HISTORY 17B



HISTORY 17B—WINTER 2017

History of the American Peoples, 1830s-1919

Instructor: Lisa Jacobson

Office: HSSB 4232

Email: jacobson@history.ucsb.edu

Time and Room: MWF, 10:00-10:50am, Music Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall

Office Hours: W, 1:00-3:00pm and by appointment

TAs

Gokh Alshaif (galshaif@umail.ucsb.edu) Sections: W, 4pm; F, 11am, F, 12pm

Francisco Beltran (fbeltran@umail.ucsb.edu) Sections: W, 8am; F, 11am; F, 12pm

Nicole De Silva (nicole_desilva@umail.ucsb.edu) Sections: Th, 9am; Th, 5pm; Th, 6pm

Andrew Elrod (ayelrod@umail.ucsb.edu) Sections: Th 8am; F, 5pm; F, 6pm

Elyse Finkel (efinkel@umail.ucsb.edu) Sections: M, 4pm; M, 5pm; M, 6pm

Dana Hughes (danahughes@umail.ucsb.edu) Sections: Th, 8am; F, 8am; F, 9am

Addison Jensen (addisonmjensen@umail.ucsb.edu) Sections: T, 8am; T, 5pm; T, 6pm

Q. Z. Lau (qlau@umail.ucsb.edu) Sections: T, 8am; F, 1pm, F, 4pm

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND COURSE OBJECTIVES

This survey of United States history from the 1830s to the end of World War I in 1919 examines how various transformations—the expansion of commerce and the rise of big business, the spread of slavery and westward migration, the influx of new immigrants and the growth of cities—intensified social and political conflict over the meanings of liberty and equality. We will analyze how Americans’ conflicting visions of freedom led them to embrace conflicting solutions to the problems and opportunities generated by social, political, and economic change. While some Americans staged strikes and took up the cause of reform, others staged World’s Fairs and launched imperial ventures. Eventually (and repeatedly), nearly all Americans became embroiled in war. To better understand how Americans attempted to advance and reconcile their competing visions of freedom, we will study traditional ruling elites—politicians, business magnates, and slaveholding planters—as well as a host of other Americans who shaped who we are today: saloon keepers, factory workers, Native Americans, enslaved blacks and freed African Americans, immigrants, suffragists, and women reformers.

This course aims not only to improve your understanding of the American past, but also to equip you with a host of analytical, writing, and critical thinking skills that you can carry with you throughout your college and post-graduation careers. By the end of the course, you will have practiced and honed several skills, including your ability to:

• analyze primary sources—the documents and artifacts produced by historical actors—by situating them in their historical context, assessing their particular biases, and discerning their multiple layers of meaning

• evaluate contradictory pieces of historical evidence and use them to formulate a particular interpretation of the past

• craft a compelling thesis and advance a persuasive argument

• understand how the past informs our current aspirations for a better world and how the past has shaped the social conflicts, ideological struggles, and problems of inequality we continue to wrestle with today

REQUIRED READINGS

Copies of the following required readings are available for purchase at the UCSB bookstore and have also been placed on two-hour reserve at the library.

• Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: An American History, fourth compact edition

• John Majewski, Lisa Jacobson, Rana Razek eds., History of the American Peoples: A Primary Source Reader (This can also be purchased directly from the publisher at this website: )

• Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of a Slave

Additional materials on Give Me Liberty website: This textbook is linked with a website hosted by the book’s publisher: college/history/give-me-liberty4/. While you are not required to use the website, it does contain worksheets, flashcards, and other material that you might find useful in preparing for exams and deepening your understanding of the course. The following access code will allow you to use the website: GIVE-LIB4.

How to prioritize your reading: Give Me Liberty provides a useful overview of the main events and course themes and, along with the course lectures, will supply the essential historical context you need to interpret and evaluate the other assigned readings. The discussion sections will focus on the primary source documents in the Majewski reader and Frederick Douglas’s autobiography, so it is especially important that you come to section having carefully read and thought about those particular readings.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING

Grades will be based on two papers, an in-class final exam, and participation in discussion section. Grades will be apportioned as follows:

Paper 1: 20% (due in class Monday, February 6)

Paper 2: 25% (due in class Friday, March 3)

Final: 35% (Monday, March 20, 8:00-11:00am, Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall)

Discussion Section: 20%

Description of papers and exams: The papers, approximately 5-6 double-spaced, typed pages, will ask you develop an argument based on your analysis of primary sources, secondary readings, and lecture materials. Questions will be passed out a week in advance, and your TA will provide more information, including writing advice and formatting instructions, as the quarter progresses. The final exam will consist of essay questions selected from a list of questions handed out one week in advance.

Requirements for a passing grade: To pass the course, students must complete all of the assignments and earn a passing grade in section. Because participation in discussion is an important part of the course, three unexcused absences will result in an automatic “F” in section (and a C- or below in the course).

Procedure for appealing grades: Your TA will grade all of the assignments as well as section participation. Should you disagree with your TA over a grade, you may appeal to me only after discussing the grade first with your TA. Every appeal to me must be submitted in writing, explaining why you believe the grade should be higher. I reserve the right to lower as well as raise grades in appeal situations. All appeals must be initiated within one week after the assignment has been returned.

IMPORTANT CLASS POLICIES

Academic Integrity: Plagiarism or any other form of cheating will not be tolerated in this course. Plagiarism involves borrowing the words from a book, article, Internet source, or classmate without properly crediting the author. Students may not use unassigned readings without permission from their TA. Any students caught turning in work that is not their own will fail the assignment, and may also fail the course and face disciplinary action from the university. Please consult the Office of Judicial Affairs website () for more information about proper citation use and actions considered to be cheating. Students are responsible for educating themselves on the policies and abiding by them.

Conduct during lecture: This is a large class, and it might be tempting to think that your behavior is invisible to others. Rude and distracting behaviors, however, can affect the learning outcomes for all students. Please observe basic rules of common courtesy: arrive on time and stay to the end of class and refrain from shopping online, checking your Facebook page, talking to friends, etc. during class. If a student repeatedly acts in a rude or distracting manner—including leaving early without prior authorization—I will ask the TAs to take the student’s name and penalize his or her grade accordingly.

STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES

Disabled Students Program: Students with disabilities may request academic accommodations for exams online through the UCSB Disabled Students Program at . Please make your requests for exam accommodations as early in the quarter as possible to ensure proper arrangement.

Stress Management: Personal concerns such as stress, anxiety, relationships, depression, cultural differences, can interfere with students’ ability to succeed and thrive. For helpful resources, please contact UCSB Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) at 805-893-4411 or visit .

Building Academic Skills: For general academic support, students are encouraged to visit Campus Learning Assistance Services (CLAS) early and often. CLAS offers instructional groups, drop-in tutoring, writing and ESL services, skills workshops and one-on-one consultations. CLAS is located on the third floor of the Student Resource Building, or visit

Responding to Hate Incidents: Hateful actions based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status, age, or disability are not acceptable. In the event that a hate crime or incident does occur, please report it. Reports may be made anonymously.

SCHEDULE OF WEEKLY LECTURES AND READINGS

PART I

A FRACTURED REPUBLIC

I. The Market Revolution, Expansionism, and American National Identity

Jan. 9: Introduction to History 17B

Jan. 11: Commercial Development and American Political Culture

Jan. 13: An Empire for Liberty? Slavery, Native Americans, and Western Expansion

Readings for Discussion Section Week 1:

Foner, Give Me Liberty

• Chapter 9: The Market Revolution (pp. 249-266, 273-278; sections on “A New Economy,” “Market Society,” “The Limits of Prosperity”)

• Chapter 10: Democracy in America (pp. 281-285, 296-309; sections on “The Triumph of Democracy,” “The Age of Jackson,” “The Bank War and After”)

Majewski, et al., Primary Source Reader, pp. 3-6

• Document 1: “Alexis de Tocqueville Marvels at the Mobile Northern Society, 1831”

• Document 2: “ ‘White Slavery’ Threatens the Urban North, 1842”

II. Domestic Ideology, Moral Reform, and Feminism

Jan. 16: HOLIDAY—NO CLASS

Jan. 18: Domestic Ideology and the Rise of the Middle Class

Jan. 20: Moral Reform and Abolitionism

Jan. 23: The Emergence of Women’s Rights

Readings for Discussion Section Week 2:

Foner, Give Me Liberty

• Chapter 9: The Market Revolution (pp. 267-269, 272-273, 275-76; esp. sections on “The Second Great Awakening,” “The Awakening’s Impact,” “Mormonism,” “The Cult of Domesticity,” “Women and Work”)

• Chapter 12: An Age of Reform

Nancy Cott, “Feminism and the Private World of Women” (linked to on GauchoSpace)

Majewski, et al., Primary Source Reader, pp. 9-26

• Doc. 3: Godey’s Lady’s Book Promotes Domestic Ideology

• Doc. 4: Sarah Grimke Calls for Greater Equality

• Doc. 5: The Seneca Falls Convention Advocates Complete Equality

• Doc. 6: Sojourner Truth Links Women’s Rights to Antislavery

III. Slavery and Race

Jan. 25: Southern Society and Proslavery Ideology (Receive Topics for Paper #1)

Jan. 27: Slave Culture in the Antebellum South

Readings for Discussion Section Week 3:

Foner, Give Me Liberty

• Chapter 11: The Peculiar Institution

Douglass, Narrative of the Life of a Slave

Majewski, et al., Primary Source Reader, pp. 31-35

• Doc. 7: William Lloyd Garrison Calls for Immediate Abolition of Slavery

• Doc. 8: George Fitzhugh Attacks Wage Labor

IV. The Coming of the Civil War

Jan. 30: Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War

Feb. 1: Sectionalism, the Republic Party, and the Tumultuous Politics of the 1850s

Feb. 3: The Politics of Secession: Then and Now

Readings for Discussion Section Week 4:

Foner, Give Me Liberty

• Chapter 13: A House Divided

Majewski, et al., Primary Source Reader, pp. 39-59

• Doc. 9:William Seward Calls for Support of the New Republican Party

• Doc. 10: Hinton Rowan Helper Attacks Slavery

• Doc. 11: Republicans Adopt Anti-Slavery Platform

• Doc. 12: South Carolinians Justify Secession

V. Civil War and Reconstruction

Feb. 6: The Civil War as Total War (Paper #1 Due)

Feb. 8: Who Freed the Slaves?

Feb. 10: Reconstruction, Part I

Readings for Discussion Section Week 5:

Foner, Give Me Liberty

• Chapter 14: The Civil War

• Chapter 15: Reconstruction

Majewski, et al., Primary Source Reader, pp. 63-88

• Doc. 13: Refugees from Slavery Flood Northern Lines

• Doc. 14: Lincoln’s Position on Slavery Gradually Changes

• Doc. 15: Frederick Douglass Advocates Suffrage for African Americans

• Doc. 16: “Emancipation” by Thomas Nast

PART II

THE INCORPORATION OF AMERICA

VI. The West and the Rise of Big Business

Feb. 13: Reconstruction, Part II: Was Reconstruction a Failure?

Feb. 15: Cultural Conflict and Dispossession in the West

Feb. 17: The Rise of Big Business (Receive Topics for Paper #2)

Readings for Discussion Section Week 6:

Foner, Give Me Liberty

• Chapter 16: America’s Gilded Age (pp. 475-498; sections on “The Second Industrial Revolution,” “The Transformation of the West,” “Politics in a Gilded Age”)

Majewski, et al., Primary Source Reader, pp. 93-110

• Doc. 17: Frederick Jackson Turner Outlines the “Frontier Thesis”

• Doc. 18: J. Q. Smith Proposes New Indian Policy

• Doc. 19: Chief Joseph Speaks for His People

• Doc. 20: Homesteads for Freedmen

Harmon, “American Indians and Land Monopolies in Gilded Age” (linked to on GauchoSpace)

VII. Labor, Capital, and Immigration

Feb. 20: HOLIDAY—NO CLASS!!

Feb. 22: “Eight Hours for What We Will”: Labor and Leisure

Feb. 24: Immigration and Exclusion

Readings for Discussion Section Week 7:

Foner, Give Me Liberty

• Chapter 16: America’s Gilded Age (pp. 498-506; sections on “Freedom in the Gilded Age,” “Labor and the Republic”)

Majewski, et al., Primary Source Reader, pp. 113-128

• Doc. 21: William Graham Sumner Opposes Reform

• Doc. 22: Andrew Carnegie Defends the Accumulation of Wealth

• Doc. 23: Union Leaders Debate “Pure and Simple” Unionism

John, “Robber Barons Redux: Antimonopoly Reconsidered” (linked to on GauchoSpace)

PART III

POPULISM AND PROGRESSIVISM: CONTESTED VISIONS OF

THE NATION AND AMERICAN GLOBAL POWER

VIII. Radical (and not so Radical) Responses to Corporate America

Feb. 27: The Populist Response to Big Business

Mar. 1: Varieties of Progressivism and the Growth of the State

Mar. 3: The Triangle Fire and the Limitations of Progressive Reform (Paper #2 Due)

Readings for Discussion Section Week 8:

Foner, Give Me Liberty

• Chapter 17: Freedom’s Boundaries, at Home and Abroad (pp. 509-516; section on “The Populist Challenge”)

• Chapter 18: The Progressive Era

Majewski, et al., Primary Source Reader, pp. 133-163

• Doc. 24: Populists Put Forth Reform Agenda

• Doc. 25: Theodore Roosevelt Articulates a New Nationalism

• Doc. 26: Jane Addams Analyzes the Motivations of the Settlement House Movement

• Doc. 27: Jacob Riis Exposes Poverty in New York City

• Doc. 28: Anzia Yezierska Describes Conflict between Immigrants and Reformers

IX. Racial Ideology, Nativism, and Progressive Reform

Mar. 6: Southern Progressivism and African American Responses to Jim Crow

Mar. 8: Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism

Mar. 10: Prohibition and Pressure Politics

Readings for Discussion Section Week 9:

Foner, Give Me Liberty

• Chapter 17: Freedom’s Boundaries, at Home and Abroad (pp. 517-541; sections on “The Segregated South,” “Redrawing the Boundaries,” “Becoming a World Power”)

Majewski, et al., Primary Source Reader, pp. 167-183

• Doc. 29: Booker T. Washington Advocates Economic Advancement

• Doc. 30: W. E. B. DuBois Criticizes Booker T. Washington

• Doc. 31: Idea B. Wells Condemns Lynching

X. World War I: the Culmination of Progressive Reform?

Mar. 13: Women’s Suffrage and the Politics of War and Peace

Mar. 15: State Power and Wartime Citizenship

Mar. 17: “Safe for Democracy”?: The Contested Meanings of Freedom

Readings for Discussion Section Week 10:

Foner, Give Me Liberty

• Chapter 19: Safe for Democracy: The U.S. and WWI

Majewski, et al., Primary Source Reader, pp. 187-199

• Doc. 32: Elizabeth Cady Stanton Justifies Complete Equality

• Doc. 33: Jane Addams Extends Domestic Ideology to Municipal Government

• Doc. 34: Belle Kearney Equates Suffrage with White Supremacy

Mar. 20: Final Exam, 8:00-11:00am, Music Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall

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