San Diego State University
History 109
United States History to 1877
Spring Semester 2003
Dawn Marsh Riggs
AH 4197
Phone/Voicemail: 619-594-7000
e-mail:dmriggs@rohan.sdsu.edu
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~dmriggs/
Office Hours: WF 11-12
Course Description
This course is intended to present you with an in depth look at selected topics in
United States history from its human origins to 1877. The history presented in
this class will introduce you to the places, ideas and peoples that make up our
past. The approach is multicultural and interdisciplinary. Rather than a broad
survey of names, places and dates, we will explore and discuss the ideas,
conclusions and controversies in history. Through the semester you will develop
the following skills.
Course Goals
1. To acquaint you with how history is constructed and what historians do.
2. To read critically, evaluate primary and secondary sources, conduct
research and write (and rewrite) according to the discipline’s criteria.
3. To understand and hopefully appreciate the relevance of history and how
it illuminates and informs the present.
4. Finally, to appreciate the value of your own history as well as the history of
your family and community.
Required Texts and Readings
The following text is required:
Loewen, James Lies My History Teacher Told Me (any edition)
I also recommend the purchase of a writer’s reference handbook. I ordered
copies of Diane Hacker’s Writers Reference. This is an optional purchase. I
highly recommend that you purchase any writers reference that covers writing
and documenting history research papers. Be aware that not all guides cover
thesis writing or the particular citation and formatting styles I will require in your
work. There are a number of online sources I list in a separate handout.
All other readings for the class will be made available on the class web site in
the form of pdf. files and web sites. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself
with accessing, downloading and printing and/or copying the readings. Printing
the reading materials is at your discretion.
Student Requirements
Students are required to come to class prepared; assigned readings completed,
assignments completed on time. This course focuses on developing your
analytical, research and writing skills. This requires a commitment from you in
both time and effort. How much time and how much effort you are willing to
devote to this class is your decision and will reflect in your final grade. It is
recommended that you devote at least four to five hours per week on the
readings and more for examinations. When you come to class you should be
prepared to take notes, listen to the instructor and your colleagues, participate in
class activities and be prepared to discuss the topics of the day.
Field Trips
This class approaches history in a nontraditional format. One aspect of that
approach is using field trips to replace lecture hours. These field trips are
required, not optional. The trips are scheduled well in advance. It is your
responsibility to organize your work, social and academic schedule to
accommodate these events. If you miss a field trip you lose those points. The
only exception will be absences due to illness with a doctor’s excuse.* If your
schedule is not flexible enough to accommodate weekend field trips you should
consider another instructor and course.
Assessment and Grades
Course points will be based on the following components;
Attendance and participation
20 points
In class writing
varies
Homework Assignments
varies
Field Trip Notebook
50 points
Research project
200 points
Filmography (5)
Synopsis (10)
Sources (20)
PAB (10)
Historical Context Essay (30)
Scene Analysis Essay (50)
Issue Analysis Essay (75)
Attendance and Participation
I will take attendance and points will be deducted for absences and excessive
tardiness. More than five unexcused absences is justification for failure.
Coming to class unprepared and unwilling to discuss the material is also
justification for losing a percentage of the participation and attendance points. If
you want to receive full credit for this portion of your grade you must make
attempts to participate in class discussions.
In Class Writing and Homework Assignments
Throughout the semester students will be assigned a number of in class writing
assignments. Some of these assignments will be an individual effort and some
will be a collaborative project. All in class project will be graded: +, ÷, -
Field Trip Notebooks
Students will be required to keep a notebook on observations and reflections
based on the field trips during the semester. Guidelines and grading criteria will
be presented separately.
Research Project
The research project included a series of research and writing assignments that
culminate in a final thesis based research essay. The research project explores
history through film. The project includes a filmography, synopsis, preliminary
annotated bibliography, historical context essay, scene analysis essay, issue
essay and a final annotated bibliography. By the end of the course students will
know how to make use of the library’s resources, formulate research questions,
analyze, write and document those sources used in their research.
Grades A-F
Having served as a teacher in the UC, Cal State and various CC districts, I find
that most students suffer from grade inflation. Grade inflation ends here! In this
instructor's classroom an "A" is awarded for truly superior work, consistently
throughout the semester. It is a grade given for excellence in academic
achievement. The letter grade of "B" is awarded for above average work, beyond
"doing the job." The letter grade "C" is for average work, fulfilling adequately all of
the assigned work and earning adequate points on exams and quizzes. The
letter grade "D" is for less than average work, but earning enough points to pass
the course and finally an "F" is given for failing to earn the points necessary for
passing.
Grades +, ÷, In class writing and homework assignments will be graded with
+ strongly engaged, high quality thinking or exploration
÷ meets expectations
- unsatisfactory performance
At the end of the semester I will have a formula based on the number of writing
assignments and homework assignments given during the semester. A letter
grade will be assigned. The letter “C” grade is assigned for all checks (÷) on
assignments, and all other grades will be based on varying combinations of
checks, pluses and minuses.
Class Schedule
As stated above, this course approaches history in an untraditional way. A more
traditional format would take you on a “march through time” following a
chronological time line starting with 1492 or 1620 or some other equally absurd
arbitrary date and continue through an endless array of events, places and
people ending in 1877 ( another arbitrary date). In this course we will spend the
first two weeks discussing the syllabus, assignments and the historian’s craft. We
will then discuss the whole timeline of history that the course covers. After that
initial period we will then launch into a series of four themed modules that will be
studied in depth. The four modules are:
The Columbian Exchange
Free and Unfree Labor
Founding of the United States Government
The New American Empire: Conquest and Expansion
The topics will be approached using four areas of concentration:
Diversity
Class and Systems of Power
Environment
Globalization
Class Schedule
Syllabus, course objectives
Week 1 January 22-24
Historians and their Craft
Week 2 January 27-31
Reading:
What is history?
http://www.historyguide.org/history.html
A Student’s Guide to History
http://www.historyguide.org/guide/guide.html
Chapter 1.1 The Proper Attitude
Chapter 1.2 Why Study History?
Resources:
History News Network
http://hnn.us/
Common-place; A Common Place, An Uncommon Voice
http://www.common-place.org/
Tom Paine Common Sense; A Public Interest Journal
http://www.tompaine.com/
Overview: U.S. History to 1877
Week 3 February 3-7
Readings:
An Abridged History of the United States
Chapters 2-4
http://www.us-history.info/home.html
Loewen, Introduction, “Something Has Gone Very Wrong 7p
” Ch. 1”Handicapped by History: The Process of Hero Making” 19 p
Resources:
Color Landform Maps
http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection Historical Maps of the United States
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/histus.html
The Columbian Exchange
Week 4 February 10-14
Week 5 February 17-21
Readings:
Secondary Sources
The Columbian Exchange: Plants, Animals, and Disease between the Old
and New Worlds, Alfred W. Crosby, Professor Emeritus, University of Texas at
Austin
http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/nattrans/ntecoindian/essays/columbian.htm
“1493: The True Importance of Christopher Columbus” James Loewen
“Food Revolution and Culinary Revolution” Jack Weatherford
Primary Sources
European Discovery of the New World
http://www.gliah.uh.edu/historyonline/us1.cfm
Motivations for English Colonization
http://www.gliah.uh.edu/historyonline/us2.cfm
Native American Voices
“They take...[our] hand in their own”
http://www.gliah.uh.edu/native_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=4
“The French have so little cleverness”
http://www.gliah.uh.edu/native_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=5
The Pilgrims from the Indian Perspective
http://www.gliah.uh.edu/native_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=72
Conflict and Accommodation in the Northeast: Destruction of the Pequots
http://www.gliah.uh.edu/native_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=23
Free and Unfree Labor
Week 6 February 24-28
Week 7 March 3-7
Week 8 March 10-14
Readings:
Morgan (Essays) “Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox” 26 p (ECR)
Graves, The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the
Millennium (ECR) 21 p
Introduction: Racial Thinking; Complaints and Disorders
Chapter 1: The Earliest Theories; Race Before the Age of Discovery
Chapter 2: Colonialism, Slavery and Race in the New World
Loewen Chapter 5 “Gone With the Wind: The Invisibility of Racism in American
History Textbooks” 34 p
Loewen Chapter 6 “John Brown and Abraham Lincoln: The Invisibility of Antiracism in American History Textbooks” 29 p
Founding of the United States Government
Week 9 March 17-21
Week 10 March 24-28
Week 12 April 7-11
Readings:
Foner, American Radicalism (ECR)
Tom Paine: Common Sense
Declaration of independence
Constitution
The New American Empire: Conquest and Expansion
Week 13 April 14-18
Week 14 April 21-25
Week 15 April 28-May2
Readings:
“Instead of Empire: What Future for the United States?,” Sarah Ruth van Gelder
http://www.futurenet.org/24democracy/insteadofempire.htm
Loewen Chapter 4 “Red Eyes” 39 p
Loewen Chapter 3 “The Truth About Thanksgiving” 23 p
Conclusions and Looses Ends
Week 16 May 5-7
Finals
Week May 9-May 16