History 18                                                      Prof. Sarah Henry
Fall 1996                                                       office: SS 121
MWF 11:10-12:15                                                 phone: x6072
Office hours: MWF: 1:00-2:00 and by appointment                e-mail: henrys@union.edu

The Course: This course covers a period in the history of the United States during which dramatic transformations took place in the country's economy, social structure, cultural and intellectual life, political system, and relationship to the rest of the world. We will be exploring all of these through reading and discussing primary and secondary works. We will focus on the changing class structure of the United States, the shifting role of the government in country's economy and social relations, the transformation of the relations among the races and between the sexes, the burgeoning levels of immigration, changing ideas about governance, the evolution of the "modern" presidency, and the creation of "modern" America.

Readings: The following required books are available at the bookstore and are on reserve at Schaffer Library:

Nell Irvin Painter, _Standing at Armageddon_ Jacob Riis, _How the Other Half Lives_
Robert McMath, _American Populism: A Social History_ W. E. B. DuBois, _Souls of Black Folk_
Kathy Peiss, _Cheap Amusements_
Jane Addams, _Twenty Years at Hull House_ Charlotte Perkins Gilman, _Herland_
William Tuttle, _Race Riot_

Other readings will be handed out in class and placed on reserve at the library.

Assignments and Grades: There are four components to the course. You must complete all of the requirements in order to pass this course.

1. Class participation and assignments (20% of your grade): You are expected to attend class and to complete the assigned reading for each week on time. There will also be brief homework assignments and in-class exercises, both graded and ungraded. While discussion will be incorporated into each classroom session, Friday sessions will be devoted to discussion of each week's reading. Complete the reading from the Painter book by the beginning of the week and the additional reading as soon as possible, but in no case later than Friday. In preparation for the Friday class, each student is encouraged to contribute at least one posting to an open-ended on-line discussion of the reading, as well as to participate in the classroom (see separate handout on on-line participation.) Attendance will be taken; unexcused absences will adversely affect both your grade and your learning in this course.
2. Essay -- due September 27 (15% of your grade): As part of our study of the Spanish-American and Philippine Wars, you will prepare a 4-6 page critical essay based on sources available on-line at http://web.syr.edu/~fjzwick/ Late papers will be penalized. (See separate handout on imperialism paper.)
3. Debates (week of October 21) (30% of your grade): At the end of the first week of class, you will be assigned to a team that will take the affirmative or the negative on a political issue that was current during the Progressive Era. Teams will research the issue and draw up arguments to be presented in an in-class debate. (See separate handout on debates.)
4. The final exam (35% of your grade).

   SCHEDULE OF CLASSES AND READINGS

Part I: The Crises of the Late Nineteenth Century

[Week of] Introduction -- the problems of the 1890s: industrialization, immigration, the closing of the
September 9 frontier, urbanization and the transformation of labor Readings: Painter: Preface and Introduction. Recommended: chaps. 1 and 2

Riis, How the Other Half Lives

September 16: Political parties and social movements of the 1890s: unionism, Populism, socialism, free silver, the presidential campaign of 1896, understanding late 19th century politics Readings: Painter, chaps. 3 and 4

McMath, American Populism

September 23: Imperialism and anti-imperialism: the Spanish-American war, America in the Philippines, expanding the Monroe doctrine, American opponents of imperialism, should "democracy follow the flag?" Readings: Painter, chap. 5

Jim Zwick web site on anti-imperialism (see separate instructions) Friday, September 27: paper on imperialism due

September 30: Race relations: disfranchisement, the creation of Jim Crow laws, African-American activism in the late 19th and early 20th century, Native Americans
Readings: Painter, chap. 7

DuBois, Souls of Black Folk, chaps. 1 ,3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 14

October 7: The creation of "modernity": creation of mass culture and media industries, the death of "Victorianism," battles over working-class culture, the avant-garde movement in the arts
Readings: Peiss, Cheap Amusements

Part II: Responding to the Crisis: Progressives and their Critics in the Early Twentieth Century

October 14: Progressive solutions, part I: "social reform": settlement houses, temperance, the playground movement; who were the "progressives?" Readings: Painter, chap. 6

Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House

October 21: Progressive solutions, part II -- the debates: public solutions

• initiative and referendum, votes for women, regulation of business Readings: Painter, chap. 8; DEBATE WEEK

October 28: 1912 and the limits of progressivism: the presidential campaign of 1912, the "New Freedom" versus the "New Nationalism"; Socialism; labor unionism and labor radicalism; was there a "progressive movement?" Readings: Painter, chap. 9

Gilman, Herland

November 4: The ends of progressivism: WWI: changing attitudes toward "preparedness"; the "war to make the world safe for democracy"; impact of the war on U. S. society and government Readings: Painter, chaps. 10 and 11

Randolph Bourne, War and the Intellectuals (handouts)

November 11: The fate of progressivism and the aftermath of WWI: 1919 strike wave, the Red Scare, the retreat from progressivism Readings: Painter, chap. 12; Tuttle, Race Riot

Note: this is my syllabus for the first course I have taught on this period. There are 30 students in the course. Union College, where I teach, has a trimester system, with 10 week terms in which we are supposed to fit a course that would fill a 14 week semester elsewhere. I would welcome any comments, suggestions or questions at my e-mail address posted below.

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