COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will investigate the origins of the American Republic from the American Revolution to 1820.
REQUIREMENTS:
Students are required to attend and to participate in class and to complete all reading and writing assignments and exams. All students are required to activate their Loyola e-mail accounts by the second week of the semester unless they have their own account through an ISP. Every student MUST subscribe to the class listserv. Instructions on subscribing to the listserv will be distributed in class.
REQUIRED READINGS:
Ketcham, ed., The Antifederalist Papers
Norton, Liberty's Daughters
Appelby, Capitalism and the New Social Order
Reed, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings
Lewis, Devoto, eds., The Journals of Lewis and Clark
Additional internet readings will be assigned on a weekly basis. If you do not have a PC, you may use the facilities available on campus, especially the Humanities Lab BO 448.
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Students are required to attend all classes. I will allow four absences. Upon the fifth absence ten points (one letter grade) will be deducted from the student’s final grade with an additional ten point deduction for each further absence. Tardiness will not be tolerated. Students who are habitually late will be informed by me as such after which time their late arrivals will be counted as absences. Students who miss two classes or are tardy more than twice in the first four weeks of the semester will be cited for “irregular attendance” on the early warning rosters that I return to the Dean’s office. Those students or their parents will receive early warning letters from the Dean.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Students will be required to write three short (3-5 pp.) papers based on their assigned readings. These assignments are to be double-spaced typewritten essays based on original work. Students will also be required to write a final research paper for the course. Periodic in class and e-mail writing exercises based on assigned readings will also be required. Students will also be required to take a final exam (in essay format).
MAKE-UP TESTS AND EXTENSIONS:
Make-up tests and/or extensions will be allowed only in extraordinary circumstances. To receive permission for a make-up test or paper extension, the student must contact me BEFORE the scheduled test or assignment deadline except in cases of emergency.
GRADING:
Grades will be assessed on a standard ten point scale (90-100=A, 87-89=B+, 80 86.9=B, etc., 59 or below = F. The three short papers will be worth 30% (10% each) of your final grade; in-class and e-mail writing assignments together will be worth 5%; the mid-term exam will be worth 15%, the final exam will be worth 20%, and class participation will be worth 10%, and the final research paper will be worth 20%. The in-class writings and email will receive a check “*” or an “x.” The cumulative number of *’s and x’s will be used to determine your numerical grade for the in-class exercises. My subjective assessment of your class participation will be the basis of that grade.
INTEGRITY OF SCHOLARSHIP AND GRADES:
Please read the “Integrity of Scholarship and Grades” statement on pp. 45-46 of the Undergraduate Bulletin. Any student caught plagiarizing or cheating will receive an “F” for the course and the incident will be reported in writing to the Dean.
REVISION OF SYLLABUS:
I reserve the right to revise this syllabus at any time during the semester.
ASSIGNMENTS AND DEADLINES:
N. B. Ward's The American Revolution has just gone out of print and will not be available to us. Accordingly, I've added some supplemental readings from JSTOR to cover some of that territory.
Week One (January 16-18):
Read Fred Anderson's "A Peoples Army" for discussion on January 18.
Week Two (January 23-25):
Read Gordon S. Wood's "Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution" for January 25.
Week Three (January 30-February 1):
Read Edmund S. Morgan's "Puritan Ethic" essay for discussion for February 3.
Week Four (February 6-8):
Norton, Liberty's Daughters due February 8.
First Short Paper: Write a three to five-page analysis of the evolution of the concept of an American in the Revolutionary period based on your assigned readings. Due February 8.
Week Five (February 13-15):
Week Six (February 20-22):
Mid-term exam February 22.
Week Seven (Happy Mardi Gras Holidays!):
Week Eight (March 6-8):
Ketcham, ed., The Antifederalist Papers due March 8. Second Short essay: Write a three to five-page essay discussing the range of Antifederalist ideas.
Week Nine (March 13-15):
Week Ten (March 20-22):
Appleby, Capitalism and the New Social Order, class discussion March 22
e-mail assignment: (3-5 paragraphs to be posted on the class listserv) discuss the role of material concerns in the emergence of the American republic. March 22.
Week Eleven (March 27-29):
Week Twelve (April 3-5):
Gordon Reed, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings due April 5.
e-mail Assignment: Choose one of the following topics and post a 3-5 paragraph analysis on the listserv. 1. Moral implications of the relationship between Hemings and Jefferson. 2. DNA as historical evidence. April 5.
Week Thirteen (April 10) Happy Easter!:
Research paper workshop: Students will discuss the progress of their research to date. Dr. F will be available for consultation.
Week Fourteen (April 17-19):
Third short essay due April 17: Write a brilliant essay (3-5pp.) on
the question of the importance of personalities and ideas in the early
republic base your analysis on your readings in Ketcham, Appleby, and Gordon
Reed.
Week Fifteen (April 24-26):
De Voto, ed., Journals of Lewis and Clark due April 26.
E-mail assignment: post a 3-5 paragraph analysis on the class listserv of how the Lewis and Clark writings change the conception of the American republic.
Research presentations begin April 26.
Week Sixteen (May 1-3):
Research presentations.
All research papers due May 3.
FINAL EXAM MAY 10, 11:30-1:30