American History to 1877

An interpretive survey of the events, ideas, and personalities that shaped the United States prior to 1877. Emphasis is placed on colonial beginnings, the War for Independence, the evolution of national institutions and an American culture, the conflict between nationalism and sectionalism, territorial expansion, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. It does so by centering on three defining eras: first, the American Revolution and founding of a new nation; second, the Second Great Awakening and reforming a nation; and third, the U.S. Civil War and reconstructing a nation torn apart by a bloody conflict.