Half page log per course reading, two courses per week.

Two news articles summaries one week, does not have to be half page. 

26 logs total

Students are required to keep an electronic “Class Log” consisting of dated entries. Logs should include two types of entries:

 

(a) reading log entries are summaries/commentaries, at least a half-page long (12-point, single-spaced text), of each reading assignment listed on the syllabus (not each individual reading; students can decide which parts of each reading assignment on which to focus their entries); and

 

(b) news log entries include URLS or printouts of at least two news articles per week dealing with the broad theme of the course-- “American citizenship”-- each accompanied by a substantial paragraph discussing how the articles you selected are related to the course and its themes. Each student will select articles that interest them. The articles you select must be from a national newspaper (New York Times or Washington Post or Wall Street Journal) or news magazine (Newsweek, Time, New Republic) or from a reputable blog approved by the teacher.

 

This means there should be 3-4 dated log entries per week (two reading entries plus two news article entries), and approximately 32 dated entries over the course of the semester. These logs represent your individual ongoing reflections and commentaries on the topics and proceedings of the class and how these topics and discussions help to illuminate current events.

 

 

Class By Topic and Session

 

 

1. Introduction:What does the Fourth of July Mean to You?M, March 7

 

“Why the Fourth of July is the Most Dangerous Holiday for Dogs.” https://www.thedodo.com/why-the-fourth-of-july-is-the-most-dangerous-day-for-dogs-1226803737.html

 

 

 

2.  The Declaration(s) of Independence as“American Scripture”W, March 9

 

The Declaration of Independence (and Jefferson’s Original Draft)

 

Danielle Allen, “One Period Could Change the Meaning of the Declaration of Independence,”https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-declaration-of-independence-punctuated-with-confusion/2015/06/12/8a05bd14-106b-11e5-a0dc-2b6f404ff5cf_story.html

 

 

 

3.  American Scripture Revisited  M, March 21

 

David Armitage, “The Declaration of Independence in Global Perspective” https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/road-revolution/essays/declaration-independence-global-perspective

 

 

4.  Seneca Falls and the Rights of Women   W, March 23

 

 

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Address at Seneca Falls,” (1848)

 

5.  Slavery and Abolitionism M, March 28

 

 

William Lloyd Garrison, “No Compromise with the Evil Of Slavery” (1854) http://www.blackpast.org/1854-william-lloyd-garrison-no-compromise-evil-slavery

http://www.blackpast.org/1854-william-lloyd-garrison-no-compromise-evil-slavery

 

6. The Civil War: A Fight Over the Declaration of Independence?  W March 30

 

Confederate Declaration of Independence

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp

 

 

John C. Calhoun, “Speech on the Oregon Bill” (1848)

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/oregon-bill-speech/

 

 

 

 

7.  Labor and The Meanings of Dependence and IndependenceM, April 4

 

 

 

Alana Semuels, “How Common is Child Labor in the U.S.?”

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/12/how-common-is-chid-labor-in-the-us/383687/

 

8. Socialism and LibertyW, April 6

 

Eric Foner on Socialism http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4545873/socialism-early-20th-century-america

 

 

 

 

 

9. Liberalism,the New Deal, and Four FreedomsM, April 11

 

 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The Four Freedoms” (1941) @ http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/fourfreedoms

 

 

10. Civil Rights and American DemocracyW, April 13

 

Public Appeal From Eight Alabama Clergymen (1963)

http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/09a/mlk_day/statement.html

 

 

 

 

11.  Port Huron Statement and “Participatory Democracy”M, April 18

 

The Port Huron Statement (1962)

http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/huron.html

 

 

 

12.  The Vietnam War and American Democracy W, April 20

 

Vietnamese Declaration of Independence (1945) @ http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1945vietnam.html

 

 

13. Fortress America? Immigration, Race, Ethnicity and American Citizenship in an Expanding WorldM, April 25

 

William Antholis, “Immigration, Independence, and Citizenship”

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/fixgov/posts/2014/07/07-rubenstein-monticello-july-fourth-speech-antholis