This course covers the development of American institutions and society from Reconstruction to the present. In that time, the United States grew from a rural and disconnected nation with little influence in world affairs, to an integrated and urban nation that dominated the world. Along the way, daily life changed dramatically for all Americans.
We will also stress the ways that history is an argument about the meaning of the past. We will join that argument through discussions and our own interpretations of primary sources. We will develop our abilities to express ourselves clearly and persuasively, in speech and writing.