HIS 271 - The American Frontier: 1607-1890 at Paul D. Camp Community College
Course Description
Effective: 2013-01-01
Studies the expansion across North America by peoples of Old World descent, the interaction of these settlers with the native nations they encountered, and the effects of this dynamic zone of contact between Old World and New World on American society, values, identity, and character.
(3 Cr.) Lecture 3 hours. Total 3 hours per week.
3 credits
General Course Purpose
To produce an awareness of the significance of the Frontier in American History, the interaction in the frontier regions between the native peoples and the Euro- and African-Americans intruders, and the causes and consequences of the movement of the frontier westward.
Course Prerequisites/Corequisites
None
Course Objectives
- Critically assess the theories that assert that the Frontier shaped the American character.
- Understand the role of the west in reshaping American institutions
- Appreciate the cultures of Native Nations who lived in the path of westward expansion and understand the response of these Nations to the intruders
- Perform researching, reading, writing, and critical thinking about the American Frontier
Major Topics to be Included
- Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis and its critics
- Euro- and African-American adaptations to the Challenge of the Frontier
- Settlement and Conflict along the Eastern Seaboard
- French and Indian War
- Cherokee Removal
- The Transportation Revolution and the West
- The Frontier of the Great Plains
- The Texas Revolution and Mexican War
- Cowboys and the Cattle Kingdom
- The Era of the Mountain Men
- The Far Western Frontier
- Homestead Act of its Consequences
- Law, Outlaws, and Gunslingers of the West
- The Impact of the West on American Political Institutions
- Comanche, Lakota, and Native Nations of the Plains and their struggle to maintain their lifestyle