United States History

		Hirosaki University 	1998-9	Dr. Philips 

	This is a general survey course of American History.  It will provide an 
introduction to political history, but it will be more concerned with social, cultural 
and religious history.  Its purpose is to give students a broad cultural background for 
understanding American literature and to prepare students for study at overseas 
universities.   It will therefore be taught mostly in English, although questions in 
Japanese are welcome, and I will occasionally give explanations in Japanese.  The class 
will be changed according to your interests, so PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS.  I like questions 
from students, and I will try to take time during each class to answer questions.  

 
				WARNING! 

	BUY A COLLEGE DICTIONARY TO UNDERSTAND THE LECTURES! 
 
	I expect that ALL STUDENTS will read and STUDY the ENTIRE BOOK at home.  Class 
will consist of lectures, with illustrations  and American music.  

	There will be a TWO TESTS, one for each semester.  Questions will be mostly 
true-false, with some multiple choice.  The tests will be entirely in English.  NO 
DICTIONARIES will be allowed.  They include answers to some of the questions.  The test 
questions will be mostly about the lectures, but also about the text.  If there are not 
enough class meetings to finish all the lectures, the test will only be on the lectures 
given, but you must finish the relevant parts of the textbook before the exam.  

	I will not take attendance.  However, you should come to class, since you need 
to know the information and the vocabulary of the lectures to pass the test.  Besides, 
if you come to class you will get to see the pictures and hear the American music that 
I bring to class.  

		IF YOU MISS A CLASS, GET THE NOTES FROM A FRIEND.

American History (A)			—ðŽj 				ƒAƒ�ƒŠƒJŽjA 

This part of the course will cover the history of what is now the United States from 
the earliest human settlement to the American Civil War.  Emphasis will be on the 
development of English Colonies in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, the 
American Revolution, the emergence of a new nationalism, western expansion, the growth 
of various reform movements, and the growing regional conflict over slavery.  The 
course will be conducted primarily in English since that is the dominant language of 
the United States, but occasional explanations will be made in Japanese.  

The schedule of lectures is as follows: 

    First semester: 
1. Native Americans (American Indians) before Columbus 
2. European Overseas Expansion 
3. The First English Colonies 
4. African Contributions to American Society 
5. Religious Freedom in America 
6. Early American Literature 
7. The Great Awakening and the French and Indian Wars 
8. The American Revolution 
9. The United States Constitution 
10. Early 19th Century Culture, Society and Politics 
11. Western Expansion and Manifest Destiny 
12. The Women's Rights Movement 
13. Slavery and Abolitionism 
14. The American Civil War 



American History (B)			—ðŽj 				ƒAƒ�ƒŠƒJŽj ‚a 

This course will continue the story of the United States from the Civil War up as close 
to the present as is possible.  Emphasis will be on the growth of industry and cities, 
increasing ethnic and religious diversity, the process of modernization, political 
conflict, and the emergence of the United States as a world power.  While the course 
will provide a basic political framework for understanding the United States, emphasis 
will also be given to social, cultural and musical history.  

15. Reconstruction and the Gilded Age 
16. Agriculture in the 19th Century 
17. Industrialization in the 19th Century 
18. American Imperialism and Immigration 
19. Politics and Protest in the Late 19th Century 
20. The Progressive Era and Reform (c. 1900-1920) 
21. Why Is There no Socialist Party in the U.S.A.? 
22. Prosperity, Conservatism and the Jazz Age (the Roaring '20s) 
23. The Great Depression and the New Deal (the 1930's) 
24. World War II and its Effects on the U. S. 
25. The Cold War and Conservatism 
26. Civil Rights, Feminism and Vietnam 
27. American Literature Since the Civil War 
28. American Music in the Twentieth Century 
29. Watergate and the World Since: Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan 

	This is your class. Please let me know what you want to learn in it.