Winthrop University
Department of History
Spring 2015
Instructor: Dr. Gabriel Klehr
Email: gklehr@gmail.com
Credits: 3 undergraduate hours
Office: Bancroft 365
Office Hours: TTH 2-3 and by appointment
History 211-10: US History to 1877
This course covers the history of the United States to 1877. We will cover such
topics as slavery, the American Revolution, religious movements, and Civil War and
Reconstruction. The course will also introduce you to a range of primary sources
and explore the choices historians make in using evidence.
Goals of the Course
The mission of the Department of History at Winthrop University is to promote in
students historical skills and knowledge. Our students develop the habit of critical
thinking and the capacity for “historical thinking.” Historical thinking means
developing a firm grasp of the multiplicity and intricacy of historical causes and
effects, an understanding of how knowledge is a human construct, an ability to think
from a global perspective, and an appreciation for the variety and approaches of
historical interpretation. Students also advance their fluency in written and oral
expression and argumentation. Students develop the skills to conduct independent
research.
Student Learning Outcome 1: History majors demonstrate an ability to comprehend
and explain major issues in historiography.
Student Learning Outcome 2: History majors are personally and socially
responsible. They demonstrate understanding of ethical dimensions of
historical moments, processes, and developments.
Student Learning Outcome 3: History majors demonstrate the ability to conduct
independent research, applying basic research methods in history such as
using search tools, finding primary and secondary sources, and assessing
critically those sources.
Student Learning Outcome 4: History majors communicate effectively core themes,
ideas, and subject matter, in both written and oral form.
Student Learning Outcome 5: History majors understand and critically discuss
important developments of global history, especially issues and events
significant to areas outside the United States.
Student Learning Outcome 6: History majors understand and critically discuss
significant issues and themes of United States history.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Required Text: Henrietta, America: A Concise History, Volume 1, 6th ed.
Other readings will be posted on Blackboard. You are responsible for downloading
these readings and bringing them to class in either printed or digital format.
Grades
Primary Source Analysis 1: 20%
Primary Source Analysis 2: 20%
Midterm: 20%
Final: 20%
Quizzes: 20%
Grading Scale
A 93-100 A- 90-92.9 B+ 87-89.9 B 83-86.9 B- 80-82.9 C+ 77-79.9
C 73-76.9 C- 70-72.9 D+ 67-69.9 D 63-66.9 D- 60-62.9 F= Less than 60
Quizzes will be given frequently, sometimes on reading and sometimes on lectures.
I will drop the lowest two quizzes at the end of the semester. I will not give any
make up quizzes
Students with Disabilities:
Winthrop University is dedicated to providing access to education. If you have a
disability and require specific accommodations to complete this course, contact the
Office of Disability Services (ODS) at 803-323-3290. Once you have your official
notice of accommodations from the Office of Disability Services, please inform me as
early as possible in the semester.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Friday
1
Jan 12
Jan 13
Class Intro
Multiple Americas
What is a survey
course?
Jan 14
Jan 15
America Before
Europeans
Reading: Primary
Source Documents
Jan 16
2
Jan 19
Jan 20
North America in
Hemispheric Context
Reading: Henrietta,
Chapter 2, Sections
A-C
Jan 21
Jan 22
Virginia-Tobacco
and Slavery
Reading:
Documents from
Jamestown
(Richard
Frethorne and
Richard Lowther)
Jan 23
3
Jan 26
Jan 27
The Puritan’s Vision
Reading: Primary
Source Documents
Jan 28
Jan 29
The Settlement of
South Carolina
Jan 30
4
Feb 2
Feb 3
Expanding Slavery in
18th Century America
Feb 4
Feb 5
Empires and
Confederacies in
Conflict
Reading:
Henrietta, Chapter
4
Feb 12
American
Revolution
Reading: Rhys
Isaac, “Morning of
Revolution” in
Landon Carter’s
Uneasy Kingdom:
Rebellion and
Revolution on a
Virginia
Plantation
Feb 19
Constitution-Early
National United
States
Reading: Excerpts
from James
Madison notes on
the Constitutional
Convention
Feb 6
Feb 26
War of 1812 and
Sectional Conflict,
Reading: James
Madison, “War
Message to
Congress”
“Report of the
Hartford
Convention”
Mar 5
Second Great
Awakening
Feb 27
PRIMARY SOURCE
ANALYSIS #1 DUE
5
Feb 9
Feb 10
American Revolution
Feb 11
6
Feb 16
Feb 17
After the Revolution
Reading: Selections
from Thomas
Jefferson, Notes on
the State of Virginia
Feb 18
7
Feb 23
Feb 24
The Louisiana
Purchase and the
War of 1812
Reading: Henrietta
Chapters 7 A-C
Feb 25
8
Mar 2
Mar 3
MIDTERM
Mar 4
Mar 9
Mar 10
Second Great
Awakening
Reading: Church
Records
Mar 11
-
9
Mar 12
Jacksonian
Revolution
Reading:
Henrietta,
Chapters 10 A-C
Feb 1
Feb 20
Mar 6
Mar 13
10 Mar 16
Mar 17
Spring Break
Mar 18
Spring Break
Mar 19
Spring Break
Mar 20
Spring Break
11 Mar 23
Mar 24
Reform
Reading:
Robert Abzug, “The
Temperance
Reformation,” in
Cosmos Crumbling:
American Reform
and the Religious
Imagination
Mar 25
Mar 26
Expansion of
SlaveryRise of Cotton
Reading:
Frederick
Douglass, “What to
the Slave is the 4th
of July.”
Mar 27
12 Mar 30
Mar 31
Internal Slave Trade
Reading: Solomon
Northrup, 12 Years
a slave, Chapters IVI
Apr 1
Apr 3
13 Apr 6
Apr 7
Mexican American
War-Comanche
Empire
Readings: Mexican
War Primary
Sources
Apr 8
Apr 2
National EconomyIndustrializationPanic of 1837
Solomon
Northrup, 12 Years
a slave, Chapters
VII-XII
Apr 9
Build up to Civil
War
14 Apr 13
Apr 14
Civil War
Apr 15
Apr 16
Civil War
Reading:
Selections from
Civil War diaries
and letters
Apr 17
15 Apr 20
Apr 21
Reconstruction
Apr 22
Apr 23
Reconstruction
Reading:
Freedmen’s
Bureau sources on
the Killing of Kit
Apr 24
16 Apr 27
Apr 28
Study Day-No Class
Apr 29
Final Exam Period
Apr 30
Final Exam Period
May 1
Final Exam Period
May 5
Final Exam Period
May 6
May 7
Spring Break
17 May 3
Final Exam Period
PRIMARY SOURCE
ANALYSIS #2 DUE
May 4
Final Exam Period
Apr 10