History 117A: U.S. History to 1877

INTRODUCTION

This course will emphasize the growth of the United States within the context of world events. The main theme of this course will be the emergence and refinement of an American identity: How did we cease to be Europeans, Asians, or Africans, and start to be "Americans"? What does it mean to be an American? How has that meaning changed over the years?

This course will also emphasize the changing relationships between individuals and government. The United States began as a novelty, with an experimental form of government which tried to balance the will of the majority with the rights of the minority. It is not one government but a hierarchy of national, state, and local governments. How this arrangement has worked in the past, and how the relationships among its parts have changed over time, will be a constant theme in this course.

This document explains the basic requirements for this course and the procedures for meeting these requirements.

MATERIALS

The following materials are necessary for this course:

Henretta, James, and David Brody. America: A Concise History, 4th ed. Volume I: To 1877. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. This is bundled with another volume, Documents to Accompany America: A Concise History, and includes access to the publisher's web site. The ISBN for the bundled package is 0-32161-485-3.
Rampolla, Mary Lynn. A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. ISBN 0-312-53503-1.
Access to the World Wide Web. I will from time to time post source documents and other readings in the Resources section of this page, which you can access either from your own computer or from one of the computers in the labs on campus. Additionally, you will need web access (and a valid e-mail address) to use the publisher's web site.
A notebook for taking notes in class.
Bluebooks and a pen with dark blue or black ink for the midterm and final examinations.

All of the supplies may be purchased at the campus bookstore.

REQUIREMENTS

To earn three semester units of transferable college credit for this course, you must complete the following requirements with a cumulative average of C or better:

You must be enrolled in Section 03 of History 117A.
You must attend classes. Quizzes (see below) are given during class time; in addition, examinations will cover lecture material as well as readings. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of every class meeting, so if you must arrive late, be sure to see me after class.
You must write two brief papers based on primary sources. Each paper will be about four to six pages (1000–1500 words) long. Each paper assignment will include required progress milestones.
You must pass one essay midterm. The midterm must be written in a bluebook, in ink. Under no circumstances will the midterm exam be given before its scheduled date. There is no grade penalty for taking a make-up midterm, but the questions offered on the make-up test may differ from those on the scheduled midterm.
You must pass an essay final examination. The final must be written in a bluebook, in ink. If you cannot take the final exam at its regularly-scheduled time, you must present an excuse signed by a physician or counselor. In this case, you will receive an I for the course and must make up the final exam within one year. Failure to make up the final within the year will result in the I being converted to an F. Other than temporarily having an I on your record, there is no automatic grade penalty for taking a make-up final. Again, the questions on the make-up final may be different from those on the scheduled final.

In addition to the midterm and final, we will have a take-home assignment on the Declaration of Independence and two short essay quizzes during the semester. These quizzes are primarily to give you practice in writing essays in class, under time pressure. We will have one of these before the midterm and the other one between the midterm and the final. No make-up quizzes will be given, but the lower quiz grade will be dropped.

There is no prerequisite for this class, but ..., as you can see from the descriptions above, the class involves considerable reading and writing. I expect you to be able to write grammatically-correct English sentences, to be able to compose cohesive paragraphs, to understand the concepts of an essay and a thesis, and to be able to write an effective essay. If your English skills are weak, you may wish to consider enrolling in an introductory English class (such as Engl 101A) either concurrently or before you take this class.

GRADING

The requirements discussed above will be assigned the following weights when computing your course grade:

Paper #1	15%
Paper #2	15%
Quizzes (higher one of two counted)	5%
Assignment on Declaration of Independence	5%
Midterm (1 essay)	20%
Final (2 essays)	40%

The midterm and final will be evaluated for your ability to demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships in analyzing the facts of U.S. history. They will not be primarily a drill on names and dates; however, you must know the facts before you can analyze them. Therefore, minor slips in dates will probably result in no more than a correction, with no deduction in your grade. (Major errors of fact, however, will result in a decrease in your grade.) More important, though, is your ability to demonstrate that you understand the relationships among events.

At the end of the semester, close grade decisions will be made based on attendance and classroom participation. Attendance will be taken at every class period, so please make sure you sign the attendance log.

There is no grading curve for this class. If you do the work well and demonstrate that you understand the material presented, you will receive an A. If you fail to do all of the work assigned, or demonstrate inadequate understanding of the material, you will receive a lower grade.

You may take this class on a credit/no credit basis. Your grade will be computed as discussed above, but will be recorded as CR if your course grade is C or higher, and as NC if your grade is below a C. Classes taken for CR/NC are not included when computing your GPA.

Work must be turned in on time. There will be a late penalty of one-third of a grade letter for every calendar day work is late. Thus, an A paper turned in one day late will receive an A—, a B+ paper will receive a B, and so on. Two calendar days late = 2/3 letters deducted, and so forth. No work will be accepted more than one calendar week late. This penalty will be waived only if you present a written note from a physician.

You must submit a series of progress milestones as part of your paper assignments. I will comment on these milestones as you submit them, offering suggestions for improvement. If you fail to submit these milestones when they are due, or if the content of the submissions does not meet at least minimal quality standards, I will deduct 1/3 of a letter grade for each missed milestone.

Extra Credit and Alternative Assignments. If you wish, you may teach the class part of one day. You may do this either instead of one of the two papers assigned, or as extra credit (in which case your lecture will count for an additional 15% of your grade). You must, however, present your topic at the appropriate chronological point in the course (for example, if you want to present something on colonization, you must do it at the beginning of the semester). If you have some special knowledge about one of the topics we will cover—perhaps one of your ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence—please come see me about teaching part of that day's class. Please note that as the end of the semester approaches, and people start to be concerned about their grades, the number of people who ask to do extra-credit presentations at the last minute increases dramatically. Because of time, we can only accommodate a limited number of presentations. If you wait until the last minute, not only is your choice of topic limited by the chronological requirement, but you may be left out for lack of time.

Withdrawing from Class. While I expect (and hope) that you will remain in the class for the semester and complete all work successfully, I understand that your circumstances may change sometime during the semester, forcing you to withdraw. If this occurs, it is your responsibility to contact the Registrar and formally withdraw from the class. I will not drop you from the class following the roster clean-up date. If you simply stop coming to class and do not take the final exam, you will receive an F in the class, which will become part of your permanent academic record.

DUE DATES

The due dates for homework and tests for this semester are as follows. Except for the final versions of the papers and the final exam, you will normally receive each piece of work back, graded and with whatever comments I have, on the first class meeting following the due date.

Paper #1 assigned	Tuesday, September 15
Paper #1 topic & sources due	Tuesday, September 22
Paper #1 thesis & outline due	Tuesday, September 29
Declaration of Independence assignment distributed	Tuesday, September 29
Declaration of Independence assignment due	Thursday, October 1
Paper #1 rough draft due	Tuesday, October 6
Quiz #1	Thursday, October 8
Paper #1 final version due	Tuesday, October 13
Midterm	Thursday, October 15
Paper #2 assigned	Tuesday, November 3
Paper #2 topic & sources due	Thursday, November 12
Paper #2 thesis & outline due	Thursday, November 19
Paper #2 rough draft due	Tuesday, December 1
Quiz #2	Thursday, December 3
Paper #2 due	Tuesday, December 8

CLASS RESOURCES

Please check my home page for general resources available to help you at Ohlone. Besides these materials, the following resources are available for your use in this class:

Primary Source Documents for History 117A: This is a collection of primary sources that may be useful to supplement your textbook or to use while writing your term papers. Most of these are supplied by the Avalon Project of the Yale University Law School. You can access these documents from either an alphabetical list or a chronological list (both lists contain the same documents).
Handouts: This is a list of printed documents handed out in class. You may download these and print them as you need to (they are in PDF form).
The Annals of America: This collection, published by the Encyclopædia Britannica Press, is a collection of about twenty volumes of primary source documents applicable to American history. It is available in the Ohlone Library.
Ohlone's librarians have kindly produced a handout, which you can get here or at the desk of the Library, which both describes this collection and shows you specifically how to cite articles from it.
The Founders' Constitution: This five-volume set, also available in the Ohlone Library, contains the background for all parts of the U.S. Constitution. Every precedent, theoretical discussion, and argument that went into every clause of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is discussed in this set, along with Supreme Court decisions that further defined the meaning of the Constitution, up to 1835 (the death of John Marshall).
University of Chicago (Turabian) Style Guide: The papers you write for this class must be footnoted using the University of Chicago citation style (NOT the MLA style, with which you may be familiar). I'm not trying to make life difficult for you, but the history profession uses the Chicago style. This document, from UC Berkeley, describes how to construct footnotes and bibliography entries correctly. The description includes two variants: for this class, use the "Notes and Bibliography" style. "Turabian" refers to Kate L. Turabian, who was with the University of Chicago Graduate School for many years and published a summary of the Chicago style, entitled A Handbook for Writers of Theses, Term Papers, and Dissertations.
Several Web sites are available that give examples of all the types of citations you are likely to need. Some will generate proper Turabian/Chicago footnotes and bibliographic entries for you, based on answering a few questions. While some of these are very flexible, they often require you to enter an enormous amount of detail. One I can recommend is Diana Hacker's site, www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c10_s2.html. Use the pull-down menu to select the type of reference you want. For The Annals of America, select 11. Work in an anthology as your model (you can also check the handout mentioned above). For articles taken from the Web, the appropriate model is probably 22. Short document from a web site. Just substitute the information you have for your source for the information shown in these models, making sure to format them as the models show, and you'll probably get it right.
U.S. News articles on the founding of Jamestown: In 2007, the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, U.S. News & World Report published a special series of articles about the founding years of the first permanent English colony in North America. Several of these articles are still of interest (what, exactly, were John Smith and Pocahontas up to?).

MISCELLANEOUS INSIGHTS

This is essentially a lecture class, but pertinent questions are always welcome. Some class time will be devoted to discussion of the readings in your textbook. I strongly encourage you to keep up with the reading schedule as the semester proceeds. You will need to have read the assigned materials to participate in class discussions and to take quizzes; additionally, postponing the readings to the night before a test makes it virtually impossible to put the ideas and events mentioned in the text into their proper historical context—this is largely the purpose of the lectures. While this course will not emphasize memorization of names and dates, some memorization is unavoidable, and it is easier to memorize one thing per day than fifty things in one night.

Learning takes place most effectively in an atmosphere of courtesy and mutual respect. This does not mean blindly accepting everything I say; it does mean treating my opinions, and those of your fellow students, with respect. While it is a reasonable presumption that I know more about American history in general than you do, it is virtually certain that one or more of you will know more about a particular aspect of it than I will. When this is the case, please do not be shy about sharing your insights with the rest of the class. (This includes correcting my errors!)

Courtesy also takes more mundane, but no less important, forms, to wit:

Please do not bring food or beverages into the classroom, or chew gum during class.
I will make every attempt to start class on time. When class starts, please give me your attention. If extenuating circumstances force you to arrive after class has started, please take your seat with a minimum of disruption.
I expect you to demonstrate a commitment to education that lasts at least as long as the class period. Falling asleep during class, engaging in activities not related to this class, or engaging in any disruptive behavior will, when noticed, solicit a request that you leave the classroom, and you will be counted absent for that day.
This is not a "drop in/out when you feel like it" class. Once you are in class, I expect you to remain in class until you are dismissed (obvious and unforseeable emergencies excepted). Please arrange your personal schedule to make this possible. If you absolutely must leave early (to visit the doctor, say), please let me know this at the beginning of class.
If you have any electronic device which beeps, rings, buzzes, chirps, or plays Beethoven, please turn it off before coming to class. This includes such things as electronic watches, cellular telephones, and pagers. If you cannot afford to be out of electronic contact with the outside world for the duration of the class, you cannot afford to take this class.