| Some videos with review material
for my awesome US History students: |
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Goals & Objectives
of the Crash Course videos:
By the end of the course,
you will be able to:
* Identify the context and
causes of historical developments throughout recorded US history
* Explain the similarities
and differences between historical developments
* Understand the complexity
of the American and national identity and values
* Describe how social structures,
politics, power, and culture influence each other and historical developments
* Contextualize and complicate
the common narratives of US history that explain the present |
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| In which John Green kicks
off Crash Course US History! Why, you may ask, are we covering US History,
and not more World History, or the history of some other country, or the
very specific history of your home region? Well, the reasons are many.
But, like it or not, the United States has probably meddled in your country
to some degree in the last 236 years or so, and that means US History is
relevant all over the world. In episode 1, John talks about the Native
Americans who lived in what is now the US prior to European contact. This
is a history class, not archaeology, so we're mainly going to cover written
history. That means we start with the first sustained European settlement
in North America, and that means the Spanish. The Spanish have a long history
with the natives of the Americas, and not all of it was positive. The Spanish
were definitely not peaceful colonizers, but what colonizers are peaceful?
Colonization pretty much always results in an antagonistic relationship
with the locals. John teaches you about early Spanish explorers, settlements,
and what happened when they didn't get along with the indigenous people.
The story of their rocky relations has been called the Black Legend. Which
is not a positive legend. |
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| In which John Green teaches
you about the (English) colonies in what is now the United States. He covers
the first permanent English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the various
theocracies in Massachusetts, the feudal kingdom in Maryland, and even
a bit about the spooky lost colony at Roanoke Island. What were the English
doing in America, anyway? Lots of stuff. In Virginia, the colonists were
largely there to make money. In Maryland, the idea was to create a a colony
for Catholics who wanted to be serfs of the Lords Baltimore. In Massachusetts,
the Pilgrims and Puritans came to America to find a place where they could
freely persecute those who didn't share their beliefs. But there was a
healthy profit motive in Massachusetts as well. Profits were thin at first,
and so were the colonists. Trouble growing food and trouble with the natives
kept the early colonies from success. Before long though, the colonists
started cultivating tobacco, which was a win for everyone involved if you
ignore the lung cancer angle. So kick back, light up a smoke, and learn
how America became profitable. DON'T SMOKE, THOUGH! THAT WAS A JOKE! |
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