HIST2401 · History
Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences
Fulfills the US History requirement for Majors.Followed in spring semester by HIST2402.This course is an introduction to United States History from the pre-Columbian Era to the end of the Civil War. The principal text will be the first volume of the textbook edition of Jill Lepore'sWe Hold These Truths. After considering the Indigenous settlement of North America, we will proceed through the era of European encounter with and settlement of the continent. Particular attention will be paid to the rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the emergence of American slaveholding, settler treatment of the Indigenous, and the consequences of the rivalries among European colonizing powers. Study of the English settlers struggle to obtain their rights within the British Empire will lead us into the American Revolution, the writing and implementation of the Constitution, and the struggles of the early American Republic to define itself, struggles which finally led to the fragmentation of the Union followed by its reunification by force of arms in1865.This course is particularly suitable for students associated with the Lynch School of Education, but all are welcome.
Course experience
Averages use the original five-point historical evaluation scale.
Organization
4.6 / 5
How well the course was organized
Challenge
4.5 / 5
How intellectually challenging students found it
Attendance
4.4 / 5
How necessary attendance was
Assignments
4.4 / 5
How helpful assignments were
Weekly effort
~6
hours per week
Estimated from the original workload response buckets. Individual sections may differ.
Instructor options
Ratings below reflect only recovered evaluations connected to this course.
Student perspective
Recovered and new anonymous comments are shown as written and may reflect different course formats.
Dec 17, 2025 · Historical comment
Father Murphy is very knowledgable as well as being kind and understanding. His class mainly run in a lecture format that covers a long time period so there is a lot to cover. Papers are straightforward and exams are all take home.
Across time
Section-level results available in the recovered archive.
Fall 2024
1 sectionFall 2023
1 sectionFall 2022
1 sectionFall 2020
5 sections