Schedule, Reading List, & Assignments:
The schedule and assignments are subject to change during the semester. If you rely on a printed version of this schedule, please check back here regularly to make sure you have the most current version.
Last revised: December 8, 2015
| Date | Topic | Reading Assignment | Writing Assignment |
| Tues 9/1 | No class meeting | ||
| Thurs 9/3 | Introduction | 1. Online textbook: Digital History | |
| Tues 9/8 | Freedom | 1. Foner, xiii-xxii |
Reading response 1 due - Foner |
| Thurs 9/10 | Historical Origins of Racism: First Impressions | 1. Jordan, vii-25 | |
| Tues 9/15 | Indigenous Encounters | 1. We Shall Remain, episode 1: After the Mayflower (alternate link to the video) | |
| Thurs 9/17 | Enslavement: Unthinking Decision? | 1. Jordan, 26-54 2. Notes on Digital History |
Reading response 2 due - Jordan pp 26-54 |
| Tues 9/22 | Ideologies of Colonization and Conflict | 1. Jordan, 57-110 |
|
| Thurs 9/24 | Digital Histories of Slavery | Essay 1 due: Digital Histories of Slavery | |
| Tues 9/29 | Freedom and Revolution | 1. Foner, 3-28 | Reading response 3 due - Foner |
| Thurs 10/1 | The Ideology of Revolution | 1. The American Revolution through primary sources | |
| Tues 10/6 | Leadership and Revolution | 1. Wood, Introduction | Reading response 4 due - Wood, Introduction |
| Thurs 10/8 | TBA | ||
| Tues 10/13 | No Class - Monday Class Schedule | ||
| Thurs 10/15 | George Washington | 1. Wood, Chapter 1 2. Washington's Copy of Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, c. 1748 |
Reading response 5 due |
| Tues 10/20 | Women of the Republic | 1. Kerber, Women of the Republic, Introduction and Chapter 9 (Canvas) | Reading response 6 due - Kerber |
| Thurs 10/22 | Revolutionary Characters I | 1. Wood, Chapters 2-8 (groups take 1 chapter each) | |
| Tues 10/27 | Revolutionary Characters II | 1. Student presentations | |
| Thurs 10/29 | The Constitutional Convention and its Aftermath | 1. Read The U.S. Constitution (including Amendments 1 through 10) 2. See also Madison to Jefferson, 24 Oct. 1787 |
|
| Tues 11/3 | The Early Republic | 1. Foner, 29-45 |
|
| Thurs 11/5 | Jefferson and Slavery in the Early Republic | 1. Skim Jordan, 111-164 2. Read Jordan, 165-193 |
Reading response 7 due - Jordan, 165-193 |
| Tues 11/10 | Jefferson and Technology in the Early Republic | 1. Read primary sources for essay 2 on Manufactures in the New Republic (Canvas) | |
| Thurs 11/12 | The Emergence of Republican Technology | 1. Kasson, Civilizing the Machine, Preface and Chapter 1 (Canvas) | Reading reponse 8 due - Kasson, Chapter 1 |
| Tues 11/17 | An Empire of Liberty | 1. Foner, 46-68 |
Essay 2 due |
| Thurs 11/19 | Toward a White Man's Country | 1. Jordan, 194-226 |
Reading response 9 due - Jordan |
| Tues 11/24 | Jacksonian America | Explore the section in Digital History on the Pre-Civil War era. Pay special attention to the "Textbook" and "Do History" tabs | |
| Thurs 11/26 | No Class - Thanksgiving Recess | ||
| Tues 12/1 | The Boundaries of Freedom | 1. Foner, 69-94 | |
| Thurs 12/3 | The Disruption of American Democracy, 1839-1860 | 1. Foner, 95-113 | Reading response 10 due |
| Tues 12/8 | A Nation in Ruins | ||
| Thurs 12/10 | Conclusions and Review | Essay 3 due | |
| Tues 12/22 | Final Exam - see Canvas for details |