Optional Course Text: Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! (New York: W.W. Norton) Any edition works.

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1 Prof. Michael Wise Office: Wooten Hall 259 Hours: W 3:00-6:00 PM, or by appt. michael.wise@unt.edu United States History from 1865 History Spring 2014 T 6:30-9:20 PM Wooten Hall 222 University of North Texas Graduate Teaching Assistants: Tom Mack Office: Wooten Hall 211 Hours: T, R 9:20-10:20 AM thomasbmack@gmail.com Luke Truxal Office: Wooten Hall 211 Hours: T, R AM and T 5:30-6:30 PM luketruxal@my.unt.edu Course Overview: What does it mean to be free? This course orients U.S. history around that question, examining how Americans have engaged in global contests over freedom s meanings and realities over the last 150 years. From the dismantlement of America s slave economy to the ascension of global free market capitalism, the idea of freedom has played a central role in the modern American past. Beginning with Reconstruction, we will consider how the United States tried to transform itself into a free nation following the Civil War. Despite emancipation, Americans soon experienced fresh constraints on their social, cultural, and economic possibilities. Across the globe, the expansion of imperialism, industrial capitalism, and other transformations dispossessed millions of their land and labor, prompting an era of unprecedented human migration to the United States. Fueled by its own imperial ambitions, the United States absorbed millions of these immigrants during its conquests of the North American West, the Pacific, and the Caribbean, while displacing indigenous inhabitants of these regions. In 1914, rivalries between the world s industrial empires launched the First World War, a conflict over decolonization and capital accumulation that forced the United States to reckon with its imperialist legacies. Relatively unscathed from global depression and the Second World War, by mid-century the United States emerged as the so-called leader of the Free World, a geopolitical truism that obscured heated contestations over liberty, equality, capitalism, and social justice. As the Cold War climaxed and faded, the limits of freedom as a true reality of American life have grown more apparent. In the twenty-first century, thoughtful citizens continue to grapple with the concept of freedom for understanding America s global relationships. Optional Course Text: Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! (New York: W.W. Norton) Any edition works. Blackboard Website: Weekly course readings will be available on the Blackboard web site. 1

2 Grading Criteria: Quizzes (5): 25% Exam #1: 25% Exam #2: 25% Final Paper (4-6 pages): 25% A % B 80-89% C 70-79% D 60-69% F 0-59% Course Policies: Attendance Students are expected to attend all class sessions and to complete reading assignments before class. Classroom Behavior Electronic devices may be used during class for note-taking purposes only. Phones must be powered off or silenced. Professor Wise will start class promptly at 6:30 PM. Late students are only allowed to enter the lecture hall provided they do so with minimal disruption to their peers. Exams (2/18 and 4/15) There are two exams throughout the semester that will test student mastery of course material. The use of notes, electronic devices, or other study aids is not allowed. Each exam requires students to identify and explain the significance of six to eight historical terms studied in class, and to answer two short essay questions focused on the historical analysis of course readings and lecture topics. Please note that students will NOT be allowed to make up missed exams unless they experience an emergency situation conforming to official university policy. Final Paper (5/6) Students will have the option of answering one of two questions for their final paper. The first will ask about the history of your own life over the last thirty years that is, what historical transformations in American politics, society, and economy have most affected your own life since 1980? The second option will pose a more traditional analytical question. How has the nature of American Empire changed over the last century? Papers should be between 4 and 6 double-spaced pages in length, and should focus on identifying and discussing specific turning points in modern American history. Quizzes There will be five short quizzes approximately every two to three weeks. See the schedule starting on page 4 for dates. 2

3 University Policy Statements: Disability Statement Any student with special circumstances covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act should register with the Office of Disability Accommodation (ODA), Suite 322, University Union Building (phone ). Students who have registered with ODA should also make an appointment to discuss disabilities accommodation requests with the instructor of this course during the first week of class. Reasonable adjustments will be made to accommodate the special needs of students with disabilities where such adjustments are necessary to provide equality of educational access. Academic Integrity Academic integrity is defined in the UNT Policy on Student Standards for Academic Integrity. Any suspected case of Academic dishonesty will be handled in accordance with the University Policy and procedures. Possible academic penalties range from a verbal or written admonition to a grade of F in the course. Further sanctions may apply to incidents involving major violations. The official policy and procedure are located online at: Federal Highway Administration, Plan of Interstate Defense Highway System,

4 January 14 Reconstruction: Part One: FORMING THE FREE NATION, January 21 January 28 February 4 The Gilded Age *Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, Imperial America QUIZ 1 * Debate on the Annexation of Hawaii, San Francisco Call, Sunday, June 12, *Anti-Imperialist League, American Soldiers in the Philippines Write Home, The Progressives * What is Conservation? in T. Roosevelt, The New Nationalism, ed. William Leuchtenberg (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1961), *William Howard Taft, On the Constitutionality of an Income Tax, June 16, Part Two: FORMING THE FREE WORLD, February 11 World War One and the Twenties QUIZ 2 *U.S. Food Administration, Sweets without Sugar, September 1, *Rae Katherine Eighmey, Food Will Win the War, Minnesota History, 59(7) Fall 2005: February 18 MIDTERM EXAM #1 February 25 Depression and New Deal *Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, From the Great Depression to the Great Terror, in Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, (New York: W.W. Norton, 2008),

5 March 4 March 11 World War Two and the Affluent Society QUIZ 3 *Michael C.C. Adams, Overseas, in The Best War Ever: America and World War II (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), *Lizabeth Cohen, Citizen Consumers do Battle on the Home Front, in A Consumers Republic (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003), SPRING BREAK NO CLASS March 18 The Cold War and Atomic America Eric Schlosser, Command and Control, excerpts TBD. Part Three: FINDING FREEDOM S LIMITS, March 26 April 1 Vietnam and the Crisis of Liberalism QUIZ 4 *Barry Goldwater, Nomination Acceptance Speech at the 28 th Republican National Convention, *John Kerry, Statement of John Kerry, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 22, Stagflation and the Working Class *Jimmy Carter, Crisis of Confidence Speech, July 15, *David Harvey, Introduction, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 1-4. April 8 Film: Samuel Peckinpah, Convoy (United Artists, 1978). *Elaine Marshall, We re Always Moving: The Making of Convoy, in Sam Peckinpah s West: New Perspectives, ed. Leonard Engel (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2003), April 15 MIDTERM EXAM #2 5

6 April 22 Forcing the Free Market, *David Harvey, Freedom s Just Another Word, in A Brief History of Neoliberalism, April 29 Gen-Y and the Lost Decade, QUIZ 5 *Naomi Klein, Threats and Temps, in No Logo (New York: Picador Press, 2000), May 6 FINAL PAPERS DUE 6