Critical Analysis Paper: It is your responsibility to actively engage in and critique the reading. It is not merely a summary. By all means, summarize the reading in a few sentences, but the rest should be an analysis. You are expected to have an opinion on the reading and back that opinion with quotes from the reading. What you’re looking for are the strengths and/or weaknesses of the article. Who is the author and what authority does s/he have on the subject? Where did the data come from? Is the perspective balanced or biased? What information did the author not provide? What could s/he have explained further? You don’t have to answer every one of these questions but select a few of these points and back them up with examples from the text to support your claims.

The assignment does not require outside research, but you may choose to quote or cite other sources to help solidify your position. You may also use other readings from that week to contrast and/or compare. The analysis should be 5-6 pages in length. Be sure to include proper bibliographic citations.

Papers are due the same day as the critical analysis presentation.

Critical Analysis Presentation: The second part of the assignment is to present your paper and pose 3 questions to the class based on the reading. The questions are meant to provoke discussion and get the class to participate. You may use PowerPoint to present your paper. Try to be as creative and fun as possible – feel free to split the class into groups, or play a game, etc.

weekly lessons :
Week 1: What is Capitalism, anyway?
reading: Smith, “Wealth of Nations,” 3-10 (BH) Marx, “Communist Manifesto,” 11-24 (BH) Mann, “1491
Week 2: The Paradox of American Development/Deep history of the modern economy
Week 2: The Paradox of American Development/Deep history of the modern economy
Clark, “A Farewell to Alms,” 25-31 (BH) W August 31: Plantation Revolutions Virginia Charter, Mayflower Compact, and John Locke, 33-50 (BH) Virginia Slavery Laws, 52-55 (BH) Morgan, Slavery and Freedom, Book 1 Additional Discussion Section reading: Morgan, Slavery and Freedom, Book 2 3
Week 3: The mercantile world and the industrious revolution
Benjamin Franklin, “Autobiography,” 66-75 (BH) Additional Discussion Section reading: Morgan, Slavery and Freedom, Book 3
Question: Morgan argues that capitalism developed in different ways in the North and South, and also that slavery was at the heart of both. How does that influence how you read Franklin?
Week 4: The Revolution
Readings: Morgan, Slavery and Freedom, Book 4 Federalist Papers, 77-92 (BH) W Sept 14: The Capitalist Constitution, 93-99 (BH) Hamilton, “Reports,” 100-136 (BH)
Week 5: Ghost Acres and Whipping Machines
Paulding, “Letters From the South,” 139-144 (BH) Ball, “Slavery in the United States,” 161-170 (BH) Baptist, “Toxic Debt” 204-214 (BH) Nolte, “Vincent Nolte Describes the Cotton Market,” 145-150 (BH) W Sept. 21: Making the American Economy, 1815-1839 Clay, “The American System,” 152-160 (BH) Jackson, “Veto of the Second Bank,” 194-203 (BH) Additional Discussion Section reading: “Lynn Shoemakers’ Strike,” 189-192 (BH) Wilentz, “New York City and the Rise of the American…” 182-188 (BH) “The Murder of Helen Jewett,” 216-220 (BH)
In the assignment below. In some of the readings, the authors see a shift in economic relationships and class structures. Pick on reading and explain the main argument in 250 words.
Week 6: Nature’s Metropolis
Cronon, “Chicago and the Great West,” 238-245 (BH) Lincoln, “Address Before Wisconsin State Agricultural Society,” 233-237 (BH) W Sept. 28: The Civil War Ransom, the Economics of the Civil War,” and Pomeranz, “The Great Divergence,” 171-180 (BH)
Week 7: Railroads and the emergence of American corporate capitalism
White, “The Transcontinentals,” 255-263 (BH) E. A. Wrigley, “Opening Pandora’s Box: A New Look…” (BBoard) W Oct. 5:
Week 8: Labor and Capital in the Gilded Age
Beckert, “The Monied Metropolis,” 246-252 (BH) Carnegie, “Gospel of Wealth,” 282-287 (BH) Addams, ‘Twenty Years at Hull House,” 288-294 (BH) Additional Discussion Section reading: DuBois, “Souls of Black Folk,” 296-303 (BH) “Jim Crow Laws,” 304-311 (BH) People’s Party Platform, Omaha, 1892, 269-276 (BH)
Week 11: Postwar: The Era of American Dominance
SHORT PAPER DUE
Marshall, “The Marshall Plan,” 378-382 (BH) Rostow, “Stages of Economic Growth,” 383-388 (BH) Whyte, “Budgetism: Opiate of the Middle Class,” 390-393 Nov. 2: The World Comes Back Hyman, “Rethinking the Postwar Corporation,” 384-401 (BH) Kruse, One Nation Under God, (Part III and Epilogue) Additional Discussion Section reading: Coates, “The Case For Reparations,” Atlantic June 2014 (course site)

COURSE BOOKS:

Edward E. Baptist and Louis Hyman, editors, American Capitalism: A Reader (e-book only—available on Kindle at Amazon or from iTunes)
Greg Grandin, Fordlandia: the Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City
Kevin Kruse, One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America
Edmund Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom
Jeff Chang, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation