This course is an introduction to the history of the United States from the beginning of the European colonization of North America to the end of the Civil War. It is also an introduction to the ways historians look at the past and think about evidence. There are two main themes: one is to understand the origin of the "groups" we call European-Americans, Native-Americans, and African-Americans; the second, is to understand how democratic political institutions emerged in the United States in this period in the context of an economy that depended on slave labor and violent land acquisition.

This course introduces the history of North America through the era of Reconstruction. Usually U.S. history surveys follow the expanding sphere of English colonization; that is, the geographic scope of the course widens as English speakers occupy more and more of the continent. The problem with this approach is that it consigns everyone else to the margins, as if they were merely waiting for English-speakers to bring history to them. We’ll pursue a different approach. Our unit of analysis will be the continent. English colonies will emerge as part of a larger international system, one comprised of Spanish, Dutch, and French colonies, and, especially, of the scores of indigenous polities that controlled most of the continent for most of the period we’ll be studying. Major themes will include slavery, Native American history, inter-imperial rivalry, revolution, inequality, democracy, white supremacy, and the economic and political development of the early United States. Primary sources will be the main focus of weekly readings and of the two paper assignments. The midterm and final exams will assess your ability to mobilize material from lecture in the service of historical arguments. Lectures will be remote and asynchronous. Success in this class requires command of the lecture material, but the asynchronous format will mean you can watch them on your own weekly schedule. Attendance in discussion sections is required, so please choose a section time that you can attend. Free digital versions of three of the required texts—The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca, They Were Her Property, and Attitudes Toward Sex in Antebellum America—will be available via bCourses.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills