HIS 130 - United States History I

Upon successful completion of this course the student will be able to:

1.  Write clearly, speak cogently, and think critically about historical events and issues.
2.  Identify some of the methods used by historians to study the past.
3.  Name and discuss some contributions made to historical knowledge by archaeologists, anthropologists, and geographers.
4.  Read primary historical sources and formulate pertinent inferences and interpretations.
5.  Identify the cultural areas of native peoples in North America.
6.  Evaluate the impact of European exploration on Europe, Africa, and North America, for example, the Columbian Exchange.
7.  Explain the motivations of European powers and colonists and varying subsequent colonial developments consequent upon their actions.
8.  Describe the various measures used by the European powers to control and profit fromthe New World colonies, as well as patterns of colonial compliance and resistance.
9.  Identify some of the causes–long term and immediate, foreign and domestic–of the Revolutionary War(s) and independence from Great Britain.
10.  Describe the composition and distribution of the North American immigrant population in the 18th and 19th centuries.
11.  Discuss the Constitution and Bill of Rights as well as the process of development and approval.
12.  Distinguish the key issues between the federalists and anti-federalists and relate those issues to the development of political parties.
13.  Discuss the nature of Jacksonian democracy, including ethnic, class, and regional affiliations, and the status of white men, women, native peoples, and African American.
14.  Examine the causes and consequences of the market and transportation revolutions of the 19th century.
15.  Evaluate how sectional differences, including slavery and diverse economic, political, and social interests, propelled the nation towards Civil War.
16.  Recognize the short and long term consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction.