are analytical essays designed to prove an argument, not "book reports." Make sure you proofread your posts before you submit them! 


NOTE: To receive full credit, you must make your posting by on the days listed below by 12:30PM.  If you do not finish your posting by class time, DO NOT cut class to submit a posting; simply submit it after class.  I will deduct DOUBLE the number of late points for any posting submitted during the time the class meets.

IMPORTANT: I require everyone to save a personal copy of all of their discussion postings on their home computer, thumb drive, or whatever other storage device they have.  Since Blackboard is occasionally buggy, I HIGHLY suggest that you type out your response with a word processing program and then cut and paste your response into Blackboard. If you have a problem with Blackboard, it is your responsibility to ensure that I receive a copy of your posting by the deadline. DO NOT automatically email me a copy of every posting.  ONLY email postings in the event of a Blackboard emergency. 

 

Warning: I consider Blackboard Reading discussion to be one of the most important parts of the course. DO NOT take these assignments lightly. If you put effort into the postings, they are one of the surest ways to boost your grade. If you blow them off, they can kill your grade and result in you failing the course—no matter how well you do on the exams. When I assign final grades at the end of the semester, I always use postings to decide whether to bump up the grades of those on the borderlines. If you have diligently completed your postings, I usually will bump your grade. If you have failed to submit postings or continually submit them late, I WILL NOT BUMP YOUR GRADE even if you are one or two points short of the next grade level.


Getting started on Blackboard: Blackboard is relatively easy to use and will allow you to have access to course materials 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the Internet.  If you have registered for the course, you should automatically be registered on Blackboard. As a UMBC student, you have a personal email account and access to the Internet and through the school's many on-campus computer labs.  You can also access Blackboard off campus through a personal account or from the UMBC dial-up.  BEFORE you do anything else, check to see if you are enrolled in the course by going to http://blackboard.umbc.edu.  If you have been automatically registered, take some time to explore the Blackboard site for the course.  If Blackboard indicates that you are not registered, follow the directions at the main Blackboard site for new users.


Email:
I will send all email messages to your UMBC email account
(yourusername@umbc.edu). If you do not usually check this account, have messages forwarded to your preferred email address (such as yahoo, gmail, etc.). For help with this procedure, or if you have other questions about UMBC's Office of Information Technology services visit the OIT helpsite at http://www.umbc.edu/oit/. Helpdesk personnel in the on-campus computer labs can help with most questions. The helpdesk phone number is 410-455-3838.

Random Rules:
1)
TURN OFF CELL PHONES, BEEPERS, WATCH ALARMS, or any other device that might disturb the class.  I will make examples of those who violate this rule (for example, if your phone rings, I will take the call). 
2) On test days, students will not wear hats of any kind.  If you come to class wearing a hat, you will be asked to remove it.
3) On test days, if you leave the room for any reason, I will consider your test to be completed.  In other words, make your trip to the restroom before the test begins. If you need a drink, bring one; if you have a cold, bring Kleenex.

4) Laptops in the Classroom: I’m fine with people using their laptops to take notes in class. But it is both rude and disruptive for you to be emailing, surfing the web, playing World of Warcraft, IMing in Google chat, visiting your Second Life, watching SNL clips on Youtube, or updating your Facebook profile while you’re sitting in my class. If you don’t think I can tell, you’re wrong. (Hint: you staring at your laptop screen, smiling and laughing when we’re talking about, oh say, slaves being tortured is something of a giveaway). If I have to speak to you about this, you’re not going to be happy. So try to curb your net addiction for the 75 minutes we’re in class. Thanks!
5) Coming to class late. Everyone is occasionally late for reasons beyond their control. I understand that. But when you start making a habit of coming to class late, you’re disrupting me and your fellow students who have their acts together and can actually get to class on time. If you’re perpetually late, I will stop lecture and yell at you. In class. In front of everyone. And then I will talk to you after class and yell at you some more. So don’t do it. Thanks!

Academic Integrity:
By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UMBC's scholarly community in which everyone's academic work and behavior are held to the highest standards of honesty. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts are all forms of academic dishonesty, and they are wrong.  Academic misconduct could result in disciplinary action that may include, but is not limited to, suspension or dismissal.  To read the full Student Academic Conduct Policy, consult the UMBC Student Handbook, the Faculty Handbook, or the UMBC Policies section of the UMBC Directory. To read the policy online, see: http://www.umbc.edu/integrity/.

I show no mercy toward cheaters.  If you are caught cheating on any test or assignment, you will receive a zero for that grade and I will submit your name to the proper disciplinary authority.  Rest assured that I will do all I can to see that those disciplinary bodies take the strongest possible action against anyone who cheats.  Potential cheaters: you have been warned. 

Schedule of Lecture Topics, Exam Dates, and Reading Assignments

 

Part 1: Colonial North America

Week 1

Wed., Aug. 31:    1) Introduction
2) Europe and Exploration: Why did 1492 happen? What did Europe hope to get from the “New World”?

 

Fri., Sept. 2:         Spaniards and Indians: What kind of relationships formed between the Spanish and the Indians they encountered?  What factors shaped the nature of these interaction?

•Reading: Sovereignty, pgs. 1-60 (introduction)

Week 2               

Wed., Sept. 7:      The French Middle Ground: Why was contact between the French and Indians they encountered so different from the Spanish model?

                                                               

Fri., Sept 9:          1) Britons and Indians: Why did the encounters between English settlers and Native Americans differ so sharply from the Spanish and French?
2) Why did the Indians Lose?

•Reading: Sovereignty, pgs. 61-112 and 149-164 (Mary Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative and Joseph Rowlandson’s Final Sermon)


Post Discussion to Blackboard by 12:30PM: How did Mary Rowlandson view the Nipmucs, Wampanoags, and Narragansetts during her captivity?  How did Mary and her husband’s religious beliefs shape the way they understood Indians and interpreted their actions?
Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers (cite the documents themselves, not the introduction or the individual introductions to the documents; include page numbers for your citations).


Week 3
               

Wed. Sept. 14:     The Rise of American Slavery: Why did the southern colonies turn to African Slavery? How did Slavery differ by region?              

 

Fri. Sept. 16:        Puritan New England: Why did the Puritans come to America?  Why were they so disappointed with their “City on the Hill”?

•Reading: 1) The Power of the Gentry; 2) Rough Music; 3) William Byrd’s Diary.


Post Discussion to Blackboard by 12:30PM: What do these documents reveal about the power dynamics underlying class and gender relations in colonial America?  Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers.

               

Week 4

Wed., Sept. 21:    Family and Power in Early America: What was patriarchy and how did it shape the lives of men, women, and children in Colonial America?

                                       

Fri., Sept. 23:       FIRST MIDTERM EXAMINATION [Click Here for the First Midterm Exam Study Guide]

 

Part 2: The American Revolution: 1750-1820

Week 5

Wed., Sept. 28:    Democracy in Colonial America: How democratic were government and society in colonial America? How did ordinary folk try to get their voices heard in a system that placed limits on their political power.

               

Fri., Sept. 30:       Seeds of Revolution (The Great Awakening and The French and Indian War): How did religious revivals and Indian wars serve as catalysts for the American Revolution?

•Reading: Documents on the Internal Revolution                


Post Discussion to Blackboard by 12:30PM: What do these documents reveal about the internal struggles within American society that the conflict with Britain touched off? Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers.
[The posting is asking you to examine some of the divisions within American society on the eve of the American Revolution. When we talk about the Revolution this semester, we are really talking about two revolutions: the first one was the Independence movement against Great Britain (historians have called this the Revolution to establish "home rule"); the second revolution was an internal struggle between different groups of Americans to decide how to remake their newly independent government and society (historians have called this the revolution over "who shall rule at home"). For this assignment, we're looking more closely at the second revolution between different groups of Americans who often disagreed over how revolutionary (or democratic) they thought the new society and government should be. As you will see from the documents (and as we will talk about in class), different groups of people defined the key words of the Revolution in dramatically different ways. There were often strong disagreements over exactly what terms like "liberty" and "freedom" should mean and to whom they should apply. The objective of this posting is for you to use the documents to try to figure out what some of those divisions were.]
 

Week 6

Wed., Oct. 5:       The Internal Revolution: How did tensions within American society shape the American Revolution?           

                                                               

Fri., Oct. 7:          The Imperial Crisis and Independence: Why did the colonies declare their Independence from Great Britain?  What did "liberty" mean in 1776?      


•Reading:
Documents on the Revolutionary Governments

Post Discussion to Blackboard by 12:30PM: How democratic were the new governments of Pennsylvania and Maryland? Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers. Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers.

       

Week 7

Wed., Oct. 12:     The Revolutionary War: How did thirteen colonies defeat the greatest world power of the day? How did the War for Independence help spark a counter revolution by the revolutionary elite?

                                                               

Fri., Oct. 14:        The Counter Revolution: Why were so many Americans so angry following the victory in the Revolutionary War? How did ordinary people try to defend their ideals?

•Reading: Excerpts from the Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia 1787                


Post Discussion to Blackboard by 12:30PM: What did the founding fathers think about democracy? How did they structure the government to deal with democracy? Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers.

 

Week 8

Wed., Oct. 19:     The New Nation: How did Federalists attempt to roll back democracy? To what extend did Jefferson’s Revolution of 1800 restore democracy?

               

Fri., Oct. 21:        The Outsiders: To what extent did slaves, women, and Indians experience a Revolution?

 

Week 9

Wed., Oct. 26:     SECOND MIDTERM EXAMINATION [Click Here for Second Midterm Exam Study Guide]

 

Part 3: West, North, and South on the Road to the Civil War

 

Fri., Oct. 30:        Westward Expansion: Why did America expand westward so quickly in the first half of the 19th century?

 

•Reading: Defending Slavery, 1-44

 

Week 10

Wed. Nov. 2:       Manifest Destiny: What was “Manifest Destiny”?  What factors produced Manifest Destiny and how did these same elements work to constrain America’s conquest of the continent?  Did the West "Democratize" America?

 

Fri., Nov. 4:         Indian Removal: What place did Native Americans hold in the New Republic?  How did Native peoples respond to a new and increasingly hostile United States?

•Reading: Defending Slavery, 45-128


Post Discussion to Blackboard by 12:30PM: What were the main economic, political, and religious justifications for slavery? Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers (cite the documents themselves, not the introduction or the individual introductions to the documents; include page numbers for your citations).
                    

                                                               

 Week 11

Wed., Nov. 9:      Northern IndustrializationWhat were the different paths to early Industrialization? How did the world of work change in the first half of the 19th century?

 

Fri., Nov. 11:       Workers, Religion, and Reform : How did northern workers respond to industrialization? What was the Second Great Awakening and what relationship did it have to industrialization?

 

•Reading: Defending Slavery, 129-211


Post Discussion to Blackboard by 12:30PM: What were the main legal, “scientific,” and “sociological” justifications for slavery? Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers (cite the documents themselves, not the introduction or the individual introductions to the documents; include page numbers for your citations).
                    

 

Week 12    

Wed., Nov. 16:    Reformers and Utopians: How and why did many middle class Americans want to reform society in the mid-19th century?  How successful were their efforts?

 

Fri., Nov. 18:       The Opening and Closing of Democracy:  How and why did politics and civil rights expand for white men in the first half of the 19th century and narrow for women and non-whites?

 

•Reading: Narrative of Frederick Douglass, All

Post Discussion to Blackboard by 12:30PM: What does Frederick Douglass’s Narrative reveal about slavery in the Maryland? Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers (cite the documents themselves, not the introduction or the individual introductions to the documents; include page numbers for your citations).

 

Week 13

Wed., Nov. 23:    The Slave South: Why didn’t the South industrialize like the North? How did slavery shape Southern development, culture, and ideology? When compared with the Caribbean and South America, why were there so few slave rebellions in the US South?

 

Fri., Nov. 25:       THANKSGIVING BREAK: NO CLASS

          

Week 14                            

Wed., Nov. 30:    Ideology North and South: What beliefs helped drive the growing divide between North and South? 
                                        

Fri., Dec. 2:          Road to the Civil War: What events drove the North and South to the Civil War?  Was there substance to the fears northerners and southerners shared about one another? Or was everybody just paranoid?

•Reading: William Lloyd Garrison, 61-126

 

Post Discussion to Blackboard by 12:30PM: Why and how did Garrison think slavery should end? What strategies did Garrison embrace for ending slavery? Which ones did he reject and why did he reject them? Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers (cite the documents themselves, not the introduction or the individual introductions to the documents; include page numbers for your citations).

 

Week 15

Wed., Dec. 7:       The Civil War: Why did the Civil War last so long when the North possessed so many more men, guns, and resources? How and why did the Civil War become a “War to Free the Slaves”?   

                                       

Fri., Dec 9:           The Rise and Fall of Reconstruction: How much freedom did ex-slaves enjoy after the Civil War?

 

•Reading: William Lloyd Garrison, 127-194

 

Post Discussion to Blackboard by 12:30PM: How did Garrison respond to growing conflict of the 1850s and the outbreak of the Civil War? Did these events change his ideas? If so how? Use specific quotes and examples from the documents to support your answers (cite the documents themselves, not the introduction or the individual introductions to the documents; include page numbers for your citations).    

 

FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE