History 323

OBERLIN COLLEGE

Gary Kornblith	History 323
gary.kornblith@oberlin.edu	Spring 2002
Rice 306; x8526	ERes
Office hours: Mondays, 1-2 p.m. and Thursdays, 3-4:30 p.m.	Blackboard

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/history/GJK/H323S02. This course explores the cultural dynamics, social relations, and political 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 1820 and 1850. Emphasis will be placed on current scholarly debates and different approaches to historical analysis. Student participation in class discussions (both online and face-to-face) is essential to the success of the course.
Format: The class meets regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. Class attendance is mandatory, participation in class discussions is expected, and students are also required to post a question or comment on Blackboard in advance of designated class sessions. In addition to regular class meetings, we will take a trip to Hale Farm and Village in Bath, Ohio, at a mutually agreed upon time.
Evaluation: Students will be graded on the basis of class participation and two analytical essays (8-10 pages each). The basic formula is 1/3 for class participation (including postings on Blackboard), 1/3 for the first essay, and 1/3 for the second essay. 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) Charles Sellers, The Market Revolution Paul E. Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millennium Sean Wilentz, Chants Democratic (recommended) Christine Stansell, City of Women (recommended) Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (recommended) Brenda Stevenson, Life in Black and White Stephanie McCurry, Masters of Small Worlds Charles Joyner, Down by the Riverside Joan E. Cashin, A Family Venture Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul William G. McLoughlin, After the Trail of Tears (recommended)
Schedule of classes and assignments:

Tues., Feb. 5		Introduction Tocqueville's America: A Virtual Tour
Thurs., Feb. 7	Alexis de Tocqueville Tocqueville Society Website	The Classic Interpretation Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 3-17, 51-64, 273-312, 368-82, 411-88, 497-509

Tues., Feb. 12		Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 507-21, 544-46, 615-22, 625-69, 682-94, 701-703, 708-709, 723-51, 767-91, 836-37, 874-88
Thurs., Feb. 14		A Recent Synthesis Sellers, Market Revolution, 3-33, 137-201

Tues., Feb. 19		Sellers, Market Revolution, 202-68, 301-63
Thurs., Feb. 21	Tocqueville's America: A Virtual Tour Website	Rural New England Thomas Dublin, "Women and Outwork in a Nineteenth-Century New England Town: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, 1830-1850," in Steven Hahn and Jonathan Prude, eds., The Countryside in the Age of Capitalist Transformation, 51-69 (on ERes) David Jaffee, "Peddlers of Progress and the Transformation of the Rural North, 1760-1860," Journal of American History 78 (Sept. 1991): 511-35 (in JSTOR and accessible from campus computers) 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 (on ERes)

Tues., Feb. 26		Urban New England Stephan Thernstrom and Peter R. Knights, "Men in Motion: Some Data and Speculations about Urban Population Mobility in Nineteenth-Century America," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 1 (Autumn 1970): 7-35 (in JSTOR and accessible from campus computers) Paul Faler, "Cultural Aspects of the Industrial Revolution: Lynn, Massachusetts, Shoemakers and Industrial Morality, 1826-1860," in Milton Cantor, ed., American Workingclass Culture: Explorations in American Labor and Social History, 121-148 (on ERes) Harriet H. Robinson, Loom and Spindle, chaps. 1-5 (online)
Thurs., Feb. 28		Burned-Over District Johnson, Shopkeeper's Millennium, entire Charles Grandison Finney, "What a Revival of Religion Is" (online)

Tues., Mar. 5	Early Oberlin EOG Website	Western Reserve Robert S. Fletcher, A History of Oberlin College, ch. 10-15 (on ERes) Documents from Early Oberlin Covenant of the Oberlin Colony (online) Prospectus for the Oberlin Collegiate Institute (online) Pastoral Letter by Father Shipherd (online) Delazon Smith, A History of Oberlin, : or New Lights of the West (online)
Thurs., Mar. 7	Broadway in New York City Tocqueville: Virtual Tour	New York City Wilentz, Chants Democratic, 107-29, 172-216, 219-254, 271-96 (recommended purchase and on ERes)

Tues., Mar. 12		Stansell, City of Women, 41-119 (recommended purchase and on ERes) Eric Lott, "'The Seeming Counterfeit': Racial Politics and Early Blackface Minstrelsy," American Quarterly 43 (Jun., 1991): 223-54 (in JSTOR and accessible from campus computers)
Thurs., Mar. 14	Philadelphia Riots Library of Congress	Philadelphia Theodore Hershberg, "Free Blacks in Antebellum Philadelphia: A Study of Ex-Slaves, Freeborn, and Socioeconomic Decline," Journal of Social History 5 (Winter 1971-1972): 183-209 (on ERes) David Montgomery, "The Shuttle and the Cross: Weavers and Artisans in the Kensington Riots of 1844," Journal of Social History 5 (Summer 1972): 411-46 (on ERes) Emma Jones Lapsansky, "'Since They Got Those Separate Churches': Afro-Americans and Racism in Jacksonian Philadelphia," American Quarterly 32 (Spring 1980): 54-78 (in JSTOR and accessible from campus computers)

Tues., Mar. 19		Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, 92-164 (recommended purchase and on ERes)
Thurs., Mar. 21 Sat., Mar. 23		No class Paper due
	Spring Break
Tues., Apr. 2	Oak Hill Plantation Christopher Fennell, University of Virginia	Virginia Stevenson, Life in Black and White, 3-8, 37-139
Thurs. Apr. 4		Stevenson, Life in Black and White, 159-285, 320-27

Tues., Apr. 9		South Carolina Low Country McCurry, Masters of Small Worlds, xvi-ix, 2-129
Thurs., Apr. 11		McCurry, Masters of Small Worlds, 130-207, 239-276

Tues., Apr. 16	Slave Cabin, Old Saints Parrish Belle W. Baruch Foundation	Joyner, Down by the Riverside, xv-xxii, 1-126
Thurs., Apr. 18	Slave Cabin, Old Saints Parrish Belle W. Baruch Foundation	Joyner, Down by the Riverside, 127-224, 241-42

Tues., Apr. 23		Southern Frontier John Solomon Otto , "The Migration of the Southern Plain Folk: An Interdisciplinary Synthesis," The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 51, No. 2. (May, 1985), pp. 183-200 (in JSTOR and accessible from campus computers) Cashin, A Family Venture, 3-52
Thurs., Apr. 25		Cashin, A Family Venture, 53-121

Tues., Apr. 30	Slave Auction Library of Congress	New Orleans Johnson, Soul by Soul, 1-116
Thurs., May 2	Slave Auction Library of Congress	Johnson, Soul by Soul, 117-220
Sat., May 4		Festivities at the House of Chaos (271 West College St.)
Tues., May 7		Indian Country McLoughlin, After the Trail of Tears, xi-xv, 1-85, 121-52 (recommended purchase and on ERes)
Thurs., May 9		Conclusion

Fri., May 17		Paper due