History 201: History of the United States: Colonial and Early
National America
Fall 2010 Syllabus, University of Oregon
Matthew Dennis, Professor of History and Environmental Studies
Lecture: Monday/Wednesday, 12-1:20 p.m., 282 Lillis Hall
CRN 13103
Office Hours: Tuesday, 1-2, Thursdays, 1-3, 357 McKenzie Hall
mjdennis@uoregon.edu
Introduction
This course examines the invention of America—socially, culturally, economically,
politically—in the colonial, revolutionary, and early national periods (roughly, through the
1820s). It is the first term of a three-quarter introductory survey of United States history;
each term may be taken separately, and students are not obliged to take all three terms.
History 201 satisfies Group Requirements as a social science course.
Using chronology as a framework, this course will focus on major themes, issues,
and circumstances that continue to matter in the history of the United States—including
environmental transformation; colonialism; immigration; economic development; slavery,
“race,” and ethnicity; ideas and practices of freedom and equality; civil and human rights;
technological innovation and transformation.
As a survey it cannot be exhaustive in its coverage, nor does it emphasize the simple
accumulation of facts. Instead we encourage students to expand their understanding of the
past by situating facts within contexts—the "big picture"—and to develop their abilities to
think and write analytically and historically.
Specific attention will focus on the experiences of various Americans—famous and
inconspicuous; Native, African, European; women, men, children; free and unfree; poor,
middling, and rich. The course will examine their interactions with each other and their
"New World," and their roles in determining the course of American social, political, and
economic development. We will address as well the environmental context of early
American history, examining how environments shaped life and in turn were modified
("improved" and degraded) by human action.
Students in this course should not merely "consume" history but produce some of
their own. We will grapple individually and collectively with a variety of "primary sources"—
the evidence historians examine to reconstruct and interpret the past—and develop skills in
historical detection, analysis, proper use of evidence, and writing. Confronting the sources,
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students should learn not only about the early American past but how history is constructed
by historians.
Course Format and Requirements
This class will meet for lectures twice weekly. In addition, each student is required to enroll
in a discussion group that meets for one hour every week. Although lectures, readings, and
discussions are carefully coordinated, each will introduce material not available elsewhere.
Therefore, attendance at lectures and discussion sessions, and careful reading of all
assignments, is crucial to success in the course. Attendance is mandatory and will be
taken at weekly discussion sessions. These sessions are particularly important: they
provide an opportunity to clarify and respond to issues raised in lectures and readings; they
are the setting for fully participatory discussion and debate; and they are students' best
source of information and guidance on practical matters, such as papers and tests.
Students should also be aware that this course will utilize the web to communicate
information and assignments through the Blackboard website; in addition, through
Blackboard, instructors might employ discussion boards and require submission of short
assignments. Every student will need to access the Blackboard site throughout the
term: https://blackboard.uoregon.edu/
The History 201 Blackboard site will grow and change throughout the term and should be
consulted regularly to get up-to-date information, course materials, and assignments.
Laptop computers and other electronic devices are not allowed in class. Please take
notes the old-fashioned way—with pen or pencil—and please do not send or receive text
messages or use phones during class. If you have a documented disability that requires you
to use a computer in class, please see me for approval.
Requirements
Students' grades will be based on their performance on the following:
 Two short papers (20% and 25%: 45% total).
 An in-class mid-term exam (20%).
 A final exam (25%).
 Quality of performance in discussion sections (10%).
Students must submit all assigned work in order to pass the course. Failure to
submit all required work will earn a failing grade.
Papers
Information on papers will be available through discussion leaders and posted on the course
website under Assignments on Blackboard.
Exams
Both the mid-term and final exams will be "blue book" essay tests, requiring students to
formulate clear, convincing positions or arguments that engage the large questions posed. In
these exams, students should present their arguments systematically and support them with
specific evidence drawn from lectures, discussions, and reading assignments. Specific
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information about each exam will be available through discussion leaders and posted on the
course website as they approach.
Required Readings
The books listed below are required reading. They are available in paper editions at the UO
Bookstore. They are also on reserve in the Knight Library. In addition, some required
reading and visual materials will be available only through the Blackboard website.
 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! An American History, vol. 1 (New York: W.W. Norton, 2d
Seagull Edition, 2009).
 Eric Foner, ed., Voice of Freedom: A Documentary History, vol. 1 (New York: W.W.
Norton, 2d ed., 2008).
Note: You may substitute the first edition of either book (which might be available more
cheaply as a used copy). Please see your instructor for an adjusted list of readings.
These readings are designed to complement—not simply to overlap with—the lectures.
They provide the raw material for producing historical knowledge in lectures, discussions,
exams, and papers. Students should complete each week's readings during the week
listed on the syllabus. Students will be expected to have completed their weekly reading
assignments in preparation for their discussion session meetings each week.
Academic Integrity
University of Oregon students are held to the standards of the Student Conduct Code. Acts
of academic dishonesty, cheating, and plagiarism will not be tolerated and will be referred to
the Office of Student Judicial Affairs. All work submitted by students must be their own,
written for this course. Acts of plagiarism and academic dishonesty can result in failure of
the course and expulsion from the University.
Students with Disabilities
We will make every effort to accommodate students with disabilities. If you have a
documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please make
arrangements to meet with the instructor as soon as possible. Please request that the
Counselor for Students with Disabilities send a letter verifying your disability.
Lecture, Reading, and Assignments Schedule
Week 1: Introduction; Before Columbus and Early American Encounters.
September 27: Introduction. The Weirdness of Early America. What is (American) history?
September 29: Before 1492, Colonialism, and Columbian Exchange.
Read Give Me Liberty! (Foner textbook), preface and chapter 1 (pp. xxiii-xxx; 1-42); Voices of
Freedom (Foner documents): Las Casas, de Brébeuf, Micmac, pp. 10-13, 17-24.
Week 2: Colonial Beachheads.
October 4: The Chesapeake: “Looking Out for No. 1.”
October 6: New England: A Bible Commonwealth?
Read Foner text, chapter 2, 43-84; Foner documents: Hakluyt, women to Virginia,
indentured servant, Maryland Act, Winthrop, Hutchinson trial, 25-42. On Blackboard (see
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Course Documents, week 2): letter of Richard Frethorne to his parents (1623); letter of John
Pond to his parents (1631).
Week 3: Settlement and Unsettlement.
October 11: Middle Colonies and Borderlands
Paper 1 due in week 3 discussion sections.
October 13: Witch-hunting and Crisis in New England.
Read Foner text, chapter 3, 85-124; Foner documents: New York charter, Penn, immigrant
letter, Mittelberger, Carolina women, 49- 56, 61-66, 68-69; also: excerpts from witchcraft trial
records (examinations of Rebecca Nurse, Reversal of Attainder, confession of Ann Putnam)
on Blackboard (see Course Documents, week 3).
Week 4: Servitude, Slavery, Cultures of Resistance.
October 18: Unfree Labor and the Origins of Slavery in Early America—Why Slavery?
October 20: Slavery and an African American Culture of Resistance.
Read Foner text, chapter 4 to p. 140 (125-40); Foner documents: Complaints of indentured
servant, Equiano, slavery conspiracy, 66-68, 70-77; read also Falconbridge, Beverly, Virginia
statutes, and runaway slave notices on Blackboard (in Course Documents, week 4).
Week 5: Eighteenth-Century Turmoil and Transformation.
October 25: What is Truth? Reason and Revelation, Enlightenment and Awakening.
October 27: Midterm Examination.
Read Foner text, remainder of chapter 4 (140-66); Foner documents: Zenger trial, Whitefield
defense, Pontiac, 81-89.
Week 6: America in Revolt.
November 1: Imperial Crisis and the Movement for Independence—Why Revolution?
November 3: War for Independence—How did the Rebels Win?
Read Foner text, chapter 5, 167-200; Foner documents: Independent Reflector, Virginia
Resolutions, Regulator petition, Sons of Liberty, Farmington petition, Paine, 78-81, 90-108;
Declaration of Independence (in Foner text, appendix A9-A12).
Week 7: Revolutionary Settlement.
November 8: Revolution Within—How Revolutionary was the Revolution?
November 10: Confederation and Constitution—What Sort of Democratic Republic?
Read Foner, chapters 6 & 7, 201-67; Foner documents: Abigail Adams, “Free Suffrage,”
Jefferson on religious liberty, Webster, Indentured Servants, slaves’ petition, Federalist 51,
Anti-Federalist, Judith Sargent Murray, 111-25, 132-39, 154-58; U.S. Constitution (in Foner
text appendix, A13-A28).
Week 8: A More Perfect Union?
November 15: Slavery and Emancipation—Constructing American Democracy?
Paper 2 due in week 8 discussion sections.
November 17: The West: Expansion, American Indians, and an “Empire for Liberty”?
Read Foner text, chapter 8, 268-301; see also pp. 365-69 from chapter 10 on the Cherokee
Removal controversy; Foner documents: Pennsylvania Act for Gradual Abolition, Ohio
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petition, July 4th oration, Jefferson on race and slavery, Tucker, Tecumseh, Sharitarish,
Cherokee Nation Appeal, Frederick Douglass, 125-32, 139-46, 164-68, 204-209, 213-16.
Week 9: Early National Transformations.
November 22: Incorporation of America: Commercial Revolution, Early Industrialization
November 24: Thanksgiving, History, and American Identity.
Thanksgiving Holiday, November 25-26
Read Foner text, chapter 9, 302-37; Foner documents: Baker, arrival of immigrants,
Emerson, Thoreau, Finney, Brownson, Cotton Kingdom, 171-92, 216-18.
Week 10: Early National Transformations.
November 29: Work, Class, and Reform in the Early Republic.
December 1: Conclusion: “Democracy in America.”
Read Foner text, chapter 10 through p. 359 (338-59), and the beginning of chapter 12,
through p. 422 (409-22); Foner documents: Robert Owen, Philip Schaff, The Liberator,
Seneca Falls Declaration, 237-47, 261-64.
Final Examination: Thursday, December 9, 10: 15 a.m.