SemesterFall Semester, 2020
DepartmentSophomore Class of Department of History
Course NameAmerican History, 1865 to Present
InstructorEATON WILLIAM JOSEPH
Credit2.0
Course TypeElective
Prerequisite
Course Objective
Course Description
Course Schedule

Course outline: subject to change 



 



Please complete reading assignments (particularly the online reading) by date indicated.



 



1 - September 16 – Introduction to the Course; Rebuilding after the Civil War – Reconstruction



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 1



 



2 - September 23 – The West



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 1 continued



 



3 – September 30 – Gilded Age/Progressive Era/Women’s Suffrage 



 



4 - October 7 – Spanish-American War: American Empire 



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 2



Albert Beveridge, “March of the Flag” (1898)



http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1898beveridge.html



Samuel Gompers, “Imperialism – Its Dangers and Wrongs” (1898)



http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web09/features/source/docs/C14.pdf



 



5 - October 14 – War in Europe, Flu Everywhere 



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 3



Fourteen Points http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/President_Wilson%27s_Fourteen_Points



Wilson defends the League https://www.msu.edu/~mageemal/hst201/Pueblo.html



1918 Flu Pandemic



https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/



 



6 - October 21 – The Roaring 1920s



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 4



 



7 - October 28 – Hoover and the Depression; A New Deal for America – FDR



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 5



http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/32_f_roosevelt/f_roosevelt_legacy.html FDR Legacy



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/30/AR2009013002760.html Amity Shales, “FDR Was a Great Leader, But His Economic Plan Isn’t One to Follow” Washington Post, February 1, 2009



William E. Leuchtenburg, “Why the Candidates still use FDR as their Measure”



http://www.americanheritage.com/content/why-candidates-still-use-fdr-their-measure?page=show



 



8 – November 4 – Election Day (USA) – To be announced 



 



9 – November 11 – Midterm examination



 



10 - November 18 – World War II



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 6



The Real Meaning of Pearl Harbor



http://www.americanheritage.com/content/real-meaning-pearl-harbor?page=show



Charles Cawthon, D-Day, “What it meant”



http://www.americanheritage.com/content/d-day-what-it-meant?page=show



 



11 - November 25 – The 1950s and Early Cold War



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 7



Alexander Burns, The Horror of Sputnik – And the Real Good It Did



http://claver.gprep.org/fac/sjochs/Sputnik.htm



 



12 - December 2 – Civil Rights, Great Society



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 8



 



13 - December 9 – 60s Counterculture; Death of the 60s 



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 9 



Allen J. Matusow, Heyday of the Counterculture 



http://journeytohistory.com/History102/Articles/Heyday%20of%20the%20Counterculture.pdf



Walter Russell Mead, Shame of the Cities 



http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/07/04/the-shame-of-the-cities-and-the-shade-of-lbj/ 



 



14 - December 16 – Nixon’s America



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 10



Otto Friedrich, “I Have Never Been a Quitter”



http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,164282,00.html 



 



15 – December 23 – The 70s 



Nicholas Lemann, How the Seventies Changed America



http://www.americanheritage.com/content/how-seventies-changed-america



 



16 – December 30 – Reagan’s America: The 80s 



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 11



Richard Brookhiser, Reagan: His Place in History



http://www.americanheritage.com/content/reagan-his-place-history?page=show



Essay due in class 



 



17 - January 6 – Innovation, Challenges, and Change



Reading: Dailey, Building the American Republic, chapter 12



“Apple, Rising” 1976-1985



http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=apple-computer-ipo



Steve Jobs 2005 @ Stanford 



http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html



BBC video “Birth of Hip-Hop”



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8303430.stm 



 



18 - January 13 – Final Examination 


Teaching Methods
Teaching Assistant

to be announced 


Requirement/Grading

Assignments and grading criteria:



Participation and attendance: 10% (‘perfect’ attendance policy – 0 or 1 absence, regardless of cause, includes abstinence from cellphone)



Mid-term: 30% (November 11)



Essay: 30% (December 23 in class)




  • Late papers accepted June 19 (no emailed papers) – 10% reduction; June 26 – 20% reduction

  • Topic of your choice – with my consultation 

  • 4 to 6, double-spaced, typed pages, 12-point font 

  • You are required to use at least 2 primary source documents 

  • Paper must deal with some aspect of American history, post-Civil War



Final: 30% (January 13) 


Textbook & Reference

Textbook: Jane Dailey, Building the American Republic, Volume II: A Narrative History to 1877 (Chicago, 2018) 



The textbook is available as a free e-book. 



Download online: https://www.bibliopen.org/p/bopen/9780226300962



Additional reading assignments from Web or handouts, as needed



see syllabus 


Urls about Course
NA
Attachment

revised_US History II syllabus fall 2020.pdf