History 323 Spring 2009

OBERLIN COLLEGE
History Department

Gary Kornblith	History 323
gary.kornblith@oberlin.edu	Spring 2009
Rice 8; x58526	Office hours: Tues., 4:30-5:30 pm and by appointment

Liberty and Power, Democracy and Slavery in Jacksonian America Note: An up-to-date, online version of the course syllabus is maintained at http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/gkornbl/H323S09. This course explores the cultural dynamics, social relations, and political and economic structures that shaped the lives of ordinary Americans -- black and white, male and female, rich and poor, urban and rural, native born and immigrant, Indian and other -- between approximately 1815 and 1850, an era often called the Age of Jackson. We will begin our investigation by reading excerpts from Alexis de Tocqueville's classic account Democracy in America, first published in 1835 (volume 1) and 1840 (volume 2). Then we will take our own tour of Jacksonian America by way of scholarly case studies that focus on different regions and communities. Emphasis will be placed on recent historiographical debates and different approaches to historical analysis. Pedagogy is discussion-based, and student participation in class discussions is essential to the success of the course.
Format: The class meets regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00 to 4:20 p.m. Class attendance is mandatory, participation in class discussions is expected, and students are required to post a question for group consideration on Blackboard at least three hours in advance of class sessions, beginning February 5.
Writing Certification: Students may earn "writing proficiency credit" in this course if, in the judgment of the professor, they meet the criteria of Oberlin's writing requirement. Please notify the professor at the beginning of the semester if you are taking the course for writing certification.
Evaluation: Students will be graded on the basis of class participation, including postings on Blackboard, and two analytical essays . The basic formula is 30% for class participation, 30% for the first essay (8-10 pages), and 40% for the second essay (10-12 pages). The professor reserves the right to exercise some discretion in assigning final grades.
Honor Code: All course work is governed by Oberlin's Honor Code. If you have a question about how the Honor Code applies to a particular assignment, you should ask the professor in advance of the due date.
Purchases: The following books are available for purchase at the Oberlin Bookstore. Most are also on reserve at Mudd, but the professor strongly encourages you to acquire your own copies. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Bantam Classic Edition) Christopher Clark, The Roots of Rural Capitalism: Western Massachusetts, 1780-1860 Paul E. Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 Patricia Cline Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett Bruce Dorsey, Reforming Men and Women: Gender in the Antebellum City Lisa Tolbert, Constructing Townscapes: Space and Society in Antebellum Tennessee Charles Joyner, Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community Erskine Clarke, Dwelling Place: A Plantation Epic Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul: Life inside the Antebellum Slave Market Tiya Miles, Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom
Schedule of classes and assignments:

Introduction	Tues., Feb. 3	Class but no reading assignment
Classic Interpretation	Thurs., Feb. 5	Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 3-17, 51-64, 273-312, 368-382, 411-488, 497-504 [Vol. 1: Introduction; chaps. 3-4; chaps. 14-15 or Part 2, chaps. 6-7 (depending on edition); chap. 17 or Part 2, chap. 9: section titled "The laws contribute more to the maintenance of the ...U.S. than the physical circumstances..."; chap. 18 or Part 2, chap. 10; Conclusion]

	Tues., Feb. 10	Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 507-521, 544-546, 615-622, 625-669, 682-694, 701-703, 708-709, 723-751, 767-791, 836-837, 874-888 [Vol. 2: Preface; First book or Part 1, chaps. 1-2, 8; Second book or Part 2, chaps. 1-5, 8-14, 18, 20; Third book or Part 3, chaps. 10-12, 17; Fourth book or Part 4, chaps. 7-8]
Rural New England	Thurs., Feb. 12	Horace Bushnell, "The Age of Homespun" (1851) [in Course Documents] Clark, The Roots of Rural Capitalism, 3-17, 59-155

	Tues., Feb. 17	Clark, The Roots of Rural Capitalism, 156-272, 317-329 Catherine E. Kelly, "'Well Bred Country People': Sociability, Social Networks, and the Creation of a Provincial Middle Class, 1820-1860,"Journal of the Early Republic 19 (Fall 1999): 451-79 [in JSTOR]
Urban New England	Thurs., Feb. 19	Peter R. Knights, The Plain People of Boston, 1830-1860: A Study of City Growth (N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1971), 48-102 [in Course Documents] Ronald Story, "Class and Culture in Boston: The Athenaeum, 1807-1860," American Quarterly 27 (May 1975), 178-199 [in JSTOR] James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North (N.Y: Holmes & Meier, 1979), xi-xv, 1-52, 67-80 [in Course Documents]

	Tues., Feb. 24	Robert F. Dalzell, Jr., Enterprising Elite: The Boston Associates and the World They Made (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989), 45-73 [in Course Documents] Thomas Dublin, Women at Work: The Transformation of Work and Community in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1826-1860 (N.Y.: Columbia University Press, 1979), 23-57, 75-131 [in Course Documents]
Upstate New York	Thurs., Feb. 26	Mary P. Ryan, "A Women's Awakening: Evangelical Religion and the Families of Utica, New York, 1800-1840," American Quarterly 30 (Winter 1978): 602-623 [in JSTOR] Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millennium, 1-141 Charles Grandison Finney, "What a Revival of Religion Is" (1835) [WWW]

Western Reserve	Tues., Mar. 3	Gary J. Kornblith and Carol Lasser, Elusive Utopia: A History of Race in Oberlin, Ohio, chap. 1 (draft) [in Course Documents] Covenant of the Oberlin Colony (1833) [WWW] Prospectus for the Oberlin Collegiate Institute (1833) [WWW] Constitution of the Oberlin Anti-Slavery Society (1835) [WWW]
Urban Mid-Atlantic	Thurs., Mar. 5	Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett, 3-86, 101-151, 187-229

	Tues., Mar. 10	Cohen, Murder of Helen Jewett, 230-389 Michael Zakim, "The Business Clerk as Social Revolutionary; or , a Labor History of the Nonproducing Classes," Journal of the Early Republic 26 (Winter 2006), 563-603 [in Course Documents]
	Thurs., Mar. 12	Dorsey, Reforming Men and Women, 1-10, 90-135

	Tues., Mar. 17	David Montgomery, "The Shuttle and the Cross: Weavers and Artisans in the Kensington Riots of 1844," Journal of Social History 5 (Summer 1972): 411-446 [in JSTOR] Dorsey, Reforming Men and Women, 136-240
	Thurs., Mar. 19 Sat., Mar. 21	No class First paper due
Spring Break
Small-Town South	Tues., Mar. 31	Tolbert, Constructing Landscapes, 1-81 Joshua D. Rothman, "The Hazards of Flush Times: Gambling Mob Violence, and the Anxieties of America's Market Revolution," Journal of American History 95 (Dec. 2008): 651-677 [in History Cooperative]
	Thurs. Apr. 2	Tolbert , Constructing Landscapes, 117-224

Southern Low Country	Tues., Apr. 7	Joyner, Down by the Riverside, xv-xxii, 1-126
	Thurs., Apr. 9	Joyner, Down by the Riverside, 127-224

	Tues., Apr. 14	Clarke, Dwelling Place, ix-xiii, 1-151
	Thurs., Apr. 16	Letter of C.C. Jones to Col. William and Mrs. Maxwell, April 17, 1850 [in Course Documents] Clarke, Dwelling Place, 167-179, 202-299

Urban South	Tues., Apr. 21	Johnson, Soul by Soul, 1-116
	Thurs., Apr. 23	Johnson, Soul by Soul, 117-220

Indian Country	Tues., Apr. 28	Mary Young, "The Cherokee Nation: Mirror of the Republic," American Quarterly 33 (Winter 1981): 502-524 [in JSTOR] Miles, Ties That Bind, xiii-xvi, 1-128
	Thurs., Apr. 30	Miles, Ties That Bind, 129-215

Conclusion	Tues., May 5	Class meeting at prof's house
	Thurs., May 7	No class; appointments with prof

	Fri., May 15	Final project (second paper) due by 10 pm

Liberty and Power, Democracy and Slavery in Jacksonian America