H105, American History I, Fall 2024

Prof. Konstantin Dierks

COURSE SYLLABUS
WEEK ONE
August 27 Course Introduction I — Course Logistics and Conditions of Learning
› student profile
› conditions of learning
August 29 Course Introduction II — Collective Mission
 

Discussion:

• What Is a University and Why Are You Enrolled in One?
• What Is a Public University and Why Are You Enrolled in One?
• What Is a Research University and Why Are You Enrolled in One?
• Why Study the Humanities?
• Why Study History?

WEEK TWO
September 3 Lecture 1:  European Invasion of the Americas and a New Atlantic World
› response sheet 1 Reading Guide for Week 2
 

Documents:

Columbus, Letter (1493)

Requerimiento (1513)

Video:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Story” (TEDGlobal 2009)

September 5 Lecture 2:  European Moral Dissension; Native American Moral Resistance
› response sheet 2 Reading Guide for Week 2
 

Documents:

Sepulveda, Democrates Alter (1547)

Las Casas, Brevissima Relacion (1552)

Thomas Hariot, A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia (1590)

WEEK THREE
September 10 Lecture 3:  Achieving Stability and Dominance in the Chesapeake
› response sheet 3 Reading Guide for Week 3
 

Document:

Richard Frethorne, letter to his parents (1623)

Video:

Rockman, Seth.  “What Is Historical Reasoning?”  Brown University, August 2014.  [up to 2:32]

Discussion:

• How Is Knowledge Made?
• How Is History Made?

September 12 Lecture 4:  From White Servitude to Black Slavery in the Chesapeake
› response sheet 4 Reading Guide for Week 3
 

Documents:

Virginia laws of servitude (1643-1691)

Robert Beverley, The History and Present State of Virginia (1705)

WEEK FOUR
September 17 Lecture 5:  Social Utopia and Confronting Dissent in New England
› response sheet 5 Reading Guide for Week 4
 

Documents:

John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity” (1630)

John Winthrop, “Reasons to be considered for justifying....” (ca. 1629)

Reading:

Victoria Freeman, “Not-So-Distant Relations?” (common-place.org 3:1, October 2002)

September 17

National Voter Registration Day

September 19 Lecture 6:  Social Hierarchy and Confronting Disorder in New England
› response sheet 6 Reading Guide for Week 4
 

Documents:

Thomas Shephard II, letter to his son Thomas Shepard III at college (1672)

Increase Mather, An Arrow Against Profane and Promiscuous Dancing (1684)

Nicholas Noyes, “Reasons against Wearing of Periwiggs” (ca. 1703)

Reading:

Elizabeth Reis, “The Trouble with Angels” (common-place.org 1:3, April 2001)

WEEK FIVE
September 24 Lecture 7:  Social Expansion — Migration and Consumerism
› response sheet 7 Reading Guide for Week 5
 

Documents:

William Byrd, diary extracts (1709-1712)

George Washington, “Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation” (ca. 1744-1748) [see Files in Canvas]

September 26 Lecture 8:  Cultural Diversity — Enlightenment and Awakening
› response sheet 8 Reading Guide for Week 5
 

Document:

Charles Woodmason, diary and sermon notes (1767-1768)

WEEK SIX
October 1 Lecture 9:  Global War and Imperial Crisis
 

WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE

› response sheet 9 Reading Guide for Week 6
 

Documents:

Benjamin Franklin, Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. (1751)

John Adams, A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law (1765)

October 3 Lecture 10:  Local Resistance and the Politicization of Everyday Life
› response sheet 10 Reading Guide for Week 6
 

Documents:

Continental Association (1774)

Continental Congress, Tory acts (1775-1776)

Continental Congress, negotiations with King George III (1775-1776)

Writing Exercise #1:

Working Hypothesis

October 3 - October 6

Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, Bloomington IN

WEEK SEVEN
October 7

Indiana voter registration deadline

October 8 Lecture 11:  Independence and War — Dilemmas of Choosing Sides
› response sheet 11 Reading Guide for Week 7
 

Documents:

Connecticut slaves’ petition for freedom (1779)

“The Sentiments of an American Woman” (1780)

October 10 Lecture 12:  Revolutionary War — Creating New Alliances, Creating New Solidarities
› response sheet 12 Reading Guide for Week 7
 

Documents:

Appeals for religious freedom (1783, 1786)

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1787)

Benjamin Rush, “An Address ... on the Defects of the Confederation” (1787)

Writing Exercise #2:

Thesis Statement and Topic Sentences

October 11-13

“Fall Break”

WEEK EIGHT
October 15 Lecture 13:  Confederation and Constitution — Creating a New Government, Creating a New Nation
› response sheet 13 Reading Guide for Week 8
 

Documents:

United States Constitution (1787-1789)

Bill of Rights (1789-1791)

October 17 Lecture 14:  Citizenship in the Early Republic — Creating a New People
› response sheet 14 Reading Guide for Week 8
 

Documents:

United States naturalization laws (1790, 1795)

John Adams appraises the people (1765, 1776, 1790)

William Manning, “The Key of Liberty” (1799)

Writing Exercise #3:

Diagnosing a strong versus weak paper

WEEK NINE
October 22 Lecture 15:  Transition to Capitalism — Slavery and Freedom after the American Revolution
› response sheet 15 Reading Guide for Week 9
 

Document:

Benjamin Banneker, public exchange with Thomas Jefferson (1791)

October 24 Lecture 16:  Transition to Capitalism — Industrialization in New England
› response sheet 16 Reading Guide for Week 9
 

Documents:

John S.C. Abbott, The Mother at Home (1833)

Harriet Robinson, autobiography (1831-1836)

New England factory protest (1845-1846)

WEEK TEN
October 29 Lecture 17:  Transition to Democracy — White Male Voting and American Identity
› response sheet 17 Reading Guide for Week 10
 

Documents:

William Otter, autobiography (1807)

Northern working men’s declarations (1829-1844)

Abraham Lincoln, “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions” (1838)

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1840)

October 31 Lecture 18:  Transition to Democracy — Immigration and American Identity
 

WRITING ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE

› response sheet 18 Reading Guide for Week 10
 

Documents:

“Declaration of Principles of the Native American Convention” (1845)

Thomas R. Whitney, A Defence of the American Policy (1856)

WEEK ELEVEN
November 5 Lecture 19:  Perfectionism — Religious Revival and Social Reform
› response sheet 19 Reading Guide for Week 11
 

Documents:

Robert Owen, critique of individualism (1825-1826)

Ralph Waldo Emerson, critique of social conformity (1841-1844)

November 7 Lecture 20:  Abolitionism — Politics of Race and Politics of Gender
› response sheet 20 Reading Guide for Week 11
 

Documents:

David Walker, Appeal To the Coloured Citizens of the World (1830)

American Anti-Slavery Society, “Declaration of Sentiments” (1833)

Woman’s Rights Convention, Seneca Falls, New York (1848)

WEEK TWELVE
November 12 Lecture 21:  Slavery in the Antebellum South (and North) — White Perspectives
› response sheet 21 Reading Guide for Week 12
 

Documents:

George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or Slaves without Masters (1857)

United States Supreme Court, Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

November 14 Lecture 22:  Slavery in the Antebellum South — Black Perspectives
› response sheet 22 Reading Guide for Week 12
 

Documents:

Henry Highland Garnet, speech on slave resistance (1843)

Frederick Douglass, speech on the Fourth of July (1852)

The Narrative of James Roberts (1858)

November 15-17

IU Dance Marathon

WEEK THIRTEEN
November 19 Lecture 23:  Westward Expansion — From Gold Rush in Georgia to Gold Rush in California
› response sheet 23 Reading Guide for Week 13
 

Documents:

Andrew Jackson and John Ross, annual messages related to Cherokee Removal (1830)

John C. Calhoun, speech on Mexico (1848)

John C. Calhoun, speech on Oregon (1848)

William Walker, The War in Nicaragua (1860)

November 21 Special class — Stump the Chump
› response sheet 23b

WRITING ASSIGNMENT #3 DUE

WEEK FOURTEEN
November 25-29

Thanksgiving Break — no classes

WEEK FIFTEEN
December 3 Lecture 24:  Sectional Crisis and the Outbreak of Civil War
› response sheet 24 Reading Guide for Week 15
 

Document:

Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863)

December 5 Lecture 25:  Civil War
› response sheet 25 Reading Guide for Week 15
 

Documents:

letter of former slave to former slaveowner (1865)

Frederick Douglass, “What the Black Man Wants” (1865)

WEEK SIXTEEN
December 10 Lecture 26 (Course Conclusion):  Emancipation and the Legacies of American Identity
› response sheet 26  
December 12 Optional class — review session

WEEK SEVENTEEN
December 16-20 FINALS WEEK

 

TAKE-HOME FINAL EXAMINATION due no later than 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 17, to be submitted via Canvas.

WEEK EIGHTEEN
December 23-27 GRADING WEEK