1 HISTORY 361: COLONIAL AMERICA Reed College Margot Minardi Spring 2008 [email protected], 503-517-7477 MWF 11-11:50 Office hours: M 1-2:30, Th 10:30-12 Psychology 102 and by appointment, CC124 This course examines the interactions among Indians, Africans, and Europeans in the centuries after they first encountered each other on the North American continent. Many of our readings draw from the historiography of the mainland colonies of British America, but we will also explore how recent historians have sought to expand the temporal, geographical, and theoretical boundaries of “colonial America.” By the end of this course, you should be able to o Explain how various scholars have interpreted what counts as “colonial American” history. (For example… What does “colonial” mean in a North American context? Where was colonial America, and when did its history begin and end?) o Describe regional variation in colonial America, especially with reference to modes of colonization, labor regimes, and social relations. (For example… What were the differences in how the Spanish and the English established colonial rule in the Americas? How did slavery in Virginia differ from slavery in South Carolina? Why did these differences matter?) o Identify broad transformations and continuities in colonial experience over time, with an emphasis on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. (For example… How did relations between Europeans and Native Americans change from the early period of colonization to the eighteenth-century wars for empire? Over time, did the social, economic, and political landscape of the British colonies come to look more or less like Britain itself?) o Analyze the relationship between primary sources and scholarly interpretations in the study of colonial America. (For example… How have historians’ interpretations of the Salem witchcraft crisis of 1692 changed over time? Was there really a “Great Awakening,” or is this just a convenient label for historians to use?) Expectations and assignments Honor principle Reed’s honor principle governs our conduct in this course in two ways: o Respect for others. If you don’t agree with what someone else has to say, you are welcome (and encouraged) to express your point of view, but you must do so respectfully, and you must support your claims with textual evidence. o Intellectual honesty. If you have questions about what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it, don’t hesitate to ask. In your written work, please follow the Chicago Manual of Style’s suggested format for citation in the humanities (footnotes, not in-text citations).2 There is an abbreviated guide to Chicago style here: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html Conference attendance and participation You are expected to come to conference on time and prepared to participate in discussion of the assigned readings. Participation includes both expressing your own ideas and questions and listening carefully to those of others. Please bring copies of each day’s reading to conference with you. Missing more than four conferences will put you at risk of failing the course. Written assignments You will receive detailed descriptions of all written assignments ahead of their due dates. All late work will be penalized, although I will consider requests for extensions on a case-by-case basis. (The earlier you ask for an extension, the more likely I am to grant it.) In cases in which your written work will be circulated to other members of the conference as a basis for class discussion (specifically, the colonial research odyssey and the primary source report), I will grant no extensions and accept no late work. o Discussion questions. Beginning in the second week, you will be assigned on a rotating basis to post discussion questions to the course email list. These questions are due by 8 p.m. the day before the conference meets. On days when you are not assigned to comment on readings, you should be sure to review your classmates’ comments in preparation for conference. o Colonial research odyssey. This assignment will require you to locate and annotate primary sources in colonial American history available either physically or digitally at Reed. 2-3 page research memo plus primary sources; due 2/15. o Map paper. This paper will give you a chance to exercise the historian’s skills of close reading and contextualization of a primary source. 5-7 pages; due 3/12. o Final paper proposal and bibliography. 1-2 pages; due 4/4. o Primary source report. This paper will be a close reading of a primary source that you plan to use in your final paper. 3-4 pages plus the primary source; due 4/18. o Final paper. This paper will require you to make a historical argument about a primary source (or set of primary sources) of your own choosing. 12-15 pages; due 5/9. Reading As you will learn, colonial America is a huge and diverse place, and its history spans several hundred years. We won’t be able to cover this history in its entirety. Instead, I have chosen a series of provocative and influential readings that touch on many of the major problems in colonial American history. The first four weeks of the course raise some “big picture” questions; starting in the fifth week, we will move through a roughly chronological study of the seventeenth3 and eighteenth centuries. In general, I have stressed thematic coherence over following a strict narrative. If you would like a narrative introduction to colonial America, you should consult a textbook (good options include Out of Many by John Mack Faragher et al and A People and a Nation by Mary Beth Norton et al) or a synthetic history (Alan Taylor’s American Colonies is a good place to start). These books are also useful references for learning more about the events, transformations, people, and places you will encounter in the more specialized readings. The books listed below are required, as we will be reading them in their entirety. They are on order at the bookstore and on reserve at the library. Earlier editions than the ones listed below are fine (and may be less expensive). a) Fred Anderson, The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War (New York: Penguin, 2006). $16.00 b) Bernard Bailyn, The Peopling of British North America: An Introduction (New York: Vintage, 1988). $12.95 c) Jill