CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, STANISLAUS
Turlock, California

HIST 3610 Prof. VanderMolen
Colonial America Office: C118
Autumn, 2000 667-3153
T,Th, 8:00-9:27 a.m. 667-3238
P164 vander@toto.csustan.edu
vander@ainet.com

This course covers the first two hundred years of what eventually became the United States of America. Focus is on colonial life under British rule, but attention is necessarily paid to the roles of other European nations. The textbook provides a general survey of the period, and the additional readings focus on native American and African American history during the colonial period.

We will follow the calendar given below, but not slavishly. Please read the textbook assignments before you come to class because lectures and discussions will rely on the readings for background material. At the end of the course, submit your notes on the textbooks.

Please prepare duplicate copies of papers which you write for the course, and provide your notes and a first draft.

Feb. 17 (Th) Historiography; Concepts; Colonial Cultures

22 (T) The North American Context
(Reich, ch. 2, 12, 14, 15)
24 (Th) Native Americans; African Americans
(World, pp. 1-19, 27-33, 43-54) (Wright, p. 1-45)
29 (TH) Virginia; Maryland
(Reich 5, 6)
Mar. 2 (Th) More Va. and My.

7 (T) New England
(Reich, 7, 20, 21) (World, pp. 78-87)
9 (Th) More Puritans

14 (T) Colonies on the Delaware and the Hudson
(Reich, 4, 8) (World, 95-104)
16 (Th) More Swedes and Dutch

21 (T) Carolina; American Slave systems
(Reich, 8) (Wright, ch. 2)
23 (Th) Uprisings and Revolutions in the Seventeenth Century
(Reich, 9)
28 (T) More revolts

30 (Th) First Paper: report on three academic articles or three chapters from monographs. Write two pages per article or chapter.
Apr. 4 (T) TEST: essay, with the possibility of a few identification items.


6 (Th) Provincial America
(Reich, 10, 16, 17, 18) (Wright, ch. 3)
11 (T) Economics and politics

13 (Th) The Great Awakening; The American Enlightenment
(Reich, 19, 22) (World, 54-72)
18 (T) More revivals of soul and mind

20 (Th) Imperial Conflict
(Reich, 24) (World, 54-72)
Apr. 24-28 SPRING BREAK
May 2 (T) New British Policy
(Reich, 25)
4 (Th) Revolution
(Reich, 26) (Wright, ch. 4)
9 (T) More Revolution

11 (Th) Confederation and Constituion
(Reich, 27)

16 (T) Second Paper

18 (Th) Test

Exam: May 25, 8:30-10:30 a.m.

Course grade: 1/3 tests; 1/3 papers; 1/3 final exam; fractional grading will be used. If you cannot attend class, please contact me. Absences generally have a negative impact on grades. Failure to submit required notes will negatively affect your grade.
Textbooks: J.R. Reich, Colonial America-
D.R. Wright, African Americans in the Colonial Era
C.G. Calloway, The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early
America

Final Exam (to be written in class on the exam day): Using all materials you can muster, defend one of the propositions given below:

1) From beginning to end (ca.1600-ca.1789), colonial America was characterized by diversity and disunity.

2) From beginning to end (ca.1600-ca.1789), colonial America was characterized by significant threads of unity which created a coherent society.

Make sound generalizations by defending them with historical facts and good thinking.