Romanticism and myth surround United States history in contemporary popular culture. This course encourages students to develop a critical understanding of the history of our nation. This course will guide students through a wealth of primary sources, and view videos tied to clear learning objectives designed to improve their critical thinking skills. Sample assignments are included. Key topics include early globalization and European exploration, colonial societies, the English Empire, America’s War for Independence, the creation of the American Republic, the industrial transformation, Jacksonian democracy, westward expansion, “King” Cotton and idealism in the antebellum South, the troubled 1850s, and the Civil War to Reconstruction.

This text comes primarily from OpenStax U.S. History, but has been revised to align with the US History curriculum at Jamestown Community College, a SUNY institution located in Jamestown, New York. Chapters have been reorganized and, in some cases, additional content has been added. You will also find some content borrowed from The American Yawp, including but not limited to primary source readings for each of the chapters. Other minor additions and enhancements to the original OpenStax text have been made by Lumen Learning or other faculty.

About Lumen

Lumen Learning’s mission is to make great learning opportunities available to all students, regardless of socioeconomic background.

We do this by using open educational resources (OER) to create well-designed and low-cost course materials that replace expensive textbooks. Because learning is about more than affordability and access, we also apply learning science insights and efficacy research to develop learning activities that are engineered to improve subject mastery, course completion and retention.

If you’d like to connect with us to learn more about adopting this course, please Contact Us.

You can also make an appointment for OER Office Hours to connect virtually with a live Lumen expert about any question you may have.