Common Course Outline

Course discipline/number/title HIST 1624: U.S. History to 1865

Catalog Description

Credits 3
Hours/Week 3 (3 lecture)
Prerequisites (Course discipline/number) None
Other requirements College level reading and writing is recommended
MnTC Goals (if any) Goal 5/History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Goal 7a/Human Diversity

Course Description

The course begins in the pre-Columbian Americas with a discussion of Native American migration, settlement, culture, language groups and civilizations. Contact between European and Native American peoples, European colonization, and the various battles for continental supremacy follows. The American War for Independence, the construction of the new nation, and the era of Jacksonian Democracy make up the third portion of the course. Finally, the topics of territorial expansion, immigration, slavery, and the Civil War's causes and results round out the course.

Date Last Revised (Month, year)

October, 2024

Outline of Major Content Areas

  1. Pre-Columbian Indigenous Peoples
  2. European Contact and Colonies
  3. Battles for Control of the Continent 1640s-1763
  4. The American War for Independence and New Republic
  5. The ante-bellum United States
    1. War of 1812
    2. Democracy, Market Revolution, Industrialization, Slavery, Reform Movements, Mexican-American War
  6. The Civil War Era
    1. The Growing Crisis of the 1850s

Learning Outcomes (General)

The student will be able to:

  1. Assess the significance of political, intellectual, and social developments within United States history.
  2. Identify key personalities, institutions, and concepts within United States history.
  3. Analyze the causes and results of major events within United States history.
  4. Recognize the diversity of ideas, religions, and cultures among those who live and have lived within the United States.
  5. Analyze historical sources, distinguishing primary from secondary sources.

Learning Outcomes (MnTC)

Goal 5/History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences

The student will be able to:

  1. Employ the methods and data that historians and social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition.
  2. Examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and cultures.
  3. Use and critique alternative explanatory systems or theories.
Goal 7a/Human Diversity

The student will be able to:

  1. Understand the development of and the changing meanings of group identities in the United States' history and culture.
  2. Describe and discuss the experience and contributions (political, social, economic, etc.) of the many groups that shape American society and culture, in particular those groups that have suffered discrimination and exclusion.
  3. Demonstrate an awareness of the individual and institutional dynamics of unequal power relations between groups in contemporary society.

Methods for Evaluation of Student Learning

Methods may include but are not limited to:

RCTC Core Outcome(s)

This course contributes to meeting the following RCTC Core Outcome(s):

Critical Thinking
Students will think systematically and explore information thoroughly before accepting or formulating a position or conclusion.

Special Information (if any)

None