Syllabus
This is your syllabus for History 1377. We will meet in person Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m.-noon in L212L except for the first three days of our class. We will meet online on July 11th and 12th and we won’t have class on July 13th.
The Big Goal
Our big goal is for you to acquire the skills of a historian. We want you to learn to appreciate arguments, evaluate evidence, question underlying assumptions, and distinguish between evidence and conclusions. We want you to improve your writing and thinking!
The Big Questions
We will seek to answer three sets of questions in our course:
What caused the creation of a distinctive American identity? What were the features of this American identity?
What caused the establishment of a distinctive kind of American governance? What were the features of this unique brand of governance?
What caused the struggle over slavery in the midst of territorial expansion after the American Revolution? What was the nature of this struggle and why did it lead to the Civil War?
W.G.A.D.
At any moment during class you can stop our class proceedings and ask Who Gives a Damn? and I will explain the relevance of the material to our big questions and big goal. Our joint responsibility is to insure that you understand the relevance of the material.
Grading
A university should be about human development, not gate-keeping. We shouldn’t be here simply to identify the best students and reward them.
The keys to your development involve a lot of encouragement, a lot of work, and a lot of feedback. You will have ample opportunities to develop the skills to succeed in this course before you get grades.
The material that you will eventually submit for grading includes the following:
two four page papers. Each paper will focus on one of the big questions of the class. Each will be worth 30% of your grade. A typical paper assignment will require the student to evaluate an argument or make one of their own. All papers must be completely free of punctuation and spelling errors. They must be on regular 8.5 by 11 inch paper, double-spaced, with standard one inch margins all around, and in 12 point font.
For the final you will submit a series of short essays that will total ten pages in total. The final is worth 30% of your grade.
class participation will constitute 10% of the grade.
Your final numeric grade will be translated to a letter grade in keeping with standard UH policy.
Contact The Professor
I will hold office hours each week at a time yet to be determined. I also invite you to call, text, or email me. My phone number is 832.466.4201; my email address is derwing@uh.edu. My office is wherever we meet. I’m available in person most often in the mornings before class or in the evenings. I’m available most of the rest of the time for phone calls, texts, or emails.
What We Will Do In Class
There will be some combination of lecture; DougTalks; class exercises, which might entail Socratic method exchanges with me; and, you making presentations, and solving problems in groups.
Students may not record all or part of class, livestream all or part of class, or make/distribute screen captures, without advanced written consent of the instructor. If you have or think you may have a disability such that you need to record class-related activities, please contact the Justin Dart, Jr. Student Accessibility Center. If you have an accommodation to record class-related activities, those recordings may not be shared with any other student, whether in this course or not, or with any other person or on any other platform. Classes may be recorded by the instructor. Students may use instructor’s recordings for their own studying and note-taking. Instructor’s recordings are not authorized to be shared with anyone without the prior written approval of the instructor. Failure to comply with requirements regarding recordings will result in a disciplinary referral to the Dean of Students Office and may result in disciplinary action.
Excused Absence Policy: Regular class attendance, participation, and engagement in coursework are important contributors to student success. Absences may be excused as provided in the University of Houston Undergraduate Excused Absence Policy and Graduate Excused Absence Policy for reasons including: medical illness of student or close relative, death of a close family member, legal or government proceeding that a student is obligated to attend, recognized professional and educational activities where the student is presenting, and University-sponsored activity or athletic competition. Under these policies, students with excused absences will be provided with an opportunity to make up any quiz, exam or other work that contributes to the course grade or a satisfactory alternative. Please read the full policy for details regarding reasons for excused absences, the approval process, and extended absences. Additional policies address absences related to military service, religious holy days, pregnancy and related conditions, and disability.
Honesty
I will not tolerate academic dishonesty in this class. If you have questions about what constitutes academic dishonesty please consult the University of Houston Academic Honesty Policy which appears in each edition of the Student Handbook and online at www.uh.edu/academic-honesty-undergraduate . Each student is responsible for knowing the Academic Honesty Policy. In particular, know what constitutes plagiarism.
Students may be asked to sign an honor code statement as part of their submission of any graded work including but not limited to projects, quizzes, and exams: “I understand and agree to abide by the provisions in the University of Houston Undergraduate Academic Honesty Policy. I understand that academic honesty is taken very seriously and, in the cases of violations, penalties may include suspension or expulsion from the University of Houston."
Materials And Their Use
You will have a textbook that we will use in class; details about it are listed in the Reading! section just below; you will be asked about the narrative and the questions contained within the text during class. Among the ways you will use the text include comparing the narrative to the lectures, questioning underlying assumptions of material in the text, challenging conclusions the authors reach, and understanding the text in light of what you learn about the discipline of history.
You will utilize this website for a variety of reasons including reading selections on the Extra Readings tab.
Reading!
The American Yawp: www.americanyawp.com is your text.
You will be assigned a number of reading selections almost all of which can be found under the Extra Readings tab on the home page of this website.
Lecture Topics, Readings, Assignments, And Exams
Here is list of the topics, readings, paper assignments, and exams for our course. I will inform you of what to read as we work through these topics. We will cover about one topic per class. I will give you plenty of advance notice for assignments and exams. If we need to make changes of some sort be advised that the changes might well be announced in class only. I will also hold a few class over zoom. You will have plenty of notice of when class will be online.
introduction and more about the class; the Age of Discovery part 1; a definition of history; the three big questions.
the Age of Discovery, part 2; more exploring the concept of history. “Causation” on Extra Readings tab;
the Columbian Exchange; “The World the Indians Made in the Americas” on the Extra Readings tab.
“The Spanish in the North” on the Extra Readings tab; the English arrive in the New World; “The Lost Colony” on the Extra Readings tab; the Chesapeake Bay colonies: Jamestown, a toehold in the New World and Maryland, a haven for Catholics.
Read “Religious Divisiveness Comes to England” on the Extra Readings tab. Puritanism and the “city upon a hill”: Massachusetts Bay and New England.
Forces shaping the British North American colonies. “The First Representative Assembly in the British North American Colonies” on the Extra Readings tab. First paper, having to do with comparing and contrasting the New England and Chesapeake Bay colonies, assigned.
An overview of slavery and the origins of slavery in the British North American colonies.
the British Empire matures; the Chesapeake Bay colonies, 1660-1760, and the values predominant in the Ches. Bay colonies.
the New England colonies, 1660-1760; the Salem Witch Trials; and the values of New Englanders. Your first paper is due.
revolutions in transportation, news, commerce, religion, and governance.
a summary of similarities and differences between the New England and the Chesapeake Bay colonies and between the colonies and the Mother Country.
the concept of contingency; the British Empire on the eve of the Seven Years’ War.
the Seven Years’ War and the challenges of ruling a swollen empire.
an imperial crisis with dimensions economic, political, and cultural. Read “observations of Royal Governor Thomas Pownall from 1768” on the Extra Readings tab.
immediately precipitating causes of the American Revolution.
the American Revolutionary War dissected.
Read “the Declaration of Independence” on the Extra Readings tab. Governments of inherent authority and the radicalism of the American Revolution.
the Articles of Confederation and the problems of the era.
the Constitution of 1787: its structure; as a product of compromises; as a furtherance of republicanism.
the Constitution of 1787, part 2: federalism furthers democracy. Second paper, having to do with American governance, is assigned.
the struggle for Ratification.
Hamilton’s Financial Plan and the emergence of political parties.
politics, foreign affairs, and the emergence of political parties; those parties and what they believed; this is the First Party System.
the Federalists and their demise; the rise of Democrat-Republicans and the administration of Jefferson. the War of 1812: the Second American Revolution . Second paper, having to do with American governance, is due.
and the blossoming of nationalism and the rise of sectionalism.
an economic rising.
the Panic of 1819, the crisis over Missouri and the Compromise of 1820; and the emergence of sectionalism.
the Age of Jackson. Read America and Its Peoples, Chapter 11
reform in antebellum America: abolitionism and much more.
Polk and Manifest Destiny; war with Mexico. Read America and Its Peoples, Chapter 12.
Texas!
crisis and the Compromise of 1850; Second paper is due.
the North and the South in 1850.
the tragedy of Douglas and the election of 1852.
irreconcilable differences and the emergence of the Republican Party and Lincoln.
the bonds of union fray: the scorpion's sting and Southern nationalism.
the eve of war and the election of 1860.
the irrepressible conflict: the Civil War. The take-home final exam is assigned.
FINAL EXAM. Your final exam papers are due a few days before grades are due for the semester. When the final exam schedule is published we will clarify the due date here. Be advised that all of the final exam will be assigned on the last day of class and the students will email their answers to the professor.
Mental Health
Counseling and psychological services are readily available for you at the University of Houston. The Counseling and Psychological Services Program, CAPS, can help you if you are having difficulties managing stress, adjusting to college, or feeling sad and hopeless. You can reach CAPS by calling 713.743.5454 at any time to arrange routine appointments for yourself or anyone you know who is in crisis. There is also a less formal, walk-in process that is called the Let's Talk program for which there are drop-in consultation services at convenient locations and hours around campus with little or no wait. You can learn more about CAPS by visiting the website at www.uh.edu/caps. More about the Let's Talk program can be found at www.uh.edu/caps/outreach/lets_talk.html.
Covid 19 Information
Students are encouraged to visit the University’s COVID-19 website for important information including on-campus testing, vaccines, diagnosis and symptom protocols, campus cleaning and safety practices, report forms, and positive cases on campus. Please check the website throughout the semester for updates.
Vaccinations
Data suggests that vaccination remains the best intervention for reliable protection against COVID-19. Students are asked to familiarize themselves with pertinent vaccine information, consult with their health care provider. The University strongly encourages all students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated.
Reasonable Academic Adjustments and Auxiliary Aides
The University of Houston complies with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, pertaining to the provision of reasonable academic adjustments/auxiliary aids for disabled students. In accordance with Section 504 and ADA guidelines, UH strives to provide reasonable academic adjustments/auxiliary aids to students who request and require them. If you believe that you have a disability requiring an academic adjustments/auxiliary aid, please contact the Justin Dart Jr. Student Accessibility Center (formerly the Justin Dart, Jr. Center for Students with DisABILITIES).