History 452

Topics in Colonial America:  Indians, Africans, and Europeans


Fall 2005                           
Mon. 9:00-11:40, Park 532                   

Prof. Erik Seeman
Park 534, 645-2181 x534
seeman@buffalo.edu                       
Office hours: Mon. 1-3


Goals:  Early America provides historians with an unparalleled arena for studying the interactions among different cultural groups.  In what is today the United States, peoples from Europe, Africa, and North America fashioned a world together.  These groups influenced one another in ways as diverse as music, food, sexuality, politics, labor, and religion.  This course aims to get students to think about a number of questions:  is America a melting pot?  in what situations did different cultures co-exist peacefully?  in what situations did different attitudes lead to violence?  what vision of America was embodied in the Constitution?  We will explore these questions by focusing on four regions of early America:  the Chesapeake, New England, Florida, and the Lower Mississippi Valley.

Assignments:  Through careful analysis of primary and secondary texts this class aims to enhance students' abilities to read and think critically.  Therefore, students are required to attend class regularly, prepared to discuss the readings for that week.  Emphasis in grading is on class participation.  There are numerous paper assignments:  four three-page papers (essentially take-home exams, based on class readings) and one ten-page take-home final exam.

Grading:    Class participation:        35%
                    Short papers                  10% each
                    Long paper                   25%

Plagiarism Policy:  According to the UB Undergraduate Catalog, "Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect for others' academic endeavors.  By placing their name on academic work, students certify the originality of all work not otherwise identified by appropriate acknowledgments."  A student found to be in violation of these guidelines will receive a sanction appropriate to the severity of the infraction, up to and including receiving an "F" for the course.

Readings:  The following books may be purchased at the University Bookstore.  There are also required articles and primary sources on the web.  These can be downloaded for free at any campus library.  Simply click on the link to access the source.

Gary B. Nash, Red, White, and Black, fourth ed. (Boston, 2000).

Winthrop D. Jordan, The White Man's Burden:  Historical Origins of Racism in the United States (New York, 1974).

Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom:  The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia (New York, 1975).

Neal Salisbury, Manitou and Providence:  Indians, Europeans, and the Making of New England, 1500-1643 (New York, 1982).

Jane Landers, Black Society in Spanish Florida (Urbana, Ill., 1999)

Daniel H. Usner, Jr., Indians, Settlers, and Slaves in a Frontier Exchange Economy:  The Lower Mississippi Valley Before 1783 (Chapel Hill, 1992).


Schedule of Readings and Assignments:

Aug. 29:  Introduction


Sept. 5:  Labor Day -- No Class


Sept. 12:  Society and Culture before Contact:  America

Readings:  Salisbury, Manitou and Providence, 1-49
Rountree, "Medicine and Religion"
Nash, 1-41


Sept. 19:  Pre-Colonial Africa

Readings:  Thornton, "Slavery and African Social Structure"
Lovejoy, "Africa and Slavery"
Jordan, White Man's Burden, 3-25
Nash, 139-50
Three-page paper due in class


Sept. 26:  The Chesapeake

Readings:  Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom, 3-130
Jordan, White Man's Burden, 26-54
Catterall, "Judicial Cases Concerning American Slavery"
Nash, ch. 3, 151-66


Oct. 3:  The Chesapeake

Readings:  Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom, 133-292
Jordan, White Man's Burden, 57-110
Runaway slave advertisements
Nash, 110-15


Oct. 10:  New England

Readings:  Salisbury, Manitou and Providence, 50-165
Winslow, "Good Newes from New England," 313-45
Nash, ch. 4


Oct. 17:  New England

Readings:  Salisbury, Manitou and Providence, 166-239
Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative
Nash, 104-10
Three-page paper due in class


Oct. 24:  Florida

Readings:  Landers, Black Society, 1-135
Nash, ch. 7


Oct. 31:  Florida

Readings:  Landers, Black Society, 136-253
Alexander von Humboldt, “Slavery in Cuba”
Nash, ch. 8


Nov. 7:  The Lower Mississippi Valley

Readings:  Usner, Indians, Settlers, and Slaves, 1-144
English-Indian congress in West Florida
Nash, ch. 9


Nov. 14:  The Lower Mississippi Valley

Readings:  Usner, Indians, Settlers, and Slaves, 147-286
Three-page paper due in class


Nov. 21:  Toward Nationhood:  The Seven Years War

Readings:  Way, "The Cutting Edge of Culture"
Anderson, "The Lessons of Pontiac's War"
Jordan, White Man's Burden, 113-22
Nash, ch. 10


Nov. 28:  Toward Nationhood:  The Revolution

Readings:  Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom, 295-387
Slave petitions for freedom
Declaration of Independence
Nash, ch. 11


Dec. 5:  Toward Nationhood:  The Constitution and Jefferson

Readings:  Jordan, White Man's Burden, 165-93
The U.S. Constitution
Federalist Papers 42 and 54
Excerpts from Jefferson, "Notes on Virginia"
Nash, ch. 12
Three-page paper due in class


Ten-page final paper due by noon Monday December 12