Course Syllabus

HI 152: United States Since 1865

Spring 2009
TuTh 3:30-5PM
Stone B50
Instructor: R. S. Deese
Email: rsdeese@bu.edu
Telephone: (617) 458 9059
Office:226 Bay State Road, Room 502
Office Hours: MWF 11-12
(or by appointment)


This course will chart several major transformations in U.S. history, from the industrial revolution and urbanization of the late nineteenth century to the era of rapid globalization in which we live today. In this course we will explore such seminal topics in American history as Reconstruction, industrialism, imperial expansion, progressive politics, World War I, the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and the Cold War. We will also survey the economic, environmental, and military challenges facing the U.S. in the 21st century. To succeed in this course, you must come to section each week fully prepared to discuss the assigned reading for the week, and you must prepare early for your midterm, final paper, and final exam.


Basic Ground Rules:


1. Turn off all cell phones, beepers, etc. before all class meetings begin.

2. Always come on time to all class meetings, and participate in all discussions. Please don’t be shy about speaking up in class discussions, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Virtually all original scholarship begins by posing questions that others have overlooked or dismissed as simply not worth asking; therefore, the very question you might be afraid to ask because it seems naïve or unorthodox could well be the most interesting and groundbreaking question that anyone could raise. Don’t hesitate to ask it. Also, please remember that I am more than happy to field your questions and address your concerns via email, telephone, and during my regular office hours.

3. Always come to class prepared to discuss all readings for that week. When you do the assigned reading each week, be sure to underline passages that you see as important, and write down questions that you would like to raise in our section meetings and in my office hours.


Grade Breakdown:

Attendance & Participation: 30%
Midterm: 20% 3/5
Term Paper 25% 4/16
Final Exam 25% 5/5 3:00p.m. - 5:00p.m.



Midterm and Final Examinations: To prepare for these exams, be sure to review the assigned readings and your notes from lectures and discussion sections. Feel free to contact me via email or during office hours concerning any questions you might have. A portion of the class prior to the midterm will be devoted to review, and I will also a hold review session prior to the final exam. Please bear in mind that these review sessions will be most profitable to those who have prepared for them by thoroughly studying the material at hand.

Term Paper: You are required to write an 8-page position paper analyzing three primary source documents from Boezi. In this paper, you will be required to develop an original thesis that relates the three primary sources to each other and to their historical context.

Regulations Against Plagiarism: Needless to say, the work you present must be entirely your own and all sources must be diligently credited in your footnotes and bibliography. Any attempt at plagiarism, representing the work of another person as your own, will be result in failure in this course and severe disciplinary action by Boston University. If you should need more information on this subject, consult the website of the History Department.


Required Readings:

Jacqueline Jones, et al. Created Equal: Social and Political History of the United States, Volume II

Michael Boezi, ed. Voices of Created Equal, Volume II



Schedule of Readings & Lectures:

Week One

Required Readings: Jones, ch. 15; Boezi, ch. 15

1/15 Introduction; Civil War & Reconstruction

Week Two

Required Readings: Jones, ch. 16; Boezi, ch. 16

1/20 1877 and the End of the First American Reconstruction

1/22 The Gilded Age


Week Three

Required Readings: Jones, chs. 17, 18; Boezi, chs. 17, 18

1/27 Responses to Industrial Crises: Populism

1/29 Responses to Industrial Crises: Imperialism

Week Four

Required Readings: Jones, chs.19, 20; Boezi chs. 19, 20

2/3 Pragmatism and Progressivism

2/5 WWI, Wilson, and the End of Progressivism

Week Five

Required Readings: Jones ch. 21; Boezi ch. 21

2/10 “Return to Normalcy”: the Economy & Culture of the 1920s

2/12 Isolationism, Laissez Faire, & the Breakdown of the Global Economy

Week Six

Required Readings: Jones ch. 22; Boezi ch. 22


2/17 MONDAY SCHEDULE; NO LECTURE

2/19 FDR and the New Deal

Week Seven

Required Readings: Jones, ch. 23; Boezi, ch. 23

2/24 Dr. New Deal becomes Dr. Win the War

2/26 America and the Aftermath of WWII

Week Eight

Required Readings: Jones, ch. 24; Boezi, ch. 24

3/3 The Cold War and the Birth of the National Security State

3/5 MIDTERM EXAM

Week Nine: SPRING RECESS

Week Ten

Required Readings: Jones, chs. 25, 26; Boezi, chs. 25,26

3/17 Postwar America and the Liberal Consensus

3/19 Vietnam and the Breakdown of the Liberal Consensus

Week Eleven

Required Readings: Jones, ch. 27; Boezi ch. 27

3/24 “Nixinger”

3/26 Watergate & Beyond


Week Twelve

Required Readings: Jones ch. 28; Boezi, ch. 28

3/31 Carter and the Roots of the Reagan Revolution

4/2 The Gipper, at Home and Abroad

Week Thirteen

Required Readings: Jones ch.29, Boezi ch. 29

4/6 The World After 1989

4/9 Clinton and “the Third Way”

Week Fourteen

Required Reading: Jones ch. 30; Boezi ch. 30

4/14 The Election of 2000

4/16 Terrorism and the Expansion of Executive Power TERM PAPER DUE IN CLASS

Week Fifteen

4/21 George W. Bush’s Foreign Policy Legacy

4/23 MONDAY SCHEDULE; NO LECTURE

Week Sixteen

4/28 George W. Bush’s Domestic Legacy

4/30 The Election of 2008


FINAL EXAM T 5/5 3:00p.m. - 5:00p.m.