History 2365: History of the United States to 1877
History 2365-N1: History of the United States to 1877
Fall 2015
Dr. SoRelle Office Hours: MTWR 3:30-5:00 p.m. Office: 208 Tidwell & by appointment
Office Phone: 710-4621 E-Mail: James_SoRelle@baylor.edu
Course Syllabus
New Student Experience (NSE): Welcome to Baylor! To ease your transition from high school to college, all incoming students are required to take a New Student Experience (NSE) course. NSE courses provide the opportunity for first-semester students to form meaningful connections with each other and with faculty in an academic community and are designed to support your success by engaging you academically, socially, and spiritually in the earliest stages of student development. NSE courses also introduce students to the key values of a liberal education including critical thinking, effective communication, the integration of faith and learning, and civic engagement through the lens of a particular discipline—in this case, history.
By the end of the first year, through your participation in the overall New Student Experience programming at Baylor including Orientation, Line Camp, Move-In, Welcome Week, Chapel, and this NSE course, we hope you will:
1. Understand Baylor’s mission and learning outcomes
2. Connect to Baylor
3. Engage in spiritual formation
4. Develop personal and professional goals
5. Succeed academically
6. Develop autonomy through caring community
Learn more at
COURSE OBJECTIVES: HIS 2365 is the first half of a two-course introductory-level study of United States history. The material presented in the class will cover the period from approximately 1500 to 1877 and will treat various aspects of early American and United States history, including politics, economics, social and cultural developments, and diplomatic affairs. In addition, as a credit-bearing NSE course, we will relate your experiences as first-semester undergraduates to the experiences of the various groups of settlers who arrived on the land mass we now know as the United States of America. In other words, consider yourself as colonists who are venturing out and encountering a new environment that will in certain ways become your new home and will inform your intellectual, social, and cultural development over the next four years. Objectives for this course include the following:
1. To provide an informative framework through which the student may acquire a deeper and more objective view of the history of the United States and its people.
2. To introduce historical literature that will broaden the student’s understanding of specific individuals, events, ideas, or eras that were critical in the nation’s past.
3. To encourage students to think analytically about the past and to articulate those thoughts in both oral and written form.
4. To present a broad-based set of topics that is informative, interesting, and intellectually challenging.
STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE: This course will follow a lecture/discussion format. Students are expected to be active participants in discussions pertaining to the course materials.
ATTENDANCE: The College of Arts and Sciences Attendance Policy requires that you attend a minimum of 75 percent of all scheduled class meetings. Attendance will be recorded at each class meeting, and your grade will be affected by poor attendance. Please try to arrive promptly, and plan to stay until you are dismissed. (Should you arrive in class after I have taken the roll, it is your responsibility to make sure that your attendance is accurately recorded.) You will be able to check your attendance record on Black Board. If at some point during the semester you should reach five (5) absences, I will alert you to this fact via e-mail. Any student who misses more than seven (7) classes for any reason will automatically fail the course, regardless of your grade at the time the eighth absence occurs. Students with perfect attendance for the semester will receive one point on their final semester average.
HIS 2366 Syllabus (cont.)
GRADES: Your course grade will be determined by your performance on the following:
Reading Quizzes (10%): There will be a short essay quiz for each of the six supplemental readings in this course. Your highest five (5) scores will be used to determine this segment of your grade.
Writing Assignments (15%): Each student will submit three (3) short papers over the course of the semester. The guidelines for these papers are included at the end of this syllabus.
Class Participation (15%): Students will be expected to engage the course materials through dialogue and exchange during class discussions. Since you must be present to actively participate, excessive absences will adversely affect this part of your grade.
Exam I (20%): An 80-minute exam with identification questions and essays.
Exam II (20%): Same format as Exam I with questions drawn from materials covered in the second part of course.
Final Exam (20%): Two-hour exam (same format as previous exams) with questions covering only material presented in the last third of the course.
Make-Up Policy: Make-ups for the reading quizzes will be possible ONLY if you miss a quiz because of illness (doctor’s verification required) or a University-sponsored event. If for any reason you are unable to take either of the first two examinations, you will be given an opportunity near the end of the semester to complete the missed work. You will not be allowed to make up a missed Final Exam without prior approval from the instructor.
The following scale will be used to determine your final grade:
91 - 100 = A 71 – 76 = C
89 - 90 = A- 69 – 70 = C-
87 - 88 = B+ 67 – 68 = D+
81 - 86 = B 61 – 66 = D
79 - 80 = B- 59 – 60 = D-
77 - 78 = C+ 0 – 58 = F
CLASSROOM POLICIES: Departmental policy prohibits the audio or video recording of classroom lectures. Laptops and iPads are permitted for taking notes but may not be used as recording devices or for any non-class-related activity. Cell phones and MP3 players should be turned off during class time.
REQUIRED READINGS: The following books have been selected by the instructor for your reading pleasure this semester.
Alfred A. Cave, The Pequot War (1996)
Frank Lambert, “Pedlar in Divinity”: George Whitefield and the Transatlantic Revivals (1994)
Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776, 2015)
Marla R. Miller, Rebecca Dickinson: Independence for a New England Woman, 1738-1815 (2014)
Melton A. McLaurin, Celia, A Slave (1991)
Amy S. Greenberg, A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U. S. Invasion of Mexico (2012)
HONOR CODE: “Baylor University students, staff, and faculty shall act in academic matters with the utmost honesty and integrity.” It is a violation of the Baylor Honor Code: to submit the work of someone else as one’s own work for course credit; to plagiarize; to submit work previously offered for credit in another course without permission of the current instructor; to use unauthorized material while taking an exam; to give, receive, or obtain information to assist on an examination during the exam period; or failing to report dishonorable conduct.
Source: Baylor University Office of Academic Integrity, Academic Integrity and Honor Code
Mapworks: Between September 9 and October 5, you will be prompted to take the Mapworks assessment online. I will be reminding you about this, and I strongly encourage you to complete the assessment. Upon completion, you will receive a personalized report identifying your academic and personal strengths
History 2366 Syllabus (cont.)
and weaknesses, with recommendations to help you maximize your success at Baylor and beyond. As your New Student Experience instructor, I will be monitoring your progress in Mapworks. Please feel free to bring your report by my office so that we can discuss it in the context of your academic progress.
Academic Success: As a longtime faculty member, I have high academic expectations of you and believe every student who has been admitted to Baylor can be successful. If for some reason your academic performance in this class is substandard, I will submit an Academic Warning to the Success Center during the sixth week of the semester and will work to get the help you need to perform more effectively in this course. I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the culture of success we have at Baylor by stopping by the Paul L. Foster Success Center in Sid Richardson or by going to: . Even if you do not need help, you can get involved by tutoring students in the future or assisting other struggling students in knowing how and where to get help.
Students with Accommodation Needs: Any student who needs academic accommodations related to a documented disability should inform me immediately at the beginning of the semester. You are responsible for obtaining appropriate documentation and information regarding accommodations from the Baylor University Office of Access and Learning Accommodation (OALA). Contact Information: 254-710-3605 - Paul L. Foster Success Center, 1st floor on the East Wing of Sid Richardson.
Course Outline
Date Topic Reading Assignment
Aug. 25 Introduction
27 Europe on the Eve of Colonization
Sept. 1 American Beginnings and the Clash Cave, The Pequot War
of Cultures
3 The American Sense of Mission
8 Localism in America
10 The Salem Hysteria
15 Labor in a Land of Opportunity
17 Evangelical Enthusiasm Lambert, “Pedlar in Divinity”
22 Exam I
24 The Birth of Nationalism
29 The Movement toward Independence Paine, Common Sense
Oct. 6 The War for Independence
8 Building a Constitutional Framework
13 Federalists and Republicans
15 The Roots of American Foreign Policy
20 Gender in the Early Republic Miller, Rebecca Dickinson
22 Andrew Jackson and the Rise of the
Common Man
27 Indian Relocation and the “Trail of Tears”
29 The Rebirth of the Two-Party System
Nov. 3 Exam II
History 2366 (cont.)
Date Topic Reading Assignment
Nov. 5 Democracy and the Age of Reform
10 The Peculiar Institution McLaurin, Celia
12 The Debate over Slavery
17 Manifest Destiny and the War Greenberg, A Wicked
With Mexico War
19 The Politics of Slavery
24 The Secession Crisis
26 Thanksgiving Holiday
Dec. 1 The Civil War and the Triumph of
Nationalism
3 Reconstruction and Its Legacy
Make-Up Exams: Monday, November 9 3:30 p.m.
Final Exam: Section N1: Tuesday, December 15 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Instructions for Writing Assignments
Writing Assignment # 1: Due September 10
Research and present the results of a genealogical exploration of your family background as far back as possible to answer the basic questions “Who am I?” and “What are my family origins?” Your findings can be presented in written form or as a family tree or some combination thereof.
Writing Assignment # 2: Due October 29
Write a review of no more than 1000 words (three to four typed double-spaced pages) of a historical work that covers some aspect of the time period from 1607 to 1877. The book you select should be determined in consultation with your instructor, and your essay should provide a critical analysis of the work rather than simply a report of what the author presents. More information on this assignment will be presented in class and through student appointments with the instructor.
Writing Assignment # 3: Due November 24
Write a critical analysis of one of the final two books assigned for this course (Melton McLaurin’s, Celia or Amy Greenberg’s, A Wicked War) in response to the prompts provided below. Your essay should be 3-4 typed, double-spaced pages in length. The text of your paper should include a solid introduction and conclusion. The body of the paper should explore the prompt as thoroughly as possible, using evidence from the selected reading. If you use direct quotations to support your arguments, be sure to cite page numbers from the source. Proofread your paper carefully to avoid poor grammar, awkward sentence structure, sentence fragments, typos and misspellings. This matters in your overall grade for the assignment.
Prompt A: What does Celia’s story tell us about the status of slaves in the antebellum South?
Prompt B: Based on your reading of Amy Greenberg’s book, was the United States’ war with Mexico in the mid-1840s unavoidable and fully justified?
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