Bluebonnet Home Scholars Collaborative

Flower Forth

Dual-Enrollment: U. S. History to 1877

Level:

Subject(s):

Description:

BHSC is delighted to offer U. S. History to 1877 (HIST 2313) as part of the BHSC Dual-Enrollment Program in partnership with The Academy at Houston Christian University (HCU).

The course examines key figures and significant events in the history of America, beginning with the European colonization in the sixteenth century and concluding with the end of the American Civil War and Reconstruction. In the first semester, the course studies colonial society and culture in New England and in the southern colonies until the War for Independence, and the second semester focuses upon the emergence of the United States through the civil war. The course looks at a variety of sources related to this history, including colonial legislation and constitutions, early American literature, private correspondence, and first-hand accounts.
Class periods will include lectures and discussion on assigned reading from primary and secondary sources. Also, class periods will include some special projects like learning to read 18th-century handwriting and imitation assignments where students will be asked to write in the style of a particular historical document. Students will be expected to read weekly and write weekly reflections (150-200 words) on a set question. Each semester, students will be required to write one longer research paper (1200-1500 words), and each semester will conclude with a written exam consisting of short response and long essay questions.
The Course pack will include primary source documents, timelines, and maps.
At-Home Work:  weekly reflections, readings, and longer research paper.

(Recommended as a full year of American History high school credit in addition to the 3 units of college credit awarded by HCU. Students must complete college-level reading and in-class exams with writing.)

U. S. History to 1877, will be offered on Tuesdays, 9:20 to 10:30 a.m. over the entire 2024–25 BHSC school year, so the pacing will be much more relaxed than taking an equivalent class at a college or university. Instead of the 3-unit college class lasting one semester, the same class will be offered at BHSC over the full year, August through May.

Meet the Professor: Serving as an HCU Honors College professor and professor of history, Dr. David Davis teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels, specializing in medieval and early-modern European history and offering courses that focus upon intellectual, cultural, and religious history as well as the history of science. Noting Dr. Davis’s “kindness, humor, generosity, and intellectual fervor,” HCU has named Dr. Davis the Opal Goolsby Outstanding Professor two times, once in 2013 and again in 2022; this is a prestigious award created to recognize the very best teaching on the HBU campus. Dr. Davis was also made a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society for his contributions to historical scholarship and was awarded the Hardenberg Fellowship at the Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek in Emden, Germany in 2017.

Dr. Davis writes reviews and essays for The Wall Street Journal, The New Criterion, and The American Conservative and is writing a book on divine revelation before the Enlightenment. Dr. Davis claims that reading Herodotus, Erasmus, and Pascal changed his life, but we aren’t sure if that is a good thing. He is generally suspicious of his smartphone, but can’t seem to live without it. And when he isn’t gardening, hiking, or learning new words from his wife, he can usually be found drinking coffee and reading Welsh poetry (or wishing he were).

Course details: HIST 2313: U. S. History to 1877 is a survey of American history from its origins to the close of Reconstruction.

Some of Dr. Davis’s Popular Writing You Might Enjoy:
The Wound of Time: C.S. Lewis’s Final Thoughts on a Human Condition, FORMA
Rethinking the Reformation Reliance upon the Middle Ages, The City
Texas History Gets Supersized, The American Conservative
‘The Great Rift’ Review: From Comity to Culture War, The Wall Street Journal
Newton the Faithful, The Wall Street Journal
Review: A Companion to the Early Printed Book in Britain, 1476–1558, Renaissance Quarterly

Materials:

Families supply the following student materials:

  3. Allen Guelzo, Fateful Lightning
  4. Coursepack for HIST 2313 available at the HCU Bookstore (in-person or online) starting August 1.
  5. Spiral Notebook (at least 70 sheets) for taking notes in class
  6. Multiple reliable pens/pencils for taking notes