Fall,
2001
History
A313 (Sect. C371) &
History
H511 (Sect. C391):
The
Origins of Modern America,
1865-1917
Location:
Cavanaugh Hall 217
Instructor: R. Barrows
Time: M W 2:30 - 3:45 p.m.
Office: Cavanaugh Hall 532
Phone: 274-2457/3811
E-mail:
rbarrows@iupui.edu
Office Hours: M W 10:00-10:30 a.m.,
12:30-1:00 p.m., and by appt.
REQUIREMENTS:
Regular class attendance and participation in discussion; completion of
assigned reading; a mid-term exam and a non-comprehensive final (essays and
short answer IDs, covering both reading assignments and the lectures); and several short written assignments: a) a brief synopsis and analysis of a
supplementary novel b) two short
descriptions and analyses of contemporary newspaper accounts of notable events c) analysis of two enumeration districts
from the 1900 manuscript census of Indianapolis. Students taking the course for graduate credit will complete an
additional reading/writing assignment following consultation with the
instructor.
GRADING:
Each exam will count
for one-third of the final grade; the written work will comprise the other
third. Improvement counts. So does literacy. In cases where the semester grade comes down to a borderline
decision (between a C+ or a B-, for example), regular attendance, participation
in discussion, and improvement will be taken into account.
Papers are due, and exams will be given, on the dates indicated. Unless prior arrangements have been made, I
will schedule make-up exams or accept late papers only in cases of documented
illness or other unanticipated emergency.
University policy is that grades of "Incomplete" should be
assigned only to students who have successfully completed most of the course
work and who have been prevented by significant and unanticipated circumstances
from finishing all requirements.
Removal of "Incomplete" grades is often troublesome for both
student and instructor, and I shall be reluctant to assign them.
Plagiarism (including the use without attribution of materials found on
the Internet), cheating on exams, and other forms of intellectual dishonesty
will not be tolerated, will result in a failing grade on the work in question,
and may lead to disciplinary action by the university. If you are unsure what constitutes
plagiarism, ask. Also, consult
the IUPUI Campus Bulletin, 2000-2002, p. 36.
TEXTS:
CALHOUN
Charles W. Calhoun,
ed., The Gilded Age
DeSANTIS Vincent
DeSantis, The Shaping of Modern
America, 3e
RIIS
Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1996 Bedford
Plus one of the following novels: Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick; Edward Bellamy, Looking
Backward; Hamlin Garland, Main-Travelled Roads; Upton Sinclair, The
Jungle
Tentative
Course Outline and Assignments
August
22 Introduction to the Course
27 Reconstruction
29 The Western Frontiers
(DeSantis, pp. 19-32; Calhoun, ch. 8)
September
3 NO CLASS (Labor Day)
5 The "New" South?
(DeSantis, pp. 33-37)
{Newspaper Assignment #1 due September 5}
10, 12 Industrialization,
Industrialists, and the Rise of Big Business (DeSantis, ch. 1; Calhoun, ch. 1)
17 Workers, Unions, and Labor Strife
(DeSantis, pp. 104-109; Calhoun, ch. 3)
19, 24 A
Nation of Immigrants (DeSantis, pp. 98-104; Calhoun, ch. 4)
26
GROUP 1: Presentation and discussion of Ragged Dick
October
1, 3
The
Rise of the City (DeSantis, pp. 97-98; Calhoun, ch.5; Riis--read the Preface,
all of Part I [pp. 3-43], and chapters 4, 6, 12, 17, 20, and 25 in Part II)
October
8, 10 Society and Culture in the Gilded Age
(DeSantis, ch. 5 and
pp. 109-118; "She Couldn't Have Done
It, Even If She Did" [on library reserve];
Calhoun, ch. 6, 7)
15 GROUP 2: Presentation and discussion of Main-Travelled
Roads
17 MID-TERM EXAM
22 The Politics of Equilibrium
(DeSantis, ch. 3; Calhoun, ch. 9, 10)
24 The
Quest for Empire, 1865-1899
(DeSantis, ch. 7; Calhoun, ch. 12)
29 Group
3: Presentation and discussion of Looking
31 The
Other Side of the Gay >90s:
Depression,
Racial Segregation, Agrarian Unrest, and the
Election of 1896
(DeSantis, ch. 4; Calhoun, ch. 11)
November
5 -Ditto-
7, 12 Progressivism:
Ideology and Political Reform
(DeSantis, ch. 9-11)
14
Progressivism:
Social Reform
(DeSantis, ch. 8)
19 GROUP 4: Presentation and discussion of The Jungle
21 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving Break)
26 Discussion of 1900 Census Assignment
28 Foreign
Affairs, 1900-1916
(DeSantis, ch. 12)
December
3 The
Road to World War I
(DeSantis, ch.13)
5 Home Front, Treaty Fight, and Postwar
Reaction
(DeSantis, ch. 14-15)
10 Evaluation and Recapitulation
15 FINAL EXAM 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
History
A313
Fall,
2001
Newspaper
Assignment #1
Select one of the following events:
--Impeachment (by the House of Representatives) and acquittal (by the Senate) of President Andrew Johnson
[Feb. 24 and May 16, 1868]
--Completion of the first transcontinental railroad
[May 10, 1869]
--Battle of the Little Big Horn (Custer's Last Stand)
[June 25, 1876]
Go to a local library--IUPUI University
Library, IMCPL, Indiana State Library--and read contemporary newspaper accounts
of whichever event you selected. (Note that there will often be several days
of coverage for each event. Usually,
though not always, the coverage appears within a day or two of when the event
occurred.) A likely source,
especially at the University Library, is the New York Times on
microfilm. Feel free, however, to see
what sort of coverage appeared in other newspapers, especially the Indianapolis
papers. Library personnel will be able
to assist you in locating the correct roll of microfilm. If you need instruction in the use of a
microfilm reader, do not hesitate to ask for such assistance.
After reading accounts of the event you
selected (and, presumably, taking notes on what you read), prepare an essay of
approximately two--and no more than three--double-spaced, typewritten
pages. The first one-third to one-half
of your essay should simply provide a summary description of the historical
event as recounted in the newspaper articles you consulted. The remainder of the essay consists of your analysis
of the coverage. Does it seem
accurate? Fair? Thorough?
Do you find anything unusual or surprising about the paper's treatment
of the story? Are there ways in which
the coverage differs from the manner in which a newspaper today might deal with
the same story?
Indicate somewhere in your essay, either as a
heading or as part of the text, the name of the newspaper you read, the dates
of the articles you consulted, and the repository where the newspaper
was located.
Due September 5
History A312
Fall,
2001
Newspaper
Assignment #2
Select one of the following events and read contemporary
newspaper accounts of the incident.
Then prepare an essay of approximately two--and no more than
three--double-spaced, typewritten pages.
The first one-third to one-half of your essay should simply provide a
summary description of the historical event as recounted in the newspaper
articles you consulted. The remainder
of the essay consists of your analysis of the coverage. Does it seem accurate? Fair?
Thorough? Do you find anything
unusual or surprising about the paper's treatment of the story? Are there ways in which the coverage differs
from the manner in which a newspaper today might deal with the same story?
Indicate somewhere in your essay, either as a heading or as part of the
text, the name of the newspaper you read, the dates of the
articles you consulted, and the repository where the newspaper was
located. Due on dates indicated.
Due October 8
Battle of Wounded Knee [December 29, 1890]
GAR Encampment in Indianapolis [Sept. 4-9, 1893; read Indy paper]
Due October 22
Shooting & death of President Garfield [July 2 & Sept. 19,
1881]
Due October 24
Sinking of the Maine [February 15, 1898]
Battle of Manila Bay [May 1, 1898]
Due November 5
People's Party (Populist) convention [early July, 1892]
Coxey's Army in Washington [April 30-May 1, 1894]
Democratic national convention, esp. the speech given by William
Jennings Bryan [July 8, 1896]
Due November 7
Assassination of President McKinley [September 6-14, 1901]
Due November 14
Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in NYC [March 25, 1911]
Due December 3
Sinking of the Lusitania [May 7, 1915]
Release of Zimmermann telegram [March 1, 1917]
Due December 5
East St. Louis race riot [July 2, 1917]
World War I armistice [November 11, 1918]
History A313
Fall, 2001
Instructions
for Group Presentations
and
Individual Written Assignments
>> Group Presentations
Each group will have 40-45 minutes to make its presentation and will
then respond to questions. (Membership of
the four groups is noted on the reverse of this sheet.) Your objective is to inform the other
members of the class about the novel you have read and to explain to them how
it helps us understand the period of American history we are studying in this
course. You may structure your
presentation as you wish, but at some point and in some way you will probably
want to touch upon the following:
--Biographical information regarding the author
--Publication information regarding the book (when/where originally published, how long in print,
sales figures, etc.)
--The plot of the novel: who are
the major characters?; what do they
do or what happens to them?
--The literary quality of the novel
--The historical context within which the
book was written and the ways in which
the novel reflects that context. (In
other words, why was this book
written when it was, and what does it
tell us about the time in which it was written?)
--The impact of the novel, both when it was originally published and in subsequent years
--The book's value in helping us to understand late 19th/early 20th century U.S. history
>> Individual Written Assignment
Your written analysis of the novel is due on the day of your group
presentation. (These dates are indicated on the syllabus.) This review should be approximately 600
words (3-4 typewritten pages,
double-spaced).
The review should consist of two parts. The first one-third should be a summary that tells the person
reading the review what the book is about.
The remaining two-thirds of the review should give your opinion of the
book, noting particularly its value as an historical source.
A313 (Barrows)
Fall, 2001
1900
Census Assignment
This exercise will give you an opportunity to
"do history" by examining and analyzing a source that has been widely
used by historians of the United States during the past twenty years--the
manuscript schedules of the decennial Census of Population. These documents, filled out by the census
enumerators as they made their rounds, provide a wealth of detailed information
about particular areas at a specific moment in time--a sort of historical
"snapshot."
For this assignment you will select two
"enumeration districts" (EDs) from the 1900 Census of Population of
Indianapolis. The schedules, which are reproduced on five rolls of microfilm
(numbered 387-391), are available in the microforms area of the Reference
Room in University Library. They are in a microfilm drawer labeled
"Census Microfilm"; the call number is HA 361.5 1900.
(Alternatively, this material is also available in the Genealogy Section on the
second floor of the Indiana State Library at the corner of Senate Avenue and
Ohio Street, which has no evening hours but is open on Saturdays.) You will
find the ED numbers in the upper right hand corners of the schedules. Select one ED from Group A and one
from Group B (see reverse).
Examine the information recorded for each ED
and then prepare an analysis (5-7 pages) of the districts. (Feel free to use the word
"neighborhood" or "area" rather than the awkward
"enumeration district" if you prefer, keeping in mind, however, that
ED boundaries were actually somewhat arbitrary and may not have defined a
natural neighborhood.) Your description
and discussion of the districts may include (but is not limited to)
consideration of the following:
--Location of the area, if possible (note
street names/house numbers along left
margin)
--Racial/ethnic composition of the district
--Occupational/social status of the residents (analyzed, perhaps,
by race and ethnicity)
--Women's roles
--Extent of homeownership
--Schooling patterns
--Any interesting institutions located within the district
--Anything else you observe that helps to describe the two
districts and their residents at the turn of
the century
Though not required, you may find it useful
to read the following brief article before beginning your work: "The 1900 Federal Census: A Note on Availability and Potential
Uses," Indiana Magazine of History, 74 (June, 1978), 146-152.
Due November 26
ED = Enumeration District
Group A
ED 55 (Roll 388/Vol. 46)
ED 57 (Roll 388/Vol. 46)
Group B
ED 19 (Roll 387/Vol. 45)
ED 22 (Roll 387/Vol. 45)
ED 26 (Roll 387/Vol. 45)
ED 83 (Roll 388/Vol. 46)
ED 89 (Roll 388/Vol. 46)
ED 134 (Roll 389/Vols. 47-48)
ED 141 (Roll 389/Vols. 47-48)
ED 149 (Roll 390/Vol. 49)