"The one duty we have to history is to revise it."
-- Oscar Wilde

"By 'nationalism' ... I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests. Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. Both words are normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must draw a distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved. By 'patriotism' I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one ... has no wish to force upon other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality."
-- George Orwell

This course offers a survey of United States history from an economic perspective. We will study the development of economic institutions, markets, and industries, as well as economic interpretations of historical phenomena such as the American Revolution, slavery, the Civil War, and the robber-baron era. We will employ basic microeconomic and macroeconomic tools in analyzing and seeking explanations of historical events and outcomes. The coverage runs from the pre-colonial era to the turn of the twentieth century.

Office hours: T Th 2-4, and by appointment

Prerequisites

ECO 101 (introductory microeconomics) and ECO 200 (introductory macroeconomics); also, ENG 102 (Composition II) or ENG 204 (Writing About Literature) or passage of exemption examination.

Required texts

• Atack, Jeremy & Peter Passell. A New Economic View of American History. 2^nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994.
• Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: Dover, 1996 [originally published in 1900].
• Dickens, Charles. American Notes. New York: Penguin USA, 1986 [1846].
• Hacker, Diana. A Writer's Reference. 4^th ed. Boston: Bedford Books, 1999. (You might own this already.)
• Loewen, James. Lies My Teacher Told Me:Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Touchstone, 1995.
• Strunk, William Jr. & E.B. White. The Elements of Style. 4^th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999.
• Eco 326 course reading packet, available at the College Store and Kraftees. (The required reading for each week will often include one article or book chapter from a source other than your textbooks. The reading packet contains all of the required outside readings.)

Another useful web site

The College Writing Center

... is a strongly recommended resource for anyone who finds the writing component of this course to be a struggle. The tutors at the College Writing Center can offer valuable help in writing and revising your papers. The Center is located in room 203 of Swetman Hall and is reachable by phone at x5758.

Assignments and grading

Since this course is an expository writing class, written assignments will constitute the bulk of your grade. On every written assignment, content and writing will count equally toward your grade. The single largest component of your course grade will be a term paper (about 10 pages). You will write two drafts of this paper, so when you turn in your final draft on the last day of class, it will be a polished product. (Do note that the final draft will be held to a higher standard than the first draft -- turning in an unrevised first draft as your final draft will earn you a lower grade.) Along the way you will complete a short assignment or two that relate to the term paper.

Your term paper can be on any important topic in pre-1900 American economic history, provided that you clear it with me first. The article by Robert Whaples (see Week 4's reading) is an excellent place to look for a topic, since it lists forty propositions in economic history on which there is at least some disagreement among economic historians.

Prep papers: You will write six short (1½ - 2 pages) discussion prep papers, based on your reactions to the assigned reading for the week. The due date for each week's prep paper is Monday, unless otherwise indicated. A prep paper should include reactions to all of the assigned readings for the week at hand, and should demonstrate (explicitly or implicitly) that you have grasped the main idea of each reading. A prep paper should not be a mere summary of the week's readings, but should include talking points or questions for class discussion. Since this class is meant to include a lot of discussion, class participation will also enter into your final grade. You may turn in up to three additional prep papers (though no more than one in any given week) for extra credit.

The course will also have a midterm and a final exam. The weighting of the different items will be as follows:
 

Draconian policy on cheating

Students who are caught cheating on the term paper or on either of the exams will automatically fail this course and, possibly, will have their misdeeds reported to the college authorities. Students who are caught cheating on a prep paper or another item will receive a zero for the item in question, as well as zeroes for two other, equivalently weighted items (e.g., the two prep papers before it; think of it as a "treble damages" policy).

Course outline and schedule
 

Week	Dates	Topics
1	Aug. 27, 31	What Is Economic History? American Economic Development, in Brief What to read: Course syllabus (every word!) Atack & Passell, "Introduction: What's New About the 'New View' of Economic History?" and Chapter 1 ("American Economic Growth: A Long-Run Perspective") (total of 30 pp.) Loewen, Chapter 10 ("Progress Is Our Most Important Product"; 17 pp.) NOTE: The class scheduled for Wed., Aug. 29 was canceled because I was sick.
2	Sept. 5, 7	The Writing of Economics Strunk & White, The Elements of Style Hacker, Section E ("Effective Sentences"; pp. 96-122) and G5 and G6 ("Sentence fragments," "Run-on sentences"; pp. 203-14) NOTE: This week's prep paper (on The Elements of Style) is mandatory and due on Wed., Sept. 5. (Your prep paper need not discuss the Hacker reading.) MON., SEPT. 3: LABOR DAY -- NO CLASSES THURS., SEPT. 6: LAST DAY YOU CAN ADD THIS COURSE
3	Sept. 10, 14	Colonists and Indians Barrington, Linda, pp.1-10 of "Editor's Introduction: Native Americans and U.S. Economic History," from The Other Side of the Frontier: Economic Explorations into Native American History. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999. Barrington, Linda, "Introduction: Relative Prices, Civilizations, and Evolving Institutions" (ibid, pp. 53-55). Clay, Karen, "Introduction: Intertwining Economies" (ibid, pp. 127-30). Loewen, Chapter 4 ("Red Eyes"; 39 pp.) NOTE: Classes were canceled on 9/12 due to terror attacks.  The class on 9/14 was devoted to a discussion of those attacks and their context.
4	Sept. 17, 19, 21	Colonist and Indians (continued); The Colonial Economy; Debates in American Economic History Robert Whaples, "Where Is There Consensus Among American Economic Historians? The Results of a Survey on Forty Propositions," Journal of Economic History 55:139-54 (1995). Atack & Passell, Chapter 2 ("The Colonial Economy"; 26 pp.) MON., SEPT. 17: LAST DAY YOU CAN DROP THIS COURSE
5	Sept. 24, 26, 28	Talkin' Bout a Revolution McCusker, John J., & Russell R. Menard, pp. 351-57 of "Economic Growth, Revolution, and the Consequences of Independence," Chapter 17 of The Economy of British America, 1607-1789. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1985. Morgan, Edmund S., pp. 58-61 of The Birth of the Republic, 1763-1789. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956. Atack & Passell, Chapter 3 ("The American Revolution: Some Causes and Consequences"; 25 pp.) FRI., SEPT. 28: TERM PAPER PROSPECTUS DUE
6	Oct. 1, 3, 5	Birth of a Nation Atack & Passell, Chapters 4 ("Money and Banking Before the Civil War") and 5 ("Foreign Trade and Commercial Policy in the Development of a New Nation") (total of 59 pp.)
7	Oct. 8, 10, 12	Mass. Production: The Beginnings of Industrialization Atack & Passell, Chapter 7 ("The Beginnings of Industrialization"; 35 pp.) Dickens, Chapter IV ("An American Railroad. Lowell and Its Factory System"; 9 pp.)
8	Oct. 15, 17, 19	The Political Economy of Slavery, Part One Atack & Passell, Chapter 11 ("Slavery and Southern Development"; 25 pp.) Dickens, Chapter XVII ("Slavery"; 16 pp.) MON., OCT. 15: MIDTERM EXAM
9	Oct. 22, 24, 26	The Political Economy of Slavery, Part Two Atack & Passell, Chapter 12 ("How the Southern Slave System Worked"; 27 pp.) Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, "The Political Economy of Slavery and Secession," Chapter 2 of Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men. Chicago: Open Court, 1996 (24 pp.). FRI., OCT. 26: LAST DAY OF COURSE WITHDRAWAL PERIOD
10	Oct. 29, 31;  Nov. 2	Economic Aspects of the Civil War Atack & Passell, Chapter 13 ("The Economics of the Civil War"; 20 pp.) Loewen, Chapter 6 ("John Brown and Abraham Lincoln: The Invisibility of Antiracism in American History Textbooks"; 29 pp.)
11	Nov. 5, 7, 9	Emancipation, Reconstruction, and "Redemption": The South After the Civil War Atack & Passell, Chapter 14 ("The South After the Civil War"; 25 pp.) Loewen, Chapter 5 ("'Gone with the Wind': The Invisibility of Racism in American History Textbooks"; 34 pp.) MON., NOV. 5: TERM PAPER FIRST DRAFT DUE
12	Nov. 12, 14, 16	Railroads and the Nineteenth-Century Transportation Revolution Atack & Passell, Chapters 6 ("The Transportation Revolution and Domestic Commerce") and 16 ("Railroads and Nineteenth-Century American Economic Growth and Development") (total of 60 pp.)
13	Nov. 19	Pox and Thanks Loewen, Chapter 3 ("The Truth About the First Thanksgiving"; 23 pp.) WED.-FRI., NOV. 21-23 -- NO CLASSES -- THANKSGIVING BREAK
14	Nov. 26, 28, 30	Welcome to the Jungle: Industry and Finance in the Robber-Baron Era Atack & Passell, Chapters 17 ("The Changing Structure of American Industry") and 18 ("Structural Change in America's Financial Markets") (total of 60 pp.)
15	Dec. 3, 5, 7	Money and Banking and the Politics Thereof Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Dighe, annotations to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (to be distributed in class) FRI., DEC. 7: TERM PAPER FINAL DRAFT DUE

TUES., DEC. 11, 10:30-12:30: FINAL EXAM (COMPREHENSIVE)

Further reading

Carnes, Mark C., ed. Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (1996). Watching the movies will never be the same: several dozen distinguished historians discuss the historical accuracy (or lack thereof) of more than seventy historically-minded movies, from Gone With the Wind to The Grapes of Wrath to JFK to Apocalypse Now.

Diamond, Jared.  Guns, Germs, and Steel (1999).  Diamond provides a convincing and comprehensive explanation of Eurasia's rise to world dominance, concluding that the West's dominance had its roots in environmental factors such as the availability of domesticable plants and animals, which led to agricultural and sedentary societies, which in turn led to technological and political advances.

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States, 1492-Present(1995). In addition to being the book that Matt Damon's title character in Good Will Hunting said will "knock you on your ass," Zinn's bestseller is one of the most gripping, and radical, American history books you might ever encounter.