Email: MarkoMaunula@clayton.edu

Web address: http://a-s.clayton.edu/mmaunula

The history of the U. S. and the lands that would become the U. S. from the colonial period through Reconstruction. [Note: Learning Support students who are required to take ENGL 0099 and/or READ 0099 must exit the requirement(s) before they can enroll in this course.]

Welcome to History 2111, Survey of U.S. History to 1877!

During this course, we will deepen our understanding of the early American history. We all have heard about Puritans and Pilgrims, Mayflower, Paul Revere’s midnight ride, the battle of Gettysburg, and other key events of American history. Many of the facts, key events, and speeches are deeply carved into our memories through repeated exposure during our K through 12 –education. This time around we will attempt to dig a few feet deeper into the events, analyze the forces and individuals involved in making of America’s past.

This is a survey course, so we will take a broad look at America from various angles, using many methodologies. Our tools to study the past will range from classic political economy to gender history, from ethnic history to economic studies. The course will draw upon various forms of media, including original documents, personal memoirs, eyewitness accounts, speeches, and academic analyses. Additionally, we will use movies, video clips, pictures, graphics, and music samples to help us deepen our understanding of the issues under study.

The goal of the course is to deepen your understanding of American history, but we also hope to teach you the fundamentals of history as a discipline. Most of the people outside the profession do not know very well what historians do. Today, collecting facts and establishing detailed chronologies of events is only a minor part of historians’ tasks, largely replaced by job of interpreting and evaluating the events and forces that construct them. After this course, I hope that you have learned the fundamental tools of researching and analyzing history, and, perhaps, even gained some appreciation toward the field.

The objective of this course is to teach you fundamental facts about American history, with periodic close attention paid to our state. Also, I expect you to come out of this class with improved analytical skills, ability to evaluate and analyze the forces shaping our past, and functional historical literacy.

It is the policy of CSU to afford equal opportunity in education to qualified students. Therefore, individuals with disabilities who need to request accommodations, or to obtain this document in an alternative format, should contact the Disability Resource Center (disabilityservices@clayton.edu ) Student Center 255, (678) 466-5445

Each CSU student is required to have ready access throughout the semester to a notebook computer that meets faculty-approved hardware and software requirements for the student's academic program. Students will sign a statement attesting to such access. For further information on CSU's Official Notebook Computer Policy, please go to http://itpchoice.clayton.edu/policy.htm

Ability to use the Windows^TM operating system

Ability to use Microsoft Word^TM word processing

Ability to send and receive e-mail using Outlook^TM or Outlook Express^TM

Ability to attach and retrieve attached files via email

Ability to use a Web browser.

Although we will not use a computer in the classroom, some of the work will require a computer. Feel free to bring the laptop into the classroom, but FOR TAKING NOTES ONLY! No surfing the web, chatting, messaging, playing games, etc.

Your final grade will consist of two midterms, a book report, and a final test. The tests and the book report are each worth 25 percent of your grade. The grades will not be on curve. Your personal success will not be measured against your fellow students’ performance.

90 and above = A

80-89 = B

70-79 = C

60-69 = D

59 and below = F

The mid-term grade in this course which will be issued on October 3, reflects approximately 25% of the entire course grade. Based on this grade, students may choose to withdraw from the course and receive a grade of "W." Students pursuing this option must fill out an official withdrawal form, available in the Office of the Registrar, by mid-term, which occurs on October 9. The last day to withdraw without academic accountability is Friday, October 9, 2009.

Hand in your papers and other possible assignments in on time. I will NOT accept e-mailed papers, only printed and STAPLED hard copies. NO EXCEPTIONS! REALLY! I MEAN IT!

I will not schedule make-up tests unless in cases of valid emergencies. If you have to miss a test, please provide me with a documented excuse: police report, doctor’s note, et cetera.

University Attendance Policy: Students are expected to attend and participate in every class meeting. Instructors establish specific policies relating to absences in their courses and communicate these policies to the students throughout the course syllabi. Individual instructors, based upon the nature of the course, determine what effect excused and unexcused absences have in determining grades and upon students’ ability to remain enrolled in their courses. The University reserves the right to determine that excessive absences, whether justified or not, are sufficient cause for institutional withdrawals or failing grades.

Our textbook is Roark et al., The American Promise, Vol I. Make sure that you get Vol I! The book is available at our bookstore.

Presenting the work of somebody else as one’s own, unaccredited quotations, letting others do one’s work for him/herself, and other forms of academic dishonesty are strictly forbidden. Violators will be pursued and punished according to Clayton State University’s guidelines and regulations.

All instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Office of Student Life/Judicial Affairs. Judicial procedures are described at http://adminservices.clayton.edu/judicial/

Behavior which disrupts the teaching–learning process during class activities will not be tolerated. While a variety of behaviors can be disruptive in a classroom setting, more serious examples include belligerent, abusive, profane, and/or threatening behavior. A student who fails to respond to reasonable faculty direction regarding classroom behavior and/or behavior while participating in classroom activities may be dismissed from class. A student who is dismissed is entitled to due process and will be afforded such rights as soon as possible following dismissal. If found in violation, a student may be administratively withdrawn and may receive a grade of WF.

A more detailed description of examples of disruptive behavior and appeal procedures is provided at: 

http://a-s.clayton.edu/DisruptiveClassroomBehavior.htm

For issues concerning ethical rules, student life, student rights and responsibilities, et cetera, please consult the student handbook:

http://adminservices.clayton.edu/studentaffairs/StudentHandbook/foreword.htm

Do not be late! We all know Atlanta traffic, so I understand if you run late once or twice. However, habitual tardiness will not be tolerated. Having people popping into the class at all hours disrupts the lectures and your fellow students’ concentration.

Eating and drinking in class is okay, but avoid "loud" foods.

Turn your cell phones off or on silent when you come to the class.

You can use laptops only to take notes or do some other class-related work. No playing games, surfing the web, or chatting with friends, either online or in person. This disrupts your classmates’ work as well as your own.

Clayton State University rules strictly forbid bringing children to the classroom or parking them in the hallway for the duration of the class. If you have temporary child care problems, please contact me.

Check your Clayton State email account daily. This will be a major avenue of communication for this class.

1. August 18, 2009

Introduction.

2. August 20, 2009

Early European Contacts with the Terra Incognito.

3. August 25, 2009

The Rise of the Nation States and the Emergence of the Atlantic World

4. August 27, 2009

Discussion about book reviews, tests, finals, and other logistical stuff.

5. September 1, 2009

Christopher Columbus, Conquistadores, and the Spanish New World.

6. September 3, 2009

Enter Sea Wolves: English Explore the Atlantic. The Origins of Jamestown.

7. September 8, 2009

Faculty Development Day. NO CLASS!

8. September 10, 2009

"A City Upon the Hill!" Creation of Puritan New England.

9. September 15, 2009

Swedes, Dutch, Quakers, Germans and Indians: the Middle Atlantic and the Emerging Prototype of America.

10. September 17, 2009

Carolina and the Origins of the Deep South.

11. September 22, 2009

FIRST TEST!

12. September 24, 2009

Daily Life in Colonial America.

13. September 28, 2009

Intellectual Origins of the American Revolution

14. October 1, 2009

Political Origins of the American Revolution: Road to Lexington

15. October 6, 2009

War for Independence.
 

16. October 8, 2009

OCTOBER 9^th IS THE MIDTERM. LAST DAY TO WITHDRAW FROM THE COURSE AND RECEIVE "W."

We Have a Country. Now What?

17. October 13, 2009

Creating these United States: Constitution comes.

18. October 15, 2009

Revolution of 1800.

19. October 20, 2009

War of 1812.

 

20. October 22, 2009

The Age of Jackson.

21. October 27, 2009

Catch-up day.

22. October 29, 2009

SECOND MIDTERM!

23. November 3, 2009

Slavery as an Economic System, Slavery as a Culture, Slavery as a Burden.

24. November 5, 2009

Trouble in the Western Horizon: Growing Tension Between the North and the South.

25. November 10, 2009

Transportation, Urbanization, and Industrialization.

26. November 12, 2009

Go West, Young Man! Manifest Destiny.

27. November 17, 2009

The Slow March to War. Origins of the Civil War, from Missouri Compromise to Bleeding Kansas.

28. November 19, 2009

Civil War. YOUR BOOK REVIEWS ARE DUE!

29. November 24, 2009

Reconstruction.

30. November 26, 2009

The Strange Birth of Jim Crow.

31. December 1, 2009

Laying the Seeds of Modern America

32. December 3, 2009