U.S. History I
HIST 2211.50
Anoka-Ramsey Community College
Summer 2025

Quick way to remember due dates: Items in the YELLOW column are due Mondays at NOON; one week does not have a Inquisitive

Items in the GREEN column are due Tuesdays at NOON, each and every week.

Week 1:

Monday, June 2 -Tuesday June 10

Topics Covered

Reading for Inquisitive #1 AND #2.  Due next Monday June 9 at NOON <BUT a free Week 1 extension given until Monday, June 16 at NOON.

Inquisitives are located in Materials > Content>Inquisitive on D2L.

 

 Readings for Discussion and Discussion Quiz -- Deadline = Tuesday, June 10 but there is a FREE EXTENSION to June 17..
 

1.  Introduction to the Course and Each Other

2.  Native American Worlds

3.  The Age of Exploration and First Encounters

4.  The First Europeans in North America (c. 1530-1670s)

5.  First Settlements in the Southern and Northern Colonies

These Truths Chapter 1 AND These Truths Chapter 2.  These Truths is a VitalSource ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content.

1.  "First Encounters: Cortez and the Aztecs" 
*This is an article that is located on D2L (Materials --> Content)

2. Southern Colonies/Jamestown readings: Click here for assignment.

3.  Discovering the American Past, Chapter 2 (Anne Hutchinson) -- VitalSource ebook on D2L Content. 
Much of the testimony in this trial is in "old fashioned" language -- sometimes I think it helps to read it out loud.

4. Watch the documentary film: We Shall Remain, Episode One, "After the Mayflower."  You can find this video loaded into D2L > Materials > Content.
(1 hour, 13 minutes in length.)  Click here for a note-taking guide.
(Even though this is not a "reading" per se, you will be quizzed on the material in this film.)

Week 2:

Tuesday, June 10-Tuesday June 17

Topics Covered

Reading for Inquisitive #3.  Due next Monday, June 16 at NOON.

Inquisitives are located in Materials > Content>Inquisitive. on D2L.

 

 Readings for Discussion and Discussion Quiz -- Final Deadline = Tuesday, June 17 at NOON.
  Unfree labor in the colonies and the "terrible transformation."

These Truths Chapter 3.  These Truths is a VitalSource ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content.

1.  Discovering the American Past (DAP) Chapter 3.  VitalShelf ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content
*In the questions I will pose in Discussion on D2L, I will ask students to summarize and comment on the laws and statistics.  Aim to make sure one of your weekly posts accomplishes this.

2.   "The Life of Olaudah Equiano/Gustavus Vassa" in Classic Slave Narratives.  This book is for sale in the bookstore or you can locate the Equiano narrative on-line here, Volume I.  Click here for Volume II.

All editions will read the same chapters but the page numbers will vary depending on which edition you are reading.
Everyone read Chapters 1, 2, 5, 12
 [You can read the summaries of each chapter if you wish to follow the story throughout.]

3.  Click here for an article and interesting graphic map about the scope of the trade in enslaved people.

4.   Click here for an optional extra credit assignment  due next Tuesday June 17th at NOON.  (Reading the rest of the Equiano narrative and writing a short reaction paper.)

 

Week 3:

Tuesday June 17-Tuesday, June 24

Topics Covered

Reading for Inquisitive #4.  Due next Monday, June 23 at NOON.

Inquisitives are located in Materials > Content>Inquisitive. on D2L.

 

 Readings for Discussion and Discussion Quiz -- Final Deadline = Tuesday, June 24 at NOON.
  1.  The Salem Witch Trials

2.  Colonial Society Matures

These Truths Chapter 4.  These Truths is a VitalSource ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content.

 

 1.  "The Sum of the Colonial Experience."  *This is an article that is located on D2L (Materials --> Content)
 [These are articles written by historians, which means it can be challenging, college-level reading.  I will post some questions for discussion on D2L that will encourage you to work together to "walk through" each historian's main points.]

 2.  Read the general background of the Salem Witch Trials.

3.  Skim the trial of Sarah Good.  Summarize what her accusers said about her.  (A tip: I find, sometimes, that reading these types of "old-fashioned" documents out loud helps with comprehension.)

4.  Read the Examination of Rebecca Nurse.  How does she answer the accusations against her?

If you're interested in more information and documents related to the Salem Witch Trials, check out this website at the University of Virginia. (optional)

Week 4:

Tuesday, June 24-Tuesday July 1

Topics Covered

Reading for Inquisitive #5.  Due next Monday, June 30 at NOON.

Inquisitives are located in Materials > Content>Inquisitive. on D2L.

 Readings for Discussion and Discussion Quiz-- Final Deadline = Tuesday, July 1 at NOON.
 

The Road to the Revolution and the American Revolution

 

These Truths Chapter 5.  These Truths is a VitalSource ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content.  

1.  DAP, Chapter 4,  VitalShelf ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content.

2.  An Account of a Soldier at the Battle of Yorktown (You might also want to listen to #20 on the Hamilton soundtrack "Yorktown")

3.  The Great Awakening Comes to Weathersfield, Connecticut: Nathan Cole’s Spiritual Travels

 

Week 5: Note there is no official July 4th "break" this week. Regular quizzes and discussion post deadlines still apply but the Discussion Quiz reading is a bit lighter than usual.

Tuesday, July 1-Tuesday, July 8

Topics Covered

Reading for Inquisitive #6 AND #7 Due next Monday, July 7.

Inquisitives are located in Materials > Content>Inquisitive. on D2L.

 Readings for Discussion and Discussion Quiz --  Final Deadline = Tuesday, July 8.
 
The New Political Order: The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the New Republic (including Hamilton!)

These Truths Chapter 6 AND Chapter 7.  These Truths is a VitalSource ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content.


 1.  We will be reading about the need to create a new Constitution and then reading sections of the Constitution itself.  Click here for the reading assignment.

2.  "Hamilton" The Musical -- click here for the assignment.

3.  Next week's reading is on the heavier side; if you have some free time during the holiday weekend you might opt to get a start on reading it and/or start watching the next episode of "We Shall Remain."
 

 

Week 6:

Tuesday, July 8-Tuesday July 15

Topics Covered

 Reading for Inquisitive #8.  Due next Monday, July 14 at NOON. Readings for Discussion and Discussion Quiz --  Final Deadline = Tuesday, July 15 at NOON.
 

Thomas Jefferson

Jacksonian Democracy and Moving Westward

These Truths Chapter 10. *Note this chapter is out of order.  These Truths is a VitalSource ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content.  

 1.  Click here for a reading assignment about Jefferson.  (several articles and links.)

2.  DAP, Chapter 7.  VitalShelf ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content.  Read the introductory and concluding pages (pp. 167-179; 202-206) and then choose SIX sources from the "Evidence" section in the middle of the chapter.  Choose three white sources and three Cherokee sources, being sure to read #5 Frelinghuysen.

3.  "Everything Here is New But the Forests": Englishman Thomas Woodcock Travels to Niagara on the Erie Canal, 1836.

4. Watch "We Shall Remain, Episode 3; Trail of Tears" (1 hour, 12 minutes).  You can find this video on D2L Content > Materials. 

 

Week 7:

Tuesday, July 15 - Tuesday July 22

Topics Covered

Reading for Inquisitive #9.  Due next Monday, July 21 at NOON.

Inquisitives are located in Materials > Content>Inquisitive. on D2L.

 Readings for Discussion and Discussion Quiz --  Final Deadline = Tuesday, July 22 at NOON.
  Urbanization, Industrialization, and 19th Century Immigration

19th Century Religion and Reform

These Truths Chapter 9 --note this chapter is out of order.  These Truths is a VitalSource ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content.

There is indeed a long list of items assigned this week, but each individual item/link is not particularly long, so it is a manageable assignment.  Once again, I recommend you print them out and take them one item at a time.  Be sure to keep the different reform movements straight -- i.e. don't confuse dress reform vs. moral reform.

                               IMMIGRATION and URBANIZATION:

1.  Interview with historian Noel Ignatiev

2.  Choose one of the months listed in this selection from the newspaper the Cork Examiner.  You'll be reading the famine-related news for that month.  After you've chosen a month from the right side of the screen, read at least TWO articles from that month.

 3.  Summary of the basics behind the potato famine.

4. "Working girls of Lowell" *This is an article that is located on D2L (Materials --> Content)  All students must read p. 145-150 and 175-177.  Each of the sources are numbered within the chapter.  Read sources #2, 3, 15, 18-22.

                                       RELIGION AND REFORM:

5.  What prompted this wave of reform: DAP, Chapter 8.  Read pp. 210 (starting with "The rise of..") - middle of p. 213.  VitalShelf ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content

6.  The Second Great Awakening:
“The Meeting Continued All Night, Both by the White & Black People”: Georgia Camp Meeting, 1807

7.  The Shakers
“All To Me Was New and Strange”: Mary Doolittle Leaves Her Family for a Shaker Community, 1830

PDFs of these items have been loaded into D2L Content.

8.  Moral Reform Introduction. 
9.  Moral Reform -- choose one document from the list


10.  Dress Reform Introduction
11.  Dress Reform Document 2

Week 8:

Tuesday,
July 22-Tuesday, July 29

Topics Covered

NO INQUISITIVE THIS WEEK. Focus on the Discussion Quiz materials instead.

 
Readings for Discussion and Discussion Quiz --  Final Deadline = Tuesday, July 29 at NOON.
 

 Slavery

 

NONE

 

 

 1.  "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" in Classic Slave Narratives.  You should read the entire narrative.  This book is for sale in the bookstore.  You can also read it on-line: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11030

2.  Watch "12 Years a Slave" (acquired through a streaming site of your choice; probably not available to be streamed for free.  You could also request the DVD from a public library near you.)  Click here for a list of characters and a summary.

You might find it helpful to jot down a few notes about each character.  Be forewarned: this film is a brutal depiction of life for enslaved people.  It is difficult but important viewing. 

Week 9: 

Tuesday, July 29 - Tuesday August 5

Topics Covered

Reading for Inquisitive #10 AND #11 due next Monday, August 4 at NOON.

Inquisitives are located in Materials > Content>Inquisitive. on D2L.

 Readings for Discussion and Discussion Quiz --  Final Deadline = Tuesday, August 5 at NOON.
 


The Conflict Over Slavery and Civil War

These Truths Chapter 11 AND 12.  These Truths is a VitalSource ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content. .

 

 1.  The conflict over the spread of slavery:  Click here for the reading assignment. (1 longer reading assignment plus 6 shorter items.)

2. John Brown's Raid and the Civil War itself.  Click here for the reading assignment.  (1 longer reading assignment plus 5 shorter items.)

Click here for an optional extra credit assignment due at the end of the class on Friday 8/8.  (Reading the Douglass narrative and writing a short reaction paper.)

Week 10: SHORT WEEK!  ENDS FRIDAY AT NOON!  SHORTER READING ASSIGNMENT. There is no Final Exam in this class.

Tuesday,
August 5 - Friday, August 8

Topics Covered

Reading for Inquisitive #12 ends this Friday, August 8 at NOON.

Inquisitives are located in Materials > Content>Inquisitive. on D2L.

 
Readings for Discussion and Discussion Quiz --  Final Deadline = Friday, August 8 at NOON.
 


The Civil War (the Home Front Freedom, and Reconstruction

 

These Truths Chapter 13.  These Truths is a VitalSource ebook located at D2L Materials --> Content

 1.  “If It Were Not For My Trust in Christ I Do Not Know How I Could Have Endured It”: Testimony from Victims of New York’s Draft Riots, July, 1863

2.  “A Jubilee of Freedom”: Freed Slaves March in Charleston, South Carolina, March, 1865

3. "No More Pint o' Salt for Me: The Port Royal Experiment" *This is an article that is located on D2L (Materials --> Content).  The PDF of this article was large enough to require two separate documents, so be sure to open and print BOTH Parts ONE AND TWO.  Everyone read: pp. 237-246; 271-274.  The primary sources in this chapter are divided as follows:

Last names A-C: Sources 1-3 (education)
Last names D-G: Sources 4-8 (work and land)
Last names H-L: Sources 9-13 (work and land)
Last names M -P: Sources 14-17 (work and land)
Last names Q-R: Sources 18-25 (military service)
Last names S-Z: Sources 26-28 (attitudes)
 

4.  The Mississippi Black Codes of 1865.  What kinds of laws did Mississippi pass to control the lives of freed people?