Assignments
Spring Term 2018

(Click here for daily document assignments)

Date	Topic	Background Reading Assignment	Documents to be Discussed	Visual Material
March 6	Introduction	Foner, xviii - xxiii	The “Founding” in Context
March 8	Before Contact: Indians and Englishmen	Foner, 1-33, 46-53	Elizabethan Compromise	La Florida; colonial powers
March 13	No class
March 15	No class
March 20	17^th Century: Beginnings	Foner, 53-82	Rationale for Virginia; John Winthrop	Colonies 1640; New England 1640; Chesapeake 1675
March 22	18^th Century: Maturation & Diversification	Foner, 89-97, 105-129, 134-135	Brown, 32-47; Foner, 118-119.	Triangle trade; exports 1770; immigration; population growth; colonies 1760
March 27	Labor and Society: Servants and Slaves	Foner, 97-105, 131-148; Pagan, 3-150; paper due	Middle passage; ship-board revolt ; Brown, 28-32	Slave trade map; servants-to-slaves chart
March 29	Religious Diversity	Foner, 86-87; 115-116, 160-163	Maryland Toleration Act; Ben Franklin's Beliefs; Virginia Religious Laws	Religion chart
April 5	Political Heritage and Colonial Governance	Foner, 152-157	Brown, 47-51
April 10	Ideology	Foner, 83-85, 148-152, 157-160	Locke on Civil Government; English Bill of Rights (1689); Cato Letter No. 15
April 12	Mid-term exam	Exam
April 17	An Empire in Crisis: War, Reform, and Taxation	Foner, 163-193	Brown, 77-87, 98-114, 117-118, 138-146	Pre-Revolutionary events; 1755 North America; 1763 North America
April 19	Independence	Foner, 193-204	Brown, 152-172	1775 events; Lexington-Concord map
April 24	War on the Home Front	Foner, 204-214; Film assignment (Film will be shown in class)	Brown, 296-305; The Wars of the American Revolution
April 26	Peoples at War: Soldiers, Women, Loyalists, and Native Americans	Foner, 232-237, 245-251, 280-282, 297-301	Brown, 189-197, 224-230, 236-237, 287-294
May 1	Constitution Making: Documents and Debates Bill of Rights	Paper due; Foner, 253-279	Brown, 341-353, 411-418, 439-444, 451-454, 462-463; Federalist 6; Patrick Henry Speech	Constitution comparisons
May 3	Politics: Federalists vs. Jeffersonians Democratization	Foner, 218-223, 288-309, 364-373	Alien Act; Sedition Act; Kentucky Resolution; Jefferson Inaugural Speech	Political parties; franchise chart;
May 8	Religion in the New Republic	Foner, 223-228	Brown, 311-326	Church-state relations chart
May 10	Slavery and Race in the New Nation	Foner, 237-245, 282-285, 306-308, 371-373, 376-379, 404-410	Brown, 256-261; Missouri Compromise; Bible and Slavery; Christianity and Slavery
	New Nation: Economic and Demographic Profile	Foner, 325-347
May 14 (01) May 17 (02)	Final Exam	Final essay due		1760-1830 comparison