United States History from 1865 History Spring 2017 T, Th 11:00 AM-12:20 PM Art 223: University of North Texas

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1 United States History from 1865 History Spring 2017 T, Th 11:00 AM-12:20 PM Art 223: University of North Texas Professor Michael D. Wise Office: Wooten Hall 259 Hours: T/Th 3:30-4:30 PM History Department Graduate Teaching Assistants: Shaffer Bonewell Michael Garofalo Learning Center Supplemental Instructors (SI): Jennifer Weber 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 152 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 conquest 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 own 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 controversies over liberty, equality, capitalism, gender, race, and social justice that wracked American life from the 1940s onward. As the Cold War climaxed and faded, new ambiguities, complexities, and ideas about the limitations of freedom grew up alongside the technological and cultural transformations that have marked American life over the last thirty years. In the twenty-first century, thoughtful citizens continue to grapple with the concept of freedom for understanding America s local and global relationships. Suggested Course Textbook (available at bookstore for $94.35) H.W. Brands, American Stories, Vol. II (Pearson, 2015) **Please note that you are NOT required to purchase this book** 1

2 Grading Criteria Exam #1 20% Exam #2 20% Exam #3 20% Historical Advertising Essay 20% Final Paper (4-6 pages) 20% A % B 80-89% C 70-79% D 60-69% F 00-59% Blackboard Website Grades and electronic course materials will be available on Blackboard. Please note, however, that this is NOT an online course. Changes to the syllabus and other important information may not always be available on Blackboard. Course Policies Attendance Students are expected to attend all class sessions. Four or more absences will result in an F. The final paper will be optional for students who maintain perfect attendance. Exams There are three essay exams (2/9; 3/9; 4/20) that will test student mastery of course material. The use of notes, electronic devices, or other study aids is not allowed. Students will NOT be allowed to make up missed exams unless they experience an emergency situation conforming to official university policy. Historical Advertising Essay Students will each select once historical print advertisement from the Duke University Ad Access online archive ( and write a short two-page essay that places the advertisement in historical context. This essay will be due on 4/6. Final Paper In lieu of a comprehensive final exam, this course will instead require students to write a final paper in response to one of two questions. 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 approximately 1987? The second option will pose a more traditional analytical question: How has the nature of American Empire changed from the latenineteenth century to the present? Papers should be between 4 and 6 double-spaced pages in length. Disability Statement Any student with special circumstances covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act should register with the Office of Disability Accommodation (ODA) and make an appointment with Prof. Wise to discuss disabilities accommodation requests during the first week of class. 2

3 WEEK ONE T Jan 17 R Jan 19 WEEK TWO T Jan 24 R Jan 26 Presidential Reconstruction COURSE SCHEDULE Radical Reconstruction Lt. Edward Stoeber, Major Martin Delany s Advice to Ex Slaves, July 24 th, Indian Reservations and Native American Resistance T.J. Morgan, The Causes of the Trouble, in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1891): The Allotment Acts WEEK THREE T Jan 31 Turner s America F. J. Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, R Feb 2 The New Imperialism WEEK FOUR T Feb 7 Review R Feb 9 EXAM #1 (Approximately ) WEEK FIVE T Feb 14 R Feb 16 WEEK SIX T Feb 21 R Feb 23 The Progressive Era I The Progressive Era II What is Conservation? in Theodore Roosevelt, The New Nationalism, ed. William Leuchtenberg (New York, 1961), World War One Eugene V. Debs, Statement to the Court Upon Being Convicted of Violating the Sedition Act, September 18, The 1920s WEEK SEVEN T Feb 28 The Great Depression Ladies at Roslyn, Time, July 18, 1932,

4 R Mar 2 The New Deal WEEK EIGHT T Mar 7 Review R Mar 9 EXAM #2 (Approximately ) SPRING BREAK WEEK NINE T Mar 21 Global Fascism and the Second World War Abroad Michael C.C. Adams, Overseas, in The Best War Ever: America and World War II (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), R Mar 23 WEEK TEN T Mar 28 R Mar 30 The Home Front and the Affluent Society Atomic America The Civil Rights Movement Joan Bird, Statement of Joan Bird, October WEEK ELEVEN T Apr 4 Vietnam and the Crisis of Liberalism John Kerry, Statement of John Kerry: Vietnam Veterans Against the War, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 22 nd, R Apr 6 HISTORICAL ADVERTISING ESSAY DUE Duke University Ad Access archive: ( WEEK TWELVE T Apr 11 Decolonization at Home Unknown/American Indian Movement, See South Dakota Last, R Apr 13 Stagflation and Deregulation WEEK THIRTEEN T Apr 18 Review R Apr 20 EXAM #3 (Approximately ) 4

5 WEEK FOURTEEN T Apr 25 Reagan and the Rise of Neoliberalism David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), R Apr 27 Forcing the Free Market WEEK FIFTEEN T May 2 The Lost Decade and the Cultural Economies of Neoliberalism Naomi Klein, Threats and Temps, in No Logo (New York: Picador Press, 2000), R May 4 Review FINALS WEEK T, May 9 FINAL PAPER DUE 5