Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2024 - HIST 212 B100

The United States to 1877 (3)

Class Number: 5782

Delivery Method: Blended

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 4 – Dec 3, 2024: TBA, TBA
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    Recommended: HIST 104.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

The emergence and development of American civilization from the establishment of the colonies through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

Overview: This is a “flipped” course, meaning lectures are prerecorded, and in-person meetings will discuss the lectures and readings. The course content surveys events from England’s Roanoke Colony (1585) to the end of Reconstruction (1877). Lectures and readings trace key social, cultural, and environmental contexts. The course goal is to develop both content knowledge and temporal and spatial reasoning, knowing not only what happened and why, but how broader contexts shaped events. Your challenge is to master the personal and specific as well as the general and conceptual. The goal is to understand the past on its terms. You will engage lectures, primary documents, and secondary texts. Discussions and exams focus on big themes. The two five-page papers analyze two sequential, pre-selected documents sets available through Canvas.

Mode: Lectures are prerecorded; weekly quizzes and discussions occur during the normal meeting time each week. Exams and the second paper submission will conducted via Canvas.

Topics: Colonialism, environment, industrialism, nationalism, political culture, racialism and racism, religion.

Grading

  • Weekly Quizzes 10%
  • Midterm 30%
  • Papers (15% each) 30%
  • Final Exam 30%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Tiya Miles, All That She Carried Hardcopy             
Thomas Paine, Common Sense Digital
Allen Guelzo, Lincoln: A Very Brief Introduction Hardcopy
Weekly readings available on Canvas or through the internet

RECOMMENDED READING:

John Locke & Ben Wright, The American Yawp


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.