History 235 - Colonial America

This course is as much about the history of American history as it is about America in the period before 1783. Therefore, we will read a series of articles (about 40 pages/week), all from the same scholarly journal, and use these articles to think about some of the events of the early years of European contact with new lands and new peoples. We will use these articles also to look at the ways that historians have conceptualized and organized American historical thought over the period of several generations.

All the articles listed below are from William and Mary Quarterly. They are all available via Haverford College's electronic reserve system. The password to access these materials is "colony". The readings are due for discussion on Thursday of the week for which they are assigned. At that time, please bring your marked-up copy of the reading material, so that you can participate fully in the discussion of the content and structure of the historical argument presented in the article. This is a course that asks you to talk about how history is done, as well as just think about it, and the assignments are geared to stimulate that talking.

Grading:

• lass discussion 10%
  
• group presentation 10%
  
• essay 40%
  ( Due Tues, April 9, 10 AM)
  
• final exam 40%

Week of:

• Jan. 28
  Ann Smart Martin, "Material Things and Cultural Meanings: Notes on the Study of Early American Material Culture" (Jan 1996) and William S. Simmons, "Cultural Bias in the New England Purtans' Perception of Indians" (Jan. 1982)
  
  
• Feb 4
  Frederick B. Tolles, "New Approaches to Research in Early American History, " Jul 1955); Michael Merrill, "Putting 'Capitalism' in its Place: A Review of Recent Literature," (Apr, 1995)
  
  
• Feb 11
  James H. Merrell, "The Indians' New World: The Catawba Experience" and A. Roger Ekirch, "Sometimes an Art, Always a Craft: A conversation with Bernard Bailyn," (Oct. 1994)
  
  
• Feb 18
  Daniel Blake Smith, "The Study of the Family in Early America: Trends, Problems, and Prospects"(Jan 1982)
  
  
• Feb 25
  Allan Kulikoff, "The Origins of Afro-American Society in Tidewater Maryland and Virginia, 1700-1790" (Apr 1978)
  
  
• Mar 4
  Joseph A. Ernst, " 'Camden's turrets pierce the skies!": The Urban Process in the Southern Colonies during the Eighteenth Century," (Oct 1973)
  
  
• Mar 18
  Marylynn Salmon, "Women and Property in South Carolina: The Evidence from Marriage Settlements, 1730 to 1830" (Oct 1982)
  
  
• Mar 25
  Robert Zemsky, "Power, Influence, and Status: Leadership Patterns in the Massachusetts Assembly, 1740-1755" (Oct 1969)
  
  
• Apr 1
  No reading
  
  
• Apr 8
  Joan de Lourdes Leonard, "Elections in Colonial Pennsylvania," (Jul 1954)
  
  
• Apr 15
  Verner W. Crane, "Dr. Thomas Bray and the Charitable Colony Project, 1730," (Jan 1962)

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