1
BTAN23004BA AND BTAN28008BA
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A SEMINAR FOR SECOND-YEAR IEAS STUDENTS
SPRING 2013
Time and Place: Tuesday 14:00-15:40 in Room 119.
Tutor: Éva Mathey (emathey@freemail.hu and matheyeva@gmail.com ); Room 108/1. (:
512-900 /Ext. 23093)
Office hours: Monday 14-15; Tuesday 10:00- 11:00 in MBldg. 108/1 and by appointment.
DESCRIPTION OF COURSE:
These 3-credit parallel seminars are designed to serve as a basic introduction for English majors
to the history of the United States of America. Please note that this course will, as it should, serve
as the basis for all subsequent American Studies courses. Topics for discussion will range from
the relations between England and her North American colonies and the War of Independence
through the Civil War and the two world wars to the post-cold war era. Domestic and foreign
affairs as well as social and cultural issues will be addressed in an attempt to help the students
prepare for the in-class final exam.
COURSE GOALS:
Combining mini lectures with seminar discussion, the students will develop a better
understanding of United States history and prepare for subsequent American Studies courses.
Since this is predominantly a seminar course, our emphasis will be on further developing the
four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) of the students.
READINGS:
The basic textbook of the course is the NEW EDITION of Davis D. Joyce and Tibor Glant,
United States History: A Brief History for Hungarian Students [USH] (Debrecen: Kossuth
Egyetemi kiadó, 2010). Students will read some primary documents, with the exception of the
text of the US Constitution, all available on the internet. Additional study guides (lecture
guides, lists of events, people, terms, and essay questions) are also available form my
homepage at: http://ieas.arts.unideb.hu/faculty/mathey.htm
GRADING POLICY:
Students will be graded on the strength of their class performance (including contributions to
discussion: 15%), 5 occasional written tests (15%), one short (10 minutes) oral
presentation (10%), a short 2-page research paper (15%) and a midterm (15%) and an endterm paper (35%). The end-term paper may not be missed or rescheduled under any
circumstances.
2
More than three absences will result in a “not fulfilled” grade. Grades will be assigned
according to the following conversion formulae: 0-60% = fail; 61-70% = satisfactory; 71-80%
= average; 81-90% = good; 91-100% = excellent.
RULES OF THE GAME:
The oral presentations will be supported by a one-page outline distributed before class. A
typed handout strictly not longer than one page should be sent or handed in to the instructor
ONE WEEK before the presentation for overview. Students are supposed to prepare a
PowerPoint presentation for their talk. Only handouts approved by the instructor can be
presented. The handout should be only a guideline to the presentation and not a word-by-word
transcript. You must not read out your presentation. The content of your talk, the lay-out of
your handout, your performance and presentation skills as well as your pronunciation will be
evaluated. If someone does not show up when his/her presentation is due and does not notify
the instructor in advance, he/she will lose all the credit points on the assignment.
The research paper should be a two-page (950-1000 words) take-home paper on a topic
related to any of the issues discussed in class, chosen by the students and approved by the
tutor. The aim of the paper is to help students to develop their ability to carry out individual
research on the basis of primary and secondary sources, to help them master the conventions
of referencing according to the Chicago Manual of Style. The deadline for submission is
Week 13 (May 7).
The mid-term and end-term papers will be a combination of dates, names, terms, and mini
essays.
It is an essential part of the course requirements to attend all class meetings. If you must miss
a class because of illness or emergency, please let me know, and make all the necessary
arrangements to complete any work missed. Students may not miss more than three classes
under any circumstances. Students are kindly requested to contact their tutor at least a day
before class if they are to make a presentation but cannot attend.
Academic dishonesty or Plagiarism (failure to acknowledge and note the use of another
writer’s words and ideas) is both unethical and illegal and will result in a failure of the course.
Tardiness and early departures are not allowable. They are offensive to your fellow
students and to the instructor because they disrupt class work. If you have a compelling
reason for arriving late or leaving early, speak with your instructor about the problem. If you
regularly cut the beginning and/or the end of class sessions, it can add u
WEEK-BY-WEEK DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE:
Week 1 (February 12): Introduction and Orientation (syllabus, rules of the game, study aids,
lists, how to use them)
Week 2 (February 19): Relations between England and Her North American Colonies.
Readings: USH, pp. 9-38, lecture notes and The Declaration of Independence available at
http://ieas.arts.unideb.hu/faculty/mathey.htm
Focus point: Why did the colonies rebel? What was at the core of the conflict?
Presentations topics: Sam Adams, Captain John Smith, Benjamin Franklin
3
Week 3 (February 26): From the Washington Administration to the War of 1812.
Readings: USH, pp. 39-43, 50-59, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: What made it necessary to amend the first constitution?
Presentations topics: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton
SHORT TEST#1!!!!!
Week 4 (March 5): Territorial, Cultural and Economic Expansion between the War of 1812
and the Civil War. The Road to the Civil War: American Politics, 1812-1860.
Readings: USH, pp 43-49, 59-77, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was the War of 1812 the “second war of independence?”
Presentations topics: the Monroe Doctrine, abolitionism, the frontier theory, Sitting Bull,
Buffalo Bill, Andrew Jackson
Week 5 (March 12): Civil War (1861-65) and Reconstruction (1865-77).
Readings: USH, pp. 77-81, lecture note, lists and Abraham Lincoln, “The Emancipation
Proclamation” available at http://ieas.arts.unideb.hu/faculty/mathey.htm
Focus point: Why did the Civil War break out? Why was secession a constitutional issue?
Presentations topics: Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant
SHORT TEST#2!!!!
Week 6: (March 19): The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.
Readings: USH: Chapters 6-7, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was it a “gilded” historical period?
Presentations topics: Muckrakers, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Theodore
Roosevelt
Week 7 (March 26): midterm + video class
Week 8 Consultation Week (April 1-5)
Week 9 (April 9): World War I.
Readings: USH, Chapter 9, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why did the US enter the war as an Associated and not as an Allied power?
Presentations topics: the Zimmerman Telegram, Thomas Woodrow Wilson,
SHORT TEST#3!!!!
Week 10 (April 16): The Interwar Years.
Readings: USH, Chapter 10, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was depression viewed as a great American tragedy?
Presentations topics: Charles Lindbergh, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding,
Calvin C. Coolidge, Herbert Hoover
Week 11 (April 23): World War II.
Readings: USH, Chapter 11, lecture notes, listsFocus point: What did the US learn from WWI?
Presentations topics: the Manhattan Project, Douglass MacArthur
4
SHORT TEST#4!!!!
Week 12 (April 30): The US since 1945.
Readings: USH, Chapter 12, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: The atomic bomb: pro and contra.
Presentations topics: the Cuban Missile crisis, Henry Kissinger, George F. Kennan, JFK,
Richard Nixon
Week 13 (May 7): The US since 1945.
Readings: USH, Chapter 13, lecture notes, lists and Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a
Dream” available at http://ieas.arts.unideb.hu/faculty/mathey.htm
Focus point: The idea of equality: myth or reality.
Presentations topics: Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Betty Friedan, Elvis
Presley
SHORT TEST#5!!!!
Week 14 (May 14): END-TERM TEST
Week 15 (May 21): Evaluation