HIST 123 US History I, Colonization to 1877
This course surveys American history from its colonial beginnings through the era of the Civil War and Reconstruction. It explores a continent-wide struggle for land and power among Native American nations and the Spanish, English, French, Dutch, and Russian empires. We will examine the sources of eventual British success and the reasons for the loss of thirteen of the empire’s colonies. This course will introduce students to the shaky creation of the American republic, the emergence of party politics, struggles over freedom and slavery, and the economic and social transformation of the first-half of the nineteenth century. Our study ends with the Civil War and its unfinished reinvention of the American nation.