Mission and Method

This course will introduce you to the history of the United States from pre colonial times to 1877.  It will cover basic facts, concepts, and themes, concentrating on migration, diversity, and individual freedom as special features of the early American experience. It will teach you what it means to study history and why history is an important subject in modern times.  At the end of the course students should be able to recognize a historical argument when they see one, be familiar with the most important people, ideas, and events of early American history, and understand their significance for today.  They should be able to write a short historical essay using facts to support a generalization.

Students in this course will participate actively in their education.  They will engage the instructor and each other in classroom discussion and write regularly about what they are studying.  They will use primary source materials relevant to course content and apply what they learn from studying those materials to course lectures, readings, reports and discussions.

For details consult the Blackboard course's Blackboard web site.

Class Schedule of Lectures and Assignments: Fall 2009