Department or Program: History

Course Number: History 151: US History Since 1865

Semester Hours: 3

Frequency of Offering: Every Semester

Course Title: U.S. History Since 1865

Catalog Description:

A survey of United States history since the American Civil War with special emphasis on post-Civil War Reconstruction, late 19th-century economic and social developments and 20th-century reform movements. Additionally, foreign policy and the overseas expansion of the US economy receive attention, as do the Cold War and post-Cold War developments. Grade Only.

This is an existing course previously approved by A2C2:
YES

This is a new course proposal:
NO

University Studies Category:
Arts and Sciences Core/ Humanities

Department Contact Person:
Alex Yard
ayard@winona.edu

Rationale

The department strongly believes that this sequences of courses (History 150 and 151) will play a significant role in
the University Studies program by providing students with an appreciation for the historical context of human
experiences and culture and an improved understanding of the discipline of history.

USP Humanities Objective 1

The University studies program requires that courses in the Humanities promote students' ability to identify and
understand specific elements and assumptions of a particular Humanities discipline.

History 150 and 151 both will introduce students to significant bodies of information about the American past, a
vital element of the discipline, but will also introduce students to historical explanations, the intellectual skills of
historians, and the ways in which historian conceive of and write about the past.

The courses introduce students to the main lines of historical development (including the development of American
culture) up to and from the American Civil War. The specific sets of facts and subplots emphasized will differ from
instructor to instructor and year to year, but students will experience the same general chronology.

The courses introduce students to the principle elements of history as a discipline. Both aim at developing students'
abilities to identify and evaluate various kinds of evidence used by historians, to identify themes (as opposed to
collections of facts) in historical literature, and to write clearly. Both courses also invite students to begin using
historical evidence to construct explanations of the past and discuss relationships among events.

The courses do all of this by means of lectures, readings of both primary documents and historical literature, class
discussions (both small-group and full-class discussions), tests, and writing assignments.

USP Humanities Objective 2

History 150-151 address this objective in two distinct ways. In part, the courses explore how people in the past had
differing perceptions and interpretations of the events of their times. In large part these divergent perceptions and
interpretations resulted from their differing historical experiences, cultural values and genders. Both courses provide
students with an abundance of instances that provided occasion for expression of divergent perceptions ranging from
the "discovery" of the Americas by 15th-century western Europeans and changes in 18th-century family structures to
the conflict over the slavery and the varying 19th- and 20th-century responses to industrial change.

The courses also address this issue by introducing students to the varying ways in which historians themselves perceive
and interpret the past, and begins to explore the sources of these differences.

The courses attempt to achieve this objective through lectures, reading assignments focused on both document drawn
from the times and historians' discussions of the past, small group and class discussions, and writing assignments.

USP Humanities Objective 3

The University Studies Program requires courses in the Humanities to promote students' ability to understand the role
of critical analysis (e.g. aesthetic, historical, literary, philosophical, rhetorical) in interpreting and evaluating expressions
of human experience. History 150 and 151 address this objective by emphasizing the role of historical analysis in
understanding past as well as contemporary developments. The courses, in other words, direct students' attention of
the task of explaining, and not just remembering, past events, including ideas and their expression in a wide range
forms. The courses direct student attention to the critical documents of the American Revolution, for example, as well
as those of the crusade against human slavery and other social and political reform movements, and wide range of
Americans' attempts to celebrate, criticize and/or make sense of their society. The courses, in other words, challenge
students to understand how events and ideas came to be as they were.

The courses attempt to achieve this objective through lectures, reading assignments focused on both document drawn
from the times and historians' discussions of the past, small group and class discussions, and writing assignments.

Representative Syllabus for History 151: U.S. History Since 1865
Appended to University Studies Proposal
November, 2000

History 151: U.S. History Since 1865

History 151 is an introductory course that surveys some major themes and topics that define the history of the United
States since the Civil War. Hopefully, this course will make an understanding of the past relevant to the world in which
you live. As a survey course, History 151 cannot cover every significant event, person and trend of the past 135 years.
Students hoping for a more comprehensive coverage of the past should consider supplementing this course with more
advanced and specialized upper-level American History courses.

Though I will give lectures, a fair amount of this course will be driven (hopefully) by class discussion. As a result, it is
imperative that you keep up on the weekly reading assignments. Some weeks the reading will be heavy, in others light.
The key to keeping up is to read ahead when the opportunity presents itself.

The following are the required books for this class:

Nation of Nations, Volume 2
From These Beginnings, Volume 2
The Things They Carried

Evaluations:

Your grade will be based on three (3) in-class essay exams, five (5) 250-word (one page, double-spaced) reading response
papers, one (1) 500-word (two page, double-spaced) paper on O'Brien's book, and participation. The following formula will determine your final grade:

5 Papers: 35% (7% each)
3 Exams: 45% (15% each)
1 Paper: 15%
Class Participation: 5%

University Studies Program Note to Students

This course is included in the Humanities category of the University Studies Program. As such it address the following
objectives required of all courses in the humanities category:

a. To promote students’ ability to identify and understand specific elements and assumptions of a particular
        Humanities discipline;

b. To promote students’ ability to understand how historical context, cultural values, and gender influence
        perceptions and interpretations; and

c. To promote students’ ability to understand the role of critical analysis (e.g. aesthetic, historical, literracy,
         philosophical, rhetorical) in interpreting and evaluating expressions of human experience.

The following course schedule uses the letters USOa (meaning University Studies Objective a), USOb (meaning University
Studies Objective b), and USOc (meaning University Studies Objective c), to indicate where the course will address each
of these University Studies objectives.

Course Schedule:*

           Topic 5:     The New Industrial Order, Nation, pp. 535-553; 576-593 (USO a)

           Exam #1