History 4617

Native North American History I:Origins to 1815

Class Time: MWF, 8-8:50, HUMN 1B90 Professor Brian DeLayOffice: Hellems 352 brian.delay@colorado.eduOffice Hours: Mon. 1-2; Fri. 9-10, or by appt.

IntroductionThis course surveys the history of the indigenous peoples of the present-day United States from

the initial peopling of the hemisphere to c. 1815. We will first cover the settlement and development of Indian North America before contact and then consider the dynamics of the encounters between European colonizers and native peoples. As Native communities adjusted to their new world over the course of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries, their experiences varied widely. We will see that some reinvented themselves and turned the changes in their lives to great advantage; some managed a creative if uneasy coexistence with the newcomers; some came under enormous pressure and argued for accommodation; and many others responded to increasing pressures through armed resistance, usually at great cost. For most Indian communities in eastern North America, the end of the War of 1812 (in 1815) marked a turning point after which military struggle against the U.S. government was no longer a viable option. While Indian interactions with Europeans will dominate the readings and the lectures for most of the term, relationships between Indian groups will be a special concern throughout the course.

Required Books: Colin Calloway, ed., The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America (Bedford

St. Martins, 1994) Kathleen DuVal, The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent (U of Penn

Press, 2007) James H. Merrell, Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier (Norton,

2000) Allan Greer, Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits (Oxford, 2006) There are also several required journal articles listed below, which you can find either in the journals

themselves in the library, or on the web through JSTOR, the electronic journal service accessible through the library’s website, or electronic reserves (ER). You will be expected to integrate material from these readings into paper assignments and into the final exam, so I encourage you to take notes while you read.

Requirements: One map quiz One paper proposal with bibliography One research paper (13-15 pages). One midterm A final exam. Both tests will feature essay and identification questions. Both tests will

feature essay questions, and will require an integration of ideas, insights, and information from lecture, discussions, and readings. I will write keywords on the board before each class, and, come exam time, will randomly select keywords from the appropriate half of the course for you to identify and state the significance of. Additionally, I will provide you with the essay questions in advance of the exam. I do this to give you a chance to prepare detailed and convincing essays before exam day. Since you’ll have the questions in advance, I’ll have high expectations when grading bluebooks.

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PLEASE NOTE: Students failing to submit ANY of these assignments will receive an F for the course.

Grading: Map Quiz (1/16) 5%Midterm (2/27) 20%Paper Proposal/Bibliography (3/18) 5%Final Paper (4/20) 25%Final Exam (Weds, May 6, 4:30-7pm) 25% Discussion Group Participation 20%

Discussion Sections: The class will be divided into discussion sections of 4-5 people each. During most Fridays, class time will be set aside to discuss that week’s reading. To facilitate conversation, each group will be working with two or three thoughtful questions sent out over email 24 hours before by one of the group members. In other words, individual group members will facilitate every fourth or fifth discussion in two ways: both by reading that week’s assigned reading(s) and sending out 4-5 questions 24 hours in advance (and cc’ing me), and by taking the lead during that particular discussion section.

Grades for the discussion component of the class will be determined by two criteria. First, because discussion leaders will cc me when they send out discussion questions, I’ll be able to keep track that everyone is sending out the required number of thoughtful questions on time. Second, at the end of the semester each student will send me a confidential email grading the performance of the other members of his or her discussion group. I’ll consider these two criteria when assigning the discussion group grade. *PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU MISS CLASS ON A DAY THAT YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO LEAD DISCUSSION, THREE PERCENTAGE POINTS WILL BE TAKEN OFF OF YOUR FINAL CLASS GRADE.

Drop Deadline: The registrar’s deadline to drop this class is 5:00pm, Weds, Jan. 28th.

Attendance: I will take attendance during each class period. You are allowed 3 unexcused absences over the course of the semester, and after that I will subtract 1 percentage point from your final course grade for each unexcused absence. Exceptions will only be made in cases of verifiable illnesses (doctor’s note required) or verifiable emergencies.

Make-up Exams and Late Work: Make up exams will only be given in case of documented emergencies. Hard copies of all assignments are to be turned in during class on the due date. I will deduct a full letter grade from the assignment every 12 hours thereafter. Exceptions will only be made in cases of verifiable emergency (routine illnesses won’t count).

Honor Code

CU has an honor code, and, as official university policy, all students are bound by it: “On my honor, as a University of Colorado at Boulder student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this (test) (paper) (work) (assignment).” Plagiarism violates this code. For our class plagiarism means to present the ideas or writings (i.e. prose) of another as if they were one’s own. Any source you rely on for your written work must be cited, in full and in an accepted style, as instructed on the history dept. website: http://www.colorado.edu/history/guidelines/referencing.html

Students should note that their work might be evaluated through TurnItIn.com, a plagiarism service that scans the web to see if the paper contains any unoriginal work. Note also that TurnItIn.com retains a copy of the submitted work for future comparisons. 

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Assignments submitted by any student, written in whole or in part by anyone other than that student, including those assignments that present the wording of another author without proper quotation and citation, shall be considered to constitute fraud under the university honor code, and will result in the assignment of an “F” for the entire course. 

Classroom Behavior: Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Students who fail to adhere to behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. See policies at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html. PLEASE TURN CELLPHONES OFF!!!

Sexual Harassment:The University of Colorado Policy on Sexual Harassment applies to all students, staff and faculty. Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual attention. Any student who believes s/he has been sexually harassed by anyone on campus should contact the Office of Sexual Harassment (OSH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the OSH and the campus resources available to assist individuals who believe they have been sexually harassed can be obtained at:http://www.colorado.edu/odh/

CU Disability ServicesIf you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability Services as soon as possible so that your needs can be addressed.  You can reach Disability Services at (303) 492-8671, at Willard 322, or at http://www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices/ They determine accommodations based on documented disabilities. Students with Religious Obligations

If after familiarizing yourself with the schedule you foresee a conflict between requirements for this course and your religious obligations, please inform me within the first two weeks of the semester and we’ll try to find a compromise arrangement.

Class Schedule

Jan. 12 (M): Introductory lecture – Ways of seeing the Past

Part One: “Pre”- History

Jan. 14 (W) Peopling North America. Jan. 16 (F) *Map Quiz* Discussion: 1. Charles C. Mann, “1491,” The Atlantic Monthly,

March 2002. http://tinyurl.com/f5ykg; 2. Calloway, World Turned Upside Down, 1-31.

Jan. 19 (M) NO CLASS – M.L.K. DAYJan. 21 (W) Nomadic Life-ways: California, the Plains, Eastern WoodlandsJan. 23 (F) Farmers and Builders: Eastern Region (No discussion today, but you should read

DuVal, Native Ground, 1-62).

Jan. 26 (M) Farmers and Builders: Western RegionJan. 28 (W) *DROP DEADLINE* Connections: Trade and Warfare before ColumbusJan. 30 (F) Discussion: DuVal, Native Ground, 1-127.

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Part Two: The Dynamics of Contact

Feb. 2 (M) The Columbian exchangeFeb. 4 (W) Discovering the Spanish Feb. 6 (F) Discussion: Greer, Mohawk Saint, 1-110.

Feb. 9 (M) Discovering the French and DutchFeb. 11 (W) Discovering the English, SouthFeb. 13 (F) Discussion: 1. Greer, Mohawk Saint, 111-205; 2. Calloway, World Turned

Upside Down, 32-42.

Feb. 16 (M) Discovering the English – NorthFeb. 18 (W) Film: Black Robe Feb. 20 (F) Film: Black Robe (No discussion this week, but read 1. Calloway, World Turned

Upside Down, 43-51; AND 78-87; 2. Joyce E. Chaplin, “Natural Philosophy and an Early Racial Idiom in North America: Comparing English and Indian Bodies,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., 54:1 (1997), http://tinyurl.com/8amrgd

Part Three: The Indians’ New World

Feb. 23 (M) Concepts: Land Use and Gender in Early EncounterFeb. 25 (W) Confederacy and EthnogenesisFeb. 27 (F) MIDTERM

March 2 (M) War and the Fur Trade in the NorthMarch 4 (W) The Mississippi – Artery of EmpireMarch 6 (F) Discussion: 1. DuVal, Native Ground, 128-196; 2. Calloway, World Turned

Upside Down, 88-114.

Part Four: Imperial Rivalries in Indian Country

March 9 (M) Slave Wars in the Deep SouthMarch 11 (W) Metacom’s Choices. March 13 (F) Discussion: 1. Jill Lepore, “Dead Men Tell No Tales: John Sassamon and the

Fatal Consequences of Literacy,” American Quarterly 46 (Dec. 1994). http://tinyurl.com/7yvwk5 2. Half of the hour will be for discussing your paper topics in-group

March 16 (M) The Pueblo RevoltMarch 18 (W) *PAPER PROPOSALS DUE* Spanish Anxieties and Indian Power: Southwest

and Pacific CoastMarch 20 (F) Discussion: 1. Herbert Eugene Bolton, “The Mission as a Frontier Institution in

the Spanish American Colonies,” American Historical Review 23:1 (1917), http://tinyurl.com/7ka6rq; 2. Steven W. Hackel, “The Staff of Leadership: Indian Authority in the Missions of Alta California,” William and Mary Quarterly, 54 (1997), 347-76. http://tinyurl.com/7sows9

March 23 – March 27 NO CLASS – SPRING BREAK

March 30 (M) Plains Centaurs April 1 (W) Middle Ground and the Great Lakes Region

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April 3 (F) Discussion: 1. Merrell, Into the American Woods, 13-105; 2. Calloway, World Turned Upside Down, 115-131.

April 6 (M) Caught Between the British and the FrenchApril 8 (W) Revivalism and Pontiac’s HopeApril 10 (F) Discussion: 1. Merrell, Into the American Woods, 106-224; 2. Calloway, World

Turned Upside Down, 132-145.

Part Five: Confronting a Nation

April 13 (M) Gambling on the Revolution April 15 (W) The Civilization Policy April 17 (F) Discussion: 1. Merrell, Into the American Woods, 225-315; 2. Calloway, World

Turned Upside Down, 146-169.

April 20 (M) *FINAL PAPER DUE* [Lecture topic To Be Announced]April 22 (W) Western Indians Encounter American Emissaries. April 24 (F) Discussion: 1. Duvall, Native Ground, 196-248; 2. Calloway, World Turned

Upside Down, 170-185.

April 27 (M) Accommodation and RevivalApril 29 (W) Watershed: The War of 1812 May 1 (F) NO CLASS -- review independently for Final Exam.

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