Master of Arts Programs for History Teachers
Summer 2025 - Ashland Campus
Session 1 – June 22 to June 27
| HIST 502 1A / POLSC 502 1A: 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: Christopher Burkett (Ashland University) Course Materials: |
| HIST 505 1A / POLSC 505 1A: The Progressive Era (2) 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: |
| HIST 623 1A / POLSC 623 1A: Women in American History and Politics (2) 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: Natalie F. Taylor (Skidmore College) Course Materials: |
| HIST 643 1A / POLSC 643 1A: The Fourth Amendment (2) This course is an intensive study of the history, politics, and law of the Fourth Amendment. What is an unreasonable search or seizure? When must government get a warrant? Does technology change any of the answers to those questions? To address these issues, we will look at the text and constitutional principles of the Fourth Amendment as well as its historical development, especially through Supreme Court decisions. Instructor: Jeffrey Sikkenga (Ashland University) Course Materials: |
| HIST 644 1A / POLSC 644 1A: The Congress (2) This course focuses on the legislative branch of the US government. It examines topics such as the constitutional powers of Congress, the relations between Congress and the other branches of the federal government and the states, and the changing structure and internal politics of Congress. Instructor: Mack Mariani (Xavier University) Course Materials: |
Session 2 – June 29 to July 4
| HIST 506 2A / POLSC 506 2A: The Rise of Modern America, 1914-1945 (2) 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: Jay Green (Covenant College) Course Materials: |
| HIST 510 2A / POLSC 510 2A: Great American Texts – The Lincoln-Douglas Debates After a brief survey of 19th century American politics and its relationship to the founding, we will cover all seven Lincoln-Douglas debates, studying one debate per class. We will assess the arguments and rhetoric of both ambitious party leaders and place the debates in the larger context of American political and constitutional history, looking forward to the presidential election of 1860. Besides clarifying Lincoln’s thought and political tactics, we will examine Stephen Douglas’s role in what remains today the world’s oldest political party, his expansionist foreign policy, and his views of federalism, slavery, and popular sovereignty, among other major concerns of antebellum America. What might the debates teach us about American politics today? Instructor: Jason W. Stevens (Ashland University) Course Materials: |
| HIST 604 2A / POLSC 604 2A: The Early Republic (2) Having adopted a form of government, the Americans had to make it work. This course examines their efforts to do so, as the Republic took shape amid foreign dangers, political conflict, westward expansion and religious revivals. Instructor: Todd Estes (Oakland University) Course Materials: |
| HIST 613 2A / POLSC 613 2A: Postwar America, 1945-1973 (2) 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. Instructor: John Moser (Ashland University) Course Materials: |
| HIST 643 2B / POLSC 643 2B: Religious Liberty in America (2) This course explores the history and present condition of religious liberty in America through the study of key thinkers and their writings, first principles, critical historical events, and current controversies. We will explore the development in an American context of doctrines such as liberty of conscience, free exercise, separation of church and state, and religious pluralism. Readings will draw mostly on primary sources and Supreme Court cases. Instructor: Elizabeth S. Amato (Gardner-Webb University) Course Materials: |
Session 3 – July 6 to July 11
| 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: Dan Monroe (Millikin University) Course Materials: |
| HIST 607 3A / POLSC 607 3A: America During the Cold War (2) The simmering conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1989 was the defining phenomenon of the age, affecting not only the country’s foreign policy but its politics, society, economy, and culture as well. In this course students will examine the most important events, ideas, and personalities of the forty-four years from the end of World War II to the end of the Reagan administration. Instructor: David F. Krugler (University of Wisconsin-Platteville) Course Materials: |
| HIST 611 3A / POLSC 611 3A: The American Way of War (2) The course examines how Americans have used military force, focusing on the relationship between civilian and military leaders, characteristic strategic approaches, and the connection between our political principles and our military practices. Instructor: Thomas Bruscino (United States Army War College) Course Materials: |
| HIST 630 3A / POLSC 630 3A: American Statesmen-Washington & Hamilton (2) This course will examine the critical relationship between George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. Theirs was the indispensable alliance of the founding era – what makes this relationship all the more interesting is that these men came from two entirely different worlds, yet somehow they bonded to create a new nation, a nation that would eventually become a superpower. Washington’s and Hamilton’s collaboration was crucial to winning the American Revolution, adopting the Constitution, and creating the institutions necessary to secure liberty at home and respect abroad. Instructor: Stephen F. Knott (United States Naval War College) Course Materials: Syllabus and Course Pack |
| HIST 660 3A / POLSC 660 3A: From Reconstruction to the Nadir of American Race Relations, 1865 – 1905 (2) The emancipation of more than 4 million African slaves in America in the wake of the Civil War afforded the American people the opportunity to chart a new course in the history of black-white race relations in the United States. After initially faltering, America’s political leaders took notable steps during the period known as Radical Reconstruction to make African Americans equal citizens of the United States. However, by the mid-1870s this revolutionary effort to end racial discrimination in America began to crumble in the face of a counterrevolution led by intransigent white Southerners. Aided and abetted by the northern public and the U.S. Supreme Court, white Southerners succeeded in reversing most of gains of Reconstruction and ushered in a period known as the Nadir of American Race Relations, which is characterized by racial violence, exploitation, segregation, and disfranchisement. This course will focus on reading, analyzing, and discussing primary documents which explain how and why America missed this unprecedented opportunity to establish equal justice under the law and significantly improve race relations. Instructor: Brent J. Aucoin (Judson College at Southeastern) Course Materials: |
Session 4 – July 13 to July 18
| HIST 501 4A / POLSC 501 4A: The American Revolution (2) 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: Adam Seagrave (Arizona State University) Course Materials: |
| HIST 503 4A / POLSC 503 4A: 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. Instructor: Andrew Lang (Mississippi State University) Course Materials: |
| HIST 633 4A / POLSC 633 4A: The American Presidency II – Andrew Johnson to the present (2) 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: Jeremy D. Bailey (University of Oklahoma) and Marc K. Landy (Boston College) Course Materials: |
| HIST 660 4B / POLSC 660 4B: Ethnic America (2) TBD Instructor: Vincent Cannato (University of Massachusetts, Boston) Course Materials: |
| HIST 660 4C / POLSC 660 4C: The Civil Rights Movement (2) TBD Instructor: Matthew Norman (University of Cincinnati-Blue Ash) Course Materials: |
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