H106: American History Since 1865

Course Section #: 15427; TR 4:00-5:15

Fall, 2004

Cavanaugh Hall 217

Instructor: Fred Witzig

Email: fwitzig@indiana.edu

Office Hours: MW, 10-11 AM; TR, 3:30-4:00 PM. CA313 (most likely cubical A)

Brief course description and requirements:

History is made up of fascinating people, cultures, and events. History at its finest is about stories, some magnificent and exhilarating, some tragic and disheartening. Often these stories can help us appreciate other people and their cultures, and understand what makes this world tick. In this course we will learn about the key people, cultures, and events that make up the history of what we now call the United States. We will begin our story with the end of the Civil War. The Civil War was merely the culmination of a deep divide that had been growing for decades between the North and the South. How could the country be put back together again, and who could be involved in the process? Most specifically, what would be the status of the millions of African-Americans, many of them newly-freed from the bonds of slavery? The process of industrialization, incipient before the war, exploded at the end of the 1800s and into the 1900s. To whom would go the profits? What would Americans do when economic collapse and depression rocked the foundations of American society? If the United States had been closely tied to other continents before the Civil War, those ties only became stronger afterwards. Two world wars and the Cold War attest to that. But what would be America’s place in the increasingly globalized human community? And where would Hispanics, Asians, women, and other minorities fit into this persistently diverse American community?

Along the way we will cover many of the familiar events and people of American history: The Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Vietnam War. But hopefully we will also discuss topics that will enable you to think about history in refreshing and useful ways: the struggles and triumphs of African-Americans as they move from the nadir, or low point, of civil rights in the early 1900s, towards equal rights in the 1960s and beyond; the formation of American commercialism and economic ascendancy that perhaps we take for granted today; the uneasy position of the rising power of the United States as it moved from the age of European (and American?) imperial confidence to the age of decolonization, and to its role as, ultimately, the world’s lone superpower; and the persistently vexing challenges and opportunities of diversity and equal rights..

While you will be held accountable for knowing key dates and people, this is not a memorization class. Rather, consistent with the goals of the “IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning,” you will be required to “analyze carefully and logically information and ideas from multiple perspectives”; “to recognize roots of your own cultural traditions and to understand and appreciate the diversity of the human experience within the United States”; to consider American history in light of your—and other’s—values and ethics; and to communicate your thoughts intelligently in written form. I encourage you to read through all of the Principles, as they will help you to gain the most from your experience here at IUPUI. You can find these Principles posted on the Department of History’s Home Page at www.iupui.edu/~history.

To accomplish these tasks you will read chapters from an American history textbook, read and discuss in class “true stories” of several people who helped make American history, watch short film clips, and take notes during class lectures. To monitor progress and to enhance your analytical and writing abilities you will be required to complete three exams, several reading quizzes, and two article summaries. See below for details.

Required texts:

Robert A. Divine et al, America Past and Present, vol. II,

Stephen Weisner and William Hartford, eds, American Portraits: Biographies in United States History, vol. II, Second Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2002).

In addition, there are numerous short readings linked to the Oncourse class webpage.

Two recommendation for reading history:

1. Do not get bogged down in reading the history textbook. I encourage you to look for the larger points, rather than memorize countless details. For instance, understanding how during the Great Depression the national government assumed new and important economic roles in American society is far more important than simply memorizing a long list of New Deal programs and their acronyms. Of course, to make that argument you will need to know some details, but let the arguments determine the details that you learn.

2. Enjoy the reading! Read the stories in the textbook and True Stories for what they say about the human experience. What do they tell you about life centuries ago? What do they indicate about human nature and the ability and inability to form societies of material, spiritual, and cultural prosperity? Can you see elements of today’s American culture in the Puritan churches, the Boston Tea Party, or the slave quarters? Take what you learn from the readings and form your own “true stories” of the American past.

Assignments:

Midterm and Final Exams. All exams will be comprised of a combination of objective (multiple choice, fill-in) and essay questions, taken primarily from the lectures, the readings on Oncourse, and the True Stories readings. I may form questions from sections in the textbook that cover material not dealt with in class, but I will tell you which sections I draw from. Study guides will be posted on Oncourse before the exams. The two midterms will not be cumulative. The final exam will be cumulative only in the objective section: up to 10 questions from each of the midterms will be included, verbatim, on the final exam, in addition to new questions from the last unit of the class.

Reading Quizzes: reading quizzes are designed to ensure that all students complete the readings in a thoughtful manner. They will mostly be objective (multiple choice, true/false). They will be distributed at the beginning of class. If you arrive at class after the quizzes have been collected, you missed the quiz. No makeup quizzes will be given. Note, however, that the lowest quiz score will be dropped.

Article summaries: Each student is required to complete summaries of three readings listed on the “Article Summaries” options page posted on Oncourse. Choose the three that interest you the most.

Instructions for each summary:

Read the article, and respond to the following questions in a one page summary paper (double-spaced; 12 point font, 1” margins, your name and the title and author of the article at the top):

1. What is the thesis, or key point, of the article?

2. What does the author use for evidence in support of the thesis?

Papers will be graded based on the following criteria: Does the paper answer the two questions above? Is the paper thoughtful and insightful? Is the paper properly constructed (sentence structure, grammar, spelling, etc). Is the paper of adequate length? Is the paper too long (no longer than one page)?

Class Participation:

I assign participation points according to two criteria: quantity and quality:

q Quantity: Did you consistently and punctually attend class, or were you consistently absent or late?

q Quality: did you participate in class discussion in a professional manner? Did your participation indicate a thoughtful engagement with class material? Did your participation convey respect for other people, even when you disagreed with their viewpoints? Did you use professional language, without profanity or personal slight?

Office Hours and Contacting Mr. Witzig:

I hold office hours in part because I am required to (!), but also because interaction with students is what makes my job so enjoyable. I strongly encourage you to stop by whenever you have a question about course content, course requirements, the structure of the class, the history profession, or if you simply want to stop and chat. In fact, I encourage you to stop in at least once during the semester even if you don’t have anything particular on your mind. Please make every effort to come during my regular office hours, but if you want to talk in person and the scheduled office hours do not work in your schedule, let me know and no doubt we will be able to schedule an alternate time.

Other than office hours the easiest way to contact me is through email. I check it at least once a day (except Sundays). Please use the email listed at the top of the syllabus.

Please do not try to contact me via the telephone, or leave a message for me on a voicemail you may discover.

Attendance:

My policy on attendance is simple: show up on time and take good notes. I am required to report the names of those who do not show up consistently. I will discover those who don’t take good notes when I grade the exams. Finally, note that absence, non-participation in class discussion, and consistent tardiness will result in points deducted from participation.

Late work and Makeup work:

5 points will be deducted for each day that a paper is late, no exceptions. Makeup exams will be administered only in extreme circumstances (sickness, with a doctor’s note; car accident, with a police report; death, with a coroner’s report). No makeup quizzes will be given (remember that you may drop your lowest quiz score).

Administrative Withdrawal:

The class will follow the guidelines for administrative withdrawal described at http://life.iupui.edu/dos/code.htm.

Grading:

Midterm I and II	100 points (50 points each)
Final Exam	80 points
Article Summaries	60 points (20 points each)
Reading Quizzes	30 points (3 points each, 11 total, drop the lowest score)
Participation	30 points
Total	300 points

Scale:

279-300	A
270-282	A-
261-269	B+
249-260	B
240-248	B-
231-239	C+
219-230	C
210-218	C-
201-209	D+
189-200	D
180-188	D-
0-179	F

Cheating and plagiarism:

Neither will be tolerated. Penalties will range from receiving an F on the assignment, to the reporting of the incident to the proper authorities at IUPUI. Please consult the appropriate sections of the “Code of Student Ethics” and the “Indiana University Bulletin,” and/or consult http://life.iupui.edu/dos/code.htm

Tentative Schedule:

This schedule may change. Any changes will be announced in class. Students will be responsible for any changes made to this schedule.

Date	Topics	Readings	Assignments
August 26	Introduction
August 31; September 2	Reconstructing a Broken Nation	America, ch. 16 Oncourse: Black Codes.	August 31: RQ1
September 7/9	Closing the West; Industrializing the East.	America ch. 17 and 18. Portraits, Picotte Oncourse: Life in the West.	RQ2,
September 14/16	Urbanization and Populism at the end of the 1800s. The Spanish American War.	America, chs. 19 and 20. Portraits, Lease.	September 14: RQ3,
September 21/23	The Spanish-American War in an Age of Imperialism. Progressivism.	America, ch. 21 and 22. Portraits, Roosevelt. Oncourse: Platt Amendment.	September 23: First Article Summary Due.
September 28/30	Progressivism	America, ch. 23. Oncourse: Jane Addams. Oncourse: Pictures of Hull House.	September 30: Midterm I.
October 5/7	World War I	America, chs 24 Oncourse: Zimmerman Telegraph. Oncourse: Senator Norris. Oncourse: (Optional) Trenches on the Web.	October 7: RQ4,
October 12/14	American Consumer Culture and the Great Depression.	America, ch. 25 Portraits, Debs Oncourse: Herbert Hoover. Oncourse: Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address.	October 12: RQ5,.
October 19/21	The Great Depression and the New Deal.	America, ch. 26. Portraits, Long Oncourse: Memories of the Depression.	October 19: RQ6, October 21: Second Article Summary Due.
October 26/28	The New Deal and the Onset of World War II.	America, ch. 26 Portraits, Roosevelt. Oncourse: Arsenal of Democracy.	October 26: RQ7,
November 2/4	World War II	America, ch. 27 Oncourse: Japanese Internment Camps.	November 4: Midterm II (World War I through the Onset of World War II).
November 9/11	The 1950s and the Onset of the Cold War.	America, ch. 28 and 29 Portraits, McCarthy Oncourse: Levittown.	November 9: RQ8,
November 16/18	The Turbulent 60s and the Civil Rights Movement	America, ch. 30 Portraits, du Bois. Oncourse: Black Panthers.	November 16: RQ9,
November 23	The Civil Rights Movement.	Portraits, Turner and King.	November 23: RQ 10. Third Article Summary due.
November 25: Thanksgiving Break
November 30/ December 2	The Vietnam War and the 1970s	America, chs. 30 and 31. Portraits, Chavez. Oncourse: The Vietnam War.	November 30: RQ 11.
December 7/9	The Conservative Resurgence and beyond.	America, ch. 32 and 33. Oncourse: Reagan.
December 17, 3:30-5:30: Final Exam