Fall 2002 Cavanaugh
Hall 217
Instructor: Margaret
Puskar-Pasewicz
Office: CA 201
Office Hours: Tues. 11:000-noon and 2:30-3:30; Thurs. 11:00-noon, and additional times by appointment.
Email: mpuskar@iupui.edu
Description: This course is
an introduction to American history from the Civil War to the present. We will be studying major social, political,
economic, and cultural developments in modern America. As a class, we will connect these
developments to the daily lives of ordinary
Americans, and the ways that they influenced and were influenced by broad
events and experiences such as World War I and II, the Great Depression, and
the Civil Rights Movement. My goal for
the class is 1) to provide a historical framework for understanding society and
politics in the United States since 1865 and 2) to introduce the materials and
tools employed by historians. Our class
discussions and assignments will emphasize collaborative learning and the
development of critical thinking, research, and writing skills. These objectives reinforce IUPUI’s
undergraduate learning principles (more information can be found at:
www.iupui.edu/~history/principlesundergradlearning.htm).
Requirements: You are required to attend class regularly, to complete the assigned readings and reading questions, and to participate in class discussions. You are expected to complete the weekly readings before we meet—you’ll find yourself more confident in discussion and doing better on quizzes and exams. In addition, students will complete two short papers (described below) based on assigned readings, one in-class midterm, and a final. For the second paper, you will also be required to turn in a paper outline. Study guides for each of the exams will be distributed at least one week before the test, and all examinations will consist of short-answer identifications and essays.
Grading: Make-up exams are not available for either exam, and late work will result in a lower grade unless there is a documented medical or family emergency. If you have a problem or conflict with an assignment or test date, notify me as early as possible. I understand that emergencies happen, but it is much easier to accommodate such situations when I know prior to missing an assignment deadline than afterwards. Also, significant improvement on exams and class participation will be taken into consideration in the calculation of your overall grade.
5% Announced & Unannounced Quizzes (Missed quizzes cannot be made up. If you
miss a quiz due to an unexcused absence then you will receive a zero for that quiz.)
15% Class Participation (Consists of attendance, contributions to class discussions, in-
class group work, and reading questions.)
10% First Paper (One to two page reaction paper on Sinclair’s The Jungle)
20% Second Paper (Three to four
page analytical essay on Moody’s Coming of
Age in Mississippi. Includes both paper outline and final paper)
25%
Mid-Term
25% Final
Required Reading: You can purchase these four books at the campus bookstore. Please contact the instructor as soon as possible if you have any trouble obtaining these books.
Alan Brinkley, The Unfinished
Nation: A Concise History of the American People; Vol. II: To 1877, 3rd
edition.
Frederick Binder and David M. Reimers, The Way We Lived; Vol. II, 4th edition.
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle.
Anne Moody,
Coming of Age in Mississippi.
How to approach your reading: Readings and lectures complement each other; they do not substitute for each other. You will be responsible for material presented in both. The reading questions will help you to read more effectively. Think of the readings in The Unfinished Nation, not as a bunch of facts to memorize, but as background that helps you better to understand lectures and additional readings. While I want you to attain a general factual knowledge of American history, it is much more important that you understand why and how certain events occurred. Our additional readings are intended to show how larger historical events affected the lives of individual people.
Academic Misconduct: I expect you to follow the rules on academic honesty and intellectual integrity in the Indiana University Academic Handbook. Copying another student’s work in whole or in part is plagiarism. Presenting someone else’s ideas or work as your own (this includes information from books, articles, and web sites) is plagiarism. Other forms of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to: using unauthorized books or notes to answer examination questions; exchanging knowledge with another student verbally or in written form during an examination; and writing for another member of the class. Any work that is wholly or partly the result of academic dishonesty will receive a grade of “F.” Any student who repeats this offense will receive a grade of “F” for the course. University procedures require me to report all instances of academic misconduct to the Dean of Students, whose office may impose additional penalties.
Week
2 (8/27 & 29): Westward Expansion
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived, Essay & Docs 3-20
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived, Docs 36-41
READING: Unfinished Nation, 515-543; 545-560; 572-577
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived, Docs 92-98
Begin Sinclair, The Jungle, ch. 1-7
READING: Unfinished Nation,
587-593; 628-634; and 649-655
Binder
& Reimers, Way We Lived, Docs 110-114
Continue Sinclair, The Jungle, ch. 8-13
Week 5 (9/17 &
9/19): AMERICAN EMPIRE
READING: Unfinished Nation, 604-623
Continue Sinclair, The Jungle, ch. 14-19
Week 6 (9/24 & 9/26): WWI
READING: Unfinished Nation, 680-693; 695-705
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived,
Docs 129-133
Continue Sinclair, The Jungle ,
ch. 20-25
Week 7 (10/1 &
10/3): THE 1920S
READING: Unfinished Nation, 706-729
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived, Essay & Doc 139-152
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived, Docs 167-172
Finish Sinclair, The Jungle, ch. 26-31
First short paper due
in class on Thursday.
READING: Unfinished Nation, 731-753; 761-789
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived, Essay & Docs 173-194
READING: Unfinished Nation, 792-807; 809-842
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived, Docs 207-212
Mid-Term Examination on Thursday
READING: Unfinished Nation, 875-899; 904-921
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived, Essay 215-227
Week 11 (10/29 &
11/31): ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR
& VIETNAM
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived, Docs 268-275 & 287-293
Finish Moody, Coming of Age, Part 4
Outline for second paper due in class on Tuesday
READING: Unfinished Nation, 964-979; 981-1010
Second short paper
due in class on Thursday
READING: Unfinished
Nation, 1011-1021
READING: Unfinished Nation, 1021-1047
Binder & Reimers, Way We Lived, Docs 304-311