HIST 103 News

I'm writing this immediately after exiting the exam session. Jeff's going to bring me the exams, and tonight I'll grade a bunch of the essays. After that I'll put them back into his hands to finish grading and to get the computer scoring done. Meanwhile, I'll be leaving town the latter part of the week, giving a paper at a conference in Omaha. Come Monday I hope I can download scores and post grades at the website. Remember that 3-digit number put on your scan sheet. You'll need that for looking up your grade on this exam, and you'll need to put the same number on subsequent exams.

Two of these three will appear on the exam, and you are to write on one of them.

1. According to Tocqueville, you can explain the character of a nation by studying its origins. If that is the case, what aspects of the American colonial experience do you see as forming the national character of the United States?

2. Tyranny of the majority is a key concept of Tocqueville. We assume that colonists came to America in search of liberty. Were colonial Americans free from the tyranny of the majority?

3. According to Tocqueville, it was impossible to impose a European social class structure on America. Based on lecture material you have heard, why was this?

At least five of the following questions will appear on the exam.

Which explorer circumnavigated the globe in 1522?
a. Columbus
b. Magellan
c. Cortes
d. Pizarro

Which country was not a major colonizer of the New World?
a. Spain
b. France
c. Sweden
d. England

Which of the following tribes inhabited the Pacific Northwest and was known for totem poles representing its constituent clans?
a. Moundbuilders
b. Iroquois
C. Pueblo
d. Salish

Which of the following would be considered the author of a primary historical document?
a. A person who heard about an event from an eyewitness
b. A person who read about an event at the time it occurred
c. A person who experienced an event
c. A person who fabricated an event

Who is considered the Father of History?
a. Carl Becker
b. Herodotus
c. Leopold von Ranke
d. Frederick Jackson Turner

Who founded the Baptist Church after being exiled from Salem?
a. Frederick Jackson Turner
b. Anne Hutchinson
c. Roger Williams
d. A practicing Salem witch

What is the term applied to goods which the North American colonists were restricted from selling to any nation but Britain?
a. Emancipated items
b. Enumerated items
c. Colonial items
d. Loyalty items

Review session, with Mr. Armstrong, for 1st exam: 7:15 Thursday evening 23 September, in Minard 204.

And here's another event for CC assignment fulfillment. Hey, this is a fabulous event--the annual Regional Studies Lecture, this year featuring author Larry Woiwode. This guy is one of America's finest crafters of prose. If you have the slightest interest in literature or writing, you gotta be there, regardless of the CC assignment, you just gotta be there. Woiwode is a master of the short story and the author of many novels, including Beyond the Bedroom Wall. He used to be part of the New Yorker's stable of fiction writers, until he came back to North Dakota; he now lives and writes in Mott. You can bet that what he says in his lecture will be well said, and also provocative, maybe downright ornery. The lecture, entitled "A New Dakota Address," will be Monday evening 4 October, 7:30 in Beckwith Recital Hall.

Here's another splendid event for filling the Cultural Currents assignment. At 11 AM Thursday 14 October, in Festival Concert Hall, President Chapman will deliver the State of the University address.

I have a flyer from the YMCA of NDSU announcing its series of Brown Bag Seminars this fall. I'll pass it around in class tomorrow. Here are some that look to me like they would be easy to relate to Tocqueville. (All events are at noon on Wednesday.)

6 Oct, MU Peace Garden: "Understanding Ramadan"

20 Oct, MU Peace Garden: "The Emerging Leadership Role for Women"

3 Nov, MU Prairie Rose: "A Nation Within: Understanding Native American Sovereignty"

17 Nov, MU Peace Garden: "Men, Women, Wymyn, Whoa! A time to stop and examine our perceptions about men, gender, and male-female relationships"

I'm looking over the questions Jeff abstracted from the 3x5 cards, some of which I'll address in class, but a couple of which I'll have a hard time answering.

For instance, people have asked about the migrations of early Americans from Asia, as described by archeologists, in contradiction to tribal histories, all of which recount origins here in America. I can't resolve this one for you. Archeologists, using material evidence, say there were waves of migration from Asia, likely crossing land bridges no longer extant, some as far back as 40 to 50 thousand years ago, the key ones 10 or 12 thousand years ago. Native historians, relying on oral tradition, say otherwise. Consider it a problem in historical evidence.

Likewise, some have asked about the moundbuilder cultures of interior North America--how and why they built mounds. Again, much is speculative. Some mounds obviously are for burials. Others appear to have had ritual purpose, but that is mostly speculative. In my reference to the subject I intentionally left the questions open-ended. I think we have to leave open the possibility of mystic knowledge that we cannot access. Just because I need an airplane to view effigy mounds from above, that doesn't mean the builders did. I know, this sort of talk is uncomfortable for many of us modernists. That's OK.

As I mentioned yesterday in class, Tocqueville has a chapter on art in a democracy. This means that any event in the arts can be used for the cultural currents assignment; all you have to do is consider whether what you see and hear is democratic art as described by Tocqueville. With that in mind, I'll mention that the first production this year by the Little Country Theatre will be Everyman, 6-10 October, in Askanase Auditorium. 7:30 PM Wed.-Sat., 2:00 PM Sun.