HIST011

Description

This introductory course offers a survey of the history of the region of North America that embarked upon the national project of the "United States" during the American Revolution of the late eighteenth century. In essence we will examine what might be considered the formative years of the modern United States, running from the earliest seventeenth-century settlements through the solidifying of the national project during the great Civil War of the mid-nineteenth century. The course employs a broadly thematic approach that emphasizes a number of recurrent concerns, which include: the interlocking experiences of native Americans, African-Americans, and Euro-Americans; the complicated process by which Americans defined and shaped a distinctive national identity and republican culture; and the ongoing challenge for Americans of arriving at a meaningful definition of individual liberty while balancing this commitment to liberty with a parallel commitment to order, community, and the public or common good.