HIST 1015: American History to 1865Spring 2018Tue/Thu 5-6:15 p.m., MUEN E417

Ignore at your peril

Welcome to HIST1015, American History to 1865! From pirates to Pu- Instructor: Vilja Huldenvilja.hulden@colorado.eduOffice hrs: Thu 3:30–4:30 p.m. ABAOffice: Hellems 373

ritans to We the People, from conquistadors to the Constitution to theCherokee, from seafaring to the Second Great Awakening to the CivilWar, we will be exploring the lives, ideas, and material circumstancesof the people who lived in, shaped, and fought over the geographicarea that is now the United States.

Office hours and contact information are listed on the right. If youneed help or just want to chat about something going on in class, stopby office hours or make an appointment. I’m happy to chat with you.You can also email. I’ll respond within 24 hours Monday throughFriday; other times there are no guarantees.

This syllabus is the only set of paperinstructions you will receive. Ev-erything else (instructions for writ-ten assignments, study guides, etc.)will be distributed through D2L.Get to know the D2L site.

Goals

The goal of this course is to hone your skills in asking historical ques-tions and reasoning historically. We will strive to limit the amountof lecture, and we proceed on the assumption that knowledge is con-structed, not imparted. In most class sessions, you will be expected toengage in discussions and/or written tasks in addition to or insteadof listening to lecture. I encourage you to think of facts as buildingblocks of explanations and arguments, and to always ask questions.To succeed in this class, you need to:

tl;dr: Come to class. Grapple withreadings and audio/video materi-als each week before class. Checkout exam and assignment guides onD2L. There are D2L quizzes everyweek. Think, explore, participate.

• Complete readings etc. on time—and think about them.• Participate vigorously and thoughtfully in class activities.• Take responsibility for your learning and your role in your team.

Decorum

Be kind. Brisk intellectual debate is a wonderful thing; personal at-tacks are an abomination and a drag. Be courteous to your fellow stu-dents. Try not to come in late, and please avoid disruptive or flagrantlyinattentive behavior during class meetings. (Penalties may apply.)

Figure 1: A fish-eye perspective.

Don’t cheat. Academic dishonesty, apart from generally stinking tohigh heaven, is an insult to your instructors, your fellow students, andyour own abilities. Any kind of cheating or plagiarism is utterly un-acceptable and will be penalized. You are required to know and abideby the CU honor code (see the link on the last page of the syllabus).

I reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus.

2 spring 2018

Format, expectations, and grade breakdown

Due date Assignment %

Individual assignments 82

ongoing Clicker participation 7

Tuesdays D2L quizzes (12 drop 2) 10

ongoing Completing peer review tasks 3

2/22 (final) Information search assignment (stages 1&2 2/8, stage 2/15) 15

3/8 Midterm exam 1 10

4/12 Life story draft 4

4/26 Midterm exam 2 12

5/3 Life story, final 15

5/3 Short paper: The main point of presentation 2

5/8 7:15 p.m. Final exam closes (on D2L) 4

Team assignments 18

ongoing In-class team quizzes (8) 8

ongoing In-class worksheets 6

5/8 Team demographic group presentation 4

Total 100

D2L quizzes These quizzes give you credit for reading/watching the Note that the quiz covers materialfrom the ongoing, not the previousweek.

materials on time and thinking about them.

In-class team quizzes These incorporate questions from the D2Lquizzes though they may include some additional questions. Thegrade is assigned to your team as a whole.

The teamwork portion of yourgrade is adjusted for your perfor-mance in your team, evaluated byyour peers as explained on page 9.

In-class worksheets Many if not most class sessions will involveworking on worksheets related to that week’s material. Some of theseworksheets will be graded (you won’t know which ones).

All your worksheets count as teamwork. Grade scale: X+, X, X-

Attendance and participation Graded as a bonus to or a deduc- tl;dr: Be here.

tion from your course grade. You have a few freebies; you should savethose up for illnesses, emergencies, or amazing powder days. The onlyexcused absences are official university business (including ROTC andathletics) and religious holidays, if reported well ahead of time.

In unusual circumstances, youshould get in touch with the Deanof Students office or your advisor.

Participation is graded as a bonus on your course grade. You geta point when you contribute a relevant comment or question in class.Max 2 points per class.

Absences % Points %

≤ 2 0.5 3 0.25

3–5 0 4–5 0.56 -1 6–7 1

7–8 -2 ≥ 8 1.59 -4each add’l -0.5

Figure 2: Impact of number of absencesand participation points on total grade.

Writing assignments Detailed instructions for the writing assign-ments can be found on D2L. Do as they say, or else.

Exams Study guides with terms lists on D2L. Work week by week.

hist 1015: american history to 1865 3

Books and other required materials

Wheeler, Robert A., Thomas L. Hartshorne, and Mark T. Tebeau, eds.The Social Fabric, Vol I. 11th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pear-son/Prentice Hall, 2009.

The Social Fabric is available at theCU Bookstore.

P. Scott Corbett et al. U.S. History. Revision UH-2014-002(03/2016)-BB.Houston, TX: OpenStax, Rice University, 2016. ISBN 978-1-938168-

The PDF and online versions of U.S.History are free. The price of theiBook is $6.99, and the price of thehard copy is about $50. Hard copiesavailable at the CU Bookstore.

36-9. Available on D2L or at https://www.openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/

us-history/get.“Predatory reading” from Patrick Rael. Reading, Writing, and Research-

ing for History: A Guide for College Students. http://www.bowdoin.edu/

writing-guides/. (Also on D2L.)Edwards, Paul N. “How to Read a Book, v5.0.” pne.people.si.umich.edu/

PDF/howtoread.pdf. (Also on D2L.)Pernick, Martin S. “Diseases in Motion.” In Northrup, Douglas (ed.).

A Companion to World History. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.(PDF on D2L).

Regular video/audio materials (listed in schedule; links on D2L).

NOTE: You should use additional resources in studying. Other freeonline textbooks include the following:

Expectations in the age of Google:You should actively try to findsources of information to help youclarify confusing concepts or de-fine unfamiliar terms. For efficientgoogling tips, see the Info SearchAssignment.

Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. Digital History, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu

Locke, Wright et al., American Yawp, http://americanyawp.com

I also recommend the Gale Virtual Reference Library, accessible throughCU Libraries: http://libraries.colorado.edu/record=e1000405~S3

General grading principles

General note on expected quality Think hard about the assign-ments and revise your work repeatedly. Don’t be satisfied with thefirst idea or interpretation that occurs to you. Serious thought is themost important element in your grade, as well as the only way to learn.

Also, of course, follow directionsmeticulously, cite all your sourcesproperly, and strive for a formal andprofessional presentation. Show youare taking the assignment seriously.

Late work Ideally, there should be no late work. Deadlines out in You may, of course, request an ex-tension, which may or may not begranted.

the real world do not take into account personal crises, so you shouldlearn to plan ahead. Also, late work is a logistical hassle. I reserve theright to deduct half a grade for each day that an assignment is late.

Figure 3: Priorities.

Rubrics There are rubrics on D2L for all written assignments. Youshould be able to access these through the Dropbox (click on the ap-propriate Dropbox item to see the rubric.) It’s useful to check these outahead of time so you can see the evaluation criteria. (Note: the pointsprovided by the rubrics are rough guidelines, not necessarily an exactformula for grading.)

For the life story, there is no D2L rubric, but there is a document in“Assignments and Instructions” that will serve as the rubric. It showsyou the basic evaluation criteria.

4 spring 2018

Schedule

Unit 1: Worlds in Collision: 1492–1763

Central Big Questions: What is “history”? How do things change?How do people deal with change?

Week 1, 1/16–1/18: Who (and/or what) makes history?

Note: All screencasts, podcasts,videos, and additional readingsare available through D2L.

SF = Social Fabric

D2L quiz 1, due Thursday be-fore class. Beginning Week 2, aD2L quiz is due every Tuesdaybefore class except as otherwisenoted. This means that you needto complete all reading and ma-terials by Tuesday afternoon.

Read: The syllabus!OpenStax, section 1.1 from Ch. 1, section 2.4 from Ch. 2

“Predatory reading” (D2L)Edwards, “How to read” (D2L)Pernick, “Diseases in Motion” (D2L)

Watch: Screencast, Pizarro and Atahualpa

Week 2, 1/23–1/25: Natives and newcomers Tue: CATME questionnaire dueDon’t forget the D2L quiz, whichcloses Tue 5 p.m.!

Read: Calloway, “New Ways” (SF Ch. 1)OpenStax, section 2.3 and Chapter 3

Listen: Ep. 52, 15-min history, “The Precolumbian Civilizations. . . ”BackStory podcast, “1492: Columbus in American memory,” sectionon “Who was Christopher Columbus?” (8 min)

Note that it’s only a small part of thefull BackStory episode!

Watch: Screencast, Tisquantum’s story

Week 3, 1/30–2/1: Exploring, exploiting, extracting Thu: Info search assignmentprep

Read: Berlin, “Creation of a Slave Society” (SF Ch. 2) See reading guide for Berlin on D2L.

OpenStax, sections 1.2, 1.3, and review 3.3, 3.4Watch: Screencast, The story of Anthony Johnson

Week 4, 2/6–2/8: Life in the colonies Thu: Info Search stages 1 and 2

due on Google Doc

Read: Axtell, “White Captives” (SF Ch. 4)Ulrich, “Colonial Women” (SF Ch. 3)OpenStax, 2.2, 4.1, 4.3

Watch: Screencast, Three generations of William Byrds

hist 1015: american history to 1865 5

Unit 2: The Age of Revolution, 1763–1789

Central Big Questions: When does protest become rebellion? Whomakes it? What happens “the morning after”?

Week 5, 2/13–2/15: Chaos of clear ideas? Thu: Info Search stage 3 due onGoogle Doc

Heads up: Tough concepts andfairly heavy reading coming up.

Read: OpenStax, 4.4, 4.5Listen: 15-min history, “The American Revolution in Global Context,”

parts 1 and 2

Watch: PBS, God in America, Episode 1: A New Adam, 33 min to endScreencast, The radicalism of John Locke

Week 6, 2/20–2/22: Protest and its meanings Thu: Info Search final due (D2L)

Read: Nash, “Ordinary Colonists Become Revolutionaries” (SF Ch. 8)OpenStax, 5.1, 5.4, 5.5

Watch/Listen: Freeman, “Outraged Colonials: The Stamp Act Crisis”(9–36 min, Chs. 2, 3, 4)Freeman, “Being a Revolutionary,” (0–8 min, Ch. 1)

Watch: Screencast, Stories about the language of liberty

Week 7, 2/27–3/1: A world turned upside down

Read: Gundersen, “Revolutionary Women” (SF Ch. 10)OpenStax, 6.1, 6.4, 7.1, 7.3., 7.4, 8.1

Watch/Listen: Freeman, “Who were the Loyalists?” (37–45 min, Ch. 5)Freeman, “Independence” (18–29 min, Ch. 4)

Watch: Screencast, The story of Shays’ Rebellion

Week 8, 3/6–3/8: Review & ***midterm*** 1st midterm Thursday

No D2L quiz this week; no new reading.

Pro tip: Work week by week on the terms listed in the study guide(on D2L—get it the first week of classes!). It really makes the loadof studying for the exam much lighter, and also makes it much morelikely that you will retain at least a smidgeon of the information be-yond the exam (or even, gasp, beyond the class!) In the review session,you are expected to have studied for the exam already.

Also make sure to read the sample term essay on D2L!

6 spring 2018

Unit 3: Antebellum America, 1789–1850

Central Big Question: What is the relationship between changes inthe material world—technology, economy—and changes in people’sideas about the world?

Week 9, 3/13–3/15: A changing economy Tue: CATME peer eval I due

Read: Licht, “Neighborhood and Class. . . ” (SF Ch. 11)OpenStax, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

Watch: Screencast, The Story of Chauncey Jerome

Week 10, 3/20–3/22: A changing culture

Read: Mintz & Kellogg, “The Affectionate Family” (SF Ch. 13)OpenStax, 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.5

Listen: BackStory podcast, “Heaven on Earth,” sections “American utopia”(5 min) and “Failure at Fruitlands” (10 min)

Watch: PBS, God in America, Episode 2, A New Eden, 30 min to end

Week 11, 3/27–3/29: Spring Break! Yay! Spring Break! Yay!

Read: Whatever you like!Watch/Listen: A comedy show! A good movie! Music! The babbling

of the brook!

Figure 4: A well-deserved respite.Week 12, 4/3–4/5: Borderlands

Read: Unruh, “The Way West” (SF Ch. 19)Van Every, “Trail of Tears,” (SF Ch. 12)OpenStax, 11.2, 11.3, 11.5

Listen: BackStory podcast, “Border Crossings,” segments “Comanchesas Kingmakers” and “Being in the Borderlands” (14 min total)

Week 13, 4/10–4/12: Life and labor, North and South Thu: Life story draft due(Google Docs)

Read: Way, “Canal Workers and Their World” (SF Ch. 17)Owens, “The Black Family” (SF Ch. 16)OpenStax, 9.4, Ch. 12

Listen: Ep. 54, 15-min history, “Urban Slavery. . . ”Watch: Excerpt from PBS, “Africans in America” (Slavery on Pierce

Butler’s estate) (10 min.)

hist 1015: american history to 1865 7

Week 14, 4/17–4/19: Crisis point Thu: Comments on teammate’sLS due

Read: Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience,” part 1 (D2L)OpenStax, 13.4, 14.1, 14.2

Watch: Screencast, The story of Dred Scott

Week 15, 4/24–4/26: Work on life stories, review, exam 2nd midterm Thursday

No D2L quiz this week; no new reading.

Unit 4: The Civil War, 1861–1865

Central Big Question: What was the Civil War about, anyway?

Week 16, 5/1–5/3: The Civil War Thu: Life story final draft andPresentation paper due (D2L).

I know you’re tired & swamped.But this is Important. Pleaseread/watch all the materials forthis week.

Read: McPherson, “Why Soldiers Went to War” (SF Ch. 21)OpenStax, 15.1, 15.2

Watch: Screencast, How the slaves made the Civil War about slavery

Finale: Tuesday May 8, 7:30–10 p.m.

The finale will consist of team presentations based on your life storyresearch. Attendance is required. Plan to stay for 2 hours. No, youmay not leave when your team’s presentation is done.

D2L final exam:opens at 3 p.m. Friday May 4

closes at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday May 8

Wed 5/9: CATME peer eval II due

Figure 5: Summer!

8 spring 2018

Demographic categories for team projects

This class involves a life story project that asks you to do researchon the experiences of a particular demographic group (see below) inthe 19th century, and to create a historically plausible but fictional lifestory based on their findings (more detailed instructions on D2L).

In creating the story, you will share ideas and research tips withyour team members, who are also creating life stories of characters inthe same demographic group. You will also comment on your teammembers’ drafts and vice versa.

Choose which of the demographic categories listed below interestyou (of course, not all of these are mutually exclusive: if you e.g.choose the “artisan” category, there is nothing to prevent you frommaking the subject of your life story African American, Native Amer-ican, or German, for example.) You will need to choose one primaryand two secondary categories by the Monday of the second week ofclasses; your choices will be used as one factor in creating the classteams.

1. Northern farmers2. Northern white women3. Southern white women4. (urban) laborers5. artisans (e.g. shoemakers, carpenters, etc.)6. enslaved African Americans7. free African Americans8. Southern plantation owners9. Northern business owners (merchants, manufacturers)

10. non-slaveholding white Southerners11. Native Americans12. German or Irish immigrants13. Mexicans/Mexican-Americans in the Mexican Northeast/U.S. South-

west

Throughout the term, you should pay particular attention to yourteam’s demographic group when reading/listening to class materi-als. This will give you good background on thinking about both thespecific demographic group and about how historical events affecteddifferent people and groups differently.

Please be prepared to list three groups in order of preference by theMonday of the second week of class. While there can be no guaran-tees, we will make an effort to accommodate your preferences.

hist 1015: american history to 1865 9

Teams and peer evaluation

The goal of building a part of the class around teamwork is to allowyou to share your thoughts and expertise with your peers and to ben-efit from theirs. In a survey class like this, the students have a greatrange of experiences and skill sets, and as a student you can learn alot from your peers.

To make teamwork as productive and enjoyable as possible, we willstrive to create teams that reflect people’s team project preferences asclosely as possible and that contain a diverse array of skills.

Your teammates’ experience in thisclass depends to a large degree onyou. Be respectful and kind. Shouldthere be a problem in your team thatyou don’t feel able to solve, pleasecontact me sooner rather than later.

Technical stuff

We will use an online service called CATME (https://www.catme.org/)both for creating teams and for peer evaluation within teams.

Completing peer evaluation taskscounts for a grade; you are respon-sible for alerting me to technicalglitches early enough so we can dealwith it.

There are instructional videos and FAQs on using CATME (see be-low). Also, please feel free to ask for help if you run into problems.Videos: http://info.catme.org/catme-student-videos/

FAQs: http://info.catme.org/student-helptext-and-troubleshooting-support/

How do I evaluate my team members?

You will evaluate the performance of everyone in the team, includingyourself, using CATME. We will do (at least) two evaluations, of whichthe last one is the most heavily weighted. Be fair and conscientious;

Your evaluation is confidential,though each team member willget the anonymized comments andhis/her “multiplier”.the feedback, especially, is very important in improving the team’s

performance and culture.

How does peer evaluation influence my grade?

Each team assignment is graded as such, and those grades are enteredon D2L as the grades for each team member. Before final grades arecalculated, however, each team member’s grade for the team portion ofthe course is adjusted according to the results of their peer evaluation.The evaluation results in a multiplier; that multiplier (unless adjustedby me for some weighty reason) will be used to calculate your grade.

The goal of grade weighting is to en-sure that everyone’s contribution isfairly recognized.

Example: Team X has an average of 90% (A-) on all team work. SamStudent has been slacking, though, so Sam’s peer evaluation results ina multiplier of 0.7. When that multiplier is applied to Sam’s teamworkgrade, the teamwork grade for Sam becomes 63% (D).

On D2L, Sam’s team grades will re-main the same, but a negative gradeis added to deduct a percentagefrom Sam’s final grade.

If you have contributed absolutely nothing to your team, the adjust-ment may make your grade for the team assignments as low as zero;it may also boost it so it is up to 105% of the raw grade received.

10 spring 2018

The fine print

Academic Integrity. All students enrolled in a University of Colorado Boulder course are responsiblefor knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy. Violations of the policy may include: plagia-rism, cheating, fabrication, lying, bribery, threat, unauthorized access to academic materials, clicker fraud,resubmission, and aiding academic dishonesty. All incidents of academic misconduct will be reported to theHonor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-735-2273). Students who are found responsible for violatingthe academic integrity policy will be subject to nonacademic sanctions from the Honor Code Council as wellas academic sanctions from the faculty member. Additional information regarding the academic integritypolicy can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/academic-integrity-policy and http://honorcode.colorado.edu/.

Digital distraction. When your laptop or tablet screen is displaying things irrelevant to class, youdistract not only yourself but other students to whom the screen is visible. When you’re on your phone,you’re not present. Research demonstrates that such distraction is detrimental to learning. We expect yourfull attention and presence, and we expect you to allow the same to others.

Classroom Conduct. Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learn-ing environment. Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Ipledge to treat each of you with dignity, respect, and professional courtesy; I expect you to do the samefor me and for each other. See also http://www.colorado.edu/policies/student-classroom-and-course-related-behavior

and http://www.colorado.edu/osccr/.

Accommodation Policies. If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submityour accommodation letter from Disability Services to me in a timely manner so that your needs can beaddressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities in the aca-demic environment. Information on requesting accommodations is located on the Disability Services website(www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices/students). Contact Disability Services at 303-492-8671 or dsinfo@colorado.edu

for further assistance. If you have a temporary medical condition or injury, see Temporary Medical Condi-tions under the Students tab on the Disability Services website and come talk to me as early as possible.

Religious observances Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make everyeffort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts withscheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. If you anticipate any class conflicts due to religiousobservance, please notify me within the first two weeks of classes to arrange necessary accommodations. Seepolicy details at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/observance-religious-holidays-and-absences-classes-andor-exams.

Discrimination and Harassment. The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) is committedto maintaining a positive learning, working, and living environment. CU Boulder will not tolerate actsof sexual misconduct, discrimination, harassment or related retaliation against or by any employee or stu-dent. For details of the Sexual Misconduct Policy and the Discrimination and Harassment Policy, see http://

www.cu.edu/ope/aps/5014 and http://www.colorado.edu/policies/discrimination-and-harassment-policy-and-procedures.Individuals who believe they have been subject to misconduct under either policy should contact the Of-fice of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC) at 303-492-2127. Information about the OIEC, the abovereferenced policies, and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding sexual misconduct,discrimination, harassment or related retaliation can be found at the OIEC website, http://www.colorado.edu/

institutionalequity/.