Faculty Syllabus

SEMESTER:                        SPRING 2026                         

CLASS:                                  US History I – 1301 (17060-011) Tu, Th 9:00-10:20am, SAC 1316

                                                                        1301 (17059-009) Tu, Th 11:15am-12:35pm, SAC 1316

                                                                        1301 (28786-029) Tu, Th 1:30-2:50pm, SAC 1202

CREDIT HOURS:                3

DATES:                                  January 20-May 14, 2026

METHODOLOGY:              Lecture

PROFESSOR:                       Luther Elmore (He, Him)

E MAIL:                                lelmore@austincc.edu

OFFICE HOURS:                 SAC 1224  -  Tu, Th 10:30-11:15, 12:45-1:30pm   -   (512) 223-9207

COURSE DESCRIPTION / OBJECTIVE:

U. S. History 1301 is a study of the history of the United States to 1877.  This course surveys the major developments in the history of the United States until 1877,  including examples of conflicting interpretations of that history, and requires a written assignment from a primary source document from the period and a personal oral history interview.

See the ACC history website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

COURSE RATIONALE:

The Texas Legislature requires students to take six hours of American history to graduate from an institution of higher learning in Texas.  This course helps fulfill part of that requirement.  Students taking History 1301 can expect to improve their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, all of which help students better succeed in life outside of academia.

Refer to the ACC history website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

COMMON COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The History Department of Austin Community College has established common course objectives for this course.  These common objectives help ensure fair and consistent presentation by all instructors of the material required in the course.  Although the common course objectives are incorporated into the learning objectives for each section of material in this specific course, general objectives for this course can be accessed from the ACC website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

Additional information about the ACC History Department can be obtained on the ACC Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/SocBehSciencesACC/

COURSE METHODOLOGY:

This course is a lecture course and will be conducted at the assigned campus with no video or interactive presentations.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:

Give Me Liberty! Volume One to 1877,  Seagull, 7th edition by Eric Foner.

ISBN 978-1-324-04133-7

This textbook is required for this course and you must have it.

SYLLABUS:

Copies of the syllabus are available on the ACC website through Blackboard.

ATTENDANCE:

There is normally a strong correlation between regular class attendance and the successful completion of this course.  Attendance is taken at the beginning of each class session.  Students are expected to attend class, however,  attendance does not affect the grade for the semester.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS /ORGANIZATION/EXAMS:

This course is divided into four units.  For each unit there will be an in class exam.  In addition, there will be two two-page essays one based on a primary source document and a second based on an oral history interview. Thus, there will be six individual assignments.  All work for the semester must be completed by the end of the class session on May 14, 2026.

Four exams will be given.  Students are expected to complete the four exams and submit the outside writing assignments.  Students who take all four exams and submit both papers will be allowed to drop their lowest grade.  In addition, if a student misses one of the four in class exams or fails to submit one of the two essays, that will automatically be the grade dropped.  No makeup will be allowed. 

For each exam a list of learning objectives is included in this syllabus.  All test questions will come from the list of learning objectives and will include text material and classroom discussions.  The exams will include objective and discussion questions, but all questions will be based on the learning objectives.

Please note that schedule changes may occur during this semester.  Any changes will be posted on Blackboard Announcement, sent to your ACC email account, and announced in class when possible.

Regular and timely completion of work is expected of all students.

MISSED EXAMS:

If one exam is missed, no make-up is allowed.  If a second exam is missed, a make-up may be scheduled in the ACC Testing Center where the class is held.  If a student misses a second exam, they will need to present documentation of the extenuating circumstances (sickness, death in the family, etc).  If there were no documented, extenuating circumstances, a two letter grade penalty (20 points) will be deducted from the grade (the same as imposed on written essays submitted after the due date).

COURSE SCHEDULE AND CALENDAR:

Please note that schedule changes may occur during the semester.  Any changes will be announced in class and posted as a Blackboard Announcement.

Jan       20        Introduction – Overview of the semester and course requirements

Jan       22        Beginnings – Native Americans and Europe prior to 1492, Vinland

Jan       27        Native Americans in 1492 - African trade, Tainos, Aztecs

Jan       29        Discovery by Europeans – Columbus, Cortez, The Protestant Reformation

Feb      3         English colonies – Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Pennsylvania

Feb      5         English Colonies - Carolina, Georgia, Navigation Acts

Feb      10        The growing colonies – Dominion of New England, Conflict, Peace of Paris 1763

Feb      12        EXAM 1 – CHAPTERS 1-4

Feb      17        Great Britain in 1763, Pontiac, Sugar Act, Stamp Act

Feb      19        American Revolution – Tea Act, Lexington, Continental Congress, Saratoga

Feb      24        The New Nation – Treaty of Paris, Articles of Confederation, Land ordinances

Feb      26        The New Constitution - Daniel Shays, The Federalist

Mar      3         The New Government – The Bill of Rights

Mar      5         Public Credit, National Bank, Whiskey Rebellion

Mar      10       Political Parties – Federalists vs Republicans, War of 1812

Mar     12        EXAM 2 – CHAPTERS 5-8

Mar      24        Expansion – Whitney, Lowell, Fulton, National Road, Erie Canal

Mar     26        The Age of Jackson – Elections of 1824 and 1828, US Bank, Indian Removal

Mar     31        The Panic of 1837 – Rise of Whigs, Alexis de Tocqueville

Apr      2         A Changing America – Fulton, Whitney, Erie Canal, National Road, Boston Associates

Apr      7         A Search for Meaning - Second Great Awakening, Seneca Falls, Abolitionists

Apr       9         Shakers, Mormons, Women’s Rights

Apr      14        Intentional Communities – Oneida, Brook Farm, New Harmony

Apr     16        EXAM 3 – CHAPTERS 9-12

Apr      21        Westward Movement, Manifest Destiny, Texas, Mormons

Apr      23        Expansion and Conflict – The Mexican War, California Gold, Compromise of 1850

Apr      28        The Road to War – Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott, John Brown

Apr      30        North vs. South, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg

May     5         End of the War – Effects of the War, John Wilkes Booth, Presidential Reconstruction

May     7         Presidential Reconstruction 1865-1867 – Andrew Johnson, 13 Amendment

May    12         Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction 1868-1877-14, 15 Amendments, Election 1876

May    14        FINAL EXAM – CHAPTERS 13-15

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:

Each student is expected to complete two outside writing assignments. The primary source document is available on the internet. The other is an oral history interview with an older individual.  Both assignments are due by the end of the class period on the assigned dates.  Assignments submitted after the scheduled date and time will have a two letter (20 points) grade penalty imposed.  All assignments are expected to demonstrate college level writing skills, using proper grammar, punctuation, and organization.  You will be graded according to college standards. Papers should be handed in in printed format during class on the due date. For the specific assignments, see the attached pages.

PLAGIARISM:

As defined by the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition, to plagiarize means “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” and “to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”  In academia plagiarism is stealing.  In  its simplest form, it is copying something written by someone else and submitting it as your own.  This course requires independent, outside writing assignments, so do your own work.  Anyone caught plagiarizing in a written paper will automatically receive an F or the course and be referred to administrative offices for further disciplinary action.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY:

Austin Community College values academic integrity in the educational process.  Acts of academic dishonesty/misconduct undermine the learning process, present a disadvantage to students who earn credit honestly, and subvert the academic mission of the institution.  The potential consequences of fraudulent credentials raise additional concerns for individuals and communities beyond campus who rely on institutions of higher learning to certify students’ academic achievements, and expect to benefit from the claimed knowledge and skills of their graduates.  Students must follow all instructions given by faculty or designated college representatives when taking examinations, placement assessments, tests, quizzes and evaluations.  Actions that constitution scholastic dishonesty include, but are not limited to plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, collusion, falsifying documents, or the inappropriate use of the college’s information technology resources.  Any student caught committing acts of scholastic dishonesty will receive an “F” for the course.

Further information is available at:

https://www.austincc.edu/about-acc/academic-integrity-and-disciplinary-process

WITHDRAWAL POLICY:

It is the responsibility of each student to ensure that his or her name is removed from the rolls should they decide to withdraw from the class.  The instructor will not normally initiate withdrawals of students.  If a student decides to withdraw, he or she should also verify that the withdrawal is recorded before the final withdrawal date.  The final withdrawal date for this semester is April 27, 2026. 

Students are responsible for understanding the impact that withdrawal from a course may have on their financial aid, veterans’ benefits, and international student status.  Based on state law, students enrolling for the first time in Fall 2017 or later at any public Texas college of university may not withdraw (receive a “W”) from more than six courses during their undergraduate college education.  Some exemptions for good cause could allow a student to withdraw from a course without having it count toward this limit.  Students are strongly encouraged to meet with an advisor when making decisions about course selection, course loads, and course withdrawals.

INCOMPLETES:

Incompletes are only allowed for acceptable documented reasons.  Generally, this means documented evidence from an outside, independent source, such as a doctor.

The student and the instructor must complete forms stating the requirements which must be fulfilled to clear the incomplete.  Students receiving an “I” for the Spring 2026 semester must complete all requirements to clear the “I” by July 27, 2026, the published final conversion date for this semester.  If an incomplete is not resolved by the deadline, the grade automatically converts to an “F.”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION:

Each student is strongly encouraged to participate in class. In any classroom situation that includes discussion and critical thinking, there are bound to be many different viewpoints.  These differences enhance the learning experience and create an atmosphere where students and instructors alike will be encouraged to think and learn.  On sensitive and volatile topics, students may sometimes disagree not only with each other but also with the instructor.  It is expected that faculty and students will respect the views of others when expressed in classroom discussion. 

NOTE:  USE OF ANY COMPUTER DEVICES, INCLUDING LAPTOPS AND CELL PHONES, IN CLASS IS PROHIBITED.

ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) – GENERATIVE ARTIFICIEAL INTELLIGENCE (GAI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is defined as artificial intelligence systems capable of creating new content based on patterns from existing knowledge (Chat GPT, and others).

Use of AI in this class is prohibited.  This is established in order to preserve academic integrity, development of students’ knowledge, and original thought and work.  While AI is beneficial in many areas,  models can also generate biased or inaccurate information and include extraneous material that is not relevant.  While use of other aids such as Grammarly are acceptable, AI models are not.  If your written paper contains material that is not in the assigned reading (dates, events, individuals, references, etc.), you will receive a zero on the assignment.  Therefore, it is best not to rely on AI or any other material that is not part of the reading.  Your work in this class should be yours alone.  There will be no exceptions to this requirement.

GRADING:

Four exams will be given at 100 points each.

Two writing essays are assigned at 100 points each.

One grade will be dropped from the six assignments.  If a student misses a scheduled exam, that is automatically the grade dropped.  If a student completes all six assignments, the lowest grade will be dropped.  Therefore, each exam and essay constitute 1/5 of your semester grade.

500 Total Points for the semester:

A = 90% average or 450 points

B – 80% average or 400 points

C – 70% average or 350 points

D – 60% average or 300 point

F – below 60% average or fewer than 300 points

SEMESTER DATES:

Holidays                                  Spring Break – March 16-20, 2026                                       

Last date to withdraw             April 27, 2026

End of Class                            This course ends at the end of the class period on May 14, 2026

ACC End of Semester May 17, 2026

REVIEWS OF PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS / ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW:

Writing:

Write a two page essay, typed and double-spaced, using 10 or 12 font type for each essay. 

In one and one-half pages in your own words describe the article you read.  In one-half page and in your own words give your thoughts, comments, conclusions, etc.  Use no other source than the assigned material.  Use no aids such as ChatGPT in writing your paper.  Be specific in your writing and you must use at least three short quotes to strengthen your essay to give it punch and make it personal.

Assignment One:

Conduct a historical oral interview of an older person, ideally, someone 60 or older.

Focus on their experiences of life and their recollection of important historical events.

POSSIBLE areas of discussion might include their early life, schooling, jobs, games and leisure time, and their memories of events like the JFK assassination, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the 9-11-2001 attacks, and the 1-20-2021 attack on the US Capitol.  What do you think about this person’s life and story?

Assignment Two:                                                       

Read The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina by John Andrew Jackson, chapters 1-5.

Internet Address: https:docsouth.unc.edu

Access most easily by entering the title of the book or use the author index to access John Andrew Jackson.

You should be able to access the reading directly at https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jackson/jackson.html

            Questions you MUST address:

Describe Jackson’s various jobs as a slave.

                        Describe the punishments he received and witnessed.

                        Describe his comments on religion and the church.

                        Describe how he made his escape from slavery to freedom.

Read the WPA Interview of former slave Pierce Harper.

This is part of the Federal Writers’ Project: Slave Narrative Project conducted in the 1930s.

It is probably most easily accessed by Googling “WPA Slave Narrative of Pierce Harper.”

            That takes you to the Library of Congress webpage, where you can open the PDF.

              The Pierce Harper interview is located on pages 109-114.

Internet Address:  https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.162/?sp+114&st=text

                         Questions you MUST address: Describe Harper’s recollections of slavery.

                          Describe the acts of the Ku Klux Klan after the end of the Civil War.

What do you think of the lives and experiences of these two men?

NOTE:  If you do not answer ALL of the questions listed above, points will be deducted from your paper.

Grading and Point Value:

One-third of your grade on the essays will be based on the one and one-half pages in which you describe the reading or interview, one-third of the grade will be based on your reactions and conclusions, and one-third of the grade will be based on your grammar, spelling, organization, and the quality of your essay.  Each essay will constitute 1/5 of your semester grade. 

Due Dates:

Assignment One         -           February 26, 2026

Assignment Two                     April 30, 2026

Any assignment submitted after the due date will have a two letter grade penalty (20 points) imposed.

Printed copies of your papers are to be turned in class.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES UNIT ONE     (Chapters 1-4)                        ELMORE – 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works.

Adam Smith                                                                         William Bradford

Amerigo Vespucci                                                               Mary Rowlandson

Bartolome de las Casas                                                      John  Locke

John Calvin                                                                          John Woolman

Martin Luther                                                                       John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (Cato)

Richard Hakluyt                                                 

List the provisions and effects of the following:

Mayflower Compact                                                           English Bill of Rights

Body of Liberties (Lawes and Liberties)                       1690 English Act of Toleration

English Mercantilism                                                         Treaty of Paris, 1763

Discuss or describe each of the following:

List and describe the reasons that the outpost at Vinland might have been abandoned.

Describe the Aztec, Inca, Pueblo, and Mound Builder Indians.

Describe the common characteristics of Indian communal, marital, and religious beliefs.

Describe Johan Gutenberg’s invention and explain its impact.

Describe Columbus’s four voyages, explaining the problems encountered and discoveries made.

Describe and state the importance of voyages by Bartholome Dias, Vasco de Gama, Henry Hudson  and John Cabot.

State the reasons Hernan Cortez was able to defeat the mighty Aztec kingdom.

Explain the challenges and problems France faced in trying to establish colonies in North America.

Describe the goods involved in the Columbian Exchange.

Explain the methods England used in subduing the Irish.

State the importance of the explorations of Alvar Nunex Cabeza de Vaca, Francisco Vasques de Coronado, and Pedro Menendez de Aviles.

Describe the colony at Roanoke and explain what might have happened to it.

List and describe the problems faced in the Jamestown colony from 1607 to 1624.

Describe the Scrooby Manor Separatists’ beliefs and attempts at founding Plymouth Colony.

Explain what is meant by “A City on a Hill” and describe the Puritan colony in Massachusetts Bay.

List the criticisms of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson against the Massachusetts Bay colony.

State the number of immigrants involved in the Great Migration to New England.

Describe the Pueblo Revolt and state the results.

Explain the importance of the explorations of Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de La Salle.

Describe Maryland’s attempt to establish a colony as a haven for English Catholics.

Describe the reasons for and the results of the Pequot War.

Describe Quaker beliefs of George Fox and how they were reflected in the Pennsylvania colony.

List the provisions, goals, and results of the Navigation Acts of 1660, 1663, and 1696.

Explain the difference between plantation slaves and indentured servants in the English colonies.

List the results of King Philip’s War.

List the results of Bacon’s Rebellion.

Describe the Dominion of New England and explain why it was established and dissolved.

Explain the reason for the Glorious Revolution and reactions to it in New York, Maryland, and

                Massachusetts.

List the results and potential explanations for the outbreak of witchcraft in Salem.

List and describe the results of the Great Awakening.

List and describe the results of the Stono Uprising.

List restrictions placed on early colonists in Georgia.

How did John Peter Zenger influence freedom of the press in the English colonies?

Describe the Albany Plan and explain why it was opposed by both colonists and British officials.

List and explain the results of the French and Indian War.

Describe Pontiac’s Rebellion, the Paxton Boys, and Proclamation of 1763 and colonial reactions to each.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE  UNIT TWO    (Chapters 5-8)                        ELMORE- 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works:

John Dickinson                                                Phillis Wheatley

Thomas Paine                                                  Mary Wollstonecraft

Samuel Sewall                                                  Judith Sargent Murray

Describe and list the results of each of the following:

Mission Dolores                                               The Whiskey Rebellion

Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom             Marbury v Madison and Fletcher v Peck

Shays’s Rebellion                                             The Battle of Fallen Timbers

The Federalist                                                  Gabriel’s Rebellion

Naturalization Act of 1790                                The attack on the Chesapeake

The Barbary Wars                                             Newburgh Conspiracy

Describe or discuss each of the following:

Describe the situation England faced and the problems it had to address in 1763.

List the provisions of the Sugar Acts and the Stamp Act and American colonial reactions to them.

Explain the provisions of the Townshend Acts and colonial reactions.

Describe the Boston Massacre and the effect it had on the colonies.

Describe the provisions of the Tea Act and the colonial response to it.

List the provisions of the Coercive Acts and the actions Americans took in response to them.

Describe the battles of Lexington and Concord and their impact on Americans.

List and explain the actions taken by the First and Second Continental Congresses.

List and explain colonial grievances and complaints as outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

Explain the importance of the Battle of Saratoga.

Describe how British loyalists in America reacted to the American Revolution and the American victory.

List and explain the reasons for the American victory in the American Revolution.

Explain the provisions of the Treaty of Paris, 1783.

Describe democratic reforms in America after the American Revolution.

Explain the impact the revolution in Haiti had on the United States.

Describe the government as organized under the Articles of Confederation and the reasons it failed.

List the provisions of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

Describe the Constitutional provisions regarding slaves and the slave trade, elections to the House and Senate,      the election of the president, and the powers of Congress and the president.

List the freedoms and legal protections guaranteed to Americans in the Bill of Rights.

Explain the plans for and the controversies over assumption and funding in the “Report on Public Credit” and      

  the creation of the National Bank.

List the three proposals of Alexander Hamilton’s “Report on Manufactures.”

Describe the rise of Republicans and Federalists and the political positions of each.

List the provisions of Jay’s Treaty and the Treaty of San Lorenzo.

Describe the Alien and Sedition Laws and explain their provisions and impacts.

Describe the Election of 1800, how it was settled, and how the problem was addressed by Congress.

Describe the actions taken by President Jefferson to reverse previous Federalist policies.

Describe the purchase of Louisiana and the Lewis and Clark expedition.

List the provisions and results of the Embargo Act and the Slave Trade Law of 1807.

List the stated reasons the United States declared war on Great Britain in 1812 and evaluate their truth.

List the goals Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa were trying to achieve for American Indians.

Describe the Hartford Convention, Constitutional amendments proposed, and reaction to them.

List the provisions of the Treaty of Ghent.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES               UNIT THREE (Chapters 9-12)          ELMORE - 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works:

Frederick Douglass                                           Frederick Law Olmsted

Alexis de Tocqueville                                       David Walker

Sarah Bagley                                                    Ralph Waldo Emerson

Joseph Smith                                                    Elijah Lovejoy

Lydia Maria Child                                            Henry David Thoreau

William Lloyd Garrison                                    Margaret Fuller

John L. O’Sullivan                                           Harriet Beecher Stowe

List the contribution, invention, or provisions of each of the following along with the results:

National Road                                                  Gibbons v Ogden

Robert Fulton                                                   Dartmouth College v Woodward

Erie Canal                                                        Commonwealth v Hunt

Adams-Onis Treaty                                           McCulloch v Maryland

Eli Whitney                                                      Worcester v Georgia

John Deere                                                       The Amistad

Cyrus McCormick                                            Harriet Tubman

The Boston Associates                                      Dorothea Dix

Describe or discuss each of the following:

Explain how steamboats, canals, railroads, and the telegraph changed America in the early 1800s

Describe the recruitment, working conditions, and life of typical “mill girls” in the early 1800s.

What changes did the Workingmen’s Parties call for in the early 1800s?​​​

List the provisions of the Monroe Doctrine and explain its international implications.

List the duties of the Second National Bank.

List the three elements in the American System.

List and explain the provisions and results of the Missouri Compromise.

List the candidates, issues, and results of the Presidential Elections of 1824 and 1828.

What was the Anti-Mason Party, who supported it, and what innovations did they bring to American politics.

List the provisions of the tariffs of 1816, 1828, 1832, and 1833, showing how policy and reactions changed.

List and explain the provisions and results of the Indian Removal Act.

Describe the issues involved, actions taken by President Jackson, and the outcome of the Nullification Crisis.

Describe Jackson’s war on the bank and explain how it affected political parties.

Describe the ways America became more democratic in the early 1800s.

Describe the rise of the Whig Party and the party positions of the Whigs and Democrats.

List and explain the causes and effects of the Panic of 1837.

Describe Nat Turner’s rebellion and list the effects in the nation.

Describe Denmark Vesey’s plans and the results of his conspiracy.

List the innovations Charles Finney used in his revivals and religious meetings.

List the results of the Second Great Awakening.

Describe the reform movements of the first half of the 19th century and their impact.

List the rights claimed for American women at the Seneca Falls Convention.

List and explain the beliefs of Francis Wright and the practices and accusations against her Nashoba community.

List and explain the beliefs and practices of the Shakers.

Describe the beliefs and movements of the Mormons as they searched for a secure home.

Describe the Transcendentalist focus of Brook Farm and the activities of the community.

Describe the goals, organization, and activities of New Harmony and evaluate their effectiveness.

Define Oneida’s “complex marriage” and evaluate the practices and economic success of the community.

Explain what the Common School Movement hoped to achieve and evaluate the results.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES UNIT FOUR  (Chapters 13-15)        ELMORE – 1301

List the provisions and impact of each of the following:

Gadsden Purchase                                                        Black Codes

Wilmot Proviso                                                            Civil Rights Act of 1866

Special Field Order No. 15                                            Ku Klux Klan (Force) Acts

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan                                            Reconstruction Act of 1867

List the results or contribution of each of the following:

Battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto                             Battle of Gettysburg

Commodore Matthew Perry                                          Andersonville, Georgia Prison

William Walker                                                            Clara Barton

John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry                             Mary Livermore

Battle of Antietam                                                        James Pike

Discuss or describe each of the following:

Define “Manifest Destiny” and state its goals.

List the reasons stated in the Texas Declaration of Independence for the independence movement in Texas.

Explain the terms and the primary reason for the Oregon Treaty of 1846.

List the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

List the results of the Mexican War.

Describe the provisions of the Compromise of 1850 and evaluate their short and long term impacts.

List and explain the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the violence that resulted from it.

List the proposals and positions of the American (Know Nothing) Party and the Republican Party.

Explain the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott decision and explain its impact.

List and explain the issues raised as a result of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Describe the Election of 1860, the four candidates, and their positions, and the final result.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the North and South in the Civil War.

List the new inventions, technologies, and strategies in the Civil War.

Describe the significance and effects of the battle between the Monitor and the Virginia.

Describe the Emancipation Proclamation, including the goals and effectiveness.

List and explain the effects of the Civil War.

Describe the plans and results of John Wilkes Booth’s assassination plot in 1865.

By amendment, list the provisions of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the US Constitution.

State the provisions and results of the Homestead Act, Morrill Land Act, and Transcontinental Railroad Act.

Describe and explain the results of the Sand Creek massacre and the Dakota War.

List the activities of the Freedmen’s Bureau and explain their effectiveness.

Explain how the Slaughterhouse Cases and US v Cruikshank helped shape America after the Civil War.

Explain the impeachment charges against President Andrew Johnson and the result.

List the goals and methods of the Southern Redeemers.

List the expansion of citizens’ rights granted in the new state constitutions written after the Civil War.

List the positive achievements of the Southern states’ new governments after the Civil War.

Describe the candidates in the Election of 1876, and the provisions and results of the Bargain of 1877.

* Describe America’s three political party alignments (Federalists vs Republicans, Democrats vs Whigs,

    Democrats vs Republicans), addressing the origins, positions and fall (where applicable) of each.

* Compare and contrast the reasons for the American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Civil War.

* Describe the amendments to the US Constitution from 1789 to 1876 and how they expanded the rights and

            liberties of Americans.

COLLEGE AND STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES:

Austin Community College students have many rights which they enjoy, along with responsibilities and codes of conduct which they are expected to observe.

Many of these issues are outlined on our course Blackboard site under “College Policies and Student Support Services.”  They include descriptions of the following:

Health and Safety Protocols

Statement of Academic Integrity

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Senate Bill 212 and Title IX Reporting Requirements

Student Complaints

Statement of Privacy (FERPA)

Recording Policy

Safety Statement

Campus Carry

Discrimination Prohibited

Use of ACC Email

Use of the Testing Center

Student Support

Student Accessibility Services (SAS)

Academic Support

Library Services

Student Organizations

Personal Support

Crisis Hotline Numbers

SEMESTER:                        SPRING 2026                         

CLASS:                                  US History I – 1301 (17060-011) Tu, Th 9:00-10:20am, SAC 1316

                                                                        1301 (17059-009) Tu, Th 11:15am-12:35pm, SAC 1316

                                                                        1301 (28786-029) Tu, Th 1:30-2:50pm, SAC 1202

CREDIT HOURS:                3

DATES:                                  January 20-May 14, 2026

METHODOLOGY:              Lecture

PROFESSOR:                       Luther Elmore (He, Him)

E MAIL:                                lelmore@austincc.edu

OFFICE HOURS:                 SAC 1224  -  Tu, Th 10:30-11:15, 12:45-1:30pm   -   (512) 223-9207

COURSE DESCRIPTION / OBJECTIVE:

U. S. History 1301 is a study of the history of the United States to 1877.  This course surveys the major developments in the history of the United States until 1877,  including examples of conflicting interpretations of that history, and requires a written assignment from a primary source document from the period and a personal oral history interview.

See the ACC history website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

COURSE RATIONALE:

The Texas Legislature requires students to take six hours of American history to graduate from an institution of higher learning in Texas.  This course helps fulfill part of that requirement.  Students taking History 1301 can expect to improve their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, all of which help students better succeed in life outside of academia.

Refer to the ACC history website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

COMMON COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The History Department of Austin Community College has established common course objectives for this course.  These common objectives help ensure fair and consistent presentation by all instructors of the material required in the course.  Although the common course objectives are incorporated into the learning objectives for each section of material in this specific course, general objectives for this course can be accessed from the ACC website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

Additional information about the ACC History Department can be obtained on the ACC Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/SocBehSciencesACC/

COURSE METHODOLOGY:

This course is a lecture course and will be conducted at the assigned campus with no video or interactive presentations.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:

Give Me Liberty! Volume One to 1877,  Seagull, 7th edition by Eric Foner.

ISBN 978-1-324-04133-7

This textbook is required for this course and you must have it.

SYLLABUS:

Copies of the syllabus are available on the ACC website through Blackboard.

ATTENDANCE:

There is normally a strong correlation between regular class attendance and the successful completion of this course.  Attendance is taken at the beginning of each class session.  Students are expected to attend class, however,  attendance does not affect the grade for the semester.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS /ORGANIZATION/EXAMS:

This course is divided into four units.  For each unit there will be an in class exam.  In addition, there will be two two-page essays one based on a primary source document and a second based on an oral history interview. Thus, there will be six individual assignments.  All work for the semester must be completed by the end of the class session on May 14, 2026.

Four exams will be given.  Students are expected to complete the four exams and submit the outside writing assignments.  Students who take all four exams and submit both papers will be allowed to drop their lowest grade.  In addition, if a student misses one of the four in class exams or fails to submit one of the two essays, that will automatically be the grade dropped.  No makeup will be allowed. 

For each exam a list of learning objectives is included in this syllabus.  All test questions will come from the list of learning objectives and will include text material and classroom discussions.  The exams will include objective and discussion questions, but all questions will be based on the learning objectives.

Please note that schedule changes may occur during this semester.  Any changes will be posted on Blackboard Announcement, sent to your ACC email account, and announced in class when possible.

Regular and timely completion of work is expected of all students.

MISSED EXAMS:

If one exam is missed, no make-up is allowed.  If a second exam is missed, a make-up may be scheduled in the ACC Testing Center where the class is held.  If a student misses a second exam, they will need to present documentation of the extenuating circumstances (sickness, death in the family, etc).  If there were no documented, extenuating circumstances, a two letter grade penalty (20 points) will be deducted from the grade (the same as imposed on written essays submitted after the due date).

COURSE SCHEDULE AND CALENDAR:

Please note that schedule changes may occur during the semester.  Any changes will be announced in class and posted as a Blackboard Announcement.

Jan       20        Introduction – Overview of the semester and course requirements

Jan       22        Beginnings – Native Americans and Europe prior to 1492, Vinland

Jan       27        Native Americans in 1492 - African trade, Tainos, Aztecs

Jan       29        Discovery by Europeans – Columbus, Cortez, The Protestant Reformation

Feb      3         English colonies – Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Pennsylvania

Feb      5         English Colonies - Carolina, Georgia, Navigation Acts

Feb      10        The growing colonies – Dominion of New England, Conflict, Peace of Paris 1763

Feb      12        EXAM 1 – CHAPTERS 1-4

Feb      17        Great Britain in 1763, Pontiac, Sugar Act, Stamp Act

Feb      19        American Revolution – Tea Act, Lexington, Continental Congress, Saratoga

Feb      24        The New Nation – Treaty of Paris, Articles of Confederation, Land ordinances

Feb      26        The New Constitution - Daniel Shays, The Federalist

Mar      3         The New Government – The Bill of Rights

Mar      5         Public Credit, National Bank, Whiskey Rebellion

Mar      10       Political Parties – Federalists vs Republicans, War of 1812

Mar     12        EXAM 2 – CHAPTERS 5-8

Mar      24        Expansion – Whitney, Lowell, Fulton, National Road, Erie Canal

Mar     26        The Age of Jackson – Elections of 1824 and 1828, US Bank, Indian Removal

Mar     31        The Panic of 1837 – Rise of Whigs, Alexis de Tocqueville

Apr      2         A Changing America – Fulton, Whitney, Erie Canal, National Road, Boston Associates

Apr      7         A Search for Meaning - Second Great Awakening, Seneca Falls, Abolitionists

Apr       9         Shakers, Mormons, Women’s Rights

Apr      14        Intentional Communities – Oneida, Brook Farm, New Harmony

Apr     16        EXAM 3 – CHAPTERS 9-12

Apr      21        Westward Movement, Manifest Destiny, Texas, Mormons

Apr      23        Expansion and Conflict – The Mexican War, California Gold, Compromise of 1850

Apr      28        The Road to War – Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott, John Brown

Apr      30        North vs. South, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg

May     5         End of the War – Effects of the War, John Wilkes Booth, Presidential Reconstruction

May     7         Presidential Reconstruction 1865-1867 – Andrew Johnson, 13 Amendment

May    12         Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction 1868-1877-14, 15 Amendments, Election 1876

May    14        FINAL EXAM – CHAPTERS 13-15

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:

Each student is expected to complete two outside writing assignments. The primary source document is available on the internet. The other is an oral history interview with an older individual.  Both assignments are due by the end of the class period on the assigned dates.  Assignments submitted after the scheduled date and time will have a two letter (20 points) grade penalty imposed.  All assignments are expected to demonstrate college level writing skills, using proper grammar, punctuation, and organization.  You will be graded according to college standards. Papers should be handed in in printed format during class on the due date. For the specific assignments, see the attached pages.

PLAGIARISM:

As defined by the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition, to plagiarize means “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” and “to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”  In academia plagiarism is stealing.  In  its simplest form, it is copying something written by someone else and submitting it as your own.  This course requires independent, outside writing assignments, so do your own work.  Anyone caught plagiarizing in a written paper will automatically receive an F or the course and be referred to administrative offices for further disciplinary action.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY:

Austin Community College values academic integrity in the educational process.  Acts of academic dishonesty/misconduct undermine the learning process, present a disadvantage to students who earn credit honestly, and subvert the academic mission of the institution.  The potential consequences of fraudulent credentials raise additional concerns for individuals and communities beyond campus who rely on institutions of higher learning to certify students’ academic achievements, and expect to benefit from the claimed knowledge and skills of their graduates.  Students must follow all instructions given by faculty or designated college representatives when taking examinations, placement assessments, tests, quizzes and evaluations.  Actions that constitution scholastic dishonesty include, but are not limited to plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, collusion, falsifying documents, or the inappropriate use of the college’s information technology resources.  Any student caught committing acts of scholastic dishonesty will receive an “F” for the course.

Further information is available at:

https://www.austincc.edu/about-acc/academic-integrity-and-disciplinary-process

WITHDRAWAL POLICY:

It is the responsibility of each student to ensure that his or her name is removed from the rolls should they decide to withdraw from the class.  The instructor will not normally initiate withdrawals of students.  If a student decides to withdraw, he or she should also verify that the withdrawal is recorded before the final withdrawal date.  The final withdrawal date for this semester is April 27, 2026. 

Students are responsible for understanding the impact that withdrawal from a course may have on their financial aid, veterans’ benefits, and international student status.  Based on state law, students enrolling for the first time in Fall 2017 or later at any public Texas college of university may not withdraw (receive a “W”) from more than six courses during their undergraduate college education.  Some exemptions for good cause could allow a student to withdraw from a course without having it count toward this limit.  Students are strongly encouraged to meet with an advisor when making decisions about course selection, course loads, and course withdrawals.

INCOMPLETES:

Incompletes are only allowed for acceptable documented reasons.  Generally, this means documented evidence from an outside, independent source, such as a doctor.

The student and the instructor must complete forms stating the requirements which must be fulfilled to clear the incomplete.  Students receiving an “I” for the Spring 2026 semester must complete all requirements to clear the “I” by July 27, 2026, the published final conversion date for this semester.  If an incomplete is not resolved by the deadline, the grade automatically converts to an “F.”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION:

Each student is strongly encouraged to participate in class. In any classroom situation that includes discussion and critical thinking, there are bound to be many different viewpoints.  These differences enhance the learning experience and create an atmosphere where students and instructors alike will be encouraged to think and learn.  On sensitive and volatile topics, students may sometimes disagree not only with each other but also with the instructor.  It is expected that faculty and students will respect the views of others when expressed in classroom discussion. 

NOTE:  USE OF ANY COMPUTER DEVICES, INCLUDING LAPTOPS AND CELL PHONES, IN CLASS IS PROHIBITED.

ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) – GENERATIVE ARTIFICIEAL INTELLIGENCE (GAI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is defined as artificial intelligence systems capable of creating new content based on patterns from existing knowledge (Chat GPT, and others).

Use of AI in this class is prohibited.  This is established in order to preserve academic integrity, development of students’ knowledge, and original thought and work.  While AI is beneficial in many areas,  models can also generate biased or inaccurate information and include extraneous material that is not relevant.  While use of other aids such as Grammarly are acceptable, AI models are not.  If your written paper contains material that is not in the assigned reading (dates, events, individuals, references, etc.), you will receive a zero on the assignment.  Therefore, it is best not to rely on AI or any other material that is not part of the reading.  Your work in this class should be yours alone.  There will be no exceptions to this requirement.

GRADING:

Four exams will be given at 100 points each.

Two writing essays are assigned at 100 points each.

One grade will be dropped from the six assignments.  If a student misses a scheduled exam, that is automatically the grade dropped.  If a student completes all six assignments, the lowest grade will be dropped.  Therefore, each exam and essay constitute 1/5 of your semester grade.

500 Total Points for the semester:

A = 90% average or 450 points

B – 80% average or 400 points

C – 70% average or 350 points

D – 60% average or 300 point

F – below 60% average or fewer than 300 points

SEMESTER DATES:

Holidays                                  Spring Break – March 16-20, 2026                                       

Last date to withdraw             April 27, 2026

End of Class                            This course ends at the end of the class period on May 14, 2026

ACC End of Semester May 17, 2026

REVIEWS OF PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS / ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW:

Writing:

Write a two page essay, typed and double-spaced, using 10 or 12 font type for each essay. 

In one and one-half pages in your own words describe the article you read.  In one-half page and in your own words give your thoughts, comments, conclusions, etc.  Use no other source than the assigned material.  Use no aids such as ChatGPT in writing your paper.  Be specific in your writing and you must use at least three short quotes to strengthen your essay to give it punch and make it personal.

Assignment One:

Conduct a historical oral interview of an older person, ideally, someone 60 or older.

Focus on their experiences of life and their recollection of important historical events.

POSSIBLE areas of discussion might include their early life, schooling, jobs, games and leisure time, and their memories of events like the JFK assassination, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the 9-11-2001 attacks, and the 1-20-2021 attack on the US Capitol.  What do you think about this person’s life and story?

Assignment Two:                                                       

Read The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina by John Andrew Jackson, chapters 1-5.

Internet Address: https:docsouth.unc.edu

Access most easily by entering the title of the book or use the author index to access John Andrew Jackson.

You should be able to access the reading directly at https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jackson/jackson.html

            Questions you MUST address:

Describe Jackson’s various jobs as a slave.

                        Describe the punishments he received and witnessed.

                        Describe his comments on religion and the church.

                        Describe how he made his escape from slavery to freedom.

Read the WPA Interview of former slave Pierce Harper.

This is part of the Federal Writers’ Project: Slave Narrative Project conducted in the 1930s.

It is probably most easily accessed by Googling “WPA Slave Narrative of Pierce Harper.”

            That takes you to the Library of Congress webpage, where you can open the PDF.

              The Pierce Harper interview is located on pages 109-114.

Internet Address:  https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.162/?sp+114&st=text

                         Questions you MUST address: Describe Harper’s recollections of slavery.

                          Describe the acts of the Ku Klux Klan after the end of the Civil War.

What do you think of the lives and experiences of these two men?

NOTE:  If you do not answer ALL of the questions listed above, points will be deducted from your paper.

Grading and Point Value:

One-third of your grade on the essays will be based on the one and one-half pages in which you describe the reading or interview, one-third of the grade will be based on your reactions and conclusions, and one-third of the grade will be based on your grammar, spelling, organization, and the quality of your essay.  Each essay will constitute 1/5 of your semester grade. 

Due Dates:

Assignment One         -           February 26, 2026

Assignment Two                     April 30, 2026

Any assignment submitted after the due date will have a two letter grade penalty (20 points) imposed.

Printed copies of your papers are to be turned in class.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES UNIT ONE     (Chapters 1-4)                        ELMORE – 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works.

Adam Smith                                                                         William Bradford

Amerigo Vespucci                                                               Mary Rowlandson

Bartolome de las Casas                                                      John  Locke

John Calvin                                                                          John Woolman

Martin Luther                                                                       John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (Cato)

Richard Hakluyt                                                 

List the provisions and effects of the following:

Mayflower Compact                                                           English Bill of Rights

Body of Liberties (Lawes and Liberties)                       1690 English Act of Toleration

English Mercantilism                                                         Treaty of Paris, 1763

Discuss or describe each of the following:

List and describe the reasons that the outpost at Vinland might have been abandoned.

Describe the Aztec, Inca, Pueblo, and Mound Builder Indians.

Describe the common characteristics of Indian communal, marital, and religious beliefs.

Describe Johan Gutenberg’s invention and explain its impact.

Describe Columbus’s four voyages, explaining the problems encountered and discoveries made.

Describe and state the importance of voyages by Bartholome Dias, Vasco de Gama, Henry Hudson  and John Cabot.

State the reasons Hernan Cortez was able to defeat the mighty Aztec kingdom.

Explain the challenges and problems France faced in trying to establish colonies in North America.

Describe the goods involved in the Columbian Exchange.

Explain the methods England used in subduing the Irish.

State the importance of the explorations of Alvar Nunex Cabeza de Vaca, Francisco Vasques de Coronado, and Pedro Menendez de Aviles.

Describe the colony at Roanoke and explain what might have happened to it.

List and describe the problems faced in the Jamestown colony from 1607 to 1624.

Describe the Scrooby Manor Separatists’ beliefs and attempts at founding Plymouth Colony.

Explain what is meant by “A City on a Hill” and describe the Puritan colony in Massachusetts Bay.

List the criticisms of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson against the Massachusetts Bay colony.

State the number of immigrants involved in the Great Migration to New England.

Describe the Pueblo Revolt and state the results.

Explain the importance of the explorations of Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de La Salle.

Describe Maryland’s attempt to establish a colony as a haven for English Catholics.

Describe the reasons for and the results of the Pequot War.

Describe Quaker beliefs of George Fox and how they were reflected in the Pennsylvania colony.

List the provisions, goals, and results of the Navigation Acts of 1660, 1663, and 1696.

Explain the difference between plantation slaves and indentured servants in the English colonies.

List the results of King Philip’s War.

List the results of Bacon’s Rebellion.

Describe the Dominion of New England and explain why it was established and dissolved.

Explain the reason for the Glorious Revolution and reactions to it in New York, Maryland, and

                Massachusetts.

List the results and potential explanations for the outbreak of witchcraft in Salem.

List and describe the results of the Great Awakening.

List and describe the results of the Stono Uprising.

List restrictions placed on early colonists in Georgia.

How did John Peter Zenger influence freedom of the press in the English colonies?

Describe the Albany Plan and explain why it was opposed by both colonists and British officials.

List and explain the results of the French and Indian War.

Describe Pontiac’s Rebellion, the Paxton Boys, and Proclamation of 1763 and colonial reactions to each.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE  UNIT TWO    (Chapters 5-8)                        ELMORE- 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works:

John Dickinson                                                Phillis Wheatley

Thomas Paine                                                  Mary Wollstonecraft

Samuel Sewall                                                  Judith Sargent Murray

Describe and list the results of each of the following:

Mission Dolores                                               The Whiskey Rebellion

Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom             Marbury v Madison and Fletcher v Peck

Shays’s Rebellion                                             The Battle of Fallen Timbers

The Federalist                                                  Gabriel’s Rebellion

Naturalization Act of 1790                                The attack on the Chesapeake

The Barbary Wars                                             Newburgh Conspiracy

Describe or discuss each of the following:

Describe the situation England faced and the problems it had to address in 1763.

List the provisions of the Sugar Acts and the Stamp Act and American colonial reactions to them.

Explain the provisions of the Townshend Acts and colonial reactions.

Describe the Boston Massacre and the effect it had on the colonies.

Describe the provisions of the Tea Act and the colonial response to it.

List the provisions of the Coercive Acts and the actions Americans took in response to them.

Describe the battles of Lexington and Concord and their impact on Americans.

List and explain the actions taken by the First and Second Continental Congresses.

List and explain colonial grievances and complaints as outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

Explain the importance of the Battle of Saratoga.

Describe how British loyalists in America reacted to the American Revolution and the American victory.

List and explain the reasons for the American victory in the American Revolution.

Explain the provisions of the Treaty of Paris, 1783.

Describe democratic reforms in America after the American Revolution.

Explain the impact the revolution in Haiti had on the United States.

Describe the government as organized under the Articles of Confederation and the reasons it failed.

List the provisions of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

Describe the Constitutional provisions regarding slaves and the slave trade, elections to the House and Senate,      the election of the president, and the powers of Congress and the president.

List the freedoms and legal protections guaranteed to Americans in the Bill of Rights.

Explain the plans for and the controversies over assumption and funding in the “Report on Public Credit” and      

  the creation of the National Bank.

List the three proposals of Alexander Hamilton’s “Report on Manufactures.”

Describe the rise of Republicans and Federalists and the political positions of each.

List the provisions of Jay’s Treaty and the Treaty of San Lorenzo.

Describe the Alien and Sedition Laws and explain their provisions and impacts.

Describe the Election of 1800, how it was settled, and how the problem was addressed by Congress.

Describe the actions taken by President Jefferson to reverse previous Federalist policies.

Describe the purchase of Louisiana and the Lewis and Clark expedition.

List the provisions and results of the Embargo Act and the Slave Trade Law of 1807.

List the stated reasons the United States declared war on Great Britain in 1812 and evaluate their truth.

List the goals Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa were trying to achieve for American Indians.

Describe the Hartford Convention, Constitutional amendments proposed, and reaction to them.

List the provisions of the Treaty of Ghent.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES               UNIT THREE (Chapters 9-12)          ELMORE - 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works:

Frederick Douglass                                           Frederick Law Olmsted

Alexis de Tocqueville                                       David Walker

Sarah Bagley                                                    Ralph Waldo Emerson

Joseph Smith                                                    Elijah Lovejoy

Lydia Maria Child                                            Henry David Thoreau

William Lloyd Garrison                                    Margaret Fuller

John L. O’Sullivan                                           Harriet Beecher Stowe

List the contribution, invention, or provisions of each of the following along with the results:

National Road                                                  Gibbons v Ogden

Robert Fulton                                                   Dartmouth College v Woodward

Erie Canal                                                        Commonwealth v Hunt

Adams-Onis Treaty                                           McCulloch v Maryland

Eli Whitney                                                      Worcester v Georgia

John Deere                                                       The Amistad

Cyrus McCormick                                            Harriet Tubman

The Boston Associates                                      Dorothea Dix

Describe or discuss each of the following:

Explain how steamboats, canals, railroads, and the telegraph changed America in the early 1800s

Describe the recruitment, working conditions, and life of typical “mill girls” in the early 1800s.

What changes did the Workingmen’s Parties call for in the early 1800s?​​​

List the provisions of the Monroe Doctrine and explain its international implications.

List the duties of the Second National Bank.

List the three elements in the American System.

List and explain the provisions and results of the Missouri Compromise.

List the candidates, issues, and results of the Presidential Elections of 1824 and 1828.

What was the Anti-Mason Party, who supported it, and what innovations did they bring to American politics.

List the provisions of the tariffs of 1816, 1828, 1832, and 1833, showing how policy and reactions changed.

List and explain the provisions and results of the Indian Removal Act.

Describe the issues involved, actions taken by President Jackson, and the outcome of the Nullification Crisis.

Describe Jackson’s war on the bank and explain how it affected political parties.

Describe the ways America became more democratic in the early 1800s.

Describe the rise of the Whig Party and the party positions of the Whigs and Democrats.

List and explain the causes and effects of the Panic of 1837.

Describe Nat Turner’s rebellion and list the effects in the nation.

Describe Denmark Vesey’s plans and the results of his conspiracy.

List the innovations Charles Finney used in his revivals and religious meetings.

List the results of the Second Great Awakening.

Describe the reform movements of the first half of the 19th century and their impact.

List the rights claimed for American women at the Seneca Falls Convention.

List and explain the beliefs of Francis Wright and the practices and accusations against her Nashoba community.

List and explain the beliefs and practices of the Shakers.

Describe the beliefs and movements of the Mormons as they searched for a secure home.

Describe the Transcendentalist focus of Brook Farm and the activities of the community.

Describe the goals, organization, and activities of New Harmony and evaluate their effectiveness.

Define Oneida’s “complex marriage” and evaluate the practices and economic success of the community.

Explain what the Common School Movement hoped to achieve and evaluate the results.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES UNIT FOUR  (Chapters 13-15)        ELMORE – 1301

List the provisions and impact of each of the following:

Gadsden Purchase                                                        Black Codes

Wilmot Proviso                                                            Civil Rights Act of 1866

Special Field Order No. 15                                            Ku Klux Klan (Force) Acts

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan                                            Reconstruction Act of 1867

List the results or contribution of each of the following:

Battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto                             Battle of Gettysburg

Commodore Matthew Perry                                          Andersonville, Georgia Prison

William Walker                                                            Clara Barton

John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry                             Mary Livermore

Battle of Antietam                                                        James Pike

Discuss or describe each of the following:

Define “Manifest Destiny” and state its goals.

List the reasons stated in the Texas Declaration of Independence for the independence movement in Texas.

Explain the terms and the primary reason for the Oregon Treaty of 1846.

List the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

List the results of the Mexican War.

Describe the provisions of the Compromise of 1850 and evaluate their short and long term impacts.

List and explain the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the violence that resulted from it.

List the proposals and positions of the American (Know Nothing) Party and the Republican Party.

Explain the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott decision and explain its impact.

List and explain the issues raised as a result of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Describe the Election of 1860, the four candidates, and their positions, and the final result.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the North and South in the Civil War.

List the new inventions, technologies, and strategies in the Civil War.

Describe the significance and effects of the battle between the Monitor and the Virginia.

Describe the Emancipation Proclamation, including the goals and effectiveness.

List and explain the effects of the Civil War.

Describe the plans and results of John Wilkes Booth’s assassination plot in 1865.

By amendment, list the provisions of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the US Constitution.

State the provisions and results of the Homestead Act, Morrill Land Act, and Transcontinental Railroad Act.

Describe and explain the results of the Sand Creek massacre and the Dakota War.

List the activities of the Freedmen’s Bureau and explain their effectiveness.

Explain how the Slaughterhouse Cases and US v Cruikshank helped shape America after the Civil War.

Explain the impeachment charges against President Andrew Johnson and the result.

List the goals and methods of the Southern Redeemers.

List the expansion of citizens’ rights granted in the new state constitutions written after the Civil War.

List the positive achievements of the Southern states’ new governments after the Civil War.

Describe the candidates in the Election of 1876, and the provisions and results of the Bargain of 1877.

* Describe America’s three political party alignments (Federalists vs Republicans, Democrats vs Whigs,

    Democrats vs Republicans), addressing the origins, positions and fall (where applicable) of each.

* Compare and contrast the reasons for the American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Civil War.

* Describe the amendments to the US Constitution from 1789 to 1876 and how they expanded the rights and

            liberties of Americans.

COLLEGE AND STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES:

Austin Community College students have many rights which they enjoy, along with responsibilities and codes of conduct which they are expected to observe.

Many of these issues are outlined on our course Blackboard site under “College Policies and Student Support Services.”  They include descriptions of the following:

Health and Safety Protocols

Statement of Academic Integrity

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Senate Bill 212 and Title IX Reporting Requirements

Student Complaints

Statement of Privacy (FERPA)

Recording Policy

Safety Statement

Campus Carry

Discrimination Prohibited

Use of ACC Email

Use of the Testing Center

Student Support

Student Accessibility Services (SAS)

Academic Support

Library Services

Student Organizations

Personal Support

Crisis Hotline Numbers

SEMESTER:                        SPRING 2026                         

CLASS:                                  US History I – 1301 (17060-011) Tu, Th 9:00-10:20am, SAC 1316

                                                                        1301 (17059-009) Tu, Th 11:15am-12:35pm, SAC 1316

                                                                        1301 (28786-029) Tu, Th 1:30-2:50pm, SAC 1202

CREDIT HOURS:                3

DATES:                                  January 20-May 14, 2026

METHODOLOGY:              Lecture

PROFESSOR:                       Luther Elmore (He, Him)

E MAIL:                                lelmore@austincc.edu

OFFICE HOURS:                 SAC 1224  -  Tu, Th 10:30-11:15, 12:45-1:30pm   -   (512) 223-9207

COURSE DESCRIPTION / OBJECTIVE:

U. S. History 1301 is a study of the history of the United States to 1877.  This course surveys the major developments in the history of the United States until 1877,  including examples of conflicting interpretations of that history, and requires a written assignment from a primary source document from the period and a personal oral history interview.

See the ACC history website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

COURSE RATIONALE:

The Texas Legislature requires students to take six hours of American history to graduate from an institution of higher learning in Texas.  This course helps fulfill part of that requirement.  Students taking History 1301 can expect to improve their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, all of which help students better succeed in life outside of academia.

Refer to the ACC history website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

COMMON COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The History Department of Austin Community College has established common course objectives for this course.  These common objectives help ensure fair and consistent presentation by all instructors of the material required in the course.  Although the common course objectives are incorporated into the learning objectives for each section of material in this specific course, general objectives for this course can be accessed from the ACC website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

Additional information about the ACC History Department can be obtained on the ACC Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/SocBehSciencesACC/

COURSE METHODOLOGY:

This course is a lecture course and will be conducted at the assigned campus with no video or interactive presentations.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:

Give Me Liberty! Volume One to 1877,  Seagull, 7th edition by Eric Foner.

ISBN 978-1-324-04133-7

This textbook is required for this course and you must have it.

SYLLABUS:

Copies of the syllabus are available on the ACC website through Blackboard.

ATTENDANCE:

There is normally a strong correlation between regular class attendance and the successful completion of this course.  Attendance is taken at the beginning of each class session.  Students are expected to attend class, however,  attendance does not affect the grade for the semester.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS /ORGANIZATION/EXAMS:

This course is divided into four units.  For each unit there will be an in class exam.  In addition, there will be two two-page essays one based on a primary source document and a second based on an oral history interview. Thus, there will be six individual assignments.  All work for the semester must be completed by the end of the class session on May 14, 2026.

Four exams will be given.  Students are expected to complete the four exams and submit the outside writing assignments.  Students who take all four exams and submit both papers will be allowed to drop their lowest grade.  In addition, if a student misses one of the four in class exams or fails to submit one of the two essays, that will automatically be the grade dropped.  No makeup will be allowed. 

For each exam a list of learning objectives is included in this syllabus.  All test questions will come from the list of learning objectives and will include text material and classroom discussions.  The exams will include objective and discussion questions, but all questions will be based on the learning objectives.

Please note that schedule changes may occur during this semester.  Any changes will be posted on Blackboard Announcement, sent to your ACC email account, and announced in class when possible.

Regular and timely completion of work is expected of all students.

MISSED EXAMS:

If one exam is missed, no make-up is allowed.  If a second exam is missed, a make-up may be scheduled in the ACC Testing Center where the class is held.  If a student misses a second exam, they will need to present documentation of the extenuating circumstances (sickness, death in the family, etc).  If there were no documented, extenuating circumstances, a two letter grade penalty (20 points) will be deducted from the grade (the same as imposed on written essays submitted after the due date).

COURSE SCHEDULE AND CALENDAR:

Please note that schedule changes may occur during the semester.  Any changes will be announced in class and posted as a Blackboard Announcement.

Jan       20        Introduction – Overview of the semester and course requirements

Jan       22        Beginnings – Native Americans and Europe prior to 1492, Vinland

Jan       27        Native Americans in 1492 - African trade, Tainos, Aztecs

Jan       29        Discovery by Europeans – Columbus, Cortez, The Protestant Reformation

Feb      3         English colonies – Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Pennsylvania

Feb      5         English Colonies - Carolina, Georgia, Navigation Acts

Feb      10        The growing colonies – Dominion of New England, Conflict, Peace of Paris 1763

Feb      12        EXAM 1 – CHAPTERS 1-4

Feb      17        Great Britain in 1763, Pontiac, Sugar Act, Stamp Act

Feb      19        American Revolution – Tea Act, Lexington, Continental Congress, Saratoga

Feb      24        The New Nation – Treaty of Paris, Articles of Confederation, Land ordinances

Feb      26        The New Constitution - Daniel Shays, The Federalist

Mar      3         The New Government – The Bill of Rights

Mar      5         Public Credit, National Bank, Whiskey Rebellion

Mar      10       Political Parties – Federalists vs Republicans, War of 1812

Mar     12        EXAM 2 – CHAPTERS 5-8

Mar      24        Expansion – Whitney, Lowell, Fulton, National Road, Erie Canal

Mar     26        The Age of Jackson – Elections of 1824 and 1828, US Bank, Indian Removal

Mar     31        The Panic of 1837 – Rise of Whigs, Alexis de Tocqueville

Apr      2         A Changing America – Fulton, Whitney, Erie Canal, National Road, Boston Associates

Apr      7         A Search for Meaning - Second Great Awakening, Seneca Falls, Abolitionists

Apr       9         Shakers, Mormons, Women’s Rights

Apr      14        Intentional Communities – Oneida, Brook Farm, New Harmony

Apr     16        EXAM 3 – CHAPTERS 9-12

Apr      21        Westward Movement, Manifest Destiny, Texas, Mormons

Apr      23        Expansion and Conflict – The Mexican War, California Gold, Compromise of 1850

Apr      28        The Road to War – Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott, John Brown

Apr      30        North vs. South, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg

May     5         End of the War – Effects of the War, John Wilkes Booth, Presidential Reconstruction

May     7         Presidential Reconstruction 1865-1867 – Andrew Johnson, 13 Amendment

May    12         Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction 1868-1877-14, 15 Amendments, Election 1876

May    14        FINAL EXAM – CHAPTERS 13-15

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:

Each student is expected to complete two outside writing assignments. The primary source document is available on the internet. The other is an oral history interview with an older individual.  Both assignments are due by the end of the class period on the assigned dates.  Assignments submitted after the scheduled date and time will have a two letter (20 points) grade penalty imposed.  All assignments are expected to demonstrate college level writing skills, using proper grammar, punctuation, and organization.  You will be graded according to college standards. Papers should be handed in in printed format during class on the due date. For the specific assignments, see the attached pages.

PLAGIARISM:

As defined by the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition, to plagiarize means “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” and “to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”  In academia plagiarism is stealing.  In  its simplest form, it is copying something written by someone else and submitting it as your own.  This course requires independent, outside writing assignments, so do your own work.  Anyone caught plagiarizing in a written paper will automatically receive an F or the course and be referred to administrative offices for further disciplinary action.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY:

Austin Community College values academic integrity in the educational process.  Acts of academic dishonesty/misconduct undermine the learning process, present a disadvantage to students who earn credit honestly, and subvert the academic mission of the institution.  The potential consequences of fraudulent credentials raise additional concerns for individuals and communities beyond campus who rely on institutions of higher learning to certify students’ academic achievements, and expect to benefit from the claimed knowledge and skills of their graduates.  Students must follow all instructions given by faculty or designated college representatives when taking examinations, placement assessments, tests, quizzes and evaluations.  Actions that constitution scholastic dishonesty include, but are not limited to plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, collusion, falsifying documents, or the inappropriate use of the college’s information technology resources.  Any student caught committing acts of scholastic dishonesty will receive an “F” for the course.

Further information is available at:

https://www.austincc.edu/about-acc/academic-integrity-and-disciplinary-process

WITHDRAWAL POLICY:

It is the responsibility of each student to ensure that his or her name is removed from the rolls should they decide to withdraw from the class.  The instructor will not normally initiate withdrawals of students.  If a student decides to withdraw, he or she should also verify that the withdrawal is recorded before the final withdrawal date.  The final withdrawal date for this semester is April 27, 2026. 

Students are responsible for understanding the impact that withdrawal from a course may have on their financial aid, veterans’ benefits, and international student status.  Based on state law, students enrolling for the first time in Fall 2017 or later at any public Texas college of university may not withdraw (receive a “W”) from more than six courses during their undergraduate college education.  Some exemptions for good cause could allow a student to withdraw from a course without having it count toward this limit.  Students are strongly encouraged to meet with an advisor when making decisions about course selection, course loads, and course withdrawals.

INCOMPLETES:

Incompletes are only allowed for acceptable documented reasons.  Generally, this means documented evidence from an outside, independent source, such as a doctor.

The student and the instructor must complete forms stating the requirements which must be fulfilled to clear the incomplete.  Students receiving an “I” for the Spring 2026 semester must complete all requirements to clear the “I” by July 27, 2026, the published final conversion date for this semester.  If an incomplete is not resolved by the deadline, the grade automatically converts to an “F.”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION:

Each student is strongly encouraged to participate in class. In any classroom situation that includes discussion and critical thinking, there are bound to be many different viewpoints.  These differences enhance the learning experience and create an atmosphere where students and instructors alike will be encouraged to think and learn.  On sensitive and volatile topics, students may sometimes disagree not only with each other but also with the instructor.  It is expected that faculty and students will respect the views of others when expressed in classroom discussion. 

NOTE:  USE OF ANY COMPUTER DEVICES, INCLUDING LAPTOPS AND CELL PHONES, IN CLASS IS PROHIBITED.

ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) – GENERATIVE ARTIFICIEAL INTELLIGENCE (GAI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is defined as artificial intelligence systems capable of creating new content based on patterns from existing knowledge (Chat GPT, and others).

Use of AI in this class is prohibited.  This is established in order to preserve academic integrity, development of students’ knowledge, and original thought and work.  While AI is beneficial in many areas,  models can also generate biased or inaccurate information and include extraneous material that is not relevant.  While use of other aids such as Grammarly are acceptable, AI models are not.  If your written paper contains material that is not in the assigned reading (dates, events, individuals, references, etc.), you will receive a zero on the assignment.  Therefore, it is best not to rely on AI or any other material that is not part of the reading.  Your work in this class should be yours alone.  There will be no exceptions to this requirement.

GRADING:

Four exams will be given at 100 points each.

Two writing essays are assigned at 100 points each.

One grade will be dropped from the six assignments.  If a student misses a scheduled exam, that is automatically the grade dropped.  If a student completes all six assignments, the lowest grade will be dropped.  Therefore, each exam and essay constitute 1/5 of your semester grade.

500 Total Points for the semester:

A = 90% average or 450 points

B – 80% average or 400 points

C – 70% average or 350 points

D – 60% average or 300 point

F – below 60% average or fewer than 300 points

SEMESTER DATES:

Holidays                                  Spring Break – March 16-20, 2026                                       

Last date to withdraw             April 27, 2026

End of Class                            This course ends at the end of the class period on May 14, 2026

ACC End of Semester May 17, 2026

REVIEWS OF PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS / ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW:

Writing:

Write a two page essay, typed and double-spaced, using 10 or 12 font type for each essay. 

In one and one-half pages in your own words describe the article you read.  In one-half page and in your own words give your thoughts, comments, conclusions, etc.  Use no other source than the assigned material.  Use no aids such as ChatGPT in writing your paper.  Be specific in your writing and you must use at least three short quotes to strengthen your essay to give it punch and make it personal.

Assignment One:

Conduct a historical oral interview of an older person, ideally, someone 60 or older.

Focus on their experiences of life and their recollection of important historical events.

POSSIBLE areas of discussion might include their early life, schooling, jobs, games and leisure time, and their memories of events like the JFK assassination, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the 9-11-2001 attacks, and the 1-20-2021 attack on the US Capitol.  What do you think about this person’s life and story?

Assignment Two:                                                       

Read The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina by John Andrew Jackson, chapters 1-5.

Internet Address: https:docsouth.unc.edu

Access most easily by entering the title of the book or use the author index to access John Andrew Jackson.

You should be able to access the reading directly at https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jackson/jackson.html

            Questions you MUST address:

Describe Jackson’s various jobs as a slave.

                        Describe the punishments he received and witnessed.

                        Describe his comments on religion and the church.

                        Describe how he made his escape from slavery to freedom.

Read the WPA Interview of former slave Pierce Harper.

This is part of the Federal Writers’ Project: Slave Narrative Project conducted in the 1930s.

It is probably most easily accessed by Googling “WPA Slave Narrative of Pierce Harper.”

            That takes you to the Library of Congress webpage, where you can open the PDF.

              The Pierce Harper interview is located on pages 109-114.

Internet Address:  https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.162/?sp+114&st=text

                         Questions you MUST address: Describe Harper’s recollections of slavery.

                          Describe the acts of the Ku Klux Klan after the end of the Civil War.

What do you think of the lives and experiences of these two men?

NOTE:  If you do not answer ALL of the questions listed above, points will be deducted from your paper.

Grading and Point Value:

One-third of your grade on the essays will be based on the one and one-half pages in which you describe the reading or interview, one-third of the grade will be based on your reactions and conclusions, and one-third of the grade will be based on your grammar, spelling, organization, and the quality of your essay.  Each essay will constitute 1/5 of your semester grade. 

Due Dates:

Assignment One         -           February 26, 2026

Assignment Two                     April 30, 2026

Any assignment submitted after the due date will have a two letter grade penalty (20 points) imposed.

Printed copies of your papers are to be turned in class.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES UNIT ONE     (Chapters 1-4)                        ELMORE – 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works.

Adam Smith                                                                         William Bradford

Amerigo Vespucci                                                               Mary Rowlandson

Bartolome de las Casas                                                      John  Locke

John Calvin                                                                          John Woolman

Martin Luther                                                                       John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (Cato)

Richard Hakluyt                                                 

List the provisions and effects of the following:

Mayflower Compact                                                           English Bill of Rights

Body of Liberties (Lawes and Liberties)                       1690 English Act of Toleration

English Mercantilism                                                         Treaty of Paris, 1763

Discuss or describe each of the following:

List and describe the reasons that the outpost at Vinland might have been abandoned.

Describe the Aztec, Inca, Pueblo, and Mound Builder Indians.

Describe the common characteristics of Indian communal, marital, and religious beliefs.

Describe Johan Gutenberg’s invention and explain its impact.

Describe Columbus’s four voyages, explaining the problems encountered and discoveries made.

Describe and state the importance of voyages by Bartholome Dias, Vasco de Gama, Henry Hudson  and John Cabot.

State the reasons Hernan Cortez was able to defeat the mighty Aztec kingdom.

Explain the challenges and problems France faced in trying to establish colonies in North America.

Describe the goods involved in the Columbian Exchange.

Explain the methods England used in subduing the Irish.

State the importance of the explorations of Alvar Nunex Cabeza de Vaca, Francisco Vasques de Coronado, and Pedro Menendez de Aviles.

Describe the colony at Roanoke and explain what might have happened to it.

List and describe the problems faced in the Jamestown colony from 1607 to 1624.

Describe the Scrooby Manor Separatists’ beliefs and attempts at founding Plymouth Colony.

Explain what is meant by “A City on a Hill” and describe the Puritan colony in Massachusetts Bay.

List the criticisms of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson against the Massachusetts Bay colony.

State the number of immigrants involved in the Great Migration to New England.

Describe the Pueblo Revolt and state the results.

Explain the importance of the explorations of Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de La Salle.

Describe Maryland’s attempt to establish a colony as a haven for English Catholics.

Describe the reasons for and the results of the Pequot War.

Describe Quaker beliefs of George Fox and how they were reflected in the Pennsylvania colony.

List the provisions, goals, and results of the Navigation Acts of 1660, 1663, and 1696.

Explain the difference between plantation slaves and indentured servants in the English colonies.

List the results of King Philip’s War.

List the results of Bacon’s Rebellion.

Describe the Dominion of New England and explain why it was established and dissolved.

Explain the reason for the Glorious Revolution and reactions to it in New York, Maryland, and

                Massachusetts.

List the results and potential explanations for the outbreak of witchcraft in Salem.

List and describe the results of the Great Awakening.

List and describe the results of the Stono Uprising.

List restrictions placed on early colonists in Georgia.

How did John Peter Zenger influence freedom of the press in the English colonies?

Describe the Albany Plan and explain why it was opposed by both colonists and British officials.

List and explain the results of the French and Indian War.

Describe Pontiac’s Rebellion, the Paxton Boys, and Proclamation of 1763 and colonial reactions to each.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE  UNIT TWO    (Chapters 5-8)                        ELMORE- 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works:

John Dickinson                                                Phillis Wheatley

Thomas Paine                                                  Mary Wollstonecraft

Samuel Sewall                                                  Judith Sargent Murray

Describe and list the results of each of the following:

Mission Dolores                                               The Whiskey Rebellion

Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom             Marbury v Madison and Fletcher v Peck

Shays’s Rebellion                                             The Battle of Fallen Timbers

The Federalist                                                  Gabriel’s Rebellion

Naturalization Act of 1790                                The attack on the Chesapeake

The Barbary Wars                                             Newburgh Conspiracy

Describe or discuss each of the following:

Describe the situation England faced and the problems it had to address in 1763.

List the provisions of the Sugar Acts and the Stamp Act and American colonial reactions to them.

Explain the provisions of the Townshend Acts and colonial reactions.

Describe the Boston Massacre and the effect it had on the colonies.

Describe the provisions of the Tea Act and the colonial response to it.

List the provisions of the Coercive Acts and the actions Americans took in response to them.

Describe the battles of Lexington and Concord and their impact on Americans.

List and explain the actions taken by the First and Second Continental Congresses.

List and explain colonial grievances and complaints as outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

Explain the importance of the Battle of Saratoga.

Describe how British loyalists in America reacted to the American Revolution and the American victory.

List and explain the reasons for the American victory in the American Revolution.

Explain the provisions of the Treaty of Paris, 1783.

Describe democratic reforms in America after the American Revolution.

Explain the impact the revolution in Haiti had on the United States.

Describe the government as organized under the Articles of Confederation and the reasons it failed.

List the provisions of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

Describe the Constitutional provisions regarding slaves and the slave trade, elections to the House and Senate,      the election of the president, and the powers of Congress and the president.

List the freedoms and legal protections guaranteed to Americans in the Bill of Rights.

Explain the plans for and the controversies over assumption and funding in the “Report on Public Credit” and      

  the creation of the National Bank.

List the three proposals of Alexander Hamilton’s “Report on Manufactures.”

Describe the rise of Republicans and Federalists and the political positions of each.

List the provisions of Jay’s Treaty and the Treaty of San Lorenzo.

Describe the Alien and Sedition Laws and explain their provisions and impacts.

Describe the Election of 1800, how it was settled, and how the problem was addressed by Congress.

Describe the actions taken by President Jefferson to reverse previous Federalist policies.

Describe the purchase of Louisiana and the Lewis and Clark expedition.

List the provisions and results of the Embargo Act and the Slave Trade Law of 1807.

List the stated reasons the United States declared war on Great Britain in 1812 and evaluate their truth.

List the goals Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa were trying to achieve for American Indians.

Describe the Hartford Convention, Constitutional amendments proposed, and reaction to them.

List the provisions of the Treaty of Ghent.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES               UNIT THREE (Chapters 9-12)          ELMORE - 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works:

Frederick Douglass                                           Frederick Law Olmsted

Alexis de Tocqueville                                       David Walker

Sarah Bagley                                                    Ralph Waldo Emerson

Joseph Smith                                                    Elijah Lovejoy

Lydia Maria Child                                            Henry David Thoreau

William Lloyd Garrison                                    Margaret Fuller

John L. O’Sullivan                                           Harriet Beecher Stowe

List the contribution, invention, or provisions of each of the following along with the results:

National Road                                                  Gibbons v Ogden

Robert Fulton                                                   Dartmouth College v Woodward

Erie Canal                                                        Commonwealth v Hunt

Adams-Onis Treaty                                           McCulloch v Maryland

Eli Whitney                                                      Worcester v Georgia

John Deere                                                       The Amistad

Cyrus McCormick                                            Harriet Tubman

The Boston Associates                                      Dorothea Dix

Describe or discuss each of the following:

Explain how steamboats, canals, railroads, and the telegraph changed America in the early 1800s

Describe the recruitment, working conditions, and life of typical “mill girls” in the early 1800s.

What changes did the Workingmen’s Parties call for in the early 1800s?​​​

List the provisions of the Monroe Doctrine and explain its international implications.

List the duties of the Second National Bank.

List the three elements in the American System.

List and explain the provisions and results of the Missouri Compromise.

List the candidates, issues, and results of the Presidential Elections of 1824 and 1828.

What was the Anti-Mason Party, who supported it, and what innovations did they bring to American politics.

List the provisions of the tariffs of 1816, 1828, 1832, and 1833, showing how policy and reactions changed.

List and explain the provisions and results of the Indian Removal Act.

Describe the issues involved, actions taken by President Jackson, and the outcome of the Nullification Crisis.

Describe Jackson’s war on the bank and explain how it affected political parties.

Describe the ways America became more democratic in the early 1800s.

Describe the rise of the Whig Party and the party positions of the Whigs and Democrats.

List and explain the causes and effects of the Panic of 1837.

Describe Nat Turner’s rebellion and list the effects in the nation.

Describe Denmark Vesey’s plans and the results of his conspiracy.

List the innovations Charles Finney used in his revivals and religious meetings.

List the results of the Second Great Awakening.

Describe the reform movements of the first half of the 19th century and their impact.

List the rights claimed for American women at the Seneca Falls Convention.

List and explain the beliefs of Francis Wright and the practices and accusations against her Nashoba community.

List and explain the beliefs and practices of the Shakers.

Describe the beliefs and movements of the Mormons as they searched for a secure home.

Describe the Transcendentalist focus of Brook Farm and the activities of the community.

Describe the goals, organization, and activities of New Harmony and evaluate their effectiveness.

Define Oneida’s “complex marriage” and evaluate the practices and economic success of the community.

Explain what the Common School Movement hoped to achieve and evaluate the results.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES UNIT FOUR  (Chapters 13-15)        ELMORE – 1301

List the provisions and impact of each of the following:

Gadsden Purchase                                                        Black Codes

Wilmot Proviso                                                            Civil Rights Act of 1866

Special Field Order No. 15                                            Ku Klux Klan (Force) Acts

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan                                            Reconstruction Act of 1867

List the results or contribution of each of the following:

Battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto                             Battle of Gettysburg

Commodore Matthew Perry                                          Andersonville, Georgia Prison

William Walker                                                            Clara Barton

John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry                             Mary Livermore

Battle of Antietam                                                        James Pike

Discuss or describe each of the following:

Define “Manifest Destiny” and state its goals.

List the reasons stated in the Texas Declaration of Independence for the independence movement in Texas.

Explain the terms and the primary reason for the Oregon Treaty of 1846.

List the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

List the results of the Mexican War.

Describe the provisions of the Compromise of 1850 and evaluate their short and long term impacts.

List and explain the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the violence that resulted from it.

List the proposals and positions of the American (Know Nothing) Party and the Republican Party.

Explain the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott decision and explain its impact.

List and explain the issues raised as a result of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Describe the Election of 1860, the four candidates, and their positions, and the final result.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the North and South in the Civil War.

List the new inventions, technologies, and strategies in the Civil War.

Describe the significance and effects of the battle between the Monitor and the Virginia.

Describe the Emancipation Proclamation, including the goals and effectiveness.

List and explain the effects of the Civil War.

Describe the plans and results of John Wilkes Booth’s assassination plot in 1865.

By amendment, list the provisions of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the US Constitution.

State the provisions and results of the Homestead Act, Morrill Land Act, and Transcontinental Railroad Act.

Describe and explain the results of the Sand Creek massacre and the Dakota War.

List the activities of the Freedmen’s Bureau and explain their effectiveness.

Explain how the Slaughterhouse Cases and US v Cruikshank helped shape America after the Civil War.

Explain the impeachment charges against President Andrew Johnson and the result.

List the goals and methods of the Southern Redeemers.

List the expansion of citizens’ rights granted in the new state constitutions written after the Civil War.

List the positive achievements of the Southern states’ new governments after the Civil War.

Describe the candidates in the Election of 1876, and the provisions and results of the Bargain of 1877.

* Describe America’s three political party alignments (Federalists vs Republicans, Democrats vs Whigs,

    Democrats vs Republicans), addressing the origins, positions and fall (where applicable) of each.

* Compare and contrast the reasons for the American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Civil War.

* Describe the amendments to the US Constitution from 1789 to 1876 and how they expanded the rights and

            liberties of Americans.

COLLEGE AND STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES:

Austin Community College students have many rights which they enjoy, along with responsibilities and codes of conduct which they are expected to observe.

Many of these issues are outlined on our course Blackboard site under “College Policies and Student Support Services.”  They include descriptions of the following:

Health and Safety Protocols

Statement of Academic Integrity

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Senate Bill 212 and Title IX Reporting Requirements

Student Complaints

Statement of Privacy (FERPA)

Recording Policy

Safety Statement

Campus Carry

Discrimination Prohibited

Use of ACC Email

Use of the Testing Center

Student Support

Student Accessibility Services (SAS)

Academic Support

Library Services

Student Organizations

Personal Support

Crisis Hotline Numbers

SEMESTER:                        SPRING 2026                         

CLASS:                                  US History I – 1301 (17060-011) Tu, Th 9:00-10:20am, SAC 1316

                                                                        1301 (17059-009) Tu, Th 11:15am-12:35pm, SAC 1316

                                                                        1301 (28786-029) Tu, Th 1:30-2:50pm, SAC 1202

CREDIT HOURS:                3

DATES:                                  January 20-May 14, 2026

METHODOLOGY:              Lecture

PROFESSOR:                       Luther Elmore (He, Him)

E MAIL:                                lelmore@austincc.edu

OFFICE HOURS:                 SAC 1224  -  Tu, Th 10:30-11:15, 12:45-1:30pm   -   (512) 223-9207

COURSE DESCRIPTION / OBJECTIVE:

U. S. History 1301 is a study of the history of the United States to 1877.  This course surveys the major developments in the history of the United States until 1877,  including examples of conflicting interpretations of that history, and requires a written assignment from a primary source document from the period and a personal oral history interview.

See the ACC history website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

COURSE RATIONALE:

The Texas Legislature requires students to take six hours of American history to graduate from an institution of higher learning in Texas.  This course helps fulfill part of that requirement.  Students taking History 1301 can expect to improve their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, all of which help students better succeed in life outside of academia.

Refer to the ACC history website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

COMMON COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The History Department of Austin Community College has established common course objectives for this course.  These common objectives help ensure fair and consistent presentation by all instructors of the material required in the course.  Although the common course objectives are incorporated into the learning objectives for each section of material in this specific course, general objectives for this course can be accessed from the ACC website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

Additional information about the ACC History Department can be obtained on the ACC Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/SocBehSciencesACC/

COURSE METHODOLOGY:

This course is a lecture course and will be conducted at the assigned campus with no video or interactive presentations.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:

Give Me Liberty! Volume One to 1877,  Seagull, 7th edition by Eric Foner.

ISBN 978-1-324-04133-7

This textbook is required for this course and you must have it.

SYLLABUS:

Copies of the syllabus are available on the ACC website through Blackboard.

ATTENDANCE:

There is normally a strong correlation between regular class attendance and the successful completion of this course.  Attendance is taken at the beginning of each class session.  Students are expected to attend class, however,  attendance does not affect the grade for the semester.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS /ORGANIZATION/EXAMS:

This course is divided into four units.  For each unit there will be an in class exam.  In addition, there will be two two-page essays one based on a primary source document and a second based on an oral history interview. Thus, there will be six individual assignments.  All work for the semester must be completed by the end of the class session on May 14, 2026.

Four exams will be given.  Students are expected to complete the four exams and submit the outside writing assignments.  Students who take all four exams and submit both papers will be allowed to drop their lowest grade.  In addition, if a student misses one of the four in class exams or fails to submit one of the two essays, that will automatically be the grade dropped.  No makeup will be allowed. 

For each exam a list of learning objectives is included in this syllabus.  All test questions will come from the list of learning objectives and will include text material and classroom discussions.  The exams will include objective and discussion questions, but all questions will be based on the learning objectives.

Please note that schedule changes may occur during this semester.  Any changes will be posted on Blackboard Announcement, sent to your ACC email account, and announced in class when possible.

Regular and timely completion of work is expected of all students.

MISSED EXAMS:

If one exam is missed, no make-up is allowed.  If a second exam is missed, a make-up may be scheduled in the ACC Testing Center where the class is held.  If a student misses a second exam, they will need to present documentation of the extenuating circumstances (sickness, death in the family, etc).  If there were no documented, extenuating circumstances, a two letter grade penalty (20 points) will be deducted from the grade (the same as imposed on written essays submitted after the due date).

COURSE SCHEDULE AND CALENDAR:

Please note that schedule changes may occur during the semester.  Any changes will be announced in class and posted as a Blackboard Announcement.

Jan       20        Introduction – Overview of the semester and course requirements

Jan       22        Beginnings – Native Americans and Europe prior to 1492, Vinland

Jan       27        Native Americans in 1492 - African trade, Tainos, Aztecs

Jan       29        Discovery by Europeans – Columbus, Cortez, The Protestant Reformation

Feb      3         English colonies – Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Pennsylvania

Feb      5         English Colonies - Carolina, Georgia, Navigation Acts

Feb      10        The growing colonies – Dominion of New England, Conflict, Peace of Paris 1763

Feb      12        EXAM 1 – CHAPTERS 1-4

Feb      17        Great Britain in 1763, Pontiac, Sugar Act, Stamp Act

Feb      19        American Revolution – Tea Act, Lexington, Continental Congress, Saratoga

Feb      24        The New Nation – Treaty of Paris, Articles of Confederation, Land ordinances

Feb      26        The New Constitution - Daniel Shays, The Federalist

Mar      3         The New Government – The Bill of Rights

Mar      5         Public Credit, National Bank, Whiskey Rebellion

Mar      10       Political Parties – Federalists vs Republicans, War of 1812

Mar     12        EXAM 2 – CHAPTERS 5-8

Mar      24        Expansion – Whitney, Lowell, Fulton, National Road, Erie Canal

Mar     26        The Age of Jackson – Elections of 1824 and 1828, US Bank, Indian Removal

Mar     31        The Panic of 1837 – Rise of Whigs, Alexis de Tocqueville

Apr      2         A Changing America – Fulton, Whitney, Erie Canal, National Road, Boston Associates

Apr      7         A Search for Meaning - Second Great Awakening, Seneca Falls, Abolitionists

Apr       9         Shakers, Mormons, Women’s Rights

Apr      14        Intentional Communities – Oneida, Brook Farm, New Harmony

Apr     16        EXAM 3 – CHAPTERS 9-12

Apr      21        Westward Movement, Manifest Destiny, Texas, Mormons

Apr      23        Expansion and Conflict – The Mexican War, California Gold, Compromise of 1850

Apr      28        The Road to War – Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott, John Brown

Apr      30        North vs. South, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg

May     5         End of the War – Effects of the War, John Wilkes Booth, Presidential Reconstruction

May     7         Presidential Reconstruction 1865-1867 – Andrew Johnson, 13 Amendment

May    12         Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction 1868-1877-14, 15 Amendments, Election 1876

May    14        FINAL EXAM – CHAPTERS 13-15

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:

Each student is expected to complete two outside writing assignments. The primary source document is available on the internet. The other is an oral history interview with an older individual.  Both assignments are due by the end of the class period on the assigned dates.  Assignments submitted after the scheduled date and time will have a two letter (20 points) grade penalty imposed.  All assignments are expected to demonstrate college level writing skills, using proper grammar, punctuation, and organization.  You will be graded according to college standards. Papers should be handed in in printed format during class on the due date. For the specific assignments, see the attached pages.

PLAGIARISM:

As defined by the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition, to plagiarize means “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” and “to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”  In academia plagiarism is stealing.  In  its simplest form, it is copying something written by someone else and submitting it as your own.  This course requires independent, outside writing assignments, so do your own work.  Anyone caught plagiarizing in a written paper will automatically receive an F or the course and be referred to administrative offices for further disciplinary action.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY:

Austin Community College values academic integrity in the educational process.  Acts of academic dishonesty/misconduct undermine the learning process, present a disadvantage to students who earn credit honestly, and subvert the academic mission of the institution.  The potential consequences of fraudulent credentials raise additional concerns for individuals and communities beyond campus who rely on institutions of higher learning to certify students’ academic achievements, and expect to benefit from the claimed knowledge and skills of their graduates.  Students must follow all instructions given by faculty or designated college representatives when taking examinations, placement assessments, tests, quizzes and evaluations.  Actions that constitution scholastic dishonesty include, but are not limited to plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, collusion, falsifying documents, or the inappropriate use of the college’s information technology resources.  Any student caught committing acts of scholastic dishonesty will receive an “F” for the course.

Further information is available at:

https://www.austincc.edu/about-acc/academic-integrity-and-disciplinary-process

WITHDRAWAL POLICY:

It is the responsibility of each student to ensure that his or her name is removed from the rolls should they decide to withdraw from the class.  The instructor will not normally initiate withdrawals of students.  If a student decides to withdraw, he or she should also verify that the withdrawal is recorded before the final withdrawal date.  The final withdrawal date for this semester is April 27, 2026. 

Students are responsible for understanding the impact that withdrawal from a course may have on their financial aid, veterans’ benefits, and international student status.  Based on state law, students enrolling for the first time in Fall 2017 or later at any public Texas college of university may not withdraw (receive a “W”) from more than six courses during their undergraduate college education.  Some exemptions for good cause could allow a student to withdraw from a course without having it count toward this limit.  Students are strongly encouraged to meet with an advisor when making decisions about course selection, course loads, and course withdrawals.

INCOMPLETES:

Incompletes are only allowed for acceptable documented reasons.  Generally, this means documented evidence from an outside, independent source, such as a doctor.

The student and the instructor must complete forms stating the requirements which must be fulfilled to clear the incomplete.  Students receiving an “I” for the Spring 2026 semester must complete all requirements to clear the “I” by July 27, 2026, the published final conversion date for this semester.  If an incomplete is not resolved by the deadline, the grade automatically converts to an “F.”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION:

Each student is strongly encouraged to participate in class. In any classroom situation that includes discussion and critical thinking, there are bound to be many different viewpoints.  These differences enhance the learning experience and create an atmosphere where students and instructors alike will be encouraged to think and learn.  On sensitive and volatile topics, students may sometimes disagree not only with each other but also with the instructor.  It is expected that faculty and students will respect the views of others when expressed in classroom discussion. 

NOTE:  USE OF ANY COMPUTER DEVICES, INCLUDING LAPTOPS AND CELL PHONES, IN CLASS IS PROHIBITED.

ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) – GENERATIVE ARTIFICIEAL INTELLIGENCE (GAI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is defined as artificial intelligence systems capable of creating new content based on patterns from existing knowledge (Chat GPT, and others).

Use of AI in this class is prohibited.  This is established in order to preserve academic integrity, development of students’ knowledge, and original thought and work.  While AI is beneficial in many areas,  models can also generate biased or inaccurate information and include extraneous material that is not relevant.  While use of other aids such as Grammarly are acceptable, AI models are not.  If your written paper contains material that is not in the assigned reading (dates, events, individuals, references, etc.), you will receive a zero on the assignment.  Therefore, it is best not to rely on AI or any other material that is not part of the reading.  Your work in this class should be yours alone.  There will be no exceptions to this requirement.

GRADING:

Four exams will be given at 100 points each.

Two writing essays are assigned at 100 points each.

One grade will be dropped from the six assignments.  If a student misses a scheduled exam, that is automatically the grade dropped.  If a student completes all six assignments, the lowest grade will be dropped.  Therefore, each exam and essay constitute 1/5 of your semester grade.

500 Total Points for the semester:

A = 90% average or 450 points

B – 80% average or 400 points

C – 70% average or 350 points

D – 60% average or 300 point

F – below 60% average or fewer than 300 points

SEMESTER DATES:

Holidays                                  Spring Break – March 16-20, 2026                                       

Last date to withdraw             April 27, 2026

End of Class                            This course ends at the end of the class period on May 14, 2026

ACC End of Semester May 17, 2026

REVIEWS OF PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS / ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW:

Writing:

Write a two page essay, typed and double-spaced, using 10 or 12 font type for each essay. 

In one and one-half pages in your own words describe the article you read.  In one-half page and in your own words give your thoughts, comments, conclusions, etc.  Use no other source than the assigned material.  Use no aids such as ChatGPT in writing your paper.  Be specific in your writing and you must use at least three short quotes to strengthen your essay to give it punch and make it personal.

Assignment One:

Conduct a historical oral interview of an older person, ideally, someone 60 or older.

Focus on their experiences of life and their recollection of important historical events.

POSSIBLE areas of discussion might include their early life, schooling, jobs, games and leisure time, and their memories of events like the JFK assassination, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the 9-11-2001 attacks, and the 1-20-2021 attack on the US Capitol.  What do you think about this person’s life and story?

Assignment Two:                                                       

Read The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina by John Andrew Jackson, chapters 1-5.

Internet Address: https:docsouth.unc.edu

Access most easily by entering the title of the book or use the author index to access John Andrew Jackson.

You should be able to access the reading directly at https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jackson/jackson.html

            Questions you MUST address:

Describe Jackson’s various jobs as a slave.

                        Describe the punishments he received and witnessed.

                        Describe his comments on religion and the church.

                        Describe how he made his escape from slavery to freedom.

Read the WPA Interview of former slave Pierce Harper.

This is part of the Federal Writers’ Project: Slave Narrative Project conducted in the 1930s.

It is probably most easily accessed by Googling “WPA Slave Narrative of Pierce Harper.”

            That takes you to the Library of Congress webpage, where you can open the PDF.

              The Pierce Harper interview is located on pages 109-114.

Internet Address:  https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.162/?sp+114&st=text

                         Questions you MUST address: Describe Harper’s recollections of slavery.

                          Describe the acts of the Ku Klux Klan after the end of the Civil War.

What do you think of the lives and experiences of these two men?

NOTE:  If you do not answer ALL of the questions listed above, points will be deducted from your paper.

Grading and Point Value:

One-third of your grade on the essays will be based on the one and one-half pages in which you describe the reading or interview, one-third of the grade will be based on your reactions and conclusions, and one-third of the grade will be based on your grammar, spelling, organization, and the quality of your essay.  Each essay will constitute 1/5 of your semester grade. 

Due Dates:

Assignment One         -           February 26, 2026

Assignment Two                     April 30, 2026

Any assignment submitted after the due date will have a two letter grade penalty (20 points) imposed.

Printed copies of your papers are to be turned in class.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES UNIT ONE     (Chapters 1-4)                        ELMORE – 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works.

Adam Smith                                                                         William Bradford

Amerigo Vespucci                                                               Mary Rowlandson

Bartolome de las Casas                                                      John  Locke

John Calvin                                                                          John Woolman

Martin Luther                                                                       John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (Cato)

Richard Hakluyt                                                 

List the provisions and effects of the following:

Mayflower Compact                                                           English Bill of Rights

Body of Liberties (Lawes and Liberties)                       1690 English Act of Toleration

English Mercantilism                                                         Treaty of Paris, 1763

Discuss or describe each of the following:

List and describe the reasons that the outpost at Vinland might have been abandoned.

Describe the Aztec, Inca, Pueblo, and Mound Builder Indians.

Describe the common characteristics of Indian communal, marital, and religious beliefs.

Describe Johan Gutenberg’s invention and explain its impact.

Describe Columbus’s four voyages, explaining the problems encountered and discoveries made.

Describe and state the importance of voyages by Bartholome Dias, Vasco de Gama, Henry Hudson  and John Cabot.

State the reasons Hernan Cortez was able to defeat the mighty Aztec kingdom.

Explain the challenges and problems France faced in trying to establish colonies in North America.

Describe the goods involved in the Columbian Exchange.

Explain the methods England used in subduing the Irish.

State the importance of the explorations of Alvar Nunex Cabeza de Vaca, Francisco Vasques de Coronado, and Pedro Menendez de Aviles.

Describe the colony at Roanoke and explain what might have happened to it.

List and describe the problems faced in the Jamestown colony from 1607 to 1624.

Describe the Scrooby Manor Separatists’ beliefs and attempts at founding Plymouth Colony.

Explain what is meant by “A City on a Hill” and describe the Puritan colony in Massachusetts Bay.

List the criticisms of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson against the Massachusetts Bay colony.

State the number of immigrants involved in the Great Migration to New England.

Describe the Pueblo Revolt and state the results.

Explain the importance of the explorations of Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de La Salle.

Describe Maryland’s attempt to establish a colony as a haven for English Catholics.

Describe the reasons for and the results of the Pequot War.

Describe Quaker beliefs of George Fox and how they were reflected in the Pennsylvania colony.

List the provisions, goals, and results of the Navigation Acts of 1660, 1663, and 1696.

Explain the difference between plantation slaves and indentured servants in the English colonies.

List the results of King Philip’s War.

List the results of Bacon’s Rebellion.

Describe the Dominion of New England and explain why it was established and dissolved.

Explain the reason for the Glorious Revolution and reactions to it in New York, Maryland, and

                Massachusetts.

List the results and potential explanations for the outbreak of witchcraft in Salem.

List and describe the results of the Great Awakening.

List and describe the results of the Stono Uprising.

List restrictions placed on early colonists in Georgia.

How did John Peter Zenger influence freedom of the press in the English colonies?

Describe the Albany Plan and explain why it was opposed by both colonists and British officials.

List and explain the results of the French and Indian War.

Describe Pontiac’s Rebellion, the Paxton Boys, and Proclamation of 1763 and colonial reactions to each.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE  UNIT TWO    (Chapters 5-8)                        ELMORE- 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works:

John Dickinson                                                Phillis Wheatley

Thomas Paine                                                  Mary Wollstonecraft

Samuel Sewall                                                  Judith Sargent Murray

Describe and list the results of each of the following:

Mission Dolores                                               The Whiskey Rebellion

Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom             Marbury v Madison and Fletcher v Peck

Shays’s Rebellion                                             The Battle of Fallen Timbers

The Federalist                                                  Gabriel’s Rebellion

Naturalization Act of 1790                                The attack on the Chesapeake

The Barbary Wars                                             Newburgh Conspiracy

Describe or discuss each of the following:

Describe the situation England faced and the problems it had to address in 1763.

List the provisions of the Sugar Acts and the Stamp Act and American colonial reactions to them.

Explain the provisions of the Townshend Acts and colonial reactions.

Describe the Boston Massacre and the effect it had on the colonies.

Describe the provisions of the Tea Act and the colonial response to it.

List the provisions of the Coercive Acts and the actions Americans took in response to them.

Describe the battles of Lexington and Concord and their impact on Americans.

List and explain the actions taken by the First and Second Continental Congresses.

List and explain colonial grievances and complaints as outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

Explain the importance of the Battle of Saratoga.

Describe how British loyalists in America reacted to the American Revolution and the American victory.

List and explain the reasons for the American victory in the American Revolution.

Explain the provisions of the Treaty of Paris, 1783.

Describe democratic reforms in America after the American Revolution.

Explain the impact the revolution in Haiti had on the United States.

Describe the government as organized under the Articles of Confederation and the reasons it failed.

List the provisions of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

Describe the Constitutional provisions regarding slaves and the slave trade, elections to the House and Senate,      the election of the president, and the powers of Congress and the president.

List the freedoms and legal protections guaranteed to Americans in the Bill of Rights.

Explain the plans for and the controversies over assumption and funding in the “Report on Public Credit” and      

  the creation of the National Bank.

List the three proposals of Alexander Hamilton’s “Report on Manufactures.”

Describe the rise of Republicans and Federalists and the political positions of each.

List the provisions of Jay’s Treaty and the Treaty of San Lorenzo.

Describe the Alien and Sedition Laws and explain their provisions and impacts.

Describe the Election of 1800, how it was settled, and how the problem was addressed by Congress.

Describe the actions taken by President Jefferson to reverse previous Federalist policies.

Describe the purchase of Louisiana and the Lewis and Clark expedition.

List the provisions and results of the Embargo Act and the Slave Trade Law of 1807.

List the stated reasons the United States declared war on Great Britain in 1812 and evaluate their truth.

List the goals Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa were trying to achieve for American Indians.

Describe the Hartford Convention, Constitutional amendments proposed, and reaction to them.

List the provisions of the Treaty of Ghent.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES               UNIT THREE (Chapters 9-12)          ELMORE - 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works:

Frederick Douglass                                           Frederick Law Olmsted

Alexis de Tocqueville                                       David Walker

Sarah Bagley                                                    Ralph Waldo Emerson

Joseph Smith                                                    Elijah Lovejoy

Lydia Maria Child                                            Henry David Thoreau

William Lloyd Garrison                                    Margaret Fuller

John L. O’Sullivan                                           Harriet Beecher Stowe

List the contribution, invention, or provisions of each of the following along with the results:

National Road                                                  Gibbons v Ogden

Robert Fulton                                                   Dartmouth College v Woodward

Erie Canal                                                        Commonwealth v Hunt

Adams-Onis Treaty                                           McCulloch v Maryland

Eli Whitney                                                      Worcester v Georgia

John Deere                                                       The Amistad

Cyrus McCormick                                            Harriet Tubman

The Boston Associates                                      Dorothea Dix

Describe or discuss each of the following:

Explain how steamboats, canals, railroads, and the telegraph changed America in the early 1800s

Describe the recruitment, working conditions, and life of typical “mill girls” in the early 1800s.

What changes did the Workingmen’s Parties call for in the early 1800s?​​​

List the provisions of the Monroe Doctrine and explain its international implications.

List the duties of the Second National Bank.

List the three elements in the American System.

List and explain the provisions and results of the Missouri Compromise.

List the candidates, issues, and results of the Presidential Elections of 1824 and 1828.

What was the Anti-Mason Party, who supported it, and what innovations did they bring to American politics.

List the provisions of the tariffs of 1816, 1828, 1832, and 1833, showing how policy and reactions changed.

List and explain the provisions and results of the Indian Removal Act.

Describe the issues involved, actions taken by President Jackson, and the outcome of the Nullification Crisis.

Describe Jackson’s war on the bank and explain how it affected political parties.

Describe the ways America became more democratic in the early 1800s.

Describe the rise of the Whig Party and the party positions of the Whigs and Democrats.

List and explain the causes and effects of the Panic of 1837.

Describe Nat Turner’s rebellion and list the effects in the nation.

Describe Denmark Vesey’s plans and the results of his conspiracy.

List the innovations Charles Finney used in his revivals and religious meetings.

List the results of the Second Great Awakening.

Describe the reform movements of the first half of the 19th century and their impact.

List the rights claimed for American women at the Seneca Falls Convention.

List and explain the beliefs of Francis Wright and the practices and accusations against her Nashoba community.

List and explain the beliefs and practices of the Shakers.

Describe the beliefs and movements of the Mormons as they searched for a secure home.

Describe the Transcendentalist focus of Brook Farm and the activities of the community.

Describe the goals, organization, and activities of New Harmony and evaluate their effectiveness.

Define Oneida’s “complex marriage” and evaluate the practices and economic success of the community.

Explain what the Common School Movement hoped to achieve and evaluate the results.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES UNIT FOUR  (Chapters 13-15)        ELMORE – 1301

List the provisions and impact of each of the following:

Gadsden Purchase                                                        Black Codes

Wilmot Proviso                                                            Civil Rights Act of 1866

Special Field Order No. 15                                            Ku Klux Klan (Force) Acts

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan                                            Reconstruction Act of 1867

List the results or contribution of each of the following:

Battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto                             Battle of Gettysburg

Commodore Matthew Perry                                          Andersonville, Georgia Prison

William Walker                                                            Clara Barton

John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry                             Mary Livermore

Battle of Antietam                                                        James Pike

Discuss or describe each of the following:

Define “Manifest Destiny” and state its goals.

List the reasons stated in the Texas Declaration of Independence for the independence movement in Texas.

Explain the terms and the primary reason for the Oregon Treaty of 1846.

List the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

List the results of the Mexican War.

Describe the provisions of the Compromise of 1850 and evaluate their short and long term impacts.

List and explain the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the violence that resulted from it.

List the proposals and positions of the American (Know Nothing) Party and the Republican Party.

Explain the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott decision and explain its impact.

List and explain the issues raised as a result of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Describe the Election of 1860, the four candidates, and their positions, and the final result.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the North and South in the Civil War.

List the new inventions, technologies, and strategies in the Civil War.

Describe the significance and effects of the battle between the Monitor and the Virginia.

Describe the Emancipation Proclamation, including the goals and effectiveness.

List and explain the effects of the Civil War.

Describe the plans and results of John Wilkes Booth’s assassination plot in 1865.

By amendment, list the provisions of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the US Constitution.

State the provisions and results of the Homestead Act, Morrill Land Act, and Transcontinental Railroad Act.

Describe and explain the results of the Sand Creek massacre and the Dakota War.

List the activities of the Freedmen’s Bureau and explain their effectiveness.

Explain how the Slaughterhouse Cases and US v Cruikshank helped shape America after the Civil War.

Explain the impeachment charges against President Andrew Johnson and the result.

List the goals and methods of the Southern Redeemers.

List the expansion of citizens’ rights granted in the new state constitutions written after the Civil War.

List the positive achievements of the Southern states’ new governments after the Civil War.

Describe the candidates in the Election of 1876, and the provisions and results of the Bargain of 1877.

* Describe America’s three political party alignments (Federalists vs Republicans, Democrats vs Whigs,

    Democrats vs Republicans), addressing the origins, positions and fall (where applicable) of each.

* Compare and contrast the reasons for the American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Civil War.

* Describe the amendments to the US Constitution from 1789 to 1876 and how they expanded the rights and

            liberties of Americans.

COLLEGE AND STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES:

Austin Community College students have many rights which they enjoy, along with responsibilities and codes of conduct which they are expected to observe.

Many of these issues are outlined on our course Blackboard site under “College Policies and Student Support Services.”  They include descriptions of the following:

Health and Safety Protocols

Statement of Academic Integrity

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Senate Bill 212 and Title IX Reporting Requirements

Student Complaints

Statement of Privacy (FERPA)

Recording Policy

Safety Statement

Campus Carry

Discrimination Prohibited

Use of ACC Email

Use of the Testing Center

Student Support

Student Accessibility Services (SAS)

Academic Support

Library Services

Student Organizations

Personal Support

Crisis Hotline Numbers

SEMESTER:                        SPRING 2026                         

CLASS:                                  US History I – 1301 (17060-011) Tu, Th 9:00-10:20am, SAC 1316

                                                                        1301 (17059-009) Tu, Th 11:15am-12:35pm, SAC 1316

                                                                        1301 (28786-029) Tu, Th 1:30-2:50pm, SAC 1202

CREDIT HOURS:                3

DATES:                                  January 20-May 14, 2026

METHODOLOGY:              Lecture

PROFESSOR:                       Luther Elmore (He, Him)

E MAIL:                                lelmore@austincc.edu

OFFICE HOURS:                 SAC 1224  -  Tu, Th 10:30-11:15, 12:45-1:30pm   -   (512) 223-9207

COURSE DESCRIPTION / OBJECTIVE:

U. S. History 1301 is a study of the history of the United States to 1877.  This course surveys the major developments in the history of the United States until 1877,  including examples of conflicting interpretations of that history, and requires a written assignment from a primary source document from the period and a personal oral history interview.

See the ACC history website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

COURSE RATIONALE:

The Texas Legislature requires students to take six hours of American history to graduate from an institution of higher learning in Texas.  This course helps fulfill part of that requirement.  Students taking History 1301 can expect to improve their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, all of which help students better succeed in life outside of academia.

Refer to the ACC history website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

COMMON COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The History Department of Austin Community College has established common course objectives for this course.  These common objectives help ensure fair and consistent presentation by all instructors of the material required in the course.  Although the common course objectives are incorporated into the learning objectives for each section of material in this specific course, general objectives for this course can be accessed from the ACC website at http://www.austincc.edu/history.

Additional information about the ACC History Department can be obtained on the ACC Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/SocBehSciencesACC/

COURSE METHODOLOGY:

This course is a lecture course and will be conducted at the assigned campus with no video or interactive presentations.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:

Give Me Liberty! Volume One to 1877,  Seagull, 7th edition by Eric Foner.

ISBN 978-1-324-04133-7

This textbook is required for this course and you must have it.

SYLLABUS:

Copies of the syllabus are available on the ACC website through Blackboard.

ATTENDANCE:

There is normally a strong correlation between regular class attendance and the successful completion of this course.  Attendance is taken at the beginning of each class session.  Students are expected to attend class, however,  attendance does not affect the grade for the semester.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS /ORGANIZATION/EXAMS:

This course is divided into four units.  For each unit there will be an in class exam.  In addition, there will be two two-page essays one based on a primary source document and a second based on an oral history interview. Thus, there will be six individual assignments.  All work for the semester must be completed by the end of the class session on May 14, 2026.

Four exams will be given.  Students are expected to complete the four exams and submit the outside writing assignments.  Students who take all four exams and submit both papers will be allowed to drop their lowest grade.  In addition, if a student misses one of the four in class exams or fails to submit one of the two essays, that will automatically be the grade dropped.  No makeup will be allowed. 

For each exam a list of learning objectives is included in this syllabus.  All test questions will come from the list of learning objectives and will include text material and classroom discussions.  The exams will include objective and discussion questions, but all questions will be based on the learning objectives.

Please note that schedule changes may occur during this semester.  Any changes will be posted on Blackboard Announcement, sent to your ACC email account, and announced in class when possible.

Regular and timely completion of work is expected of all students.

MISSED EXAMS:

If one exam is missed, no make-up is allowed.  If a second exam is missed, a make-up may be scheduled in the ACC Testing Center where the class is held.  If a student misses a second exam, they will need to present documentation of the extenuating circumstances (sickness, death in the family, etc).  If there were no documented, extenuating circumstances, a two letter grade penalty (20 points) will be deducted from the grade (the same as imposed on written essays submitted after the due date).

COURSE SCHEDULE AND CALENDAR:

Please note that schedule changes may occur during the semester.  Any changes will be announced in class and posted as a Blackboard Announcement.

Jan       20        Introduction – Overview of the semester and course requirements

Jan       22        Beginnings – Native Americans and Europe prior to 1492, Vinland

Jan       27        Native Americans in 1492 - African trade, Tainos, Aztecs

Jan       29        Discovery by Europeans – Columbus, Cortez, The Protestant Reformation

Feb      3         English colonies – Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Pennsylvania

Feb      5         English Colonies - Carolina, Georgia, Navigation Acts

Feb      10        The growing colonies – Dominion of New England, Conflict, Peace of Paris 1763

Feb      12        EXAM 1 – CHAPTERS 1-4

Feb      17        Great Britain in 1763, Pontiac, Sugar Act, Stamp Act

Feb      19        American Revolution – Tea Act, Lexington, Continental Congress, Saratoga

Feb      24        The New Nation – Treaty of Paris, Articles of Confederation, Land ordinances

Feb      26        The New Constitution - Daniel Shays, The Federalist

Mar      3         The New Government – The Bill of Rights

Mar      5         Public Credit, National Bank, Whiskey Rebellion

Mar      10       Political Parties – Federalists vs Republicans, War of 1812

Mar     12        EXAM 2 – CHAPTERS 5-8

Mar      24        Expansion – Whitney, Lowell, Fulton, National Road, Erie Canal

Mar     26        The Age of Jackson – Elections of 1824 and 1828, US Bank, Indian Removal

Mar     31        The Panic of 1837 – Rise of Whigs, Alexis de Tocqueville

Apr      2         A Changing America – Fulton, Whitney, Erie Canal, National Road, Boston Associates

Apr      7         A Search for Meaning - Second Great Awakening, Seneca Falls, Abolitionists

Apr       9         Shakers, Mormons, Women’s Rights

Apr      14        Intentional Communities – Oneida, Brook Farm, New Harmony

Apr     16        EXAM 3 – CHAPTERS 9-12

Apr      21        Westward Movement, Manifest Destiny, Texas, Mormons

Apr      23        Expansion and Conflict – The Mexican War, California Gold, Compromise of 1850

Apr      28        The Road to War – Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott, John Brown

Apr      30        North vs. South, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg

May     5         End of the War – Effects of the War, John Wilkes Booth, Presidential Reconstruction

May     7         Presidential Reconstruction 1865-1867 – Andrew Johnson, 13 Amendment

May    12         Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction 1868-1877-14, 15 Amendments, Election 1876

May    14        FINAL EXAM – CHAPTERS 13-15

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:

Each student is expected to complete two outside writing assignments. The primary source document is available on the internet. The other is an oral history interview with an older individual.  Both assignments are due by the end of the class period on the assigned dates.  Assignments submitted after the scheduled date and time will have a two letter (20 points) grade penalty imposed.  All assignments are expected to demonstrate college level writing skills, using proper grammar, punctuation, and organization.  You will be graded according to college standards. Papers should be handed in in printed format during class on the due date. For the specific assignments, see the attached pages.

PLAGIARISM:

As defined by the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition, to plagiarize means “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” and “to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”  In academia plagiarism is stealing.  In  its simplest form, it is copying something written by someone else and submitting it as your own.  This course requires independent, outside writing assignments, so do your own work.  Anyone caught plagiarizing in a written paper will automatically receive an F or the course and be referred to administrative offices for further disciplinary action.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY:

Austin Community College values academic integrity in the educational process.  Acts of academic dishonesty/misconduct undermine the learning process, present a disadvantage to students who earn credit honestly, and subvert the academic mission of the institution.  The potential consequences of fraudulent credentials raise additional concerns for individuals and communities beyond campus who rely on institutions of higher learning to certify students’ academic achievements, and expect to benefit from the claimed knowledge and skills of their graduates.  Students must follow all instructions given by faculty or designated college representatives when taking examinations, placement assessments, tests, quizzes and evaluations.  Actions that constitution scholastic dishonesty include, but are not limited to plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, collusion, falsifying documents, or the inappropriate use of the college’s information technology resources.  Any student caught committing acts of scholastic dishonesty will receive an “F” for the course.

Further information is available at:

https://www.austincc.edu/about-acc/academic-integrity-and-disciplinary-process

WITHDRAWAL POLICY:

It is the responsibility of each student to ensure that his or her name is removed from the rolls should they decide to withdraw from the class.  The instructor will not normally initiate withdrawals of students.  If a student decides to withdraw, he or she should also verify that the withdrawal is recorded before the final withdrawal date.  The final withdrawal date for this semester is April 27, 2026. 

Students are responsible for understanding the impact that withdrawal from a course may have on their financial aid, veterans’ benefits, and international student status.  Based on state law, students enrolling for the first time in Fall 2017 or later at any public Texas college of university may not withdraw (receive a “W”) from more than six courses during their undergraduate college education.  Some exemptions for good cause could allow a student to withdraw from a course without having it count toward this limit.  Students are strongly encouraged to meet with an advisor when making decisions about course selection, course loads, and course withdrawals.

INCOMPLETES:

Incompletes are only allowed for acceptable documented reasons.  Generally, this means documented evidence from an outside, independent source, such as a doctor.

The student and the instructor must complete forms stating the requirements which must be fulfilled to clear the incomplete.  Students receiving an “I” for the Spring 2026 semester must complete all requirements to clear the “I” by July 27, 2026, the published final conversion date for this semester.  If an incomplete is not resolved by the deadline, the grade automatically converts to an “F.”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION:

Each student is strongly encouraged to participate in class. In any classroom situation that includes discussion and critical thinking, there are bound to be many different viewpoints.  These differences enhance the learning experience and create an atmosphere where students and instructors alike will be encouraged to think and learn.  On sensitive and volatile topics, students may sometimes disagree not only with each other but also with the instructor.  It is expected that faculty and students will respect the views of others when expressed in classroom discussion. 

NOTE:  USE OF ANY COMPUTER DEVICES, INCLUDING LAPTOPS AND CELL PHONES, IN CLASS IS PROHIBITED.

ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) – GENERATIVE ARTIFICIEAL INTELLIGENCE (GAI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is defined as artificial intelligence systems capable of creating new content based on patterns from existing knowledge (Chat GPT, and others).

Use of AI in this class is prohibited.  This is established in order to preserve academic integrity, development of students’ knowledge, and original thought and work.  While AI is beneficial in many areas,  models can also generate biased or inaccurate information and include extraneous material that is not relevant.  While use of other aids such as Grammarly are acceptable, AI models are not.  If your written paper contains material that is not in the assigned reading (dates, events, individuals, references, etc.), you will receive a zero on the assignment.  Therefore, it is best not to rely on AI or any other material that is not part of the reading.  Your work in this class should be yours alone.  There will be no exceptions to this requirement.

GRADING:

Four exams will be given at 100 points each.

Two writing essays are assigned at 100 points each.

One grade will be dropped from the six assignments.  If a student misses a scheduled exam, that is automatically the grade dropped.  If a student completes all six assignments, the lowest grade will be dropped.  Therefore, each exam and essay constitute 1/5 of your semester grade.

500 Total Points for the semester:

A = 90% average or 450 points

B – 80% average or 400 points

C – 70% average or 350 points

D – 60% average or 300 point

F – below 60% average or fewer than 300 points

SEMESTER DATES:

Holidays                                  Spring Break – March 16-20, 2026                                       

Last date to withdraw             April 27, 2026

End of Class                            This course ends at the end of the class period on May 14, 2026

ACC End of Semester May 17, 2026

REVIEWS OF PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS / ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW:

Writing:

Write a two page essay, typed and double-spaced, using 10 or 12 font type for each essay. 

In one and one-half pages in your own words describe the article you read.  In one-half page and in your own words give your thoughts, comments, conclusions, etc.  Use no other source than the assigned material.  Use no aids such as ChatGPT in writing your paper.  Be specific in your writing and you must use at least three short quotes to strengthen your essay to give it punch and make it personal.

Assignment One:

Conduct a historical oral interview of an older person, ideally, someone 60 or older.

Focus on their experiences of life and their recollection of important historical events.

POSSIBLE areas of discussion might include their early life, schooling, jobs, games and leisure time, and their memories of events like the JFK assassination, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the 9-11-2001 attacks, and the 1-20-2021 attack on the US Capitol.  What do you think about this person’s life and story?

Assignment Two:                                                       

Read The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina by John Andrew Jackson, chapters 1-5.

Internet Address: https:docsouth.unc.edu

Access most easily by entering the title of the book or use the author index to access John Andrew Jackson.

You should be able to access the reading directly at https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jackson/jackson.html

            Questions you MUST address:

Describe Jackson’s various jobs as a slave.

                        Describe the punishments he received and witnessed.

                        Describe his comments on religion and the church.

                        Describe how he made his escape from slavery to freedom.

Read the WPA Interview of former slave Pierce Harper.

This is part of the Federal Writers’ Project: Slave Narrative Project conducted in the 1930s.

It is probably most easily accessed by Googling “WPA Slave Narrative of Pierce Harper.”

            That takes you to the Library of Congress webpage, where you can open the PDF.

              The Pierce Harper interview is located on pages 109-114.

Internet Address:  https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.162/?sp+114&st=text

                         Questions you MUST address: Describe Harper’s recollections of slavery.

                          Describe the acts of the Ku Klux Klan after the end of the Civil War.

What do you think of the lives and experiences of these two men?

NOTE:  If you do not answer ALL of the questions listed above, points will be deducted from your paper.

Grading and Point Value:

One-third of your grade on the essays will be based on the one and one-half pages in which you describe the reading or interview, one-third of the grade will be based on your reactions and conclusions, and one-third of the grade will be based on your grammar, spelling, organization, and the quality of your essay.  Each essay will constitute 1/5 of your semester grade. 

Due Dates:

Assignment One         -           February 26, 2026

Assignment Two                     April 30, 2026

Any assignment submitted after the due date will have a two letter grade penalty (20 points) imposed.

Printed copies of your papers are to be turned in class.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES UNIT ONE     (Chapters 1-4)                        ELMORE – 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works.

Adam Smith                                                                         William Bradford

Amerigo Vespucci                                                               Mary Rowlandson

Bartolome de las Casas                                                      John  Locke

John Calvin                                                                          John Woolman

Martin Luther                                                                       John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (Cato)

Richard Hakluyt                                                 

List the provisions and effects of the following:

Mayflower Compact                                                           English Bill of Rights

Body of Liberties (Lawes and Liberties)                       1690 English Act of Toleration

English Mercantilism                                                         Treaty of Paris, 1763

Discuss or describe each of the following:

List and describe the reasons that the outpost at Vinland might have been abandoned.

Describe the Aztec, Inca, Pueblo, and Mound Builder Indians.

Describe the common characteristics of Indian communal, marital, and religious beliefs.

Describe Johan Gutenberg’s invention and explain its impact.

Describe Columbus’s four voyages, explaining the problems encountered and discoveries made.

Describe and state the importance of voyages by Bartholome Dias, Vasco de Gama, Henry Hudson  and John Cabot.

State the reasons Hernan Cortez was able to defeat the mighty Aztec kingdom.

Explain the challenges and problems France faced in trying to establish colonies in North America.

Describe the goods involved in the Columbian Exchange.

Explain the methods England used in subduing the Irish.

State the importance of the explorations of Alvar Nunex Cabeza de Vaca, Francisco Vasques de Coronado, and Pedro Menendez de Aviles.

Describe the colony at Roanoke and explain what might have happened to it.

List and describe the problems faced in the Jamestown colony from 1607 to 1624.

Describe the Scrooby Manor Separatists’ beliefs and attempts at founding Plymouth Colony.

Explain what is meant by “A City on a Hill” and describe the Puritan colony in Massachusetts Bay.

List the criticisms of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson against the Massachusetts Bay colony.

State the number of immigrants involved in the Great Migration to New England.

Describe the Pueblo Revolt and state the results.

Explain the importance of the explorations of Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de La Salle.

Describe Maryland’s attempt to establish a colony as a haven for English Catholics.

Describe the reasons for and the results of the Pequot War.

Describe Quaker beliefs of George Fox and how they were reflected in the Pennsylvania colony.

List the provisions, goals, and results of the Navigation Acts of 1660, 1663, and 1696.

Explain the difference between plantation slaves and indentured servants in the English colonies.

List the results of King Philip’s War.

List the results of Bacon’s Rebellion.

Describe the Dominion of New England and explain why it was established and dissolved.

Explain the reason for the Glorious Revolution and reactions to it in New York, Maryland, and

                Massachusetts.

List the results and potential explanations for the outbreak of witchcraft in Salem.

List and describe the results of the Great Awakening.

List and describe the results of the Stono Uprising.

List restrictions placed on early colonists in Georgia.

How did John Peter Zenger influence freedom of the press in the English colonies?

Describe the Albany Plan and explain why it was opposed by both colonists and British officials.

List and explain the results of the French and Indian War.

Describe Pontiac’s Rebellion, the Paxton Boys, and Proclamation of 1763 and colonial reactions to each.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE  UNIT TWO    (Chapters 5-8)                        ELMORE- 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works:

John Dickinson                                                Phillis Wheatley

Thomas Paine                                                  Mary Wollstonecraft

Samuel Sewall                                                  Judith Sargent Murray

Describe and list the results of each of the following:

Mission Dolores                                               The Whiskey Rebellion

Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom             Marbury v Madison and Fletcher v Peck

Shays’s Rebellion                                             The Battle of Fallen Timbers

The Federalist                                                  Gabriel’s Rebellion

Naturalization Act of 1790                                The attack on the Chesapeake

The Barbary Wars                                             Newburgh Conspiracy

Describe or discuss each of the following:

Describe the situation England faced and the problems it had to address in 1763.

List the provisions of the Sugar Acts and the Stamp Act and American colonial reactions to them.

Explain the provisions of the Townshend Acts and colonial reactions.

Describe the Boston Massacre and the effect it had on the colonies.

Describe the provisions of the Tea Act and the colonial response to it.

List the provisions of the Coercive Acts and the actions Americans took in response to them.

Describe the battles of Lexington and Concord and their impact on Americans.

List and explain the actions taken by the First and Second Continental Congresses.

List and explain colonial grievances and complaints as outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

Explain the importance of the Battle of Saratoga.

Describe how British loyalists in America reacted to the American Revolution and the American victory.

List and explain the reasons for the American victory in the American Revolution.

Explain the provisions of the Treaty of Paris, 1783.

Describe democratic reforms in America after the American Revolution.

Explain the impact the revolution in Haiti had on the United States.

Describe the government as organized under the Articles of Confederation and the reasons it failed.

List the provisions of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

Describe the Constitutional provisions regarding slaves and the slave trade, elections to the House and Senate,      the election of the president, and the powers of Congress and the president.

List the freedoms and legal protections guaranteed to Americans in the Bill of Rights.

Explain the plans for and the controversies over assumption and funding in the “Report on Public Credit” and      

  the creation of the National Bank.

List the three proposals of Alexander Hamilton’s “Report on Manufactures.”

Describe the rise of Republicans and Federalists and the political positions of each.

List the provisions of Jay’s Treaty and the Treaty of San Lorenzo.

Describe the Alien and Sedition Laws and explain their provisions and impacts.

Describe the Election of 1800, how it was settled, and how the problem was addressed by Congress.

Describe the actions taken by President Jefferson to reverse previous Federalist policies.

Describe the purchase of Louisiana and the Lewis and Clark expedition.

List the provisions and results of the Embargo Act and the Slave Trade Law of 1807.

List the stated reasons the United States declared war on Great Britain in 1812 and evaluate their truth.

List the goals Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa were trying to achieve for American Indians.

Describe the Hartford Convention, Constitutional amendments proposed, and reaction to them.

List the provisions of the Treaty of Ghent.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES               UNIT THREE (Chapters 9-12)          ELMORE - 1301

List the works of the following writers and describe the content and impact of those works:

Frederick Douglass                                           Frederick Law Olmsted

Alexis de Tocqueville                                       David Walker

Sarah Bagley                                                    Ralph Waldo Emerson

Joseph Smith                                                    Elijah Lovejoy

Lydia Maria Child                                            Henry David Thoreau

William Lloyd Garrison                                    Margaret Fuller

John L. O’Sullivan                                           Harriet Beecher Stowe

List the contribution, invention, or provisions of each of the following along with the results:

National Road                                                  Gibbons v Ogden

Robert Fulton                                                   Dartmouth College v Woodward

Erie Canal                                                        Commonwealth v Hunt

Adams-Onis Treaty                                           McCulloch v Maryland

Eli Whitney                                                      Worcester v Georgia

John Deere                                                       The Amistad

Cyrus McCormick                                            Harriet Tubman

The Boston Associates                                      Dorothea Dix

Describe or discuss each of the following:

Explain how steamboats, canals, railroads, and the telegraph changed America in the early 1800s

Describe the recruitment, working conditions, and life of typical “mill girls” in the early 1800s.

What changes did the Workingmen’s Parties call for in the early 1800s?​​​

List the provisions of the Monroe Doctrine and explain its international implications.

List the duties of the Second National Bank.

List the three elements in the American System.

List and explain the provisions and results of the Missouri Compromise.

List the candidates, issues, and results of the Presidential Elections of 1824 and 1828.

What was the Anti-Mason Party, who supported it, and what innovations did they bring to American politics.

List the provisions of the tariffs of 1816, 1828, 1832, and 1833, showing how policy and reactions changed.

List and explain the provisions and results of the Indian Removal Act.

Describe the issues involved, actions taken by President Jackson, and the outcome of the Nullification Crisis.

Describe Jackson’s war on the bank and explain how it affected political parties.

Describe the ways America became more democratic in the early 1800s.

Describe the rise of the Whig Party and the party positions of the Whigs and Democrats.

List and explain the causes and effects of the Panic of 1837.

Describe Nat Turner’s rebellion and list the effects in the nation.

Describe Denmark Vesey’s plans and the results of his conspiracy.

List the innovations Charles Finney used in his revivals and religious meetings.

List the results of the Second Great Awakening.

Describe the reform movements of the first half of the 19th century and their impact.

List the rights claimed for American women at the Seneca Falls Convention.

List and explain the beliefs of Francis Wright and the practices and accusations against her Nashoba community.

List and explain the beliefs and practices of the Shakers.

Describe the beliefs and movements of the Mormons as they searched for a secure home.

Describe the Transcendentalist focus of Brook Farm and the activities of the community.

Describe the goals, organization, and activities of New Harmony and evaluate their effectiveness.

Define Oneida’s “complex marriage” and evaluate the practices and economic success of the community.

Explain what the Common School Movement hoped to achieve and evaluate the results.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES UNIT FOUR  (Chapters 13-15)        ELMORE – 1301

List the provisions and impact of each of the following:

Gadsden Purchase                                                        Black Codes

Wilmot Proviso                                                            Civil Rights Act of 1866

Special Field Order No. 15                                            Ku Klux Klan (Force) Acts

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan                                            Reconstruction Act of 1867

List the results or contribution of each of the following:

Battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto                             Battle of Gettysburg

Commodore Matthew Perry                                          Andersonville, Georgia Prison

William Walker                                                            Clara Barton

John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry                             Mary Livermore

Battle of Antietam                                                        James Pike

Discuss or describe each of the following:

Define “Manifest Destiny” and state its goals.

List the reasons stated in the Texas Declaration of Independence for the independence movement in Texas.

Explain the terms and the primary reason for the Oregon Treaty of 1846.

List the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

List the results of the Mexican War.

Describe the provisions of the Compromise of 1850 and evaluate their short and long term impacts.

List and explain the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the violence that resulted from it.

List the proposals and positions of the American (Know Nothing) Party and the Republican Party.

Explain the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott decision and explain its impact.

List and explain the issues raised as a result of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Describe the Election of 1860, the four candidates, and their positions, and the final result.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the North and South in the Civil War.

List the new inventions, technologies, and strategies in the Civil War.

Describe the significance and effects of the battle between the Monitor and the Virginia.

Describe the Emancipation Proclamation, including the goals and effectiveness.

List and explain the effects of the Civil War.

Describe the plans and results of John Wilkes Booth’s assassination plot in 1865.

By amendment, list the provisions of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the US Constitution.

State the provisions and results of the Homestead Act, Morrill Land Act, and Transcontinental Railroad Act.

Describe and explain the results of the Sand Creek massacre and the Dakota War.

List the activities of the Freedmen’s Bureau and explain their effectiveness.

Explain how the Slaughterhouse Cases and US v Cruikshank helped shape America after the Civil War.

Explain the impeachment charges against President Andrew Johnson and the result.

List the goals and methods of the Southern Redeemers.

List the expansion of citizens’ rights granted in the new state constitutions written after the Civil War.

List the positive achievements of the Southern states’ new governments after the Civil War.

Describe the candidates in the Election of 1876, and the provisions and results of the Bargain of 1877.

* Describe America’s three political party alignments (Federalists vs Republicans, Democrats vs Whigs,

    Democrats vs Republicans), addressing the origins, positions and fall (where applicable) of each.

* Compare and contrast the reasons for the American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Civil War.

* Describe the amendments to the US Constitution from 1789 to 1876 and how they expanded the rights and

            liberties of Americans.

COLLEGE AND STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES:

Austin Community College students have many rights which they enjoy, along with responsibilities and codes of conduct which they are expected to observe.

Many of these issues are outlined on our course Blackboard site under “College Policies and Student Support Services.”  They include descriptions of the following:

Health and Safety Protocols

Statement of Academic Integrity

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Senate Bill 212 and Title IX Reporting Requirements

Student Complaints

Statement of Privacy (FERPA)

Recording Policy

Safety Statement

Campus Carry

Discrimination Prohibited

Use of ACC Email

Use of the Testing Center

Student Support

Student Accessibility Services (SAS)

Academic Support

Library Services

Student Organizations

Personal Support

Crisis Hotline Numbers