Dr. Paul Douglas Newman                                                                                                                     O. 269-2987

Krebs 123                                                                                                                                             H. 535-3176

pnewman+@pitt.edu                                                                                 Homepage: http://www.pitt.edu/~pnewman
 

Through extensive reading, discussion, and writing this course will confront you with the massive religious and reform movement that engulfed this country from the Revolutionary era until the mid-nineteenth century. We will first assess the religious "revivalism," attempting to ascertain its causes, character, and characters. Specifically we will study Methodism, Baptism, the "Christian" movement, African-American Protestantism, Mormonism-emphasizing the millennial themes underpinning all of these--and finally, we will consider immigration and Roman Catholicism. We will then survey a few of the reform movements spawned by the hopes and fears of millennialism: temperance, sabbatarianism, anti-slavery, women's rights, body reforms, and... for all of you "Boogie Nights," Studio 54, retro-70s kind of people-free love!
 

Required Reading

Robert A. Abzug, Cosmos Crumbling: American Reform and the Religious Imagination (New York and London: Oxford University Press, 1994).

Nathan O. Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989).

Paul E. Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 (New York: Hill & Wang, 1978).

Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998).

"Supplement: Selected Readings for History 1013"
 

All of the above will be available at the bookstore (Rampolla may be a few weeks late-not to worry though, I'll inform you when it is in).
 

Attendance

After today we will meet 28 times. If you are absent from class 6 times (more than 20%) I cannot in good conscience assign you any grade other than an F. Incompletes-G or I grades-will only be proffered to those with serious extenuating circumstances of which I am made known in advance or immediately as they occur. Do not come to me in December seeking pennance for missing the month of October because your Aunt Tilly was having her feet scraped.

Reading

1.When reading, always take notes. I suggest writing a brief summary of every reading assignment as soon as you have finished reading. Discern and record the author's thesis (or theses) and briefly recount how (what evidence, what sorts of arguments, and organization) he/she uses to prove his/her case. Do so on a 5x8" ruled notecard. You will be permitted to bring one notecard per article/book chapter into the final exam. No other notes, notebooks, scraps of paper, lat top computers, etc... will be permitted, only 5x8"ruled notecards.

2.Since this class will be based on discussion of the daily reading assignments, you must do the reading-without your participation there is no reason to meet. If you have not completed a reading assignment for a particular class there is no reason for you to attend.
 

Grading

Grading for this class will be based on a point system-- a 500 point scale as follows:

Quizzes

There will be periodic, unannounced quizzes on the reading assignments-some open book and some not. They will account for 100 points (20%).
 

Class Participation

Since this class will live or die with your level of participation, I am requiring you to contribute to our conversations by according 20% of your grade (100 points) to participation. I will make a seating chart and I will record each relevant contribution you make to our class discussion. At term's end, the highest 10% will receive an A, the second 20% will receive a B, the middle 40% a C, the next 20% a D, and the lowest 10% an F for the participation grade. I know what you're all thinking now: "But it's not fair! I'll feel stupid! I don't like to speak in front of people! You're mean old SOB.!" In answer to those statements: 1.) Life isn't fair, get over it. 2.) If you were stupid you would not be in college, and I care about your intellectual development, not your "feelings." 3.) You may not like speaking in front of people but honing your oral communication abilities is one of the most important skills that you can take out of college and into the real world. Things that are good for you are not always pleasant. 4.) I am indeed a mean old SOB, refer back to response number 1.
 

Book Reviews

You will write two book reviews, summarizing and critically analyzing Hatch, Democratization of American Christianity due October 28 for 50 points (10%); and Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millennium due November 25 for 100 points (20%). Rampolla gives a brief guide on how to write a book review. I will provide further instruction and examples. Late work will not be accepted.
 

Final Exam

On Thursday, December 17, we will gather together from 3-5pm for one last hurrah in Krebs 124, a final exam. To quote General Patton, "God, I love it so!" The final will consist of of an in-class essay for which you will be allowed to use your 5x8" ruled notecards. One week before the final I will distribute a list of possible questions for the final exam, from which I will choose one or two to be answered for the exam. The final will account for 150 points (30%).
 

Cheating

Any attempt to offer anyone else's work as your own will merit a zero for that assignment, a G grade for the course, and will automatically begin the proceedings for an F in the course and for your expulsion from this university in accordiance with the Academic Integrity Guidlines found in your student handbook. I am currently prosecuting one such case as we speak--don't even think about cheating.
 

Disabilities

Anyone in need of special accommodations due to a disability of any kind must seek guidance from the Disability Resources and Services Director Dianna Van Blerkom, Biddle 151D, 269-7015 immediately in order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
 

Policy on "Incompletes," or "G" or "I" Grades

When I assign final grades for this course on Monday, December 21, I will use only 5 letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, and F. The only "G" grade will go to those students accused of cheating and who await academic prosecution.

Week One: "American Religion and the Early Republic"

August 31-Introductions

September 2- Hatch, 220-226; Hatch, "In Pursuit of Religious Freedom" (packet)
 

Week Two: "Democratizing American Religion"

September 7- Hatch C.1

September 9- Abzug, C. 1
 

Week Three: "The Movement"

September 14- Hatch C. 2

September 16- Hatch C.3, and 67-81
 

Week Four: "Presbyterians and Methodists and Baptists, Oh My!"

September 21-Hatch, 81-93; Weisburger, "Walking and Leaping and Praising God" (packet)

September 23- Hatch 93-101
 

Week Five: "African American Protestantism"

September 28- Butler, "The African Spiritual Holocaust", and Joyner, "Come By Here, Lord" (both in packet)

September 30-Hatch, 102-113; Berlin, "Slaves Without Masters" (packet)
 

Week Six: "Mormonism" and "Orthodoxy Responds"

October 5- Hatch, 102-113; Wood, "Evangelical America and Early Mormonism" (packet)

October 7- Abzug C. 2
 
 

Week Seven: "Revivalism!"

October 12- Abzug, C. 3

October 14- Hatch C. 5
 

Week Eight: "The Legacy of the Second Great Awakening"

October 19- Hatch, C. 6

October 21- Hatch 7, and 8
 

Week Nine: "Immigrants, Roman Catholicism, and Natavism"

October 26- Conzen, "German Catholic Immigrants Who Make Their Own America" (packet)

October 28-Anbinder, "The Ideology of the Know-Nothing Party," and Feldberg, "The Philadelphia Native American Riots of 1844" (both in packet)
 

Week Ten: "Evangelical Reform"

November 2- Abzug, C. 4

November 4- Abzug, C. 5
 

Week Eleven: "Rochester, NY: A Case Study in Revivalism and Reform"

November 9- Johnson, Introduction and C.1

November 11-Johnson C. 2, 3, and 4

November 16- Johnson, C. 5, 6, and Afterword
 

Week Twelve: "Anti-Slavery vs. Pro-Slavery"

November 23- Abzug, C. 6

November 25- Frederick Douglass, "Evangelical Flogging," and George Armstrong, "The Christian Doctrine of Slavery" (both in packet)
 

Week Thirteen: "The Woman Question?"

November 30- Abzug, C. 8

December 2- Abzug, C. 9
 

Week Fourteen: "The Extremes of Reform"

December 7- Abzug, C. 7

December 9- Bishop, "The Great Oneida Love-In" (packet)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I. Structure

A. Thesis--this is the idea or set of ideas that you are trying to sell to your reader, it should always be clear and it should appear at the forefront of your essay

B. Topic Sentences--are the thesis statements of each individual paragraph, and like the thesis statement, they should be clear and they must appear at the head of the paragraph

C. Organization--essays are usually divided into three basic sections: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion

1. Introduction--tell me what you what you are going to tell me--thesis

2. Body--tell me, in a series of paragraphs or sentences--the facts

3. Conclusion--briefly remind me of your thesis and what you just told me

D. Mechanics

1. Margins--left and right margins should be 1" top, bottom, and sides

2. Pagination--all pages except the first should be numbered at bottom center

3. Pitch and Fonts--essays will be printed in readable fonts with a pitch no greater than 12 and no less than 10

4. Spacing--all essays will be double spaced

5. Cover Sheets--all essays will have a cover page with a title and name

6. Citations--all quoted material or specific information derived from a secondary source must be cited by including the author's name and the page number in (parentheses) at the end of the sentence (Newman, 1). And those cited materials should be listed on a separate "Works Cited" page at the end of the essay, including a full bibliographic citation.

II.Matters of Style, Grammar, and Punctuation

A. Style--making the essay easy to read

1.Voice--when possible, use active rather than passive voice

2. Expression

a. use positive over negative forms--avoid "not"

b. avoid doubtful expressions--perhaps, may, might, could

c. avoid obvious expressions--doubtless, obviously, of course

d. avoid unnecessary and simplistic modifiers--nice, pretty, very, much

3. Vernacular--refrain from using slang, trite colloquialisms, or overused cliches

4. Long and Run-on sentences--lookout for sentences that run over two lines

5. Be Concise

6. Beware of overstating your case--be cautious with superlatives

7. Perspective--always write in the third person, as an objective witness, never use first or second person in a scholarly or academic essay

B. Grammar

1. Verb tense agreement--do not flip between past and present tense--use past tense to write about history, past events

2. Subject-Verb agreement--verb tense mus match subject number

3. Keep subject confined--avoid dividing subject with other phrases

4. Avoid split infinitives--I was really flying.

5. Don't use contractions like I just did

6. Prepositions

a. Cut down on the number of prepositional phrases by using apostrophes

b. Refrain from ending a sentence with a preposition

C. Punctuation

1. Apostrophes--used to create the possessive form, and they are always followed by an s--the possessive of it needs no apostrophe--its; it's means it is

2. Quotation marks--used to encapsulate quoted material, "and all end of sentence or phrase punctuation should fall within them."

3. Never use Exclamation points for scholarly or academic essays! They are to be use exclusively for narrative storytelling.

III. Revision

A. Read essay out loud--your ear will catch many errors and awkward expressions that your eyes will glance over

B. Read each word individually for spelling--even after the spell checker

C. Check for passive voice by scanning for "to be" verbs

D. Have a friend, roommate, or hated enemy read and critique the essay