Go West

Some of this unit will be familiar to you – settlers, railroads, pioneers, ranchers, cowboys – but some of it will, I hope, give you a fresh perspective on the experience of going West, and will expand your notion of who peopled the historic West. In this unit, we will use Limerick’s Legacy of Conquest as our main text. You should bring it to each class (except on 10/7 and 10/14) so we can use it in discussion.

Unit 3 Timeline PDF here (handed out in class on Mon 10/5)

Update after Friday 10/2 class: Yes, there is more reading in this unit than in the last one. Be aware of that, and plan accordingly. I do recommend that you take the time to outline the chapter of Limerick that we will be discussing for each day. It will help you read more carefully and thoughtfully and will help prepare you to contribute intelligently in discussion because you will have more to say about the reading. It’s just a good skill to have and a good habit to develop. I am even willing to collect them each day and to provide some brief written feedback on them as a way to help you gauge your reading comprehension, which in turn will help you absorb and think critically about the material in this unit. The goal here is not to “get a good grade on the test” (although that would be a nice collateral bonus); the goal is for you to understand the topics, evidences, and events of the past in a deeper and more self-directed way. Outlining is one tool to do that. So: outline if you wish (it’s not required), and turn them in if you want my feedback (also not required).

13. Fri 10/2 The West as American Frontier
Reading: LQ Ch 1 “Empire of Innocence”

14. Mon 10/5 Trails and Homes on the Range
Reading: LQ Ch 2 “Property Values”
In-class links: “In Pursuit of a Dream,” Overland Trail Diaries, Over-land.com

15. Wed 10/7 One Homesteader’s Life
Reading: Rachel Calof’s Story (entire – bring this book to class)

16. Fri 10/9 Promontory Point
Reading: LQ Ch 4 “Uncertain Enterprises”

Mon 10/12 No Class

17. Wed 10/14 Western Towns
Reading: Mary Murphy, “Private Lives of Public Women: Prostitution in Butte, Montana 1878-1917” [pdf]

18. Fri 10/16 Multicultural West
Reading: LQ Ch 8 “Racialism on the Run”

19. Mon 10/19 Unit 3 Test

In this unit we focus on several case studies of Indian encounters with Ango-European settlers, explorers, and military force. The goal of this unit is to see these encounters, as much as possible, from the Native American point of view. Our text for this unit will be Colin Calloway’s Our Hearts Fell to the Ground, as well as selected chapters of Patricia Nelson Limerick, Legacy of Conquest. During this unit, please bring Calloway’s Our Hearts Fell to the Ground (OHFG) to class each day. Limerick’s Legacy of Conquest (LQ) is for your background reading and her material will be on the Unit test, but you don’t need to bring her book to class.

7. Fri 9/18 The West as Indian Homeland
Reading: LQ Intro and OHFG Intro (pp. 1-31)

8. Mon 9/21 America the Borderland and Winter Counts
Reading: LQ Ch 7 and OHFG Ch 1-3

9. Wed 9/23 Sand Creek
Reading: OHFG Ch 5-8

10. Fri 9/25 Little Bighorn
Reading: OHFG Ch 9, 10, 11 and 13

11. Mon 9/28 The Persistence of Natives
Reading: LQ Ch 6 and OHFG Ch 14 plus Epilogue and Chronology

12. Wed 9/30 Unit 2 Test

In this unit, we’ll look at how the American West has been defined – as both a place/region and as a field of scholarly study.

1. Wed 9/2 Course Intro
Reading: none. “Bugs Bunny Rides Again”

2. Fri 9/4 Where is the West?
Reading: Walter Nugent, “Where is the American West” in Major Problems in the History of the American West [pdf]
See our survey results on Google Maps
The West: A Reference Map (the in-class handout)

Mon 9/7 No Class

3. Wed 9/9 Turner, the Frontier and the Power of an Idea
Reading: Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” with John Mack Faragher’s introduction [pdf]. Read all of Turner’s essay, and be able to discuss and summarize his main thesis for our class session on Wednesday. Faragher’s intro helps put it into context as one of the most important and influential essays ever written, and as the piece of writing which really begins the field of Western history.
In-class case study: “Closing of the Frontier” (World Book Encyclopedia)

4. Fri 9/11 Where Lewis and Clark Went, and What They Found There
Reading: Lewis and Clark diary excerpts online (1 week, as assigned in class), and complete a document report for homework, due in class on Fri 9/11

5. Mon 9/14 Reimagining the Boundaries of the West
Reading: John Mack Faragher, “Frontier Trail: Rethinking Turner and Reimagining the American West” [pdf]

6. Wed 9/16 Unit 1 Test, in class