Colonial America
M-W-F 12:20-1:10 PM
Bellamy 01
Dr. Edward Gray
Office: Bellamy 445
Office Hours: M & W, 11:05-12:05 or by appointment
Phone: 644-1627
E-mail: egray@mailer.fsu.edu
Course Description
This course explores the major forces that shaped social and cultural
life in the mainland British American colonies from the earliest period of
settlement(ca. 1600), through the end of the French and Indian War(1763). Over this nearly two hundred year period,
the British mainland colonies were transformed from several small, fragile
settlements huddled along the eastern seaboard into diverse, multi-layered
societies, bearing a striking resemblance to those old world societies European
colonists had left behind. What accounts for this dramatic change? And, what
role did the various social and ethnic groups living in the mainland
colonies—including Africans, Native Americans, the colonial gentry, not to
mention English, Scottish, German, Dutch and other immigrants—play in this
striking transformation? These are the two central questions around which the
course is organized.
Course Requirements
1.
Friday Discussion
Sections: Attendance and constructive participation will be factored into
your grade.
MY ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Attendance is mandatory in this course. There will be a daily attendance sheet
which it is your responsibility to sign. If you come to class LATE or LEAVE
EARLY you will be considered a no show. For every three unexcused
absences your final course grade will fall by one full letter grade—e.g., a B-
will become a C-.
2. Course Readings: Required weekly reading assignments are indicated on the syllabus.
3. Essays: There will be two papers of 4-6 pages, DOUBLE-SPACED and TYPED. The first is due IN CLASS on Friday, October 11; the second IN CLASS on Monday, November 25th. THERE WILL BE NO EXTENSIONS. LATE PAPERS WILL BE PENALIZED BY TEN POINTS (e.g. a 90 to an 80) FOR EACH DAY THE PAPER IS LATE (INCLUDING WEEKENDS AND HOLIDAYS), NO EXCEPTIONS. PAPERS THAT ARE PLACED UNDER MY OFFICE DOOR WILL BE DISCARDED. PAPERS NOT TURNED IN DURING CLASS TIME MUST BE DELIVERED TO MY MAILBOX IN THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT WITH AN OFFICIAL DEPARTMENTAL STAMP INDICATING DATE AND TIME. PAPERS THAT ARE 5 OR MORE DAYS LATE WILL BE AWARDED A ZERO. LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE FORGIVEN ONLY UNDER OBVIOUSLY EXTENUATION CIRCUMSTANCES AND WHEN ACCOMPANIED BY AN OFFICIAL LETTER FROM YOUR ACADEMIC DEAN OR THE STUDENT HEALTH SERVICES EXPLAINING THE REASON FOR FAILURE TO COMPLETE THE ASSIGNMENT ON TIME. YOU MUST ALSO DISCUSS THE MATTER IN PERSON WITH DR. GRAY. THE FINAL DECISION ON ACCEPTING LATE ASSIGNMENTS IS DR. GRAY’S ALONE. ALSO NOTE: PAPERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED UNLESS THEY ARE TYPED and DOUBLE-SPACED, AND NO PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED IN ANY ELECTRONIC FORMAT—E.G., AS ATTACHMENTS OR E-MAILS.
Paper Topics: Write an analytical review essay about one of the books assigned for the class (excluding Gunn). While you do not need to do outside research for these essays, your review should reflect knowledge you’ve obtained in class and in other readings. That is, you should not simply state your opinion as to whether or not the book is good, but rather should identify and describe the major themes of the work, and base your criticism or praise on informed analysis of those themes. A good review essay consists of informed analysis and balanced assessment, as well as clear writing. Spelling and grammatical errors, and/or poor exposition will result in a lower grade. To avoid these, proof read your essay. Also, any quotations(no matter how long) should be properly identified in footnotes or endnotes.
A Note on Plagiarism and Historical Documentation: Any attempt to represent someone else’s writing and research (including material from the internet) as your own will be punished with failure of the entire course and other possible disciplinary actions. The burden of proof is on you: it is your responsibility to properly document your sources. To avoid any question about the authenticity of your written work, you must provide adequate documentation for any and all sources (including anything taken from the Internet/web) you use in your essay. If you quote the work of another author, you must use quotation marks around the quote, and you must indicate the source of the quote either in a footnote or a parenthetical citation at the end of the quote. If you draw on other authors for their ideas, you must also provide appropriate documentation. Failure to properly document sources—whether deliberate or inadvertent—will result in a failing grade for the assignment and possibly for the entire course. If there are any questions about this, please see me and consult the Student Handbook section entitled “Violations of the Academic Honor Code.”
5118 Students: In place of the second essay, you are to write a literature review of 10-15pps. on the Ritchie, Rediker, and Hancock books. We will discuss this in more detail during the grad. hour.
4. Exams: There will two exams consisting of a combination of identification questions, short-answer questions, and an essay question.
Note: There is no final exam in
this class.
Grade Breakdown:
Discussion Sections: 10%
First Essay: 25%
Second Essay: 25%
Second Exam: 20%
NOTE: Failure
to complete ALL assignments will result in an automatic failing grade
for the course.
Additional Course Guidelines:
1. No
eating or drinking of anything in class.
2. Please
do not come to class late. It is preferable
that you not attend than that you disrupt class by coming late.
3. Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act should follow these steps: 1.) Provide documentation of your disability to the Student Disability Resource Center (08 Kellum Hall; tel. 644-9566). 2.)Bring a statement from the Student Disability Resource Center indicating that you have registered with them to the instructor the first week of class. The statement should indicate the special accommodations you require.
Textbooks Available For Purchase in the Bookstore:
Giles Gunn, ed. Early
American Writing
David D. Hall, Worlds
of Wonder, Days of Judgement: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England
Edmund Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom: The
Ordeal of Colonial Virginia
James Merrell, The Indians’
New World: Catawbas and Their Neighbors from European Contact through the Era
of Removal
Laurel T. Ulrich, Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New
England, 1650-1750
T. H. Breen, Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the
Eve of the Revolution
Additional Readings for AMH 5118 Students(also
in bookstore):
Robert C. Ritchie, Captain
Kidd and the War against the Pirates
Marcus Rediker, Between
the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
David Hancock, Citizens
of the World
Week 1: August 26-30:
Background
Readings: Gunn, 52-60; Merrell, to 48; Hall, to 70.
Week 2: September
4-6: Sources of Colonization
Readings: Gunn, 61-85; Morgan, through ch. 5
Week 3: September
9-13: The Virginia Venture
Readings: Gunn, 96-106, 406; Morgan, chs. 6-10
Week 4: September
16-20: The Puritans
Readings: Gunn, 107-36; Hall, 71-165.
Week 5: September
23-27: The Trials of the Bay Colony
Readings: Gunn, 137-74, 193-96; Hall, finish.
Week 6: September
30-October 2: The Labor Problem
Readings: Ulrich, to 86; Merrell, 49-91.
Week 7: October 7-11:
The Restoration Empire
Friday October
11: First Paper Due
Week 8: October
14-18: Crises of Empire
Friday October 18: First Exam
Week 9: October 21-25: Popular Belief
Readings: Gunn, 245-68; Merrell, 91-133; Ulrich, to
183.
Week 10: October
28-November 1: A Comparative Perspective: The Carribean
Readings: Gunn, 274-86; Morgan, finish.
Week 11: November 4-8: The Rise of a Colonial Elite
Readings: Gunn, 268-73; 300-303; 348-54; Ulrich, finish; Merrell, 134-91.
Week 12: November
13-15: The “Great Awakening”
Monday November 11: No Class, Veteran’s Day
Week 13: November
18-22: Provincial Politics
Monday, November 25: Second Paper Due
Readings: Gunn, 374-95, 407-10; Breen, finish.
Friday, November 29: No Class,
Thanksgiving
Week 15: December 2-6: War and Empire
Merrell, finish.
Friday, December 6: Second Exam