History is an attempt to understand the stories of the past.  We must not ignore dates and facts, but interpretations define the way we view the world around us.

 

Course Information:

Course:

Early American History    (HYBRID)

Section:

Hist 121.02YL

Semester:

Fall 2024  

Date/Time:

 Wed.  4:00 - 5:20 pm

Location:

 Virtual - Zoom

Instructor:

Name:

John (Kinch) Kincheloe

                          
What is this Course?

Email:

jkincheloe@nvcc.edu


What do I need to do?

Phone

(703)948-7571


How do I do assignments?

Office Location:

LC 328           (Loudoun)         


What are the course rules?

   Website:

kinchteach.com



Office Hours:  Listed on Home page (link)


Course Schedule:   US1 schedule


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What is this Course?

Themes:

-The history of early America is the history of the search for an American Identity.  The greatest strength of the United States exists in the source of its greatest conflict: diversity.  Economic growth and territorial expansion led to interaction and struggle throughout North American.  Americans developed from a diverse populace, and those who came to form the United States in the nineteenth century were a product of the interaction of these various groups.

-My goal is to complicate, not simplify, your understanding of how the United States of America came to exist.  The United States was not always a secure entity.  In fact, the majority of its history is the story of failure and conflict.  We will look closely at the themes of Identity cultural conflict, and  economic motivation, which created the United States of America.

 

By the end of the semester you should:

-Be able to discuss the conflicting motivations of the diverse populace that inhabited North America.
-Be able to explain what constitutes an American, and how that conception developed from both positive and negative consequences.

-Be able to devise original arguments about historical trends and events and prove them using both primary and secondary information.

 

Course Description and Objectives:   Stuff the college makes me include:

Course Description

This course surveys the general history of the United States to 1865 and allows students to reach a basic understanding of the characteristic features of the United States’ early historical development. Students will learn about some of the important political, economic, social, intellectual, cultural and religious changes that shaped the development of the United States from earliest times.

Course Objectives

Upon completion the course, the student will be able to:

-Establish a chronology of historical events in American History before 1865.

-Explain the changing geo-political structures of the United States up until 1865.

-Define the importance of key individuals and developments in American history before 1865.

-Identify the social, economic and political forces at work in the evolution of early American history.

-Recognize and describe the significance of some of the cultural achievements of early American history.

 -Analyze complex historical sources and materials and reach conclusions based on interpretations.

 

   NOTICE
        Lectures may contain disturbing content, including, but not limited to: violence, sexual assault, war crimes, genocide, mental or physical illnesses or disabilities, discrimination or         persecution on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and/or sexual orientation, etc. If you have been personally impacted by one or more of these topics and suffer from             PTSD, please email the professor if you would like prior notification of lectures containing discussions of the effecting topics. 

Recommended Co-requisites:

This is a writing intensive course so an introductory English course is highly recommended.

 

OER Course Materials:  

There are no books to purchase for this class.  All textbooks and monographs are free Open Online Resources linked below:

-Online Textbook=     -American Yawp: Open online textbook  (link)    (HARD COPY  AVAILABLE through Amazon)


                                                                                      -Additional online materials will be made available via the Course Schedule

Lecture Review Materials (links) 

-Lecture Review Materials:    US1 Chapter Terms         US1 Lecture Slides 1            US1 Lecture Slides 2   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Fall 2024 His 121 Course Schedule  (Hybrid)

note: This is ONLY A Reading GUIDE to help you plan your weeks with easy access to Readings.  All Assignments, Group Work, Discussions, etc. are explained with due dates in Modules on Canvas.


 


Class Date

 

Topic:

Face-to-Face Meeting

 

Major Assignments

 

Readings

(to be completed before the class)

            

Section 1 =  Pre-Contact= The first fourteen Thousand Years       13,000 BC – 1492 AD


Week 1


North American Migration Theories

Introduction Assignment




Week 2



North American Prehistory:

Native Civilizations & lifeways


Research Project Proposal Due

       
                                
Read textbook Ch.  1

Read Primary Documents:
Cartier's Second Voyage 1536
Columbus in Hispaniola 1493


Section 2 = Colonial North America    1492 – 1775



Week 3


The Settlement of North America



Read textbookCh.  2
Read Primary Documents:
Las Casas, Devastation of the Indies (Read all 41pgs)



Week 4


Chesapeake and the Low Country




Paper 1 Due

                           Read textbook Ch.  3  
Read Primary Documents
Declaration by Nathaniel Bacon
Gov. William Berkley on Bacon's Rebellion



Week 5



New England and Mid Atlantic






Read textbook: Ch. 4

Read Primary Documents:
Journal of John Winthrop (Excerpts)
Jonathan Edwards: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God


Section 3 = Creating a country of divisiveness 1763 – 1814



Week 6


Rising Tensions and the
Motivation of Colonial Revolt





Bibliography due


Read textbook
Ch.  5

Read Primary Documents:
Declaration of Independence
  Townshend Act
  Hutchinson on the Stamp Act








Week 7


A Floundering Experiment:
The Constitution





 

Read textbook Ch.  6

Read Primary Documents:
English Bill of Rights
Jefferson: Statute of Religious Freedom (1786)
The Constitution Of the United States of America



Week 8



Conflict in a weak nation:
The Politics of Stability
 




Read textbook Ch.  7

Read Primary Documents:
 
Debate on Executive Power
Letter: Jefferson->Adams 1796

 George Washington Farewell Address


Section 4 = The Second Generation and the Making of the United States 1814 -1860



Week 9



Northern Industry & Reform



  Research Project due

 

Read textbook: Ch. 8 & Ch. 9
Read Primary Documents:
Republican Motherhood (1815)
  Lowell Mill Girls Go on Strike, 1836
American Frugal Housewife (1829)



Week 10


Southern Agriculture





 


Read textbook Ch.  10  & Ch. 11
             



Week 11



An Expanding Nation




Read textbookCh.  12
Read Primary Documents:

Declaration of Sentiments

Memorial to Mass. Legislature
Manifest Destiny



Week 12

Regional Tensions Build:
A Nation Torn Apart



Read textbook:   & Ch.  13
Read Primary Documents:
Slave Narratives
  (Note- this is a long reading
)

Section 5 = Civil War 1844 -1877


Week 13
 

The Civil War
War Between the States
War for the Union
War of Southern Succession
War of Northern Aggression




Read textbook Ch.  14
Read Primary Documents:
  "The Crime Against Kansas."
Preston Brooks: In defense of Attack on Sumner (1856)
A House Divided Speech (1858) Lincoln



Week 14







Reconstruction





Read textbook Ch. 15
Read Primary Documents:
Gettysburg Address 
Emancipation Proclamation






Final Exam Week = Wed. Dec. 11th  (4:00pm)


Final Essay



 

Note: The instructor has the right to alter or change the course schedule at any time as he/she deems appropriate.

 

What do I need to do?

Grading Policy:

All assignments are graded on a 100 point scale and averaged accordingly to the percentages listed below.

 Assessment

Percentage

 



Grading Scale

 

Group Projects / Participation

25

A

90-100

Hybrid Activities

20

B

80-89

Argumentative Papers  

20

C

70-79

 Research Project   

 20

D

60-69

 Final Cumulative Essay

15

F

59 and below

 

Assessments:

o   Group Presentations
   
§  You will be assigned a group in Canvas in week 1 of the semester.         

                                o   Failure to appear will result in a “0” grade for this assignment.      

§  Video Group Research Presentations (click for instructions)

·         Your group will produce a publicly posted five minute research presentation.            

                                   § -Discussion lead---Click Here = for detailed instructions. 
                                                Your group will present on and lead a class discussion of the primary sources assigned for the week.           

                    o Participation
                               
§  Attendance
                                                It is each students responsibility to check in every class on "Qwickley."
                                                     Arriving late & Leaving early = Grade reduction

                                                 
§  Engagement
                                           
Grade assessed based on whether or not you talk/type chat on a regular bases.
                                                       Failure to keep Camera on during class = Grade reduction
                                  

o   Hybrid Activities

§  Weekly short written exercises and/or discussion carried out through Canvas.

§  Exercises will be graded as written assignments/ discussion will be graded based on both quantity and quality of posts.

 o   2- 3pg. argumentative papers

                            o   Utilizing readings from primary sources, books, and the textbook.    
                            o  
(All papers must be submitted via attachment on Canvas before the assigned due date and time.)


o  Research Project

                                §  Research Project   Click here fore details


o   Cumulative Essay     

                                    §  1 Cumulative essay:  3-4 pg typed essay question


                Final Cumulative Exam Question

 The formation of an American identity was a long and complicated process.  What is an American?  When did such an identity form and how did it evolve over time?

(Evidence and Information must be used from across the breath of the semester and 3 different primary documents to prove your Argument.)

  

Extra Credit Assignments (due by the end of Week 13) =    Digital History Project- check it out here.

                   Take a look and talk to Kinch if you are interested.

What is a Hybrid Virtual Course?

The class will typically consist of:

    -Story time  (10 min.)

    -Questions   (10 min.)
    -Business of the week  (10 min.)

    -Student Video  (5 min.)

    -Primary Document Discussion (40 min.)
    -Skill Session  (10 min.)

Laptops and tablets are encouraged in class, but surfing for non-subject related material during class will not be tolerated.  If seen you will be asked to explain the relevance of what is on your screen and you may be asked to leave the room.  You will be required to engage with your own or provided devices during class discussion.


Hybrid Attendance Policy: 

This is a hybrid course whereas 50% of the coursework assignments are completed outside the virtual classroom.  Students are expected to work at least nine (9) hours a week to completed coursework expectations.  Students are required to log onto Canvas at least three times a week, to ensure awareness of assignment updates, coursework modifications and weekly announcements. 

Absences, Late arrival, and leaving early will affect a student’s grade due to the student not being able to participate in class/group discussions. Students missing more than 30 percent of the scheduled classes without an excused absence from the professor will receive ZERO points for the class participation grade. Class absence does not excuse a student from meeting assignment due dates


Minimum Technical Requirements and skills for Hybrid Course:

Course includes both classroom (Zoom)  and online meetings. A portion of this course is delivered virtually in lieu of traditional classroom hours.  Student must have access to a computer a reliable high-speed Internet connection.

-Students must have some version or equivalent of office, and have a basic working knowledge of Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.

-Students must store course work on a cloud server such as Dropbox or Google Drive.  (A computer crash is not a valid excuse for late work.)
 

HYBRID ACTIVITY DETAILS:

Hybrid assignments are intended to take the place of in class learning, and should be thought of as an opportunity to engage with the material, not just basic HW.

  • Each week will contain:
    • Documents to read and Kinch videos to watch.
    • a Canvas discussion to take part.
  • All assignments are posted on Canvas, you will submit on Canvas, and you will receive feedback in the Canvas Grade book.

ZOOM Classes (for Virtual classes)

Once a week will meet on Zoom.  Attendance is mandatory and you are expected to take an active part in Discussion & Interactive Lecture.
-- You are required to turn on you Camera during class and especially during discussion segments.

-- You will need to log on through Canvas directly and check in on "Quickley."


Electronic Devices (for On Campus Classes)



How do I do assignments? 

Tree Preservation    This is a paperless course. 

- All additional readings, assignments, and course materials can be found in the schedule above.

-All assignments and quizzes need to be submitted in Canvas.

-All feedback will be given through Canvas.

-To access Canvas = Log in to “My NOVA”  https://www.nvcc.edu/academic-tools/index.html


Guidelines for Written Work 

Formatting: All Papers should be double spaced, using 12 point Calibri font, and one inch margins.  All papers must be word processed and submitted through Canvas as “doc,” “docx,” or “PDF”      E-mail submissions will not be accepted.  

Style and Grammar: You must present your arguments in clear, concise, and grammatically correct English.  Make sure to proofread and use spell-check. For information on writing papers for this class, make sure to read Kinch’s writing guide .  You also might want to consult the following handy websites:

o       NVCC Loudoun's Writing Center

o       Charlie Evans’ History Writing Center

Citations:  You MUST include a formal citation any time you refer to a specific passage in a text, even if you do not quote the text directly.  The required method for citing sources in this class is Chicago Style formatting for footnote citations.  According to this format, you “Insert Footnote” (under references) and enter the citation information as laid out in this link.



What are the course rules?

Late Assignments 

-Late papers will be accepted after the due date and time for half credit, as long as they are submitted before the final class period of the term.

-Discussion, Quizzes, Participation, and Presentation assignments will only be accepted during the week they are due.

-All assignments should be stored on a cloud server and submitted online.  Excuses such as “my dog ate my homework” and “my computer crashed” are no longer valid.

Exams and Make-Up Exams

For exam sessions, make-ups will not be given other than in the case of a genuine emergency with appropriate documentation (ie, emergency room documents, court summons, etc.)  Missing class due to "not feeling well," not being able to get a ride, having to work, and the like are not genuine emergencies.


Grading/Feedback

Presentation/Video will be given in person at the end of class, and the grade will be posted within a week. 

Papers and Exams will be graded and posted within two weeks of their due date, in order to give more detailed feedback.

Attendance Policy: 

Absences, Late arrival, and leaving early will affect a student’s grade due to the student not being able to participate in class/group discussions. Students missing more than thirty percent of the scheduled classes without an excused absence from the professor will receive ZERO points for the class participation grade. Class absence does not excuse a student from meeting assignment due dates


Academic Dishonesty: 

Academic Dishonesty will not be tolerated.

Students involved in dishonest academic activity will receive a grade of “0” on the activity during which dishonest act occurred and particularly flagrant or obviously intentional instances of cheating, AI usage or plagiarism will result in a grade of "F" for the course.  In addition the student will be reported to the Dean of Students for further disciplinary action.

**Please read the section titled Student Conduct, Rights, and Responsibilities:  F. Academic Dishonesty in the Student Handbook.

 

Academic dishonesty, as a general rule, involves one of the following acts:

         1.     Cheating on an examination or quiz; including the giving, receiving, or soliciting of information and the unauthorized use of notes or other materials.

         2.   Use of AI, NLP, and LLM to produce written content for essays, discussions and Exams (See below for clarification of use.) 

         3.  Plagiarism - This is the act of appropriating passages from the work of another individual, either word for word or in substance, and representing them as one’s own work. This includes any submission of written work other than one’s own.

-Please note that even copying a sentence or two from another source without citing it is enough to trigger a plagiarism penalty.  Likewise, changing a word here or there from content which you copy is plagiarism.  Your work should be entirely in your own words except for the passages which you quote and appropriately cite. All of your papers for the class will be checked for plagiarism and AI usage by SafeAssign software.

Be aware of the following:

- Internet-enabled devices, dictionaries and/or calculators are prohibited during testing.

- If you need to leave the room during testing, for whatever reason, your test will be collected immediately for grading without any additional time for more work on the test or quiz.

  

Use of AI Technology:

In this course tools such as Turnitin and ZeroGPT will be used to detect and flag instances of plagiarism and potential use of AI writing in your assignments.  Students must complete their own work and provide attribution when using the words or ideas from a source.  Unless otherwise explicitly instructed, students must not use AI writing and composition tools. If you are asked or required to use tools like ChatGPT and Grammarly, these must be cited in your submission. 
----Any suspected violations will need to be justified in an oral interview with the professor.

Appropriate Use

Inappropriate Use

Audio-to-text transcription tools

The use of AI programs to generate ideas and brainstorm

Spell check, grammar check, style check, and thesaurus tools

The use of AI to obtain answers on any assessment

Google Translate for individual words and phrases

Google Translate for entire sentences, paragraphs or assignments

Automatic citation or bibliography generators

Any application or tool that writes or rewrites entire sentences or paragraphs

Online tutoring services linked from the NOVA website

Any application or tool that writes a draft for you

  

Instructor/Student Communications Policy:

The primary means of communication outside the classroom between the Instructor and the student is via Canvas Announcements and e-mail. Students should check Canvas and their e-mail daily for any Instructor communications. Failure to do so is not an excuse for missed/late assignments or exams. The Instructor turn-around time to respond to e-mails is 24-to-48 hours Monday through Friday.

Instructors receive a significant number of e-mails from students over the course of the semester. To specifically identify the course in which the student is enrolled, all e-mail from the student must include the course and section number (e.g., ACC211-000) in the Subject of the e-mail.

 

I will email you at the email address on my class list which is your VCCS email address. If you do not check this address frequently, I would recommend you set it up for automatic forwarding to an email address you do check more frequently. When emailing the instructor, always send email from your VCCS email address.

 

Student Professionalism

Please be considerate. Disruptive behavior, on the ground and online, will not be tolerated.  Private conversations during lecture or class discussions, ringing mobile phones, texting, sleeping, or walking into class late or out of class early all distract and disturb your instructor and your classmates, and will count against your participation grade.  Repeated instances of rude behavior will result your removal from the classroom.  

--All students are considered adults and will conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times. Please read the section titled Student Conduct, Rights, and Responsibilities:  B. Student Conduct in the Student Handbook.


College Policies =

Refer to the "College Policies" tab on CANVAS Course page for:

Academic Integrity Policy / Closing Information (weather) / Communication (e-mail) / Course Drop/Withdrawal Policy /        Disabilities and Accommodations / Emergency Preparedness / Financial Aid / Wellness and Mental Health

 

Financial Instability

Everyone was trouble at times, but there is help.  When struggling please reach out to me, a counselor, or click here: https://nvcc.singlestoptechnologies.com/


IT Helpdesk

The IT Help Desk provides first-level technical support to all faculty, staff and students of Northern Virginia Community College. Additional details and resources are located at http://www.nvcc.edu/ithd/.

Hours of Operation

Monday - Friday:

8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Saturday:

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Phone:

703-426-4141

Email:

ithelpdesk@nvcc.edu

Emergencies

Anyone observing an emergency situation should contact the Campus Police Office or the dean of students.

Loudoun Campus

Campus Police:

703-450-2540

Dean of Students:

703-450-2512


------Note: The instructor has the right to alter or change the course and course schedule at any time as he deems appropriate.-------

 

 

contact: jkincheloe@nvcc.edu