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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:
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Course: |
Early
American History |
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Section: |
Hist
121.002L |
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Semester: |
Spring 2024
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Date/Time: |
Tue/Thr. 11:10 - 12:30 pm |
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Location: |
Virtual
- Zoom |
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Name: |
John (Kinch) Kincheloe |
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What is this
Course? |
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Email: |
jkincheloe@nvcc.edu |
What do I
need to do? |
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Phone |
(703)948-7571 |
How do I
do assignments? |
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Office
Location: |
LC
328
(Loudoun)
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What
are the course rules? |
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Website: |
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-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
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.
This
is a writing intensive course so an introductory English course
is highly recommended.
-Online
Textbook=
-American Yawp: Open online
textbook (link)
(HARD COPY AVAILABLE through Amazon)
-Additional
online materials will be made available via the Course
Schedule
Spring 2024 His 121 Course
Schedule
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Topic:
Face-to-Face
Meeting
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Assignments |
Readings
(to be
completed before the class)
Tuesday-
Read
Textbook
Thursday- Read primary sources |
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Section
1 = Pre-Contact=
The first fourteen Thousand Years
13,000 BC – 1492 AD
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Week
1 |
North American Migration Theories |
Introduction Assignment |
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(Jan. 23 & 25) |
Native Civilizations &
lifeways |
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Read Primary Documents: |
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Section
2 = Colonial North America 1492
– 1775 |
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Read textbook: Ch.
2 |
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| Week
4
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Chesapeake and the Low Country |
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Read textbook: Ch.
3 |
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(Feb. 13 & 15) |
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Read textbook: Ch.
4 Read
Primary Documents: |
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Section
3 = Creating a country of divisiveness 1763 – 1814 |
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Week
6 |
Rising Tensions and the
Motivation of Colonial Revolt |
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Read Primary
Documents: |
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Week
7 (Feb.
27 & 29)
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A Floundering Experiment: |
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Read Primary
Documents: |
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Read textbook: Ch. 7 Read Primary Documents: |
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Spring Break |
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Section 4 = The Second
Generation and the Making of the United States
1814 -1860 |
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Week
9 (Mar. 19 & 21)
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Read textbook: Ch.
8 & Ch.
9 |
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Southern Agriculture |
Group 2-Discussion
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Read textbook: Ch.
10 & Ch.
11 |
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Week
11 (Apr. 2 & 4)
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Week 12 |
Regional Tensions Build: |
Group 4 – Discussion |
Read textbook: & Ch.
13
Read Primary Documents: George Fitzhugh advocates slavery Thomas Dew defends Slavery (1852) Garrison, "No Compromise |
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| Section 5 = Civil War 1844 -1877 | ||||
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The Civil War |
Group 5 – Discussion |
Read textbook: Ch. 14
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(Apr. 23 & 25)
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Group X – Discussion |
Read textbook: Ch.
15 |
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Final Exam = Thr. May 2nd
(10:00am) |
Final Exam |
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All assignments
are graded on a 100 point scale and averaged accordingly to the
percentages listed below.
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Assessment
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Percentage
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Grading
Scale |
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Participation/
Presentations |
25 |
A |
90-100 |
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Argumentative Papers
(2) |
30 |
B |
80-89 |
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Midterm & Final
Exam |
25 |
C |
70-79 |
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D |
60-69 |
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F |
59 and below |
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o
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.
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 Midterm
& Final
§
Open
Note (essay based) exams completed on Canvas
during the exam weeks.
o
Research Project
§ Research Project Click here fore details
Extra
Credit
Assignments (due by the end of Week 11) =
Digital
History Project- check
it out here.
ZOOM Classes
Twice a week we 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 "Qwickley."
The class will typically consist of:
Tuesday
-Story time (15 min.)
-Lecture (30 min.)
-Question? (15 min.)
-Interactive lecture (20 min.)
Thursday
-Skill Session
(10 min.)
-Business of the week (10 min.)
-Lecture (10 min.)
-Class discussion (All class & Breakout rooms) (50 min.)
Course includes both
classroom (Zoom) and online meetings. Students
must have access to a computer with an operating
webcam/microphone and reliable high-speed Internet connection.
-Students must have a
version or equivalent of "OfficeSuite," 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.)
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- 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 will not be tolerated.
Students involved in cheating will receive a grade of
“0” on the activity during which cheating occurred and
particularly flagrant or obviously intentional instances of
cheating 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. 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 by
SafeAssign software.
Be aware of
the following:
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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, these must be cited in your submission.
----Any suspected violations will need to be justified in an oral interview with the professor.
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.
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.
Academic Integrity Policy /
Closing Information (weather) / Communication (e-mail) / Course
Drop/Withdrawal Policy /
Disabilities and Accommodations / Emergency Preparedness / Financial
Aid / Wellness
and Mental Health
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/
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/.
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Monday
- Friday: |
8:00
a.m. to 9:00 p.m. |
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Saturday: |
8:00
a.m. to 5:00 p.m. |
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Phone:
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703-426-4141 |
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Email: |
Anyone observing an
emergency situation should contact the Campus Police Office or
the dean of students.
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Campus
Police: |
703-450-2540 |
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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