Plymouth State University
Department of History & Philosophy
HIDI 1307
Marcia Schmidt Blaine
Spring 2012
Office: Memorial 204 X2347 mblaine@plymouth.edu Office Hours: TR 11-12,
TR 3:30-4, M 9-10
History should be studied because it is an absolutely necessary enlargement of human experience, a way of getting out of the boundaries of one's own life and culture and of seeing more of what human experience has been. And it is the necessary, unique way of orienting the present moment, so that you know where you are and where we have come from and so you don't fantasize about the past and make up myths to justify some immediate purpose—so you can make decisions based to some extent on what has gone before, on knowledge of actual experience.
--
Bernard Bailyn, historian
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Creating a Nation will help prepare students to be informed citizens of the United States. The topics will provide background and insight into the foundations of modern American culture.
The class will analyze social, racial, and economic as well as political factors of American life to provide a background for our evolving American society. The class will explore the relationship between individuals in American society and the impact of individuals on society. In written assignments and class discussions, students will analyze primary documents and begin to see some of the difficulties and the rewards in investigating and understanding the past and how the past has an impact on the present. With that understanding, the class will provide students with an understanding of how they fit into the larger American society.
This course meets the SELF AND SOCIETY Directions requirement for the General Education
Curriculum.
An educated person must grapple with a question that has interested human beings for centuries: the relationship between self and society. To understand one’s self, one must understand and acknowledge the impact of society on the development of identity and the formation of beliefs.
The needs of the individual sometimes conflict with the needs of society. Self and Society courses encourage students to inquire into multiple dimensions of self and to investigate the interactions between individuals and the social environment.
Self and Society courses emphasize the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening, critical thinking, conducting research, and collaborating with others.
Creating a Nation prepares students to understand their relationship to the American society in which they live by exploring its historical antecedents. Students will explore the roots of modern
1 As quoted in National Council for History Education: Ideas, Notes, and News about History , online edition, 1997, http://www.nche.net/archives/V0906_news.html
, (September 15, 2006).

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American culture and their place within it by looking at the role of individual men and women in creating an American identity. As the historian Carl Becker wrote, “[t]he value of History is, indeed, not scientific but moral: by liberalizing the mind, by deepening the sympathies, by fortifying the will, it enables us to control, not society, but ourselves. . .. it prepares us to live more humanely in the present and to meet the future.”
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Course objectives: Students will:
A.
explore the development of “American” society along lines of religious, social, economic, and political themes, from the time of European contact in the New World through
Reconstruction.
B.
understand that concepts such as race, class, gender, freedom, liberty, and rights are historical and cultural constructs that change over time.
C.
investigate the connections between individuals and their societies at different times in
American history.
D.
recognize conflicts between particular individuals and the times they lived in, such as antinomians, loyalists, federalists, abolitionists, and redeemers.
E.
identify the concept of “agency” in the lives of individuals students examine and connect it to constructs of social groups.
F.
articulate and define the major issues of American history before the close of
Reconstruction.
G.
improve analytical and critical thinking skills through analysis of primary and secondary sources to shape the students’ historical consciousness.
Texts:
Alan Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation , volume 1, 6 th
edition.
Online documents.
Grading:
Class participation: 10%
Writing assignments: 15%
Exams (3): 45% (15% each)
Moodle discussions: 10%
Research assignment: 20%
Assignments : Weekly notes (reading, writing, and critical thinking)
Peer discussions (speaking, listening and critical thinking, collaborating with others)
Analysis of primary research for colonial period and slavery (reading, writing, and critical thinking)
Final research assignment (reading, writing, listening, critical thinking, and conducting research)
2 Carl Becker, The Dial , 1915, as quoted in James J. Sheehan, “How History Can be a Moral Science,” in
Perspectives , October, 2005 in http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2005/0510/0510pre1.cfm
(January 4,
2007).

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Primary versus Secondary Sources: Throughout this course, students will gain insight into the
American past from two complementary but fundamentally distinct sources of knowledge.
Primary sources are historical artifacts created during the period of the past to be studied.
Although the primary sources that students read for this course are all written documents (such as essays, newspaper articles, legislative acts, and diary entries), primary sources may also take many unwritten forms. Historians of antiquity, for example, frequently study coins, statuary, and other archaeological finds to make inferences about past civilizations. (Even garbage may be a primary source - it certainly reveals much about the humans that create it.) Secondary sources , in contrast, are accounts of the past fashioned by historians and others who write about the past.
They are based on primary sources.
Course Requirements:
You are expected to complete all readings on time and to be prepared to discuss them actively in class. Three exams are scheduled during the semester. Make-up hour exams will be scheduled only for exams missed due to authorized absences. Exams missed due to unauthorized absences will be recorded as 0.
You will use the McGraw-Hill website to access on-line learning center ( http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/0073385522/student_view0/ ) designed to supplement your text. The site will direct you to the latest web pages available for further information, and give you trial exams, study questions, and interactive maps.
Students need to take notes on the readings and come to class with the notes and books in hand . It is necessary to understand the important parts of what is read. Students will use the readings as an opportunity to hone their skills of synthesis and analysis. We will often refer to maps within the book.
Short paper: Students will choose a person in U.S. history between 1607 and 1840 to investigate. It cannot be someone who is very well known (for example, George Washington is out) but it could be a local figure, like Susannah Johnson or a less well-known figure, like
Edmund-Charles Genet or John Langdon or Sarah Bagley. After I approve the person, you will find at least two secondary and one primary document about the person and then write a 300word essay about them, focusing on why they are important in American history. Papers are due March 6.
Semester research paper : Compile 5-7 primary documents on an historical figure that lived between 1600 and 1877 – different from the one chosen for your short paper - chosen in consultation with the professor. Summarize each document, preparing an annotated bibliography . Write a short (3-5 page) analysis of the documents in which you explain the importance of that individual to American society. What changes did they cause? How did they influence others? Note that there are two parts to the assignment: 1. primary document summaries and 2. a 3-5 page analysis. Use Chicago Manual of Style humanities style (not MLA or APA) for citations and bibliography. Turn in summaries and analysis (not the primary documents themselves) on April 12 .

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Feb. 13
Feb. 20
Feb. 27
Jan. 30
Feb. 6
Every paper produced in this class must include citations and a bibliography using the Chicago
Manual of Style – Humanities or Turabian style (go to Lamson Library homepage; click on style guides). Remember: these are formal papers, not opinion papers (write in 3 rd person and in academic style). For help on writing like an historian, check out Bowdoin history writing website: http://academic.bowdoin.edu/WritingGuides/ by Patrick Rael. It is an excellent source and answers lots of questions.
It is a letter grade off for each day a paper is late, and spelling, sentence structure, grammar, etc. do count. Plagiarism, whether from an internet source or any other source, will result in a
0 on the paper . All violations of academic integrity will result in disciplinary action. For details see http://www.plymouth.edu/office/registrar/academic-policies/academic-standing/ from the 2011-2012 catalog.
Week of Topic
Introduction
Pre-Columbian period/Environmental History
Voyages and early settlements
Native Americans & Europeans
American mainland colonies?
Brinkley, ch. 3
Brinkley, ch. 1 and 2. For every assigned chapter, you should read the appropriate sections in the McGraw-Hill online learning center.
Early developments in American identity
Short paper topic possibilities due Tuesday . Bring in three possibilities.
No face-to-face class meeting on Feb. 9. Instead, please turn in analysis of three of the five primary documents found on the McGraw-Hill website.
Consider: what do these documents reveal about 18 th
century developments in the
French & Indian War/Seven Years War: The First Global War
How did the mainland colonies fit into the larger global context of the mid-18 th century?
Brinkley, ch. 4
Changes after 1763
How and why did the French & Indians wars change the British, American and
Native American relationships?
American Revolution/ Review for exam
Brinkley, ch. 5
Feb. 28: Exam I (chapters 1-5)
March 1: Postwar Depression and Dissension
Constitution
Brinkey, ch. 6

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March 5 Ratification and Creation of Government
First paper due March 6 .
Discussion of background for the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
March 12 Rise of Political Parties
War of 1812
Brinkley, ch. 7 and 8
March 19-23 Spring break
Assignment: Talk to your family. Where did your ancestors come from? We will discuss this in class.
March 26 Discuss findings. How diverse is the U.S. based on our class? What does this say about the United States?
The Corrupt Bargain
April 2
Brinkley, ch. 10
Andrew Jackson’s Democracy
April 9
Immigrants, 1820-1860
Brinkley, ch. 9
April 5: Exam II (chapter 7-10)
April 16
The rise of industry
Reform
Brinkley, ch. 10 (again) and 12
Final research paper due Thursday, April 12
Be prepared to discuss your research in class.
April 23
Slavery and Abolition
Election and War
Brinkley, ch. 11
Civil War
Brinkley, ch. 13 and 14
April 30
May 7
Civil War con’d/ Reconstruction
Brinkley, ch. 15
Reconstruction and Review
May 14-18 Exam week
Exam: Thursday, May 17, 8-10:30 a.m.