Freidman Syllabus Atlantic History Seminar

North America And The United States
From The Columbian Encounter Through The Civil War - History 151-4
Hal M. Friedman
Winter - 1998

Course Themes and Purposes:
HIST 151 is an introductory course in the history of Colonial North America and the Early United States. The course will explore various aspects of North American history, culture, and society from the encounter between Indians and Europeans around 1500 to the end of the U.S. Civil War in 1865.

The course will revolve around the idea of studying the various cultures which clashed and intertwined on the North American continent during a nearly 400 year period. Thus, it will focus on the study of various Indian, European, and African peoples who found themselves "sharing" the continent after 1500 and having to adjust to cohabitation in North America. Much of the course will, of necessity, center on the study of international relations, imperialism, and culture clash, and there will be a special focus on the development of Anglo- American society in the British North American colonies since that ethnic group came to dominate the United States and its affairs throughout much of the period under study.

Covering the entire sweep of North American interaction, the reading and writing assignments will emphasize exploring the role of the frontier in American thought and culture, the continuing American search for a mission in the modern world, and the role which conceptions of race, ethnicity, and gender have played in U.S. society. As broad a coverage of interaction between peoples and cultures as possible will be the focus of the course and the student will receive a significant exposure to comparing and contrasting the various Indian, European, and African societies which coexisted in North America. In effect, the instructor will paint "societal portraits" of these historical participants for the students by describing these various societies in terms of political economy, material culture, the sexual division of labor, and the conduct of war and diplomacy. These societal portraits will then be used by students to explore how people in the past lived, coexisted and, at times, clashed.

This course will not be conducted as a traditional history lecture course which emphasizes chronological memorization. Research has demonstrated that students learn more about history when lecturing is deemphasized and activities such as group discussion, individual presentations, and writing activities are stressed. Therefore, much of the class period will be devoted to analyzing and discussing the reading assignments in small groups as well as viewing films and participating in classroom writing exercises.

Student-instructor conferences will also be employed to supplement lecture, writing, and discussion activities.

HIST 151, therefore, is also a historical methodology course. History is, in the opinion of this instructor, not about memorizing dates, places, and names but learning to read critically and analyze material from a skeptical, questioning, perspective. The presentation and dissection of ideas will be emphasized since
ideas are what motivated people in their past actions. Therefore, the course is designed to teach college students the basic skills in historical reading and,writing as a partial preparation for their collegiate and professional careers. These writing assignments in turn will help prepare the student for future
coursework at Henry Ford Community College and other institutions of higher, learning. The course is based on research findings which indicate that good writers are also good readers. The readings, therefore, will be used not just to introduce the student to critical history, but also to help the student focus her/his I
thoughts and trigger ideas about the writing assignments.

Historical investigation will be treated as a process in this course. Although the mechanical aspects of writing, such as grammar and punctuation, will become important in the final drafts of the papers, mechanics will not be emphasized in the initial drafts of the writing assignments. Instead, students will, be urged in the first stages of each paper to focus on a topic, and to think and write about that topic in any way which helps them produce a rough draft. In the next stage of the process, students will focus on the meaning of their papers, the major points, the clarity, and other students' perceptions of their revised draft. In the final stage, students will then focus on polishing the diction, syntax, and grammar of their papers.

Given this process, much of this course is based on collaborative learning. To be sure, the instructor will read a great deal of the written material, but an emphasis will be placed on students' reading and critiquing each others' work. Class sessions will be based largely on discussion groups, analysis of historical materials, and library research. ,

Prerequisites:
There are no prerequisites for this course. However, the ability to write complete sentences and paragraphs is essential to doing well in any history course. You must be able to communicate what you know. Having been apprenticed in teaching composition, the instructor will offer assistance throughout the semester in helping students write more clearly and coherently.

Reading Assignments:
All reading assignments should be completed before the weekly class sessions. Prompt completion of the readings will improve the student's understanding of the lectures, facilitate class discussions, and stimulate, questions about the material and the writing assignments. All texts are available at the College Store (313-845-9603). The required texts are:

General Text: Gary .B. Nash, Red, White & Black: The Peoples of Early North Amenca, 3rd Edition (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1992).
Documentary Text: Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Major Problems in American Colonial History (Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath and Company, 1993).
Writing Text: Richard Marius, A Short Guide to Writing about History, 2nd Edition (New York: Harper Collins, 1995).
Topical Text: William Weeks, Building the Continental Empire: American Expansion from the Revolution to the Civil War (Chicago, Illinois: Ivan R. Dee, 1996).

Writing Assignments:
There will be four assignments during the course:
1. One three-page paper analyzing the film Black Robe as a secondary historical document. The film will deal with issues resulting from the interaction between Europeans and American Indians during the seventeenth century. Students will be required to write an analytical paper about their ideas of the
film's main point, the evidence for their ideas, the film's historical context, and its value as a secondary source.
2. One three-page paper analyzing a primary document chosen by the student and approved by the instructor from the Kupperman text. This assignment will emphasize the student's ability to analyze the document's thesis, context, accuracy, and value as a primary historical source.
3. One three-page paper analyzing primary materials in Colonial North American history found in the library or in other area libraries. This assignment will emphasize the student's ability to conduct independent library research and analyze primary sources in terms of thesis, evidence, historical context, and
accuracy in conjunction with the lectures, other texts, and previous assignments.
4. One comprehensive blue-book essay examination on Weeks' Building the Continental Empire. The essay examination will test the student's ability to apply critical, historical analysis and writing in a compressed period of time, simulating testing conditions in future college courses and in selected employment situations. Again, students will be analyzing the book's thesis, evidence, sources, and historical context.
Each paper assignment will be graded on the clarity of the thesis, the quality of the evidence, topical development, conciseness, the quality of analysis, the ability to set the historical context, and mechanical factors. The instructor realizes that writing assignments can be initially intimidating. However, these
short assignments are very manageable if broken into smaller sub-assignments. For this reason, the assignment schedule is designed so that students complete the papers one portion at a time over a 3-4 week period. This assignment schedule is shown below.

There will also be the opportunity to rewrite papers within a one week time frame after they have been handed back by the instructor. Rewrites must address the major problems of the paper, not just be cosmetic treatment of grammar and spelling. Students are highly encouraged to visit with the instructor before actually completing a rewrite.

***All writing assignments must be completed in order to receive a passing grade and the use of computer word processors is highly recommended of all students. Late papers will be reduced by 1/3 of one letter grade in order to be fair to those students who complete the assignments on time. For example, an A
paper which is turned in 1 to 7 days late will become an A- paper. Papers which are more than one week late will not be accepted by the instructor and will count as a 0.0, except under extenuating circumstances determined by the instructor .***

Attendance, Participation, and Quizzes:
Attendance is absolutely required for this course. The teaching of critical history is an effort in which the instructor can initially guide, but individual development is at the initiative of the student. The course is based on in-class group learning and students who are late, absent, or nonparticipative will not obtain the same benefits from these activities. Students should be fully prepared to participate in classroom activities on a daily basis. As an incentive, the instructor will include attendance and participation as 15% of the final grade. Students can miss up to 3 days during the semester, but after that absences begin to detract from this part of the final grade. The assignments are very manageable if students are class on a regular basis with their readings completed and their notes prepared for discussion. For this reason, short weekly quizzes over the lecture and reading material will also be administered in order to help students maintain momentum on the reading assignments and prepare for the monthly papers. There will be 11 quizzes and the instructor will drop the lowest quiz score at the end of the semester.

Weekly Class Schedule
January 12th:
Introduction to Course Policies, Procedures, and the Study of History".

January 14th:
Lecture Topic: "Introduction to Historical Writing: Note-Taking Techniques."
Reading Assignment: Nash, ix-5; and Marius, ix-xii and 1-12.

January 16th:
Lecture Topic: "North American Indian Society to 1492."
Reading Assignments: Nash, 7-27; and Manus, 13-28.

January 19th:
Martin Luther King Day! No Classes! Classes Resume on January 21st!

January 21st:
Lecture Topic: "The Atlantic and Caribbean Frontiers: =European Atlantic Exploration and Settlement,1400s-1700s."
Reading Assignment: Nash, 28-41.
, January 23rd:
Wi.. Lecture Topic: "The Spanish Frontier in North America, 1513-1821."
~ -Thesis Statements and Outlines for Film Analysis Papers Due Today! -1st Drafts Due at Scheduled Conference!-
. Reading Assignments: Nash, 42-65; and Marius, 51-71.
January 26th:
~Lecture Topic: "The French Frontier in North America, 1534-1803."
, Reading Assignment: Nash, 66-86. - ,
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.January 28th:
Lecture Topics: "Identifying and Analyzing a Historical Thesis"; and "Analyzing
.. Historical Evidence: Primary and Secondary Sources." .. Reading Assignments: Nash, 7-27; and Marius, 29-50.
January 30th:
. ~: Begin Viewing Black Robe.
Reading Assignments: Nash, 87-116; and Marius, 72-103.
. February 2nd:
~: Conclude Viewing Black Robe. . Reading Assignment: Nash,117-143. February 4th:
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. February 6th: - -~c
Wic:: Peer Response Group on Film Analysis Papers. ."",'~ C-~1ib[ieI - Reading Assignment: Marius, 131-167.
February 9th:
.Lecture Topic: "The Development of African-American Society in North America, 1492-1789."
-Film Analysis Paper Due Today!- . Reading Assignment: Nash, 144-200.
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February 11th:
Iopic: Tour of HFCC Library.
Reading Assignment: Marius, 168-190.
February 13th:
IQpik: Tour of the Museum of African-American History. Class will meet at the Museum entrance at 11 AM and will convene until 12 PM!
February 16th:
Lecture Topic: "The British Frontier in North America, 1607-1776. Reading Assignment: Nash, 201-225.
February 18th:
Lecture Topic: "North American International and Intercultural Relations, 1492-1789."
-*Thesis Statements and Outlines for Documentary Analysis Papers Due Today! 1st Drafts Due at Scheduled Conference!*-
Reading Assignment: Nash,226-250.
February 20th:
Wic: Class Discussion of "The Spanish Encounter the Indians." Reading Assignment: Kupperman, 40-46.
February 23rd:
IQpik: Class Discussion on "English Views of North American Indian Society, 1492-1607."
Reading Assignment: Kupperman, 12-15 and 131-135.
February 25th:
IQpik: Class Discussion on "Servitude, Slavery, and African-American Society." Reading Assignment: Kupperman, 96-98, 398-401, and 451-456.
February 27th:
IQj2ic: Class Discussion on "North American International and Intercultural Relations."
Reading Assignment: Kupperman, 488-494 and 540-553.
March 2nd:
Iopic: Peer Response Group on Documentary Analysis Papers.
March 4th:
~: Library Research Lab.
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March 6th:
Wi.c: -Documentary Analysis Papers due today!-
March 8th-15th:
Spring Break! No Classes! Classes Resume on March 16th!
March 16th:
Lecture Topic: UThe Russian Frontier in North America, 1725-1867."
March 18th:
I.Qp.ic;: Tour of Henry Ford Museum Archives. Class will meet at the Archives entrance at 11 AM and will convene until 12 PM!
March 20th:
1Qpj.c.: Library Research Lab.
March 23rd:
Lecture Topic: "The Development of Colonial English and United States Society, 1750s-1790s." Reading Assignment: Nash,251-277.
March 25th:
~: Begin Viewing Mary Silliman's War.
***Thesis Statements and Outlines for Library Research Projects Due
Today! 1st Drafts Due at Scheduled Conference!*- Reading Assignment: Nash,278-304.
March 27th:
I.Qp.ic;: Conclude viewing Mary Silliman's War. --Last Day for Students to Drop the Course!--
March 30th:
~: Class Discussion of Mary Silliman's War.
April 1st:
I.Qp.ic;: Library Research Lab.
April 3rd:
Lecture Topic: "Ideas Governing United States Expansion and the Issue of American Imperialism, 1780s-1840s."
April 6th:
I.Qp.ic;: Peer Response Group.
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April 8th:
Lecture Topic: "United States Regionalism and the Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1861.
April 10th:
~: Final Library Research Lab.
April 13th:
~: ***Library Research Projects due today!*** Reading Assignment: Marius, 191-197.
April 15th:
I.Qpic: Class Discussion of Building the Continental Empire. Reading Assignment: Weeks, ix-58.
April 17th:
I.Qp.i.c: Class Discussion of Building the Continental Empire. Reading Assignment: Weeks, 59-112.
April 20th: -
Topics: "The American Civil War" . .***Thesis Statements and Outlines for Blue-Book Exam Due Today! 1st Dr~fts Due at Scheduled Conference!*** i
April 22nd: ~
1.QW..c.: Class Discussion of Building the Continental Empire. P Reading Assignment: Weeks,113-166. .
April 24th:
I.Qpic: Final.Review of Building th~ Continental Empire.
JReading Assignment: Weeks, entire.
April 27th:
,I.Qpic: Library Research Lab.
April 29th:
,~: Late Colonial American and Early U.S. History in Perspective: North
American Material Culture at Henry Ford Museum. Class will meet at the
Museum Entrance at 11 AM and convence until 12 PM! ,
May 1 st:
l.Qpj..c.: Practice Blue-Book Examination Conducted Today! I
May 4th:
II.Qp1C: ***Blue-Book Final Examination Conducted Today!***
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