Please see the syllabus for specific weekly assignments.
Papers will be graded according to my grading standards.
Essay Questions
Essay 1. Due September 20
The readings for unit one all circle around themes of expectations, success, and failure. In its first decades, was Washington City a success?
You have some choices to make in answering this question. Consider the definitions of success and failure used by the people we have read about, by recent scholars (Gillette, Luria, and Allgor) whose works we have read, and also your own definitions of what a city should be. You need not evaluate the city according to every definition. Rather, aim for a strong, focused thesis. My guidelines on Dialectical Thesis Statements may be helpful.
Essay 2. Due October 6
The readings for the second unit largely concern another dichotomy: symbol vs. reality. The readings describe various Washingtonians, including Torrey, Lincoln, and Whitman, as masters of symbolism. But symbolism only works when the intended reader or viewer understands the symbolic language.
Drawing on the primary and secondary sources from this unit, including primary visual sources, explain what the history of Washington during the slavery debates and Civil War tells us about the symbolic language of the nineteenth century. Why did advocates of various causes adopt the symbols they did?
Essay 3. Due November 1
Howard Gillette quotes Charles Mulford Robinson's 1905 argument that "Washington is looked upon as a representative of the country at large, as having almost as great an interest for the citizens of Maine, California and Florida as for those who live within its borders." In the decades between the Civil War and World War II, why did some Americans come to believe that Californians could care about Washington as much as the people who lived there, and why did others dissent from that view?
Essay 4. Due November 29
Residents of the Washington region have debated race relations since before the founding of the republic, but the issue of race became particularly prominent during and after World War II. How did debates over the city change due to this demographic shift, and in what ways have the debates of the post-World War II period resembled those of earlier eras? Use examples from readings throughout the course.
I suggest you narrow this question by choosing a few specific comparsions between pre- and post-1941 events.
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