Course Syllabus
Modern American Civilization
1125-AMH2042VEB1125-51270
GENERAL INFORMATION
Professor Information
Professor's Photo
Instructor:
Dr. Cornelius
Phone:
(305) 348-6273
Office:
MMC Campus - LC 323
Office Hours:
By appointment
 
Course Description and Purpose

In this course students will explore the development of the United States from the early Republic to the present. Students will learn about the international and domestic political, ideological, and cultural forces that have come to shape American politics and societies. In doing so, students will study the "American experience" from a variety of perspectives.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

  • Analyze the concepts of "democracy" and "freedom" in different historical contexts
  • Identify characteristics specific to various key presidential administrations
  • Explain the historical significance of cultural trends, political ideologies and key events in American history
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Policies

Please review the policies page as it contains essential information regarding guidelines relevant to all courses at FIU and additional information on the standards for acceptable netiquette important for online courses.

Technical Requirements & Skills

One of the greatest barriers to taking an online course is a lack of basic computer literacy. By computer literacy we mean being able to manage and organize computer files efficiently, and learning to use your computer's operating system and software quickly and easily. Keep in mind that this is not a computer literacy course; but students enrolled in online courses are expected to have moderate proficiency using a computer. Please go to the "What's Required" page to find out more information on this subject.

In this section you can address any specific technical skills that are needed in this course. (Skills, software, hardware, etc).

Accessibility And Accommodation

In this section you can address any specific limitations with the technologies used in the course. (Videos, Adobe Connect, Studymate, NBC Learn, etc).

For more information about Blackboard's Accessibility Commitment, click here.

Course Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Textbook
Textbook cover

Of the People: A History of the Unites States: Volume II (Required)
James Oaks
Oxford University Press, 2009

ISBN 10: 0195370953
ISBN 13: 978-0195370959

Click here to buy your textbook online at the FIU Bookstore.

Textbook cover

The Story of American Freedom
Eric Foner
Norton & Co., 1998

ISBN 13: 9790199752188

Click here to buy your textbook online at the FIU Bookstore.

Expectations of this Course

This is an online course, meaning that most of the course work will be conducted online. Expectations for performance in an online course are the same as for a traditional course; in fact, online courses require a degree of self-motivation, self-discipline, and technology skills that can make them more demanding for some students.

Students are expected to:

  • Review the how to get started information located in the course content
  • Introduce yourself to the class during the first week by posting a self introduction in the appropriate discussion forum
  • Take the practice quiz to ensure that your computer is compatible with Blackboard
  • Interact online with instructor/s and peers
  • Review and follow the course calendar
COURSE DETAIL
Course Communication

Communication in this course will take place via messages.

Messages are a private and secure text-based communication that occurs within a Course and among Course members. Users must log on to Blackboard to send/receive/read messages. The Messages tool is located on the left side Course Menu (Blackboard user interface). It is recommended that students check their messages routinely to ensure up-to-date communication. 

Discussion Forums

Keep in mind that forum discussions are public, and care should be taken when determining what to post.

Quizzes

In order to mitigate any issues with your computer and online assessments, it is very important that you take the "Practice Quiz" from each computer you will be using to take your graded quizzes and exams. It is your responsibility to make sure your computer meets the minimum hardware requirements.

Writing Assignments

RESPONSE ESSAYS I

According to Eric Foner,
"No Idea is more fundamental to Americans' sense of themselves as individuals and as a nation than freedom."

For the purposes of the paper, describe the evolution of the concept of "freedom" during the 18th and 19th centuries. In doing so, identify those who were thought to be capable of freedom and citizenship and those who were not.

(See "INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONSE ESSAY I & II" below)

RESPONSE ESSAY II

According to President Truman,
"The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. We must keep hope alive.
The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world-- and we shall surely endanger the welfare of our own nation."

In a 2 page Essay based on Foner's The Story of American Freedom and Give Me Liberty, power points, documents and documentaries posted on-line, analyze the extent to which a United States President of the Cold War period made political decisions and initiated domestic or foreign policies that either succeeded or failed to support and maintain people's "freedom" at home and abroad.

Domestic issues include: anti-communism; the civil rights movement; student rebellions; feminist movement; gay and lesbian rights movement; American Indian movement; The Chicano movement; the Great Society agenda.

Foreign issues include: The Vietnam War; US intervention in Greece and Turkey; US relations with Cuba; CIA intervention in Guatemala; US relations w/ South Africa; The Korean War, The Nuclear Arms race.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONSE ESSAY I & II:

1. You must cite your sources using the Chicago Manual Style of Citation. Failure to cite sources will result in a drop of a full letter grade.

2. Revisit guidelines regarding plagiarism as discussed in the syllabus. A Paper showing evidence of plagiarism will result in an automatic failure of the paper and possible failure of the course.

3. Your paper must have a thesis. The thesis statement should appear in your first paragraph.

4. Your paper must be 2 pages, double spaced, 12pt font, numbered.

5. Submit the paper through the assigned "Assignment Drop-Box" located in the course content folders.

CRITICAL BOOK REVIEW

NOTE: Check the course calender for the book review dates. Students must choose and submit the title of a book that they will review. Submit via course mail with subject line: "Book Choice for Critical Book Review".

Students are required to write one paper (3 pages) in which they critically review a book specific to some aspect of Modern American History. Students should view this as an opportunity to explore in greater depth an aspect of American history of deep interest to them. For more information on how to write a book review go to: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/book_reviews.shtml

PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ASSIGNMENTS THROUGH THEIR ASSIGNED "ASSIGNMENT DROP-BOX" LOCATED IN THE COURSE MENU.

Writing Center

I encourage all students to have their papers pre-read by members of the writing center. http://w3.fiu.edu/writingcenter/

Library Resources for Online Students

The FIU library provides a number of services to distance learning students.

Don't struggle through your library research alone! Help is available. For further information, contact Sarah Hammill, Distance Learning Librarian, via email at hammills@fiu.edu or call 305-919-5604.

You can visit the FIU Library Resources for Online Students site at: http://library.fiu.edu/Home/LibraryResourcesforOnlineStudents/tabid/239/Default.aspx

Writing Policies and Procedures

FIU's policies and procedures are important to the quality of your education

Plagiarism
Just don't do it. Plagiarism is often quite obvious to instructors. Don't kid yourself into thinking that you can get away with it. Below please read FIU's Plagiarism Policy:

This Policy views plagiarism as one form of academic misconduct, and adopts the definition of the university's Code of Academic Integrity, according to which plagiarism is "the deliberate use and appropriation of another's works without any indication of the source and the representation of such work as the student's own. Any student who fails to give credit for the ideas, expressions or materials taken from another source, including internet sources, is guilty of plagiarism."

Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to:

Term papers acquired online or from other sources;

  • Copying of original material without attribution;
  • Use of other students' work;
  • Copying and pasting, verbatim, information from Internet sources, without quotation marks and correct citation.

For more information on plagiarism go to:
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

For information on how to properly cite a source go to:
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c10_s1.html

For information on how to site primary and secondary sources secured on line go to:
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/history.html

Active Learning and Participation

I encourage students to engage the texts thoroughly. The best classes often are those in which students explore a diversity of ideas, thoughts, and opinions. In all written assignments, students should feel free to express themselves intellectually, whether they agree or disagree with the opinions expressed by authors of the assigned material. However, in their written works, students will be expected continually to contextualize their arguments and opinions with references to texts. Read the texts critically. Take notes articulating both negative and positive reactions to the texts. Underline, highlight, and note the page numbers in places where you were particularly struck by the merit of an author's argument or lack thereof. Students should be able to determine the main idea and stated purpose of each reading assignment and/or book and its historical context and significance. Students also should be prepared to examine the ways in which authors use language, rhetoric, and tone to articulate their ideas. Be prepared to analyze the ways in which the authors are persuasive as well as the ways in which the arguments falter. Other questions for consideration include: Who is the author's intended audience? In what ways does the author support his/her thesis? Are the author's assumptions valid or problematic? In what ways can the author's thesis be challenged? How does the author's work challenge or support others' you have read in the course?

Grading
Course RequirementsNumber of ItemsPoints Weight
Response Essays I & II 60%
Critical Book Review 20%
Quizzes 20%
Total 100%

 

Letter
Grade
Range Letter
Grade
Range Letter
Grade
Range
A Above 93 B- 81 - 83 D+ 67 - 70
A- 91 - 92 C+ 77 - 80 D 64 - 66
B+ 87 - 90 C 74 - 76 D- 61 - 63
B 84 - 86 C- 71 - 73 F < 61
COURSE CALENDAR
Weekly Schedule
Date Tasks
WEEK 1 (June 25 - 29):
The Birth of American Freedom
Textbook Readings Foner, The Story of American Freedom, xiii-xxii; 3- 28.
View Movie: John Adams - Part 1 & 2

Declaration of Independence

Thomas Paine

Letters of Abigail Adams


NBC News Archives: Women in the American Revolution; Thomas Paine and Common Sense; The Intolerable Acts; The Boston Tea Party.
Lecture Modern American Civilization Intro.

American Revolution Period

Thomas Paine
Assessment Take the Online Learning "Practice Quiz"
WEEK 2 (July 2 - 6):
The Boundaries of Freedom in a New Republic
Textbook Readings Foner, The Story of American Freedom, 29-94.
View Movie Excerpt from Amistad

NBC News Archives: President Polk and the Mexican War; Nativism; The Missouri Compromise; The Kansas-Nebraska Act; Brooks Beats Sumner With a Cane on the Senate Floor.
Lecture The Middle Passage
Assignment Critial Book Review" Book Choice - (Due: Monday, July 2nd)
Assessment Quiz #1
(Friday, July 6th)
WEEK 3 (July 9 - 13):
Reconstructing a Nation, 1865-1877
Textbook Readings Oakes, Chap. 17 and 18
View NBC News Archive: This is a White Man’s Government;  What the Compromise of 1877 Meant.
Lecture Overview & Outline

Power Point

Maps
Assessment Quiz #2
(Friday, July 13th)
WEEK 4 (July 16 - July 20):
Freedom’s Boundaries at Home and Abroad 1890-1900
Textbook Readings

Oakes, Chap 19, 20 and 21

View NBC News Archives: The Spanish American War; Resistance to American Imperialism

Ida B. Wells - A Passion for Justice
Assignment Response Essay I
(Due: Monday, July 16th)
WEEK 5 (July 23 - 27):
The Progressive Era and World War I, The Great Depression
Textbook Readings Oakes, Chap 22, 23, 24
View View NBC News Archive: Profile of FDR; Start of the Great Depression
Assessment Quiz #3
(Friday, July 27th)
WEEK 6 (July 30 - August 3):
WWII, Civil Rights Movement, Cold War
Textbook Readings

Oakes, Chap 25, 26, 27

View SNCC Position Paper on Women

SNCC Position Paper on Vietnam

Port Huron Statement

Stonewall 25

Film: Four Little Girls

The Cold War: Reds Under the Bed. Part 4:1 and Part 4:2

NBC News Archives: President Truman addresses Japanese American Troops; FDR Urges the US to Aid England's Fight against the Nazis; The US Discovers Hitler's Concentration Camps; The Attack on Pearl Harbor; The Bay of Pigs Invasion; UN fends off Communism Around the World; Winston Churchill Announces the Emergence of the Cold War; The Ideological Battle between US and the Soviet Union; The Domino Theory, Containment and the Truman Doctrine; Martin Luther King Jr. Debates Segregationist Editor.
Assignment Response Essay II
(Due: Monday, July 30th)
Assessment Quiz #4
(Friday, August 3rd)
WEEK 7 (August 6 - 10):
Critical Book Review
Textbook Readings Oakes, Chap 28, 29, 30.
Assignment Critical Book Review (Due: Monday, August 6th)