This course surveys United States history from the early Republic to the first World War, with particular attention given to the formation and consolidation of a nation state and culture(s). The struggle to define a coherent national culture and construct a new social and political order, the contests over the meanings of democracy and constitutionalism, the debates over slavery, the Civil War and its aftermath of racial segregation, the tensions surrounding immigration and industrialization, the successive movements for progressive reform both secular and religious, and the articulation of an imperial destiny are defining issues in the long 19th century. In addition to training students in the use of primary sources--objects, images, contemporary written documents--the course models a cultural approach to the study of 19th-century America. Such an approach necessarily combines aspects of social, political, intellectual, and economic history to provide the fullest picture possible of the United States' emergence on the world stage. |