Course Introduction
1
WELCOME TO
AMERICAN HERITAGE 100
Course Introduction
Wednesday, January 4th
 Contact Information
 American Heritage Office
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166 SWKT 422-6076
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F
americanheritage@byu.edu
Website: americanheritage.byu.edu
 American Heritage Review Room
 173A SWKT 422-2357
 Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. M-F
 Professor Spencer
 Email: david_spencer@byu.edu
 165 FOB
 Office hours: M, T 3:00 – 4:00 PM or by appointment
 American Heritage sections cannot be added with an add/drop
card. All enrollment in the class must be done via Route Y.
 Add deadline is Wednesday, January 18th by 5:00 pm
 Drop Deadline is Thursday, March 15 by 5:00 pm
 Labs begin this week. Check Route Y for your scheduled lab
(Thursday or Friday).
 Must attend the lab you are registered for!
Course Introduction
Outline for Today
• Introductions
• Dispel major myths about American Heritage
• Highlight course resources
• Briefly discuss course requirements and policies
• Introduction: Why American Heritage?
3
Myths about American Heritage
“It is
impossible
to get a
good
grade in
American
Heritage.”
• Expected Grade
Distribution
• A 25%
• B 40%
• C 20%
• D 10%
•E
5%
Course Resources
Syllabus. Study it! You will accountable for its contents.
TAs and Labs.
Course Resources
Syllabus. Study it! You will accountable for its contents.
TAs and Labs.
Readings: Text and Course Packet.
Review Room/TA office hours.
AH website: americanheritage.byu.edu
Course Requirements
Lab attendance and participation.
Quizzes.
iClicker: register (iclicker.com/registration) and bring to lecture
Exams: two midterm exams and a comprehensive final.
Essays: more next week.
Citizenship/Service Learning Project—10 hours.
Films.
Grading.
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•
•
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•
Exams:
Essays:
Quizzes:
Service Learning Project:
Participtation
350 points.
120 points.
50 points.
30 points.
30 points.
Class Policies
There are no correct opinions about politics or public policy.
We should treat everyone and everyone’s opinions with
respect and civility.
We should treat the US and its people, including government
officials, with respect but not with unexamined acceptance.
We should treat other nations and all peoples with the same
respect accorded the U.S. and its people.
This is a serious course dealing with serious issues, but that
doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.
Class Rules
Only one person in each seat
If you are going to eat in class, bring enough food for all of
us. For example, 300 sandwiches or 75 pizzas.
If you are going to leave class early, pretend to be sick.
Texting is OK only if the text is taken from the Constitution,
the Declaration of Independence, or the Gettysburg
Address.
Cell phones may be used in class for the following
purposes:
• Earthquakes 7.0 or greater on the Richter scale.
• Serious fires.
• One call per semester to tell your mother you are going to have a
baby.
Course Introduction
10
Why American Heritage?
• Though we look at the United States, the fundamental
question of the course is universal.
• How can we design a government that resolves conflicting interests
and fosters beneficial cooperation while maintaining order and
liberty?
Course Introduction
11
Why American Heritage?
• D&C 101:80 – And for this purpose have I established the
Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom
I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land
by the shedding of blood.
Course Introduction
12
Why American Heritage?
The creation of the United States of America is the
greatest of all human adventures. No other
national story holds such tremendous lessons, for
the American people themselves and for the rest of
mankind. It now spans four centuries and, as we
enter the new millennium, we need to retell it, for if
we can learn these lessons and build upon them,
the whole of humanity will benefit in the new age
which is now opening.
Paul Johnson, A History of the American People, p. 3.
Course Introduction
13
Why American Heritage?
The U.S. is a relatively successful democracy.
(Rhetorical) questions:
• Although the U.S. is a young country, it is also the oldest continuing
democracy. Why?
• Why have so many immigrants sought to come here?
Course Introduction
14
Above all, this class focuses on ideas—
the ideas that form the basis for the
American Founding
“Ideas… both when they are right and when they are
wrong are more powerful than is commonly
understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else.
Practical men [and women] who believe themselves
quite exempt from any intellectual influences are
usually the slaves of some defunct [scholar].…I am
sure that the power of vested interests is vastly
exaggerated compared with the gradual
encroachment of ideas....[I]t is ideas, not vested
interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.”
--John Maynard Keynes
Course Introduction
15
Important things to keep in mind
• We will resist idealizing the past.
• Things could have turned out differently; choices were
always risky.
• Critical importance of context.
• Do not judge as though the actors could see the end from the
beginning.
• Do not judge by today’s standards.
• No one actually lives in the past.