AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM FIRST CONTACT TO

1865

… with Liberty and Justice for All.
ENGL 2773.003 Tuesday/Thursday 3-4:15pm Gittinger 317
Instructor: Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, M.A., ABD
Office: 341 Gittinger Hall Office Hours T.B.A.
jlcalhoun@ou.edu

Required Text: The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Fifth Edition

Volumes A: The Colonial Period & B: Early Nineteenth Century: 1800-1865

Course Description & Overview: This course is a “survey” course, meaning that we
will read and discuss a wide range of written documents. To provide some structure for
this necessarily broad set of readings, I have chosen the theme “…with liberty and justice
for all.” While not every text will be centered on the ideals embedded in this most
American of phrases, all of them struggle with ideas like freedom, justice, and equality,
concepts that American literature has always examined…and continues to examine.

Many of the documents in this section of American literature are not conventionally
“literary”; there are letters, biographies, sermons, and manifestos as well as poems and
short fiction. During the semester, we will learn general literary terms and concepts as
well as terms and concepts specific to American literature. Our readings and discussion
will be guided by these very general questions: What is literature? What is American
literature? Whose American literature? What are the relationships between society,
culture, politics, economics, history, and literature? What are the rhetorical strategies of
different forms and literary genres? How do our received ideas about literature affect our
perception of literary value?

Course Format: This course will mix class discussion and group discussion with lecture.
I will introduce material and facilitate discussion, but you are expected to be an active
participant in class and group discussions. You will be assigned readings weekly. You
should do all of your reading between Thursday afternoon and Tuesday morning—
because of the way this class is structured, it is not possible to “guess” which texts will be
discussed on what day. This class will move quickly! Don’t get behind or you might find
it impossible to catch up.
Graded Assignments: You will have four different kinds of graded assignments: Group
Participation, Reading Journals, Exams, and Essay.
Group Participation: 20%—Every week during our class time, you and your
group will be assigned a set of questions about the week’s readings. Groups will
be reconstituted after each “century unit,” of which there are three. You will
receive a grade from your group members for each unit; the grades will be
averaged.
Reading Journals: 30%—You will be required to write a 1-2 page reading
response journal every week except for the first week and two others of your
choice. This means you will turn in a total of 11 journals. Please see the
“Reading Journal Guidelines” for complete information.
Exams: 25% (midterm 15%, final 10%) —You will take two exams: your midterm
exam will consist of two parts, an essay and a fill-in-the-blank quiz. The essay
portion is a take-home exam that will be given on D2L. The quiz will be given
during a class period. The final exam will be in two parts, also, but both parts will
be taken during the final exam period. The essay portion of the final exam will be
a subjective evaluation. More details will be given closer to exam week.
Essay: 25%—This 7-10 page essay will be written on a set or sets of readings of
your choice. I expect that many of your essays will arise from your journal
entries. I will supply some essay prompts (posted on D2L) for those of you who
have difficulty imagining your own. I suggest, however, that you try to design
your own paper because my prompts will be “difficult”; because you know better
than I do what you are interested in; and, perhaps most importantly, most of you
are English majors and you need to lean how to formulate your own research
questions. Your essay will be due during the final exam period. More details will
be given closer around midterm.

THE RULES:
DO NOT CALL THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT REGARDING THIS CLASS. EMAIL
IS THE BEST WAY TO CONTACT ME.

Accommodation: If you have a disability that may prevent you from fully demonstrating
your proficiency, please contact me so that we can discuss accommodations that will
allow your unrestricted participation in the course.

Make-up Work:
If you are absent from class, it is your responsibility to find out what assignments were
made and what was discussed in class. Class discussions and group work are always
relevant to good performance—quiz questions and essay assignments reflect ideas and
themes discussed in class. It would serve you well to plan ahead if you know you will be
absent by asking a classmate to share notes with you and/or record the lecture/discussion
for you, although it’s best to avoid absences altogether. You should cultivate classmates
who are willing to help you out if you must be absent—and whom you are willing to
assist in return. I will not reenact class for you. If you are ill for an extended time or have
a family emergency that requires you to be absent for several days, please let me know as
soon as possible. I will work with a student who has extenuating circumstances, but only
if those circumstances can be documented and if the student informs me of the difficulties
as soon as possible. All assignments and course documents will be available on D2L.

Academic Misconduct & Plagiarism:

I will investigate and report plagiarism and academic misconduct. Plagiarism is a
serious offense and can cause you (depending on the circumstances) to fail the class, be
placed on probation, and/or be expelled from the university. Plagiarism means presenting
someone else’s ideas or writing as your own. There are four different kinds of
plagiarism, all prohibited by the academic code. Academic misconduct includes cheating,
“improper collaboration,” and “submitting the same assignment for different classes.”
You can read more about academic misconduct and plagiarism and review examples of
plagiarism in the Student’s Guide to Academic Integrity on the Provost’s website: http://
www.ou.edu/provost/integrity/.

Late Policy:
I reserve the option not to accept any late assignments unless you have a documented
excuse. (Please see “Absences” above.) An absence from class on the day an assignment
is assigned or due does not constitute a sufficient excuse for late assignments; all
assignments are extensively described in the syllabus and all handouts and worksheets are
available on D2L. Your journals will be posted to D2L, so you can always turn them in
on time. IF you are experiencing difficulties, email me IMMEDIATELY. We can make
arrangements IN ADVANCE (coming in to class without your assignment does not
constitute prior arrangements) to aid you in completing your assignments in a timely
manner.

Attendance:
DO NOT MISS CLASS!!! You MUST attend this class to succeed. Coming to class and
being an active participant in our discussions are also important parts of your education.
Each group member, when assigning grades for his/her compatriots, will be allowed take
the number of absences times 10% off a student’s group grade. The group grade is 100%
of your participation grade, so you can lose most of your participation grade from
absences—and your participation grade is worth 20% of your final grade.

General Warnings:
In this section of the course policy, many instructors supply a list of acceptable and
unacceptable classroom behaviors. I do not choose to treat my students as if they were in
elementary school. As long as we all respect our University and each other by acting like
the intelligent, responsible adults we are, there will be no problems in our classroom.

Holidays, Events, & Deadlines:

You may access holiday dates, drop and add dates, & other important dates on the OU
academic calendar at the Oklahoma University Website under “Events & News,” or
follow this link: http://www.ou.edu/admrec/fall2005calendar.htm
 HOW TO USE THIS SYLLABUS: First, you should get familiar with it right away—
knowing how the class works and what is expected of you puts you in a great position to
do well. Secondly, the following schedule does not include titles/page numbers of the
assigned readings. The assigned readings are found at the end of this schedule in table
form. As I said earlier, readings are assigned on a weekly basis; that is, you should have
read ALL of the week’s readings by the time you come to class on Tuesday afternoon.
The “keywords” section of the assigned readings is intended to help you focus your
reading and to serve as a springboard for journal entries if you are stuck for ideas. The
keywords listed do not exhaust the ideas, concepts, and terms found in the readings.
Terms in italics are ones that will be on your midterm and final quizzes. Finally, read
carefully and make sure you understand the “Guidelines for Reading Journals.” If you do
not understand something, please ask. Finally, the complete syllabus, including reading
assignments and journal guidelines, is always available on D2L, as are numerous links to
websites you might find helpful.

8/22-8/24 Week 1: Introduction.

Tues 8/22 Lecture on themes, terms, & the period.
Tues ASSIGNMENT: Read “Establishment” documents.
This will be the only time you will have a midweek reading assignment. Please
read the following “Establishment” documents:
At The Avalon Project of Yale University http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/
avalon/18th.htm
Declaration of Independence (final version)
Articles of Confederation
Preamble to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments)
AND Amendments XIII, XV, and XIX

Also look at the Voting Rights Timeline from ACLU:

http://www.aclu.org/votingrights/gen/12999res20050304.html
Assignment: Read Week 2 selections.

8/29-8/31 Week 2: Encounters

Tues 8/29 Due: Journal #1
Assignment: Read Week 3 Selections

9/5-9/7 Week 3: The Southwestern Encounter

Tues 9/5 Due: Journal #2
Assignment: Read Week 4 Selections

9/12-9/14 Week 4: Women’s Poetry

Tues 9/12 Due: Journal #3
Assignment: Read Week 5 Selections
9/19-9-21 Week 5: Questioning New Canaan
Tues 9/12 Due: Journal #4
Assignment: Read Week 6 Selections

9/26-9/28 Week 6: The Eighteenth Century

Tues 9/26-9/28 Due: Journal #5
Assignment: Read Week 7 selections

10/3-10/5 Week 7: We hold these truths…

Tues 10/3 Due: Journal #6
Journals #6 & #7 may be combined into one longer journal that counts as 2
journals. That means you will cover readings and ideas from both Week 7 & 8,
and that the journal will be a minimum of 3 pages. If you choose to combine
journals, you may turn your journal in on 10/3 OR on 10/10 (note that turning
your journal in on 10/3 requires that you read a week ahead). You must include a
heading on this journal that indicates it is a combined journal.
Thurs 10/5: Short midterm quiz during the class period. Details to follow.
Exam: Take-home midterm provided. Details to follow.
Assignment: Read Week 8 Selections

10/10-10/12 Week 8: With liberty and justice…

Tues 10/10 Due: Journal #7
Thurs 10/12 Due: Take-home midterm exam.
Assignment: Read Week 9 Selections

10/17-10/19 Week 9: Whose America?

Tues 10/17 Due: Journal #8
Assignment: Read Week 10 Selections

10/24-10/26 Week 10: The Nineteenth-Century Southwest

Tues 10/24 Due: Journal #9
Assignment: Read Week 11 Selections

10/31-10/2 Week 11: Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness

Tues 10/31 Due: Journal #10
Assignment: Read Week 12 Selections.

11/7-11/9 Week 12: That all men are created equal…

Tues 11/7 Due: Journal #11
Discussions/prompts for final paper. Discuss selection of readings for final 3
weeks.
Assignment: Read Week 13 Selections
11/14-11/16 Week 13: Re-Imagining America
Tues 11/14 Due: Journal #12
Assignment: Read Weeks 14,15, & 16 Selections. We will chose from among the listed
selections during class on 11/9. I reserve the right to require some selections.

11/21-11/23 Week 14: Thanksgiving.

Tues 11/21 Reading and Research Day
Thurs 11/23 Thanksgiving Holiday
No Journal Due
Assignment: Read Weeks 14,15, & 16 Selections.

11/28-11/30 Week 15: American Romanticism

Tues 11/28: Due: Journal #13
Because this section’s readings cover more than one week Journal #14 may be
turned in either 11/28 or 12/05. Journal #13 is the final journal.
Thurs 11/30 Handout study guide for quiz and essay portions of exam.

12/5-12/7 Week 16: So, what is American Literature?

Tues 12/5: Finish discussing American Romanticism
Thurs 12/7 Final concerns, questions.

12/15 Final Exam 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm