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Academic Year 2004/2005


Early America: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
HIST 237 FA

Crosslistings:
AMST 151

This course surveys North American history from the founding of Jamestown in 1607 through the American Revolution of 1775-1783, with particular attention given to the struggle of European colonizers for control of the continent and its indigenous population, Puritanism and witchcraft, the Atlantic slave trade, material culture, gendered relations, and the origins of American political and cultural institutions. In addition to training students in the use of primary sources-objects, images, contemporary written documents-the course models a cultural approach to the study of colonization and everyday life in early America. Such an approach necessarily combines aspects of social, political, intellectual, and economic history to provide the fullest picture possible of America's growth during two of its most violent and discordant centuries.

MAJOR READINGS

Sebastian de Grazia, A COUNTRY WITH NO NAME.
John Demos, A LITTLE COMMONWEALTH.
Joseph J. Ellis, FOUNDING BROTHERS.
Joseph J. Ellis, THE UNREDEEMED CAPTIVE.
Thomas Harriot, A BRIEF AND TRUE REPORT OF THE NEW FOUND LAND OF VIRGINIA.
Thatcher Freund, OBJECTS OF DESIRE.
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A MIDWIFE'S TALE.
Myra Jehlen and Michael Warner, eds., THE ENGLISH LITERATURES OF AMERICA.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Active participation, attendance; mid-term and final exams, plus a research paper of eight to ten pages.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-21-2005


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