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General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
HISTD017A
Course Title (CB02)
History of the United States to Early National Era
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
This course examines U.S. civilization to the Early National Era. Students will survey the social, cultural, political, economic, and intellectual development of the Colonial Era with an emphasis on the era of the American Revolution, the development of the Constitution, and the role of the major ethnic, social, and gender groups in the American experience.
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course is a major preparation requirement in the discipline of History at the CSU and UC level for the B.A. degree, is part of a chronological sequence, and meets the needs for history majors and G.E. in providing significant knowledge of American history from the colonial period to the early national era. This course also contributes to the fulfillment of major requirements for the Associate of Arts Degree for Transfer in History. In addition, this course meets a general education (G.E.) requirement for °®¶¹´«Ã½, CSU GE, and IGETC and is UC and CSU transferable.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
Yes
Foothill Course ID
HIST F017A

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU
°®¶¹´«Ã½ GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GC2°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
2GDX°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area D - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGC2CSU GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
CGDYCSU GE Area D - Social SciencesApproved
IGETCArea(s)StatusDetails
IG3BIGETC Area 3B - HumanitiesApproved
IG4XIGETC Area 4 - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved
CSUArea(s)StatusDetails
CUS1CSU US1 US Hist/American IdealApproved
C-IDArea(s)StatusDetails
HISTHistoryApprovedHIST D017A & HIST D017B required for C-ID HIST 130

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

(Not open to students with credit in the Honors Program related course.)

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Discussion of assigned reading

Discussion and problem solving performed in class

In-class essays

In-class exploration of Internet sites

Quiz and examination review performed in class

Homework and extended projects

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Guest speakers

Other: Film/documentary/or other media

Other: Analytical paper(s)

Assignments

  1. Reading Assignments: Regular reading assignments from college-level texts, including both primary and secondary sources, from which students will gain and demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, social, and cultural events of the historical era for this course.
  2. Writing Assignments: Writing to be selected from a combination of assignments such as: research papers; in-class essays in exam format including for the final exam; book reviews; and other analytic written assignments that critique and evaluate primary sources and secondary sources and demonstrate an understanding of the historical era for this course. Students will write a minimum of 1700 words during the quarter, including at least one individual typed paper of at least 750 words.
  3. Objective evaluation through assignments such as quizzes, map identifications, or objective sections of in-class midterm(s) or the final examination in which students demonstrate knowledge of primary and secondary historical sources.
  4. Group or individual participation in oral analytical expression such as in-class discussions, debates, or analysis of texts, including primary historical documents.

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Oral analysis: participation in and contribution toward classroom discussions, debates, or specified group project(s) in which students demonstrate analytical skills, such as clarity of argument and the use of evidence to support arguments, in oral interpretations of sources, including primary historical documents.
  2. Essay assignments, including for the final exam, that will demonstrate students’ ability to make and support meaningful statements about primary and secondary historical sources and historical events and to exhibit critical thinking and analytical skills in evaluating the era of history for this course. Students will write at least 1700 words during the quarter, including at least one individual typed paper of at least 750 words.
  3. Objective evaluation through assignments such as quizzes, map identifications, objective sections of in-class exams, or other analytical projects in which students demonstrate knowledge of college-level secondary source readings and primary source documents in the era of history for this course.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • None.

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Boyer, Paul S., et al. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. 9th edition. New York, NY: Cengage, 2018.
Edwards, Rebecca, and James Henretta, et al. America's History. Value edition. 9th edition. Boston, MA: Bedford St.Martin's/Macmillan, 2018.
Kamensky, Jane, and Mary Beth Norton, et al. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. 11th edition. New York, NY: Cengage, 2019.
Roark, James L., et al. The American Promise: A History of the United States. Value edition. 7th edition. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017.
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. New York, NY: Harper, 2017.

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Beard, Charles A. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. New York: Macmillan, 1913.
Beeman, Richard, ed. Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
Berkhover, Robert F., Jr. The White Man's Indian: Images of the American Indian from Columbus to the Present. New York: Pathfinder Press, Revised edition, 2000.
Berlin, Ira. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2008.
Calloway, Colin G., ed. The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America. 2nd edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 2016.
__________________. New Worlds For All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.
Countryman, Edward, ed. What Did the Constitution Mean to Early Americans?: Selected Readings. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 2008.
Crosby, Alfred W., Jr. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 30th anniversary edition, 2003.
Fagan, Brian. Ancient North America: The Archaeology of a Continent. Boston: University of MA Press, 1991.
Gross, Robert A. The Minutemen and Their World. New York: Hill and Wang, 1976.
Gutierrez, Ramon. When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage, Sexuality, and Power in New Mexico, 1500-1846. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991.
Jennings, Francis. The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2005.
Johnson, Michael, ed. Reading the American Past: Selected Historical Documents. Vol. 1. 5th edition. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's Press, 2012.
Kerber, Linda. Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2001.
Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom: the Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. New York: W.W. Norton, Revised edition, 2001.
Nash, Gary B. Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early America, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 6th ed., 2009.
__________________. The Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Consciousness, and the Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979.
Norton, Mary Beth. Founding Mothers and Fathers: Gendered Power and the Formation of American Society. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006.
Rakove, Jack N. Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution. New York: Knopf, 2006.
Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy. New York: Oxford University Press, Revised edition, 2003.
Weber, David J. The Spanish Frontier in North America. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1992.
Karlsen, Carol. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. 2nd edition. New York: W. W. Norton, 1998.
Wood, Gordon. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787. New York: W. W. Norton, 1969.
Wood, Peter. Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 Through the Stono Rebellion. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1999.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Analyze the nature of the historical discipline and apply critical thinking skills within a multi-cultural diverse approach of the historical method to the critical examination and interpretation of primary and secondary sources.
  • Analyze and evaluate with use of primary and secondary sources the origins, development, and impact of the Revolution and Constitution of the United States in the Early National Era, the implications for various political, economic, and social developments, and the impact on cultural expression.
  • Appraise with use of primary and secondary sources the role of specific events and individuals in affecting social and cultural change and assess why individuals were able to be historical agents for change.
  • Apply with use of primary and secondary sources a broad factual knowledge of the history of diverse peoples and events as a basis for understanding the development of the societies and cultures of America from the pre-Columbian period to the early National Era.
  • Compare and contrast with use of primary and secondary sources the historical experiences of various American cultural groups, so that major theoretical and analytical issues relevant to race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation can be evaluated in the development of American society, culture, and history.

CSLOs

  • Demonstrate and apply knowledge of the pre-Columbian and colonial eras through 1800 in U.S. history to construct defensible statements of meaning and evaluation about this period's developments.

  • Identify, critically evaluate, and interpret U.S. history from the pre-Columbian and colonial eras through 1800 using primary source documents to construct historical analysis.

Outline

  1. Analyze the nature of the historical discipline and apply critical thinking skills within a multi-cultural diverse approach of the historical method to the critical examination and interpretation of primary and secondary sources.
    1. History as a mental construct and an act of critical thinking
    2. Primary historical evidence from diverse sources, and its analysis and interpretation
    3. The fragmentary nature of historical evidence and the limits and possibilities of what we know about the past
    4. History as a cultural process and cultural product
    5. History "from the bottom up," the New Labor History, the New Social History, and the inclusion of women and people of color from a multi-cultural perspective
    6. History as a tool for self-knowledge
  2. Analyze and evaluate with use of primary and secondary sources the origins, development, and impact of the Revolution and Constitution of the United States in the Early National Era, the implications for various political, economic, and social developments, and the impact on cultural expression.
    1. The philosophical ideals of American representative government, liberty, and equality as stated in the Declaration of Independence; the Articles of Confederation and their weaknesses; the reasons why many Americans originally favored a weak central government without a strong executive, as well as events such as Shays's Rebellion which eventually helped lead to the call for a more powerful national government
    2. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and the role of individuals and compromises in forming the American Constitution (for example the 3/5 compromise and other sections regarding slavery; the Virginia plan vs. the New Jersey plan for Congressional representation; James Madison's role as "Father of the Constitution; the fact that voter eligibility requirements -- for white male property owners -- were determined at the state level and were not included in the national constitution; the reasons behind the creation of the electoral college for the election of the president; the membership of the constitutional convention in Philadelphia as well as the groups not represented there)
    3. Constitutional Ratification Debates; Federalist and Anti-Federalist Arguments (including Federalist #10 written in support of ratification by James Madison, and the critique of the Constitution by Anti-Federalist Mercy Otis Warren, a female historian of the revolutionary era)
    4. Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10 of the U.S. Constitution), and discussion and debate from a multicultural perspective of whether or not the Bill of Rights were enforced and applied equally for all Americans, with consideration of the impact of this past history on the present
    5. Controversies over the Constitution in the Early National Era. Debate on interpretation of constitutionality, broad v. strict construction
    6. Origins of judicial review, i.e., Marbury v. Madison, and the implications for future Supreme Court decisions
    7. The impact of Enlightenment philosophy and republican thought through cultural expression in colonial America, in the era of revolution, and in the young republic of the United States as illustrated in: visual art, paintings, or drawings (such as John Trumbull's painting of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence), artistic depictions of democratic rebellions (such as women and men at protests during the American Revolution), and architectural styles in the Federal period reflecting the values of ancient Greek democracies and the Roman republic.
  3. Appraise with use of primary and secondary sources the role of specific events and individuals in affecting social and cultural change and assess why individuals were able to be historical agents for change.
    1. Identifying historical events as turning points in American history (for example, the migration of native peoples across the Bering Strait to the American continents; the development of agriculture by various native cultures; the landing of Columbus in the Americas; the establishment of the first permanent colonies by Spain and England in the Americas; the end of Iroquois unity and the consequences for native peoples; the American Revolution and its impact on various groups)
    2. The actions of individuals as the shapers of history (for example, in colonization, in the struggle for independence, in the risks taken in writing the Declaration of Independence, and in the positions taken for or against slavery and other issues in the constitutional ratification debates)
    3. The role of early leaders in establishing a new republic (for example, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and others)
    4. The philosophy, literature, and oral speeches of men and women as conduits for influencing public attitudes toward issues and historical change in America, including Thomas Jefferson's political ideals in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine's philosophy in Common Sense, and other works such as Benjamin Banneker's and Phillis Wheatley's writings on anti-slavery and revolutionary ideals, Abigail Adams' letters and Judith Sargent Murray's essays regarding republican values, women's rights, women's roles, and education, and Powhatan's speech regarding Native American cultural values and resistance during European conquest.
    5. The music and art of Americans as reflections of European, African and Native American influences (for example, African musical forms and instruments and the impact on American popular music; European painting and sculpture; Native American creation stories and ceremonial dances)
    6. Early economic, political, religious, institutional, and cultural developments (for example, in contrast to European political institutions, the relatively representative elected legislatures for white male property holders such as the House of Burgesses in Virginia and assemblies in other American colonies; town meetings and direct democracy in New England; the gradual spread of religious diversity and the disestablishment of state-supported churches; the use of joint stock companies and the rise of manufacturing with its attendant economic and cultural impact; the influence of the Enlightenment on scientific experimentation; the eventual development of tax-supported public education in Massachusetts and the spread of literacy)
    7. The Enlightenment, the scientific revolution, and technology's role in shaping American landscape and society; for example, the planting of tobacco, the cotton gin, the steam engine, early manufacturing, irrigation, inoculation against diseases such as smallpox, and Benjamin Franklin's development of the theory of electricity
    8. Cultural expression and impact by individuals in early American print culture through literature, art, and philosophy (such as native Mexicas' account of the Spanish conquest in the Florentine codex, Anne Bradstreet's poetry, John Winthrop's Arbella sermon, John Peter Zenger's newspaper and trial involving freedom of the printing press, Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative, Olaudah Equiano's autobiography and anti-slavery narrative, and Paul Revere's engraving and description of the Boston Massacre of 1770).
  4. Apply with use of primary and secondary sources a broad factual knowledge of the history of diverse peoples and events as a basis for understanding the development of the societies and cultures of America from the pre-Columbian period to the early National Era.
    1. Understand history as a record of the lives and actions of diverse human beings
    2. Understand the diversity of Native American cultures (for example, the Iroquois, Pueblo, Cherokee, Kiowa, Chinook) and the existence of complex Native American civilizations before the arrival of Europeans (for example, the Mississippians, Anasazi, Aztecs, and Mayas) and cultural expression of influential native civilizations, through architectural styles, linguistic influence, artistic forms, and scientific and spiritual philosophy.
    3. Understand the diversity of colonial immigrant and migrant cultures (for example, various European and African civilizations)
    4. Understand the development of American political, social, and cultural values and philosophy in the colonial period, the era of revolution, and the early U.S. (for example, government according to the consent of the governed; the influence of John Locke's contract theory of government; no taxation without representation; direct democracy in New England town meetings vs. elected representation; freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and other civil liberties such as the right to trial by jury; separation of powers and checks and balances at the federal, state, and local levels; civilian control of the military)
    5. Understand the impact on American societies and cultures as a result of the presence of the United States in European affairs, including: the Seven Years War (French and Indian War, in the British view) and its relationship to the American Revolutionary War; the competition between England and Spain for American colonies, and the later resultant influence on American foreign policy, society, and culture; and the impact of U.S. expansionist foreign policy on native peoples.
  5. Compare and contrast with use of primary and secondary sources the historical experiences of various American cultural groups, so that major theoretical and analytical issues relevant to race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation can be evaluated in the development of American society, culture, and history.
    1. The European migration to North America and the impact on the various groups involved; (for example, the encomienda in the Spanish southwest, Cortes' conquest of Mexico, the impact of disease on native populations, the influence of native agricultural crops such as maize, potatoes, and cacao on the diet, population, and culture of the rest of the world, the Puritan migration, the use of indentured servants, and the introduction of and profit from slavery)
    2. The problems caused by the expansion of colonial society, economy, and culture on Native Americans and the environment (for example King Philip's War and Bacon's Rebellion)
    3. Origins of racist slavery and oppression and the impact on the development of colonial society and culture, including the specific experiences of men, women, and children in slavery
    4. The emergence and survival of a unique African American culture during slavery, as well as the development of northern communities and institutions created by free blacks
    5. The roles and limitations of women in society, their struggle for fuller participation and equality, the specific impact of European ideas and laws regarding gender roles and sexual orientation, and the implications of a multicultural analysis of women's situation during colonization, including Native American women such as Pocahontas(Matoaka) and Sacajawea, African American women such as Phillis Wheatley and female runaway slaves, and European American women such as Anne Hutchinson, Abigail Adams, and white female indentured servants
    6. Comparison and contrast of Southern and Northern colonial life and the implications for the 1800s in the conflict over slavery
    7. The development of East-West conflict, including the Regulators in South Carolina, Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts, and coastal elites vs. backcountry farmers
    8. Religious thought of various groups in colonial America and its cultural impact, from Puritan predestination and the "city on the hill," Anglican (later Episcopalian) church traditions, and Quaker religious toleration, to other views such as deism, the creation of Maryland as a Catholic haven, the Protestant Great Awakening (and emergence of new churches such as Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians), and the beliefs and treatment of non-Christian minorities (e.g., Judaism, Islam, Native American spiritual views, native African spiritual views, and agnostics and atheists).
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