City College of New York

Spring 2012

Development of the U.S. and its People

USSO 10100 Section T Instructor: Alan Strauber e-mail: nickisteacher@live.com Office hours: Tues 5:30 - 6: 30PM and by appointment Office location - North Academic Center 5 -133 Tues & Thurs 6:30 - 7:45 PM North Academic Center 6-111

General Education and US Society Proficiencies

As part of the Colleges General Education Curriculum, this course is designed to enhance your understanding of the development of U.S. society and how it is studied. Students successfully completing this course will develop the following proficiencies: Oral and written communication skills (CS) You will have had multiple experiences in communicating ideas in writing and speaking. You will complete assignments totaling at least 3500 words of writing. Perspectives on U.S. History and Society (H) and Critical analysis (CA) You will have obtained knowledge of selected events and key topics in the development of U.S. society and become familiar with the various tools and analytic approaches for the study of U.S. society. You will have a strong understanding of major issues, themes and events and how they are interconnected in the development of American society. Information literacy (IL) You will have had multiple experiences in finding information in the library, on the Internet, and in other places, and in evaluating the reliability of this information. This includes analysis of primary and secondary sources. Required Books (these books are available for purchase at the CCNY bookstore or online): Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! An American History, W.W. Norton, Complete Seagull Third Edition, Paperback. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Dover Publications, Dover Thrift Editions, Paperback. Recommended Book (available through the CUNY library system or online): Gaddis, John Lewis, The Cold War: A New History, Penguin, Paperback. GROUND RULES - Be on time. Come to class prepared to discuss assigned readings. Repeated lateness shows lack of respect for your classmates and your instructor. Entering a classroom late is disruptive. Repeated lateness will be considered in your participation grade and reflected in your final grade for the course. According to College rules, any student who misses four meetings without permission will fail the course.

- Please hand in required papers on time. Paper due dates will be enforced. Late papers will be penalized a half grade (i.e., from B+ to B) for every class the paper is late. You should work for the best grade possible! - The final exam is a requirement for this course. Students may reschedule an exam ONLY if they have more than two examinations on the same day. There will also be quizzes given regularly on assigned readings. - The College expectation is that all course requirements will be completed during the semester. Incomplete grades are discouraged. - Plagiarism will not be tolerated. If the words or ideas you are using in a paper are not your own, be sure to cite properly, as we will discuss in class. Infractions will be dealt with accordingly and could result in academic sanctions. See the following: (http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/upload/academicintegrity.pdf). - Students with special needs should notify the instructor as early as possible in the semester so that appropriate accommodations can be arranged. - Final Grades will be calculated as follows: Informed participation, attendance, on-time record 20% Quizzes and Papers 50% Final Exam 30% Blackboard Readings - YOU MUST HAVE ACCESS TO BLACKBOARD FOR THIS COURSE. Supplemental text and links to readings, video and audio assignments will be posted on Blackboard under Course Documents. Blackboard assignments are referenced in the schedule below. If you do not have access to a computer or the internet, online resources are available for you in the College library. Papers There will be 3 papers required this semester. Papers should be 4 - 5 pages, double spaced using 11 point font and contain a bibliography on a separate page. Bibliography and citations must be formatted according to the Citation and Bibliography Guide posted on Blackboard. Citations in the body of the paper are acceptable. Failure to properly cite sources will result in a reduction of your grade for the assignment. Additional source materials are encouraged but MUST BE APPROVED BY THE INSTRUCTOR. E-mail the title and author of the book or website to the instructor at the above e-mail address for approval. First Paper Due Tues Feb 14 Summarize one of the primary source documents listed below, put it into historical context (using information from your Foner textbook and relevant class notes), and include your own analysis of the document. Choose one of these documents for your paper topic (search for the title on one of the 2 websites): Avalon Project Yale Law School http://avalon.law.yale.edu 1) Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by their Catholic Majesties to Christopher Columbus 2) Penns Charter of Libertie 3) Charter of the Dutch West India Company 4) The First Charter of Virginia 5) The Charter of Maryland OR History Matters CUNY Graduate Center/George Mason University http://historymatters.gmu.edu/ 6) We took great store of Codfish and called it Cape Cod.

7) Carried Thence for Trafficke of the West Indies Five Hundred Negroes 8) What You Can Get By Warre: Powhatten Exchanges Views With Captain John Smith. 9) The Great Awakening Comes to Weathersfield 10) Work and labor in this new and wild land are very hard 11) Metacom Relates Indian Complaints about the English Settlers Second Paper Due Th Mar 22 - Topic: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Read the book and address the question: What can we learn about slavery from the life of Frederick Douglass? Third Paper Due Th May 10 - Topic: Why was it called the Cold War? Was it really a "war"? If so, was there a victor? Recommended source: Gaddis, John Lewis, The Cold War: A New History, Penguin, Paperback. CLASS SCHEDULE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS All reading assignments are required. Come to each class prepared to discuss the assigned material. 1) Tu Jan 31 - Introduction The Study of History. 2) Th Feb 2 Primary and Secondary Sources - Welcome to America - Early Exploration and English Colonization - text pp. 16 24. 3) Tu Feb 7 - Early English Colonization cont'd - Colonial America - text pp 47 65 top Blackboard: Jamestown Census. 4) Th Feb 9 - Colonial America cont'd New England and New Amsterdam text pp 65 82 top, 39 bot to 43, 88 97. 5) Tu Feb 14 - FIRST PAPER DUE - Colonial America and the Great Awakening text pp 108 121 top, 126 127, 150 161. 6) Th Feb 16 Road to Revolution - Handout: Boston Tea Party text Chapter 5 entire NO CLASS - TU FEB 21 7) Th Feb 23 - Quiz on Readings to date Jefferson and Slavery Notes on the State of Virginia 8) Tu Feb 28 Early Republic Handout: Jefferson letter to Madison text pp 226 245, 247 - 258 9) Th Mar 1 Early Republic contd Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian Visions for America - text pp 258 279, 294 - 311 10) Tu Mar 6 War of 1812 Market Revolution Jacksonian America text pp 311 315, 317 337. 11) Th Mar 8 Jacksonian America contd text pp 375 389, American Indians and Indian Removal Blackboard: Andrew Jacksons 1830 State of the Union Address. 12) Tu Mar 13 Slavery: The Peculiar Institution text chapter 11 - entire

13) Th Mar 15 Civil War text pp 483 - 501 14) Tu Mar 20 Civil War contd and Reconstruction text pp 517 525, 546 - 583 - Black Codes and Ku Klux Klan Handouts on each 15) Th Mar 22 SECOND PAPER DUE Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion Plight of Native Americans on the Great Plains text pp 596 - 609 16) Tu Mar 27 The Rise of the Corporation and the Gilded Age Blackboard: Gospel of Wealth text pp 585 - 596 17) Th Mar 29 Quiz on Readings Gilded Age contd Politics Tammany Hall text pp 609 bot 617 bot 18) Tu Apr 2 Immigration and Progressivism text pp 650 652 bot, 672 693 bot. 19) Th Apr 5 Progressivism contd text pp 694 712. NO CLASS TU APR 10 or TH APR 12 20) Tu Apr 17 WWI, Roaring 20s and the Great Depression text pp 736 755, 757 774. 21) Th Apr 19 Great Depression contd, Franklin Roosevelt text pp 774 - 793 22) Tu Apr 24 New Deal chapter 21 entire 23) Th Apr 26 Quiz on Readings - WWII, Atomic Bomb, Origins of the Cold War text pp 861 middle 877. 24) Tu May 1 Cold War Foreign Policy text pp 879 896, Blackboard: Marshall Plan. 25) Th May 3 Cold War: Domestic and Foreign McCarthy and HUAC Anti-Communist Hearings text pp 896 912. 26) Tu May 8 Civil Rights Movement text pp 942 952, 958 - 962 - Blackboard: Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, Blackboard: Lyndon Johnson White House tapes: Phone Conversation with Martin Luther King 27) Th May 10 THIRD PAPER DUE - The Sixties - Challenge to the Status Quo text pp 965 bot 973 bot, 977 987, 997 - 1001 28) Tu May 15 - Reagan to Obama - Overview to the Present - Final Exam Discussion text chapter 26 entire

FINAL EXAM TUESDAY MAY 22

6:00 7:30PM