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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : History

Undergraduate Course: The Making of the United States (HIST08037)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course aims to provide a general overview of American history from the arrival of the first permanent European settlers at Jamestown in 1607 through Reconstruction.
Course description The major topics covered in the course include:
1. Pre-Columbian America
2. Colonization
3. The American Revolution
4. The Constitution
5. The Early Republic
6. Slavery
7. Market Revolution
8. Western Expansion and Manifest Destiny
9. The Civil War
10. Reconstruction
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. demonstrate command of a substantial body of historical knowledge
  2. demonstrate the ability to develop and sustain historical arguments in a variety of literary forms, formulating appropriate questions and utilizing evidence
  3. demonstrate an understanding of the varieties of approaches to understanding, constructing, and interpreting the past; and where relevant, knowledge of concepts and theories derived from the humanities and the social sciences
  4. demonstrate the ability to address historical problems in depth, involving the use of contemporary sources and advanced secondary literature
  5. demonstrate clarity, fluency, and coherence in written and oral expression
Reading List
Berlin, Ira 'From Creole to African: Atlantic Creoles and the Origins of African- American Society in Mainland North America.' William & Mary Quarterly 52 (1996): 251-288.
Cogliano, Francis D. Revolutionary America, 1763-1815. London: Routledge, 2009.
Faust, Drew G. 'The Dread Void of Uncertainty.' Southern Cultures 11 (2005): 7:32.
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty. New York: Norton, 2011.
Morgan, Edmund S. 'Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox.' Journal of American History 59 (1972): 5:29.
Neely, Mark E. 'Was the Civil War a Total War?' Civil War History, 50 (2004): 434:458.
Perdue, Theda. 'The Legacy of Indian Removal.' Journal of Southern History 78 (2012): 3-36.
Rakove, Jack. 'The Great Compromise.' William & Mary Quarterly 44 (1987): 424:457.
Young, Alfred. 'George Robert Twelves Hewes.' William & Mary Quarterly 38 (1981): 561:623.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsMaking of US
Contacts
Course organiserDr David Silkenat
Tel: (0131 6)50 4614
Email: David.Silkenat@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Alexandra Adam
Tel: (0131 6)50 3767
Email: alex.adam@ed.ac.uk
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