Course Catalog

HIS122E United States History I (3 credits) 9731

COURSE DESCRIPTION
A survey of the United States history from the colonial days through the end of the Civil War. Particular attention is given to geographic expansion and the development of political, social, religious and economic institutions.

LEARNING RESULTS
This course deals with the history of the United States from the earliest “discoveries” of North America by Europeans up through the American Civil War in the 19th century. The course proceeds basically in a chronological order. The course will not place major emphasis upon rote memorization of names and dates, although there will, of course, be some emphasis upon significant historical people. A greater emphasis will be placed upon various interpretations of the historical events with which you probably became familiar in high school history courses.
• You will be expected to demonstrate the ability to analyze and synthesize the ideas of various historians and determine and defend your own position on historically significant events.
• You will occasionally be asked to relate these events and your interpretation to your Christian faith, while, at the same time, also demonstrating an awareness of the religious diversity of this nation.
• Another course emphasis will be the analysis of the cultural clashes that have characterized American society throughout our history.

REQUIRED TEXTS AND MATERIALS
A Brief American Pageant, 7th ed., Vol. I by Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, Thomas A. Bailey and Mel Piehl. Boston:Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.

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INTEGRATION OF FAITH AND LEARNING
The integration of faith and learning occurs in this course as you are asked to interpret various historical events through the lens of your own Christian faith. While it is recognized that sincere Christians may differ on how God moves and acts in world events, the student who enrolls in this class should understand that the instructor expects students to grapple with issues of how faith and scholarship intersect. Occasionally, you will be specifically asked to discuss an issue from your faith perspective. It is certainly desired that you will continually evaluate what you are learning from your faith perspective.

LEARNING DOCUMENTATION
To determine if the course learning results have been attained, students document their learning by submitting the following items:

Assignment #1 America
Assignment #2 Historical Introduction
Assignment #3 First Book Review
Assignment #4 The Colonists
Assignment #5 British Rule
Assignment #6 The American Revolution
Assignment #7 After the Revolution
Assignment #8 War of 1812
Assignment #9 American Expansion
Assignment #10 Second Book Review
Assignment #11 The South in Turmoil
Assignment #12 Civil War
Exam 1
Exam 2

There are 12 lessons and 2 examinations for this course. The first written lesson is a website profile, and two lessons consist of book reviews. The remaining nine lessons consist of questions taken primarily from textbook reading assignments.

LEARNING EVALUATION
Your grade will be determined according to a numerical grading scale. The midterm and final exam are each worth 20% (100 points) toward your final grade, with the written lessons making up the remaining 60% of the course grade. The website profile and the two book reviews are each worth 8% (40 points) of your final grade, with the nine remaining lessons each worth 4% (20 points) toward your final grade. Doing well on the written lessons will be of great benefit toward doing well on the exams since the questions on the exams will be taken directly from the lessons.