5th PERIOD

Class info: 

This three-credit University of Minnesota class will begin with an examination of the first people of North America (American Indians) and the American Indians' interactions and resistance to European colonization in the 1500s and 1600s.  We will look closely at the origins of “white supremacy” in America and how it led to the development, creation, and growth of the United States. The class will also explore the evolution of the colonial labor system for indentured servitude to race-based chattel slavery from 1619 up to the American Revolution. We examine how and why an understanding of “race” developed in the United States. Hist 1307 will also examine the causes and effects of America’s War for Independence and the early conflicts and struggles for equality and freedom of all Americans which led ultimately to the Civil War. The class will also examine the struggle for equality after the Civil War all across America as the nation’s boundaries and population expanded while the United States became a more industrialized country from 1865 to 1898. We will also explore specifically how different groups living in North America viewed “authority” or perceived who should have authority. We will also examine the Americans who “rebelled” against white supremacy in the United States. The events, topics and stories covered in this course will highlight the systems that allowed certain groups and individuals in America to rise to power, while other groups of Americans felt the need to rebel in order to preserve their humanity and fight for a more just nation. 

 Our goal in this class is not just to learn about history, but to do history by examining and evaluating evidence and interpretations about America’s past. We will examine how historians ask questions, utilize evidence, and craft interpretations of our country’s history. We will explore this history through selected primary sources (documents and other evidence originating from the time period being studied), secondary sources (scholarly accounts by historians that synthesize and interpret primary sources), which often have competing historical interpretations as well as our textbook, By the People: AP Edition.. We will explore the strengths and limitations of the sources we encounter as we look to construct our own interpretations of United States History. This course fulfills the University of Minnesota Liberal Education “Historical Perspectives Core” requirement.  Satisfactory completion of the course will result in earning 3 University credits for HIST 1307. The grade you receive in a CIS course is recorded on a University of Minnesota transcript and automatically becomes part of your permanent U of MN academic record.