“President’s Levee” American Memory Collection, Library of Congress

HIST51A: UNITED STATES HISTORY TO 1876

Professor Rachel Knecht | rknecht@brandeis.eduCourse Meeting: Mondays & Wednesdays, 2-3:20pm in [ROOM], Fall 2018Office Hours: Wednesdays, 11am-1pm in Olin-Sang 219

COURSE OVERVIEWThis course will introduce students to the broad history of the United States its colonial antecedents, from the seventeenth century until the “Reconstruction” of the nation in 1876 after the Civil War. It will illustrate the ways in which Americans debated key aspects of their society, culture, politics, and economic life, and ultimately made decisions that would echo through the rest of the United States’ history. Many modern political norms, social relations, government institutions, economic practices, and cultural expectations were discussed for the first time in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Had these historical moments not happened the way they did, the United States might look very different today. This course will begin with a wide look at the people and factors that shaped colonial North America, and end with the establishment of the modern American nation at the end of the Civil War. Course readings, which include both primary and secondary sources, will integrate the stories of women, enslaved people, immigrants, laborers, and others to illuminate how these diverse perspectives all contributed to the larger political, social, and economic structures that shaped American history in its essential early years.

Learning Goals: By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Identify and recount the important events, ideas, people, and processes that drove changes in American history leading up to the end of the Civil War;

Analyze the intersections of social identity, economic position, and political exigency in shaping the direction and outcome of early American history; and

Develop skills in historical thinking, and understand the importance of context and contingency in studying how and why events happened as they did.

COURSE POLICIES

COURSE MATERIALS: Required Books: The following books will be available at the bookstore and on reserve at the Goldfarb Library. They can also be purchased at the online retailer of your choice.

Melvin Yazawa, Documents for America's History, Vol. I, 7th Ed. (2011)Dan Richter, Facing East from Indian Country (2001)Alfred Young, The Shoemaker and the Tea Party (1999)Harry L. Watson, Liberty and Power (1990)Ira Berlin, et al (eds.), Slaves No More (1992)

A required reading packet containing all additional readings for the course is also available for purchase. It is imperative that you stay up to date on the reading assignments, and that you remember to bring all reading materials to class meetings.

STUDENT EVALUATIONThis course requires four written assignments: three short papers analyzing the readings from a week of your choice, and a 6-8 page final paper synthesizing themes from the course. In addition, there will be two in-class exams. Grades will be distributed as follows:

Three Response Papers: 25% Fridays at 5:00 pm1st Midterm Evaluation: 20% In Class: October 102nd Midterm Evaluation: 20% In Class: November 19Final Paper: 20% Due: December 14Class Participation: 15% Weekly

Response Papers: Over the course of the semester, you will turn in three one-page (single-spaced) response papers analyzing the week’s readings. Each should advance an argument about the larger themes and ideas in the readings. At least one paper must be turned in before the first exam, and another before the second exam. Late response papers will be docked a full

letter grade. These papers should be emailed to me as a Word document before 5pm on the Friday following the week on which the paper was written.

In-Class Exams: Each of the midterm exams will consist of a combination of short-answer ID questions and an essay with a choice of prompts. They are intended to evaluate your ability to think on your feet and recall and combine material that you are familiar with but don’t have immediately in front of you. Both exams will cover everything up to that point. Students who miss exams will take a different, make-up exam at a later date.

Final Paper: Based on the themes and issues discussed in class, write a 6-8 page (double-spaced) paper based on one of the prompts that will be provided during the final two weeks of class. You will not need to do any additional research for this paper, but you should still advance an original argument using both primary and secondary materials from the course. All students are encouraged to come speak with me about their ideas for their final paper. It should be submitted as a Word document, via email, by 5pm on December 14.Class Participation: Participation will be a key component of the course. Keep in mind that attendance in class is mental as well as physical. I ask that you do all the assigned readings and come to class prepared to listen and respond to your peers. If you agree with something stated, build off it with your own analysis. If you disagree, pose a constructive challenge. If you are shy or otherwise have trouble speaking up in groups, please come talk to me and we will find a way for you to participate fully, so you can get the most out of the class.

ADDITIONAL CLASS POLICIES To pass the course, students must consistently come prepared for

discussion and turn in every assignment. Three absences will be excused; more than that will result in a half letter grade being docked from the final grade.

If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me in my office right away so that we can set up the appropriate accommodations.

Barring special accommodation, students will keep laptops closed and phones off during class meetings. All materials will be available in printed form, and recent studies consistently show that note-taking by hand prompts students to listen more deeply and learn more effectively. The temptation to surf the web is irrepressible, and distracts not only you, but everyone sitting around you. Additionally, please do not record lectures or discussions without first getting permission from me.

You are expected to be honest in all your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity. Allegations of alleged dishonesty can include a failing grade for the course and/or suspension from the university. Course assignments will include citation guidelines, but you may also consult me or the LTS Library Guides.

Course communication will occur in class and via email. Should there be any changes to the schedule (such as in the case of school cancellation), I will send out a revised syllabus via email. The syllabus and assignments will be handed out in class as well as posted on the LATTE course website. Students are always welcome to come talk to me during my office hours; no appointment is necessary.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Part I: Settlement, Revolution, & NationhoodWednesday, August 29: How Do We Define “American” History?

Documents for America’s History: 1-3, 1-8, 1-9, 1-11.

Wednesday, September 5: Europeans, Natives, & SlavesReading: Daniel Richter, Facing East From Indian Country, pp. 1-109.

Documents for America’s History: 2-2, 3-3, 3-8, 3-10

Thursday, September 6 [Brandeis Day]: Daily Life in British North AmericaReading: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, "A Friendly Neighbor": Social Dimensions of Daily Work in Colonial New England” Feminist Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2 (1980), pp. 392-405 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 2-9, 3-7, 4-1, 4-2

Wednesday, September 12: Crime and PunishmentReading: Matthew Dennis and Elizabeth Reis, “Women as Witches, Witches as Women: Witchcraft and Patriarchy in Colonial North America” in Women in Early America (2015) [RP]; John M. Murrin, “‘Things Fearful to Name’: Bestiality in Colonial America” Penn-sylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 65 (1998): 8-43 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 2-6, 2-7

Monday, September 17: Religion & WarReading: Richter, Facing East From Indian Country, pp. 110-188

Documents for America’s History: 2-10, 2-11, 4-7, 4-8, 4-9

Tuesday, September 25 [Brandeis Day]: Making a RevolutionReading: Richter, Facing East From Indian Country, pp.189-223; Alfred F. Young, The Shoemaker and the Tea Party, pp. 1-80.

Documents for America’s History: 5-1, 5-2, 5-4, 5-6, 5-9, 5-13, 5-15

Wednesday, September 26: The Revolutionary WarReading: Michael A. McDonnell, “Class War? Class Struggles during the American Revolution in Virginia” The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 63, No. 2, Class and Early America (Apr., 2006): 305-344 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-6, 6-8, 6-10, 6-13

Wednesday, October 3: The Federal ConstitutionReading: Terry Bouton, “A Road Closed: Rural Insurgency in Post-Independence Penn-sylvania” The Journal of American History Vol. 87, No. 3 (Dec., 2000), pp. 855-87 [RP]; Woody Holton, “An ‘Excess of Democracy’: Or a Shortage?: The Federalists’ Earliest Adversaries” Journal of the Early Republic 25, no. 3 (2005): 339-82 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 6-16, 6-17, 6-18

Monday, October 7: The Revolution’s LegacyReading: Young, Shoemaker, pp. 85-180; Richter, Facing East, pp. 223-236; Rosemarie Zagarri, “Women and Party Conflict in the Early Republic” (2004), pp. 107-128 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 4-3, 6-15, 7-2, 7-4, 7-8, 8-6

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10: FIRST MIDTERM EXAM

Part II: Markets, Democracy, & EmpireMonday, October 15: Inventing Market Society

Reading: Harry L. Watson, Liberty and Power, pp. 3-72.Documents for America’s History: 8-2, 9-6, 9-8, 9-10, 9-11

Wednesday, October 17: Life and Work in the Antebellum CityReading: Christine Stansell, “Women, Children, and the Uses of the Streets: Class and Gender Conflict in New York City, 1850-1860” Feminist Studies, Vol. 8, No. 2, Women and Work (Summer, 1982), pp. 309-335 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 9-1, 9-2, 9-3, 9-9

Monday, October 22: Cotton and the Growth of American Slavery Reading: Stephanie Camp, “The Pleasures of Resistance: Enslaved Women and Body Politics in the Plantation South” The Journal of Southern History Vol. 68, No. 3 (2002), pp. 533-572 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 8-7, 8-8, 12-1, 12-2, 12-3

Wednesday, October 24: The Creation of a “Slave Society”Reading: Stephanie McCurry, “The Two Faces of Republicanism: Gender and Proslavery Politics” The Journal of American History, Vol. 78, No. 4 (1992), pp. 1245-1264 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 11-9, 12-5, 12-8, 12-11

Monday, October 29: The Presidency of Andrew JacksonReading: Watson, Liberty and Power, pp. 72-171

Documents for America’s History: 10-1, 10-3, 10-5, 10-8

Wednesday, October 31: The New Party PoliticsReading: Watson, Liberty and Power, pp. 172-254

Documents for America’s History: 10-10, 10-11

Monday, November 5: Religions, Revivals, and ReformersReading: Lori Ginzberg, “The Hearts of Your Readers will Shudder: Fanny Wright, Infidelity, and American Freethought” American Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 2 (1994), pp. 195-226 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 11-3, 11-10, 11-11

Wednesday, November 7: Settler-Colonialism on the FrontierReading: Pekka Hämäläinen “The Politics of Grass: European Expansion, Ecological Change, and Indigenous Power in the Southwest Borderlands” The William and Mary Quarterly Vol. 67, No. 2 (2010), pp. 173-208 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 7-9, 13-1, 13-2, 13-3

Monday, November 12: From Anti-Slavery to AbolitionismReading: Corey Brooks, “Stoking the ‘Abolition Fire in the Capitol’”  Journal of the Early Republic 33, no. 3 (2013): 523-47 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 8-10, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8

Wednesday, November 14: The Debate over “Free Soil”Reading: Steven Deyle, “An ‘Abominable’ New Trade: The Closing of the African Slave Trade and the Changing Patterns of U.S. Political Power, 1808-60” The William and Mary Quarterly Third Series, Vol. 66, No. 4, (Oct., 2009), pp. 833-850 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 13-4, 13-5, 13-9, 13-10, 13-11

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19: SECOND MIDTERM EXAM

Part III: The Civil War & ReconstructionMonday, November 26: The Causes of the Civil War

Reading: Ira Berlin (ed.), Slaves No More, pp. 1-76; “Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina” (1860) [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 13-13, 14-2, 14-3

Wednesday, November 28: Fighting the Civil WarReading: Ira Berlin (ed.), Slaves No More, pp. 77-235

Documents for America’s History: 14-7, 14-10, 14-13

Monday, December 3: Radical ReconstructionSusan O’Donovan, “Freedom's Revolutions: Rethinking Emancipation and its History” Tennessee Historical Quarterly Vol. 72, No. 4 (Winter 2013), pp. 245-254 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 15-1, 15-2, 15-5, 15-6, 15-7, 15-8

Wednesday, December 5: The Rise of Jim CrowReading: Moon Ho-Jung, “‘Outlawing "Coolies’: Race, Nation, and Empire in the Age of Emancipation” American Quarterly Vol. 57, No. 3 (Sep., 2005), pp. 677-701 [RP]

Documents for America’s History: 15-3, 15-9, 15-10, 15-12

Monday, December 10: The Uses of the PastReading: David W. Blight, “‘What Will Peace among the Whites Bring?’: Reunion and Race in the Struggle over the Memory of the Civil War in American Culture” The Massachusetts Review Vol. 34, No. 3 (Autumn, 1993), pp. 393-410 [RP]

Also WATCH Gone with the Wind (1939) on LATTE

FINAL PAPER DUE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14 BY 5PM