Filozofická fakulta Univerzita Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici

History of the United States course syllabus old

Department of English & American Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Matej Bel University 

WEEK

TOPIC

1

Colonial Period (1606 - 1774)

 

Amerindians. First European explorers. Early settlements. Virginia and New England. The Thirteen colonies. The French and Indian War (1756 -1763)

2

Towards Independence (1775 -1783)

 

The Origins of Revolution. Britain's policy towards the colonies. The Continental Congress. Declaration of Independence.

3

The Formation of a National Government (1777 -1791)

 

The Articles of Confederation. The lack of central power. Constitutional Convention. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Federalists and Republicans.

4

Westward Expansion: Manifest Destiny

 

The Louisiana Purchase. The War of 1812. The Monroe Doctrine. The Missouri Compromise. Indian Removal.

5

The Civil War and Reconstruction (1861 - 1877)

 

Sectionalism: North and South. Slavery issue: F. Douglas, the Underground Railway and Abolitionists. A. Lincoln. Civil War. Reconstruction.

6

Years of Growth and the American Empire

 

The Indian Wars and the American West. Industry and technology. Robber Barons. Immigration. The Spanish - American War.

7

TEST I (on topics 1 - 6)

8

Discontent and Reform

 

The Robber Barons. The farmers and populism. Labour movement. Reformers and progressives. T. Roosevelt. Jim Crow laws.

9

War and Prosperity (1917 - 1929)

 

World War I. Wilson's Fourteen Points. The Roaring twenties. Prohibition. The Suffragists. Big business.

10

Depression and the New Deal (1929 -1938)

 

Crash and depression. F. D. Roosevelt and the policy of New Deal. Isolationism and the outside world.

11

From Isolationism to Hiroshima: World War II.

 

End of neutrality. War in the Pacific. War in Europe. The birth of Atomic age: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The post-war settlement.

12

Cold War and Conflict Abroad: America in the Fifties

 

Truman Doctrine.  McCarthyism and  "Red  Scare".  Korean War.   Civil  Rights movement and desegregation.

13

America in the Sixties and Early Seventies

 

J.F.K. The Vietnam War. Martin Luther King. R. Nixon and the Watergate Affair.