This course is a broad survey of political, economic, diplomatic, and military developments in the American colonies and the U.S. from discovery through the Civil War. Reform movements, religious trends, westward expansion, slavery and sectional conflict, and the causes and results of wars are among the many topics considered.
Folk music is used to display American attitudes and give a feel for historical time and place.
Three exams spaced evenly. Main emphasis of this course will be on race relations, sectional conflict, and the political and economic development of the new nation. This course will make extensive use of the internet. All required assignments and most optional assignments will be web-based. Internet links will give students direct access to a vast collection of required and optional primary source materials in both graphic and text form.