HIS 201 - Iowa History

1. Describe the major physical characteristics of Iowa: glaciation, climatic characteristics, soil, water and mineral, resources, and overall topography
   1. Explain the impact of climatic changes on Iowa from earliest geologic times to the present
   2. Demonstrate knowledge of how Iowa’s flora and fauna have evolved relative to changing physical characteristics
   3. Assess the overall impact of the glaciers in ‘creating’ modern day Iowa’s land forms and soil types
   4. Discuss how the Native American’s relationship to the environment differed from that of the first Europeans and how those differences have altered Iowa’s physical characteristics
2. Identify and explain the different cultural traits of Native Americans in Iowa
   1. Trace the chronological evolution of the first Iowans from the earliest Paleo-Indians to their final removal in 1851
   2. Compare and contrast the cultural differences between Plains and Woodland Native Americans
   3. Examine archeological evidence from throughout Iowa to determine differences in American Indian life styles throughout the last 10,000 years
   4. Determine the long term impact of Native Americans on Iowa history, i.e., place names, historical and cultural legacy, etc.
   5. Outline how Native Americans differed from the first Europeans regarding religion, political and social organizations, economics, and their relationship to the land
3. Discuss the changes taking place in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries and how they influenced the early exploration and settlement of Iowa
   1. Summarize key events in Spain, France and England during 17th and 18th centuries and how they influenced initial contact with what would eventually become Iowa
   2. Explore the different motives for each country’s interest and involvement in the Mississippi and Missouri River valleys
   3. Examine who the key early European explorers were and how their efforts contributed to a better understanding of the ‘future’ Iowa
   4. Summarize the impact of the fur trade on Native Americans
   5. Outline the process of how the area Iowa was a part of became part of the United States
   6. Evaluate the circumstances leading up to, and the outcomes resulting from, the first treaties between Native Americans and the American Settlers
4. Outline the process of Iowa’s admission as a territory and summarize the key issues that needed to be resolved before Iowa was admitted for statehood
   1. Show understanding of the process involved in Iowa’s achieving territory status
   2. Discuss what impact the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War would have on the ‘future’ Iowa territory
   3. Analyze the major obstacles blocking Iowa’s admission to the Union – the questions of boundaries, black Iowans, and the doubts about banks
   4. Explain the role and influence of national party politics on Iowa as a territory and its early statehood years
5. Describe life in frontier Iowa from the Territorial Period to the Civil War, focusing on early farming, religion, transportation and politics
   1. Describe the pattern of settlement of frontier Iowa from East to West.
   2. Identify who the first settlers were; where they had come from, and what their journey to get here was like
   3. Relate what frontier life was like in areas such as agriculture, religion, family life and politics by reading primary source accounts, such as diaries, etc
   4. Assess the dangers and hardships of living on the Iowa frontier
6. Review the national debate over slavery and how it lead to a major political realignment in Iowa in the 1850s
   1. Trace the origins of slavery in the United States and how it becomes increasingly divisive as an issue after 1830
   2. Examine the early presence and status of African Americans in the Iowa Territory and early statehood
   3. Explain how both nationally and here in Iowa, the debate over slavery weakened the Democratic Party and helped create the Republican Party
   4. Summarize the roles played by key abolitionists in Iowa during the 1850s.
7. Summarize Iowa’s involvement in the Civil War
   1. Outline the major national events that led to south Carolina’s secession from the Union and the creation of the Confederacy
   2. Broadly follow Iowa’s involvement in the Civil War in such areas as tropp contributions, participation in key battles, outstanding military and civilian leaders, and the war’s impact on the ‘home front.
   3. Analyze the quality and significance of Iowa’s Republican leaders at the state and national level, during the Civil War period, i.e., Grimes, Kirkwood, Harlan, Wilson, Dodge, etc.
   4. Evaluate the war’s impact on Iowa, both immediate and long-term
8. Examine major political, social and economic trends in Iowa following the Civil War and how it was influenced by Reconstruction at the national and state level
   1. Identify the key issues of Reconstruction after the Civil War, i.e., the status of Blacks, President Johnson’s impeachment, ‘state’s rights,’ etc., and discuss the role Iowans played in these
   2. Relate how the war’s end increased the influence of railroads on Iowa agriculture and in Iowa’s politics
   3. Examine how the War’s end led to a dramatic increase in immigration, as well as a broadening of cultural diversity in the makeup of Iowans
9. Illustrate the problems and changes to Iowa agriculture during the last quarter of the 19th Century
   1. Show how and why Iowa agriculture first underwent dramatic changes in the 1870-1900 period and then how and why it lost its political influence and clout
   2. Explain what purpose third parties or political movements play in U.S. politics and why a number of agrarian radical groups arose in Iowa during that same period
   3. Examine economic depressions and recessions during the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s and evaluate their overall impact on Iowa agriculture
10. Discuss the divisiveness in Iowa’s Republican Party and how it led to a major split into conservative and progressive factions
    1. Compare and contrast the rural Populist movement to the more urban Progressive movement and discuss what effect that had on Iowa
    2. Relate how and why Iowa’s Republican Party experienced serious problems and divisiveness between conservatives and progressives from 1901 to 1920
    3. Show examples of the impact of the Progressive reform movement on Iowa and who some of its leaders were
    4. Illustrate with examples how Iowa entered a “Golden Age of Agriculture” from approximately 1900-1920
11. Explore the impact of World War I on life in Iowa
    1. Analyze the conditions and causes internationally that brought about World War I and the immediate U.S. and Iowa response
    2. Summarize the key reasons the U.S. entered the War, the major ways Iowa contributed to the War effort, and Herbert Hoover’s role
    3. Understand the legal and moral implications of the treatment of U.S. citizens of German descent throughout the U.S., but particularly in Iowa
    4. List the reasons why the treaty ending World War I was flawed, hurt Iowa agriculture, and ‘planted the seeds’ for World War II
12. Indicate how the farm policies of the 1920s led to growing political and social unrest
    1. Discuss how demobilzation from World War I ignored problems for farmers in the 1920s.
    2. Explain President Harding and Coolidge’s policies of ‘a return to normalcy’ and ‘laissez-faire capitalism’ and their impact on Iowa
    3. Identify the causes, leaders, and key events of the period of agricultural, political and social unrest from 1923-1933
    4. Summarize Herbert Hoover’s presidency, both its’ successes and its’ failures
    5. Examine the causes of the stockmarket ‘crash’ of 1929; the ‘Great Depression’ of 1929-1933; and, how the two events were interrelated
13. List the ways in which the Depression era left a lasting impact on the state of Iowa and list the major New Deal legislation that came in response
    1. Study the impact of the ‘Great Depression’ on Iowa – economically, agriculturally, socially, etc
    2. Analyze the changes in political parties and their philosophies because of the Great Depression
    3. Outline the major New Deal programs and their impact on Iowa
    4. Discuss the roles played by prominent Iowans, i.e., Wallace, Lewis, Hopkins, Sunday, etc., during the 1930s.
14. Discuss World War II and its impact on life in Iowa
    1. Compare the U.S. position in World War II prior to Pearl Harbor to our ‘neutrality’ from 1914-17 in World War I
    2. Identify the major contributions Iowa made to the overall effort in World War II
    3. Summarize the impact, both imediate and long-term, of World War II on Iowa and Iowans
15. Show how a major political realignment in recent years has led to a competitive two-party state
    1. Analyze how after 70 years of domination, the Republican Party’s grip on partisan politics was broken
    2. Show what factors led to a resurgence in the Democratic Party
    3. Discuss the future implications of a decline in partisanship, more registered Independents, lower voter turnouts, more single issue politics, and a general cynicism among voters
16. Review how modernization, industrialization, automation and urbanization have dramatically changed agricultural practices in Iowa since World War II
    1. Examine the challenges to Iowa’s agricultural future – environmental concerns, decreasing political clout, less independence and autonomy, and an aging farm group
    2. Assess the growing rivalry between urban and rural interests for political influence, limited tax dollars, and the social and cultural direction Iowa should go
17. Based on Iowa’s post World War II demographic changes, discuss options for Iowa’s future in the following areas: education, business agriculture, social and political
    1. Review Iowa’s most important assets and liabilities as we prepare to enter the 21st Century
    2. Develop a vision of what you would like Iowa to look like in the year 2050
    3. Prioritize what Iowa’s greatest failures have been in the last quarter of the 20th Century and develop a strategy to address and correct those