home

Edit 0 20 …

Welcome to United States History to 1865 - History&136 - Seattle Central Community College


Room: Broadway Edison Building (BE Building), 4123.
Time: 9:00 - 9:50 am, M - F
Instructor: Thomas Esch, History/Political Science Departments, BA History MAT Social Sciences University of Pittsburgh (2004, 2006)
Office: BE Building 4111
Hours: by appointment
E-mail: thomas.esch@seattlecolleges.edu

Quick Links:


Course Description & Overview:

  • This course is a survey of United States history beginning with precolonial First Peoples groups & societies extending through the end of the United States Civil War.
  • All of my survey courses begin with an introductory week determining expectations and outcomes.
  • We will also spend time discussing disciplinarian concepts, approaches, and perspective-analysis. This week is critical; so if you seek to join the class, please show up the first day.

Why Study History? What will you learn from this course?

  • History is a basic human experience. It is about memory, and it is about time. History contextualizes your life with many layers of understanding as it is inherently multidisciplinary. Thus, there are many perspectives left out of the current field and completeness of understanding.
  • This is where you come in, and here is what I hope you'll learn: history is created, not so much by the actors, but by the narrative of their existence. Your perspective on any given narrative is what makes writing history personal and meaningful, as well as transforming and powerful.

Getting Started:

  • You must join this wiki, using an easy to identify screen name (sn), to complete some course work for your grade.
  • Please use your voice, but consider taking the time to personally edit your comments before you post them.
  • Review the student code of conduct, and the class will design our collective expectations and outcomes

How to Succeed in this course:


  • Utilize course skill reading techniques (2.a) to demonstrate an understanding of the expectations of this syllabus home page.
  • Come to class PREPARED and ready to LEARN.Be sure to consult these sections:
    • **COURSE TEXT** (Chapters 1 - 34)
    • Assignments & Grades
    • Calendar: Weekly Topics & Important Dates
  • Be proud to ask questions, respectfully challenge assertions, and decide whether you are here to be educated or to learn.

Assignments & Grades: The Past, Present, Future, & You.


  1. Online Discussion Contributions: In alternating weeks, you will respond to disciplinarian questions synthesizing set-skills, methods, content, research, concepts, & creativity.
    • How to complete the assignment: I will provide a prompt that is designed to help you to think about the course material. Your thoughts will be shared with me and your peers via our online discussion board. You must demonstrate original thinking, and provide evidence for claims that go beyond "common knowledge"
    • Assignment Outcomes:
      • To define, explain, and research terms, concepts, and ideas.
      • To share and promote social awareness
      • To form communities of learning using history as our anchor
    • Submission Type & Due Dates: Please utilize the online discussion board, located in the top right menu bar of this page; your contributions are due one week from receiving the prompt. If you are absent, you can check the webpage for the prompt.
  2. Pursuing the Millennium: During the 19th century, religious revivalism in the US introduced new hopes for Christians regarding the second coming of Jesus Christ. The impact of having a direct role by virtue of national rhetorical promises, two branches emerged: postmillennialists & premillenialists.
    • How to complete the assignment: After our discussion on religious revivalism, particularly with regards to Millennialism, we will look back towards how these Americans anticipated their future. More specifically, using documentation, we will explore how these Americans shaped attitudes and thoughts with regards to the nation's destiny.
    • Assignment Outcomes:
      • To analyze, interpret, and write about primary source documents
      • To organize, select, and synthesize course concepts with your analysis & interpretation
      • To produce a narrative history or a "World's Fair" exhibit of Millennialism & the future of the US (compared with the real historical future).
    • Submission Type & Due Dates:
      • You will e-mail your submission to me. This assignment DRAFT is due WEDNESDAY, May 30th (Week 9)
      • THE FINAL PAPER IS DUE BEFORE FINALS
      • Monday, May 21st, we will workshop selected document analysis
        • POST YOUR PRIMARY SOURCE OLC #3
      • Begin with a question!
      • What is your source? How does it reflect Millennial thought?
      • Be able to describe how your analysis and the reality of the past (their future) compared to their anticipations.
      • Incorporate a peer's primary source; address their thematic analysis and compare it to yours.
      • Reference the writing guide for shaping your rhetoric, and organizing your information using CHICAGO style citation
      • *I will return papers immediately if they lack this METHOD*
  3. Secondary Source Questions: Using our course text, you will choose a theme to explore all quarter-long. You must select a theme by the end of week oneand let me know via e-mail.
    • How to complete the assignment: After our discussion on THEMES, you will brainstorm a theme to explore throughout the quarter. You will work with similarly themed peers, via an online discussion, sorting out various pieces of evidence to enhance our class discussions at-large. Using our course text, you will develop questions by applying writing guide methodology to promote disciplined inquiry.
    • Assignment Outcomes:
      • To analyze, interpret, and write about secondary source documents
      • To generate questions suitable for historical inquiry
      • To revise and rewrite by applying research methods that stimulate new understanding
      • To contribute and support for your peers
    • Submission Type & Due Dates: E-mail your theme to me by the end of week one. This is a quarter-long project that requires (5) uniquely generated questions from EACH student. There are 10 topics, so you do not have to submit a questions for each one, but you need to make sure you do at least (5).
  4. Seminar: There are (2) seminar choices, and you must choose one by the end of week one:
      1. Reading Seminar: __Uncle Tom's Cabin__by: Harriet Beecher Stowe
        • How to complete the seminar: We will read and discuss this text online. Everyone is responsible for keeping the conversation going by INITIATING AND RESPONDING to analysis. We are treating this as a primary source, therefore, we will use HISTORICAL analysis and NOT literary.
        • Outcomes:
          • To analyze literature as a primary source
          • To identify and explain the use of art to convey a social message
          • To assess the significance of the text in relation to course concepts
        • Submissions & Due Dates: You must contribute WEEKLY either as an initiator or responder and you should strive towards balance between the two. All weekly contributions are due by Sunday at midnight, though for the sake of flow, please feel free to allow for natural overlap.
      2. Film Seminar: Each Friday, regular class meetings will be used for a quarter-long film analysis on varying topics covered throughout our time period. (If you are not in this seminar, you do not have to come to class, though you may if you want!)
        • How to complete the seminar: You must come to class on Friday to collectively & actively watch selected presentations related to course material. At the end of each viewing, we will identify significant claims to follow up on. We will generate new questions for inquiry to expand our understanding of the visual documentation.
        • Outcomes:
          • To analyze film as a primary & secondary source
          • To identify and explain the use of moving images as a way to convey historic events
          • To assess the challenges of incorporating media into the discipline
        • Submissions & Due Dates:
          • Missing class is not ideal; if you do miss, please consult a peer and our discussion page.
          • Each follow up is due BEFORE the next inquiry.

Unless otherwise stated, ALL assignments are to be turned in via e-mail to: thomas.esch@seattlecolleges.edu
Please identify yourself, use the subject line, and edit your work BEFORE turning it in; I will send it back if I cannot read it.

Calendar:

Week
 Topic:
 Important Stuff:
1
 Pre-Columbian America
 Chapters: 1 - 2
Online Contribution #1:
2
 Colonial America
 Chapters: 3 - 5
3
 Slavery v. Freedom
 Chapters: 6 - 10
OLC #2
4
 Revolutionary Atlantic
 Chapters: 11 - 13
5
 US Constitution & Jeffersonian America
 Chapters: 14 - 20
6
 Communication & Market Revolutions
Social Change
 Chapters: 21 - 23
7
 Jacksonian America & the American Frontier
 Chapters: 24 - 26
OLC #3
8
 The Antebellum Era
 Chapters: 27 - 31
9
 Secession & Civil War, part I.
 Chapters: 32 - 33
10
 Secession & Civil War, part II
 Chapters: 33 - 34
11
OLC # 4

Need Help?


Classroom Resources:


  • In person is usually the best way to get additional feedback; Office Hours = Open-Door Policy, and scheduling appointments is helpful.
  • E-mail runs a close second.
  • Your peers; I hope to encourage a community of learners engaged in cooperative and interesting research shared in the classroom & online
  • The college has many resources, particularly the Library (you will use), as well as connections with local archives (you may use).