Website: http://www.indiana.edu/~kdhist/H105-2007A.html

E-mail: kdierks@indiana.edu

Office hours: Ballantine 734, Tuesdays, 1:00-3:00 p.m., or by appointment

Office phone: 855-6288

Course assistants:

For students with last name beginning with A thru K:

Mr. Brooks Batcheller, gbatchel@indiana.edu, office hours:  Mondays, 1:00-2:00 p.m., Indiana Memorial Union food court; or by appointment

For students with last name beginning with L thru Z:

Ms. Jennifer Hart, jeahart@indiana.edu, office hours:  Thursdays, 1:00-2:00 p.m., Wells Library food court; or by appointment

Course description:  This course provides a topical introduction to American history from the era of Columbus's exploration of the “New World,” up through the era of the American Civil War.  Because not every topic can be covered equally in a course that spans four centuries of American history, as our guiding themes we will focus on cultural tensions between freedom and unfreedom, between equality and inequality, and between prosperity and poverty.  Has it ever, for example, been possible in American history to imagine “equality” without at the same time excluding some people?  In examining such cultural tensions, we will look in particular at how notions of gender, class, and race have changed over time, first in a “colonial” context when European peoples sought to transfer ideals and practices to the challenging new environment of North America, and then in a “postcolonial” context when competing social groups struggled for position in the young American nation.  Throughout the course, we will situate North America and then the United States not only in a multicultural but also in a global context.  Special attention will be paid, as well, to how the lives of ordinary people intersected with broader sweeps of history.  To test the continuing resonance of early modern American history, we will scrutinize not only struggles for social dominance or self-determination by people in the past, but also struggles over the meaning of historical memory by people in the present.

At the end of the course, I hope you will have a solid grounding in American history, and a keen appreciation of the complexity of the past as well as the contingencies of historical change.  I also hope you will have sharper analytical skills with which to assess evidence and formulate your own arguments, as well as sharper writing and verbal skills with which to organize and articulate your own ideas -- beyond the confines of history, and useful in any field of endeavor.

Course requirements:

READING ASSIGNMENTS.  Weekly reading will involve a blend of “primary” documents produced by people in the past, and “secondary” readings written by historians.  Links to these documents and readings can be found in the course syllabus below, from where you can print them out.  Be sure to bring print-outs of the primary source documents with you to class; you do not need to print out the secondary web readings.  In addition, there is one course book to be purchased (listed below).

Specific questions to keep in mind as you do the weekly reading -- so that you read analytically rather than passively -- can be found by clicking on the “Reading guide” headings in the course syllabus.  For general tips on interpreting primary documents in particular, see the following guideline:  Strategies for Interpreting Primary Documents.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS.  There will be three written papers and a take-home final examination, which will be posted ahead of time on the course website.  Each of the assignments approximately counts 25% toward your final grade, although improvement over the course of the semester will be rewarded.  Unreliable attendance will be significantly penalized, as explained below.

Papers are due at the beginning of the class period; the take-home final examination shall be due by the end of the assigned exam period.  Papers and exams should be double-spaced, approximately four full pages with one-inch margins in a readable font, and stapled (no folders), with your name (but never your social security number), course number and title, date, paper title, and course assistant's initials at the top of the first page.  Lateness will be penalized, unless excused by official written notification from the Dean of Students (Franklin Hall 108).

Plagiarism will result in failure of and ejection from the class, and will become a permanent part of the student's transcript and academic record.  Writing must be original, and all quotations, derivative ideas and uncommon facts must be duly footnoted.  See plagiarism guidelines from Writing Tutorial Services.  See plagiarism procedures from IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct (II. Student Responsibilities; G. Academic Responsibilities and Misconduct; 3. Plagiarism).

For general assistance with writing papers or other study skills, you are encouraged to visit Writing Tutorial Services, one of the Academic Support Centers (in Briscoe, Forest, and Teter Quads), or the Student Academic Center.

For specific guidelines on how to write thesis statements, how to write topic sentences and organize paragraphs, and how to use evidence, see the relevant pamphlets produced by Writing Tutorial Services.  Also see the Paper writing guidelines.

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION.  Attendance is absolutely mandatory.  Prior to attending each class, using your web browser you must print out and complete the corresponding one-page “reaction sheet” found on the course website.  This “reaction sheet” will help you prepare for each class, and will also facilitate an in-class writing assignment in each class.  These assignments will not be graded, except that failure to demonstrate either completion of assigned reading or presence in class will be penalized as the equivalent of an absence.

If you must be absent at some point, you should have the courtesy to alert either your assistant instructor or the professor beforehand.  If you are absent more than once over the course of the semester, you must have official written notification from the Dean of Students (Franklin Hall 108) for such absences to be excused.  After one grace absence, any unexcused absences will result in steep grade deductions on the next assigned paper.

ASSISTANCE.  If at any time during the semester you have questions about the course website, lecture material, reading material, writing assignments, or your performance in this class, please feel free to speak to either your course assistant or the professor before or after class, during office hours, via email, or via telephone to make an appointment.

If you have a disability or learning disability, please provide the professor with official written notification from Disability Services for Students (Franklin Hall 096, 327) as soon as possible so that any necessary accommodations can be made.

CLASSROOM PROTOCOLS:  Turn off all electronic devices, especially cell phones, prior to entering the classroom.  (Laptops may be used, obviously for note-taking purposes only.)

Course books: (available at the college bookstores, via online booksellers, and on reserve at the Wells Library:  E181.A64)

Anderson, Fred, and Cayton, Andrew.  The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, 1500-2000.  New York: Penguin, 2005.

Course syllabus: