American Republic, 1788-1850

Purpose of the Course:

The purpose of this course is four-fold: first, to introduce you to major themes in the history of the American Republic; second, to develop your critical abilities as historians; third, to familiarize you with a variety of primary sources and voices from the past; and fourth, to develop your knowledge of the current trends of historical writing about the period.

Course Requirements:

All students are required to attend class meetings and take part actively in class discussions. Written work will require students to synthesize readings, lectures, films, and discussions. Seminar participants must also read and assimilate assigned readings, and be prepared to discuss the readings on the schedule listed below. Please note that some of the films will be viewed outside of class; copies will be on reserve at the AV library, or may also be available for loan from the professor. Students will submit all assignments on time; late assignments will only be accepted by prior arrangement with the professor. Plagiarism and other forms of intellectual dishonesty or sloth will not be tolerated.
          A Note About Academic Integrity: Integrity is fundamental to the academic enterprise. It is violated by acts such as borrowing or purchasing term papers, essays, reports, and other written assignments; submitting the same work for credit in more than one course; using concealed notes or crib sheets during examinations; copying others' work and submitting it as one's own; and misappropriating the knowledge of others. The sources from which one derives one's ideas, statements, terms, and data must be fully and specifically acknowledged in the appropriate form; failure to do so, intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes plagiarism. Violations of academic integrity may result in failure in the course and in disciplinary actions with penalties such as suspension or dismissal from the College.

Contacting the Professor:

My office is in 2N 203, and my office phone is 718-982-2869; I have office hours Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:15 to 3:15, Tuesdays 4:30-5:30, and by appointment. You may also reach me via email at lavender@mail.csi.cuny.edu.

Assignments:

A portfolio of informal essays and short writing assignments (75% of course grade)

A final paper, based on the analysis of an historical artifact of the period from 1788-1850 (25% of course grade)

The Artifact Assignment: Your final assignment for the course will be to analyze an artifact of the period 1788-1850 in a five- to seven-page essay. An artifact is any item produced in the United States during the period – including buildings, novels, paintings, coffeepots, advertisements, comic books, quilts, treaties, songs, cartoons, treatises, plays, operas, maps, inventions, among many other things. Once you have chosen an artifact, you will pursue two routes of research. First, you will do research in secondary sources (histories and the like) in order to tell the story of the artifact and to determine its significance. Second, you will find other primary sources – published or unpublished – to shed light on the history of the artifact that you have chosen.

          For further assistance in preparing your paper, see the guidelines for writing a research paper (at http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/researchessay.html) and the guides to footnote (http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/footnote.html) and bibliography (http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/bibliography.html) citation.

Required Texts:

Course Reader (CR), passed out in class.

In addition, you should obtain a good survey of the history of the early republic to provide context and background as we go through the semester. I recommend George Brown Tindall’s America: A Narrative History, but any other in-depth scholarly survey of the period will do.

	January 27 Monday	Introduction to the Course
	January 29 Wednesday	Colonial and Revolutionary Inheritances
	Readings: U.S. Constitution; visit the National Archives site about the Constitution (which includes a scan of the original text): http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution.html

	February 3 Monday	Creating a Nation
	February 5 Wednesday	Federalism and the First Party System
	Readings: "The First American Party System: The Philadelphia Congressional Election of 1794" (CR).

	February 10 Monday	The New Republic and the World
	February 12 Wednesday	College Closed
	Readings: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, "Martha Ballard and Her Girls: Women's Work in Eighteenth-Century Maine," in Stephen Innes, ed., Work and Labor in Early America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988) (CR).

	February 17 Monday	College Closed
	February 19 Wednesday	The Missouri Compromise and the Specter of Sectionalism
	Readings: "The Clash of Political Philosophies: The Debate over Universal Suffrage in New York (1821)" (CR).

	February 24 Monday	Jacksonian Democracy
	February 26 Wednesday	The Domestic Republic
	Readings: Theda Purdue, "Domesticating the Natives: Southern Indians and the Cult of True Womanhood" (CR).

	March 3 Monday	The Market Revolution: Economic Transformations I
	March 5 Wednesday	The Market Revolution: Economic Transformations II
	Readings: Paul G. E. Clemens and Lucy Simler, "Rural Labor and the Farm Household in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1650-1820," in Stephen Innes, ed., Work and Labor in Early America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988) (CR).

	March 10 Monday	The Market Revolution: Social Transformations I
	March 12 Wednesday	The Market Revolution: Social Transformations II
	Readings: "Away from Home: The Working Girls of Lowell" (CR); C. Lavender, Liberty Rhetoric (http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/americanstudies/liberty.html).

	March 17 Monday	The Market Revolution: Political Transformations I
	March 19 Wednesday	The Market Revolution: Political Transformations II
	Readings: Sean Wilentz, "Artisan Republican Festivals and the Rise of Class Conflict in New York City, 1788-1837," in Working-Class America: Essays on Labor, Community, and American Society, ed. Michael H. Frisch and Daniel J. Walkowitz (University of Illinois Press, 1983): 37-77 (CR).

	March 24 Monday	The Second Great Awakening and Abolitionism
	March 26 Wednesday	Seneca Falls
	Readings: Mary Ryan, "A Woman's Awakening: Evangelical Religion and the Families of Utica, New York, 1800-1840," American Quarterly 30 (Winter 1978): 602-623. (CR).

	March 31 Monday	The Worlds The Slaveholders Made I
	April 2 Wednesday	The Worlds The Slaveholders Made II
	Readings: James Oakes, "Slaveholders in Legend and Reality” (CR).

	April 7 Monday	The Worlds The Slaves Made I
	April 9 Wednesday	The Worlds The Slaves Made II
	Readings: Herbert G. Gutman, "A Bicultural Model of Slave Behavior" (CR).

	April 14 Monday	Narratives of Resistance and Resilience I
	April 15 Tuesday	Classes follow a Wednesday Schedule; Narratives of Resistance and Resilience II
	Readings: "The ‘Peculiar Institution’: Slaves Tell Their Own Story" (CR).

	April 16-24 Wed.-Thurs. Spring Recess

	April 28 Monday	Westward Expansion I
	April 30 Wednesday	Westward Expansion II
	Readings: John Mack Faragher, "Men's and Women's Work on the Overland Trail" (CR).

	May 5 Monday	Manifest Destiny
	May 7 Wednesday	The Mexican-American War
	Readings: "War and Manifest Destiny: A Problem in Causation" (CR).

	May 12 Monday	Expansion and the Impending Crisis
	May 14 Wednesday	Summing Up
	May 19 Monday	Final Paper Due
	Readings: David Potter, "Portents of a Sectional Rift" (CR).