Houston Community College System: Central Campus
Summer 2014: American History 1301 Syllabus and Requirements
Professor: Dr. A. S. Walmsley
Instructor e-mail: Andrew.Walmsley@hccs.edu
Two books are required for this class:
1. Textbook: James L. Roark, et al., The American Promise, Volume 1.
2. Pearson eReader, American Perspectives, Volume 1.
This textbook will be used for every class and provides your source for facts and ideas
about the American past. You should read every page carefully, take notes as you go, and
look at all the pictures. We will go through the material together verbally in class. To
prepare for tests you should memorize what you have read as much as you can.
The eReader book will be used for the homework assignment explained below.
Classroom Tests:
We will have three tests and a Final. Each test is 50 question, multiple choice format to
be taken in class on the dates shown on the calendar. Usually each test covers four
chapters of the textbook. The Make-Up and Finals are comprehensive which means they
have questions from all the chapters from the textbook. Each question is worth 2 points,
so each test is graded from 100. See grading scale for the class below and see calendar
below for test dates.
Homework:
Book, Pearson eReader, American Perspectives, Volume 1.
Every student is required to complete a homework assignment and submit it to me on or
before the deadline. The assignment is to write 10 essays based on the documents listed
below taken from the Pearson eReader, American Perspectives, volume 1. Write a brief
interpretive/summary essay when you have read the documents as indicated. You should
write at least 500 words per essay. Your answers are to be typed and submitted on or
before the deadline. NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED UNDER ANY
CIRCUMSTANCES. Each essay will be graded from 10 points so the overall
assignment is worth 100 points. Please give me a hard copy of your essays when class
begins on the deadline day.
1. Read and write a short essay about the article: Pedro de Casteneda de Najera on
the Search for the Seven Cities of Cibola, 1540
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2. Read and write a short essay about the Virginia Codes Regulating Slavery and
Servitude, 1642-1705. Also read the Louisiana Code Noir, 1724 and Susannah
Johnson Recalls Her Captivity, 1754-1757
3. Read and write a short essay on the documents The Stamp Act Riiots and the
Boston Massacre
4. Read and write a short essay on the Constitution of the U.S. from 1787 and the
article by Edmund Morgan, “The Witch and We the People.”
5. Read and write a short essay about the documents, the Whiskey Rebellion, the
Sedition Act of 1798 and The Monroe Doctrine
6. Read and write a short essay on the piece called “The Jacksonian Character” by
Edward Pessen
7. Read and write a short essay about the documents Report of the Commissioners
of the University of Virginia, 1818; excerpts from Horace Mann’s 10th and 12th
reports; and Crime in the City
8. Read and write a short essay on Henry D. Thoreau’s “On Civil Disobedience”
from 1849
9. Read and write a short essay about Denmark Vesey’s Uprising, 1822 and Nat
Turner’s Rebellion, 1831
10. Read and write a short essay about David Walker’s “Appeal” and Frederick
Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
An interpretive/summary essay should present evidence that you have read and
understand the material and that you can offer an interpretation of the same. Do not just
repeat what the essay says. Summarize in your own words then interpret. Interpret means
evaluate, assess, and explain.
Attendance:
Please attend class on a regular basis. I will observe HCC’s published policies regarding
attendance. If you decide to withdraw please fill out a withdrawal slip and file it with the
school otherwise you may wind up with an unintended F on the final grade sheet.
Make-Up Policy:
You may make up ONE test only if you miss a scheduled test due to a documented
emergency. The Make-Up is a comprehensive 50 question, multiple choice test and is
offered on the last day of regular instruction for your class. Remember, that you DO NOT
just make the test you missed. Everyone who misses a test does the same Make-Up exam.
This is a generic, 50 question, comprehensive, multiple choice test similar to the final. If
you miss more than one scheduled test you will receive a zero for one of those missed.
I never assign extra-credit work under any circumstances.
Grading Scale:
Test 1 = 100
Test 2 = 100
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Test 3 = 100
Final = 100
Homework = 100
Total possible = 500
To calculate your final grade just add your percentage scores together as you take the
tests and at the end of the class you will have a score somewhere in the following ranges:
450 – 500 = A
400 – 450 = B
350 – 400 = C
300 – 350 = D
Student Evaluation of Instructor Information
At Houston Community College, professors believe that thoughtful student feedback is
necessary to improve teaching and learning. During a designated time, you will be asked
to answer a short online survey of research-based questions related to instruction. The
anonymous results of the survey will be made available to your professors and division
chairs for continual improvement of instruction. Look for the survey as part of the
Houston Community College Student System online near the end of the term.
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