239821 American History 1 (S) (SoSe 2012)

American History I is a required course in PM 5. We will trace the history of what is now the United States from the earliest known human inhabitants through the age of European exploration, settlement, colonization and eventual independence from Britain. We will see how the "American experiment" developed through expansion, immigration and technologica linnovationand how this “experiment” came to meet its most severe test in the Civil War. We will focus on topics in American history that are relevant for understanding the present: the confrontation and interactions among Native Americans, Europeans and Africans and the project of establishing a democratic constitution and forming “a more perfect union” out of a diverse collection of colonies. We will investigate how the United States struggled to understand itself as a nation within the context of divergent and competing interests.

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Requirements for participation, required level

You should have successfully completed BM4--especially Social and Cultural Studies: North America

Bibliography

These United States: The Questions of our Past

by Irwin Unger Concise Edition/ Combined volume

Several copies of the textbook are available in the library.