Course Description: This course provides the opportunity for advanced students in history and American studies to gain insight into history by studying one topic in depth. The topic for the spring semester, 1994, is Jacksonian America, 1815-48. Students will study the social, economic, intellectual, religious, and political factors which shaped the period.

Course Objectives: Students will be able to identify and explain the major factors which influenced the development of Jacksonian America. Students will be able to identify and explain the consequences of the Jackson period for American history.

Required Readings

 

Paul E. Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-37 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1978)


Ronald G. Walters, American Reformers, 1815-1860 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1978)


Harry L. Watson, Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America (New York: The Noonday Press; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990)


Lawrence Frederick Kohl, The Politics of Individualism: Parties and the American Character in the Jacksonian Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989)


Robert W. Johannsen, To the Halls of the Montezumas: The Mexican War in the American Imagination (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985)

Other Readings: In addition to the books available in the bookstore, the list of required readings includes about 415 pages of material from other articles and books. These readings, which have been placed on reserve in the library, are listed on the schedule below. The instructor may, from time to time, assign additional short readings to supplement the books listed above.

 
Exams: All exams will be essay exams. Three exams will be given during the course of the semester. Each of these exams will cover about one-third of the course material and will count for 25 percent of the student's final grade. The first two exams have been tentatively scheduled for February 17 and March 31. The third exam will be given during the final exam period on Wednesday, May 11, at 3:00-5:00.

Teaching Assignment and Research Paper: Each student will be responsible for teaching one, 75-minute class period. Each student will also write a paper based on the research for their teaching assignment. While there is no maximum or minimum length required for the research paper, papers of 20 pages are ideal. The grades for the teaching assignment and the research paper will be averaged together and this average will count for 25 percent of the student's final grade. Dates for the teaching assignments are listed on the tentative schedule at the end of the syllabus. The research papers are due on April 26.

Make-Up Assignments: Students will be allowed to make up missed assignments only with the consent of the instructor. Ordinarily, the instructor will accept make-up assignments only in cases of unavoidable student absences, such as those caused by illness or by a death in the immediate family. Students may be required to document the causes of their absences before the make-up work will be accepted by the instructor.

 
Grading and Evaluation of Students: The following grading scale will be used in this course: A 90.0-100.0; B 80.0-89.9; C 70.0-79.9; D 60.0-69.9; F 59.9 and below. Final semester grades for the course will be determined by counting the course assignments and exams in the following proportions: exam 1-25 percent; exam 2-25 percent; exam 3-25 percent; teaching assignment and research paper-25 percent. Class attendance will also affect the final semester grade. See the section on attendance below.

 
Attendance: Class attendance will be checked in every class period. At the end of the semester, class attendance will be used in calculating the final semester grade.

Attendance records will be used to determine the final grade of students who are on the borderline between two grades (i.e., students who are within one semester point of the higher grade). In the case of a student who is on the borderline between two grades, the student with 0-1 unexcused absences will receive the higher of the two grades.

Students with 4 or more unexcused absences will receive the following penalties: 4-5 absences-minus one letter grade from semester average; 6-7 unexcused absences-minus two letter grades from semester average; 8 or more unexcused absences-the grade of F for the semester.

The following constitute excused absences: (1) illness, with a note from a doctor or the dean; (2) death in the immediate family, with a note from the dean; (3) required appearance in a court of law, with a note from the dean; (4) representing the college in an extracurricular activity, with a note from the faculty or administrative adviser of the activity and the prior approval of the instructor of this course.

Please note that some college extracurricular activities do not justify an excused absence, so prior approval of the absence by the instructor is required. Athletes who plan to miss class for a game must notify the instructor before each absence to receive an excused absence. Students who plan to miss class for outside jobs, job interviews, job fairs, weddings, vacations, completing assignments for other courses, etc., should save their cuts for these purposes.

Students who arrive late to a session of the class should check with the instructor at the end of that class session to be certain that their attendance has been recorded.

Senior Final Exam Policy: Graduating seniors who will finish their degree requirements in May, 1994, may be eligible for exemption from the third exam. To be eligible for exemption, such students must have an overall GPA of 3.0 or better and an average grade of B or better on all course work completed in History 312 before the third exam. In the case of such students, their grade on the third exam will be estimated in the following manner: (1) the student's average grade on the first two exams will be calculated, (2) 10 points will be subtracted from this average for each absence from class during the period between the second and third exams, and (3) the remainder will be used as the student's grade on the third exam in calculating the final semester grade. Students whose estimated class average falls within the range 77-82 or 87-92 may be required to take the third exam to determine accurately their final grade.

Auditors: Students who are auditing the course will receive an audit credit only if they have 3 or fewer absences in the class. Auditors are not required to come to class on exam days.

 
Schedule: The following schedule should be used as a guide for the completion of assignments and readings.

 
Jan. 13
Introduction to the Course

 
Jan. 18
The Market Revolution, 1815-60

• Allan Kulikoff, "The Transition to Capitalism in Rural America," William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 46 (January 1989): 120-44.
• Jack Larkin, "The Secret Life of a Developing Country (Ours)," American Heritage, September/October, 1988, 44-67
• Sean Wilentz, "Society, Politics, and the Market Revolution," in Eric Foner, ed., The New American History, 52-59

Jan. 20
The Market Revolution, 1815-60

• Johnson, Shopkeepers' Millennium, 3-78
• Stephen Nissenbaum, "Revisiting 'A Visit from St. Nicholas': The Battle for Christmas in Early Nineteenth-Century America," in James Gilbert et al., The Mythmaking Frame of Mind: Social Imagination and American Culture, 25-70

Jan. 25
Women and the Evolution of Family Structures

• Walters, American Reformers, 101-112
• Barbara Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood," American Quarterly 18 (Summer 1966): 151-174.
• Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, "Beauty, the Beast, and the Militant Woman: A Case Study in Sex Roles and Social Stress in Jacksonian America," American Quarterly 23 (1971): 562-584.
• Gerda Lerner, "The Lady and the Mill Girl: Changes in the Status of Women in the Age of Jackson, 1800-1840," Midcontinent American Studies Journal 10 (Spring 1969): 5-14.
• Last day to choose topic of teaching assignment and research paper

Jan. 27
The Second Great Awakening, 1790s-1830s

• Johnson, Shopkeepers' Millennium, 79-141
• Walters, American Reformers, 21-37

Feb. 1
Slavery and Race in Jacksonian America

• Walters, American Reformers, 77-100
• Jean H. Baker, Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of Northern Democrats in the Mid-Nineteenth Century, 212-249

Feb. 3
Antebellum Reform Movements

• Walters, American Reformers, ix-19, 39-75

Feb. 8
Antebellum Reform Movements

• Walters, American Reformers, 112-216

Feb. 10
Romanticism and the American Renaissance

Feb. 15
Transcendentalism

Feb. 17
Exam 1 will be given February 17.

 
Feb. 22
The Era of Good Feelings, 1815-24

• Charles G. Sellers, The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815-46, 70-102

Feb. 24
Bad Feelings in the Era of Good Feelings, 1815-24

• Richard H. Brown, "The Missouri Crisis, Slavery, and the Politics of Jacksonianism," South Atlantic Quarterly 65 (Winter 1966): 55-72.

Mar. 1
The Democratization of American Society

• Watson, Liberty and Power, 3-72

Mar. 3
The Adams Administration and the Elections of 1824 and 1828

• Watson, Liberty and Power, 73-95

Mar. 8
Organizing the Jackson Administration

• Watson, Liberty and Power, 96-104

Mar. 10
Jackson's Indian Removal Policy

• Watson, Liberty and Power, 104-113

Mar. 15
The Nullification Crisis

• Watson, Liberty and Power, 113-138

Mar. 17
The Bank War and the Economic Crisis of the 1830s

• Watson, Liberty and Power, 138-171
• Bray Hammond, Banks and Politics in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War, 326-361

Mar. 22
NO CLASS-SPRING BREAK

Mar. 24
NO CLASS-SPRING BREAK

Mar. 29
The Creation of the Second American Party System, 1833-36

• Watson, Liberty and Power, 172-197, 231-253

Mar. 31
Exam 2 will be given March 31.

Apr. 5
The Van Buren, Harrison, and Tyler Administrations, 1837-45

• Watson, Liberty and Power, 198-230

Apr. 7
Party Ideology in the Second American Party System, 1830s-50s

• Kohl, Politics of Individualism, vii-100
• Marvin Meyers, The Jacksonian Persuasion: Politics and Belief, 3-32

Apr. 12
Policy Conflicts in the Second American Party System, 1830s-50s

• Kohl, Politics of Individualism, 101-229
  

 
Apr. 14
The Origins of Manifest Destiny, 1820s-30s

• Ray Allen Billington, The Far Western Frontier, 1830-1860, 1-68

Apr. 19
The High Tide of Manifest Destiny, 1840s

• Frederick Merk, Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History, 24-60

Apr. 21
The Origins of the Mexican War, 1842-46

• Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, "Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War," in Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle, Taking Sides, 1:266-273

Apr. 26
The Mexican War, 1846-48

• Johannsen, To the Halls of the Montezumas, vii-107
• Research Papers due April 26

Apr. 28
The Mexican War, 1846-48

• Johannsen, To the Halls of the Montezumas, 108-174

May 3
The Mexican War in American Culture

• Johannsen, To the Halls of the Montezumas, 175-312
  

 
May 11
Exam 3 will be given on Wednesday, May 11, at 3:00-5:00.