Fall 2022 Course Syllabus
Course: HIST-1301 (Section: 75E, CRN: 92789)
United States History I 		LSCPA Logo Image
Instructor Information
Instructor Marshall Godwin
Email godwinmt@lamarpa.edu
Phone (409) 984-6102
Office Madison Monroe Educational - Room: 147
Office Hours Office Hours will be held through Blackboard Collaborate Ultra on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Additional Contact Information
Course Information
Description A survey of the social, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual history of the United States from the pre-Columbian era to the Civil War/Reconstruction period. United States History I includes the study of pre-Columbian, colonial, revolutionary, early national, slavery and sectionalism, and the Civil War/Reconstruction eras. Themes that may be addressed in United States History I include: American settlement and diversity, American culture, religion, civil and human rights, technological
Required Textbooks Textbook Purchasing Statement: A student attending Lamar State College Port Arthur is not under any obligation to purchase a textbook from the college-affiliated bookstore. The same textbook may also be available from an independent retailer, including an online retailer.

OpenStax U.S. History is a free, online textbook which you will be able to access in full from Blackboard. Any and all additional readings, should additional readings be assigned, will be posted onto Blackboard. You will NOT need to purchase any textbooks or any other reading materials for this course. 

You may access your OpenStax U.S. History textbook via the following link:

https://openstax.org/details/books/us-history

You can read the book online directly from https://openstax.org or download a PDF copy which you can save to your device. Be aware that the file is massive, and downloading a copy might take a few minutes.
Additional Materials/Resources n/a
Corequisites/Prerequisites
TSIA complete in reading
Learning Outcomes 1. Create an argument through the use of historical evidence.
2. Analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources.
3. Analyze the effects of historical, social, political, economic, cultural, and global forces on this period of United States history.
Core Objectives
* Communication skills: Students will demonstrate effective written, oral and/or visual communication.
* Critical Thinking Skills: Students will engage in creative and/or innovative thinking, and/or inquiry, analysis, evaluation, synthesis of information, organizing concepts and constructing solutions.
* Social Responsibility: Students will demonstrate intercultural competency and civic knowledge by engaging effectively in local, regional, national and/or global communities.
* Personal Responsibility: Students will demonstrate the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making.

Lecture Topics Outline COURSE SCHEDULE
 
Introduction to HIST 1301
Introduction to the structure of the course, the subject matter of HIST 1301, and the nature of history as an academic discipline. We will discuss primary sources, secondary sources, how to approach historical artifacts, and bias in historical records.
 
Societies on the Cusp of Modernity
Our lectures and discussions for this week will focus on the late medieval period in North America, Central America, Africa, and Europe. We will also discuss how medieval European socioeconomic structures and religious beliefs laid the groundwork for the violence of the modern period.
 
The Modern World
Our lecture and discussion for this week will focus on the violent expansion of western Europe during the early modern period, including the genocides perpetrated against Americans and the enslavement of both Americans and Africans.
 
Social Realities of Colonization
This week will focus on what life was like for people in the various colonies on the continent of North America, and will focus especially on the experiences of the multitudes of American and African persons exploited, exterminated, and enslaved by various European colonizers.
 
The Sun Never Sets on the English Empire
Our lectures and discussions for this week will focus on the territorial and economic expansion of the English Empire in North America, Central America, and Africa from the mid-17th century until the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763.
 
The “Tyrant” King George III
Our lectures and discussions for this week will focus on the growing political tensions between the English Empire and many of its white subjects in North America. We will also discuss the violent and racist character of the growing movement among whites for Independence.
 
The Civil War of Independence
Our lectures and discussions for this week will focus on the War of Independence, its goals, and the violence utilized by the U.S. and its supporters against both loyalist whites and Persons of Color irrespective of their allegiance to the empire.
 
The Chaos of Independence
Our lecture and discussions for this week will focus on the disputed nature of the newborn United States government, the rise of the Federal Government, and the constant drumbeat of exterminatory violence against Americans to pave the way for white U.S. colonization of North America.

Capitalizing on New Technology
Our lectures and discussions for this week will focus on the spread of modern industrial technology to the northern U.S. from England, and on the concurrent rise of capitalism as the official economic system of the U.S.
 
Squatting on a Continental Scale
Our lectures and discussions for this week will focus on the occupation of American and Mexican territory in North America by white U.S. persons and the mass murders of Americans by both the U.S. military and mobs of white U.S. men.
 
From Bad to Worse
Our lectures and discussions for this week will focus on the increasingly violent racist power structures in the southern U.S. before 1865, and on the connections between the slave system in the South to U.S. colonization of American nations and Mexico’s North American territories.

Nineteenth-Century Reformation Movements
Our lectures and discussions for this week will focus on the few successes and many failures of reform movements during the first half of the 19th century, including the abolitionist movement, the women’s rights movement, and several movements for reforms to U.S. religious groups.

Boiling Over in the 1850s
Our lectures and discussions for this week will focus on the growing political turmoil and political violence of the 1850s, including the famous “Bleeding Kansas” incidents, outcry against Supreme Court rulings such as the ruling in the Dred Scott case, and violent reactions by southern white U.S. persons against abolitionism and the Underground Railroad.
 
The Civil War
Our lectures and discussions for this week will focus on the Civil War of 1860 – 1865, its causes, consequences, astonishing death toll, and the unresolved questions about the future of the U.S. left in its bloody wake.

Reconstruction
We will end out the course with a brief discussion of the great failure of the U.S. during the Reconstruction period (1865 – 1877).
Major Assignments Schedule
Assignment Due Date
Quiz 1 08/31/22
Quiz 2 09/08/22 - 09/11/22
Quiz 3 09/15/22 - 09/18/22
Quiz 4 09/22/22 - 09/25/22
Quiz 5 09/29/22 - 10/02/22
Quiz 6 10/06/22 - 10/09/22
Quiz 7 10/13/22 - 10/16/22
Quiz 8 10/20/22 - 10/23/22
Quiz 9 10/27/22 - 10/30/22
Quiz 10 11/03/22 - 11/06/22
Quiz 11 11/10/22 - 11/13/22
Quiz 12 11/17/22 - 11/20/22
Quiz 13 12/01/22 - 12/04/22
Writing Assignment 1 10/27/22
Writing Assignment 2 12/01/22
FINAL EXAM 12/07/22

Final Exam Date December 7, 2022 - 12:0 AM   Through  December 7, 2022 - 11:59 PM
Grading Scale  90 - 100=A 80 - 89=B  70 - 79=C   60 - 69=D  Below 59 = F
Determination of
Final Grade		 Final Exam - 26%
Quizzes - 39%
Writing Assignments - 20%
Attendance and Participation - 15%
Course Policies
Instructor Policies Syllabus Policy
The instructor reserves the right to adjust this syllabus and all of its contents – including but not limited to assignment instructions, due dates, and course material – as needed.


Assignment Due Dates
All assignment due dates are listed in this syllabus, both in the “Assignment Calendar” above and in the “Course Schedule” section below. Quizzes and the final exam will be administered on Blackboard and will be timed: if the assignment is not completed before the timer runs out, the assignment will be automatically turned in. The two writing assignments are due at 11:59 p.m. on the date listed in the “Assignment Calendar” above and in the “Course Schedule” below.
 
 
Late Work Policy
If you fail to turn in one of the writing assignments before the due date, your highest possible grade on the paper will decrease by 10 points (to a maximum possible grade of 90). If you have not turned in the paper by 11:59 p.m. on the day following its due date, the highest possible grade you may receive on the paper will decrease by yet another 10 points (to a maximum possible grade of 80). If you have not turned in the assignment by 11:59 p.m. on the second day after the assignment was due, you will receive a grade of 0 for the writing assignment, effectively reducing your final course grade by 10%.
 
In cases of a documented medical emergency, I will consider extending due dates on a case-by-case basis. If medical documentation is not provided I will not allow for an extension of the due dates for the writing assignments. Similarly, unless there is authentic documentation of a medical emergency, I will not allow for retakes or make-ups of the reading quizzes. In instances where the student is able to provide authentic documentation of a medical emergency, I will consider scheduling retakes of reading quizzes on a case-by-case basis.
 
There will be no retakes or make-ups for the final exam. You take the final exam on 12/07/22.

 
 
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is essential to truly learning any subject or discipline. You are to submit your own work, not the work of peers, friends, or anyone else. By cheating, you not only jeopardize your own academic future, you are cheating your future self out of your own education. All student submissions will be checked for plagiarism. For a more thorough definition of plagiarism, please refer to the “Academic Policies” section of the Student Handbook (in the present edition, this should be on page 30).
 
Part of the instructor’s duty is to help you recognize what plagiarism is and is not. The following penalties will occur if you plagiarize:
 
  1. First Offence: For your first plagiarism offense, the instructor will reduce the grade you would have otherwise received on the assignment by half (i.e., a paper that would have received a grade of 100% would instead receive a grade of 50%, a paper that would otherwise have earned a 90% will receive a grade of 45%, and so on). The student will meet with the instructor to go over what plagiarism is, so that there are no future offenses. The student will not be given a chance to make up the plagiarized assignment.
  2. Second and third offenses: For your second and/or third plagiarism offense(s), you will immediately receive a grade of 0% on the plagiarized assignment(s)
  3. Fourth or further offenses: Further plagiarism offenses will result in the student failing the course entirely. The student’s name and all documented offenses will be forwarded to the proper LSCPA officials.
 
 
Classroom Etiquette Policy
I expect everyone in the classroom to behave civilly toward one another. This means, first and foremost, that I will not tolerate any form of discriminatory remarks or actions on the basis of race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, immigration status, ethnicity, religion, or any other factor, period.
 
Secondly, you must be kind and respectful toward your peers during class discussions and lectures. Listen when someone else is talking, and show others the courtesy that ought be shown to you. Unless they are making a discriminatory statement or taking discriminatory action, you have no reason to interrupt your fellow students – regardless of how much you might disagree with their viewpoint.
 
Finally, note that I take the issue of student-to-student civility seriously: in order to preserve civilization and the republic in the United States, it is of utmost importance that you be able to coexist and cooperate with people who have different lifeways, beliefs, and perspectives than you do. Students who are disrespectful of their peers or of the instructor will be reprimanded and if necessary will be asked to leave the class and will be marked absent for that class session. If such an instance were to occur on a day with a reading quiz, then the student will also miss that reading quiz, without any possibility of retaking it. In extreme cases I may ask to have the offending student removed from the course entirely.
Attendance Policy Participation (15%)
 
The transition of this course from in-person to online asynchronous demands a change in participation assessment. Since you can neither really “attend” nor be “absent” from an online asynchronous course, this portion of your grade will now rely solely on participation.
 
Each Tuesday, a discussion board for that week’s unit will be made available under the new “Discussions” tab on the left-hand menu of Blackboard. Typically, there will be an article or a source that you will have to read beforehand (made available on the discussion board). Then, there will be two or three different threads, each addressing different issues raised by the reading in question.
 
In order to receive your participation grade, you must participate in at least one thread per week. This means either answering a question posed by the instructor within the thread, or providing a (civil) rebuttal to a classmate’s position on the question.
 
If you fail to participate during a given week, the maximum possible score you can receive for participation will be reduced by 1.5% of your total course grade. For instance:
 

  • Participate in all discussions: max. participation grade of 15%
  • Miss 1 discussion: max. grade of 13.5%
  • Miss 2 discussions: max. grade of 12.0%
  • Miss 3 discussions: max. grade of 10.5%
 
And so on.
 
The discussions will always be open starting on Tuesday, and will close at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday night each week. Be sure to participate before then.
Additional Information
Institutional Policies
MyLSCPA Be sure to check your campus email and Course Homepage using MyLSCPA campus web portal. You can also access your grades, transcripts, academic advisors, degree progress, and other services through MyLSCPA.
Academic Honesty Academic honesty is expected from all students, and dishonesty in any form will not be tolerated. Please consult the LSCPA policies (Academic Dishonesty section in the Student Handbook) for consequences of academic dishonesty.
ADA Considerations The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the the Office for Disability Services Coordinator, Room 231, in the Madison Monroe Building. The phone number is (409) 984-6241.
COVID 19 Information The Lamar State College Port Arthur (LSCPA) Student Code of Conduct COVID 19 Policy requires students who have been exposed to COVID 19 or diagnosed with COVID 19 to report their condition on the COVID 19 Notification Form (available via a link on the Student Code of Conduct COVID19 webpage). This information will be provided to the Dean of Student Services. In addition, this policy requires all students to wear face coverings in compliance with the criteria included in the policy. For more information please refer to the COVID 19 link on the LSCPA website.
Facility Policies No food or tobacco products are allowed in the classroom. Only students enrolled in the course are allowed in the classroom, except by special instructor permission. Use of electronic devices is prohibited.
HB 2504 This syllabus is part of LSCPA's efforts to comply with Texas House Bill 2504.
Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect As per Texas law and LSCPA policy, all LSCPA employees, including faculty, are required to report allegations or disclosures of child abuse or neglect to the designated authorities, which may include a local or state law enforcement agency or the Texas Department of Family Protective Services. For more information about mandatory reporting requirements, see LSCPA's Policy and Procedure Manual.
Title IX and Sexual Misconduct LSCPA is committed to establishing and maintaining an environment that is free from all forms of sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, sexual violence, and other forms of sexual misconduct. All LSCPA employees, including faculty, have the responsibility to report disclosures of sexual misconduct, including sexual harassment, sexual assault (including rape and acquaintance rape), domestic violence, dating violence, relationship violence, or stalking, to LSCPA's Title IX Coordinator, whose role is to coordinate the college's response to sexual misconduct. For more information about Title IX protections, faculty reporting responsibilities, options for confidential reporting, and the resources available for support visit LSCPA's Title IX website.
Clery Act Crime Reporting For more information about the Clery Act and crime reporting, see the Annual Security & Fire Safety Report and the Campus Security website.
Grievance / Complaint / Concern If you have a grievance, complaint, or concern about this course that has not been resolved through discussion with the Instructor, please consult the Department Chair.
Department Information
General Education and Developmental Studies
Chair:Dr. Michelle Davis
Email:davisml1@lamarpa.edu
Phone:(409) 984-6341