HST 385 The Atlantic World

Instructor: Dr. Brad D. Hume            Office: Humanities (HM) 433                    Phone: 93381
Email: brad.hume@notes.udayton.edu      Web: http://academic.udayton.edu/BradHume
Office Hours: Tues. 4:30-5:30 and Wed. 2-4 and by appointment.

NOTE: Reading assignments and reading dates are subject to change.

Course Requirements: The course will be a mixture of discussion, lecture, and some in-class group work. Your grade will be based on participation (15%), three out of four take-home essay exams (45%) and a review essay (40%). See below for an explanation of the review essay.

Participation: NOTE: If you do not participate verbally in class you will NOT receive an A in this course. Keeping up with readings and discussion are crucial to doing well in this course. I will regularly take attendance to monitor participation, because if you are not in class, you certainly cannot participate. I will provide you with a list of general questions to think about as well as providing you with things to look for in specific readings. In many cases we will divide into groups to consider questions and then discuss those same questions in general. I also reserve the possibility of using surprise quizzes to inspire your enthusiasm for reading. Any quizzes would be factored into your participation grade.

Take-home Essays: At the end of each unit I will provide two or three take-home essay questions. You are required to do the first essay exam after unit 1 and then two additional exams of your choice. If you wish, you may do all four essay exams and I will drop your worst grade. For each exam you will choose one question and write an essay, no less than 4 pages and no more than 7, in response. You will have one week to complete the question. The questions will require you to discuss readings covered in class. If you wish to use other sources, please consult with me beforehand. I have tried to make that unnecessary for these essays.

Review Essay: In consultation with me you will choose a topic of controversy on the Atlantic World. You will then gather 3-4 books or 5-7 SCHOLARLY articles (or a combination of books and articles) all dealing with the same topic. After reading them you will prepare a review essay on your topic. Reviewers will discuss how scholars have debated a particular topic, evaluating use of evidence, methods of analysis, interpretive skills, etc. The review essay should be no less than 12 and no more than 15 pages. See the Review Essay Guide for further instructions. 

Grading:

Course Grades by percentage: All assignments except quizzes will be worth 100 points and grades will be based on a standard curve, as follows:

Final Grades will be computed based on points weighted for percentages. For example, if an assignment was worth 30% of your grade and you received an 86, the grade would be computed by taking 86 and multiplying it by .30, or 86 x .30 = 25.8. Grade points with decimals of .5 and above will be rounded to the next whole number. In the above example 25.8 would become 26. In other words 30% at the B level computes to 26 points out of 30 possible in that category and 30 out of 100 total points.

Course Policies:

NOTE: I do NOT give extra credit assignments. Please do NOT come to me at hoping to be able to bring up your grade with extra work. In addition to the Department of History policies, please note the following.

Objectives and General Understanding: This syllabus is designed to give you all the information you need to understand what will happen in this course. You are responsible for reading and understanding this syllabus. I am responsible for making sure that all your questions are answered. Unless you tell me otherwise, I will assume that you have read and understood what we will be doing and how your grade will be determined. You may ask questions at the start of each class, via email, or in my office hours. You are being advised as to major due dates from the very beginning, please be sure to budget your time so that you are not faced with doing last minute work.

Assignments: Unless I specifically say that you may work with others on your assignments, you should assume that all assignments are to be done by you alone. The student handbook has all the definitions of plagiarism and other infractions against the academic code. Be sure to read and understand them so that you do not make any accidental mistakes. If you have any confusion about an assignment be sure to ask me – not another student! – long enough in advance that I will have time to give you a response. I am happy to answer all questions and provide any guidance that I can to help you produce quality work.

Due Dates: All assignments are due in class on the date assigned. Late papers will be docked 5 points (roughly one-half grade) for each day late (e.g., 3 days late = 15 points off the total points for the assignment; e.g., an 84 would become a 69). Weekend days count.

Attendance: I will be taking attendance, but even if you regularly attend without contributing to class your grade will suffer. This is an upper level class and I expect you to attend because it is important and because you cannot participate if you are not in class. But I also understand that you are upper level students. Please do not feel that you need to explain any particular absence. We will both know if you have been attending regularly and participating regularly.

Class Materials and Communications: Many materials for this course will be available at my web site but most of it will be found at our quickplace site (http://quickplace.udayton.edu/atlanticworld). You will be asked for a username and password -- your standard Lotus Notes username and password should work. If you have problems accessing the site, please let me know. Each semester I receive an email address that is really a distribution list (all I see is 03_WI_HST_385_01). I will be using that email address to communicate with you. If you do not use Lotus Notes regularly you will need to have your mail forwarded to your preferred address. Go to notes.udayton.edu and follow the instructions at the web site.

Readings:

Benjamin = Thomas Benjamin, Timothy Hall, & David Rutherford (eds.), The Atlantic World in the Age of Empire (Houghton Mifflin, 2001)
Defoe = Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders (Modern Library, 2002 [1721])
Equiano = Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (Dover, 1999 [1789])
Eltis = David Eltis, The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas (Cambridge, 2000)
Fischer = Kirsten Fischer, Suspect Relations: Sex, Race, and Resistance in Colonial North Carolina (Cornell, 2002)
Langley = Lester Langley, The Americas in the Age of Revolution (Yale, 1998)
Northrup = David Northrup (ed.), The Atlantic Slave Trade (2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin, 2002)
* = A reading available on line or at the quickplace site (http://quickplace.udayton.edu/atlanticworld) (some are only available at the quickplace site).

Unit 1: The Making of the Atlantic World

Week 1 1/6-1/10

Benjamin, Introduction and 11-29

Week 2 1/13-1/17 -- Discovery and Early Colonies

Benjamin, Ch. 1, 133-138, and 167-184
* Christopher Columbus: Selections from Journal, 1492
* Christopher Columbus  (1451-1506): Letter to King and Queen of Spain, prob. 1494
* Columbus' Titles: Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their Catholic Majesties to Christopher Columbus, 1492
* Amerigo Vespucci (1452-1512): Account of His First Voyage, 1497
* Aztec Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, 1519; Hernan Cortés: Second Letter to Charles V, 1520 
* Lope de Aguirre: Letter from to King Philip of Spain, 1561

Week 3 1/20-1/24 -- Settlement and the Atlantic Economy

Week 4 1/27-1/31 -- Culture Clash and the Rise of Slavery

Benjamin, Ch. 2; Northrup, Ch. 1
* Jesuit Father on Indians (Quickplace)
* Thomas Morton on the Manners and Customs of the Indians, 1637 (Quickplace)
Note: 1/27 is the last day to withdraw without record.

Unit 2: Slavery and the Atlantic Economy

Week 5 2/3-2/7

Week 6 2/10-2/14

Eltis, Chs. 6; Northrup, Ch. 3; Equiano, second half of the book
* John Wesley on Slavery (1774) (Quickplace)

Week 7 2/17-2/21

Eltis, Chs. 7, 8 & 10; Northrup, Chs. 4 & 5

Unit 3: Peoples, Genders, Races

Week 8 2/24-2/28

Eltis, Ch. 9; Fischer, Intro. and Ch. 1
* Chaplain, "Natural Philosophy and Early Racial Idiom" (Quickplace)

Week 9 3/3-3/7

Fischer, Chs. 2 & 3
* Kupperman, "Presentment of Civility" (Quickplace)

Week 10 3/10-3/14

Fischer, Ch. 4; Defoe, Intro. by V. Woolf and 1-150 (to the point where she returns to London)
Mid-Term break begins AFTER Sat. classes on 3/15

Week 11 3/17-3/21

No classes -- Mid-Term break (Sat. classes meet on 3/22)

Week 12 3/24-3/28

Fischer, Ch. 5 & Epilogue; Defoe, 150-End of the book
Note: 3/26 is the last day to withdraw with a record of W

Unit 4: The Atlantic World in the Age of Revolution

Week 13 3/31-4/4

Langley, Part 1; Benjamin, 203-227
* American Independence Documents (Quickplace) 
* J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735-1813): What Is an American? 

Week 14 4/7-4/11

Langley, Part 2; Benjamin, 227-234
* Geggus, "Racial Equality, Slavery, and Colonial Secession ..." (Quickplace)

Week 15 4/14-4/18

Langley, Part 3; Benjamin, 235-245
* Alexander Von Humboldt: Problems and Progress in Mexico, c. 1800  
* Simón de Bolívar (1783-1830): Message to the Congress of Angostura, 1819
4/18-4/21: Easter Recess (does not effect our schedule)

Week 16 4/21-4/25

Langley, Part 4
4/24: Last class

Sat. 4/26 to Fri. May 2 -- Final Examinations