Course Description: This course, which meets the institutions requirements in U.S. history established by the California Legislature (CSU Executive Order 405 and Title 5: 40404), focuses on the "significant events covering a minimum time span of approximately 100 years occurring in the entire area now included in the United States of America, including the relationships of regions within that area and with external regions and powers as appropriate to the understanding of those events within the United States during the period under study and the role of major ethnic and social groups in such events and the contexts in which the events have occurred." It also includes a discussion of "events within a framework which illustrates the continuity of the American experience and its derivation from other cultures including consideration of three or more of the following: politics, economics, social movements, and geography."

Course Syllabus and Teaching Assistant: The course syllabus is available online at http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/syllabus2009.html.  For those of you who wish to have an extended discussion about the syllabus and the course requirements, you may attend an extra credit evening meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd. (See "Extra Credit" below for details.) Other online course materials can be accessed at http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/index.html. Here, you can review the overheads used for each class prior to coming to class. Please note, even though the overheads are included for each class meeting, they are not the equivalent of the lecture notes.  In most cases, the overheads will not make sense without attending class.  In other words, you must attend class!!!

Teaching Assistant. This semester we are fortunate to have Adam Crug as our teaching assistant.  Adam will be hold one office hour each week (to be announced) and is available to help to help you with anything related to the course. You may reach Adam via email at historyTA@yahoo.com.

Required Reading: Please complete the reading prior to coming to class. Your preparation will enable us to have more fulfilling and intellectual conversations in the time that we have together.   The following is required required reading:

• Books: Each of you will be required to read four books. A copy of each of the required books is available in the Library at the Reserve Desk.
•  Give Me Liberty, Volume I by Eric Foner (NY: W.W. Norton, 2005).
• Voices of a People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove (NY:Seven Stories Press, 2004).  Chapters 1-10. Please note that a sound recording of these chapters is available on a chapter-by-chapter basis in the Library on Reserve.
• Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. The Norton version is preferred but not mandatory. (The entire book is available online at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/Jacobs/hj-site-index.htm.)
• Confederates in the Attic by Tony Hurwitz. Any edition. Also, before reading the book, you may want to read Background on Confederates in the Attic at http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/confederatesattic.html

• Internet Readings:  Several internet assignments appear in the course outline below.

Assessment. There are three assessments for this course, each of which is a take home exam.The Unit I exam (60 points) is due on ______, the Unit II exam (50 points) on _______ and the final exam on Unit III and IV (90 points) is due on ________________. You must turn in your typewritten, grammatically correct answers to each question on the day of the exam. There will be no make up exams. The exams will consist of two components: written and oral.

• Written component. A week before each exam, you will receive the questions in advance. The Unit I exam will contain a question specific to Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl . The Unit III/IV final exam will contain a question specific to Confederates in the Attic.. The Unit I and II exams will consist of six questions, while the final exam will consist of seven questions.
  • Four questions on the Unit I and II exams (5 on the final exam) will address major issues related to the course discussions in each unit. Each question will require written evidence to support to support your answer through the use of specific examples from classroom discussion notes and the required reading materials.
  • One question on each exam will deal with a course thematic issue, and one question on each exam will address the academic language of the unit - key issues, phrases, concepts, or people you met in class and in the reading.
• Oral component. For the oral component, the class will be divided into ten groups.When you come to class, you will to work for 15 minutes within your assigned group of 4-5 classmates to determine how you will answer the one question that your group will be assigned.  As a group, you will discuss the answers to your question. You will then meet for the next 15 minutes with another group that has been assigned the same question. After reaching some agreement about an answer to your question, you will elect a spokesperson to explain your responses to the class at large. We will spend the remainder of class discussing how you answered the questions. You may take written notes on your typed exams and turn your exams in at the end of each oral exam.

You must be present on the day of each exam to get credit.

Grades: Your grades will be influenced by two things: the total number of points received on your quizzes and exams and your attendance.

• Points - You have an opportunity to receive 200 total points. Grade distribution is as follows: 200-180 = A; 179-160 = B; 159-140 = C; 139-115 = D; 114 and below = F.
• Attendance - Regular attendance is absolutely necessary if you plan to pass this class. Attendance will be monitored on a daily basis. 4 absences will result in the loss of one full grade; 7 absences will result in the loss of two full grades; 10 absences will result in the loss of three full grades; more than 10 absences will result in failing the class.

Please note that anything you write for this class and turn in to the professor must be duplicated and kept in your own files!

Extra Credit:   Extra credit can help out with a "fence sitter" grade (i.e., it could help change your final course grade from a B to a B+).  However, extra credit will not replace any required assignments that you do not complete. Once you complete any extra credit assignment, you must talk with either the professor or the teaching assistant about what you learned during office hours. Following are some possible extra credit opportunities.

• Seminar - Questions about the course syllabus and requirements. On Thursday, September 2nd, I will be available in Founder's Hall __ from 5-6pm to discuss any questions you have about the course and the course syllabus.
• Research questions for each exam. An extra credit question that requires additional research will be added to each midterm exam. It is your choice whether to answer it or not.
• Community and university events as approved by the professor.
• Historical movies and documentaries that either meet with the professor's approval, or that you find on the recommended list of videos at http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/video.htm
• Other activities approved by the professor.

  
  Course Outline - Fall 2009

Unit I: Intrusions into an Old World and the Beginnings of a "New" World

8/25  Introduction: What is History?

8/27-9/1  Topic 1:  The Europeans - Why They Left. No Required Reading.

9/3  Topic 2:   The Original Inhabitants  - What They Lost and What They Retained. Required Reading: Foner, Ch. 1; Zinn and Arnove,  Ch.1.

Recommended but not required:
The Iroquois Constitution at http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/iroquois.html

9/8 - 9/10 Topic 3:   The Colonists - What They Created. Required Reading for 9/8:   Foner, Chapters 2 and 3.

Recommended but not required: Rare colonial  map collection at http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/colamer.html and Go East, Young Man: How a drifter from Revolutionary Connecticut found the Pacific
http://www.common-place.org/vol-05/no-02/gray/index.shtml

9/15-9/17   Topic 4:   The Enslaved - What They Endured. Required Reading for 9/15: Zinn and Arnove, Ch. 2. Required Reading for 9/17: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.

Recommended but not required: Interactive Slavery Environment http://206.137.17.63/melrose/melrose.htm; "Rebellion: The Largest Slave Rebellion in U.S. History" by J.B. Bird, 2005 at http://www.johnhorse.com/highlights/essays/largest.htm; Interactive Slave Roads to Freedom http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/walkthru/RoadsToFreedom/main2.html and The History of Slavery in America http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/overview.htm

9/22 - Unit I Exam. Attendance is required. (See above explanation under "Take Home Exams.)

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Unit II: Foundations of a New Nation and Experiments with Freedom

9/24 - Topic 1: Imperialism - The Roots of Early American Foreign Policy. No required reading.

9/29 - 10/1 Topic 2:  Colonial Discontent. Required Reading for 9/29: Foner, Ch. 4; Zinn and Arnove,

Recommended but not required: Full Text of Bacon's Declaration at http://odur.let.rug.nl/%7Eusa/D/1651-1700/bacon_rebel/berke.htm and Interactive Map of North America in 1763 at http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/history/usa/brink/solc/maps04.html

10/6-10/8  Topic 3:  Revolution or Evolution? Required Reading for 10/8:  Foner, Ch. 5; Zinn and Arnove, Ch. 4.

Recommended but not required: The HBO Miniseries, John Adams, Parts 1 and 2 - which will be shown on October 8th from 6-8:30 pm in Founder's Hall 118. For an article about the historical accuracy of the film, see http://www.tnr.com/story_print.html?id=2c63e332-d8df-4944-bb71-5046a224f0d5; Foner, Chapter 6, "The Revolution Within"; Map and clickable guide to the American Revolution http://www.mrnussbaum.com/amflash.htm; Revolutionary War Timeline see http://www.nps.gov/cowp/Timeline.htm

10/13 -10/15   Topic 4:  Founding Moments. Required Reading for 10/13: Foner, Chapters 7 and 8; Zinn and Arnov, Ch. 5.

Recommended but not required: The HBO Miniseries, John Adams, Parts 3 and 4 - which will be shown on Oct. 15th from 6-8:30 pm in Founder's Hall 118. Admission is free.

10/20 - Unit II Exam. Attendance is required. (See above explanation under "Take Home Exams.)

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10/22 - 10/27  Topic 1:  The Geographic Consequences of Manifest Destiny.
Required Reading for 10/22: Foner, Ch. 9.

Recommended but not required: Map of Railroad and land grants http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/maps/1800s/91508.jpg; Mormon Pioneer Trail http://www.americanwest.com/trails/pages/mormtrl.htm; U.S. Territorial Expansion Maps, 1775-1920 http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MAP/terr_hp.html

10/29-11/3   Topic 2:    The Political and Social Consequences of Manifest Destiny. Required Reading for 10/29: Foner, Ch. 10. Required Reading for 11/3: Foner, Ch. 12.

11/5 Topic 3:  Whose Manifest Destiny? The Conquest of Northern Mexico. Required Reading : Foner, Ch. 13 and Zinn and Arnove, Ch. 8.

Recommended but not required: The Competing Legacies of Junípero Serra: Pioneer, saint, villian
http://www.common-place.org/vol-05/no-02/hackel/index.shtm; Mexican American War - more information http://www.historyguy.com/Mexican-American_War.html and http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html

11/10-11/12   Topic 4:   Whose Manifest Destiny?  The Federal Government and American Indian Nations. Required Video Viewing for 11/10: "Doctrine of Discovery" Video at http://intercontinentalcry.org/native-america-discovered-and-conquered/ featuring Robert J. Miller, Associate Professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon and Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon. Required Reading for 11/12:  Zinn and Arnove, Ch. 7.

Recommended but not required: Historical Maps of Indian Removal http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MAP/terr_hp.html; For the Wiyot Homepage, see http://www.kstrom.net/isk/art/basket/wiyot/wiyot.htm; Current map of US tribes by state index at http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/tribesbystate.html; Current  map of federally-recognized California tribes at http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/ca/california.html; Current map of federally-owned land and reservations at http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/fedlands.html

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Unit IV: Crumbling Loyalties and Dividing the Nation

11/17   Topic 1:  The "Straws that broke the Camel's Back:" The Coming of the Civil War. Required Reading:   Foner, Ch. 11; Zinn and Arnove, Ch. 9.

Recommended but not required: Foner, Chapters 11 and 12; Historical Slave Maps at http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/slave-maps/slave-maps.htm; Map of Free and Slave States 1860 http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/slave-maps/map-free-slave-states.htm

11/19 - FURLOUGH DAY (NO CLASS)

12/1 - 12/3 Topic 2: The Civil War: Goals, Strategies, and Consequences. Required Reading for 12/1: Foner, Ch. 14; Zinn and Arnove, Ch. 10.  

Recommended but not required: Gettysburg Address http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm; Interactive Civil War Battle Maps http://homepage.floodcity.net/users/mastdog/statesmain.html; Library of Congress Civil War Maps http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/collections/civil_war_maps/; A Chronology of the Civil War at http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/; Railroad Land Grants Map http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/maps/1800s/91508.jpg;A Map of the Confederate, Union, and Border States
http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/cwar-pix/civmap.gif; Reconstruction Timeline at http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/recon/chron.htm; Political Map at http://pudding.oneillwebservices.com/map_nowvsthen.jpg

12/8 - Topic 3: Reconstruction. Required Reading for 12/8: Foner, Ch. 15. Required Reading for 12/10: Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz and Background on Confederates in the Attic at http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/confederatesattic.html (Be sure to read this before you begin reading the book!)

Recommended but not required: Reconstruction Timeline at http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/recon/chron.html; Political Map at http://pudding.oneillwebservices.com/map_nowvsthen.jpg

12/10 - FURLOUGH DAY (NO CLASS)

12/17 - Unit III/IV Final Exam Exam - 10:20-12:10. Attendance is required. (See above explanation under "Take Home Exams.)

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Major skills of the History Department met by this course: This course meets four major skills that the History Department believes historians need and that history majors should develop as they progress through the major: writing, critical thinking, historiography and methodology, and oral presentation.

• Writing. Each of the assignments for this course requires you to use writing skills.
• Research. Each of you will have the opportunity to address a research question included as extra credit in each of the three take home examinations.
• Critical thinking. Each of you will be asked to use critical thinking when completing every course requirement, as well as during the discussions that take place during every class period. A particularly important critical thinking component in this course requires you to compare and contrast the primary documents you will read in Zinn and Arnove's Voices of a People's History - which is comprised of voices of resistance from the eras we study - and in Jacob's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - which is a primary document published in 1861 on the eve of the Civil War - with the secondary information from our course textbook, Foner's Give Me Liberty.
• Historiography and methodology. Each of you will gain a better understanding of what historians actually do by examining the theories and viewpoints of various historians - many of which are carefully integrated into most of our class discussions. For most of our topics - especially those related to the American Revolution, slavery, western expansion, and the Civil War - you will learn how historians agree and disagree about causes and consequences.
• Oral presentation. Each of you will be required to give some kind of oral presentation during the course of the semester.

Please note that you are responsible for knowing the following information about HSU policies:

Academic Honesty. Students are expected to maintain high standards of academic honesty and integrity. For HSU's definitions of academic honesty and cheating, as well as the consequences of and appeal process for being accused of cheating, see http://studentaffairs.humboldt.edu/judicial/academic_honesty.php

Add/Drop policy: Students are responsible for knowing the University policy, procedures, and schedule for dropping or adding classes found at http://www.humboldt.edu/~reg/regulations/schedadjust.html

Emergency evacuation: The evacuation plan for the classroom, which is posted on the orange signs, can be accessed at http://studentaffairs.humboldt.edu/emergencyops/campus_emergency_preparedness.php During an emergency, information can be found campus conditions at:  826-INFO or online at http://www.humboldt.edu/~humboldt/emergency.

Attendance and disruptive behavior: Students are responsible for knowing policy regarding attendance and disruptive behavior found at http://studentaffairs.humboldt.edu/judicial/attendance_behavior.php