HISTORY 4207/6207

United States Foreign Relations to 1921

 

Instructor:         Professor Charles Johnson                       Class Meeting:  TTh 12:30-1:45

Office:                 202 North Ashley Hall                                Office Hours:     M 8:30-11:30

Phone:                 333-5947                                                           Email:  ctjohnso@valdosta.edu

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

                This course explores the diplomatic relations between the United States and the world from the mid 18th century to 1921.  We will examine such themes as the foundations of United States foreign policy, its ideology and the transition of the nation from a struggling federation of states to the status of world power.  The class will culminate with an intensive reexamination of World War One, including its origins, United States involvement and the war's impact on future events. 

 

TEXTBOOKS

                The following books are required and available in the campus bookstore.

Lloyd Ambrosius.  Wilsonian Statecraft:  Theory and Practice of Liberal Internationalism During World War I.  Scholarly Resources , 19991.

Niall Ferguson.  The Pity of War:  Explaining World War I.  Basic Books, 1999.

Thomas Paterson, ed.  Major Problems in American Foreign Policy:  Vol. I to 1920 (5th edition).  Houghton-Mifflin, 1999.

 

EVALUATION

                Your final grade will be determined by the following factors:

 

700                Précis for articles in Major Problems (100pts each)

100                        Book Review Essay Pity of War

100                        Book  Review Essay Wilsonian Statecraft

200                        Participation

 

GROUND RULES

1.                  No late papers will be accepted for any reason.  If you turn in a paper outside of class or late I will only give you a "CR", but will not assign any points.

2.                  In order to be eligible to pass this course you must complete and turn in ALL the assignments.  Failure to do so will result in, at best, an "I" or, at worst, an "F" for a final grade.

3.                  You are allowed only ONE absence for the semester.  After that I will begin deducting 30 points for each absence.

4.                  Repeated tardiness will result in a 15 point deduction for each incident.

 

 

 

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

 

Week One:  8/16 to 8/18 (Wed-Fri)

                Course Introduction

                "Foundations of American Foreign Policy"

 

Week Two:  8/21 to 8/25

                Ideology and American Foreign Relations

                Readings:  Perkins (2), Williams (8) and Hunt (14)

 

Week Three:    8/28 to 9/1

                The Diplomacy of Revolution, 1770-1783

                Readings:  Kaplan (46) and Onuf (53)

                                Précis due on Thursday

 

Week Four:  9/4 to 9/8

                The Federalist Era, 1783-1801

                Readings:  Tucker (77) and Kaplan (85)

                                Précis due on Thursday

 

Week Five:  9/11 to 9/15

                Continental Expansion, 1801-1812

                Readings:  Tucker (105) and DeConde (115) 

                                Précis due on Thursday

 

Week Six:  9/18 to 9/22

                The War of 1812

                Readings:  Perkins (138), Watts (148) and Stuart (158)

                                Précis on Perkins and Watts or Stuart due on Thursday

 

Week Seven:  9/25 to 9/29

                The Monroe Doctrine, 1817-1845

                Readings:  The Monroe Doctrine (170), Perkins (174) and May (183)

                                Précis on Perkins and May due on Thursday

 

Week Eight:  10/2 to 10/6

                Manifest Destiny, War With Mexico and Sectional Crisis, 1845-1865

                Readings:  Stephanson (241) and Pletcher (253)

                                Précis due on Thursday

 

Week Nine:  10/9 to 10/13

                An Emerging World Power, 1865-1895

                Readings:  Harris (297), Kennedy (321) and Pletcher (335)

                                Précis on Harris and Pletcher due on Thursday

 

Week Ten:  10/ 16 to 10/20

                Imperial Democracy, 1895-1900

                Readings:  LaFeber (357), Perez (373) and Rydell (411)

                                Précis on Perez and Rydell due on Thursday

 

Week Eleven:  10/23 to 10/27

                America as World Power, 1901-1914

                Readings:  Hunt (429), LaFeber (469) and Bederman (477)

                                Précis on Hunt and Bederman due on Thursday

 

Week Twelve:  10/30 to 11/3

                No Class Meetings

 

Week Thirteen:  11/ 6 to 11/10

                No Class Meetings

 

Week Fourteen:  11/13 to 11/17

                The Pity of War--Reinterpreting World War One

                                Book Review Essay Due on Tuesday

 

Week Fifteen:  11/20 to 11/24

                Thanksgiving Holiday

 

Week Sixteen:  11/27 to 12/1

                Wilsonian Statecraft--The U.S. and the Great War:  A Reassessment

                                Book Review Essay Due on Tuesday

 

Week Seventeen:  12/4 to 12/6 (Monday to Wednesday)

                Course Summation

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FORMAT INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

All papers handed in MUST adhere to the following style criteria. Five points will be deducted for each rule not followed

1.     Typed (including your name)

2.     Double-space

3.     Stapled

4.     Margins:  Left—1 ½”; Top, Bottom and Right—1”.  Font:  12 pt. Courier; 12 pt. New Times Roman; 12 pt. CG Times .

5.     All citations and bibliographic entries must adhere to the guidelines set forth in the Chicago Manual of Style or Turabian's A Manual for Writers.  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are you to use APA, MLA or any other format.

6.     In grading your papers I will also deduct points for the following errors:

7.     Any student found plagiarizing an assignment will receive an automatic "F" for the course.

 

PRÉCIS INSTRUCTIONS FOR ESSAYS IN PATERSON TEXT

During weeks 3-11 you are required to write a précis for each article assigned that week.  Each summation should be roughly 3 pages in length.  The purpose of this assignment is to prepare you for class discussion.  On the cover page include your name and the author/title of each article.  Each précis should include the following:

1. A summary of the author’s thesis

2. A synopsis of the major points made by the author

3. Any bias on the part of the author

4. A summation of the author’s conclusions

5. Your opinion of the work (elaborate on this and tell me why you feel the way you do about the work)

6. ONE question to ask the class that compares the two articles

 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR BOOK REVIEW ESSAYS

Listed below are the instructions for your book review essays.  The length of your review should be a MINIMUM of six pages.  It must also adhere to the basic structural guidelines  which govern the writing of all papers for this class.  In writing your essay you should address the following in the order presented:

1.                  In the first few paragraphs of the paper indicate the general scope and topics covered in the book.  Do not give a detailed summary of each chapter.

2.                  Next comment on the extent and depth of the research, the types of source materials used and the method—traditional or unusual—utilized by the author.  Here you can get help by looking at the book’s footnotes/endnotes (if any) and the bibliography.  Give examples from the book in explaining your analysis.

3.                  A work of history is also a piece of literature; and it should be interestingly and skillfully written.  Assess the strength and weakness—again, using examples—of this aspect.         

4.                  After reading the book, go back into it and think it through, and find the overall message or thesis of the author.  See if you can restate it in a sentence or two.  A well-written book will often have a unified theme explicitly stated; but in some books, the theme or interpretation may be only implicit, so that the reader must identify it by careful synthesis and logic.

5.                  Now evaluate the above interpretation or theme.  Is it convincing?  Is it supported with adequate evidence?  Do conclusions build upon the information, which has been supplied?  Though you may feel “unqualified” to make these judgments, you can still evaluate the book based upon your reading of it as a piece of history.  Remember that all books have both strengths and weaknesses.  If you do not find both then you have not really read and analyzed the book.

6.                  For The Pity of War answer the following in detail:

Why is Ferguson's interpretation of World War One "radical"?  If such a vision would have become of reality, what type of world would have been created after WWI?

For Wilsonian Statecraft answer the following in detail:

Was the Wilsonian "world vision" a radical vision?  If such a vision would have become a reality what type of world would have created after WWI

 

7.                  Find three book reviews  and comment on what the reviewer thought of the book.  Was he/she critical of the work in a positive way?  In a negative way? Do you agree or disagree with the reviewers comments?  BE SURE TO INCLUDE PHOTOCOPIES OF THE BOOK REVIEW WITH YOUR PAPER.

 

 

Finally, some thoughts for this semester’s journey

 

“Our country!  In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be

in the right; but our country, right or wrong.”

Stephen Decatur (1816)

 

“Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest thing in the nicest way.”

Isaac Goldberg

 

“The great questions of the time are not decided by speeches and

majority decisions--that was the error of 1848 and 1849--but

by iron and blood.”

Otto von Bismarck (1862)