American Classics

Calendar

Class #	Topics	Readings	Writings
1	Imagining America
2	Errand into the Wilderness	Losada, Ángel. “The Controversy between Sepúlveda and Las Casas in the Junta of Valladolid.” Pp. 279-300. de las Casas, Bartolomé. In Defense of the Indians. Pp. 25-30. Winthrop, John. “A Model of Christian Charity.” Pp. 78-84.
3	Benjamin Franklin and the Art of Self-Invention	Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. (Begin reading.)
4	Benjamin Franklin and the Art of Self-Invention	Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. (Finish reading.) –––. “The Way to Wealth.” –––. “Poor Richard’s Maxims.” –––. “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North-America.”
5	Benjamin Franklin and the Art of Self-Invention		ROUGH DRAFT OF FIRST WRITING ASSIGNMENT due at beginning of class. Bring two copies with you.
6	Declaring and Constituting America	The Declaration of Independence, 1776. “The Declaration of Independence: The Jefferson Draft with Congress’s Editorial Changes.” Pp. 235-241. The Constitution, 1787, and The Bill of Rights, 1791. Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay. The Federalist Papers, 1788, nos. 1-6, 9-10, and 14. We will pay particular attention to no. 10.	FINAL DRAFT OF FIRST WRITING ASSIGNMENT due at beginning of class.
7	Declaring and Constituting America	Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay. The Federalist Papers, 1788, nos. 37-39, 44-46, 51, 84-85.
8	The Jeffersonian Vision	Jefferson, Thomas. Notes on the State of Virginia, 1785. (Begin reading.) You are welcome to read all of it, but much of the commentary on natural history and landscape is skimmable. Be sure to pay close attention to Queries V, VI (especially the last half, starting on p. 61 of the Penguin edition, which deals with Native Americans), VIII, XI, XIII, XIV, XVII, XVIII, and XIX.
9	The Jeffersonian Vision	Jefferson, Thomas. Notes on the State of Virginia, 1785. (Finish reading.) –––. “An Act for Establishing Religious Freedom,” 1786. Included as “Appendix No. III” in the Penguin edition of Notes on the State of Virginia. Pp. 231-232. –––. “Correspondence with Benjamin Banneker,” 1791. Included in the Penguin edition of Notes on the State of Virginia. Pp. 271-275.
10	The Transcendental Moment		WRITING ASSIGNMENT due at the beginning of class.
11	The Transcendental Moment	Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “The American Scholar,” 1837, and “Self-Reliance,” 1841. In The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 6th ed. Pp. 1135-1147 and 1160-1176. Thoreau, Henry David. “Resistance to Civil Government,” 1849. In The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 6th ed. Pp. 1792-1807.
12	Written by Himself: Frederick Douglass	Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, 1845.
13	Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War	Lincoln, Abraham. Selected Speeches and Writings. Selections tba. For today’s class, we will focus primarily on the years before the Civil War, with special attention to the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
14	Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War	Lincoln, Abraham. Selected Speeches and Writings. Selections tba. For today’s class, we will focus primarily on the Civil War era.
15	The Civil War and the Gilded Age		THIRD WRITING ASSIGNMENT due at the beginning of class.
16	The Civil War and the Gilded Age	Carnegie, Andrew. “How I Served My Apprenticeship” and “The Gospel of Wealth.” In The Gospel of Wealth and Other Timely Essays. Edited by Edward C. Kirkland. Pp. 3-49. Veblen, Thorstein. “Conspicuous Consumption.” In The Theory of the Leisure Class. Pp. 68-101.
17	The Self-Made Man and the Self-Made Woman	Alger, Horatio. Struggling Upward, or, Luke Larkin’s Luck, 1886.
18	The Self-Made Man and the Self-Made Woman	Keller, Helen. The Story of My Life, 1902. Read all of the memoir and as many of the letters as you wish.
19	Washington and DuBois	Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery, 1901. In Three Negro Classics. Edited by John Hope Franklin. Chap. 1-5, 7-8, and 10-14.	REVISED ESSAY due at the beginning of class.
20	Washington and DuBois	DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk, 1903. In Three Negro Classics. Edited by John Hope Franklin. Forethought, Chap. 1, 3-4, 7-8, 14, and Afterthought.
21	America in a World at War	Sledge, E. B. With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa. Pp. 1-158.	REVISED ESSAY due at the beginning of class.
22	America in a World at War	Sledge, E. B. With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa. Pp. 161-315.
23	America on a World Stage	Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. “The Four Freedoms,” 1941 and “War Message to Congress,” 1941. In The American Reader. Edited by Diane Ravitch. Pp. 281-284. Luce, Henry R. “The American Century,” 1941. In The Ideas of Henry Luce. Edited by John K. Jessup. Pp. 105-120. United Nations General Assembly. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.	GROUP THREE REVISED ESSAY due at the beginning of class.
24	The American Dream and Its Discontents	Ginsberg, Allen. “A Supermarket in California,” 1956 and “America,” 1956. In The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, 2nd ed. Edited by Richard Ellmann and Robert O’Clair. Pp. 1215-1218. Ginsberg, Allen. “Howl,” 1956. In The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 6th ed. Edited by Nina Baym, et al. Pp. 2865-2872. Easy Rider, 1969.	REVISED ESSAY due at the beginning of class.
25	The American Dream and Its Discontents	Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique, 1963. Chap. 1-3, 10, 12-13.
26	The American Dream and Its Discontents	King, Martin Luther, Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” 1963. In Why We Can’t Wait, 1964. Pp. 76-95.	FINAL PAPER DUE at the beginning of class.