American History, 1607-1877
Dr. Patrick D. Reagan
History 2010-002 (#03113) Dr. Reagan
9:05-10:00 MWF Fall 2005
HH 108 HH109
Instructor Information
Office: Henderson Hall 109
Office Hours: 10-11 a.m. MWF and by appointment
Telephone: 372-3342 (office), 372-3332 (message), 528-3998 (home)
E-mail: preagan@tntech.edu
Professional experience of Dr. Reagan
Course Requirements
Read section below on Study Tips for History Classes first week and before examinations.
The objective of the course is to obtain a working knowledge
of U.S. history between 1607 and 1877 through class attendance,
lectures, readings, discussions, and examinations. Be sure to
review the materials in the Study Tips section below for
excellent, practical study advice through the course, especially
as you prepare for examinations. Any student who believes he or
she will require special consideration to meet the course
requirements must consult with the
Office of
Disability Services during the first week of classes.
- Class attendance (up to 5 bonus points)
- Examination-- October 3 (100 points)
- Examination-- November 2 (100 points)
- Final essay examination-- December 12 (100 points)
- Final Grade based on total points earned:
180-200 points= A
160-179 points= B
140-159 points= C
120-139 points= D
below 120 points= F
- To pass course, all requirements must be met on time and all exams taken.
Disability Accommodations
Students with a disability requiring accommodations should contact the Office of
Disability Services (ODS). An Accommodation Request (AR) should be completed as
soon as possible, preferably by the end of the first week of classes. The ODS is located
in the Roaden University Center, Room 112, telephone 372-6119.
Study Tips for History Classes
- Understanding University Success (Center for Educational Policy Research)
- David Bollier,
"Reclaiming the Commons: why we need to protect our public resources from
private encroachment," Boston Review 27 (Summer 2002)
- Facing History and Ourselves: Examining History and Human Behavior
- Quality, Affordability, and Access: Americans Speak on Higher Education, June 2003 (ETS)
- The Big Payoff: Educational
Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings
July 2002, U.S. Census Bureau Special Report
- Textbook Information on the Internet
- History 201-202 at Tennessee Tech
- Tennessee Tech History web site
- Connecting Information [TTU Computer
center]
- History and the Internet: A Guide by Patrick D. Reagan (McGraw-Hill)
- A Tour Through the Internet for Students of History
- Especially for Researchers (Library of Congress)
- Locating Information on the Internet (Library of Congress)
- A Student's Guide to the Study of History (S. Kreis)
- TTU Student Handbook
- How to Succeed as a Student (K. Bucknall)
- Counseling Center (Tennessee Technological University)
- Counseling Center Workshops, TTU
- How to Read a Book (P.N. Edwards,
University of Michigan)
- Study Guides and Strategies (University of St. Thomas)
- The Learning Strategies Database (Muskingum College)
- Content-Specific Learning Strategies for History
(The Learning Strategies Database, Muskingum College)
- Tips for History Students (Ohio State
University)
- Critical Reading (D. Kurland)
- Guides to Historical Research (University of Washington Library)
- Study Guides for History Classes
- How to Prepare for and Take Essay Examinations
- The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (M. Harvey, Washington College)
- Reading, Writing, and Researching for History:
A Guide for College Students (P. Rael, Bowdoin College)
- A Student's Guide to Research with the WWW
(C. Branham, St. Louis University)
Required Books
- Text, Steven M. Gillon and Cathy D. Matson. The American Experiment: A
History of the United States, Volume I: To 1877, Second Edition (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 2006). (Text below)
- Web site for Gillon and
Matson text
- Thomas L. Hartshorne, Robert A. Wheeler, John H. Cary, Julius Weinberg, editors.
The Social Fabric: American Life from 1607 to 1877. (New York: Pearson Longman, 2006), tenth edition
(Hartshorne below)
Course Themes
- Changes in political values and institutions
- Economic development and its social impact
- Social and cultural change (Indians, dissenters, immigrants, women, and blacks)
- Slavery and freedom: race, nationalism, and sectionalism
- Key role of war in creating the United States
Reading Assignments with
Lecture and Discussion Schedule
Readings should be completed before/during the week assigned.
Assignment: Text, Preface and pp. 1-52; Hartshorne, Preface and review course web site
Internet Resources:
August 29--Introduction
August 31--Course syllabus and responsibilities
September 2--The European Heritage and Cultural Contact
From Colonies to Nation, 1607-1776
Assignment: Text, pp. 52-83; Hartshorne, Preface and pp. 3-53
Internet Resources:
September 5--Labor Day Holiday, No Class
September 7--Slavery in Colonial Virginia
September 9--Puritan New England
Assignment: Text, 84-177 and Hartshorne, Preface and pp. 3-53, 71-97
Internet Resources:
September 12--Pluralism in the Middle Colonies
September 14--Discussion based on Hartshorne, pp. 3-53, 71-97
September 16--The Rise of the Assemblies, 1689-1763
Creating a Republic, 1776-1815
Assignment: Declaration of Independence (A-1-3 in back of Text) and Hartshorne, pp. 99-149
Internet Resources:
September 19--Origins of the American Revolution
September 21--Discussion on the Declaration of Independence
September 23--The American Revolution, 1776-1783
Assignment: Text, pp. 248-268 and Articles of Confederation and Constitution and Bill of
Rights (Amendments I-X) (A-3 to A-12 in back of Text); BEGIN STUDY FOR EXAMINATION
Internet Resources:
September 26--From Confederation to Constitution, 1781-1787
September 28--Discussion on the Constitution
September 30--Questions and review for examination
Assignment: Study for Examination and Text, pp. 268-325 after examination
Internet Resources:
October 3--Examination
National Expansion, 1790-1840's
October 5--The First Party System
October 6--Thursday, Career Day, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Multipurpose Room, University Center
October 7--Early Economic Growth
Assignment: Hartshorne, pp. 151-165 and Text, pp. 326-371, 409-413, 420-430
Internet Resources:
October 10--Discussion based on Hartshorne, pp. 151-165
October 12--Frontier Expansion
October 14--Indian Removal
Assignment: Hartshorne, pp. 167-179, 213-223, 271-283 and Text, pp. 372-413
Internet Resources:
October 17-18--Fall Break, No Class
October 19--Discussion based on Hartshorne, pp. 167-179, 213-223, 271-283
October 21--Jacksonian Society, 1824-1840's
Assignment: Text, 321-323, 328-332, 414-424, 430-436, 130-132, 332-339, 441-444, 460-461 and Hartshorne, pp. 239-267, 181-193
Internet Resources:
October 24--Immigration in Antebellum America
October 26--Discussion based on Hartshorne, pp. 253-267
October 28--Women and the Family in Antebellum America
Assignment: STUDY FOR EXAMINATION; Text, pp. 462-493 after examination
Internet Resources:
October 31--Questions and review for examination
November 2--Examination
Slavery, Reform and Sectionalism, 1830-1860
November 4--The Old South
Assignment: Text, pp. 462-493, 437-453 and Hartshorne, pp. 225-237, 195-208
Internet Resources:
- In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience
(Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library)
- The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture
- Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery (PBS)
- Museum of Slavery in the Atlantic (Penn. State
University)
- Voices from the Days of Slavery (American Memory, Library of Congress)
- Harriet Jacobs: Selected Writings and Correspondence (Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Yale University)
- WPA Life Histories (Federal Writers' Project, 1936-40)
- Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938
(American Memory, Library of Congress)
- "Been Here So Long": Selections from the WPA American Slave Narratives (New Deal Network)
- American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology (American Hypertext Workshop, University of Virginia)
- American Slavery: A Composite Autobiography [from WPA slave narratives collected in the 1930s] (Greenwood Publishing Group)
- North American Slave Narratives (Documenting the American South)
- Tangled Roots: A Project Exploring the Histories of Americans of Irish Heritage and Americans of African Heritage (Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Abolition, Resistance, and Slavery, Yale University)
- Darrell Reeck, "The Spirit of the Amistad in the United Methodist Church," (New World Outlook magazine of the United Methodist Church)
- The Amistad Case (teaching materials from the National Archives)
- La Amistad Links (New World Outlook magazine of the United Methodist Church)
- Amistad Research Center (Tulane University)
- Frederick Douglass Papers (American Memory, Library of Congress)
- The North Star: A Journal of African-American Religious History
- Influence of Prominent Abolitionists (African-American Mosaic, Library of Congress)
November 7--The Institution of Slavery
November 9--Discussion on slavery based on Hartshorne, pp. 225-237
November 11--Antebellum Reforn
Assignment: Text, pp. 454-461, 483-527 and Hartshorne, pp. 285-295
Internet Resources:
November 14--The Abolitionists
November 16--The War with Mexico
November 18--Sectionalism and Slavery
Assignment: Text, pp. 533-567
Internet Resources:
November 21--The Collapse of the Two-Party System
November 23--Origins of the Republican Party
November 24-25--Thanksgiving Holiday, No Class
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877
Assignment: Text, pp. 568-626 and Hartshorne, pp. 297-307
Internet Resources:
- Selected Civil War Photographs
(American Memory, Library of Congress)
- Civil War Resources on the Internet: Abolitionism to Reconstruction (Rutgers University)
- The Crisis of the Union: An Electronic Archive of Documents About the Causes, Conduct, and Consequences of the US Civil War
(University of Pennsylvania)
- Crisis at Fort Sumter (R. Latner, Tulane University)
- Charleston Multimedia Project (Charleston County Library)
- Civil War Resources on the Internet: Abolitionism to Reconstruction (Rutgers University)
- James McPherson, "For a Vast Future Also: Lincoln and the Millenium," Jefferson Lecture, March 27, 2000
- U.S. Civil War Center (Louisiana State U.)
- The American Civil War Homepage (Sunsite at
University of Tennessee)
- Civil War @Smithsonian: Collecting, Preserving, Remembering the National Experience
(National Portrait Gallery)
- Gardner's Sketch Book of the [Civil] War (Cornell University Library)
- American Civil War Institute (Campbellsville University)
- Poetry and Music of the War Between the States (K. Fraser)
- The Valley of the Shadow: Living the Civil War in Virginia and Pennsylvania
(University of Virginia)
- National Heritage Area on the Civil War in Tennessee
(Center for Historic Preservation, Middle Tennessee State University)
- Save the Franklin Battlefield, Inc.
- Battle of Nashville Preservation Society, Inc.
- Military Service Records: A Select Catalog of NARA Microfilm Publications
(National Archives and Records Administration)
- Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (National Park Service)
- In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience
(Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library)
- United States Colored Troops (Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System, National Park Service)
- United States Colored Troops in the Civil War (B.J. McRae, Jr.)
- DoD Celebrates African American History Month (U.S. Department of Defense)
- History of Black Military Service
(Dr. K. Hughes, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command)
- 50th Anniversary of the Integration of the Armed Forces
(Dr. K. Hughes, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command)
- The Civil War Preservation Trust
- Friends of the [C.S.S.] Hunley
- Reenactor.net
- Living History Association
- National Civil War Association
- The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady (Library of Congress)
- American Civil War Institute (Campbellsville University)
- Reconstruction: The Second Civil War (American Experience,
PBS)
- Rebels with a Cause (Southern Poverty Law Center)
November 28--"The Divided Union: Part I"
November 30--The Americans Civil War, 1861-1865
December 2--Reconstruction: Political Issues
Assignment: Text, pp. 626-654 and Hartshorne, pp. 309-339 and Study and Review for Final Examination
Internet Resources:
December 5--Reconstruction Economics: A New South?
December 7--Social Reconstruction: From Slavery to Freedom
December 9--Summary Lecture: US History, 1607-1877
Assignment: Study for Final Essay Examination
Internet Resources:
December 12--Monday, Final Examination, 8:00-10:00 a.m.
Department of History
Tennessee Technological University
Box 5064
Cookeville, TN 38505
(931) 372-3332
For comments or suggestions, contact
preagan@tntech.edu
Go to TTU History Home Page