HIS-FPX1150 is not a survey of dates and presidents — it's a course in historical reasoning. The assessments focus on primary source analysis, causation and contextualization, and the ability to draw defensible connections between historical events and contemporary issues. For students who took history as memorization in high school, this course requires a genuine shift: the goal is historical thinking, not historical recall.
Course Overview
U.S. History: How the Past Informs the Present covers major themes and turning points in American history, from colonization and the founding through Reconstruction, industrialization, the civil rights movement, and into the contemporary era. The emphasis throughout is on historical causation (why events happened), multiple perspectives (whose voices are heard and whose are marginalized in the historical record), and contemporary relevance (how historical patterns illuminate present-day issues). Primary source documents are central to all assessments.
Common Assessment Focus Areas
- 1Primary Source Analysis
Analyzes one or more primary source documents from American history — a speech, legislation, letter, photograph, or political cartoon. Identifies the author's purpose, intended audience, historical context, and argument; evaluates the source's reliability and limitations as historical evidence; and explains what it reveals about the historical moment.
- 2Historical Causation and Significance
Argues for the causes and consequences of a significant historical event or development, drawing on multiple sources and perspectives. Distinguishes immediate causes from underlying factors, explains why the event matters in the larger sweep of American history, and acknowledges competing historical interpretations.
- 3Past to Present Connection
Draws an evidence-based connection between a historical development or pattern and a contemporary issue. Explains the specific mechanism of continuity or change, not just the surface similarity, and supports the connection with both historical and current evidence.
How We Help With HIS-FPX1150
- Contextualizing primary sources correctly — identifying when and why the document was produced and what that means for interpretation
- Distinguishing the author's argument from the historical facts the document describes
- Writing historical causation arguments that identify both immediate and underlying causes, not just the most obvious trigger
- Making the past-to-present connection specific — naming exact mechanisms of continuity, not just observing surface similarities
- Incorporating multiple historical perspectives rather than a single dominant narrative
Common Challenges in This Course
The most common mistake in primary source analysis is treating the document as a factual account rather than as a constructed artifact with a perspective and purpose. A speech by Lincoln or a plantation owner's diary is not neutral evidence — its context, author, and purpose shape what it can and cannot tell us. For the causation assessment, students frequently list a single cause without identifying the structural conditions that made an event possible. The past-to-present assessment goes wrong when students make sweeping analogies ("slavery was like X today") without specifying what exact mechanism links the historical pattern to the contemporary issue.
Need Help With HIS-FPX1150?
Our history specialists produce primary source analyses and historical arguments that meet the rubric's expectations for contextualization and causation.
Related Courses
HIS-FPX1150 FAQ
The full span of U.S. history, but organized thematically around turning points rather than chronologically through every era. The specific periods emphasized vary by section, but the founding era, Civil War and Reconstruction, Progressive Era, civil rights movement, and recent history typically feature prominently.
Some factual knowledge is necessary as context, but the assessments reward analysis over recall. Knowing approximately when Reconstruction occurred and what it aimed to do matters; knowing the exact date of specific legislation is less important.
A document or artifact created at the time of the event being studied — not a later analysis of it. Speeches, letters, legislation, photographs, diaries, newspapers, and government records from the period are primary sources. Textbooks and scholarly articles about those events are secondary sources.
Specificity is key — instead of "racial inequality continues today," identify the specific mechanism (e.g., redlining's documented effect on wealth accumulation, measured through home equity data) and the specific historical cause (discriminatory federal housing policy). The more concrete, the stronger the argument.