About History 17C (Fall 2001):

This class examines the history of early America from the 1500s to the 1820s--a period that completely transformed the North American continent. European powers (Spain, France, Britain, and others) competed for control of the rich resources of North America, displacing Native American peoples and creating a "New World" of colonial societies composed of Europeans, Africans, and Indians. By 1763, Britain emerged as the most vital imperial power on the continent. But then, in a dramatic turnabout, much of British America rebelled, forming the new country of the United States. By the early 1800s, this new nation would come to promote unprecedented ideals (democracy, liberty, religious toleration and a free market economy). Yet, putting these ideals into practice would be quite a different matter. By the 1820s, the United States of America began to expand to the Pacific, and yet, the young nation was riven by internal tensions that would ultimately threaten the union.

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