This document provides an overview and summary of the first class of a US History survey course covering the period from 1800 to 1877. It includes announcements about volunteering opportunities, discussion of learning strategies for the final exam focusing on critical analysis and context over simple facts, and an overview of key themes to be covered over the semester including territorial expansion, wars, industrialization, and the abolition of slavery.
2. announcements
• volunteer to post power points on Facebook
weekly?
• volunteer to arrange to copy reading some
weeks?
• do you have parents or other folks who speak
English & live in Izmir?
3. language
• Learning English takes a
lot of work. I respect
your efforts.
• Learning Turkish is
difficult for me, so I
appreciate your English
even more.
4. my US students living in my house:
Irina, Jasmine, Jorina, Joanna
6. strategies for examinations
• Pay attention to what the question asks.
– The causes of the Revolution are not the same as the
results of the Revolution.
• Use logic & use what you know.
– Cities of colonial period were
on or near Atlantic Ocean.
• Pick out what is relevant from
everything you know.
• What is the significance of what
you know?
7. learning to learn
• memorization of facts.
• analysis – thinking critically.
• context?
• significance?
8. questions about fall final exam?
• What do you need to analyze to understand ?
• What can you easily look up on the internet?
9. past & present:
Constitution
• Billions of $$ are spent on
presidential campaigns.
• 2012 is presidential election year.
• 2010, Citizens United v FEC (Federal Election
Commission), Supreme Court found a law which
prohibited corporations & unions from paying for
campaign ads 60 days before elections,
unconstitutional under 1st Amendment.
• What does 1st Amendment protect?
11. past & present: Constitution
1868, 14th Amendment granted citizenship, due
process, equal protection to persons, regardless
of previous condition of servitude.
1886, Supreme Court interpreted corporations
as persons.
2010, Citizens United, Supreme Court gave
corporations (& unions) unlimited spending
powers to influence elections.
14. US 1800 - 1877
• territorial expansion to Pacific Ocean. Almost all
land & borders of 2012 were established by 1877.
(Hawaii & Puerto Rico added in 1890s.)
• wars with England, Mexico, Native people, and
itself (Civil War).
• industrialization, new
transportation, urbanization, immigration.
• abolition of slavery; development of segregation.
• social justice, reform, & extension of democracy.
16. announcements
• volunteer to post power points on Facebook every week?
• volunteer to arrange to copy reading some weeks?
• do you have parents or other folks who speak English & live
in Izmir?
• reading for 28/2/2012: Crevecoeur, Letters from an
American Farmer, Letter 3, “What is an American?” (1782),
p. 49 – 61.
• http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/CREV/letter03.htm