History 109
American History to Reconstruction
Fall 2014
Francis William Edmunds, “Taking the Census” (1854)
Lecture Days: MW
Class Times: 10‐10:50
Class Location: SHW-012
Professor: Edward J. Blum
Contact Information: eblum@mail.sdsu.edu
Office Hours Times (and by appointment): M and W, 11:00‐1
Office Hours Location: AL 525
TA: Mayra Lopez
Contact Information: mlopez5196@gmail.com
Office Hours Times (and by appointment): Wednesday 12-1:00 pm
Office Hours Location: Arts and Letters 560
Section 09 Day: Wednesday
Section Time: 11-11:50
Section Location: LSN-134
Course Overview: (catalogue description)
United States history from pre-colonial societies to Reconstruction. Contact of cultures, patterns
of settlement, contests over racial, ethnic, religious, class, gender, regional, and national
identities and institutions. Satisfies the American Institutions requirement in American history
and United States Constitution.
Beginning with the encounters between Native Americans and European explorers, this course
extends to the aftermath of the American Civil War. It will consider the landing of European
settlers, the transformation of Native American societies, the enslavement, exploitation, and
creativity of African captives and their descendants, the rise of the women’s rights movement,
several wars, two or three revolutions, and maybe even the origins of baseball. We will look at
the faltering progress of democracy, the frustrations of free government, the settling of the West,
the building of an industrial nation, and of course the Great Rebellion (also known as the Civil
War, the War Between the States, or the Confederate Revolution). Throughout the course, we
will pay special attention to figures who have been often ignored as important historical
characters.
Learning Outcomes:
 Students will gain content knowledge of events, peoples, and ideas of American history
to Reconstruction.
 Students will analyze primary sources within the contexts of debates among historians.
 Students will discuss historical problems on American colonization, the origins of the
American Revolution, the rise of American industry, and the origins and outcomes of the
Civil War.
 Students will examine historical relationships between the age of European exploration
and colonizing of North America, economic and sectional change, and slavery and the
Civil War.
 Students will demonstrate in writing and speaking how the diversity of cultures and
groups in the American past have influenced American history.
 Students will argue in writing and speaking as professional historians do.
Enrollment Information
 No prerequisites
Course Materials
Required Materials (including all acceptable text editions)

Bundle: Schultz HIST, Volume 1 : US History Through 1877 (with CourseMate Access Card)
(3rd edition, 2014); Frakes, Writing for College History : A Short Handbook (2004); CobbsHoffman/Blum/Gjerde, Major Problems in American History, Volume I (3rd edition, 2012).
Bundle ISBN # 9781305248557

Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey, The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of
Race in America (University of North Carolina Press, 2012)
Grade Breakdown:
Your grade will be based upon three areas: quizzes, discussion participation, and essays. Failing
to turn in one of the essays or missing more than half of the reading quizzes will result in an
automatic failure of the class.
Your discussion grade will be assessed by two factors: 1) attendance at section; 2) participation
in discussion. The quizzes will be based upon the course reading and will be done via
Coursemate and/or in section. Your essays will consist of learning how to put together a history
paper – with appropriate footnotes, a thesis/argument, clear prose, and thoughtful analysis.
Quizzes:
Discussion:
Essay 1 Outline:
Essay 1:
Essay 2:
Extra Credit:
Extra Credit:
20% (8 quizzes in total, must be completed before discussion)
20% (for each section you miss, you will be deducted 2 points from
here… so if you miss two discussions, the highest discussion grade you
can receive is 21%)
10% (late papers will be deducted 3 points for each day so if you are 2
days late, the highest grade you can receive is 6%)
15%
25%
Attend lecture by Dr. Jana Riess (5% addition to your discussion grade)
Locate a piece of American art from the time period and analyze it as
Blum and Harvey analyze artwork in The Color of Christ
Essay #1 Tentative Prompt: Due October 13, 2014 (I will send out an email with specific
instructions on font, citations, etc.)
The Market Revolution of the 19th century radically shifted commerce as well as the way of life
for most Americans. Social changes associated with the Market Revolution include an increase
in religious division and protest movements. In a 4-5-page essay, analyze the relationship
between religious division and the growth of reform movements prompted by the Market
Revolution. Be sure to discuss a few of these movements in depth. (Essay should incorporate
lectures and readings…NO OUTSIDE RESEARCH)
Essay #2 Tentative Prompt: Due, Monday, December 15, 2014
TBA
Quizzes: TBA
Other Course Policies
Plagiarism: using someone else’s ideas without properly attributing it to them, that’s plagiarism.
For SDSU’s policies on cheating, see http://infotutor.sdsu.edu/plagiarism/index.cfm
For Students with Disabilities
If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for this class, it
is your responsibility to contact Student Disability Services at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any
delay in the receipt of your accommodations, you should contact Student Disability Services as
soon as possible. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive, and that accommodations
based upon disability cannot be provided until you have presented your instructor with an
accommodation letter from Student Disability Services. Your cooperation is appreciated.
Schedule: Course Structure and Conduct
Week 1: First Collisions
August 25: Syllabus and Overview
August 27: Old Worlds Collide
Discussion: Introductions, Expectations, Questions? Followed by a brief discussion on
Major Problems and Color of Christ.
Reading:
Hist3, Table of Contents
Major Problems, preface and introduction
Color of Christ, prologue
Week 2: The Age of Encounters
Reading Quiz for Chapter 1&2
September 1: NO CLASS – LABOR DAY
September 3: Confusion, Conflict, and Contact
Discussion: Hist3: Compare and contrast the tribes that were living in North America in
1492 and the interests of the French and the English in the New World. Similarities?
Differences?
Major Problems: Based on the documents in Chapter 1 and 2, describe the initial
interaction among Indians, Africans, and Europeans. What do these narratives have in common?
Differences? What role did violence play in creating the new world? Why did Africans become
slaves and Europeans servants?
Reading:
Hist3, chapters 1-2
Major Problems, chapters 1-2
Week 3: Colonial Outposts to Colonial Settlements
September 8: Colonial Outposts
September 10: The English in America
Discussion: Hist3: Explain how and why American slavery developed as it did. Why
could colonists not use indentured servants as they had in the past? How did the American
enlightenment and the Great Awakening of the 1740s affect the lives of the colonists?
Major Problems: Explain the transformation of religious colonies into secular societies.
Ramifications?
Writing for College History: What makes and effective written response?
Reading:
Hist3, chapters 3-4
Major Problems, chapter 3
Writing for College History, introduction and chapter 1
Week 4: The Revolution
Reading Quiz for Chapter 5&6
September 15: Growth and Conflict
September 17: Big Enough to Kill
Discussion: Hist3: Discuss the significance to the colonists of the Tea Act and the
Coercive Acts. Why did these particular acts seem so galling to the American colonists?
Describe the significance of the American Revolution to the development of the United States as
well as other countries of the world.
Major Problems: How did the Revolution alter the lives of men, women, Indians, slaves,
loyalists, and patriots? Would you characterize the Revolution as a conflict that looked forward
or backward? Why?
Writing for College History: How to write an effective essay for an in-class examination.
Reading:
Hist3, chapters 5-6
Major Problems, chapter 4
Writing for College History, chapter 2
Week 5: Making a Nation, Making a People
Reading Quiz for Chapter 7&8
September 22: An Empire of Troubles
September 24: Colonial Unity
Discussion: Hist3: Describe the process by which the Constitution was created in the
summer of 1787, and explain how it became the law of the land. Analyze the formation of
America’s first two political parties, the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists.
Differences?
Major Problems: How would government and society have differed if the Articles of
Confederation had not been replaced by the Constitution? Compare and contrast the focus upon
religious freedom and physical enslavement. Whose vision of America’s future, Jefferson’s or
Hamilton’s, is most appealing to you?
Writing for College History: The infamous five-pager.
EXTRA CREDIT LECTURE:
Jana Riess, “New Religions, New Texts, New Technologies” (Wednesday, 3:00 PM)
Reading:
Hist3, chapter 7-8
Major Problems, chapters 5-6
Writing for College History, chapter 3
Week 6: Of Markets and Men
Essay #1 Outline Due, Friday, October 3, 2014
September 29: The Market Revolution
October 1: The Rise of Herrenvolk Democracy
Discussion: Hist3: What were the various aspects of Jeffersonian Democracy? Why was it
named after the third president of the U.S.? Discuss American’s transportation revolution in the
first half o the 1880s and how did industrialization change America’s urban areas?
Major Problems: Which strategy used by Indians—resistance or acculturation—was
more successful in grappling with the westward migration of white Americans? Were there
winners and losers in the outcome of the market revolution? Do you think a “national market
economy” would link the nation together or pull it apart? Describe the experiences of Native
American tribes involved in the Indian removal movement of the 1830s.
Reading:
Hist3, chapters 9-11
Major Problems, chapters 7-8
Week 7: An Unsteady Republic
Reading Quiz for Chapter 12
October 6: Regionalisms
October 8: Reformers
Discussion: Discussion: Hist3: Compare and contrast life in the North and South during
the mid-1800s.
Major Problems: How were the notions about ‘the people’ or ‘the common man’ used to
celebrate the potential of the United States? And how were these celebrations linked to
expansion and ‘manifest destiny’? What were the new, religious views in America and can they
be linked to reform movements? Were reformers concerned more about improving society or
about controlling it?
Reading:
Hist3, chapter 12
Major Problems, chapter 9-10
Week 8: The Brink of War
Essay # 1 Due, Monday, October 13, 2014
October 13: Slavery in the West
October 15: Words and Weapons
Discussion: Hist3: How and when did Texas gain its independence and enter the Union?
Why did the Mexican War of 1846 take place and was the war necessary? What made Kansas so
important that it became the first battleground of the Civil War six years before Lincoln’s
election?
Major Problems: How were economic and geographical mobility central to the
experience and ideologies of northerners? In what ways did immigration create a more volatile
northern society? Describe the term ‘wage slave’ and its implications.
Reading:
Hist3, chapter 13-14
Major Problems, chapter 11-12
Week 9: War is Hell
Reading Quiz for Chapter 15
October 20: Union Forever
October 22: Emancipation
Discussion: Hist3: In the beginning, each side in the Civil War believed the war would be
brief and that their side would win. What advantages did each side hold that made them feel this
way?
Major Problems: Of the documents you have read in Ch. 13, which is most conciliatory
toward the other side? Which is more antagonistic? Why did the Union ultimately win the war?
How did war strain and change the societies in both the North and the South?
Reading:
Hist3, chapter 15
Major Problems, chapter 13-14
Week 10: Reconstructing the People
October 27: Radicalism Triumphant
October 29: Conservatism Victorious
Discussion: Hist3: Lincoln had one plan for bringing the rebel states back into the Union;
Andre Johnson another, and the Radical Republican Congress a third. We will discuss the aims
of each president, and explain why and in what ways Congress took control of the
Reconstruction.
Major Problems: What were the failures and successes of Reconstruction? And why did
it collapse to the extent that it did? How did African Americans feel about the possibilities and
the terrors of Reconstruction?
Reading:
Hist3, chapter 16
Major Problems, chapter 15
Week 11: Back to the Beginning
November 3: When Christ Crossed the Sea
November 5: Guest Lecture
Discussion: The Color of Christ + Lecture
Writing for College History: The Research Paper
Reading:
The Color of Christ, introduction and chapter 1
Writing for College History, chapter 4
Week 12: Revolutions and New Nations
November 10: Revolutionary Visions
November 12: From Light to White
Discussion: The Color of Christ + Lecture
Reading:
Color of Christ, chapters 2 and 3
Week 13: Body Battles
November 17: Body Battles in Antebellum America
November 19: Christ in the Camps
Discussion: The Color of Christ + Lecture
Reading:
Color of Christ, chapters 4 and 5
Week 14: Battle
November 24: Guest Lecture
November 26: The History of Thanksgiving
Discussion: NO DISCUSSION THIS WEEK
Week 15:
December 1: Nordic and Nativist in an Imperial Age
December 3: Proud to be an American
Discussion: The Color of Christ + Lecture
Reading:
The Color of Christ, 6
Final: Essay #2 Due, Monday, December 15, 2014