DICKINSON COLLEGE
Department of History
History 247 Prof. Daniel K. Richter
American Colonial History Denny 122, x1206
MWF, 10:00 a.m. VAX e-mail: "RICHTER_D"
Fall 1993 Office Hrs.: MW 4:15-5:15
and by appointment
Course Description
History 247 explores North American history from the earliest contacts between Europeans and natives to 1763, the eve of the American Revolution. Particular attention is devoted to the interaction of Indian, European, and African peoples and cultures, to the rise of the British to a position of dominance, to the internal development of the Anglo-American colonies, and to the everyday lives of colonial Americans. Our goal is to understand the colonial period on its own terms, rather than as a mere prelude to "real" American history.
Format
Ordinarily, Mondays and Wednesdays will be devoted primarily to lectures and Fridays primarily to informal discussions. Apart from possible minor variations announced in advance, the schedule outlined below will be followed rigorously. You are responsible for completing assignments as listed.
Requirements and Grading Criteria
A mid-term exam on October 18 determines approximately 25% of your semester grade; a comprehensive final accounts for about 30%. Exams will include some "objective" items but consist mainly of broad essay questions that will give you an opportunity to pull together material from the lectures, readings, and discussions in an attempt to make some sense of North American colonial history.
You will write two 5-7 page reaction papers, worth about 15% each, on specified assigned readings. You may choose from several options for due dates and subjects for these assignments (see the attached schedule); if you write three papers, the lowest grade will be dropped. Papers must be typed or word-processed, double-spaced. Careful attention to scholarly standards of quotation and citation and to basic rules of grammar, spelling, and proofreading is essential. More specific instructions for these papers will be distributed early in the semester.
Participation in discussion determines the remaining 15% of your grade. Quality, not quantity, is the key factor in evaluation of your participation, and quality is difficult to achieve without regular attendance and active involvement. Active involvement requires proper preparation: you are expected to complete readings on time, to develop your own questions and comments prior to class, and to be ready to share your observations with your classmates.
Late Work
Except in cases of extreme hardship and by prior arrangement, extensions will not be granted for exams or paper assignments. Athletic contests, social events, Greek functions, work for other classes, travel plans, and romantic interludes do not constitute cases of extreme hardship. For late papers, penalties are assessed cumulatively as follows: same day, after class time: one-third letter grade; next day: one-third letter grade; each day thereafter: two-thirds letter grade. Penalties cease when the score reaches 50 points; thus it is always in your best interest to turn in an assignment, no matter how late.
Readings
The following are available in the College Store and are on reserve in Spahr Library. In these days of obscene book prices, students are particularly encouraged to use the latter resource.
Gary B. Nash, Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early North
America, 3d ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1991 [1974]).
(Earlier editions may be on library reserve; for specific
assignments, see the notes attached to the volumes.)
Readings in North American Colonial History (a collection of photocopies
of book chapters and journal articles).
Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony (Totowa,
N.J., 1984).
Virginia DeJohn Anderson, New England's Generation: The Great Migration
and the Formation of Society and Culture in the Seventeenth Century
(Cambridge, 1991).
T.H. Breen and Stephen Innes, "Myne Owne Ground": Race and Freedom on
Virginia's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676 (New York, 1980).
Robert C. Ritchie, Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates
(Cambridge, Mass., 1986).
Sally Schwartz, "A Mixed Multitude": The Struggle for Toleration in
Colonial Pennsylvania (New York, 1988).
The specific assignments listed in the attached schedule are of two types. Readings for discussion will be the focus of an entire class meeting; you should be prepared to participate actively in an informal conversation about the material. Background readings, while the subject of less intense in-class discussion, will be important for understanding the lectures and quite relevant at exam time.
SCHEDULE OF LECTURE TOPICS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
W. September 1: Introduction: Whose Colonial History?
I. THE INVASION OF AMERICA, c.1492-c.1630
F. September 3: North America, B.C.
Background reading: Nash, Red, White, and Black, Intro., Ch.1
M. September 6: The Native Peoples of 16th-Century North America W. September 8: The Native Peoples of Europe Seek "New Worlds" F. September 10: Spaniards and Indians in North America
Reading for discussion: David J. Weber, The Spanish Frontier
in North America (1992), pp. 14-106, 122-133, in
Readings collection
M. September 13: The Native Peoples of 16th-Century Britain
Background reading: Nash, Ch. 2 W. September 15: England Follows the Spanish Leader F. September 17: The Roanoke Colony Fiasco
Reading for discussion: Kupperman, Roanoke, entire
PAPER OPPORTUNITY 1 (due at class time)
M. September 20: The English Try Virginia Again
Background reading: Nash, Ch. 3 W. September 22: English and Indians at Jamestown F. September 24: Life and Death in the Jamestown Swamps
Readings for discussion: Edmund S. Morgan, "The Labor Problem
at Jamestown, 1607-1618" (1971); Carville Earle,
"Environment, Disease, and Mortality in Early Virginia"
(1979); T.H. Breen, "Looking out for Number One"
(1979), all in Readings collection
M. September 27: Swarms of English, Dutch, Swedes, and Finns
Background reading: Nash, pp. 87-95, 104-111 W. September 29: France Enters the Fray
F. October 1: The Europeans' Contest for Indian Hearts and Minds
Reading for discussion: James Axtell, "The Invasion Within:
The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America"
(1981), in Readings collection
II. NORTH AMERICA IN TURMOIL, 1630-1713
M. October 4: Indians and Europeans in the Northeast
Background reading: Nash, Ch. 4, pp. 239-250
W. October 6: The English Puritans in This World and the Next
F. October 8: The Puritans: From Old England to New England
Reading for discussion: Anderson, New England's Generation,
entire;
PAPER OPPORTUNITY 2 (due at class time)
M. October 11: Transatlantic Turbulence for the Puritans
Background reading: Nash, pp. 117-128 W. October 13: The Reinvention of Virginia F. October 15: Race and Society in Late-17th-Century Virginia
Reading for discussion: Breen and Innes, "Myne Own," entire
M. October 18: MID-TERM EXAM W. October 20: The Proliferation of English Colonies
Background reading: Nash, pp. 95-104, 128-143 F. October 22: MID-TERM PAUSE
M. October 25: Struggles for Control of the Continent
Background reading: Nash, pp. 226-238 W. October 27: War, Trade, Politics, and a New British Empire F. October 29: Imperialism at Sea: No More the Pirate Life for Me
Reading for discussion: Ritchie, Captain Kidd, entire
PAPER OPPORTUNITY 3 (due at class time)
III. ANGLO-AMERICA IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 1713-1763
M. November 1: Growth and Diversity in the 18th Century
Background reading: Nash, Ch. 9 W. November 3: The Efflorescence of British Provincial Culture F. November 5: Change and Continuity in Provincial Women's Lives
Readings for discussion: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Good Wives
(1980), pp. 11-50, 68-86; and Daniel Blake Smith,
Inside the Great House (1980), pp. 25-81, both in
Readings collection.
M. November 8: Changing Patterns of European Emigration W. November 10: Free and Unfree White Labor in the 18th Century F. November 12: Pluralism and Community in the Pa. Melting Pot
Reading for discussion: Schwartz, "Mixed Multitude,"
pp. vii-204, 292-302 (remainder optional).
PAPER OPPORTUNITY 4 (due at class time)
M. November 15: Patterns of 18th-Century Anglo-American Rural Life W. November 17: The Great Awakening of Religion F. November 19: FIELD TRIP TO EPHRATA CLOISTER, Details T.B.A.
M. November 22: Patterns of 18th-Century Afro-American Life
Background reading: Nash, Chs. 7-8
W. November 24: THANKSGIVING F. November 26: VACATION
M. November 29: The Struggle for Control of the Continent Resumes
Background reading: Nash, pp. 251-269 W. December 1: The Seven Years War and the Triumph of the British F. December 3: The Seven Years War and Anglo-American Society
Reading for discussion: Nash, pp. 269-277; Alan Tully,
"Politics and Peace Testimony in Mid-Eighteenth-Century
Pennsylvania" (1982), in Readings collection; Fred
Anderson, "Why Did Colonial New Englanders Make Bad
Soldiers?" (1981), in Readings collection
M. December 6: Wealth and Poverty in the Late Colonial Era W. December 8: Recurrent Themes in American Colonial History F. December 10: Legacies of Colonial America
Reading for discussion: Nash, Ch. 12
F. December 17: FINAL EXAM, 9:00 a.m.
Information provider:
Unit: H-Net program at UIC History Department
Email: H-Net@uicvm.uic.edu
Posted: 12 Jul 1994
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