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:

Divine, Robert A., T.H. Breen, George M. Frederickson, R. Hal Williams, Ariela J. Gross, and H.W. Brands. America Past and Present, Vol. I (to 1877), 8th Edition. New York: Pearson Longman, Inc., 2007. ISBN 0-321-44662-3. The publisher refers to this edition as the "books à la carte" version. It is packaged in loose-leaf format (so you will also need a 3-ring binder), and includes access to the publisher's "MyHistoryLab" web site.
Frakes, Robert. Writing for College History. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
Access to the World Wide Web. I will from time to time post source documents and other readings on my campus web site, which you can access either from your own computer or from one of the computers in the labs on campus. The web site's address is www2.ohlone.edu/people/shanna/. Additionally, you will need web access (and a valid e-mail address) to use MyHistoryLab.
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 the appropriate section 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. Details for these homework assignments will be distributed four weeks before the homework is due. Each paper assignment will include weekly 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	5% (higher one counted)
Assignment on Decl. of Ind.	5%
Midterm	20%
Final	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 two calendar weeks late. This penalty will be waived only if you present a written note from a physician.

I will require you to submit drafts of papers one week before they are due. I will comment on your draft and return it to you with suggestions for improvement. This review will have no effect on your grade—I will only grade the completed paper you submit. You are free to modify the paper in accordance with my comments, or ignore them altogether. The only version that counts toward your grade is the final version you turn in.

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). 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.

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.

CHEATING and PLAGIARISM

It would seem to go without saying that cheating is not allowed. The penalty for cheating on an assignment or a test is an automatic F for that assignment. The instructor may also give the student an F in the class, and may, in extreme cases, refer the student to the Vice President of Student Services for administrative sanctions (such as suspension or expulsion).

Here are some examples of cheating:

Copying from another person's test, or obtaining answers from another person during a test;
Submitting work previously presented in another course, unless the instructors of both courses explicitly allow this;
Consulting unauthorized materials during an examination;
Taking an examination for someone else, or having someone else take an examination for you.

Plagiarism is the act of representing someone else's work as your own. Avoiding plagiarism does not require you to avoid using other people's work; it does require you to give proper credit to the source of the material. In scholarly papers, such credit is typically given in footnotes. Copying material, either verbatim or in substance, from published sources without giving the original author appropriate credit is plagiarism. Please be aware that copying from Web sites without giving credit is plagiarism, just as much as copying from a book or from another student's paper, and I will find out.

You can, and should, read the College Academic Dishonesty Policy, or you can obtain a copy from your Division Dean's office or the Office of Student Services.

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 95 minutes, you cannot afford to take this class.

OFFICE HOURS

I will hold office hours from 11:30 to 12:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Room NC2221. If you cannot meet with me at those times, please see me immediately before or after class to make an alternative appointment. I can also be reached by e-mail at shanna@ohlone.edu, but please allow at least 24 hours for me to read and respond to your e-mail.