Course Schedule

Part I: Island Worlds and Ocean Worlds

September 1: Road Maps

reading:

assignment:

  • Opening day Intro Questions, if not filled out in class.
  • Decide on the note-taking strategy that you are going to use.

Note:

  • All future readings should be completed before class on the day listed, unless other instructions are given in lecture. The textbook assignments sometimes outpace the lectures and primary source readings. The point of this is to make sure that you have a larger framework for understanding topics we examine in detail, and to evenly distribute the work load.
  • To obtain a lecture outline that will help you as you take notes, click on the orange lecture title and print the resulting page in a format that works well for you..

September 3: Looking East from Indian Country

reading:

September 8: 1492 - Islands, Oceans and Demographic Catastrophe

reading:

September 10: The Many Lives of Pocahontas

First Short Assignment Due

reading:

September 15: The Chesapeake and Slavery

reading:

September 17: North American Islands - New France, New Netherland, and New England

reading:

September 22: The English Revolutions and the Problem of Authority

Short Assignment 2 Due

reading:

 

September 24: Expansion, Immigration and Regional Differentiation

reading:

September 29: Anglicization, Enlightenment and Awakening

reading:

Pre Exam Office Hours / Review Session

October 1: Exam 1 Morrison Hall 007

Part II: From Empire to Republic

October 6: The War that Made America

reading:

October 8: 1763 and the Transformation of North America

reading:

October 13: Resisting Tyranny

Short Assignment 3 Due

reading:


October 15: Declaring Independence

reading:

October 20: Revolutionary War Alliances and Identities

reading:

October 22: Confederation and Constitution

Short Assignment 4 Due

reading:

October 27: Ona Judge, George Washington and the Politics of Slavery and Freedom

reading:

October 29: Citizenship in the Early Republic

Short Assignment 5 Due

reading:

November 3: Remembering George Washington

reading:

November 3: OPTIONAL midterm review session, Ballantine Hall 109 7pm

Pre Exam Office Hours

November 5: Exam 2 Morrison Hall 007

Part III: An Empire of Liberty?

November 10: Economic Transformations I: Slavery and Southern Expansion

reading:

November 12: Economic Transformations II: Northern Industry

reading

November 17: Awakenings and Reform

Short Assignment 6 Due

reading:

November 19: Cultures of Slavery

reading:

  • reading guide (week 13)
  • Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), Chapter 1 Childhood, Chapter 9 Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders, and Chapter 12 Fear of Insurrection. [Note: The chapter links will take you to different locations in a full-text digital edition of Jacob's narrative. You do not need to print out all of the assigned readings, but you should prepare (by cutting and pasting or by hand) a page of excerpts that can help you address the reading and exam questions.]
  • Liberty, Equality and Power: Chapter 9, pages 359-372; Chapter 10, pages 395-410; Chapter 12, pages 473-477.

November 24: Secrets for the Final Exam

reading:

 

Dec 1: Antislavery and Abolition

Short Exercise 7 Due

reading:

Dec 3: 1848

Short Exercise 8 Due

reading:

Dec 8: Dred Scott and the Politics of Sectionalism

reading:

December 10: Union and Nation

reading:

Final Exam Review Session, Saturday, December 12, 1-3 pm, Ballantine Hall 109

Final Exam, Thursday, December 17, 12:30-2:30