Fall,
2003
History A313 (Sect.
C409) &
History H511 (Sect.
C431):
The Origins of
Modern
1865-1917
Location: Cavanaugh Hall 217 Instructor:
R. Barrows
Time: M W
Phone: 274-2457/3811
Office Hours: M W
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 an enumeration
district 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, 2002-2004, pp. 37-38.
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
Books
version edited by David Leviatin)
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
20 Introduction to the Course
25 Reconstruction
27 The Western Frontiers
(DeSantis,
pp. 19-32; Calhoun, ch. 8)
September
1 NO CLASS (Labor Day)
3 The "New" South?
(DeSantis,
pp. 33-37)
{Newspaper
Assignment #1 due September 3}
8, 10 Industrialization, Industrialists, and the
Rise of Big Business (DeSantis,
ch. 1; Calhoun, ch. 1)
15 Workers,
Unions, and Labor Strife
(DeSantis,
pp. 104-109; Calhoun, ch. 3)
17, 22 A Nation of
Immigrants (DeSantis, pp. 98-104; Calhoun, ch.
4)
24 GROUP 1:
Presentation and discussion of Ragged Dick
29 The
Rise of the City - I
(DeSantis,
pp. 96-98; Calhoun, ch. 5)
October
1 The
Rise of the City - II
(Riis--read the Preface, all of
Part I [pp. 3-43], and chapters 4, 6, 12, 17, 20, and 25 in Part II)
October
6, 8 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)
13 GROUP 2: Presentation and discussion of Main-Travelled
Roads
15 MID-TERM EXAM
20 The Politics of Equilibrium
(DeSantis,
ch. 3; Calhoun, ch. 9, 10)
22 The
Quest for Empire, 1865-1899
(DeSantis,
ch. 7; Calhoun, ch. 12)
27 Group 3: Presentation and
discussion of Looking
Backward
29 The
Other Side of the Gay ‘90s: Depression,
Racial
Segregation, Agrarian and Labor Unrest,
and the
Election of 1896
(DeSantis,
ch. 4; Calhoun, ch. 11)
November
3 -Ditto-
5, 10 Progressivism:
Ideology and Political Reform
(DeSantis,
ch. 9-11)
12 Progressivism:
Social Reform
(DeSantis,
ch. 8; "Albion Fellows Bacon:Indiana’s
Frenzied
Philanthropist" [on library reserve])
17 GROUP 4: Presentation and discussion of The Jungle
19 Foreign
Affairs, 1900-1916
(DeSantis,
ch. 12)
24 Discussion
of 1900 Census Assignment
26 NO
CLASS (Thanksgiving Break)
December
1 The
Road to World War I
(DeSantis,
ch.13)
3 Home Front, Treaty Fight, and Postwar
Reaction
(DeSantis,
ch. 14-15)
8 Evaluation and Recapitulation
10 FINAL
EXAM 10:30-12:00 (Note time change)
History
A313
Fall,
2003
(50 points)
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
3
History
A313
Fall,
2003
(50 points)
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 6
Battle of Wounded Knee [December 29, 1890]
GAR Encampment in Indianapolis [Sept. 4-9, 1893; read Indy
paper]
Due October 20
Shooting & death of President Garfield [July 2 &
Sept. 19, 1881]
Due October 22
Sinking of the Maine [February 15, 1898]
Battle of Manila Bay [May 1, 1898]
Due November 3
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 5
Assassination of President McKinley [September 6-14, 1901]
Due November 12
Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in NYC [March 25, 1911]
Due December 1
Sinking of the Lusitania [May 7, 1915]
Release of Zimmermann telegram [March 1, 1917]
Due December 3
East St. Louis race riot [July 2, 1917]
World War I armistice [November 11, 1918]
History A313
Fall, 2003
Instructions for Group Presentations and Individual Written Assignments
(100 points)
>> 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.
History A313 (Fall 2003)
Group 1 (Alger, Ragged Dick; September 24)
Group 2 (Garland, Main-Travelled Roads; October
13)
Group 3 (Bellamy, Looking Backward; October 27)
Group 4 (Sinclair, The Jungle; November 17)
Fall, 2003
1900 Census Assignment
(100 points)
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 takers as they made their rounds, provide detailed
information about particular areas at a specific moment in time--a sort of
historical "snapshot."
For this
assignment you will select one "enumeration district" (ED) 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
Examine the information
recorded for each ED and then prepare an analysis (4-6 pages) of the
district. (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 district 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 24
ED = Enumeration District
List A
ED 55 (Roll 388/Vol.
46)
ED 57 (Roll 388/Vol.
46)
List B
ED 19 (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)
History A313
Fall, 2003
Additional
Assignments for Graduate Students
1) Read the following:
>> Richard L. McCormick, "Public Life in
Industrial America, 1877-1917," chapter 5 in The New American History
(1990), ed. Eric Foner. Be sure to skim the bibliography at the end of the essay.
Prepare a brief (3-4 page) synopsis of this chapter, which will be due on
>> OAH Magazine of History (Spring 1999), 3-23.
>> OAH Magazine of History (Summer 1999), 3-10,
16-25.
2) Based on the reading above, browsing in your textbooks
for this class or in other volumes you may own, and personal interest, decide
on a topic in American history 1865-1919 about which you would like to
prepare a historiographical essay. You need to find a topic about which there
has been some controversy or dabate, and thus a range of historical
commentary that has changed over time. (Examples: the motivation behind
American "expansionism" during the late 19th century; the
social status of those who identified themselves as "progressives";
the wisdom of "Radical Reconstruction.") Bring your topics to me
for approval. Topics should be set no later than
3) Prepare an annotated bibliography of 8-10 items
(generally books, but rticles or book chapters may be acceptable in some
cases)that relate to your topic and that reflect changes in historical
interpretation. The annotation need not be extensive; two or three sentences
will usually suffice. Due no later than
4) I will "edit" your bibliography, deleting some
items and perhaps adding others. Use the resulting list as the basis for your historiographical
essay of 7-10 pages, which will be due no later than