1. Situating American culture
• Readings
1. Captain John Smith, A Description of New England, 1616
2. John Hammond on the British colonies of Virginia and Maryland, 1656
3. J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur. Letters From An American Farmer, 1782
4. FJ Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, 1893
5. Michael Kammen, People of Paradox (1972). Introduction and last chapter.
• Documents shown in class: quotes on ppt.
2. American exceptionalism
• Readings
1. Two encyclopedia articles about exceptionalism. I and II
2. Michael Kammen, People of Paradox (1972). Introduction and last chapter.
3. James Monroe, “The Monroe Doctrine” (1823)
4. John L. O'Sullivan, “The Great Nation of Futurity” (1839)
5. Henry David Thoreau, “Walking” (1862)
6. Francis Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925), end of the novel.
7. Paintings celebrating “Manifest Destiny” : Thomas Cole, View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm or The Oxbow (1836), Emanuel Leutze, Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way (1861), Frances Palmer, Across the Continent, Westward the Course of Empire takes its way (1868), John Gast, American Progress (1872).
• Documents shown in class: quotes on ppt.
3. Freedoms
1. Outline
2. Quotes