PROBLEMS WITH SOURCES::
Over 30 past years, historians have been challenging traditional story
Lawmakers keep paintings of Columbus in the capital
Yet as historians start adding more voices to the story, differing interpretations emerge. BASIC POINT: THE STORY IS RELETIVE
Wikipedia:
Probably the #1 source of information on the planet---Neutrality Adolf Hitler=George Washington because of unconditional neutrality
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PROCESS::
Story; Information Needs; Questions; Answers(sources)
READING NOTES
-Why Kids Cant Search: about younger people trusting technology too much and using the top result on google commercials. Also makes the point that background knowledge is necessary before deciding whether a source is reliable.
-Is Google Making Us Stupid?: talks about how over the years, people are starting to read differently, for shorter periods of time, more small articles and less books. Also talks about the internet eating other technologies like the clock, maps, phones, tvs, mail, ect.
-You are Not Entitled to an Opinion: Only one that you can argue
HISTORICAL THINKING IS UNNATRUAL
Historians differentiate between “history”- their body of knowledge- and “the Past” Which is the “data set” from which our knowledge is built.
History- the discipline itself
Past- (Object of study)- The past (the “data set”) is what historians call The Historical Record or The Artifactual Recordj
Problem: Incomplete Not everything (information) from the past survives or is accessible
Mission: Create the most plausible or best explanation possible given the I ncompleteness of the information
Traditionalists:
Nationalistic-Why are americans the best? Started First Historical Journals, History Departments
Progressives (1890s-1940-s):
Used science and social science to address social problems caused by industrialization
Conflict was important as an explanation
New History (1960s-present)
Used social science data about populations to make generalizations about societies
Consensus historians(40s-60s) Wrote about the things americans had in common that united them
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Events-
-Historians generally and often study EVENTS
-Events have four Qualities: Time
Place
Causes
Consequences
Causation- Nothing “Just happens” Most people want “simple causes” (“monocausation”) Slavery caused the Civil War
But slavery existed in the U.S. for 85 years before the Civil War and slavery “caused” no war during that whole time
JAMESTOWN
Virginia Company of London -smiths, gentlemen, soldiers, etc… NO FARMERS ^^Spanish Model^^ “Starving Time”- early part of much of 16 century exploration
Jamestown
-Proprietary Colony -London Company of Virginia -Laws -Land
-Indentured Servitude -Work in exchange for ride over & severance package (“FREEDOM DUES”) -Dues Include LAND (BIG FUCKING DEAL TO POOR ENGLISHMEN) -Stop giving land after a while
Cultural Differences (English- Indian) -Powhatan Confederacy -Political Structure (Absolute v. consensus) -Land (Proprietary v. communal) -Work (Virtue v. Subsistence) -Hunting (Nobility v. Subsistence) -Gender Roles in Agriculture (Men v. Women) BIG DEAL
English Develop idea of Superiority
Tobacco
-John Rolfe -Intensive Biologically- Drains land of nutrients Labor Profitable
Government Reforms -Land- Headright system -Rights of landowners: Self-government—House of Burgess
Chesapeake
Bacon’s Rebellion -1675-1676 -Nathaniel Bacon -Elite control of land -Limited access -Kept Indians angry
-Consequence: Yes, rights for property owners -Indentures are problem
Virginia’s Solution -“An Act to Repeal a Former Law Making Indians and Others Free” 1680 -P.O.W., AGE, RELIGION ^^Things that make you a slave before -Under New Law -Slaves are slaves for life -Regardless of Religion -Children of slaves are slaves -Stable, controllable (by force) labor -By 1776,
