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