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BTAN23004BA AND BTANL23004BA
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A SEMINAR FOR SECOND-YEAR IEAS STUDENTS
SPRING 2011
Time and Place: Friday 10:00-11:40 in GÖCS Room 204
Tutor: Éva Mathey (emathey@freemail.hu); Room 108/1. (: 512-900 /Ext. 23093)
Office hours: Wednesday 13- 14:00 in MBldg. 108/1; Thursday 14:00- 15:00 in GÖCS
Room 202 and by appointment.
DESCRIPTION OF COURSE:
These 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 the NEW EDITION of 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 from my homepage. Additional study guides (lecture
guides, lists of events, people, terms, and essay questions) are also available form my
homepage at: http://ieas.arts.unideb.hu/faculty/mathey.htm
GRADING POLICY:
Students will be graded on the strength of their class performance (including contributions to
discussion: 20%), 5 occasional written tests (15%), two short (3-5 minutes) oral
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presentations (5 each: 10%), and a mid-term (20%) and end-term paper (35%). The endterm paper may not be missed or rescheduled under any circumstances.
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.
RULES OF THE GAME:
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 sent or 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 wordby-word transcript. You must not read out your presentation. The content of your talk, the layout of your handout, your performance and presentation skills as well as your pronunciation
will be evaluated. 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.
The mid-term and end-term papers will be a combination of dates, names, terms, and an
essay.
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
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.
WEEK-BY-WEEK DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE:
Week 1 (February 10, 11): Introduction and Orientation (syllabus, rules of the game, study
aids, lists, how to use them)
Week 2 (February 17, 18): Relations between England and Her North American Colonies.
Readings: USH, pp. 9-38, lecture notes and The Declaration of Independence available at
http://ieas.arts.unideb.hu/faculty/mathey.htm
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 (February 24, 25): From the Washington Administration to the War of 1812.
Readings: USH, pp. 39-43, 50-59, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: What made it necessary to amend the first constitution?
Presentations topics: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton
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Week 4 (March 3, 4): 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, pp 43-49, 59-77, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was the War of 1812 the “second war of independence?”
Presentations topics: the Monroe Doctrine, abolitionism, the frontier theory, Sitting Bull,
Buffalo Bill, Andrew Jackson
SHORT TEST#1!!!!!
Week 5 (March 10, 11): Civil War (1861-65) and Reconstruction (1865-77).
Readings: USH, pp. 77-81, lecture note, lists and Abraham Lincoln, “The Emancipation
Proclamation” available at http://ieas.arts.unideb.hu/faculty/mathey.htm
Focus point: Why did the Civil War break out? Why was secession a constitutional issue?
Presentations topics: Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant
SHORT TEST#2!!!!
Week 6 (March 18, 19): MID-TERM PAPER, video class.
Week 7: (March 24, 25): The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.
Readings: USH: Chapters 6-7, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was it a “gilded” historical period?
Presentations topics: Muckrakers, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Theodore
Roosevelt
Week 8 Consultation Week (March 28-April 3)
Week 9 (April 7, 8): World War I.
Readings: USH, Chapter 9, 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 10 (April 14, 15): The Interwar Years.
Readings: USH, Chapter 10, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: Why was depression viewed as a great American tragedy?
Presentations topics: Charles Lindbergh, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding,
Calvin C. Coolidge, Herbert Hoover
Week 11 (April 21, 22): World War II.
Readings: USH, Chapter 11, lecture notes, listsFocus point: What did the US learn from WWI?
Presentations topics: the Manhattan Project, Douglass MacArthur
SHORT TEST#4!!!!
Week 12 (April 28, 29): The US since 1945.
Readings: USH, Chapter 12, lecture notes, lists.
Focus point: The atomic bomb: pro and contra.
Presentations topics: the Cuban Missile crisis, Henry Kissinger, George F. Kennan, JFK,
Richard Nixon
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Week 13 (May 5, 6): The US since 1945.
Readings: USH, Chapter 13, lecture notes, lists and Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a
Dream” available at http://ieas.arts.unideb.hu/faculty/mathey.htm
Focus point: The idea of equality: myth or reality.
Presentations topics: Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Betty Friedan, Elvis
Presley
SHORT TEST#5!!!!
Week 14 (May 12, 13): END-TERM TEST
Week 15 (May 19, 20): Evaluation