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BTAN(L)28009BA AND AN3304OMA
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A SEMINAR FOR SECOND-YEAR IEAS STUDENTS
FALL 2015
Time and Place: Monday 14:00-15:40, Room 54
Tutor: Éva Mathey (matheyeva@gmail.com); Room 116/1. (: 512-900 /Ext. 22152)
Office hours: Monday 10:00-11:00, Tuesday 14:00-15:00 and by appointment.
DESCRIPTION OF COURSE
These 3-credit parallel seminars are designed to serve as a basic introduction for English majors
to the history of the United States of America. Please note that this course will, as it should, serve
as the basis for all subsequent American Studies courses. Topics for discussion will range from
the relations between England and her North American colonies and the War of Independence
through the Civil War and the two world wars to the post-cold war era. Domestic and foreign
affairs as well as social and cultural issues will be addressed in an attempt to help the students
prepare for the in-class final exam.
COURSE GOALS
Combining mini lectures with seminar discussion, the students will develop a better
understanding of United States history and prepare for subsequent American Studies courses.
Since this is predominantly a seminar course, our emphasis will be on further developing the
four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) of the students.
READINGS
The basic textbook of the course is Davis D. Joyce and Tibor Glant, United States History: A
Brief History for Hungarian Students [USH] (Debrecen: Kossuth Egyetemi Kiadó, 2010).
Students will read some primary documents, with the exception of the text of the US
Constitution, all available online. Additional study guides (lecture guides, lists of events,
people, terms, and essay questions) are available from my homepage at:
http://ieas.arts.unideb.hu/faculty/mathey
I do encourage every student to check out and use the relevant lecture notes and the
relevant parts of the study list for each class.
GRADING POLICY
Students will be graded on the strength of their class performance (including contributions to
discussion: 15%), occasional written tests (15%), one short oral presentation (10%), a
max. 2-page take-home paper (10%), a midterm (15%) and an end-term paper (35%). The
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end-term paper may not be missed or rescheduled under any circumstances. NO RE-SIT
FOR THE ENDTERM!!!
More than three absences will result in a “not fulfilled” grade. Grades will be assigned
according to the following conversion formulae: 0-60% = fail; 61-70% = satisfactory; 71-80%
= average; 81-90% = good; 91-100% = excellent.
REQUIREMENTS
Presentation: Students are required to deliver a presentation on a pre-approved topic. The
oral presentations will be supported by a one-page outline distributed before class. A typed
handout strictly not longer than one page should be handed in to the instructor ONE WEEK
before the presentation for overview.
Only handouts approved by the instructor can be presented!!!!!!!!
The handout should be only a guideline to the presentation and not a word-by-word transcript.
You must not read out your presentation. The content of your talk, the lay-out of your
handout, your performance and presentation skills as well as your pronunciation will be
evaluated. Students are encouraged to prepare a PowerPoint presentation along with the typed
outline. If someone does not show up when his/her presentation is due and does not notify the
instructor in advance, he/she will lose all the credit points on the assignment.
Historical Memory Project/Written Assignment: Students are required to select at their
own preference an American historical figure, event, etc. and write a short account about how
and why that particular person, event, etc. is remembered in contemporary America. The
papers may draw on primary, as well as secondary sources, artifacts and products of popular
culture (music, cinema, and fashion), etc. The research paper should be max. two-page (9501000 words) long.
The aim of the paper is to help students develop their ability to carry out individual research
on the basis of primary and secondary sources, to help them master the conventions of
referencing according to the Chicago Manual of Style. The essay are to be supported with a
bibliography as well. The deadline for submission is Week 13 (May 15).
For details about the Chicago Manual of Style Sheet, check the follwing website at
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/ or check out my intitute website and go
to ’downloadable study materials.’
The mid-term and end-term papers will be a combination of dates, names, terms, and mini
essays.
It is an essential part of the course requirements to attend all class meetings. If you must miss
a class because of illness or emergency, please let me know, and make all the necessary
arrangements to complete any work missed. Students may not miss more than three classes
under any circumstances. Students are kindly requested to contact their tutor at least a day
before class if they are to make a presentation but cannot attend.
Academic dishonesty or Plagiarism (failure to acknowledge and note the use of another
writer’s words and ideas) is both unethical and illegal and will result in a failure of the course.
Tardiness and early departures are not allowable. They are offensive to your fellow
students and to the instructor because they disrupt class work. If you have a compelling
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reason for arriving late or leaving early, speak with your instructor about the problem. If you
regularly cut the beginning and/or the end of class sessions, it can add up to unexcused fullclass-time absences.
Classroom etiquette: During the class please DO refrain from using your electronic devices
including tabs, mobilephones, etc. Please DO NOT receive phonecalls and text messages
during the class!!! It is disturbing and impolite in the first degree!!!!
WEEK-BY-WEEK DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE
Week 1 (September 14): Introduction and Orientation (syllabus, rules of the game, study
aids, lists, how to use them)
Week 2 (September 21): Relations between England and Her North American Colonies
Readings: USH: Chapter one (pp. 9-19); Chapter two (20-33), lecture notes and The
Declaration of Independence available at http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/
Focus point: Why did the colonies rebel? What was at the core of the conflict?
Presentations topics: Sam Adams, Captain John Smith, Benjamin Franklin
Week 3 (September 28): From the Washington Administration to the War of 1812
Readings: USH: Chapter three (pp. 34-42); Chapter four (43-54) and lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: What made it necessary to amend the first constitution?
Presentations topics: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton
SHORT TEST#1!!!!!
Week 4 (October 5): Territorial, Cultural and Economic Expansion between the War of
1812 and the Civil War. The Road to the Civil War: American Politics, 1812-1860
Readings: USH: re-read the relevant parts of Chapter three and four, and Chapter five (pp.
55-64) and lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was the War of 1812 the “Second War of Independence?”
Presentations topics: the Monroe Doctrine, abolitionism and the slave question, Sitting Bull,
Buffalo Bill, Andrew Jackson
Week 5 (October 12): Civil War (1861-65) and Reconstruction (1865-77)
Readings: USH: sections from Chapter five (pp. 64-68), lecture note, lists and Abraham
Lincoln, “The Emancipation Proclamation” available at
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/
Focus point: Why did the Civil War break out? Why was secession a constitutional issue?
Presentations topics: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant
SHORT TEST#2!!!!
Week 6 (October 19): MIDTERM and The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era
Readings: USH: Chapters 6-7 and lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was it a “gilded” historical period?
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Presentations topics: Muckrakers, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Theodore
Roosevelt
Week 7: CONSULTATION WEEK (October 26-30)
Week 8: (November 2): World War I
Readings: USH: Chapter 9 and lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why did the US enter the war as an Associated and not as an Allied power?
Presentations topics: the Zimmerman Telegram, Thomas Woodrow Wilson
SHORT TEST#3!!!!
Week 9 (November 9): The Interwar Years
Readings: USH, Chapter 10 and lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was depression viewed as a great American tragedy?
Presentations topics: Charles Lindbergh, Hanry Ford, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
Week 10 (November 16): World War II
Readings: USH, Chapter 11 and lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: What did the US learn from WWI?
Presentations topics: the Manhattan Project, Pearl Harbor, American theaters of war
SHORT TEST#4!!!!
Week 11 (November 23): The US since 1945
Readings: USH, Chapter 12 and lecture notes, lists; the NSC-68 report.
Focus point: The atomic bomb: pro and contra.
Presentations topics: Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Cuban Missile crisis, Henry Kissinger,
JFK, Richard Nixon
Week 12 (November 30): The US since 1945
Readings: USH, Chapter 13, lecture notes, lists and Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a
Dream” available online
Focus point: The idea of equality: myth or reality.
Presentations topics: Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Betty Friedan, Ronald
Reagan
SHORT TEST#5!!!!
Week 13 (December 7): END-TERM TEST
Week 14 (December 14): Evaluation and Closing