Honors: Unit One

Week One:

The reading this week lays the foundation for our understanding of what transpired when Europeans arrived in America. As you read, imagine what an unindustrialized, unsettled North America might have looked like, sounded like, smelt like, felt like. Think about the tremendous beauty and danger the land presented to the people who lived here then, and about their resourcefulness in surviving and improving their lives.

Remember that the land itself provides the deepest level of the themes and ideas that emerge from a civilization.

Sept. 4 Read Carnes’ Prologue, pages 1-17. Write one or two pages of study notes on the section, using the author’s sub-headings to organize your points. Write four questions concerning the subject matter: three that probe what is presented here (cause, effect, comparison, contrast, etc.) and one that asks for connection to other places or times (due Thursday, 9/6).

Sept. 6 Read Carnes, chapter 1, “Alien Encounters: Europe in the Americas.” Again, write one or two pages of study notes using sub-headings for organization. And again write four questions. Be prepared for a quiz on the contents of the chapter (due Tuesday, 9/11).

Read John Smith, “The Starving Time,” John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity,” and “Excerpt from the Trial of Anne Hutchinson (handout).