History 538 Religion, Politics, and Society in American History those who say religion has nothing to do with

politics do not know what religion is Mahatma Gandhi Your Professor: Edward J. Blum, PhD Required Texts: Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey, The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America (2012) Amanda Porterfield, Conceived in Doubt: Religion and Politics in the New American Nation (2012) Karla Goldman, Beyond the Synagogue Gallery: Finding a Place for Women in American Judaism (2001) Matthew Avery Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America (2007) John T. McGreevy, Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth-Century Urban North (1998) Sarah Barringer Gordon, The Spirit of the Law: Religious Voices and the Constitution in Modern America (2010) What is this course about? Religion and politics in American History examines the ways religion and politics have influenced one another and transformed one another from the eighteenth century to the present. We are particularly interested in change over time in American political history and the role of religion in those changes. In part, this course examines what is traditionally considered religious and political: theology, ministers, hymns, elections, presidents, and laws. We will also analyze links between religion and politics in many other ways, from its presence in material culture to its role in immigration and social mobility. Finally, this course will consider how notions of what is religious and what is political have changed over time and the factors making those changes. This course begins after the founding of the United States. It proceeds through the formation of the United States, the role of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the major shifts in Americas religious and political cultures, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the rise of an industrial nation, the Cold War and Civil Rights movement and beyond. We will pay particular attention to the role of religion in animating American law, constitutionalism, society, economics, and systems of oppression and resistance. We will focus on a variety of religious traditions, including Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, indigenous faiths, spiritualism, and Judaism. Learning Outcomes: We will locate and analyze primary and secondary sources relating to American religion and politics in history. We will formulate research plans and topics. We will write as professional historians do.

We will develop research ideas and essays. We will place historical specifics into historical contexts. We will recognize the reciprocal relationship between American politics and American religions. We will recognize diversity of cultures and groups in shaping the American past.

Grade Breakdown: Your grade will be determined in two main areas: reading analyses and a long research essay. You will write two short essays analyzing the course reading. In these five to six page essays, you will be asked to write critical reviews that bring together classroom lectures, discussions, the primary document reader, and the secondary sources. Your long research essay will be graded in a progression from a beginning topic to a final draft. Along the way, you will turn in an annotated bibliography of secondary sources, an annotated bibliography of primary sources, an outline, and a rough draft. Your topic must be approved by the professor. Graduate students are not required to do any extra work for this class, but their products will be evaluated with greater scrutiny. You will receive further instructions and grading rubrics so that you know precisely how each assignment will be graded. Short Essay #1: 15% Short Essay #2: 15% Short Essay #3: 15% Research Topic: 10% Annotated Primary Documents: 10% Annotated Secondary Documents: 10% Research Paper Outline: 25% Plagiarism: ACHTUNG! WARNING!! Monstrous, Evil, Lethal Criminal Acts If you're sick of this institution, one of the best ways OUT of it is to cheat or plagiarize in my class. Any work you claim as your own that comes from another person or lacks what I consider adequate acknowledgment of their contribution is cheating. Copying another person's paper -copying off their test -- is cheating, too. Crib sheets are cheating, when used during an examination. Anyone caught will RUE THE DAY. He or she will get a zero on the work, an F in the course, and I will do all I can to have them expelled or suspended from this university. I've done it before. I'll do it again. For SDSUs policies on cheating, see <http://infotutor.sdsu.edu/plagiarism/index.cfm>

~ Schedule ~ Week 1: Monday: Introductions Wednesday: Introductions Porterfield, Conceived in Doubt, introduction Blum and Harvey, Color of Christ, prologue-introduction Week 2: Birth of the Nation Monday: How Revolutionary? Wednesday: The New Republic and New Faiths Porterfield, Conceived in Doubt, chapters 1-3 Blum and Harvey, Color of Christ, chapters 1-2 Week 3: The Early Republic Monday: Second Great Awakening and Mormonism Wednesday: Slave Religion of the Antebellum Era Porterfield, Conceived in Doubt, chapter 4-6 Blum and Harvey, Color of Christ, chapters 3-4 Short Essay #1 Due Week 4: From Slavery to War over Slavery Monday: Slavery as a Religious Problem Wednesday: Antebellum America Blum and Harvey, Color of Christ, chapter 5 Research Topic Due Week 5: The Gilded Age Monday: Immigration and Political Reform Wednesday: The Social Gospel Goldman, Beyond the Synagogue Gallery, introduction-chapter 3 Annotated Secondary Bibliography Due Week 6: The Progressive Eras Monday: Religions of Protest Wednesday: Immigration and Americanization Goldman, Beyond the Synagogue Gallery, chapters 4-epilogue Week 7: From Progressivism to the Great Depression Monday: Reformers Wednesday: Women in Power Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson, prologue-chapter 3 Blum and Harvey, Color of Christ, chapter 6 Annotated Secondary Document Bibliography Due

Week 8: A New Birth of Conservatism Monday: The Great Depression Wednesday: The New Deal Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson, chapters 4-epilogue Week 9: The Rise of Catholic Power Monday: New Immigration Wednesday: From Farms to Cities McGreevy, Parish Boundaries, introduction-chapter 2 Short Essay #2 Due Week 10: The Cold War Monday: World War II Wednesday: American Power Near and Far McGreevy, Parish Boundaries, chapter 3-chapter 5 Blum and Harvey, Color of Christ, chapter 7 Annotated Primary Document Due Week 11: Civil Rights Crusades Monday: And the Dream Was Freedom Wednesday: Backlash and Dissent McGreevy, Parish Boundaries, chapter 6-conclusion Week 12: Civil Rights in Law and Culture Monday: Religious Liberties Wednesday: Racial Liberties Gordon, The Spirit of the Law, preface-chapter 4 Blum and Harvey, Color of Christ, chapter 8 Week 13: Rise of the New Right Monday: Rights and the Courts Wednesday: Post-racial or post-civil rights Gordon, The Spirit of the Law, chapter 5-epilogue Blum and Harvey, Color of Christ, chapter 9 Short Essay #3 Due Week 14: Religion and Politics Today Monday: The Right Wednesday: The Left Blum and Harvey, Color of Christ, epilogue Week 15: The Future of Religion and Politics Monday: Faith in Obamas America

Wednesday: Where do we go from here? Research Paper Outline Due