History 328:
United States Foreign Relations, 1763-1919
Virginia Wesleyan College
Spring 2007
Dr. Dan Margolies
Office: Blocker 31
Office Hours: M, 4:30-6:30, W, 4:30-6 TH, 4:30-6 or by
appointment.
Email: dmargolies@vwc.edu
Webpage:
http://facultystaff.vwc.edu/~dmargolies/
Phone: 455-5716
Class Meeting: MW 1:30-3 or W 6-9
This class examines the
major individuals, events, and themes in United States foreign relations from
the revolutionary era to the establishment of the League of Nations after World
War I. We will examine the strategic,
ideological, economic, sectional, and racial dimensions of U.S. relations with
other nations and peoples, paying particular attention to the ways domestic
politics were reinforced and rearticulated in foreign policy. Along the way, we will examine (among other
topics) the intellectual origins of American diplomacy, the expansionist and
isolationist impulses in foreign relations, war, and diplomacy, and especially
the market orientation which has dominated American foreign relations since the
beginning. We will also discuss and
dissect the different theoretical approaches developed by historians to explain
the meaning of these foreign policies and actions in a national and
international and systemic context.
Books: (on sale at the college bookstore)
Patterson,
American Foreign Relations, a History (text)
Major
Problems in the History of American Foreign relations, vol. 1, 6th
ed. (reader)
James Oliver Gump, The
Dust Rose Like Smoke: The Subjugation of the Zulu and the Sioux
Thomas R. Hietala, Manifest
Design: American Exceptionalism and Empire, Revised Edition
Eric Love, Race Over
Empire
Daniel S. Margolies, Henry
Watterson and the New South: The
Politics of Empire, Free Trade, and Globalization
Robert E. May, The
Union, The Confederarcy and the Atlantic Rim
Thomas
McCormick, China Market: America’s Quest for Informal Empire
Robert E. Quirk, Affair
of Honor Woodrow Wilson and the Occupation of Veracruz
Bartholomew H. Sparrow, The Insular
Cases And the Emergence of American Empire
William Appleman
Williams, Empire as a Way of Life
Attendance and
Participation:
Regular attendance in
class is, of course, mandatory, as is prompt completion of all readings and
assignments.
Because we will cover a
large amount of material over the course of the semester, you should be
prepared to spend the time it takes to complete the reading thoroughly and
thoughtfully. You MUST do the reading before each class to be prepared for discussions
and exams, and to do well in this class. Your active participation in all aspects of the class is
expected, and your final grade will reflect your level of involvement and
commitment.
Late
assignments (such as homework,
essays, papers, or other assignments) will be graded down one grade per day and are accepted only at the
discretion of the professor.
More than two absences
that are not expressly approved by the professor will result in a lower final
grade for the semester. For each absence after two excused absences,
your discussion grade will be lowered one-half grade.
Excused absences include
legitimate illness, a field trip, or a pre-appproved athletic event. However, such excused absences will require
extra work to make up for the missed class time.
If your cell phone rings
during class (unless authorized by the professor) your final grade will be
lowered by one-half letter grade.
Exams:
There will be a midterm
and a final, both of which will be focused essays based upon course readings,
lectures, and discussion. These exams
will be discussed in detail later in the semester. In general, you will be graded on your knowledge and
interpretation of the subject matter, your mastery of the primary and secondary
readings, on your ability to connect the themes we have covered in class, and
on the sophistication of your ideas and writing.
Written Assignments:
There will be several
short written assignments due throughout the semester covering the readings in
the documents reader, essays, or the books.
At least one of these papers must critique one of the monographs we are
reading. These short exercises will
help prepare you for class discussion and will be announced and discussed in
class as we go along.
Scholarly article presentation:
Each
student will read and synthesize 2
related scholarly articles on any topic in American foreign relations between
1763-1919, subject to the approval of the professor. Each student will provide a succinct but detailed oral
presentation of his/her findings on these articles to the class, and a 3-5 page
paper analyzing the articles and their arguments. Copies of the articles must be made available to the professor
at least 24 hours before the presentation (they will be returned). We will discuss techniques for finding
appropriate and interesting articles during the course of the semester, and
will have at least one library session to help us find appropriate sources.
Each
Honors and Scholars student will read
one scholarly monograph and three scholarly articles, subject to the approval
of the professor, on any topic in the field we are covering. Each student will critique the book and
articles in an approximately 7-10 page essay with careful attention to historiographical
context and will present their findings to the class at the end of the
semester.
Grades will be
determined as follows:
Participation in
discussion (including presentation):
20%
Midterm: 20%
Final: 20%
Written Assignments: 20%
Articles paper: 20%
The following grading point scale will be used in
determining your grade, subject to the discretion of the instructor: A=
93-100; A- = 90-92; B+ = 88-89; B = 83-87; B- = 80-82; C+ = 78-79; C = 73-77;
C- = 65-69; D = 50-64; F = less than 50
ACCOMMODATION FOR
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
In accordance with Title 5, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and
the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, reasonable accommodation will be
provided to any student who has followed the College's procedures as outlined
in the current Academic Bulletin. It
is best to begin this process by contacting the disability services
coordinator, Fayne Pearson (455-3246) at the beginning of the semester.
Once the need for accommodations has been officially established, the student
should consult with the instructor to insure that the student's needs can be
met as effectively as possible.
Email policy:
I do not respond to or read emails that lack capitalization, proper punctuation, or a salutation.
Email is a vital tool of
communication for educators and scholars and all students must be familiar with
its effective use. I encourage you to
contact me via email whenever you have questions or comments about the course
or the assignments. We will have at
least one homework assignment that will be submitted in the form of an email
attachment. This will be discussed
later in the semester. However, please do NOT send me assignments or
papers through email as a general policy, unless it is part of an assigned
exercise, or prior arrangements were made.
Blogs:
I encourage all of you to
create a blogsite for this class (at blogger.com or some similar site). You may hand in your homework on this site,
keep a running commentary on the reading, discussions, and lectures, and relay
other information you think helps enhance your participation in class. Creating and maintaining a blog site for
this course will entitle you to extra credit on each assignment. Particularly well-done blogs will receive
additional credit as well.
Schedule of Readings and Topics:
Each section below lists
the major topics discussed during the week.
Any changes will be announced in class.
Please be sure to bring your books to class when we discuss them.
Week 1 Class
Introduction
Approaches
to the study of American foreign relations
Readings: Reader,
ch 1
Williams
Week 2 The
Imperial Context, 1763-1775
The
Revolution and the Great Powers
Confederation
and its Discontents
Readings: Text,
ch. 1
Reader, ch. 2
Week 3
The
Constitution and the Imperial State
Reading: The U.S. Constitution
Federalist 10, 15, and other selections
Reader, ch. 3
Week 4 Federalist
Isolationism and Turmoil
Jefferson and the “Empire of Liberty”
The
War of 1812: The Second War of Independence
Reading: Text, ch. 2
Reader, ch. 4-5
Week 5 Feb 22, 24 U.S.-Native
Relations
The
Hemisphere Question and the Monroe Doctrine
The American
System
Guano
Diplomacy
Readings: Text,
ch. 3
Reader, ch. 6
Week 6 Mar 1, 3 Texas
and Manifest Destiny
The
Mexican War and the Crisis of Expansion
“Young
America”
Readings: Hietala
Reader, ch. 8-9 (Selections)
Week 7 Civil War
and the Global Context
** MIDTERM DUE **
Readings: May,
all
Week 8 Race
and Empire I
Readings: Gump
Week 9 SPRING BREAK ENJOY!
Week 10 March 29, 31 Race
and Empire II
Readings: Love, ALL
Week 11 April 5, 7 The
South and Empire
Readings: Margolies
Week 12
April 12, 14 American Economic Supremacy
Imperialism,
Colonialism, Anti-Colonialism
Readings: Text,
ch. 5
McCormick
Week 13 April 19, 21 Law
and Empire
Dollar
Diplomacy
Readings: Text,
ch. 6-7
Reader, ch. 11-13 (selections)
Sparrow
Week 14 April 26, 28 Making the World Safe for Democracy
Reading: Text, ch. 7-8
Reader, ch. 15
Quirk
EXAM DUE BY SCHEDULED
FINAL EXAM TIME