U.S. History to 1877

A PDF syllabus is available here.

Week 1

Mon Aug 24     Course Introduction
Wed Aug 26     Europe, Africa, & the Americas before 1492
Fri Aug 28        The Spanish Conquest & Columbian Exchange

Week 2
Mon Aug 31       Imperial Conflict & the Prelude to English Colonization
Wed Sept 2       Chesapeake Colonization
Fri Sept 4          New England Colonization

Week 3
Mon Sept 7        Labor Day (No Class)
Wed Sept 9        The Eastern Indians’ New World
Fri Sept 11         The Imperial Slave Economy

Week 4
Mon Sept 14      British Imperial Government in North America
Wed Sept 16      The Enlightenment & Great Awakening
Fri Sept 18         The French & Indian War

Week 5
Mon Sept 21      Growing Colonial Discontent, 1763-70
Wed Sept 23      The Emergence of Patriot Ideology, 1770-76
Fri Sept 25         The Declaration of Independence

Week 6
Mon Sept 28      The American Revolution, 1776-81
Wed Sept 30      The Confederation, 1781-89
Fri Oct 2            Making the U.S. Constitution, 1785-90

Week 7
Mon Oct 5         Jeffersonian & Hamiltonian Visions of the United States
Wed Oct 7         Westward Expansion
Fri Oct 9            Jeffersonian Republicanism in the 1800s

Week 8
Mon Oct 12       Columbus Day (No Class)
Wed Oct 14       James Madison & the War of 1812
Fri Oct 16          Midterm Exam

Week 9
Mon Oct 19       Nationalism & Sectionalism, 1815-1820
Wed Oct 21       The Growth of Democracy, 1820-1828
Fri Oct 23          The Emergence of Northern Industry

Week 10
Mon Oct 26       The Market Revolution & Its Social Impact
Wed Oct 28       The Jacksonian Era, 1829-1841
Fri Oct 30          Immigration, Labor, & Urban Life

Week 11
Mon Nov 2         Revivalism & Reform in the Age of the Market Revolution
Wed Nov 4         Southern Slavery & Resistance: Discussion of Oates, Fires of Jubilee
Fri Nov 6            The Spread of the Southern “Cotton Kingdom”

Week 12
Mon Nov 9         Women’s & Abolitionism Movements
Wed Nov 11       Veterans Day (No Class)
Fri Nov 13          Manifest Destiny & the Texas Question

Week 13
Mon Nov 16       The Mexican War & Its Aftermath
Wed Nov 18       The Growing Crisis of Union in the 1850s
Fri Nov 20          Secession, Unionism, & the Outbreak of Civil War

Week 14
Mon Nov 23       Emancipation
Wed Nov 25       Turning the Tide in the Civil War
Fri Nov 27          Thanksgiving Holiday (No Class)

Week 15
Mon Nov 30       Presidential Reconstruction, 1863-66
Wed Dec 2         Congressional Reconstruction, 1867-77
Fri Dec 4            Shining a Light Beyond 1877: Legacies of the Nation’s First Century

Wed Dec 9         Final Exam (8:30-10:30 a.m.)