The United States: A General Survey to 1877

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

Course-Specific Learning Outcomes

• Analyze key founding documents in historical context.
• Evaluate how American democracy has evolved through conflict and reform.
• Interpret primary sources as evidence of competing visions of freedom.
• Explain how race, empire, and inequality shaped the U.S.

MAC Civics & Community Competency Student Learning Outcomes (UNC System-required, verbatim)

• SLO 1 — Critically analyze claims, arguments, artifacts, or information.
• SLO 2 — Construct coherent, evidence-based arguments.
• SLO 3 — Evaluate key concepts, principles, arguments, and contexts in founding documents of the American republic, including the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and a representative selection of the Federalist Papers.
• SLO 4 — Evaluate key milestones in progress and challenges in the effort to form a more perfect Union, including the arguments and contexts surrounding the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Letter from Birmingham Jail, as well as other texts that reflect the breadth of American experiences.

Assessment of MAC Student Learning Outcomes

• MAC SLO 1 is assessed through the three Discussion Posts and the primary-source analysis embedded in each paper.
• MAC SLO 2 is assessed through Papers 1, 2, and 3, each requiring a coherent, evidence-based argument.
• MAC SLO 3 is assessed through Paper 2 (Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and the Federal Constitution).
• MAC SLO 4 is assessed through Paper 3 (Gettysburg Address, Emancipation Proclamation, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Letter from Birmingham Jail, the latter read as an epilogue connecting Reconstruction to the later civil rights movement).

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Discussion Post 1 (Weeks 1–3)	10%
Discussion Post 2 (Weeks 4–5)	15%
Discussion Post 3 (Weeks 6–8)	15%
Paper 1 (Weeks 1–3: Contact, Empires, Colonial Society)	20%
Paper 2 (Weeks 4–5: Revolution & Founding Documents)	20%
Paper 3 (Weeks 6–8: Expansion, Civil War & Reconstruction)	20%

Grading Scale

Percentage	Letter Grade
93–100	A
90–92	A-
87–89	B+
83–86	B
80–82	B-
77–79	C+
73–76	C
70–72	C-
67–69	D+
63–66	D
60–62	D-
Below 60	F

Attendance/Participation:

This course has no separate attendance grade — grades are based on the Discussion Posts and Papers above. The Discussion Posts double as your engagement checkpoints, since they’re due partway through each unit.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

• Alan Taylor, American Colonies (required purchase)
• Foundations of American Democracy (UNC Dept. of History reader)