The Long Nineteenth Century History 239 Wesleyan University Fall 2018 George Caleb Bingham, The Squatters, 1850 Prof. Charles Halvorson Class Meetings: Mon/Wed 10:50am 12:10pm ghalvorson@wesleyan.edu Room: VVO 110 Office: PAC 330 Office Hours: Mon 4:30-6pm and by appointment In 1787, the ratification the Constitution established the United States of America as a republic in which power rested with the people. But the slim document left many fundamental questions unanswered. Would the overwhelmingly agricultural country be one of small yeoman farmers or large-scale plantations? Would the new nation limit western expansion to honor treaties with American Indian groups? Should the growing ranks of wage laborers in the nation s burgeoning cities have the same political rights as property owners? Would a nation founded on the shores of the Atlantic World pursue closer integration into global trade or protect its craftsmen and nascent industrial manufacturers? Could women make a claim to civic participation in a nation whose liberty they had helped win? Would a nation dedicated to freedom be able to reconcile the bondage of one-fifth of its total population? The Long Nineteenth Century explores the history of the United States from the Early Republic to the Progressive Era (1787 to 1900), as an array of different groups and competing interests attempted answers to those questions. The period witnessed an incredible expansion of the United States from one of several imperial claimants in North America to the dominant power on the continent. Simultaneous to this expansion in geographic scope, the nineteenth century saw a shift in the scale of governance from a limited government to a powerful federal state that abolished property rights in slavery and intervened in struggles between labor and capital. In following that expansion and shift, this course explains the evolution of the modern United States. 1
Course Readings Walter Johnson, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom is available for purchase at RJ Julia Bookstore or through online retailers. All other readings are available on the course Moodle site. Course Requirements and Grading Attendance and Assignment Policy: Students are expected to attend class and submit their assignments by the date assigned unless they have a medical or family emergency, in which case they should contact their Class Dean, who will notify the professor. Absences are not excused and late assignments are not accepted unless and until the Class Dean has communicated with the professor. Class Participation (10% of final grade): Class meetings combine lectures with a discussion of the assigned readings and analysis of primary sources. Students are expected to complete the readings by the date for which they are assigned and come to class prepared to engage in discussion. Laptops and other electronic devices are not permitted in class. Midterm (30% of final grade): In-class exam on October 17, consisting of identifications of key terms drawn from lectures and readings. Final Exam (30% of final grade): Scheduled on December 14, during final exam period, consisting of identifications of key terms drawn from lectures and readings. Final Paper (30% of final grade): Over the course of the semester, students will research and write a 3,000-word paper that considers the contemporary portrayal of one aspect of the nineteenth century in popular culture. More information will be distributed during the semester. Students will submit a proposal on October 24. Papers are due on the last day of class, December 5. Guidelines for Written Assignments: All written assignments should be doubled-spaced, using standard fonts and sizes (10-12 point) and margins. Title your papers and provide your name, the date of submission, and the assignment number in a short header. Please use page numbers. Use footnotes to cite quotations and arguments that are not your own according to the Chicago Manual of Style. See http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html for sample citations. Academic Integrity: Students are expected to adhere to Wesleyan University s Honor Code, described in the Student Handbook, https://www.wesleyan.edu/studentaffairs/studenthandbook/studenthandbook.pdf Learning Disabilities: Wesleyan University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from its programs and services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a documented disability as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, and provide documentation of the disability. Since accommodations may require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact Disability Resources as soon as possible. If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact Dean Patey in Accessibility Services (accessibility@wesleyan.edu), located in North College, Room 021, or call 860-685-5581 for an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations. 2
Course Outline Mon. Sept. 3: Introduction Wed. Sept. 5: What kind of nation? Steven Stoll, Ramp Hollow, chapter 3: The Rye Rebellion Mon. Sept. 10: Plantations in the Atlantic World Walter Johnson, River of Dark Dreams, chapter one: Jeffersonian Visions and Nightmares in Louisiana Wed. Sept. 12: Agrarians and Markets Christopher Clark, Roots of Rural Capitalism, chapter 3: Households, Farming, and Manufacturing Mon. Sept. 17: Expansion and Expropriation Angela Hudson, Creek Paths and Federal Roads, chapter 3: Opening Roads through Creek Country Wed. Sept. 19: Entrepôts into Cities Seth Rockman, Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore, chapter four: A Job for a Working Woman Mon. Sept. 24: Jacksonian Democracy and the Bank Wars Stephen Mihm, A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States, chapter three: The Bank Wars Wed. Sept. 26: From Borderlands to Bordered Lands: Manifest Destiny and the Frontier Pekka Hämäläinen, The Comanche Empire, chapter four: The Empire of the Plains Mon. Oct. 1: Annihilating Space with Time Walter Johnson, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom (2013), chapter three: The Steamboat Sublime 3
Wed. Oct. 3: King Cotton Walter Johnson, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom, chapter nine: The Mississippi Valley in the Time of Cotton. Mon. Oct. 8: Then I Will Speak Upon the Ashes: Abolitionists in Their Own Words Sven Beckert, The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850-1896, chapter three: The Politics of Capital **Class meets in Olin Library, Special Collections** Wed. Oct. 10: Secession and Imperial Dreams Walter Johnson, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom, chapter eleven: Tales of Mississippian Empire Mon. Oct. 15: Civil War and Emancipation Stephanie McCurry, Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South, chapter four: Soldiers Wives and the Politics of Subsistence. Wed. Oct. 17: Midterm Mon. Oct. 22: No Class, Fall Break Wed. Oct. 24: Reconstruction Steven Hahn, A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration, chapter six: Of Paramilitary Politics Paper proposals due in class Mon. Oct. 29: Second Nature, Second City William Cronon, Nature s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, chapter three: Pricing the Future: Grain Wed. Oct. 31: Frozen Sunshine: Coal, Railroads, and Industrialization Thomas Andrews, Killing for Coal: America s Deadliest Labor War, chapter four: Dying with Their Boots on 4
Mon. Nov. 5: Crises of Capitalism: the Panic of 1873 and the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Richard White, Information, Markets and Corruption: Transcontinental Railroads in the Gilded Age, Journal of American History Wed. Nov. 7: No Country for Poor Men: the Capitalization of the West Donald Worster, Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West, chapter three: Incipience: A Poor Man s Paradise Mon. Nov. 12: Mexican Cornucopia: Development and the Border in the Southwest Rachel St. John, Line in the Sand: A History of the Western U.S.-Mexico Border, chapter three: Landscape of Profits: Cultivating Capitalism across the Border Wed. Nov.14: The Trouble with Wilderness: Conservation and Expropriation Karl Jacoby, Crimes Against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation, chapter seven: The Havasupai Problem and chapter eight: Farewell Song Mon. Nov. 19: The Populist Moment Steven Stoll, Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia, chapter four: Mountaineers Are Always Free Wed. Nov. 21: No Class, Thanksgiving Break Mon. Nov. 26: Contagion: Urbanization, Immigration, and the Progressive State Howard Markel, Quarantine! East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892, chapter one: The Russian Jews of the SS Massilia, chapter two: The City Responds to the Threat of Typhus, and chapter three: The Results of the Quarantine. Wed. Nov. 28: Capitalism Takes Command David Montgomery, Workers Control in America, chapter one: Workers Control of Machine Production in the 19th Century Mon. Dec. 3: Inferior Races: Imperialism and Jim Crow Glenda Gilmore, Murder, Memory, and the Flight of the Incubus, in Democracy Betrayed 5
Wed. Dec. 5: Remembering the Long Nineteenth Century David Blight, Race and Reunion, Epilogue Final Paper due printed in class Friday, Dec. 14: Final Examination 2-5pm 6