History 313: American History in the Age of Andrew Jackson

TR: 1-2:20, B 126

P. Teed
pteed@svsu.edu
Brown 303
989-964-7253
H: MW, 1-2; TR 9-10
This course will focus on the history of the United States from 1815 to 1850 with a
special emphasis on the theme of migration, both internal and international. We
will begin by examining the political life of the Early American Republic, tracing
the emergence of democratic political culture and the rise of mass political parties.
Subsequently, our focus will shift to the impact of population shifts on the
formation of new rural communities in the west and on life in Americas rapidly
expanding cities. The final unit of the course will examine involuntary migrations,
including the forced removal of Native Americans from the southeastern states and
the workings of the domestic slave trade. At the end of course, we will analyze the
role of the slavery conflict in shattering the cultural and political life of the nation.
Required Books: (students must purchase or rent these books for the duration of
the class)
John Mack Faragher, Sugar Creek: Life on the Illinois Prairie (Yale, 1988)
Harry L. Watson, Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America, (Hill and
Wang, rev. ed. 2006)
Walter Johnson, Soul By Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market (Harvard,
2001)
Theda Purdue and Michael Green, The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with
Documents (Bedford, 2nd ed, 2004)

Grades:
Papers (2): 20% each
Exams (3): 15% each
Participation:
15%

Grading Scale:

A=93+
C+=77-79
A-=90-93
C=70-76
B+=87-89
D=60=69
B=83-86

Exams will be essay type. Participation will be based on student contributions to

class discussion and performance on periodic in class writing assignments based
on assigned reading. Students must do the assigned reading before each class and
be ready to discuss it and respond to it in writing. In order to pass the course,
students must take all three exams and complete both papers.

2
Papers must be no less than 1500 words and no more than 2000 words in length
and they are due at the beginning of the class period for which they are
assigned. Please see special paper instructions at the end of the syllabus.

Topics and Assignments

8-26: Course Introduction
8-28: Themes in Antebellum History
Read: Sean Wilentz, Society, Politics, and the Market Revolution, 18151848, in Foner ed., The New American History. (VSpace Resources)

Political Life in Jacksonian America

9-02: No class (Labor Day Break)
9-04: Society and Politics in the Early Republic
Read: Watson, Liberty and Power, 3-72
9-09: Rise of the Jacksonians
Read: Watson, Liberty and Power, 73-131
9-11: Jacksonians in Power
Read: Watson, Liberty and Power, 132-197
9-16: Political Parties
Read: Watson, Liberty and Power, 198-231
9-18: Political Parties
Read: Watson, Liberty and Power, 231-255
9-23: Exam

Migrations and Social Change

9-25: Land and Migration
Read: Faragher, Sugar Creek, Introduction and 3-36

3
9-30: Society and Family on the Frontier
Read: Faragher, Sugar Creek, 39-120
10-2: Rural Community
Read: Faragher, Sugar Creek, 121-170
10-07:Social and Economic Change on the Frontier
Read: Faragher, Sugar Creek, 173-237
10-09:The Industrial Frontier
Read: Pershey, Lowell and the Industrial City in the 19 th Century, OAH
Magazine; and Seth Rockman, Coming to Work in the City, in Scraping By.
(VSpace Reources)
10-14:Urban Order and Disorder (Paper on Sugar Creek due)
Read: Partricia Cline Cohen, New Yorks Sex Trade in The Murder of
Helen Jewett; and Caroll Smith Rosenberg, Beauty, the Beast and the
Militant Woman: A Case Study in Sex Roles and Social Stress in Jacksonian
America, (VSpace Resources)
10-16:Immigrant, Religion, and Conflict in the Antebellum City
Read: Katie Oxx, The Philadelphia Bible Riots, in The Nativist Movement
in America; and Elliot Gorn, Good Bye Boys, I Die a True American:
Homicide, Nativism and Working Class Culture in Antebellum New York,
Journal of American History (VSpace Resources)
10-21:The Emergence of the Labor Movement
Read: David Roediger, Neither a Servant of a Master am I: Key Words in
the Language of White Labor Republicanism, in Wages of Whiteness; and
Thomas Dublin, The Ten Hour Movement, in Women at Work. (VSpace
Resources)
10-23:Exam

Forced Migrations and Slavery

10-28:Native Americans in Antebellum America
Read: Perdue and Green, Cherokee Removal, 1-24
10-30:Advocating Removal
Read: Perdue and Green, Cherokee Removal, 71-100, 114-128

4
11-04: Opposing Removal
Read: Perdue and Green, Cherokee Removal, 100-114 129-145
11-06: The Trail of Tears
Read: Perdue and Green, Cherokee Removal, 167-186
11-11:The Growth of Slavery in Jacksonian America
Read: Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul, 1-44
11-13:The World the Masters Made
Read: Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul, 45-134

11-18:The World the Slaves Made

Read: Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul, 135-161
11-20:Resistance and Rebellion
Read: Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul, 162-188
11-25:Film selections: Amistad
Read: Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul, 189-221
12-02:Contesting Slavery: Abolitionism (Paper on Johnson Due)
Read: W. Caleb McDaniel, The Problem of Public Opinion, in The Problem
of Democracy in the Age of Slavery; and Stacey M. Robertson, Abolitionist
Women and the Liberty Party, in Hearts for Liberty (VSpace Resources)
12-04:Slavery, Expansion and the end of Jacksonian America
Read: Adam Rothman, Slavery and National Expansion in the United
States, OAH Magazine of History (VSpace Resources)
12-11:Thursday FINAL EXAM, 12:30-2:20

Paper Assignments
Papers must be no less than 1500 words in length and no more than 2000 words.
Papers will be graded on their effectiveness in responding to the assignment and
on their adherence to the rules of spelling, grammar and syntax. In addition,

5
papers that are poorly printed or show other signs of carelessness or sloppiness
will have points deducted from the grade.
1. Paper on Sugar Creek
The myth of the American frontier typically celebrates the heroic actions of rugged
male pioneers who single-handedly carved homes out of an uninhabited
wilderness. In your paper, use Faraghers history of Sugar Creek to demonstrate
the problems with this mythology.
2. Paper on Soul By Soul
In Soul by Soul, Walter Johnson examines the history of the domestic slave trade
through the eyes of traders, buyers and slaves. In your paper, you must 1) explain
the motives and actions of all three groups, 2) discuss the ways in which slaves
managed to affect the terms of their own sales, and 3) assess the overall
importance of the slave trade for the social and economic life of the pre-Civil War
South. You may choose to address the above in any order you see fit.