TRENT UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
HIST 2110Y - Introduction to United States History (Oshawa Campus)
2009 – 2010
Instructor: Sean J. McLaughlin
Tuesdays 11:00 – 2:00
Email: sjmclaughlin.history@gmail.com
Office Hours: by appointment before and after class, email office hours Thursday 5:00 – 6:00
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This is a survey course that begins with first contact between European settlers and natives and
finishes with election of Barack Obama. Our focus on key themes—ranging from slavery and
civil rights, religion, gender, industrialization, and the creation of an American empire –is
designed to provide fodder for discussion on whether the United States truly is an
“exceptional” nation. Approximately two-thirds of each class will be devoted to lectures, with
the remainder allocated to an examination of the weekly readings and lecture themes.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Paul S. Boyer, et. al., The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. Houghton and
Mifflin, Concise Sixth Edition, 2009.
William Bruce Wheeler and Susan D. Becker, Discovering the American Past: A Look at the
Evidence, Volume I: To 1877, Houghton and Mifflin, 6th Edition, 2007.
---. Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence, Volume II: Since 1865, Houghton and
Mifflin, 6th Edition. 2007.
NOTE: supplemental readings will be added to My Learning System, which you should check
frequently.
GRADING SCHEME:
Fall Term Exam: 10% (one hour, in class on 8 DECEMBER)
Group Historiography Project: 25% (15% written summary due 24 NOVEMBER, 10% oral
presentation) - in groups of 4, students will choose a topic in American history, identify the key
literature on it, and outline the evolution of differing schools of interpretation; presentations will
be ongoing throughout the year.
Essay: 25% - 12-15 pages on a topic chosen by the student and approved by the lecturer; due 9
FEBRUARY.
Final Exam: 25%
Participation: 15%
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Access to Instruction
It is Trent University’s intent to create an inclusive learning environment. If a student has a
disability and/or health consideration and feels that he/she may need accommodations to
succeed in this course, the student should contact the Disability Services Office (BL Suite 109,
748-1281, disabilityservices@trentu.ca) as soon as possible. Complete text can be found under
Access to Instruction in the Academic Calendar.
Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty, which includes plagiarism and cheating, is an extremely serious academic
offense and carries penalties varying from failure in an assignment to suspension from the
University. Definitions, penalties, and procedures for dealing with plagiarism and cheating are
set out in Trent University’s Academic Dishonesty Policy which is printed in the University
Calendar and on the university web site at:
http://www.trentu.ca/deansoffice/policies_dishonesty.php.
If you are in any way uncertain about these guidelines, please contact me for clarification
before your assignment is due.
Deadlines and Penalties
Start your work early and please feel free to consult with me at any time as you progress. Part
of my responsibility is helping you do the best work you’re capable of and I greatly prefer
discussing draft versions of your work to explaining why you didn’t get the mark you were
looking for after the fact.
Late work will be penalized 5% a day, with weekends (Saturday and Sunday) counting as one
day only. Late assignments will not be accepted 10 days after the due date, except under
exceptional circumstances.
If you miss a deadline due to illness, a doctor’s note will be required to avoid incurring a late
penalty without exception.
Participation
This is an important component of your mark and sitting back silently during class discussions is
roughly the equivalent to leaving a blank answer on an exam. Keep on top of your readings and
be prepared to demonstrate an understanding of key lecture themes. There is a major
qualitative element to participation, so please avoid the temptation to filibuster.
LECTURE SCHEDULE:
2009
15 September – Introduction to Course Themes
22 September – Forging a New World

Boyar: Ch. 1 and 2; John Winthrop, Excerpts from "A Model of Christian Charity," (1630):
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?documentprint=932; and “On
Liberty,” (1645): http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=178;
“A Severe and Proud Dame She Was”: Mary Rowlandson Lives Among the Indians, 1675:
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5793
29 September – Early Colonial Life

Boyar: Ch. 3; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 3
6 October – War of Empires and the Erosion of British Control over the 13 Colonies

Boyar: Ch. 4; John Dickinson, “Arguments against the Independence of the
Colonies,” (1 June 1776):
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?documentprint=2364; “Born
Yet We Are Debarred Englishmen’s Liberty”: A Massachusetts Soldier Confronts
British Society, 1759: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5819
13 October – The Revolution: a truly revolutionary event?

Boyar: Ch. 5 and 6; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 4; film clip from HBO’s John Adams
(2008)
20 October – Building a More Perfect Union

Boyar: Ch. 7; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 5
27 October – Charting Neutrality in an Era of Global War: America in the Napoleonic Era

Boyar: Ch. 8; Henry Clay, “Letter in Support of the War of 1812,” (1812):
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=485; Niles Weekly
Register, “Article Regarding Declaration of War of 1812,” (30 May 1812):
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=631; New York
Evening Post, “They Call It a War for Commerce!,” 26 January 1812:
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=627
3 November – The Slave Economy

Boyar: Ch. 12; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 8; film clip from Steven Spielberg’s Amistad
(1997)
10 November – Politics and Reform in the Jacksonian Era

Boyar: Ch. 10; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 6
17 November – Looking South: America and its neighbour republics in Latin America

Boyar: Ch. 13 (pp. 293-300); Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 9
24 November – The Civil War

Boyar: Ch. 14 and 15; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 10; film clip from Robert Zwick’s
Glory (1989)
1 December – Taming the Frontier: Westward expansion to 1890

Boyar: Ch. 17; Virtual Field Trip: “Heading West,” and “Touring West,” New York
Public Library: http://www.nypl.org/west/index.html
8 December – Reconstruction and the Jim Crow Laws, WINTER TERM EXAM

Boyar: Ch. 16; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 11
2010
12 January – Industrialization and Immigration in the late 19th Century

Boyar: Ch. 18 and 19; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 3
19 January – The Crisis of Masculinity and the Establishment of an American Empire

Boyar: Ch. 20 (pp. 469-476); Kristin L. Hoganson, Fighting for American Manhood:
How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars.
Yale University Press, 1998; Paul A. Kramer, “Race-Making and Colonial Violence in
the U.S. Empire: The Philippine-American War as Race War,” Diplomatic History, Vol.
30, No. 2 (April 2006).
26 January – Wilsonianism: Making the World Safe for Democracy

Boyar: Ch. 22; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 5
2 February – The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression

Boyar: Ch. 23 and 24; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 6 and 7
9 February – World War II

Boyar: Ch. 25; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 8
16 February – READING WEEK
23 February – Early Cold War Culture

Boyar: Ch. 26 and 27; John Lewis Gaddis, “The Origins of the Cold War” podcast from
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/wp/?p=315; film clip from Stanley Kubrick’s Dr.
Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
2 March – The Civil Rights Movement and Women’s Liberation

Boyar: Ch. 28 (pp. 668-679); Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 9; film clip from Spike Lee’s
Malcolm X (1992).
9 March – America’s Road to Vietnam

Boyar: Ch. 28 (pp. 679-684); Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 10; Kathryn C. Statler’s
“Introduction” to Replacing France: the Origins of American Intervention in Vietnam,
University Press of Kentucky, 2007. Available online at Google Books:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=SvIsVmkbK8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=replacing+france&ei=hDSlSsDgGofSNOz2kJYI
&client=firefox-a#v=onepage&q=&f=false; Robert D. Dean, Ch. 8 of Imperial
Brotherhood: gender and the making of Cold War foreign policy, University of
Massachusetts Press, 2003.
16 March – Morning in America: Reagan’s Inheritance and Legacy

Boyar: Ch. 30; Wheeler and Becker: Ch. 11
23 March – The End of History? America in the Clinton Years

Boyar: Ch. 31
30 March – 9/11 and America in an Age of Global Terrorism

Boyar: Ch. 32; Lloyd E. Ambrosius, “Woodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical
Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,” Diplomatic History, Vol.
30, No. 3 (June 2006).
6 April – The Culture Wars; FINAL EXAM REVIEW