The American Experience, 1607-1865

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa


Course Syllabus Integrated with the American Studies Crossroads Project
AMS 485, (W)

Course Description

This course is precisely what its title suggests. It examines the salient figures, events, issues, ideas, values, and experiences of the American peoples during the formative years of their social development. The class is designed to introduce the student to the various political, economic, religious, and social ideas that forged the creation of the American Republic, to trace the evolution of that society established in 1776 down to its attempted dissolution in 1861, to explore the principal groups who participated in and were effected by this evolution, and to examine the central conflicts and paradoxes of a society struggling to establish, define, and preserve itself in its earliest and most tenuous moments of existence.

Course Prerequisites

AMS 485 is a senior-level course intended primarily for American Studies majors. Non-majors are required to have 12 hours previous credit from the Department of American Studies or the permission of the instructor in order to take this course.

Course Requirements

A. Responsibilities--General:
By enrolling in this course you accept a few basic responsibilities beyond those outlined by the Sermon on the Mount, the American Constitution, and the SPCA Guide to Better Pet Grooming. The first is about attendance and is the simplest. Be there. On the appointed day. At the appropriate hour. Any other questions? Next, like any good boy/girl scout, be prepared. Follow the course outline contained in this syllabus, noting such pertinent things as examinations, due dates for written papers, and reading assignments. Allotted page numbers are to be read before the date assigned and will be the focus of class discussion on that day, meaning you should come to class having read the material and prepared to talk about it.

B. Responsibilities--Writing:
AMS 485 is a designated "W" or Writing Course, meaning "writing proficiency is required for a passing grade in this course." Such proficiency includes the ability to write coherent, logical, and carefully edited prose. Writing itself will be graded and commented upon and become part of the assigned grade. A student who does not write with the skill normally required of an upper division student in the discipline will not be given a passing grade, no matter how well the student performs other course requirements.

There will be two written assignments due in this class, the first to be handed in and graded prior to the mid- term exam and the second due in the latter part of the semester. See the Course Outline for due dates. Specific instructions as to the nature of the writing assignment will be handed out on a separate sheet by the instructor. Please be advised also that the instructor is not only required, he is willing and able to aid any one in any way possible in order to achieve the standard outlined in the policy statement above. Honest. He really means it. And if we can't get it ourselves, we'll find someone in the Writing Center to help.

Course Evaluation

Now the nitty gritty. Over the course of the term, each student will be responsible for all of the following: 2 papers, 2 exams, and consistent contributions to class discussion. Each is crucial to your overall performance (read grade), and all are of equal value. At the end of the term each student will be evaluated by taking an average of his/her written work, exam performance, and the quality, consistency, and frequency of classroom discussion contributions. So for all you numerologists, the figures break down like so:

2 papers @ 20% each=40%
2 exams @ 20% each=40%
discussion @ 20% =20%
------------------------------------
total=100%

As most of you are already aware, the University has implemented a plus-minus grading system as of this semester. The policy is outlined and explained both in the Schedule of Classes (p.109) and the 1994-96 Undergraduate Catalog (p.18), and will be utilized in this course.

Required Texts

Each student is required to obtain and will be held responsible for all or part of the material in the following texts:

  • Edmund Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia, (1975).
  • Laurel Ulrich, Good Wives: Image and Reality in the the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750, (1980).
  • Gordon Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, (1992).
  • John Kasson, Rudeness and Civility: Manners in 19th Century Urban America, (1990).
  • Carol Smith Rosenberg, Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America, (1985).
  • Lawrence Levine, Black Culture and Black Conciousness: Afro-American Thought From Slavery to Freedom, (1977).
  • Henry Nash Smith, Virgin Land: The American West as Myth and Symbol, (1950).
  • George Fredrickson, The Inner Civil War: Northern Intellectuals and the Crisis of Union, (1965).

Recommended Texts

Students are expected to have a working chronology of the American past, i.e., it is the presumption of the instructor that you already know the basic names, events, and dates of the early American experience, so no basic text has been assigned. You may, however, wish to refresh your memory, with an appropriate textbook or encyclopedia of American history. Also, since this is a writing course the instructor strongly advises that you pick yourself up any one of the numerous guides to better grammar available in libraries and book stores all over this great land of ours. The classic in the field is Strunk & White, The Elements of Style. Also useful is Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual. Hint: Find something, use it, and see me for suggestions and recommendations.

Tentative Course Schedule

Date: Assignment