Master of Arts Programs for History Teachers
Summer 2023 - Ashland Campus
Session 1 – June 25 to June 30
| HIST AHG 501 1A / POLSC 501 1A: The American Revolution (2) – WAITLIST This course focuses on three topics: political developments in North America and the British empire and the arguments for and against independence, culminating in the Declaration of Independence; the Revolutionary War as a military, social and cultural event in the development of the American nation and state; and the United States under the Articles of Confederation. Instructor: Jason Stevens (Ashland University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 505 1A / POLSC 505 1A: The Progressive Era (2) – WAITLIST The transition to an industrial economy posed many problems for the United States. This course examines those problems and the responses to them that came to be known as progressivism. The course includes the study of World War I as a manifestation of progressive principles. The course emphasizes the political thought of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and their political expression of progressive principles. Instructor: Jason Jividen (Saint Vincent College) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 622 1A / POLSC 622 1A: Religion in American History and Politics (2) From the time that the first Europeans arrived in America, religion has been an important part of American life. This course examines the various ways in which religion has played a role in American history, with particular emphasis on the role of religion in American politics. Instructor: Jay D. Green (Covenant College) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 633 1A / POLSC 633 1A: The American Presidency II–Johnson to the present (2) – WAITLIST This course is an examination of the political and constitutional development of the office of president from Reconstruction to the present. It focuses on how changing conceptions of the presidency have shaped American political life in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially as America has become a global power. Instructors: Stephen F. Knott (United States Naval War College) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 641 1A / POLSC 641 1A: The Supreme Court (2) – WAITLIST The course is an intensive study of the highest court in the federal judiciary, focusing on the place of the Supreme Court in the American constitutional order. Areas of study may include the relationship between the Court and the other branches of the federal government as well as the states; the Court’s power of judicial review; and judicial politics and statesmanship. We will examine these kinds of issues by investigating how the Court has interpreted the Constitution in some of its most historic decisions. Instructor: Jeffrey Sikkenga (Ashland University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Packet |
Session 2 – July 2 to July 7
| HIST 506 2A / POLSC 506 2A: The Rise of Modern America, 1914-1945 (2) – WAITLIST With the exception of the Civil War era, it is difficult to find another thirty-year period in U.S. history during which the nation underwent such dramatic change. In 1914 the United States was no more than a regional power, with a primarily rural demography and a relatively unobtrusive federal government. Thanks to the experience of two world wars, a major cultural conflict (the 1920s), and a disastrous economic crisis the country was transformed into the global economic and military power that it remains to this day. This course will examine the cultural, economic, military, and diplomatic events and trends of the period 1914-1945. Instructor: Jennifer D. Keene (Chapman University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 623 2A / POLSC 623 2A: Women in American History and Politics (2) – WAITLIST This course explores the history of women in America from the early 19th century to the present, especially the political struggle to gain increased civil and political rights. Using primary source material from leading female intellectuals and activists, this course will consider the myriad ways that women have helped to shape the course of U.S. history. Instructor: Charissa Threat (Chapman University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 624 2A / POLSC 624 2A: The American Western (2) – WAITLIST This course is an intensive study of several classic American Westerns, in both print and film. The American Western reflects something fundamental about both the American mind and the American regime. The Western’s emphasis on courage and self-reliance, for example, arises from that same American character that forms the basis of self-government. The American Western also raises important questions central to American political life, among which are the meaning of justice, equality, and liberty. This course will also address the question of how American politics both influences and is influenced by literature in the Western genre. Instructor: Christopher Burkett (Ashland University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 630 2A / POLSC 630 2A: American Statesmen-The Adams Family (2) The Adams family remains the most distinguished political family in American history. Four generations of the Adamses brought about a revolution, established self-government, participated in the transformation of the republic to a large scale democracy, and then witnessed the industrialized nation take its place on the world stage. Not only were the Adamses America’s statesmen, but they were the keepers of their family’s legacy and the historians of our nation. This course examines the writings of four generations of the Adams family in order to better understand the political transformation of America. These writings will also help us to consider the role of historians in America. Instructors: Natalie F. Taylor (Skidmore College) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 660 2A / POLSC 660 2A: The Rise of American Constitutionalism: Colonies to New Nation (2) – WAITLIST Well before the 1787 U.S. Constitution, Americans had a long tradition of writing, ratifying, and governing under various compacts, charters, covenants, and contracts dating to the colonial period and continuing through the Revolutionary era with the state constitutions and the Articles of Confederation. What were the features of this emerging constitutional tradition? How did constitutionalism evolve over time, culminating in the U.S. Constitution? And how did that 1787 document reflect and revise the previous century and a half of constitution making? This course will explore these and related questions by immersion in various colonial frames of government culminating in the work of the Philadelphia convention and its implementation and interpretation. Readings will consist of primary source material supplemented by selected shorter secondary readings, chiefly book chapters and journal articles. Instructor: Todd Estes (Oakland University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Packet |
Session 3 – July 9 to July 14
| HIST 503 3A / POLSC 503 3A: Sectionalism and Civil War (2) A study of the sectional conflict beginning with the nullification crisis. The course will not only examine the political, social and economic developments in the period leading to the civil war, but will emphasize the political thought of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, and John C. Calhoun. Instructors: Dan Monroe (Millikin University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 507 3A / POLSC 507 3A: Lincoln (2) This course provides an in-depth study of Abraham Lincoln’s political thought and action. Students will study Lincoln’s most important speeches, as well as study various aspects of his political leadership, including his role as the leader of the Republican party and as commander in chief. The course will also provide opportunities for students to analyze Lincoln’s rhetoric and political argumentation. Instructor: Andrew Lang (Mississippi State University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 613 3A / POLSC 613 3A: Postwar America, 1945 to 1973 (2) – WAITLIST An examination of the United States during the three decades following the Second World War. The social, economic, political, and diplomatic development of the country is stressed with a thematic emphasis. Instructors: David F. Krugler (University of Wisconsin-Platteville) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Packet |
| HIST 620 3A / POLSC 620 3A: The Reform Tradition in America (2) America has lived through three periods of sustained interest in reforming its political and social life, the first in the decades preceding the Civil War, the second in the decades preceding World War I and the third in the decade or two following World War II. The course examines aspects of these reform movements, particularly their connection to religion and Protestant theology. Instructors: Dennis K. Boman (American Intercontinental University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Packet |
| HIST 643 3A / POLSC 643 3A: Race and the Fourteenth Amendment (2) – WAITLIST This course will explore congressional and public debates over the passage of Fourteenth Amendment, Plessy v. Ferguson, the NAACP’s strategy for overturning “separate but equal” in public schools, Brown v. Board of Education, Civil Rights Act of 1964, busing, voting rights, and affirmative action in the workplace and in college admissions. Course readings will include Supreme Court cases, other primary sources, and some secondary literature. Instructor: Elizabeth Amato (Gardner-Webb University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 630 3B / POLSC 630 3B: American Statesmen-Washington and Jefferson (2) This course provides a critical examination of two of our great presidents: George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Although it pays great attention to their presidencies and their political legacies, it also delves into their earlier (and, in Jefferson’s case, later) lives; their formative experiences; familial influence; seminal friendships, and other private matters that helps to better understand them. Great use will be made of primary sources – letters, speeches and other sources of documentary evidence. Instructors: Jeremy D. Bailey (University of Oklahoma) and Marc K. Landy (Boston College) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
Session 4 – July 16 to July 21
| HIST 502 4A / POLSC 502 4A: The American Founding (2) This course is an intensive study of the constitutional convention, the struggle over ratification of the Constitution, and the creation of the Bill of Rights. It will include a close examination of the Federalist Papers and the antifederalist papers. Instructor: James R. Stoner (Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 510 4A / POLSC 510 4A: Great American Texts – All the King’s Men Robert Penn Warren’s All The King’s Men is America’s greatest political novel. In it one finds a penetrating exploration of American democracy at work. This course aims to understand democracy and the threat of tyranny in America by examining what this book has to say about God, nature, human nature, reason, politics, and “the awful responsibility of Time.” Instructor: Suzanne H. Brown (Dartmouth College) and David Tucker (Ashbrook Center at Ashland University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
| HIST 609 4A / POLSC 609 4A: World War II (2) An examination of World War II, the most widespread, costly, and destructive war in the history of the planet. This course will cover the origins of the war, the strategies pursued by the participants, and the major events in both the Pacific and European theaters from the 1930s until 1945. Further, it will consider the significance of the war for the history of Europe, Asia, and the United States. Instructor: John E. Moser (Ashland University) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Packet |
| HIST 631 4A / POLSC 631 4A: American Political Rhetoric (2) This course examines the principles and practice of American political rhetoric through the careful reading of the speeches of its leading statesmen. Instructor: Abigail Vegter (Berry College) Course Materials: Syllabus & Course Pack |
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