The Making of American Cultures, 1600-1877 

This course introduces students to the history of the United States before 1877. It focuses on the creation of a distinctive set of American cultures. Central themes include the colonial meeting of Spanish, French, English, native American, and African American cultures; the development of distinctly American Creole cultures in the eighteenth century; race and conquest; the American Revolution and the creation of a republican political culture; the transformation of that political culture through struggles over industrialization and wage labor, slavery, and women's rights; and the revolution in American political culture and social relations during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

During this course, students will

• Describe the importance of contributions, approaches, and methodologies of the Humanist to the world at large and to understandings of the American past.

• Apply the perspective of the Humanist to critically analyze, interpret, and present primary source materials to help formulate historical questions and arguments.

• Describe systemic inequities experienced by populations who have been historically and systemically marginalized, especially racial and ethnic minorities, women, and economically marginalized communities.

• Analyze how social, institutional, and other systemic structures influence how historical knowledge and narratives of American history are constructed.

• Develop their analytical writing abilities through assignments designed to promote historical thinking, the appropriate use of historical evidence, the synthesis of multiple perspectives, and communication through clear and compelling prose. 

Exploring Perspectives (Humanist): 

Students will identify the approaches and methodologies of each perspective, using evidence to critically analyze questions and arguments, and consider contributions of this perspective to finding solutions to global and/or local challenges. 

Diversity & Equity Attribute:

Students will demonstrate knowledge of how historical and contemporary populations* have experienced inequality, considering diversity, power, and equity through disciplinary perspectives to reflect upon how various communities experience privilege and/or oppression/marginalization and theorize how to create a more equitable society.

*populations including, but not limited to: people from racial/ethnic minorities, women, LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people, people from marginalized communities and societies, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities and/or people from colonized societies

Writing Attribute:

Students will demonstrate rhetorical awareness and writing proficiency by writing for a variety of contexts and executing disciplinary genre conventions of organization, design, style, mechanics and citation format while reflecting on their writing development.