American History II
U.S. History since 1865
History H106 - Section C651
Fall 2000, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30p.m.-3:45p.m.
Cavanaugh Hall 217
| Instructor: Dr. Nancy M. Robertson | Office: Cavanaugh Hall 504N |
| Office Hours: Tuesdays, 4:00-5:00 | phone/voice mail: 317/274-8017 |
| Thursdays, 1:00-2:00, or by appt | e-mail address: nmrobert@iupui.edu |
Course Description:
History 106 is a survey of American history from the end of the Civil War (1865) until the present. While there is a chronological framework, we will look at a number of themes in order to focus the material. One of the underlying questions will be the relation between individuals and the society/ies in which they lived. In particular, we will examine the relation between people and large historical trends such as industrialization, urbanization, expansion, migration, and governmental intervention. We will also explore how various individuals and groups have struggled over what it is to be an American.
Classes will include discussion as well as lectures. Reading assignments will encompass a variety of primary sources including several autobiographies. You should come prepared to talk about the issues raised by the readings and lectures. You are encouraged to ask questions during class or my office hours.
Course Objectives:
Lectures, discussions, and written assignments are designed to help students learn how to develop a historical argument, use evidence to support it, and convey their insights to others. Gaining these abilities helps not only in understanding American history, but also in improving essential communication and critical thinking skills.
Survey courses can feel overwhelming because of the amount of material covered in the course. Someone once complained that
AHistory is just one darn thing after another.@ The emphasis in this course, however, is less on memorizing dates and names and more on using that information to develop reading and writing skills to explain why things happened as a way to understand the present as well as the past.
Required Books can be purchased at the bookstore in Cavanaugh Hall or at Folletts. In a pinch, there is a copy of each on Reserve in the Library. I expect you to bring W&B or 1st PERSON to class when we are discussing them.
Required Books (cont.):
John Mack Faragher, et al., Out of Many: A History of the American People, v. 2, Brief 3rd edition (2001) [referred to as TEXT]. I have also ordered copies of the accompanying Study Guide if you think one would be helpful, but you are not required to buy it.
Out of Many, v.1 (U.S. history before 1877) is also on Reserve in the Library for background [it is the Brief 2nd edition, but that should be fine].
Marian J. Morton & Russell Duncan, eds., First Person Past: American Autobiographies, v. II (1994) [referred to as 1st PERSON].
William Bruce Wheeler and Susan D. Becker, Discovering the American Past: a look at the evidence, 4th edition [you must have this edition], v. 2 since 1865 [referred to as W&B].
Course Requirements:
A 12 to 2 page biographical essay (typed, double-spaced, approximately 300-500 words) about Tunis Gulic Campbell. This is due Thursday, August 31st. We will discuss this assignment in more depth, but the purpose is to think about the life and times of this individual and situate him in his historical context. Papers are due at the start of the class. This will be graded on an Aexcellent,@ Asatisfactory,@ or Afailure@ basis (5% of your final grade for the course).
Midterm examination, scheduled for Thursday, October 19th (25% of final grade).
Final examination, scheduled for Thursday, December 14th (25% of final grade). Both exams will include IDs or short answers from the reading, class lectures, and discussions as well as an essay question (or questions) asking you to incorporate this information into a discussion of a larger theme. We will discuss the exams as they approach.
1 to 12 page Aanalysis@ of each of two W&B chapters--1 each from the following pairs:
Chapter 4 (due September 19th) or Chapter 5 (due October 10th)
Chapter 6 (due October 12th) or Chapter 7 (due October 26th)
We will discuss this assignment in greater depth, but here is a brief overview. In your piece, you need to identify the question to be answered, choose one of the best pieces of primary evidence (from the evidence section) to answer the question, and explain how that evidence helps you answer the question. You may work with other students on this assignment, but each of you needs to choose a different piece of evidence and you should elaborate the differences between the examples. Lastly, you should reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of source. This is due at the beginning of class and you are expected to be particularly active in class discussion on that day. THESE ASSIGNMENTS CANNOT BE HANDED IN LATE AND YOU NEED TO DO ONE IN EACH OF THE PAIRS. You should look ahead to see which topics seem most interesting and which ones fit into your schedule and plan accordingly (for a total of 15% of final grade).
One longer paper (approximately 5-6 pages, i.e., 1250 to 1500 words), based on one of the chapters in W&B or 1st PERSON, supplemented by other class materials. It is also possible for you to develop your own topic. We will discuss this further in class, but you will need to let me know your topic in writing by November 2nd.
The paper is due November 16th at the start of class (25% of your final grade).
Completion of reading by the assigned date, attendance at class meetings, pass/fail assignments, ungraded written assignments in class, and participation in class discussions. In part because of University Policy, I will take attendance. You are allowed three absences in the course of the semester; more than three will affect this portion of your grade. Please note that participation means not just speaking. It means being prepared and contributing thoughtful ideas or opinions (5% of your final grade).
If you want to rewrite an assignment, you MUST speak with me first. You must also hand in the original version when you submit the rewrite.
YOU MUST TAKE BOTH EXAMS AND SUBMIT THE FOUR
THE WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS TO PASS THIS COURSE.
Grading policies:
Class discussions will go better and be more interesting and useful if students keep up with the reading (indicated on the schedule below for each class). I expect you to meet due dates of written assignments. If you have a problem, please talk with me BEFORE the deadline, otherwise I will need documentation of illness or other emergency. You should be sure to get from me IN WRITING a note indicating that I agreed to the later date; it should be included with your paper when you hand it in. Unless we have reached an alternate agreement, late papers will be marked down a 1/3 of a letter grade for each day they are late. That is: a paper that would have been an A, will be an A- if it is one day late and a C- if it is 7 days late, etc. (Days means days of the week, not class sessions). Make-up exams are offered only at the discretion of the professor.
Developing your intellectual skills is possible only when you actually do the work assigned. We will have a longer discussion of intellectual work, intellectual dishonesty, and plagiarism. Plagiarism and cheating will result in an
AF@ for the work in question and possible disciplinary action by the University. See the Indiana University Academic Handbook (p. 123) or the IUPUI Campus Bulletin, 2000-2002 (p. 36) or talk with me if you have questions about what is or is not permissible.A grade of
Aincomplete@ is troublesome for everyone. The University=s policy is that they are only for students who have completed almost all course requirements and have been prevented by significant or unanticipated circumstances from finishing them.
A Few Hints for Doing Well:
Come to class. You may have to miss a class very occasionally (see above for my attendance policy). I strongly encourage you to find someone who will share notes with you if you miss class. You should check the web page for the class for announcements, handouts, etc. You will find, however, that other people
=s notes are rarely a replacement for being in class yourself.You are encouraged to ask questions during class or my office hours. It is possible that I may decide to hold off on a question in the interests of the class flow, but I will come back to it as soon as possible.
Keep on top of the reading; the reading listed for a day should be done before the class lecture and/or discussion.
A note about textbooks: There are a variety of problems with textbooks, beginning with how dry they often are. As we will see, textbooks do not simply recount
Athe facts,@ but rather present an interpretation of history. A textbook remains, however, one tool for organizing a lot of information (using its index may help you find information quickly, for instance). Lectures, discussions, and the textbook will be mutually reinforcing ways to gain control over information from the past and begin to understand key questions about what happened and why. I encourage you to read the textbook at least two times--once before the class session on the topic and once after when you will have a better sense of which issues we are stressing in the chapter. One part of this course will be to assess the strengths of and limitations to various ways to learn history--textbooks, lectures, memoirs, political speeches, newspapers, popular culture, among others.I cannot stress too heavily the usefulness of planning ahead, saving work on your computer OFTEN, making backups (on diskettes), and printing out your paper early. A goal of this course is to assist students in developing their analytical and writing skills. That means I count improvement in your work.
Logistics:
As you may know, you are entitled to an e-mail account through IUPUI. I realize that many of you prefer to use another provider for e-mail and web work. The University encourages you to set up your IUPUI account to forward information to your other accounts. It means that you can easily access information from the University. It also assists me if I need to send out a general class announcement, although these will normally be on ONCOURSE. If you need help setting up the account or forwarding mail, contact:
http://iupui-accts.iupui.edu/students/student.html
FYI: There is a University web page that will let you know if the campus is closed for snow:
www.iupui.edu/it/registrar/adverseweather.html
The syllabus for this course will be on ONCOURSE. I will post additions, corrections, handouts, and other supplemental materials there as well.
PLEASE NOTE: The syllabus is subject to changes or adjustment. These will be announced in class and posted on ONCOURSE, but it is the responsibility of the student to stay on top of changes.
SCHEDULE OF CLASS MEETINGS
8/24: Introductions, overview of course objectives, requirements, themes, and the syllabus.
RECONSTRUCTION and THE OTHER CIVIL WAR
1860s-1890s
8/29: The Crises of Reconstruction: building and rebuilding a nation (TEXT, ch. 17).
8/31: Emancipation and the use of biography in history (1st PERSON, Campbell). BRIEF BIO DUE.
9/5: The American Wests (TEXT, ch. 18 and 1st PERSON, Black Elk).
9/7: Industrialization (TEXT, ch. 19 and 1st PERSON, Carnegie).
9/12: Strategies for change: African Americans (W&B, ch. 2 and 1st PERSON, Washington).
9/14: Strategies for change: working people (TEXT, ch. 20: pp. 370-381 and 1st PERSON, Jones).
AMERICA and THE WORLD
1890s-1919
9/19: The Culture of Imperialism (TEXT, ch. 20: pp. 381 to end and W&B, ch. 4).
9/21: Urbanization & Immigration (TEXT, ch. 21 and 1st PERSON, Antin).
HINT: you may find TEXT, pp. 440-443 useful.
Athe limits of democracy@ and pp. 398-400, as well as9/26: Strategies for change: women (1st PERSON, Shaw).
9/28: Progressivism: alliances and conflicts, pt. 1: women and race (you may find it helpful to review
W&B, ch. 2 and the TEXT, p. 381 on
1st PERSON, Shaw: pp. 130-131).
AUrban Ghettos@]).10/3: Progressivism: alliances and conflicts, pt. 2: women and workers (you may find it helpful to review 1st Person: Jones, esp. pp. 101-102 and Shaw, pp. 126-127 and TEXT, pp. 389-392 and 397-398 [on
10/5: World War I -
AOver There@ (TEXT, ch. 22).10/10: World War I: Over Here (W&B, ch. 5).
GOOD TIMES/HARD TIMES
1920s-1930s
10/12: The 1920s (TEXT, ch. 23 and W&B, ch. 6). HINT: you may find TEXT, pp. 440-443 useful.
10/17: The Great Depression (TEXT, ch. 24: pp. 446-448 and 1st PERSON, Guthrie).
10/19: MIDTERM (covering the material through 10/12--the 1920s).
10/24: What is to be done? Government and strategies for change.
10/26: The New Deal (TEXT, ch. 24: pp. 444-445, 448 to end and W&B, ch. 7).
WARS, REBELLIONS, and REVOLUTIONS
1930s-2000
10/31: World War II: the Homefront (TEXT, ch. 25, esp. pp. 466-472 and 1st PERSON, Sone ).
11/2: World War II: the world at war (TEXT, ch. 25: esp. pp. 461-466, 473 to end).
LONGER PAPER TOPIC DUE.
11/7: Cold War America (TEXT, ch. 26).
11/9: The Affluent Society (TEXT, ch. 27).
11/14: Other Americas (TEXT, ch. 28 and W&B, ch. 9).
11/14 5 p.m.: last day to withdraw Fall 2000 courses.
11/16: Vietnam and the War on Poverty (TEXT, ch. 29 and 1st PERSON, Kovic)
LONGER PAPER DUE.
11/21: The War at Home (review TEXT, ch. 29 and read W&B, ch. 10).
11/23: NO CLASS - Thanksgiving.
11/28: Turning Inward? (TEXT, ch. 30).
11/30: Other Movements (review TEXT, pp. 554-560 and 577-578).
HINT: you may find TEXT, pp. 612-615 useful.
AThe Election of 1992@ to end).12/5: The Reagan Years: Revolution or Counterrevolution (TEXT, ch. 31: through p. 604).
12/7: A history of the 1990s? (TEXT, ch. 31: p. 604,
Course review.
FINAL EXAMINATION
12/14: FINAL EXAMINATION: 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. (note different time).