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History 563 The Emergence of Modern America, 1877-1917

        Autumn, 1994
        Professor K. Austin Kerr 
        140 Dulles Hall 230 W. 17th Ave. 292-2613
        Prefered: e-mail is kerr.6@osu.edu Hours:
        In this course students should develop an understanding of main
        themes of historical devel- opment in the United States during the
        four decades when the nation evolved from a mostly rural, agrarian
        society to an urbanized and indus- trialized world power.  Students
        will explore those themes through extensive and intensive read- ing
        of works by historians and, especially, of the writings of American
        leaders from the times who grappled with the problems of "big
        business," political corruption, immigration, ethnic diver- sity
        and racism, "the labor question," and imperialism.  Students will
        display the results of their explorations through carefully written
        and presented papers, and through an essay final examination.

REQUIRED READINGS

Available at the University Bookstore:

Melvyn Dubofsky, Industrialism and the American Worker, 1865-1920

        Alan M. Kraut, The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American
        Society, 1880-1921

        Glenn Porter, The Rise of Big Business, 1860-1910 (2nd. ed.)

        IN ADDITION, You will be reading the following list of materials,
        made available to you in photocopy form from Co-Eezlocated in the
        basement of Bricker Hall.

        Addams, Jane  "The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements,"
        from Philanthropy and Social Pro- gress (New York, 1893): 1-26

        Atkinson, Edward Addresses Upon the Labor Question (Boston, 1886):
        13-26

        Baker, Ray Stannard "Following the Color Line in the North,"
        American Magazine vol. 65, 1908, pp. 345-57

        Bryan, William Jennings, "The Cross of Gold," Speech before the
        Democratic National Convention of 1896

        Foster, J. Ellen, "Women in Politics" from The Congress of Women
        (Chicago, 1893) Mary Kavanaugh Oldham Eagle, ed.

        George, Henry Progress and Poverty (New York, Modern Library,
        1929): i-xx and 1-13

        Gladden, Washington Applied Christianity (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
        1886): 1-101, 180-209 History 563                                

        Greely, S.H., et. al., "Views of Business Con- solidation," from
        Chicago Conference on Trusts (1900)

        Hunter, Robert, on "The Immigrant," and "Conclu- sion" from Poverty
        (New York, 1904), 261-340

        Johnson, Tom My Story  (New York, 1913): xxxv-xli, 112-17, 121-15,
        130-31

        Kellor, Frances, Out of Work (New York, 1915): 1- 57

        Lloyd, Henry Demarest "Lords of Industry," The North American
        Review, vol. CCCXXXI (June, 1884), abridged

        Lodge, Henry Cabot "The Philippine Islands," A Speech Before the
        United States Senate, March 7, 1900

        Rauschenbusch, Walter Christianity and the Social Crisis (New York,
        1907): 230-08, 403-11

        Roosevelt, Theodore "The Trusts, the People, and the Square Deal,"
        from Outlook, Nov. 18, 1911, pp. 649-56

        Schurz, Carl "American Imperialism," An Address Opposing Annexation
        of the Philippines, January 4, 1899

        Steffens, Lincoln "Enemies of the Republic," McClure's 22(March,
        1904): 587-93, 599

        Taylor, Frederick Winslow, The Principles of Scientific Management
        (New York, 1911): 5-29

        Timberlake, James, Prohibition and the Progressive Movement, and
        "The Debate in Congress," reprinted in K. Austin Kerr, The Politics
        of Moral Behavior: Prohibition and Drug Abuse (Reading, MA, 1973):
        49-58, 95-116

        Willard, Frances Glimpses of Fifty Years (Evanston, Ill.: Woman's
        Christian Temperance Union, 1889): 331-41; 469-78

        Wilson, Woodrow  from The New Freedom (New York, 1913)

        PREPARED CLASS ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED.  

        Class attendance is the norm; absense is excused in the case of
        emergency (please stay home and get well if you are ill!).  More
        than two absences normally result in a lowered course grade.  The
        norm is to have read the assignment prior to class; not having read
        the assignment on time is counted as an absence.

        PAPERS

        Students are required to write two papers. based on the assigned
        readings and on further library exploration, and the final
        examination.  WARNING: Revisions may be required on the papers, so
        it will behoove students to use a computer for their preparation,
        which will facilitate their revision task.  Misspelled words, for
        instance, in this age of spell checkers, are simply unacceptable.

        PAPER ONE

        You will be assigned a person as your topic for this paper.  The
        person will be the author of one of the photocopied readings for
        the course.  On September 27 a sign up sheet will circulate in
        class, upon which you will choose the person about whom you are
        writing this first paper.  This paper is to be 5 pp. double spaced,
        and it may provide the script for a ten minute oral report.  For
        this paper you will use standard reference sources, which will
        include visits by you to the University Library; for a compilation
        of standard sources you will consult the "Biographies" section of
        the 2nd edition of the Harvard Guide to American History. Starting
        on page six of your paper you will dis- cuss your sources.  For
        this discussion you should consult, at a minimum, the Dictionary of
        American Biography, Notable American Women, the Encyclopedia of
        American Business History and Biography, Who Was Who, and the New
        York Times Obituary Index (and the obituary in the Times to which
        it referred). The subjects of the papers and reports are the
        authors of the readings you are completing for the class
        discussions.  Your paper and report will explain who the author of
        the piece was, when he or she lived, and what the main features of
        his or her career were so as to explain what gave rise to the
        authorship of the statement you and the other students have read
        for the class discussion.  In other words, the paper will place the
        author of the reading in the appropriate historical context and
        discuss, in a critical fashion, how the sub- stance of the assigned
        reading helps enlarge an understanding of the emergence of modern
        America. Your report should define the dates of the per- son's
        life, and explain the main features of his or her career.  What
        were his or her principal experiences in life that shaped his or
        her ideol- ogy?  With what other significant individuals, groups,
        or institutions did the person associate? How does what you have
        learned about the author of the document the class is reading help
        you understand that document more clearly? The paper and report are
        due on the dates assigned to the class for the individual assigned
        readings.  Thus, if you are reporting on Jane Addams, you will hand
        in your paper on the day the class is assigned to read Jane Addams,
        and you will participate in and help lead the discussion in the
        class for which her essay was assigned.

PAPER ASSIGNMENT NUMBER TWO

Your second paper will follow one of two approaches:

Approach 1.:

        You may expand on your oral report in a different second paper.  If
        you follow this path, you may use up to three pages of material
        from your first paper so long as you have an addi- tional five
        pages of analysis.  The expansion of your oral report will involve
        additional explora- tion of the career of the person you are
        studying, including analysis of other writings and activities by
        that person.  In doing so, you should largely confine your work to
        the time period of this course, 1877-1917.  For instance, if you
        have reported on Theodore Roosevelt's views of the trusts as
        expressed in his article in Out- look, you might write a paper
        about his actions and views toward the trusts while he served as
        president. Approach 2.:  You may use the material you gathered for
        your oral report and draw upon the assigned documentary readings
        provided in photocopy form to critique work by Porter, Dubofsky,
        and/or Kraut.  This critique may be positive as well as negative. 
        The critique might, for instance, show how ethnic prejudice as dis-
        played by some of the historical persons you have encountered in
        the course supports part of what Dubofsky explains about
        "industrialism and the American worker."  Or, you might draw a
        combined theme from Dubofsky and Kraut, and show how it is
        clarified by rooting it in some of the photocopied selections you
        have read.

        The second paper is due no later than November 17 unless its
        subject is race relations, prohibition, or Tom Johnson or Lincoln
        Steffens, in which case it is due no later than November 29th.

        FINAL EXAMINATION

        The university has scheduled the final examination for Monday,
        December 6 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:18 p.m.  The final examination
        procedures will be announced; they may include a take-home essay.
        The final examination will, among other matters, elicit your
        comprehension of the books by Dubofsky, Porter, and Kraut.

        PAPER RULES

        In both of your papers for this course, there are some rules to
        follow.

        1.  The rules of plagiarism apply.  You should cite materials, and
        ideas not your own, in either endnotes or footnotes.

        2.  Your use of English is important in the papers and in almost
        any serious work you do.  Be careful to use the language properly. 
        Spell words cor- rectly, use complete sentences, and make sure that
        each paragraph includes a topic sentence (experi- enced writers
        often make the first sentence in a paragraph the topic sentence). 
        Provide your readers with a structure for the paper--an intro-
        duction, main body, and conclusion.  Improper English may result in
        a lowered grade for the paper.  You may correct last minute
        mistakes with a pencil.

        3.  You do not need to purchase a folder or binder for your paper,
        but make sure the pages are all securely fastened together.  Have
        your name and SS number on the first page, and your name on each
        subsequent page.  You must keep a copy of the paper until you
        receive your course grade.  You do need to present your paper
        printed with a fresh ribbon in at least Near Letter Quality. 
        Double space your paper.  On some expensive word process- ing
        programs, a right justified margin is more difficult to read than
        an unjustified margin, so please exercise care in instructing the
        printer to justify the right margin.

                                 COURSE CALENDAR

9/22 Organization and Introduction

The Contrasts between 1877 and 1917

9/27 Industrialism and the Dynamics of Change

Due: Porter, 1-45; Dubofsky, 1-33

9/29 The Rise of Big Business

Porter, 46-90; Henry Demarest Lloyd

10/4 Big Business and Controversy

Greely, S.H., et. al.

10/6 Workers and Industrial Change

Dubofsky, 33-77

10/11 Labor Controversies

Atkinson, George, Gladden

10/13 The Political System of the Gilded Age

Kraut, 1-74; Willard; Foster

10/18 Agrarian Revolts

Bryan

10/20 Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism

Lodge; Schurz

10/25 Social and Intellectual Changes and Reform

Rauschenbusch

10/27 Regulation of Business

Porter, Completed

11/1 The Trust Question

Roosevelt; Wilson

11/3 Labor Revisited

Dubofsky, completed; Taylor

11/8 Poverty Discovered

Hunter; Addams; Kellor

11/10 Immigration

Kraut, completed

11/15 Urban Reform

Johnson; Steffens

11/17 Race Relations

        Baker
History 563                                 Page 6

11/22 The Prohibition Reform

Warburton; Timberlake; Hobson; Underwood

11/24 Topic to be announced

11/29 Politics, Parties, and Progressive Pressures


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