History of the Americas 101
Survey of the United States History

Introduction

Scope and Themes of the Course

This course is a general survey of United States history from colonial settlement to the present. For students who take the course in a traditional classroom setting it is a rapid, intense experience. In the Department of History, we like to think of the course as presenting the minimum basic details of our nation's past that every self-respecting American citizen should know-"from Columbus to Clinton" in ten weeks, as one of my colleagues describes it. To maximize the effectiveness of such a whirlwind overview, the instructor must resist the temptation to cram everything into the course and concentrate instead on the development of a few fundamental themes that he or she considers to be of central importance to our understanding of the American experience. As a distance learning student, you will be able to complete this course at a more relaxed pace than students who take the class on campus. Nevertheless, you, too, will find a thematic framework essential to organizing and comprehending the voluminous "facts" of American history with which you are about to be bombarded. Although not all historians (at the University of Washington or elsewhere) would employ an emphasis identical to mine, I organize this course to stress and develop two broad themes.

The first theme, particularly salient during the first half of the course, involves the gradual process that transformed a loose confederation of separate states into a tightly knit union. During the first eighty-plus years of American independence, Americans disagreed sharply regarding the precise nature of the union that they had created, an issue ultimately decided by the verdict of a long and costly civil war.

The second major theme, addressed primarily during the second half of the course, concerns the rapid economic and social changes since the Civil War that have shaped the contours of "modern" America. As late as 1860, the American people were still overwhelmingly rural, agricultural, Protestant, and of English descent, and they served a government that was severely limited in influence both domestically and internationally. By 1960, however, the trends of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, militarization, secularization, and the expansion of government had dramatically and permanently transformed our nation.

Comment on Course Readings

Primary versus Secondary Sources

Throughout this course, you will gain insight into the American past from two complementary but fundamentally distinct sources of knowledge. Primary sources are historical artifacts created during the period of the past to be studied. Although the primary sources that you will be reading for this course are all written documents (such as essays, newspaper articles, legislative acts, and diary entries), primary sources may also take many unwritten forms. Historians of antiquity, for example, frequently study coins, statuary, and other archaeological finds to make inferences about past civilizations. (Garbage can even be a primary source-it certainly reveals much about the humans that create it.) Secondary sources, in contrast, are accounts of the past fashioned by historians. The assigned textbook for this course, Alan Brinkley's Unfinished Nation, is a good example.

To the fullest feasible extent, I have designed this course to emphasize primary rather than secondary sources. In other words, whenever possible I would prefer that you read the testimony of historical participants rather than of historians. Obviously, Brinkley's narrative overview will provide both a foundation and a framework for our study of the American past. By supplementing his secondary account with literally dozens of primary source readings, however, I hope that you will find it easier to transport yourself into the world of earlier generations-an objective which is, after all, the ultimate goal of the historian.

Textbook

Alan Brinkley's Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People is a brief synthesis of a much longer survey of American history written by Brinkley and three other leading specialists in U.S. history (Richard Current, Frank Freidel, and T. Harry Williams). Alan Brinkley is a professor of history at Columbia University and a nationally recognized expert on twentieth-century America. The Unfinished Nation is a succinct, chronological overview of U.S. history that underscores the most salient political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural trends of our nation's past. The narrative is interspersed with occasional excerpts from primary sources ("American Voices") and with brief essays that discuss disagreement among historians with regard to particular historical issues ("Debating the Past"). There are several helpful appendixes at the conclusion of the book, as well as an extensive bibliography of suggested additional readings.

There will be a reading assignment from this text (usually about three chapters) for each lesson in the course. As a general rule, in approaching each lesson it will be a good idea to read the assigned portions of The Unfinished Nation before you turn to the assigned primary documents, as the latter will be more readily understood once you have read the former.

Document Collection

The reading assignment for each lesson will also include approximately 20-30 pages of written primary source documents from a collection specifically tailored to this course by the McGraw-Hill publishing company. (Reading assignments will refer to the collection simply as "document collection"; e.g., "document collection, pp. 1-16.") McGraw-Hill has developed a computer database of more than six hundred pages of primary documents designed to accompany the larger, two-volume survey of U.S. history by Alan Brinkley and others entitled American History: A Survey. I have selected approximately one-third of those documents for inclusion in the document collection for this course. The documents typically are short (frequently they are excerpts of far larger documents) and are framed by an introduction and study questions, both supplied by the editors of the collection.

Although extremely convenient for our purposes, the unique nature of this collection does create two sources of potential confusion. First, the editorial introductions frequently refer the reader to passages in American History (the two-volume survey text which we are not using because of length and expense). Second, both introductory notes and study questions occasionally refer to other documents in the original database that were not selected for inclusion in the reader for this course. Both types of references simply should be ignored.

Douglass and Sinclair

In addition to the large assortment of brief primary source readings contained in the document collection, twice during the course you will explore a single, lengthy primary document in great detail. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the autobiography of undoubtedly the most famous of all successful fugitives from American slavery. Born a slave in Maryland around 1817, Douglass escaped to the North during the late 1830s and by the early 1840s had emerged as one of the leading figures of the antislavery movement. His autobiography constitutes a primary source in not one but two dimensions; not only does it provide insight into the nature of American slavery, but it also constitutes a splendid example of northern abolitionist literature. Similarly, Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle-which follows the tribulations of a fictional cast of East European immigrants in turn-of-the-century Chicago-is both a description of working conditions in large meat-packing plants as well as an example of the socialist critique of American industrial capitalism. Both Narrative and The Jungle are accompanied by invaluable editorial introductions and the former is also enhanced by a set of incredibly helpful endnotes.

About the Online Environment

Your online course offers several advantages to the traditional classroom, including the comprehensive Online Student Handbook, the ability to communicate electronically with students and with your instructor, and links to a rich array of online resources.

Online Student Handbook

This handbook answers questions about your online learning course, such as how to purchase your text, schedule an exam, obtain a transcript, and get technical help if you need it. The handbook also provides additional resources, such as how to order books or journals from the library and how to study for an online course.

Communication with Your Instructor and Student Peers

• Online Discussion Forums, designed by the University of Washington award winning Catalyst team, allow you to communicate with other currently enrolled students and with your instructor. We encourage you to use the discussion forum to exchange ideas, resources, and comments about your course work with other students in this course. This unstructured forum is monitored by your instructor.
• You can use e-mail to ask me a question or preferably post your question on the discussion forum. I will reply to all discussion forum questions on the forum, and to e-mail questions via e-mail.

Online Resources

As an online student, you have access to a wealth of Web resources compiled to provide fast, easy access to information that supports your online learning experience. Organized by subjects, Online Resources link you to sites with help for writing and research, study skills, language learning, and library reference materials. All links have been assessed for credibility and reliability, and they are regularly monitored to ensure their usability.

Lesson Format

Overview

This course is divided into twelve lessons presented in chronological order. Lessons One and Two cover the period from the first European exploration of America to the creation of the Constitution, Lessons Three through Five cover the late eighteenth century to the end of Reconstruction, and Lessons Seven through Eleven explore the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Lesson Six provides preparation for the midterm examination and Lesson Twelve assists you in preparing for the final examination.

Reading Assignments and Discussion

Each lesson contains a reading assignment and an analytical discussion of the subject at hand. In general, I have tried to fashion remarks that will facilitate your understanding of Brinkley's survey textbook and help you both to understand the assigned primary documents and to integrate them into the narrative framework that Brinkley provides. Much of what I offer will merely serve to reinforce or clarify information contained in the textbook, but on occasion I will also offer an interpretation that slightly differs from the one Brinkley provides.

Practice Exercises, Assignments, and Examinations

Each lesson in this course is also followed by a practice exercise, a graded assignment, or both. The practice exercises and graded assignments include a list of key terms (designating important people, events, documents, or concepts) and two or three short-answer essay questions. The practice exercises are included to assist you in preparing for the midterm and final examinations and, although they are not submitted for grading, you will benefit immensely from completing them.

After completing the assigned readings and the lesson text for a given lesson, you should be able to complete both the key term identifications and the short-answer essay questions. In analyzing key terms, you should be able to write a paragraph identifying the term (by answering the following questions: Who? What? Why?) and explaining its historical significance (i.e., demonstrating its relationship to larger historical trends or themes). If a listed key term is also a primary document (or is related to one contained in the document collection), I will expect you to be able to describe the most important elements of the document and place it in its proper historical context. Finally, you should be able to write clear, cogent, one- to two-page essays that discuss the larger themes addressed by the short essay questions.

Graded Assignments

While you are not required to submit the practice exercises, you must complete and submit each of the six graded assignments. The graded assignments include Assignment 1 following Lesson One, Assignment 2 following Lesson Four, Assignment 4 following Lesson Eight, and Assignment 5 following Lesson Ten. The midterm and final examinations constitute Assignments 3 and 6.

Please see the "About Your Instructor" page for information about submitting your assignments.

Multiple Submissions

To gain maximum benefit from this course, it is essential to proceed through the assigned material thoroughly and methodically, allocating sufficient time for each unit to allow serious study and reflection. Consequently, I do not allow students to submit more than one assignment at a time, and I strongly discourage the submission of more than one assignment in any two-week period.

Examinations

There will be two closed-book exams: a midterm to be taken after Lesson Five and a final to be taken after Lesson Eleven. The final exam is not comprehensive; rather, it will only cover Lessons Six to Eleven. Both exams will rely exclusively on a combination of thematic essays and short identifications of key terms or primary documents. The key terms will be drawn directly from the lists provided in the practice exercises and graded assignments. (The relevant terms are conveniently listed together in the exam preparation lessons.) The essay questions on the exams will not be chosen verbatim from among those in the practice exercises or graded assignments, but they will directly relate to or build upon themes addressed by the essay questions in the assignments. You will find more detailed information on each exam in the appropriate lessons (see Lesson Six for further information on the midterm exam and Lesson Twelve for more information regarding the final exam).

Written Assignments

In addition to the two examinations, you will be required to submit four written assignments to be graded. These assignments fall into two categories: (1) assignments resembling the practice exercises and (2) essays relating to the assigned readings by Douglass and Sinclair. You will be asked to complete two assignments of each kind for this course.

The two assignments that resemble the practice exercises are relatively informal and test your understanding of issues and concepts discussed in the textbook and the course lessons. The first of these assignments follows Lesson One and the second follows Lesson Ten.

The two essays pertaining to the assigned readings by Douglass and Sinclair are more formal than the other graded assignments and must also be submitted for evaluation. The assigned questions are designed to test your ability to (a) critically assess primary documents and place them within a larger historical context, and (b) construct a persuasive, precise, and logically consistent historical argument. For both papers, you will be given a choice of questions to address. The first paper assignment follows Lesson Four and the second follows Lesson Eight. (For further information, see "Paper Guidelines" below.)

Grading Weights

Assignment 1	10%
Assignment 2 (first formal essay)	15%
Midterm Examination	25%
Assignment 4 (second formal essay)	15%
Assignment 5	10%
Final Examination	25%

Grading System and Philosophy

Numerical Grades

In assessing grades, I rigorously adhere to the official grading system specified in the Distance Learning Student Handbook. Grades on assignments and exams may range from 0.0 to 4.0.

Philosophy

When lecturing to students in person, I typically share two major points with them regarding my grading philosophy. First, I make clear that my expectations are very high. The gradual deterioration of academic standards is a problem at all levels of public and private education, and the University of Washington has certainly not escaped this trend. Any final grade above 3.4 (i.e., an A– or higher) should reflect truly outstanding scholarship. Final grades of 3.9 or 4.0 (a grade of A) ought to denote unqualified excellence and, to be meaningful, should be extraordinarily rare.

At the same time (and this is my second point), I recognize that the evaluation of essay exams and writing assignments is unavoidably inexact. Consequently, I am never offended when students ask that I reconsider a grade that I have given them, although I typically require students who request such reconsideration to state specifically, in writing, the precise nature of their concerns.

Paper Guidelines

Assignments 2 (following Lesson Four) and 4 (following Lesson Eight) are papers to be submitted for grading. These papers should be prepared using an electronic word processing program (preferably Microsoft Word) and should be five to six typed, double-spaced pages in length. Provide one-inch margins along all borders and use either a 10- or 12-point type. Please take the assigned page limit seriously; essays of inappropriate length will be penalized.

Base your essay primarily upon the assigned primary sources. Where appropriate, you may supplement the primary document (either Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass or The Jungle) with material drawn from other assigned class readings and/or discussions in the course lessons. Do not use other sources. Use of other sources without proper attribution constitutes plagiarism and will result in a grade of 0.0 for the assignment.

Tips for Successful Academic Writing

Pay attention to both the content and style of your written work. Remember that the expression of your argument is essential to its effectiveness; there is no such thing as a poorly written but well-argued paper. To guide and assist you in successfully completing your written assignments, consider the following guidelines to successful academic writing:

• Grammatical mistakes and typographical or spelling errors are errors, period. As far as possible, adopt a concise, positive, and concrete style of writing. Check your work to ensure that all verbs agree in number with their subjects and that all pronouns agree in number with their antecedents. Also avoid using passive voice, first person, or contractions in your formal writing.
• Begin with a strong introduction. The introduction should explain the purpose of your essay and provide an overall thesis. No portion of your paper is more important than the introduction, so be careful to state your thesis clearly and succinctly. Remember also to craft your introduction in such a manner that your paper will "stand alone"; in other words, anyone should be able to read your essay and understand it without prior knowledge of the specific issues you are addressing.
• Divide your paper into logical units (paragraphs), each of which should contain an easily identifiable topic sentence.
• Provide evidence to support your argument. Include page citations for every direct quotation (failure to do so constitutes plagiarism) and for every major idea in your essay (even if paraphrased). You may provide page citations using formal footnotes or endnotes, or simply by incorporating short citations (enclosed in parentheses) within the text of your essay, such as the following: (Brinkley, p. 101), (Douglass, pp. 19–24), and (document collection, p. 20).
• Avoid excessive, overly lengthy direct quotations from the primary source about which you are writing; quote sparingly for maximum effect.
• Proofread—there is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting.

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