History of the USA 15-HUSA-11

Learning contents:

History of the United States

I. Pre-Columbian North America – diversity of cultures and civilizations
II. Colonial America. The Vikings in America. 16th-century discoveries. New Spain and New France. First English settlements. Foundation of English colonies. New England, Middle Atlantic, the South: regional characteristics. The religious situation. Social and economic developments in the 17th and 18th centuries. Setting up slavery. The Great Awakening. Conflicts with the American Indians. Anglo-French Wars.
III. The Independence. Relationships between Britain and the colonies. The American Revolution. The Articles of Confederation. The US Constitution.
IV. Development of the United States and territorial expansion. Northwest Ordinance. Federalists vs. Republicans. Foreign policy of the new nation. Louisiana Purchase. War of 1812. Monroe's Doctrine. Pioneers and westward expansion. Missouri Compromise. Indian confrontation. Jacksonian Democracy. Texas Republic. Manifest Destiny. Mexican War. The question of slavery and abolitionism. Social and cultural developments.
V. Civil War and the Age of Progress. Secession and conflict. Consequences of the American Civil War and Reconstruction. The Western Frontier. Indian wars. Industrial growth and social transformations. The Gilded Age. Mass immigration. The capitalist society.
VI. United States up to WWI. Progressivism. Imperial policy of the USA. America in World War One.
VII. The inter-war period. The Jazz Age and the Prohibition. Great Depression and the New Deal. Social and cultural developments.
VIII. World War Two. The USA at war with Germany and Japan.

Relation to other courses
Since evolving social reality as a whole has always been a natural basis of languages, literatures and cultures, the knowledge of such reality and its history is indispensable for everyone interested and engaged in philological studies. This explains the presence of this course in the syllabus of English studies.

Module learning aims

The course has three main aims: (1) to provide students with the comprehensive knowledge of American past, sufficient to introduce them into the peculiarity of American civilization, and by this token: (2) to prepare them for a more intensive and effective study and analysis of the language, literature and culture of the United States. (3) to support students’ scholarly activity by showing, explaining and teaching them to understand the essence and peculiarities of social structures, institutions, ideas, processes, life and development, especially as it may be seen in the American past.

Information on where to find course materials

(in Polish) Umieszczanie na platformie Moodle materiałów z wykładów oraz linków i dodatkowych pomocy w zakresie poszczególnych tematów

Major

English philology

Methods of teaching for learning outcomes achievement

(in Polish) Wykład z użyciem multimediów, zapoznanie się studentów z tekstami źródłowymi, oraz odpowiednimi rozdziałami zalecanych podręczników

Course module conducted remotely (e-learning)

(in Polish) B-learning wykorzystywane jest do administrowania zajęć, zawieszania slajdów z prezentacji oraz linków do artykułów.

Cycle of studies

1st cycle

Module type

compulsory

Year of studies (where relevant)

Year 1

Course coordinators

Tomasz Skirecki

Learning outcomes

Students: 1. gain basic knowledge of: history of the USA as well as historical terminology necessary for their future study of literature and culture of the United States; 2. gain the understanding of: historical context of contemporary American life, institutions and civilization; 3. gain the skills necessary to: recognize key historical facts, processes and figures in American history, understand the links between the past and present, recognize historical references in contemporary culture and civilization as well as contextualise acquired knowledge and draw conclusions.

Bibliography

Gilbert, Martin. 2006. The Routledge Atlas of American History. Fifth Edition. London: Routledge.
Jenkins, Philip. 2007. History of the United States. London: Macmillan.
Johnson, Paul. 1997. A History of the American People. New York: HarperCollins.
O'Callaghan, B. 2001. An Illustrated History of the USA. Longman.
Reeves, Thomas. 2000. Twentieth-Century America. A Brief History. New York: Oxford University Press.
Remini, Robert V. 2008. A Short History of the United States. HarperCollins.
Tindall, G., D. Shi. 1992. America: A Narrative History. W.W. Norton and Company.
Whitfield, Stephen J. (ed.). 2004. A Companion to 20th-century America. Blackwell Publishing.
Zinn, Howard. 2003. A People’s History of the United States. New York: HarperCollins.

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 15-HUSA-11 in USOSweb