HS 131
U.S. History I
Professor Robert Money
Office: 307 Library
Phone: 635-2327
Office Hours: MTWR--12-1 p.m., T--2:00-3:00 P.M., and by appointment
Hats will not be worn during class.
Text: Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation—any edition OR any college level
U.S. History text. There are 6-8 U.S. History texts on 2-hour reserve in the
library.
Attendance:
Attendance will be taken and will be a factor in your final grade.
Grades and grading:
There will be a test in a couple of weeks. There will be 2 or more 50-minute
tests and an hour final. You will get a week’s notice before each test. The
tests will be essay and either short or long answer. Make-up tests will be
scheduled 1 week later and at the same hour as the class. These will be long
essay and you will have far fewer choices. Do not pester about when you
will get your test back! Much on the tests will come from the lectures.
Course Description:
This course begins with a discussion of Pre-Columbian North
America and some of the cultures that had been created. Discovery and how
this radically alters the course of North American history will be followed
by the European settlement of North America. This, naturally, involves the
centuries long conflict between Europeans and the American Indians.
The course ends with the successful completion of the Civil War under
Lincoln’s leadership when a battered but united nation ponders its future.
Specifically we will discuss:
1. Pre-Columbian cultures of N. America with an emphasis on the
Mound Builders and the Eastern Woodland cultures.
2. The European discovery era and the Dutch, French, and English
colonization.
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3. Elizabethan England and the nature of the 17th and 18th C. immigrants
and their settlement patterns.
4. Ethnicity and religion in colonial America, African slavery, and white
indentured servants.
5. Colonial cultures and the influence of the frontier.
6. Charter, Proprietary, and Royal colonies and what we learn from each.
7. The wars with the French and the Indians.
8. The growing conflict between the Mother Country and her American
colonies.
9. The period from 1763 to 1787, the coming of the Revolution, the war,
Washington, and the Critical Period will be covered in much detail.
10.The Constitutional Convention, the document, and the Bill of Rights.
11.The Federal Period and the Jeffersonian Era.
12.The War of 1812 and the rise of both nationalism and sectionalism.
13.The Mexican War and the growing dispute over the expansion of
slavery.
14.The importance of Lincoln and the outbreak of war in 1861.
Course Standards:
1. Students will be familiar with the several of the colonial era Native
American cultures.
2. Students will know the colonization period and the major ethnic and
religious patterns of settlement in the English colonies.
3. Students will be able to understand how the colonial experiences with
its frontier created a new and different culture and civilization than
had existed in Europe
4. Students can understand how the various types of colonial
governments and the growing division with England have lasting
effects on what form of government we create and our basic political
concepts and values.
5. Students will be able to discuss the rise of Sectionalism and the
political climate it creates in the post-War of 1812 era. They will
know some of the key players and events that foster this threatening
disaster.
6. Students will understand the critical period after the Mexican War
when the expansion of slavery becomes the major issue.
7. Students will be able to discuss the major events of the 1850’s and
how each deepens the crisis.
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8. Students will be able to see how the rapid rise of the Republican Party
and Lincoln’s election forced the crisis to the breaking point.
9. Students will be able to understand and contrast Lincoln and Davis,
the nature of the North and South, and the overall course of the war.
10.Students will be able to access the cost of the war, what victory really
meant, and the outlook in 1865.
11.Students will use the facts they know to sequence chronologically the
major eras and key events in order to examine relationships and
explain cause and effect.
Students Accommodations and Support Services: In compliance with lake Superior State University
policy and equal access laws, disability-related accommodations or services are available. Students who
desire such services are to meet with the professor in a timely manner, preferable the first week of class, to
discuss their disability-related needs. Students will not receive services until they register with the
Resource Center for Students with Disabilities (RCSD). Proper registration will enable the RCSD to verify
the disability and determine reasonable academic accommodations. RCSD is located in Library 101. The
telephone number is (906) 635-2454
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