I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Honors U.S. History 1865 to Present

2. Course Prefix & Number:
HIST 1475

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

4. Course Description:

This course will survey the history of the American people since 1865.  Social, political, economic and cultural developments will be covered.  A multi-cultural perspective will be incorporated into the course; taking into account those Americans denied access to positions of political and economic power in the past. Analytical skills focusing on reading, writing and use of primary documents will be emphasized. This honors course will feature an expanded reading load, seminar-style class discussions, and in depth writing assignments. Courses in the Honors Program emphasize independent inquiry, informed discourse, and direct application within small, transformative, and seminar-style classes that embrace detailed examinations of the material and feature close working relationships with instructors. In addition, students learn to leverage course materials so that they can affect the world around them in positive ways.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):	Next Gen Reading	Score:	265
Other (specify test):	ACT English	Score:	24

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

7. Other Prerequisites

OR permission from the instructor or Honors Coordinator, or high school GPA of 3.5 or greater.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

St. Cloud State University, HIST 141: US HIstory since 1865, 3 credits
Bemidji State University, HST 1115: US History since 1877, 3 credits
University of Minnesota, HIST 1302: US History since 1877, 3 credits

2. Transfer - regional institutions with which this course has a written articulation agreement:

 

III. Course Purpose

2. MN Transfer Curriculum (General Education) Courses - This course fulfills the following goal area(s) of the MN Transfer Curriculum:

• Goal 5 – History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Goal 7 – Human Diversity

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate written communication skills	Written assignments will be given throughout the course. Exams will include written essay questions
Demonstrate reading and listening skills	Small group discussions and class presentations based on assigned reading
Discuss/compare characteristics of diverse cultures and environments	Multi-cultural perspective of U.S. history shall be covered, including the experience and perspectives of African- Americans, American Indians, women, immigrants and other groups typically excluded from power

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Demonstrate an awareness of the individual and institutional dynamics of unequal power relations between groups in U.S. History. MnTC Goal 7
• Describe and discuss the experience and contributions of many groups that shape American society and culture, in particular those groups that have suffered discrimination and exclusion. MnTC Goal 7
• Employ the methods and data that historians and social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition. MnTC Goal 5
• Examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and cultures. MnTC Goal 5
• Understand the development of and the changing nature of group identifies in United States history and culture. MnTC Goal 7
• Analyze and interpret primary sources within their historical context. MnTC Goal 5
• Identify and apply alternative explanations for historical developments. MnTC Goal 5
• Develop historical explanations for contemporary social issues. MnTC Goal 5
• Demonstrate an awareness of the skills necessary for living and working effectively in a society with great population diversity. MnTC Goal 7

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. 1. Reconstruction:
• Meaning of freedom to blacks
• Land issues in the South
• Presidential and Congressional plans
• 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments
• Ku Klux Klan and white southern reaction
• Women and the 15^th amendment
• Compromise of 1877
2. Gilded Age:
• Industrial Revolution- working class and captains of industry
• Railroads and the growth of national markets
• Settlement of the West
• Plains Indian Wars
• Social Darwinism
• Urban Growth
• Labor organizations
• Role of government
3. 1890’s:
• Populist Movement
• Segregation in the South
• Immigration
• Emergence of the US as a world power
4. Progressive Era:
• Urban age
• Immigration
• Growth of Consumerism
• Working women
• Labor unrest
• Progressive politics
• Progressive presidents
• Conservation movement
5. World War I:
• American Intervention in the Western hemisphere
• Involvement in World War I
• The War at Home
• Women’s Suffrage
• Prohibition
• Immigration restriction
• Racial tensions
• Red Scare
6. The Twenties
• Growth of American Business
• Relationship between business and government
• Fundamentalism and the Scopes Trial
• Harlem Renaissance
• Stock Market crash and the response of Hoover
7. Depression and the New Deal
• Election of Roosevelt
• First New Deal
• Second New Deal
• Limits of the New Deal
• Challenges from the right and left
8. World War WII:
• American Isolationism
• Pearl Harbor: America enters the war
• War at home
• Japanese-American Internment
• Double-V campaign for racial equality
• Dawn of the atomic age
• United Nations and the post war world
9. Origins of the Cold War:
• Policy of containment
• Truman Presidency
• Race and the 1948 election
• McCarthy and the anti-communist crusade
• Cold War and civil rights
10. 1950’s:
• Consumer culture
• Growth of the suburbs and the West
• Revival of conservatism
• Eisenhower Presidency
• Origins of the Vietnam war
• Origins of the Civil Rights movement, Brown v. Board, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr.
11. 1960’s:
• Kennedy Years
• Civil Rights movement
• Cuban Missile crisis
• Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act
• Immigration Reform
• The Great Society of Lyndon Johnson
• Radicalization of the Civil Rights Movement
• Vietnam War
• Women’s Movement
• New  Movements of the 1960’s
• Legacy of the 1960’s
12. Rise of Conservatism:
• Nixon Presidency
• Vietnam and Watergate
• Decline of manufacturing
• Stagflation of the 1970’s
• Jimmy Carter, the economy and Iran crisis
• Rise of the religious right
• Equal Rights Amendment; abortion controversy
• Presidency of Ronald Reagan
• Reagan and the Cold War
13. Globalization:
• U.S. and the fall of the Soviet Union
• The Gulf War
• Clinton Presidency
• Computer revolution
• Deregulation
• New immigration
• Multiculturalism
• Election of 2000
14. The 21^st Century:
• 9/11 and the war on terrorism
• Iraq war
• Bush presidency
• Immigration debate