Spring 2016

History 111 Sec. 1339

US History II
MiraCosta College
Online
David Reeves
Course Webpage Blackboard
Email dreeves@miracosta.edu
Office hours TBA
TRANSFER APPLICABILITY: Associate Degree Credit & transfer to CSU and/or private colleges and
universities IGETC UC Transfer Course List CSU General Education.
History 111 introduces students to the history of the United States from 1865 to the present. The economic,
political, intellectual, cultural and social aspects of history are covered, and the course is designed to further
students' general education by introducing the ideas, attitudes, and institutions of the world. Organization is
primarily chronological and thematic. The aim of this course is to develop each students comprehensive
understanding of crucial historical events by applying context and causation rather than simply regurgitating
facts and dates. In particular, each student will be able to construct a historical thesis that could be supported
by selected primary sources from the era covered by the course, estimate the correct era from which a primary
source derives, interpret the thesis of a secondary source, and articulate the causal and/or consequential
elements from the era covered by the course.
Class Grading
Maggie, Girl of the Streets essay 60 points
Devil Dog essay 100 points
Mid-term 100 points
Final Exam 100 points
Class discussion posts 140 points
Total 500 points
Required books to buy
James Chase, 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs The Election that Changed the Country
David Talbot, Devil Dog: The Amazing True Story of the Man who Saved America
The documents and videos found on Blackboard and listed in the class schedule are required primary source
readings which provide students of history with the voices of those who lived in the past. The reading for any
history course is extensive. Reading the assigned books and primary sources take time; be sure to schedule
plenty of time each week for this class. A portion of each class discussion will be devoted to discussing the
required readings. The exams and class papers will also cover material from the required readings.
There is no assigned or required textbook for this class. Textbooks provide a broad overview of history and
could serve as a guide as we move through history. If you would like a textbook, you may choose to purchase
any of the relevant textbooks offered for other US History classes, or check out those textbooks available on
reserve. These will help those who would like to have a greater context to the lectures, and to help with people,
places and chronology.
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Class Assignments
The class week runs from Tuesday to Monday. I will post all work for each week by Tuesday. Assignments are
due on Mondays, except for the final. The time deadline for all posts and assignments is the end of the day.
Weekly discussion post requirements
There will be two question threads regarding each weeks readings posted by the instructor on Tuesdays.
Students are required to post a response to each question by Thursday. I will post multiple follow-up questions
on each of the two discussion threads, and students must also make two response posts on two separate days on
in response to two my follow-up questions. Throughout the class, when I post a reply I am not only addressing
the specific student, but also the class as a whole, therefore you should read all of my posts. I ask questions after
the initial post with the goal of expanding discussion into other parts of the class material. You are required to
reply to four posts total, even if there is not a reply to one of your own posts.
Example: Tuesday I post two question threads. Thursday, you post answers, and I post my first follow-up
questions. Friday, you make another post in response to one of my new questions on one of the threads.
Monday, you make another post on the other thread. Now you have met the class post requirements. If you want
to make your initial posts before Thursday, you may. If you want to make your posts on the weekend, that is
perfectly acceptable. You cannot make all your posts on one day, and you cannot make response posts on the
same day as your initial question posts.
All four discussion posts required for a week must all be made during that week. Any posts made after that will
not be counted for credit.
You will be held accountable for all the required readings in the class. Your discussion posts and class
assignments must draw on these resources. For posts based on assigned readings, but not lectures, you are
required to quote and cite these sources in your posts. All posts must be 200 words minimum. The final word
count must be at the end of each post.
Any exceptions to these discussion post instructions (such as the first week, spring break, exam weeks) will be
announced and posted on Blackboard.
Essays
Students will write one 800-1000 word essay on the Industrial Revolution and a 1000-1200 word essay on the
book Devil Dog and based on prompts provided by the instructor. I will grade these papers much more
stringently than discussion posts.
Paper assignments will be due at the end of the day on Mondays. Students must submit a copy as a
Microsoft Word attachment on the date due. Papers turned in incorrectly will receive a substantial
grading penalty. Late papers will be accepted until the last day of class, but will receive substantial
grading penalties. There will be no exceptions, unless approved by the instructor beforehand. Plagiarism will
not be tolerated; plagiarized papers will receive a zero and the student will most likely receive a failing grade
and the offense will be reported to campus authorities. Plagiarism is a direct violation of intellectual and
academic honesty. Although it exists in many forms, all plagiarism refers to the same act: representing
somebody elses words or ideas as ones own. The most extreme forms of plagiarism are those of material
authored by another person or obtained from a commercial source, or the use of passages copied word for word
without acknowledgement. Exact words from a source must be in quotes and cited, or it will be considered
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plagiarism. Paraphrasing an authors idea or quoting even limited portions of his or her text without proper
citation is also an act of plagiarism. Even putting someone elses ideas into ones own words without
acknowledgement may be plagiarism. Explanations of just what plagiarism is and how to avoid it can be found
at http://www.diigo.com/list/davidreeves/writing-tools
Mid-Term and Final Exam
The mid-term and final will have multiple-choice questions and an essay. The mid-term will cover material up
to and including week six; week seven material will not be on the mid-term. The final will not be cumulative;
the exam will deal solely with the material covered since the previous exam. The exams will cover the lectures
and required readings. A list of ID terms will be given out a week before the exams as a study guide
Student Responsibility for Drop/Withdrawal
It is the student's responsibility to officially add, drop, or withdraw from any class prior to the deadlines stated
in the class schedule. This is true even if the student has never attended class. Petitions to add, drop, or
withdraw after the deadlines will not be accepted without proof of circumstances beyond the student's control
that made him/her unable to meet the deadline. Lack of money to pay the fees is not considered an extenuating
circumstance. If you fail to withdraw and you stop coming to class a final grade may be assigned to you.
Important dates:
Feb 5 - last day to drop without grade on permanent record
Feb 26 - last day to petition for credit/no credit
Apr 28 - last day to drop with W
Student Support
Students with disabilities, whether physical, learning, or psychological, who believe that they may need
accommodations in this class, are encouraged to contact Disabled Students Programs & Services as soon as
possible to ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely manner. Their phone number is
760.795.6658 and they are located in Building 3000-Student Services, Room 3009, adjacent to Parking lot 3C.
The Tutoring and Academic Support Center (TASC) and the Writing Center (WC) assist students by providing
individual and group tutoring, WC drop-ins, learning communities, self-help materials, and student success
workshops. Services are free and available to all students during day and evening hours at all MiraCosta
College campuses. I recommend that you take advantage of these academic support services. For more specific
information, please call (760) 795-6682
Class Schedule
The instructor reserves the right to change the following class schedule. All changes will be announced online,
and it is the students responsibility to check Blackboard.
Week one, Jan 25-Feb 1 Reconstruction; Native Americans and Western Expansion
Required Reading US Constitution and Amendments I XV; A Sharecropping Contract; Organization
and Principles of the Ku Klux Klan, 1868; Testimony of Robert Bent on the Sand Creek Massacre;
Dawes Act of 1887
Week two, Feb 2-8 Growth of Industrial America; Immigration to the United States
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Required Reading Child Labor in the Canning Industry of Maryland; Francis Clark, Our Immigrants
at Ellis Island; Andrew Carnegie, Gospel of Wealth
Industrial Revolution paper handout
Week three, Feb 9-15 Social Consequences of Industrialization; Populist and Workers Response;
Discussion of Maggie: Girl of the Streets
Required Reading Populist Party Platform; Declaration of Principles of The Social Democracy of
America; Crane, Maggie: Girl of the Streets
Industrial Revolution essay due
Week four, Feb 16-22 Spanish-American War and the Birth of an Overseas Empire; Social Progressivism
and Suffragette Movement
Required Reading Albert J. Beveridge, In Support of an American Empire; American Soldiers in the
Philippines Write Home about the War; Platt Amendment; NY Times, The Triangle Fire, 1911; Margaret
Sanger, The Case for Birth Control
Required Audio Daughters of Freedom!
Week five, Feb 23-29 Progressive Masculinity; African-Americans at the Turn of the Century
Required Reading Theodore Roosevelt, A Strenuous Life; What a Colored Man Should Do to Vote;
Call for a National Conference to Address Racial Inequality
Required Video Scenes from Birth of a Nation
Week six, March 1-7 Progressivism and the Growth of the State; Discussion of 1912
Required Reading US Constitution Amendments XVI XIV; Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (excerpt);
James Chase, 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs The Election that Changed the Country
Week seven, March 8-14 Mid-Term
Devil Dog paper handout
Week eight, March 15-March 28 Spring Break; America and World War I; The Roaring 20s
Required Reading U.S. Sedition Act 1918; Treaty of Versailles; Langston Hughes, Let America be
America Again
Required Video Louise Brooks excerpt from Sexuality and Censorship in Early Cinema; Scene from
Pandoras Box
Week nine, March 29-April 4 The Great Depression; The New Deal
Required Reading NT Times: Crowds at Tickers See Fortunes Wane, Women Traders Going Back to
Bridge Games Say They Are Through With Stocks Forever, Exchange to Close for 2 Days Rest; GlassSteagall Act (1933); Huey Long, Share our Wealth
Required video - Al Jolson, Brother Can You Spare a Dime?
Week ten, April 5-11 America in WWII: Foreign Affairs; Discussion of Devil Dog
Required Reading FDR, A Day Which Will Live in Infamy; Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Why did Japan
Surrender?; David Talbot, Devil Dog
Devil Dog essay due
Week eleven, April 12-18 America in WWII: Domestic Affairs; Origins of the Cold War
Required Reading Executive Order 9066; Carrie Mc Williams, Zoot Suit Riots; Winston Churchill,
Iron Curtain Speech; Truman Doctrine; Eisenhowers Farewell Address
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Week twelve, April 19-25 The Cold War at Home; The 1950s and the Growth of the Civil Rights
Movement
Required Reading - Joe McCarthy, Wheeling Speech; Betty Freidan, The Feminine Mystique (excerpt)
Required Video He May Be a Communist; The Red Menace; Edward R. Murrow - See It Now (March
9, 1954)
Week thirteen, April 26-May 2 The Vietnam War; The Turbulent 1960s
Required Reading Vietnamese Declaration of Independence; Lt. Cmdr. Pat Paterson, The Truth about
Tonkin; Walter Cronkite, "We are Mired in a Stalemate; El Plan de Aztlan
Required Video Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream; Malcom X Explains Black Nationalism;
Buffalo Springfield, For What its Worth; James Brown, Say It Loud
Week fourteen, May 3-9 Nixon and Watergate; Reagan and Today
Required Reading Nixons Enemies List; War Powers Act of 1973; Equal Rights Amendment
Required Video - Helen Reddy, I am Woman; WKRP in Cincinnati; Its Morning in America;
Minutemen: This Aint no Picnic, King of the Hill
Week fifteen, May 10-16 Why 9/11?
Required Reading Cullen Murphy and Todd S. Purdum, Farewell to All That: An Oral History of the
Bush White House; Another Source TBD
May 17-20 Final