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Textbooks

Teaching Assistants

Patrick Brennan, office hrs.: M W 10_11:30am; phone: 234_2060 (before 9am); e_mail: c734255@showme.missouri.edu

Bob Faust, office hrs.: Th F 10_11am; phone: 814_3043; e_mail: c651094@showme.missouri.edu

Jon E. Taylor, office hrs.: Th 9_10am, F 10_11am; phone: 443_5686; e_mail: jet424@mizzou.edu

NOTE: All History Department t.a. offices are located in the basement of Read Hall.

Discussion Sections

Section	Time Period	Room	Leader
3A	Th 9_9:50am	GCB 311	Patrick Brennan
3B (FIG)	Th 9_9:50am	Geology 109	Bob Faust
3C	Th 10_10:50am	GCB 116	Jon Taylor
3D	Th 10_10:50am	GCB 311	Patrick Brennan
3E	Th 11_11:50am	Arts & Science 201	Patrick Brennan
3F	Th 11_11:50am	Middlebush 308	Bob Faust
3G	Th 12_12:50pm	GCB 109	Patrick Brennan
3H	Th 12_12:50pm	GCB 309	Jon Taylor
3J (FIG)	Th 1_1:50pm	GCB 309	Jon Taylor
3K	F 8_8:50am	Arts & Science 102	Patrick Brennan
3L	F 9_9:50am	Middlebush 136	Jon Taylor
3M	F 9_9:50am	Middlebush 211	Bob Faust
3N	F 11_11:50am	Schweitzer 28	Jon Taylor
3P	F 11_11:50am	Middlebush 211	Bob Faust
3Q	F 12_12:50pm	Middlebush 308	Bob Faust
3R (Honors)	F 9_9:50am	Middlebush 308	Jeff Pasley

Themes of the Course:
The Rise and Fall of the United States

This is a survey course in early American history from the Colonial Period through the Civil War, focusing on the creation and consolidation of American nationality. Out of a disparate array of regional cultures, rooted in unique economies, ethnic mixes, and social structures, some American leaders struggled to forge the United States into a stable, viable nation, while usually trying to avoid the authoritarian methods of most foreign and most past governments. They ultimately failed to do this, and the country disintegrated into a bloody civil war, to be reassembled on a very different basis than most of the Founders intended. Though we will range far beyond the time period connoted by the "Coming of the Civil War," we will spend much of our class time analyzing the forces that brought about that event, by viewing all the events of early American history in a regional frame of reference and considering some of the many moral, political, and social contradictions that eventually doomed the American republic as configured by the Founders. Probably the most important of these contradictions concerned race and gender: early North Americans forged a society that provided unprecedented political liberty and economic opportunity for white men, while holding millions of Africans in slavery (in defiance of world opinion and fundamental American political values), brutally conquering the American Indians, and restricting the political and economic rights of women.

Course Home Page http://courses.pasleybrothers.com/history3

Course Bulletin Board http://pasleybrothers.com/board

Instructor's Home Page http://jeff.pasleybrothers.com

Throughout the semester, I will be creating a somewhat extensive web site for this course, filled with information and tools that will help students do better in this course and (I hope) enjoy it more as well. In addition to updated and expanded syllabus and assignment information, I will be posting an outline of each lecture (after it is given), some additional readings (some required, some optional, all clearly labeled one way or the other), discussion questions for section meetings, and lists of study terms for the tests. In addition, students will have the opportunity to get extra help and extend their participation in the course by reading and posting messages on a course bulletin board and (possibly) by using a course chat room. NOTE: "Pasleybrothers.com" is just the name I have given to my collection of web sites, housed at a web hosting service in Kansas City called CommuniTech.net. "Pasley.com" was taken, so I chose the domain name in honor of our two little boys, Isaac (age 6), and Owen (age 4 months at the beginning of this semester).

Course Requirements and Policies

EXAMINATIONS: There will be three tests in this course: two tests (given in class) consisting of identifications and short answer questions; and a final examination (given in the scheduled exam period) consisting of identifications, and short answers from the last section of the course, and a take-home essay on the causes of the Civil War, based on Kenneth Stampp, ed., The Causes of the Civil War, 3^rd edition. (More details on the take_home essay will be given later in the semester.) The test material will be taken from both the lectures and the readings, which will sometimes cover somewhat different subjects. None of the tests except the take-home essay will be cumulative. Missed tests can be made up only if the instructor is notified of your absence in advance and provided with documentary evidence of DIRE medical or family emergency.

PARTICIPATION: It is your instructor's view that students who do nothing in a course but listen (or sleep through) lectures are not getting much out of it. The point of taking a course in the humanities is not just to memorize facts but to gain some experience analyzing, evaluating, and employing facts and ideas. These kinds of skills will be useful in your work and in your daily life as a citizen long after you have forgotten what the Dominion of New England was or who won the Bank War. Therefore, each of you will be asked to actively participate in this course, as follows:

Attendance will be taken at each discussion section and be factored into the participation grade. Each student will be given one free absence from discussion section, but no other individual excuses will be allowed, except in the case of severe, long_term problems. You do not need to tell us or get permission if you have to miss a lecture, though we reserve the right to begin noting the lecture attendance patterns of, and possibly penalizing, students who are chronically absent from lecture. Of course, chronic absentees are usually punished severely enough by their inevitably poor test grades.

Discussion Sections will be an integral part of this course. Participation in your weekly discussion section is required, and attendance will be taken. It is your responsibility to prepare for discussion section each week. Please come having completed the reading assignment for that particular week. On Monday or Tuesday of each week, I will post a question on the course bulletin board that you should think about before coming to section. This will form the starting point for your discussion. Usually, the question will be tied to some particular piece of reading, sometimes including an extra document or two that will be available only on the web. These web readings will be short, but they should be considered just as required, and as eligible for testing, as anything in your textbooks.

Everyone needs to speak up often during discussion section, giving opinions, asking questions, and also responding to the questions and opinions of others. This means listening and responding not only to the section leader but also to your fellow students. You should try to be substantive, using concrete examples from the reading or lectures or films to make your points. Do not simply give a flat opinion such as "I hated it" or "I agree"; justify your opinion with actual ideas and arguments.

Discussion participation will be graded roughly as follows: A = Always contributes, in a spontaneous and substantive fashion. Responds to other students' remarks and follows up when necessary. B = Almost always contributes, but not always as spontaneously or substantively. C = Usually contributes, but not as often or as fully, or participates well but very infrequently. D = Rarely participates, never fully or responsively. F = Never participates.

Electronic Participation, or using the course web site and bulletin board, will be another factor in the participation grade. As noted above, the course web site and bulletin board will be important parts of the course, and students will be held responsible for checking the web site periodically and familiarizing themselves with the materials posted there. Some required readings will appear only on the web site, and the same goes for certain very useful materials such as the lists of study terms. In addition, there will be many opportunities for electronic discussion on the course bulletin board, which students will be expected to make use of. This will be a way for people who do not like speaking in class to improve their participation grade and for everyone to practice their writing skills and learn to use the Internet for more serious purposes than you may have previously. Early in the semester, all students will need to obtain an e_mail address (that is, if you do not already have one _ MU addresses are not required and any existing account you now have should work fine), and register for the course bulletin board (see above). Always use your real name (not a screen persona) on the bulletin board, in e_mail or the prospective chat room, or we will not be able to give you credit for participating. Obviously, good manners and respect for others (including students, teaching assistants, and your instructor) are a must when using the web site, just like in real life. I will be happy to help anyone who has trouble getting started with e_mail or the course bulletin board, though the MU web site at http://www.missouri.edu is your best source of information on student e_mail and Internet connections.

NOTE: In addition to its percentage weight, participation will be used to determine borderline grades, i.e., whether decimal places are rounded up or down.

SHUT UP AND BE NICE! (Behavior during class periods) One of the most depressing aspects of teaching big survey courses is having to worry about crowd control, which should not be a problem at the college level but often is. Please remember that this is a classroom, not a basketball game, high school pep rally, or movie night at the state prison. Arrive on time and try not to be disruptive if you must come a few minutes late. Do not come at all if you are going to be significantly late. Loud, disruptive, inconsiderate, or inappropriate behavior of any kind will not be tolerated. Do not talk or make other loud distracting noises while someone else is trying to speak to the class. Also, official class time is the instructor's watch. Do not set yours 10 minutes fast and then start packing up your things to go before class is dismissed. Be patient. If you do not feel like listening to a lecture on a particular day, we would rather you stay home than come to class and not listen. All this goes for discussion sections and lectures alike. All we really ask is that students exercise some basic common sense and good manners toward everyone else involved in the course, including other students, the section leaders, and the instructor. If that happens, all will be well; otherwise, we reserve the right to eject or bar any disruptive person from the room, and in the case of a chronically disruptive student, to subtract points from that person's participation grade.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY will not be tolerated in this course. Any student who cheats on a test, or submits written work that is not his or her own ("plagiarism"), will fail the course and be reported to the appropriate university authorities. All students are, and should consider themselves, bound by the university regulations on Academic Discipline and Student Conduct that can be found at http://www.missouri.edu/~mbookwww/AcademicDisc.html and http://www.missouri.edu/~mbookwww/StudentHonorCodes.html . Students should also be aware that plagiarism and cheating can take more subtle forms than simply copying another student's paper or a published work verbatim. Paraphrasing, rewriting, or borrowing ideas without giving credit are also considered academic dishonesty. If you need more guidance, see the following documents, which explain the different forms of plagiarism and also give examples and advice on how to avoid them: http://web.missouri.edu/~writmdp/plag.html and http://bel459.history.fsu.edu/pasley/plagiarism.htm.

GRADING

GRADING SCALE will be on a standard percentage scale, not formally "curved": A=93_100%, A_ =90_92%, B+=87_89%, B=83_86%, B_ = 80_82%, C+=77_79%, C=73_76%, C_ =70_72%, D+=67_69%, D=63_66%, D_ =60_62%, F=59% or below.

Notice for Students with Disabilities
or serious medical problems

If you have any special needs because of conditions covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or serious medical problems that might prevent you from fulfilling a course requirement, create some emergency during a class period, or impede you during an evacuation of the building, please introduce yourself to the course instructor and your assigned teaching assistant as early in the semester as possible. Every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate your needs, consistent with fairness to other students and the course requirements. To request ongoing academic accommodations such as a notetaker, you must register with Disability Services, A038 Brady Commons, 882_4694.

For lecture and reading schedule,see page.