History 3394
Power, Influence, and Identity
in Antebellum America
Steven Mintz
535 Agnes Arnold Hall
743-3109
SMintz@UH.Edu
Course Description
The period stretching from the end of the War of 1812 to the
Civil War is truly the formative period of American history.
It witnessed the end of deference politics and the emergence
of a new system of democratic politics. It saw the demise of
subsistence agriculture and the craft system of production and
the rise of modern industry. It saw the emergence of a self-conscious
middle class and working class, each with its own distinctive
system of gender roles, social rituals, and cultural values.
It brought the conquest of the Trans-Mississippi West and its
incorporation into an expanding nation state. It marked the birth
of mass culture and mass communication.
This antebellum period witnessed
many of this country's most shameful barbarities but also some
of its noblest efforts at social justice. It witnessed the subjugation,
dispossession, and westward removal of tens of thousands of Native
Americans; the movement of hundreds of thousands of African American
slaves into the fertile cotton kingdom of the Old Southwest;
and the conquest of a vast empire of land from Spain and Mexico.
More positively, it saw the birth of the American reform tradition
and the first phase of the struggle to overcome the "American
dilemma," the fundamental moral contradiction between our
society's commitment to freedom, justice, and opportunity for
all, and the base reality of inequality and discrimination.
During the decades preceding
the Civil War, the nation's most distinctive feature was the
diversity of its peoples and cultures. This course will examine
the migration of hundreds of thousands of people from Ireland,
Germany, and China; the incorporation of tens of thousands of
people of Mexican descent; and the quest of many groups--Catholics,
free black, women, and many more--to fine a niche in this society.
As we will see, this quest often involved conflict and violent
upheaval--but it also resulted in the creation of a hybrid, syncretic
culture that is the product of the blending and intermixture
of diverse cultural elements.
Although the people we are
going to study may seem distant, the issues which we will examine
in this course are anything but irrelevant. Antebellum Americans
were the first people to face the challenges of urban and industrial
patterns of life; to forge a nation state out of multiple ethnicities;
and to face the ordeal of total war. This period witnessed the
first secular movements in history that sought to perfect society
through reform; it also saw the first confrontation between the
West and what we now call the Third World.
This is a story involving a
complex mixture of triumph and tragedy, of towering material
success and wrenching failure. Our goal is to encourage you to
rewrite the narrative of the antebellum period from the inside
out, by analyzing primary sources, the raw material of history,
to dare ask if the heroes might indeed be the villains.
Required Reading:
David Brion Davis, ed., ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE
Mintz, ed., NATIVE AMERICAN
VOICES
Mintz, ed., AFRICAN AMERICAN
VOICES
Mintz, MORALISTS & MODERNIZERS:
AMERICA'S PRE-CIVIL WAR REFORMERS
Packet of photocopies from
Davis and Mintz, EXPLORING OUR FORMATIVE PAST
Course Goals:
To introduce you to a diverse
array of primary sources that show the concerns, hopes, fears,
and understandings of antebellum Americans.
To help you understand the
major themes of antebellum American history not by imposing an
interpretative from above, but rather by closely reading primary
sources.
To familiarize you with the
major historiographical interpretations of the antebellum United
States.
Grading
Class attendence is mandatory; students who miss class will,
at the instructor's discretion, be dropped from the course or
receive an "F" as their class grade.
Each student is expected to
complete the assigned readings and written assignments by the
scheduled class period.
Any student found guilty of
plagiarism on any assignment will receive an "F" for
the course.
In calculating grades, the
instructor will take into account both the quality of the students'
classroom participation and of their written work. I reserve
the course grade of "A" for those students whose contributions
to classroom discussion and written work demonstrates outstanding:
--command of the course's subject
material;
--clarity of oral and written
expression;
--originality and significance
of insights; and
--ability to locate topics
within the relevant historiographical context.
Assignments
Unlike conventional history classes, which seek to convey a body
of historical facts and interpretations, this experimental seminar
has a very goal: to redirect history toward "discourse"
and "meaning," to explore how Americans experienced
and understood the central issues, problems, and decisions that
shaped American history during the country's formative period.
Rather than imposing an interpretation of antebellum America
from the "top down," our interpretation will grow out
of primary documents themselves.
Nothing captures the freshness,
the rich complexity, or the contingency of the past better than
primary sources. But documents never speak for themselves; they
require close textual analysis and careful interpretation. Over
the course of the semester, you will have to write FOUR three-page
typewritten double-spaced essays explicating a set of documents.
In these brief essays, you will logically analyze the documents;
tease out the documents' assumptions and implications; and uncover
connections among primary sources. These brief essays will be
based on FOUR of the topics described below.
In addition, each student will
write a 15-20 page double-spaced typewritten introduction to
a major antebellum primary source document or series of documents.
This can be a document in political history, legal history, social
history, cultural history, ethnic history, or another approved
topic. You should discuss your proposed topic with the instructor
as early in the semester as possible; you must submit a one-page
outline of your introduction and the issues you will address
no later than MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1997.
This introduction must:
Locate the document in the
proper historical context, thoroughly identifying the author
and the circumstances under which the document was written;
Survey the relevant historiographical
literature, explaining how previous scholars have interpreted
the document and assessed its historical significance;
Thoroughly analyze and interpret
the documents; and
Explain how this document contributes
to broader historical understandings.
Essay Topic No. 1: Due Monday,
September 8.
The early nineteenth century
witnessed a profound shifts in human sensibilities, as the 18th
century ideals of love and restraint gave way to a romantic insistence
on feelings, love, affection, and piety. Drawing upon the documents
assigned for this week, discuss how attitudes toward family authority,
child nurture, marriage, and women's roles were shifting; and
how the democratization of society outside the home reshaped
relations within the family.
Essay Topic No. 2: Due Monday,
September 15.
The end of the War of 1812
opened up an era of rapid economic and territorial growth. The
world of the Founders, which attached a high value to order,
stability, and republican virtue, gave way to a much more fluid
and free-wheeling era. After reading this week's documents, discuss,
citing specific examples, what they reveal about Americans' hopes,
concerns, and fears and their attitudes toward land, law, and
politics.
Essay Topic No. 3: Due Monday,
September 21.
Write an essay on one of the
following two topics:
1. Draw on NATIVE AMERICAN
VOICES (53-74) to discuss patterns of family, kinship, childrearing,
and gender roles and Native Americans and the way that they were
perceived by white observers.
2. For white Americans, the
late eighteenth and early and mid-nineteenth centuries was a
period of explosive economic and geographical growth. For Native
Americans, it was a period of land loss, disease, and cultural
upheaval. Draw on the relevant documents in NATIVE AMERICAN VOICES
(75-76, 95-129) and ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN CULTURE to discuss the
survival strategies adopted by Native Americans and their perception
of white Americans during this crucial period.
Essay Topic No. 4: Due Monday,
October 6.
Draw on the documents in AFRICAN
AMERICAN VOICES and ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN CULTURE to explain how
enslaved African Americans experienced ONE of the following key
aspects of life under slavery: 1) childhood and family life;
or 2) slave-master relations.
Essay Topic No. 5: Due Monday,
October 20.
Draw on the sources in ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE to analyze how American Protestantism changed
during the early nineteenth century. What values were held by
Evangelical Protestants? How did they account for the rise of
Evangelical Protestantism? What was the attraction of this brand
of religion? What did evangelicals see as the connection between
religion and social and technological change?
Essay Topic No. 6: Due Monday,
October 27.
Write an essay on ONE of the
following topics:
1. The rise of the public school
is one of the greatest achievements of the antebellum era. Draw
on the relevant sources in ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN CULTURE to explain
why many Americans supported public schools; what public education
was supposed to accomplish; and how public schools functioned.
2. Draw on the primary sources
on temperance in ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN CULTURE and EXPLORING OUR
FORMATIVE PAST to explain why temperance advocates opposed drinking;
how they justified opposition to a time-honored practice; and
what benefits they believed would result from temperance.
Essay Topic No. 7: Due Monday,
November 3.
Draw on the relevant sources
in ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN CULTURE and EXPLORING OUR FORMATIVE PAST
to discuss how abolitionists justified their opposition to slavery;
how they accounted for the violent opposition that they encountered;
what they meant by "immediate emancipation"; and the
relationship between antislavery and "natural law"
and the "Higher Law."
Essay Topic No. 8: Due Monday,
November 17.
It seems likely that most white
Americans during the 1850s probably shared the views of Stephen
Douglass--his racism, his spread-eagle nationalism, his Anglophobia,
and his commitment to geographical expansion. But in 1860 he
would lose out. Draw on the documents in EXPLORING OUR FORMATIVE
PAST covering the 1850s to explain why a growing number of Northerners
opposed slavery and were willing to support Abraham Lincoln.
Which of the arguments advanced against slavery do you think
ultimately proved to be most effective?
Key Themes and Organizing
Issues
Several key themes will recur
throughout the primary documents. One broad theme that cuts across
the sources involves the meaning, apportionment, divisions, and
uses of power. This includes the power to exploit labor and land;
to control and remove Indians; to engage in trade and commerce;
to deal with dissenters and rebels--as well as efforts to establish
protections, checks, and safeguards against excessive power;
the growing power of public opinion; and the power of ideals.
Several issues run through the primary sources: what constitutes
legitimate authority; how power is most effectively exercised
in a "free" society; and how groups should respond
to illegitimate authority.
A second pivotal theme involves
the fate of such transcendent American ideals as democracy, freedom,
equality, and opportunity. By the early nineteenth century, Republican
ideals of virtue and freedom had given way to a popular craving
for opportunity, for a fluid society in which no man is required
to work for other men. In such a society, how did Americans understand,
legitimate, and debate their societies inequalities and how did
ideologies, like racism, evolve, which subordinated various degraded
groups.
A third major theme involves
perceptions of time and historical change. Usually, we think
of time as progressing gradually and imperceptibly. But there
are moments when time appears to shift abruptly and disjunctively
and people feel that they have been catapulted into an entirely
new era. How, you might ask, did the Second Great Awakening reshape
Americans' attitudes toward time? their attitudes toward collective
reward and punishment?
Other critical themes that
run through the documents involve slavery--both as a social institution
and, metaphorically, as the paradigm of social evil and the epitome
of unlimited power and dehumanization; American exceptionalism
or the degree to which America has escaped the dismal laws, cycles,
and coercions of Old World history; and the Declaration of Independence
as a sacred fount of democracy and a scriptural document that
would inspire all kinds of reformers including early feminists,
labor leaders, and abolitionists. Last but not least is the issue
of identity: whether there is something that all Americans share
or whether individual identity is ultimately defined by one's
religion, region, race, gender, or ethnicity.
Calendar
Week 1: August 25. America
in 1815
Week 2: September 8. The Making
of Middle-Class Culture
Topics:
The Making of the Modern Family
Disciplining the Young
Redefining Gender Roles
Required reading: ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE, xix-34, 67-84; EXPLORING OUR FORMATIVE PAST,
1-4.
Week 3: September 15. The Relentless
Struggle for Wealth and Power
Topics:
American Individualism and
the Quest for Community
Struggles for Land
The Transformation of American
Law
Internal Improvements
The Politics of Paranoia
Required reading: ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE, 99-198; EXPLORING OUR FORMATIVE PAST, 12-21,
24-40.
Week 4: September 22. Native
America.
Topics:
Native American Religion and
Kinship Systems
Strategies for Cultural Survival
Clearing the Land of Indians
Required reading: ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE, 231-252; NATIVE AMERICAN VOICES.
Week 5: September 29. The Origins
and Nature of New World Slavery.
Slavery in Historical Perspective
Problems of Definition
The Origins of Racial Prejudice
The Atlantic Slave Trade and
the Atlantic Slave System
Required reading:
AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICES; EXPLORING
OUR FORMATIVE PAST, 22-24.
Week 6. October 6. Slavery
and Racism in a Free Society
Topics:
The American Paradox: Slavery
and Freedom
The South as a Slave Society
Slaves Without Masters: Free
Blacks
Antebellum Slavery
Required reading: ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE, 273-344; AFRICAN AMERICAN VOICES; EXPLORING
OUR FORMATIVE PAST, 9-12.
Week 7: October 13. The Making
of the American Working Class
Topics:
The Industrial Revolution
Immigration
Ethnicity and Ethnocultural
Politics
The Intellectual and Cultural
History of the American Working Class
Required reading: ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE, 253-273; MORALISTS & MODERNIZERS, Chap.
1.
Week 8: October 20. Science
and Religion.
Topics:
Antebellum Science and Technology
Evangelical Revivalism
Liberal Protestantism
Religious Outsiders
Required reading: ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE, 209-230; MORALISTS & MODERNIZERS, Chap.
2.
Week 9: October 27. The Birth
of the American Reform Tradition
Topics:
Roots of the Reform Impulse
Moral Reform
Institutional Reform
Required reading: ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE, 35-66, 345-410; MORALISTS & MODERNIZERS,
Chaps. 3, 4; EXPLORING OUR FORMATIVE PAST, 40-42.
Week 10: November 3. Radical
Reform.
Topics:
Abolition
Feminism
Utopian Socialism
Required reading: ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE, 85-98, 411-452; MORALISTS & MODERNIZERS,
Chap. 5, epilogue; EXPLORING OUR FORMATIVE PAST, 42-55.
Week 11: November 10. The Winning
of the West
Required reading: ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN CULTURE, 253-272; EXPLORING
OUR FORMATIVE PAST, 55-60, 71-76.
Outline for final essay due.
Week 12: November 17. The Gathering
Storm
Required reading: ANTEBELLUM
AMERICAN CULTURE, 199-208, 453-468; EXPLORING OUR FORMATIVE PAST,
76-110.
Week 13: November 24. The Civil
War
Required reading: EXPLORING
OUR FORMATIVE PAST, 111-144.
Week 14: December 1. Some Concluding
Thoughts
