5913
SYLLABUS

James F. Baker
Room LA 202E
Office Hours will be announced in class and posted on my office door.

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION
 A study of new and old interpretations of major events in   American History from the colonial period to the present.  Especially designed for students working toward teacher education certification in American History.

II. OBJECTIVES
 A. Students will be expected to know the important interpretations by influential historians concerning:

   1. The American Revolution
   2. The Constitution
   3. Early American Foreign Policy
   4. Slavery and Racism
   5. Women in American History
   6. Jacksonian Democracy
   7. The Mexican War and American Expansion
   8. The Civil War
   9. Reconstruction
  10. Early Industrial America and the Progressive Movement
  11. U.S. - Latin American Relations
  12. World War I
  13. The 1920's and the Great Depression
  14. World War II
  15. Post - World War II Domestic History
  16. The Cold War

 B. General intellectual and attitudinal objectives for the student.
 
  1. Students should discover the necessity of learning the past to understand the present
        and anticipate the future.
 
  2. Students should learn the art and skill involved in being a professional historian.

  3. Students should develop the ability to think and express those thoughts, and understand
        the thoughts of others.

  4. Students should be able to reach balanced judgements in regard to controversial
        historical interpretations of American History.

 C. Research and writing objectives

  Students will learn to research, organize and analyze systematically a given body of
    knowledge for the purpose of communicating that information.

III. REQUIREMENTS

  1. Weekly quizzes on assignments in the textbooks. Each constitutes 1/4 of your final grade.
  2. Two essay exams, based on lectures and class discussions.  Each constitutes 1/4 of your final grade.
  3. A research assignment that varies from semester to semester.  It constitutes 1/4 of your final grade.
   (a) For the first half of the semester,     stude nts will read 200 pages of artic les from profe ssion al journ als.  The stude nt will prepa re a synop sis for each artic le.  Stude nts will repea t the assig nment for the last half of the semes ter.
   (b) Debates:  Students will participate in debates concerning a controversial interpretation of a past event.  An interpretive essay regarding the historiography of the event will be required.
   (c) A book analysis consisting of 5 to 8 pages with an oral presentation to the rest of the class.
   (d) Students will prepare a 10 page analysis of a prominent American historian based on three of his/her works and his/her professional background.
   (e) All of the above will require a personal consultation with me.
   (f) The style manuals for this course are the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers and W. Strunk and E.B. White, Elements of Style.

 IV. TEXTBOOKS: G.B Tindall and David E. Shi, America, A  Narrative History and
        J.W. Davidson and M.H. Lytle, After the Fact.

 V. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. Class consists primarily of lectures and class discussion.
 
 VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY. The bibliography in the textbooks is relevant.
 

VII. COURSE OUTLINE:

 A. The American Revolution
  1. the Traditional School
  2. the Imperial School
  3. Lawrence H. Gipson
  4. the Consensus School

 B. The Constitution
  1. Charles Beard
  2. Beard's critics

 C. Early American Foreign Policy
  1. Neutrality
  2. War of 1812

 
 D. Jacksonian Democracy
  1. His Defenders
  2. the Whig School

 E. The Mexican War and Manifest Destiny
  1. The Nationalist School
  2. The Revisionist School

 F. Slavery and Racism
  1. Early Racist Theories
  2. Modern Criticisms

 G. The Civil War
  1. Slavery as a single cause
  2. Revisionists and their critics

 H. Reconstruction
  1. The Pro-Southern argument
  2. The Revisionists

 I. Women in Pre-Civil War History
 
 J. Early Industrial America and the Progressive Movement

 K. U.S. - Latin American Relations

 L. World War I
  1. the Traditional School
  2. the Revisionists
  3. the Realists

 M. The 1920's and the Great Depression

 N. World War II
  1. Who caused Pearl Harbor?
  2. the Pros and Cons of Dropping the Bomb

 O. The Cold War
  1. the Nationalists
  2. the Revisionists
  3. the Realists

 P. Post-World War II Domestic History
  1. Women in Modern America
  2. the Civil Rights Movement
  3. Conservatives vs. Liberals

 IX. GRADE POINTS FOR THIS CLASS

 A+ = 4.25   B-  = 2.75  D  = 1
 A  = 4   C+  = 2.25  D- =  .75
 A- = 3.75   C   = 2   F  = 0
 B+ = 3.25   C-  = 1.75
 B  = 3   D+  = 1.25