U.S. History/American History
Guidelines
Studying U.S. History
“The historian has no country.”
(John Quincy Adams)
“The past is a foreign country. They do
things differently there.”
(L.P. Hartley)
Studying U.S. History
Even if you define yourself as an “American”
today,
Even though the past helps explain the present,
History is always about people different from
yourself.
Understand historical people in their context,
not yours.
History Do’s and Don’ts
Do:
objectivity
contingency
context
agency
human complexity
Don’t:
teleology
determinism
logical fallacies
Sometimes yes, sometimes no:
revisionism
Be open-minded and objective.
Understand past people on their own terms first.
Understand first, judge later (if ever).
Don’t rush to the present day.
Be aware of your own perspective.
Assume that you could be wrong.
There may be more than one valid approach.
There may be more than one valid
explanation.
Take a “Phenomenological” approach
• Phenomenon = something to analyze and
explain objectively
• Study events or developments as “things that
happened”
– Explain using the best evidence possible
– Make sense of events even if events are
distasteful
– Explaining is NOT the same as excusing
– The main goal of a history class is to
understand, not to feel a certain way.
Some Key History Principles
Contingency
– Nothing is fated or destined or automatic
– Events depend on a combination of factors
Context explains events
• What else was going on when it
happened?
• What was the background to the event?
• Each context is distinct to some degree
Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat, but it
does rhyme.”
Some Key History Principles
Contingency
– The past could have occurred differently.
– Other outcomes were possible.
– “Counterfactual” exercise
• “What if ____ happened differently?”
• Really common in popular history,
especially military history, especially
WWII and the Civil War
– However, not all factors have equal weight
Some Key History Principles
Agency
– The power of individuals to think, make choices,
take action, and influence their situation
– Exists even in the most restrictive circumstances
– No people are totally passive and simply have
things done to them
– Very few, if any, people who are 100% victims and
nothing else
– Defining a person only as a victim fails to see that
person’s humanity
• And is a very incomplete version of history
Some Key History Principles
Humanism = Humans are the main subjects
– Decisions, actions, ideas, cultures,
technology, etc.
– Social and cultural constructions important
Cultures, ideas, values, assumptions, social
customs, etc.
Enormous influence over behavior, even
many things considered:
natural, eternal, universal, “human nature,”
“just biology,” etc.
LIFE
Magazine,
December,
1944
Caption: “Gang of teen-agers push boyfriend's model T to
get it started. Car is 17 years old and can hold 12 boys and
girls. Favorite ride is out to football game.”
Humanism in history
Humans are complex, so history is messy.
– Assume complexity, especially in large scale
– Avoid single explanations
• No one “only cared about one thing.”
• No “The Civil War was all about _____.”
• Avoid extreme generalizations
–No “always,” “never,” “none,” “all,” etc.
– People are psychologically complex.
Don’t expect people in history to be consistent.
Cognitive dissonance = believing contradictory things
at the same time
Humanism in history
What we humans are often really, really bad at:
Predicting the future
Even predicting how you will feel in the future!
Estimating our own abilities
Ex.: 85% of college faculty think they are above average
teachers
Accessing our memories without changing them
Memories are shaped by later experiences
Guessing probability or coincidence
Coincidences are almost always more common than
you think.
Misunderstanding coincidence 
Seeing patterns where they don’t exist
Accept no shortcuts!
Resist the temptation to take the easy way out:
Teleology – history follows a pre-determined course,
has an end point, or is an automatic lockstep.
Ex:
“Progress” = as history goes along, humans get more
knowledgeable, better behaved, more rational, more
civilized, etc.
Ex: “Innovation” as a positive goal
“declensionist” teleology = “ever since ___, humans are
doomed.”
Accept no shortcuts:
Teleology of “primitive/advanced”
Questionable assumptions you should avoid:
1. Societies “evolve” from simple to complex, primitive
to civilized, savage to sophisticated, undeveloped to
developed.
2. People in the past were less intelligent, had simpler
thoughts, were less tolerant, and thought all stories
were literally true.
3. We in the present are the most sophisticated
thinkers, have the biggest imaginations, are the most
dependent on technology, and live the most complex
lives ever.
Accept no shortcuts:
Determinism – history boils down to a single factor
Some versions:
Economic – economic forces run everything
“It’s all about greed.”
Cultural – people reproduce their own culture
“She did that because she was raised that way.”
Biological – genetics, physiology, etc., as simple,
independent variables
“That’s just the testosterone talking.”
Accept no shortcuts:
Zheng He (Cheng Ho), 15th century Asia
Muslim, Hui-minority admiral of Chinese navy, largest
fleet in the world before World War I
Ambitious, ruthless, aggressive, invaded Indonesia to
overthrow disrespectful ruler
Castrated at age 10
Accept no shortcuts:
Logical fallacy – coming to a conclusion using poor logic
1. Post hoc ergo propter hoc
“After this therefore because of this.”
A happened, then B happened.
Therefore, A caused B.
Ex.:
I felt sick, I took the medicine, then I felt better.
Therefore, the medicine made me feel better.
(Other possible explanations?)
Accept no shortcuts:
2. Benefit/cause fallacy
Effect means intention with means causation
Someone benefited from something, therefore that
person made it happen.
Backwards logic: the effects caused the causes.
Ex.: FDR and Pearl Harbor, the JFK assassination, Bush
and 9/11, agriculture and patriarchy, etc.
(Never underestimate the power of incompetence,
coincidence, and unintended consequences.)
Definition of “American” in this class
Person living in what becomes the United States
No matter what culture, language or origin
Not just citizens or free people
Not just “white” people
Not just permanent residents
Not just self-defined “Americans”
If a person ever set foot (or was already living) in
what becomes the U.S., that person is an
“American” for historical purposes
Definition of “American” in this class
Some example of historical “Americans”:
Native American, Alaskan Native, Native
Hawaiian
enslaved African American
German-born farmer in Pennsylvania
Asian migrant worker in the U.S. temporarily
White Virginian colonist who thought of
herself as English and not “American”
Mexican family in California (at any point in
history)
Definition of “American” in this class
How NOT to do it:
“Americans displaced the Indians.”
(Reality: Natives were also Americans)
“Americans owned slaves.”
(Imprecise – slaves were also Americans)
“Americans drove the Chinese out of San
Francisco.”
(Chinese immigrants are Americans)
Anything that assumes “American” strictly means
“white English-speaking U.S. citizen”
No “we” or “us” in History
• No such thing as “we Americans” as a historical entity
• 400+ years, millions of people, and radical differences
across time and space
– Jamestown residents in 1607 would find you totally
foreign, maybe not even human, certainly not “us.”
• Do not use “we” or “us” or “our” when talking about or
writing about U.S. History or “Americans.”
– No “our nation” or “our country” as an objective
subject.
– Avoid temptation in any essay’s intro or conclusion
– Hard habit to break
• Why is that?
Don’t say “we” in American History
• Why not? Because saying so is:
– Vague
– Intellectually useless
– Self-centered
– Politically manipulative
– Poor communication
– Lazy
– Addictive
Don’t say “we” in American History
“Consensus history” idea
Big part of 1950’s U.S. education approach:
Everyone in U.S. history in the same boat
All Americans part of the march of progress
Country goes from one achievement to another
Strong patriotic and anti-foreign sentiment:
National unity will win the Cold War
Criticism helps communism
House of Representatives Committee on UnAmerican Activities (HUAC)
Best practices
• Never use “American” or “Americans” by itself,
always use as specific a modifier as possible
Ex.:
native-born Americans often….
free African American women experienced…
most Native American hunters on the Plains…
second-generation European immigrants in the
U.S….
enlisted men in the U.S. Army…
for many Americans, …
Best practices
• Same with regional identity – be specific
“Southerner” = person from the Southeast part
of the United States
“Southerner” is not a synonym for “white” or
“Confederate” or “slaveowner” or “conservative”
(In the Civil War, the Confederacy was only part
of “the South”)
If you mean a white person from the South, then
say “white Southerner” or “Southern whites”