Professor
Ashendel
Office: CA243C
Office
Hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:00-3:00
and by appointment
Office
Telephone:
Email:
Required
Readings:
Nation of Nations, Volume 1, by Davidson et al.
Changes in the Land by Cronon
Benjamin and William
Franklin by
Skemp
The Battle for Christmas by Nissenbaum
Course
Description and Objectives: Despite all
opinions to the contrary, history survey courses such as this one are not
designed to make undergraduates jump through hoops or torture them with
requirements to learn useless information and meaningless dates, all irrelevant
to the students' futures. Instead, a
survey course is meant to give students a framework for understanding how both
the present and future unfold within structures largely defined by the
past. Even the fast-paced, technology
driven, global society we find ourselves in these days has roots in historical
precedents that are still shaping its development.
The course will focus on the usual
themes of politics and economics, but will also show how ordinary people shaped
these forces. History is not just a
mountain of facts (although you must remember those), but is instead a sequence
of interconnected events. Understanding
those connections and explaining them through the use of facts is one way to
sharpen your analytical skills, improve your ability to communicate with
others, and, hopefully, to learn something to apply to your own life.
Attendance: An attendance sheet will be circulated at
each class meeting. You may miss three
classes without an excuse. After three
absences, you will lose 2 points from your total final points for each absence. If you must miss more than three classes due
to circumstances beyond your control, please see me.
Classroom
Procedures: Please arrive on time. If you arrive late, please enter quietly
through the back of the room. Listening
carefully and taking good notes are important skills. Therefore, no tape recorders are allowed unless documentation is
presented from the office of student services.
Cheating
and Plagiarism: Don't do it. You will
earn a zero on the work in question.
For further information, consult the Campus
Bulletin, 2000-2002: IUPUI, p. 36.
Assignments: Students will take three examinations. These exams will consist of 5
identifications and an essay. A study guide will be distributed in class one
week prior to each exam. The actual
exam will be taken from that study guide.
There will also be a quiz on each of the three readings. The study questions for these quizzes are at
the end of this syllabus. Each quiz
will be taken from those study questions.
Grading:
3
exams @ 100points 300 points
3
quizzes @ 50points 150 points
Total: 450 points
Grades
are based on a straight scale (90% and up = A; 80% and up = B, etc.). Be sure to complete all of the examinations
and quizzes. A zero has a greater negative impact on your final grade than at
least some attempt to complete an assignment. Make-up exams and quizzes are
strongly discouraged. No make-up exam
or quiz will be given without documentation proving an extreme emergency. Documentation includes doctors' forms,
funeral notices, accident reports, and similar verifiable papers. The instructor reserves the right to refuse
to grant a make-up exam or quiz if the documentation is not presented. If a make-up is given, it must be taken
within one week of the original exam.
Incompletes are strongly discouraged and rarely given. It is not fair to
the rest of the class to request extra time to complete the work.
Schedule
of lecture topics, readings, quizzes, and examinations. Please complete the
readings before class.
January
7: Introduction to the Course/Age of
Exploration
Begin
to read Changes in the Land
January
9: Early Colonial Settlements
Read: NON, Chapters 1 and 2
January
14: Colonial Settlements and the
Development of Slavery
January
16: The Puritans
Read: NON, Chapter 3
January
21: HOLIDAY---NO CLASS
January
23: Discuss Changes in the Land and QUIZ
January
28: Witches and Historians
Read: NON,
Chapter 4
February
4: Reason and Religion
February
6: EXAM
February
11: Imperial Policy and Colonists
Rights
Begin
reading Benjamin and William Franklin
Read: NON, Chapter 5
February
13: Making a Rebellion
Read:
NON, Chapter 6, pp. 170-176, 192-195
February
18: The Social Significance of War
February
20: Discuss Benjamin and William and QUIZ
February
25: Constitutional Convention and
Ratification Debates
Read: NON, Chapter 7
February
27: The Federalists
Read: NON, Chapter 8
March
4: The Jeffersonians
Read: NON, Chapter 9
March
6: EXAM
March
11 and 13: SPRING BREAK NO CLASSES
March
18: New Ways to Live and Work
Begin
reading The Battle for Christmas
Read: NON, Chapter 10
March
20: New Ways to Live and Work
March
25: Southern Society and Slave Culture
Read: NON, Chapter 13
March
27: The Limits of Liberty
April
1: Reform: The Cure for Liberty
Read: NON, Chapter 12
April
3: Reform: The Cure for Liberty
April
8: Discuss The Battle for Christmas and QUIZ
April
10: The Common Man and Politics
Read: NON, Chapter 11
April
15: Manifest Destiny
Read: NON, Chapter 14
April
17: The Civil War
Read: NON, Chapter 15; Chapter 16, pp. 488-492,
497-513, 522-530
April
22: The Civil War
April
24: Reconstruction and Review
Read: NON, Chapter 17
C299/Wednesday, May 1,
10:30-12:30/LE 103
Study
Questions for Changes in the Land
1.
Describe
the environment that Europeans encountered in New England--include fish,
forests, seashore, and other examples.
2.
How
did Native American groups guarantee they had abundant supplies of food? What does this have to do with gender
roles? How did Europeans react to this?
3.
How
did the English rationalize taking land from the Native Americans? How did Native American politics and means
of land ownership operate? How did
Native Americans and Englishmen differ in their perceptions of transfer of land
rights? What type of complications
arose from this?
4.
Describe
the effects on Native Americans of diseases, trade, and the loss of animals
such as the beaver.
5.
What
were some of the results of deforestation?
6.
How
did Europeans recreate the world of grazing animals and plows? What were the long-term consequences?
Study
Questions for Benjamin and William
Franklin You DO NOT have to read
the documents.
1.
Compare
and contrast the personal and professional lives of Benjamin and William
Franklin. Did they have similar childhoods?
Marry similar women? Move up in
their careers in the same manner?
2.
What
was the Albany Plan? Was it
successful? What other role did
Benjamin Franklin play in Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War?
3.
How
did the trip to England from 1757-60 alter the views of Benjamin and William
toward the British government?
4.
Why
did Benjamin Franklin not realize, at first, the importance of the Stamp Act?
5.
Why
did Benjamin become a Patriot?
6.
Why
did William become a Loyalist?
7.
Did
Benjamin and Will reconcile after the war?
Why or why not?
Study
Questions for The Battle for Christmas
Chapter
1: Why did the Puritans outlaw
Christmas?
Chapter
2: How did Washington Irving, John
Pintard, Clement Moore, and the Knickerbockers change Christmas? What do you think about the author's theory
on the parallels between "The Day of Doom" and "A Visit from St.
Nicholas?" How did Moore integrate
the "social classes in a scene of shared festivity where the poor posed no
threat and gratefully accepted their place?"
Chapter
3: How did newspapers play a role in
the creation of Christmas?
Chapter
4: Why did Christmas become
commercialized? How? How does the story of the Sedgwicks explain
the commercialization of Christmas? Was
Santa Claus commercial at first? Why?
Chapter
5: How did the "introduction of
Christmas trees" represent "an effort to cope with the problems posed
by the child-centered Christmas?"
What were those "problems?"
Chapter
6: Explain the changing relationship
between Christmas and charity in the United States.