Prof. Scott Peeples / 22B Glebe St. Rm. 201 / peepless@cofc.edu / http://www.cofc.edu/~peeples/
953-1993 / Office Hours MWF 10-11 TR 11-12 and by appointment

OBJECTIVES
To survey American literature – fiction, drama, poetry, autobiography and other nonfiction – of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; to examine critically the artistic, political, and intellectual currents of the period through these representative texts; to consider how the literature of this period engages the still-vexing question of what it means to be American.

GRADED WORK
In-class writing 40 pts. approx.
2 Q-H-Q essays (3-4 pp.) 40 pts. (20 pts. each)
Presentation 10 pts.
Research Proposal 10 pts.
Researched essay (8-10 pp.) 60 pts.
Mid-term exam 30 pts.
Final exam 40 pts.

Total 230 pts. approx.

POLICIES AND OTHER INFORMATION

1. Attendance and participation are requirements of this course. If you miss more than three classes, I will deduct two points from your final grade for each additional class you miss. (For example, if you miss six classes and your numerical grade for the course is an 81, it would turn into a 75.) You should save the three absences you're allowed for illnesses and emergencies, because I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences when I calculate grades.

2. In-class writing: At some point in almost every class, I will give you a brief writing assignment, the main purpose of which is to allow you to write without the pressure of a substantial grade, in order to generate ideas for discussion or for your essays. If you demonstrate adequate familiarity with the text and a sincere effort to develop an idea through your writing, I will give you full credit (2 pts.). For writing that shows little effort or little familiarity with the text, I will assign 1 point. No significant effort/familiarity, no credit. No make-ups.

3. Q-H-Q stands for Question-Hypothesis-Question. First you pose an issue question (not a question of fact) regarding the reading for that day. Then you write a brief essay (about 750-1000 words) to support a hypothesis in response to that question. Finally, you present another issue question suggested by your hypothesis. The Q-H-Q requires no outside research, but you might use one or more of the supplemental readings to help support your hypothesis, or as a foil to your hypothesis. The Q-H-Q is not a report--it is an original, thoughtful response to what you've read.

Q-H-Q Essays will be scheduled on the second day of class. On one of the two days you're scheduled to turn in a Q-H-Q, you will give a brief (5-10 min.) presentation to the class, discussing your hypothesis and questions.

4. Criteria for graded writing: I look primarily for content (evidence of original thinking, claims supported by textual evidence and logic), then effective organization of sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into a coherent essay. Next I am concerned with the clarity of your sentences and your ability to vary sentence structures, and on the mechanical correctness of your writing.

***Late penalty: one letter grade for each class period an essay is late; one letter grade for each weekday an essay is late after classes end. I will not accept any written work after the date of the exam.***

I will assign number grades to your essays.
On a 100-pt. scale, A = 90–100, B+ = 86–89, B = 80–85, C+ = 76–79, C = 70–75,
D = 65–69, and an F = 64 or lower.

If you want to improve your grades, talk to me about how you can write better exams and essays in the future: that's what I'm here for. However, I will not allow you to retake an exam or do an additional assignment for extra credit.

5. Documentation and plagiarism: I will assign a grade of zero to any paper that is not adequately documented. Consult Gordon Harvey's Writing with Sources for a clear explanation of how to integrate and document sources into your essays. For the specifics of MLA documentation, there's a link on my homepage to a documentation site; the library web page also includes easy access to MLA documentation guides, and copies of the MLA Handbook are available at the reference desk. I will turn over any paper that I suspect is plagiarized to the Honor Board, and if the student who submitted that paper is found in violation of the Honor Code, he or she will automatically fail this course.

TEXTS:
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Norton)
Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings (Penguin)
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer (Penguin)
The Portable Thomas Jefferson (Penguin)
Early American Drama (Penguin)
Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Huntly (Penguin)
Susanna Haswell Rowson, Slaves in Algiers (Copley)
Hannah Webster Foster, The Coquette (Oxford)
Selected Writings of Judith Sargent Murray (Oxford)
Washington Irving, The Sketch Book (Oxford)
Gordon Harvey, Writing with Sources (Hackett)

READING SCHEDULE [subject to change / e = electronic reserve]

8/23 Freneau: "To an Author"

8/25 Franklin: The Autobiography, Part 1

8/30 Franklin: The Autobiography, Parts 2, 3 and 4 (skip pp.112--middle of 130); D. H. Lawrence: "Benjamin Franklin"

9/1 Franklin: "The Speech of Polly Baker" (e), "Thoughts Concerning the Savages of North America" (e), "Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim on the Slave Trade" (e); Edgar Allan Poe: "The Business Man"

9/6 Equiano: The Interesting Narrative, Chs. 1-9 (+ Carretta's introduction)

9/8 Equiano: The Interesting Narrative, complete

9/13 Crèvecoeur: Letters from an American Farmer, Letters 1-4 (but skip pp. 106-bottom of 117), Letter 7

9/15 Crèvecoeur: Letters 9, 10, 12

9/20 Jefferson: Summary View of the Rights of British America, Declaration of Independence, Draft Constitution of Virginia, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom

9/22 Joel Barlow: "The Prospect of Peace"; Phillis Wheatley: "To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth," "To His Excellency, General Washington," "On Being Brought from Africa to America"; Timothy Dwight: "Columbia"; John Dickinson: "The Liberty Song"; "Burrowing Yankees" (anon.) (All of these are one e-reserve.)

9/27 Jefferson: Notes on the State of Virginia, Queries 5, 6, 8, 11, 14, 18

9/29 Jefferson: Notes on the State of Virginia, Queries 15, 16, 17, 19; letters to Martha Jefferson (1783), Peter Carr (1785), Chastellux (1785), Benjamin Banneker (1791), Benjamin Rush (1803), Henri Grégoire (1809), Edward Coles (1814)

10/4 James Madison: Federalist 10 (http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa10.htm); "Agrippa": [An Anti-Federalist Paper] (e); Jefferson: letters to Francis Hopkinson (3/13/89) and James Madison (3/15/89)

10/6 Royall Tyler: The Contrast (in Early American Drama)

10/11 Catch-up and review

10/13 Mid-term exam

Fall Break

10/20 Brown: Edgar Huntly (through Ch. 7)

10/25 Brown: Edgar Huntly (through Ch. 20)

10/27 Brown: Edgar Huntly (complete)

11/1 Rowson: Slaves in Algiers; Barlow: "The Hasty Pudding" (e)

11/3 Foster: The Coquette (through Letter XL)

11/8 Foster: The Coquette (complete)

11/10 Murray: "On the Equality of the Sexes," "Observations on Female Abilities," "Desultory Thoughts . . . "

11/15 Murray: "Sketch of the Present Situation of America," "Necessity of Religion," "Spirit Independent of Matter" / Research proposal due.

11/17 Philip Freneau: "On the Emigration to America and Peopling the Western Country," "The Wild Honey Suckle," "To Sir Toby," "The Indian Burying Ground," "The Indian Convert," "On the Great Western Canal of the State of New York," "On Observing a Large Red-streak Apple" (all on e-reserve)

11/22 Dunlap: André (in Early American Drama)

Thanksgiving Break

11/29 Irving: The Sketch Book, pp. 11-74, 88-92

12/1 Irving: The Sketch Book, pp. 173-82, 250-74, 291-322

Researched essay due Dec. 5 (Mon., 4:00 pm)

Exam 12/10 (Sat., 8-11)