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Capstone Essay Assignment Presented By: Madison Scopano History of United States I, Instructed By: Caroline Mellinger August 9, 2017

"History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future,” stated American poet Robert Penn Warren. This utterance could not better encompass the purpose of history, for prior to my participation in this course, I had assumed that we utilize history’s past as a lesson to avoidance in our present-day affairs. However, I’ve apprehended the realization that history does repeat itself, and with many individuals around us ignorant to our past errors, it is inevitable to not come in contact with this, albeit, nuisance of recurrence. Although, the significance of history does not lie within attempting to eschew our past mistakes, for that is indefinitely inexorable, but better prepare ourselves of how to handle the situation when re-presented from guidance of past’s faults. I don’t believe I can discern a better example of this importance of the subject in any other study but American history. Here, we witness the evolution of our country, from pre-settlement to foundation of independence to what is familiar today. America genuinely exhibits human error, especially within the revolutionary principles: liberty, freedom and equality; and the effort to remedy such throughout the nation’s lifetime. The course History of United States I, comprehensively includes this learned concept. Its contents consist of the American timeline from before the embarkation of Europeans to the year 1865. In order to evaluate the information learned within this time frame, 100 point Journal Articles essays are assigned. This duration of time in American history is broken up into five sections with five corresponding journal articles, and two weeks time to complete each article. On occasion, journal article responses are assigned that allow for reflection of material and overall progress as a student within a correlating journal article assignment. These responses are worth 25 points and require a two paragraph minimum answer with two comments to other’s

post within the discussion. To acclimate oneself to the course, a 50 point Foundation essay is assigned in the beginning, and at the end of the course a 50 point Capstone essay is given to deliberate over the course as a whole. Aforementioned, the first assignment was the Foundation Essay where students will adapt to the course’s structure and expectations by evaluating multiple documents, including the Course Syllabus, Students as Historians and Ten Essential Things. All documents help aid the student into the course’s methodology. Within the first journal article the Native American community is explored to the eve of European arrival. The focus centralizes on the cultural clash between the two nations over land claims and the challenges found within this collision of divergent societies. It allows one to become acquainted with American lifestyle before European “discovery.” The overall objective is to gain an understanding of European motives through their emigration to the Americas, and as they proceed to colonize, the tensions that rise about from the surrounding natives. Following completion of this assignment, is the first journal article response, which allows for the student to analyze their writing and learning process in the first assignment, what they have favored in the learning experience and how they would change their approach if given the opportunity. Following in the second journal article, the course allows the choice of study. The first topic is the analyzation of the slave trade industry as it disseminates to the Western Hemisphere. The learning module strives to have the student achieve an understanding of 17th and 18th century dynamics within slavery, as well as to commence comprehension in the rudiments of the complex Atlantic trading network created to facilitate the transportation of the human chattel and enrich its purveyors located across the globe. The second topic concentrates on the violent

struggle for dominance within the European imperial powers: France, Britain, and Spain.The Native Americans come to play a crucial role in this struggle, especially within the battles fought for territorial expansion; this allows for insight to the causes for the various wars. The American Revolution and their causes to break association with Great Britain will become the third topic of choice where it examines the principle reasoning for independence, as well as coming to the understanding of the huge motivational factors within such: leaders, political and militant powers. This topic in particular allows the student to align with either the patriots or loyalists at the setting of the American Revolution and defend their stance in a creative, first-person point of view. Just as the first journal article, the second was followed by a journal article response where the student evaluated the improvement in their approach to the essay, as well as a statement of advice to their peers. Journal Article Three and Four follow suit with the opportunity to choose two out of the three topics provided to study, which, personally, I found the freedom to do so making the learning process all the more enjoyable as one would pick topics that interested them most. Journal Article Three’s topics range throughout the years 1775 to 1815. The first of which is the impact revolutionary principles had on the American populace, specifically the democratic ideals that gained momentum from the Revolutionary War. Secondly, is evaluating the Early National Period, which withholds conflicts between Federalists and Anti-Federalists regarding the Articles of Confederation and the establishment of government, U.S. Constitution. Thirdly, was the study of the Jeffersonian Era where third president, Thomas Jefferson, would establish values and principles amongst American citizenry that would cause tension in the political realm. Through this era America would establish its dominating presence and create the governmental foundation

necessary for industrialization as the nation would become independent. From these topics, students are able to gain an understating of how the fruits of liberty and democracy were limited to only select few despite the statements made within the Constitution; this caused an uprising amongst the population, which Jefferson would attempt to rectify with the institution of his own principles. Another, which is also the last, journal article response is assigned, accompanying this essay. The questions focus on evaluating one’s maturation in their critical thinking skills, along with the opportunity for bonus points as the student can express what they’ve learned in relation to Independence Day. Journal Four consisted of topics revolving around economic development in the Market Revolution and the rise in democracy within President Jackson’s term, including reform movements: women’s rights and abolitionism. The generalization to the learning objective within this journal article is to observe the evolution of the nation into what it has become, which is achieved through the rapidly developing economy and the refinements made upon defining liberation; thus, from this topic, the students achieve a greater appreciation for their background. The last journal article essay first centralizes on consequences the nation, and specifically President Andrew Jackson, faced through the expansion of America alongside the expansion of democracy. The second topic gives the student the liberty to create a character, and with that perspective will evaluate the country as it moves towards war and how the development of Republican principles helped shaped the coming and result of such war and politics. The capstone essay would follow this assignment to “cap” off the end of the course. It consists of summarizing the class as a whole and reflecting on the learning experiences encountered. At the end of the History of United States I course, students will have achieved a multitude of learning

objectives: successfully evaluating the major political, social, military, geographic, economic developments in the United States; analyzing the foundations of important social, political, economic, and environmental issues--both foreign and domestic--facing the United States during the period; determining and analyzing the relationship between geography and the historical development of the United States; and the ability to find, access, evaluate, and utilize multi-media information in a historical context. From a more personal perspective, I’ve gained many lessons just from studying American history. For example, I’ve realized that society has forgotten its origin, abandoning the knowledge of history’s significance. The modern era lives in a time of advancement and progression, for we look towards where we are headed instead of reminiscing in where we came from.We, generally speaking, are ignorant to the importance of the past, for we now live in a time where the motto is, as stated by author Mandy Hale, “To get over the past, you first have to accept that the past is over. No matter how many times you revisit it, analyze it, regret it, or sweat it…it’s over. It can hurt you no more.” The negligence of history still; however, does not take away from its magnitude in the broad spectrum of life and it’s impact personally upon the individual. On a daily basis we make decisions based off of our experiences in the past, yet in doing this we still define our principles in that we hold no relevance to our background. Therefore, as mentioned in the works of David Crabtree, “The past, even the relatively recent past, is, in the minds of most of us, enshrouded by mists, only very vaguely perceived.” Society has deluded itself to believing it holds supremacy to history because we live in a world of furtherance; thus, the antiquity of American foundation is incapable of shedding light on our experiences. Our ignorance of the past is not the result of a lack of information, but of

indifference. We do not believe that history matters. Our view of history shapes the way we view the present, and therefore it dictates what answers we offer for existing problems. Not only has the learning of American history opened the doors to a greater respect to our beginning infrastructure to United States citizenry and government, but it opened up perspective to the past. In other words, the appreciation we share for our nation in its dawn of development has now expanded for me to the appreciation of guidance we have gained from our past. It is well known that history contains the habitual trend of repeating itself, for with some individuals’ ignorance to its importance, we’ve discovered this is inevitable. History, though, has taught us to perfect our approach in these situations whether on a personal level or on the grander scale of governmental matters. In taking this course, I have found to gain an appreciation for the past beyond the superficial as most. I’ve been provided the insight that repetition is solidified in the everyday human, but it’s what we take from history, in general and personally, that let’s us better remedy our mistakes. As Dale Turner once said, “Some of our best lessons ever learned are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past, is the wisdom and success of the future.” History isn’t as its reputation. Moreover, it's not just inclusive of the evolution in politics and social encounters, but inclusive of the evolution of the everyday person, which comes to incorporate each individual. This lesson was the largest one that I learned amongst the others by participation in the course. As a student, I have also better critiqued my critical thinking skills, as I was required to analyze primary sources from 15th to 19th century in relevancy to the events surrounding that particular document. The more complex styles of writing that these texts contain and the impacting occurrences of its formation force its reader into a deeper analysis, all the while

advancing those critical thinking skills. In answering the questions posed by the course, I personally felt that in order to gain a true understanding of the question, I had to assess each topic from a universal perspective, gaining this understanding from all aspects and sides before addressing it. The enhancement of my critical thinking skills weren't the only the abilities affected in this course, for I’ve obtained a better understanding in the intersections of race, gender, class, economy, military, legal, religious, and urban studies. I’ve also acquired improved self-management skills through this self-paced course where success was dependent on the independent drive of the student. This course was completely online, and it was up to the student to determine their outcome in the class. Resources and limited directions were provided; thus, the student had to thrive off the opportunity of self-driven determination, utilization of what was given and further creativity to produce quality work, once again tying in self-management skills. The structure of the course is not the best for many, but for those who are strong, independent workers, I believe an online history course will be a suitable fit. Aforementioned, I’ve taken a lot away from the intricate details of history to the generalization of what the subject represents. The structure of the course with its freedom of study and welcoming invitations through assignments that let the student utilize his or her strengths to produce workings had been a great experience and let me succeed overall. My main takeaway is the significance in history relative to today’s matters, for as stated by Robert Penn Warren, "History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.”...