Course Syllabus
History 17A
History of the United States to 1865
Spring 2024
Kleiber 3
Professor John Smolenski
(pronouns: he/him)
Email: jsmolenski@ucdavis.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday, 2:00-5:00
SSH 3231
Phone: (530) 302-5385
Teaching Assistants:
Benjamin Goldstein bgoldstein@ucdavis.edu
Will Simescu wasimescu@ucdavis.edu
Alekhya Vellanki avellanki@ucdavis.edu
Course Description:
This course covers the history of the United States from the colonial period through the Civil War. The class looks at how and why an independent United States emerged from the European contest for North America. We will discuss a wide variety of topics in this class, including the European discovery of America; the rise of African slavery in America; the development of a multiracial, multicultural society in the British American colonies; the American Revolution and the development of republican government; economic development and westward expansion; and sectional rivalries within the United States. The course concludes with the collapse of the early American republic and the society that emerged in the aftermath of the Civil War.
General Education Literacies:
This course satisfies multiple General Education requirements. It meets the Arts and Humanities topical breadth requirements. It also satisfies core literacy requirements in American Cultures, Governance, and History; Domestic Diversity; Social Sciences; and Writing Experience.
Readings:
The campus bookstore carries three required books for this course:
Foner, Give Me Liberty! 7th edition, volume 1
Foner, ed, Voices of Freedom, 7th edition, volume 1
Harriet Ann Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, edited by Nell Irvin Painter
These books are to be read in preparation for each week’s discussion and will form the basis of the course paper assignments and midterm and final exam essay questions.
Lectures: Lectures will be held MWF at 1:10pm-2:00pm in Kleiber 3.
Readings: All required readings are listed on the syllabus for each respective week. For instance, when you look at the lecture outline below you can see “Week Three.” On the next line, it reads “Liberty, Chapters 4-5; Voices, Chapters 3-5.” That means in third week of the course you should read Chapters 3 and 4 of Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! and Chapters 3-5 of Foner, ed., Voices of Freedom.
Office Hours: I will hold office hours from 2pm-5pm every Tuesday.
Course Assignments:
Your grade for this course will be based on five assignments:
Regular and active participation in discussion sections.
A Writing Guide Quiz. This will be administered online through the course Canvas page on January 24. I will give you instructions in advance of the quiz.
A 1000-1200 word analytic essay (approximately 3-4 double-spaced pages), due on January 31 at 11:59 pm. LATE PAPERS WILL BE PENALIZED.
An in-class midterm exam held on February 9.
A 1200-1400 word analytic essay (approximately 4-5 double-spaced pages, on March 1 at 11:59pm. LATE PAPERS WILL BE PENALIZED.
An in-class final exam on March 20, 3:30pm-5:30pm.
These assignments will count towards your final grade like so:
Writing Guide Quiz: 2%
First Paper: 15%
Second Paper: 20%
Midterm Exam: 20%
Discussion Section: 18%
Final Exam: 25%
Paper Policy:
The paper topics will be posted online in advance of the due date. Your paper should address the topic. Neither paper requires any outside research, only the materials that you have been assigned for this class. This means that you should not incorporate information from any outside this class in your paper. Papers that incorporate outside research will be penalized.
Students With Special Needs:
In accordance with University policy, I will provide any accommodations required by the SDC. If necessary, I will continue to work with the SDC to make sure every students’ needs are met. Do not hesitate to contact me if you feel that the class isn’t meeting your accommodations.
A Note on Student Complaints, Problems, or Emergencies:
Please do not hesitate to contact your TA and/or myself if you are having trouble or wish to register your dissatisfaction with some part of this course. We are here to help you get the most out of this course and want you to finish the quarter having had a positive experience. You can reach us during our posted office hours or by email outside of class time.
Late Papers: Papers submit past the deadline will be considered late and docked points. I will spell out the specific penalties when I hand out the paper topics. However, I am very willing to give out extensions if circumstances warrant it. Please contact me as soon as you can if
Make-up Exams: There are no make-up exams except in the case of an emergency. If you fall ill, need to take care of someone who is ill, or otherwise face an emergency that disrupts your ability to take the exams, contact me immediately and prior to the exam to discuss the circumstances.
Assignment completion requirement: Failure to complete both exams and papers will result in failure for the class, unless the student petitions and qualifies for an incomplete (“I”) grade.
Unauthorized Collaboration and Plagiarism: Please familiarize yourself with the UC Davis Code of Academic Conduct by reviewing its webpage Code’s webpage
(http://sja.ucdavis.edu/files/cac.pdf) , as well as “Avoiding Plagiarism.”
(https://ossja.ucdavis.edu/avoiding-plagiarism-mastering-art-scholarship)
Class norms: Students are expected to communicate with each other respectfully in all class forums. Please familiarize yourself with the UC Davis Principles of Community. The Davis Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion explains that applying these principles means that “Members of our community are expected to treat each other with respect and dignity, to refrain from displays of inappropriate anger or intimidating conduct, to shun epithets or abusive language, and to find effective means to disagree, to persuade and to inform through rational discussion.”
Week One:
Reading: Liberty, Chapter 1
January 8
Introductory lecture—How to Think Like a Historian
January 10
The Atlantic World in 1450
January 12
Columbus
Week Two:
Reading: Liberty, Chapters 2-3; Voices of Freedom, Chapters 1-2
January 15
No Class
January 17
Spanish Expansion
January 19
Early Virginia and the Origins of American Slavery
Week Three:
Reading: Liberty, Chapters 4-5; Voices, Chapters 3-5
January 22
The New England Town
January 24
Ethnic Pluralism in British North America
Writing Guide Quiz Opens
First Paper Topic Distributed
January 26
Life and Labor in Early America
Writing Guide Quiz Due
Week Four:
Reading: Liberty Chapters 6-7; Voices, Chapters 6-7
January 29
The American Revolution, Part I: Declaring Independence
January 31
The American Revolution, Part II: The Coming of Peace
First Paper Due
February 2
Revolutionary Settlements: The Constitutional Convention
Week Five:
Reading: Liberty, Chapters 8-9; Voices 8-9
February 5
The United States in a Wider World: The “Winning” of the West
February 7
The Jeffersonian Vision
February 9
Midterm Exam
Week Six:
Reading: Liberty, Chapters 10-11; Voices, Chapters 10-11
February 12
The Death and Rebirth of Slavery in the Early Republic
February 14
The Age of Jackson
Second Paper Topic Distributed
February 16
The Trail of Tears
Week Seven:
Reading: Jacobs (entire)
February 19
No Class
February 21
The Peculiar Institution
February 23
Religion and Reform in Antebellum America
Week Eight:
Reading: Liberty, Chapter 12; Voices, Chapter 12
February 26
Social Transformation, I: Industrialization in the North
February 28
Social Transformations, II: Immigration and Urbanization
March 1
Social Transformations, III: Manifest Destiny
Second Paper Due
Week Nine:
Reading: Liberty, Chapters 13-14; Voices, Chapter 13-14
March 4
The Slavery Question
March 6
Conquest and the US-Mexican War
March 8
Compromise of 1850 and the Rise of Sectional Conflict
Week Ten:
Readings: Liberty, Chapter 15; Voices, 15
March 11
Secession
Final Exam Study Guide Distributed
March 13
Civil War
March 15
Reconstruction
March 20
Final Exam, 3:30-5:30pm