W1109: Main Currents of U.S. History,
1492-1877: Syllabus
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Readings
Books to purchase at Columbia University Bookstore
- Edmund Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom
- William Cronon, Changes in the Land
- Stanley N. Katz, et al, Colonial America, 4th ed.
- James Thomas Flexner, Washington the Indispensable Man
- Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass
- James C. Curtis, Andrew Jackson and the Search for
Vindication
- Oscar and Lillian Handlin, Abraham Lincoln and the
Union
To Purchase from the Village Copier (115th Street west of
Broadway)
Work of the Course
1. Less reading than normal is assigned in W1109 in order to
leave time for reflection and writing. At nearly all of the
weekly discussion sections, you are to hand in a brief,
one-to-three-page essay, reflecting on what you have read for
that week. The papers are not to summarize the reading, but to
present your afterthoughts on its meaning. Over the course of the
semester, you are to hand in nine essays, which, taking
into account the midterm exam and the weeks when no section
meets, means a paper for almost every section meeting.
There is no one right way to compose these essays. You may
take any number of approaches. What problems do the readings
raise? What contrasts suggest themselves? Are there common
themes? How do the materials for this week compare to work from
previous weeks?
The important thing is to make a point about life in the past
using the materials you have read or heard in lecture and
discussion. What were the material circumstances of existence?
What were the attitudes and beliefs manifest in the sources? What
problems did people face? The purpose of the papers is to develop
historical imagination--not to pursue flights of fancy, but to
work at recovering what life was like based on the source
materials remaining to us. The essays should make direct
reference to your reading, especially to the primary sources in
"Readings for W1109".
2. The midterm and final examinations will cover the reading,
discussions, and lectures. The final, though comprehensive, will
emphasize work in the second half of the course.
3. If you are not content with your grades on the essays or on
the hour exam, you can improve your standing by writing an
additional essay of three to five pages, treating any combination
of materials you choose. You should work out a topic with your
section leader before you get started.
Grading
Grades on the various portions of the course work will be
weighed roughly in the following proportions.
- 20% Participation in the weekly discussion sections.
- 30% The nine essays to be handed in at the discussion
sections. The papers on a week's reading are due at the
section meeting for that week. Grades will be lowered on
late papers.
- 20% The midterm examination
- 30% The final examination
Readings and Lectures
Week of September 1
Lectures
- Native American Culture
- North America in 1650
Readings
- Alfred W. Crosby, "Virgin Soil Epidemics in the
Aboriginal Depopulation in America," in Katz, Colonial
America, 3-14.
- William Cronon, Changes in the Land, chs. 1-4.
- Edmund Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom,
chs. 1-5.
Week of September 8
Lectures
- English Village Life
- Chesapeake Society
Readings
- Russell R. Menard, "From Servant to Freeholder:
Status Mobility and Property Accumulation in
Seventeenth-Century Maryland," in Katz, Colonial
America, 41-65.
- Lois G. Carr and Lorena S. Walsh, "The Planter's
Wife: The Experience of White Women in
Seventeenth-Century Maryland," in Katz, Colonial
America, 66-95.
- Edmund Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom,
chs. 6-10.
Week of September 15
Lectures
- New England
- Native Americans and Europeans at War
Readings
- William Cronon, Changes in the Land, chs. 5-8.
- Virginia DeJohn Anderson, "Migrants and Motives:
Religion and the Settlement of New England,
1630-1640," in Katz, Colonial America,
96-130.
- Daniel K. Richter, "War and Culture: The Iroquois
Experience," in Katz, Colonial America,
201-233.
- In Readings for W1109: Mary Rowlandson, "A Narrative
of the Captivity".
Week of September 22
Lectures
- The Great Awakening
- Slavery
Readings
- Rhys Isaac, "Evangelical Revolt: The Nature of the
Baptists' Challenge to the Traditional Order in Virginia,
1765-1775," in Katz, Colonial America,
639-662.
- Leigh Eric Schmidt, "'The Grand Prophet,' Hugh
Bryan: Early Evangelisms' Challenge to the Establishment
and Slavery in the Colonial South," in Katz, Colonial
America, 604-616.
- Philip D. Morgan, "Work and Culture: The Task System
and the World of Lowcountry Blacks, 1700 to 1800,"
in Katz, Colonial America, 486-522.
- Edmund Morgan, "Slavery and Freedom: The American
Paradox," in Katz, Colonial America, 263-287.
- In Readings for W1109: "The Spiritual Travels of
Nathan Cole", and Olaudah Equiano, "The Horrors
of the Middle Passage,".
Week of September 29
Lectures
- Gentility
- Colonial Government
Readings
- T.H. Breen, "An Empire of Goods: The Anglicization
of Colonial America," in Katz, Colonial America,
367-397.
- Nathan Hatch, "The Origins of Civil Millennialism in
America: New England Clergymen, War with France, and the
Revolution," in Katz, Colonial America,
617-638.
- James Thomas Flexner, Washington, chs. 1-5.
- In Readings for W1109: George Washington's Rules of
Civility; Alexander Hamilton, Itinerarium; An
Essay upon the Government of the English Plantations on
the Continent of America; Jeremiah Dummer, A
Defence of the New-England Charters.
Week of October 6
Lectures
Readings
- James Thomas Flexner, Washington, chs. 8-23.
- In Readings for W1109: George Sims, "An Address to
the People of Granville County"; and Thomas
Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British
America.
Week of October 13
Lectures
Readings
- James Thomas Flexner, Washington, chs. 26-28.
- In Readings for W1109: Richard Henry Lee, Letters from
a Federal Farmer, and James Madison, "Federalist
Ten" Hour Exam: October 16 in class
Week of October 20
Lectures
- Industrialization
- The Middle Class
Readings
- In Readings for W1109: Alexander Hamilton, Report on
Manufactures; Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia;
Harriet Martineau and Frances Trollope, Lot of the Woman.
Week of October 27
Lectures
Readings
- In Readings for W1109: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eighty
Years and More; Letters of Mary Paul; Samuel Seabury,
Moneygripe's Apprentice; Trades' Union National
Convention, "Fifth and Last Day"; Philip Hone, Diary.
Week of November 3
Lectures
- November 4, Election Day holiday
- West and South
Readings
- James Curtis, Andrew Jackson, chs. 1-3.
- Oscar and Lillian Handlin, Abraham Lincoln, chs.
1-2.
- In Readings for W1109: Horace Bushnell, "Barbarism
the First Danger"; Caroline M. Kirkland on Western
Life; Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin;
John Walker, Notes from the Diary of John Walker.
Week of November 10
Lectures
- Andrew Jackson
- Plantation and Slavery
Readings
- James Curtis, Andrew Jackson, chs. 4-9.
- Oscar and Lillian Handlin, Abraham Lincoln, ch. 3.
- In Readings for W1109: Andrew Jackson, The Bank Veto;
John L. O'Sullivan, "The Democratic Principle".
Week of November 17
Lectures
- Plantations and Slavery
- Slavery and Politics
Readings
- Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass.
- In Readings for W1109: James Henry Hammond, A Southern
Senator Justifies Slavery; George Fitzhugh, The Counter
Current, or Slavery Principle; Richard Hildreth, Despotism
in America.
Week of November 24
Lectures
- Southern Secession
- November 26, Thanksgiving holiday
Readings
- Oscar and Lillian Handlin, Abraham Lincoln, chs.
4-7.
Week of December 1
Lectures
- The North and Union
- Civil War and Reconstruction
Readings
- In Readings for W1109: Abraham Lincoln, Addresses,
Letter, Proclamation.
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Copyright: Columbia University Department of History,
1997