HIS271H1

American History to 1865

This course covers North American history from c. 1500 to the 1860s. We explore the pre-colonial histories of early modern Europe, Africa, and Indigenous North America, which were slowly brought together into an “Atlantic World” during the sixteenth century. A comparative look at English, French, Dutch, and Spanish colonialism in North America during the seventeenth century sets the stage for a deeper look at the social, political, and economic development of British North America at the turn of the eighteenth century and the emergence of a colonial crisis in the British Empire during the 1760s. The course continues through the American Revolution, when thirteen British colonies united in a revolt against Britain and created a new U.S. state that struggled to establish itself as a “nation among nations.” We then consider some of the most significant developments in the nation’s early history, including the reconfiguration of settler colonialism, chattel slavery, and capitalism as well as critical developments in local and national politics. Finally, we explore the causes and consequences of the American Civil War. This course emphasizes the experiences of Americans traditionally relegated to the margins of American history, including Native Americans, people of African descent, women, immigrants, laborers, and radical reformers, but we will also pay attention to leading figures such as Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln as well as the broader structural forces and historical events that affected nearly everyone in North America.