U.S. History I: United States History 1607-1865 ... - Textbook Equity

History 121: U.S. History I
Course Description & Objectives
History 121 is taught through the NVCC Distance Learning Center (Extended Learning Institute.) All materials
for this course, including the contents of this text, can be accessed from the History 121 Course
Home Page. This is a fully online course, so you will need regular access to a computer with an Internet
connection. You will not have to attend any class meetings. You will have to take two proctored exams at
any NVCC campus testing center. Proctoring at other locations can be arranged. (See the ELI web site
for details.) You will also use the Blackboard component of the course for online discussions, quizzes and
exams. You will be enrolled automatically in Blackboard when the course officially begins.
The Course is divided into four chronological sections as follows:
• Part 1 (1607-1763) covers exploration and colonization and examines the lives of colonists and
how they interacted with the new landscape of America and with the British Empire. It continues
through the French and Indian War to the beginning of the period of the American Revolution.
• Part 2 (1763-1800) begins with an exploration of the background events of the American Revolution,
the conduct of the war independence, and the granting of freedom to the new nation in 1783.
It then proceeds to the story of the writing of the United States Constitution and the development
of the new nation under Presidents Washington and Adams. It ends with the election of 1800.
• Part 3 (1800-1840) covers the events of the Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe
and John Quincy Adams administrations and concludes with a discussion of Jacksonian America
under Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin van Buren. It includes the War of 1812 and explores
a time of economic progress as well as democratic growth and reform.
• Part 4 (1840-1865) begins with a period identified with Manifest Destiny and expansion across
the continent to the Pacific coast. It includes the Texas fight for independence, the Mexican-
American War and the opening of California. The section next proceeds through the turmoil of the
1850s as the Southern states move toward secession. It concludes with the conduct and results
of the Civil War.
Each section requires one quiz or exam and one written project, general instructions for which are included
below. In addition students are required to make at least one site visit to an actual historic location
or museum during the course, which will be the subject for one or more essays.
Course Objectives:
• Understand the character of the men and women who settled America and created a new nation;
• Appreciate the causes, effects and meaning of the American Revolution;
• Examine and understand the United States Constitution;
• Study the forces that both unified and divided the young Republic;
• Comprehend the causes, conduct and legacy of the American Civil War.
Although we will examine the experiences of all segments of American society from colonial times
through 1865, we will emphasize the major political events and figures. We will spend extra time on the
American Revolutionary War and Civil War periods and will study the United States Constitution in considerable
detail. At the end of the course students should have a deeper understanding of America and its
people, a fuller appreciation of how this nation has been shaped by its past, and realistic expectations for
America 's future.
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