HISTORY 37600 HISTORY OF INDIANA

Spring 2026

Credit Hours: 3.00. Economic, political, and social history of Indiana from the state's earliest beginnings as a part of the old Northwest Territory to the present.

Wetherill 160

MWF 11:30am – 12:20pm

Instructor: David Cambron, PhD Beering Hall 6173

Email: dmcambro@purdue.edu Phone: 765 426-7440

Office Hours: Wednesday 12:30pm – 1:30pm Or by Appointment

The major theme of this course is the tension between tradition and change, as reflected by the notion that Indiana natives tenaciously guarded community prerogatives against a persistent march of progress, too often perceived as imposed from outside, while realizing the future was pregnant with possibilities. Native Americans, French, British, Americans, and immigrants all took turns on the historical stage. Empire builders, pioneer settlers, some looking for the main chance, some looking to save souls, many escaping persecution, hicks and slicks, patriots and pirates, all helped shape what we now take for granted. And in spite of the globalizing influences that surround us, a remainder of the Hoosier character persists, a product of a particular experience unlike many others.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Acquire a well-informed basis for understanding Indiana history in a relatively traditional sense.
Understand the nuanced nature of the historical narrative or counter-
Gain a greater understanding of what historians do
Improve reading inquiry and critical writing

REQUIRED READING:

James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2014). Available online through Purdue Libraries.

Andrew R. L. Cayton, Frontier Indiana (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998) David Thomas Murphy, Murder in Their Hearts: The Fall Creek Massacre (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press, 2010)

Assorted Journal Readings as Indicated on Syllabus Posted on Brightspace

LECTURE SCHEDULE

Part I

Week 1

January 12: Course Intro
January 14: Prehistoric Indiana
January 16: The Miami and Their Ways

Reading: Cayton, Frontier Indiana, Chapter 1; James R. Jones III and Amy L. Johnson, Early Peoples of Indiana (Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Preservation and Archaeology, Rev. 2003); Dawn G. Marsh, “The Coming Out Place,” Indiana Magazine of History, 118 (March 2022); “John Purdue,” in Indiana’s 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State, Editors Linda C. Gugin and James E. St. Clair (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press, 2015)

Week 2

January 19: Martin Luther King Day (No Class)
January 21: The French
January 23: The British Reading: Cayton, Chapters 2 & 3;

Wilbur R. Jacobs, “Presents to Indians along the French Frontiers in the Old Northwest, 1748-1763,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 44, No. 3 (September 1948): 245-256

Week 3

January 26: George Rogers Clark and the Coming of the Americans
January 28: The Northwest Ordinance and the Imposition of Federal Authority
January 30: Indian Resistance & Treaties Reading: Cayton, Chapters 4, 5, and 6;

Robert V. Remini, “The Northwest Ordinance of 1787: Bulwark of the Republic,”

Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 84, No. 1 (March 1988): 15-24.

Week 4

February 2: William Henry Harrison, Slavery, and the Changing Land
February 4: Tippecanoe and the War of 1812 Essay 1 Due 12am
February 6: The Democratic Impulse, a New Constitution, and Statehood Reading: Cayton, Chapters 7, 8, and 9

Week 5

February 9: Beavers to Hogs, Corn to Whiskey
February 11: Early Settlement Patterns
February 13: Making a Living on the Frontier Reading: Murphy, Murder in Their Hearts

Part II

Week 6

February 16: Test 1
February 18: Land Policy: Theory and Practice
February 20: The Moral Economy and the Importance of Local Control Reading: Madison, Chapter 4; Paul Wallace Gates, “Land Policy and Tenancy in

the Prairie Counties of Indiana,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 35, No. 1 (March 1939): 1-26; Richard F. Nation, At Home in the Hoosier Hills: Agriculture, Politics, and Religion in Southern Indiana, 1810-1870 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005) Chapter 1, 6-37.

Week 7

February 23: Banking
February 25: Internal Improvements 1
February 27: Internal Improvements 2

Reading: Madison, Chapter 5; Margaret Duden, “Internal Improvements in Indiana, 1818-1846,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Dec 1909): 160-270; Jay M. Perry, “The Irish Wars: Laborer Feuds on Indiana’s Canals and Railroad in the1830s,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 109, No. 3. (Sept 2013): 224-256.

Week 8

March 2: Religion
March 4: Education
March 6: Reformers and Utopians

Reading: Madison, Chapter 6 & 7; Julia S. Conklin, “The Underground Railroad in Indiana,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 6, No. 2 (June 1910): 63-74; Donald Pitzer and Josephine Elliot, “New Harmony’s First Utopians, 1814-1824,”Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 75, No. 3 (Sept 1979): 225-300.

Week 9

March :9 Indian Removal
March 11: Constitution of 1851
March13: The Politics of Sectionalism

Reading: John L. Larson and David G. Vanderstel, “Agent of Empire: William Conner on the Indiana Frontier, 1800-1855,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 80, No. 4 (Dec 1984): 301-328; Madison, Chapter 8.

Week 10

Spring Break!

Week 11

March 23: Sectionalism Continued
March 25: Political Realignment Essay 2 Due 12am
March 27: Colonel Elli Lilly, Civil War

Reading: John D. Barnhart, “The Impact of the Civil War on Indiana,” Indiana of History, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Sept 1961): 185-224; Peggy Brasse Seigel, “She Went to War: Indiana Women Nurses in the Civil War,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 86, No. 1 (March 1990): 1-27.

Part III

Week 12

March 30: The Civil War
April 1: Test 2
April 3: Reconstruction & Reunion

Readings: Madison, Chapter 9; Nancy Hiller, “The Hoosier Cabinet and the American Housewife,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 105, No.1 (March 2009): 1-30.

Week 13

April 6: Gas Boom
April 8: Labor & Industrial Takeoff
April 10: Education & Urbanization

Readings: Michael Taylor, “The Bicycle Boom and the Bicycle Bloc: Cycling and Politics in the1890s,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Sept 2008): 213-240; Robert V. Robertson, “Making Ends Meet: Wives and Children in the Family of Indianapolis, 1860-1920,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 92, No. 3 (Sept, 1996): 197-234; John Barlow Martin, “Eugene V. Debs,” Indiana: an Interpretation, Indiana Bicentennial Ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press 1992), Chapter 11, 133-158; John Barlow Martin, “The Gas Boom,” Indiana: an Interpretation, Indiana Bicentennial Ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press 1992), Chapter 7, 75-86.

Week 14.

April 13: New Arrivals
April15: Eugenics and Other Modern Marvels of
April 17: Middletown

Readings: Madison, Chapter 10; Nelson Quellet, “The Great Migration in Gary, Indiana (1906-1920): A Note, ”Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 96. No. 1 (March 2000): 72-83; Robert L. Osgood, “Menace of the Feebleminded: George Bliss, Amos Butler, and the Indiana Committee on Mental Defectives,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 97, No. 4 (Dec 2001): 253-277.

Week 15

April 20: Protecting Hoosier Values: Vigilantism, Prohibition, and the Klan
April 22: A Little New Deal
April 24: Indiana at War Essay 3 Due 12am

Readings: Madison, Chapter 12 &13; Dwight W. Hoover, “From Quaker to Klan “Kluckeress,” Indiana Magazine of History (Vol. 87, No. 2 (June 1991): 171-195; John Barlow Martin, “D.C. Stephenson, Klansman,” Indiana: An Interpretation, Indiana Bicentennial Ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press 1992), Chapter 14, 184-200

Week 16

April 27: Everglades of the North Movie
April 29: Basketball
May 2: Johnny Appleseed and Other Cherished Myths

Week 17

Final Exam (Test 3)

ATTENDANCE:

Per university policy you are expected to attend all classes. I will not take attendance. You are responsible, however, for all of the material covered in lectures, assignments, and videos, and you will find it difficult in the extreme to pass this course without regular attendance to lectures.

GRADING:

Exam and Assignment Points Course Grading Scale

Exam 1: 0-40 points A: 180-200

Exam 2: 0-50 points B: 160-179

Exam 3: 0-60 points C: 140-159

In-Class Responses: 4/5 0-20 D: 120-139

Essays: 3@10 ea. 0-30 F: 0-119

Total: 200 points

Exams:

There will be three hourly, in-class exams administered during the course of the semester for a total of 150 points: Exam 1=40, 2=50, 3=60. The first exam is scheduled for Monday, February 16 during the regular class period; it will focus on the lectures, visuals, and readings covered in Part I. The second exam will take place on Wednesday, April 1, and it will cover the lectures, visuals, and readings in Part II. The third exam will take place during finals week, and it covers Part III’s lectures, visuals, and readings.

None of the exams are cumulative. Each will contain three short answer questions and one essay question. To help you prepare for the tests, you will receive a list of short-answer and essay question options.

Random In-Class Responses:

There will be five opportunities during the semester to respond spontaneously and very informally to class material (lectures, visual presentations, discussion, etc.). We will drop the lowest score; your best four scores will be included in your final grade total. If you miss class on the day one of these responses is done that would be the grade dropped. In-class written response pieces will be worth a total of 20 points or five points each.

Reading Response Essay Assignments:

Over the course of the semester, you will write three informal two-page essays responding to questions based primarily on the reading material and lectures. The essays are due electronically on the date indicated. Each essay is worth 0-10 points. The purpose of these two-page essays is to practice your writing skills and to stimulate thinking about issues, questions, and problems raised by your study of American history through an Indiana lens. You will not be judged on spelling or grammar (unless I can’t comprehend it), but on organization, and the process and quality of thought. You will submit these by midnight on the due date through BrightSpace Assignment tool.

UNIVERSITY POLICIES

Grief Absence Policy

Purdue University recognizes that a time of bereavement is very difficult for a student. The University therefore provides the following rights to students facing the loss of a family member through the Grief Absence Policy for Students (GAPS). Students will be excused from classes for funeral leave and given the opportunity to complete missed assignments or assessments in the event of the death of a member of the student’s family.

Students with Disabilities

Accessibility and Accommodations Syllabus Statement: The DRC recommends the following statement be included in your syllabus. “Purdue University strives to make learning experiences as accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on disability, you are welcome to let me know so that we can discuss options. You are also encouraged to contact the Disability Resource Center at: drc@purdue.edu or by phone: 765-494-1247.” http://www.purdue.edu/drc/faculty/syllabus.html

Nondiscrimination Policy Statement

Purdue University is committed to maintaining a community which recognizes and values the inherent worth and dignity of every person; fosters tolerance, sensitivity, understanding, and mutual respect among its members; and encourages each individual to strive to reach his or her own potential. In pursuit of its goal of academic excellence, the University seeks to develop and nurture diversity. The University believes that diversity among its many members strengthens the institution, stimulates creativity, promotes the exchange of ideas, and enriches campus life.

Purdue University prohibits discrimination against any member of the University community on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin or ancestry, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, disability, or status as a veteran. The University will conduct its programs, services and activities consistent with applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and orders and in conformance with the procedures and limitations as set forth in Executive Memorandum No. D-1, which provides specific contractual rights and remedies.

Violent Behavior Policy

Purdue University is committed to providing a safe and secure campus environment. Purdue strives to create an educational environment for students and work environment for employees that promote educational and career goals. Violent behavior impedes such goals. Therefore, violent behavior is prohibited in or on any university facility or while participating in any university activity.

Mental Health Statement

If you find yourself beginning to feel some stress, anxiety and/or feeling slightly overwhelmed, try WellTrack. Sign in and find information and tools at your fingertips, available to you at any time.

If you need support and information about options and resources, please contact or see the Office of the Dean of Students. Call 765-494-1747. Hours of operation are M-F, 8 am- 5 pm.

If you find yourself struggling to find a healthy balance between academics, social life, stress, etc. sign up for free one-on-one virtual or in-person sessions with a Purdue Wellness Coach at RecWell. Student coaches can help you navigate through barriers and challenges toward your goals throughout the semester. Sign up is completely free and can be done on BoilerConnect. If you have any questions, please contact Purdue Wellness at evans240@purdue.edu.

If you’re struggling and need mental health services: Purdue University is committed to advancing the mental health and well-being of its students. If you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed, depressed, and/or in need of mental health support, services are available. For help, such individuals should contact Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at 765-494-6995 during and after hours, on weekends and holidays, or by going to the CAPS office of the second floor of the Purdue University Student Health Center (PUSH) during business hours.

EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES are based on a simple concept – if you hear a fire alarm inside, proceed outside. If you hear a siren outside, proceed inside.

Indoor Fire Alarms mean to stop class or research and immediately evacuate the building. Proceed to your Emergency Assembly Area away from building doors. Remain outside until police, fire, or other emergency response personnel provide additional guidance or tell you it is safe to leave.

All Hazards Outdoor Emergency Warning Sirens mean to immediately seek shelter (Shelter in Place) in a safe location within the closest building. o “Shelter in place” means seeking immediate shelter inside a building or University residence. This course of action may need to be taken during a tornado, a civil disturbance including a shooting or release of hazardous materials in the outside air. Once safely inside, find out more details about the emergency*. Remain in place until police, fire, or other emergency response personnel provide additional guidance or tell you it is safe to leave.

*In both cases, you should seek additional clarifying information by all means possible…Purdue Home page, email alert, TV, radio, etc…review the Purdue Emergency Warning Notification System multi-communication layers at http://www.purdue.edu/ehps/emergency_preparedness/warning-system.html

EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROCEDURES:

Review the Emergency Procedures Guidelines

https://www.purdue.edu/emergency_preparedness/flipchart/index.html

Review the Building Emergency Plan (available from the building deputy) for:

o evacuation routes, exit points, and emergency assembly area

o when and how to evacuate the building.

o shelter in place procedures and locations

o additional building specific procedures and requirements.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AWARENESS VIDEOS

"Shots Fired on Campus: When Lightning Strikes," is a 20-minute active shooter awareness video that illustrates what to look for and how to prepare and react to this type of incident. See: http://www.purdue.edu/securePurdue/news/2010/emergency-preparedness-shots-fired-on-campus-video.cfm (Link is also located on the EP website)

MORE INFORMATION

Reference the Emergency Preparedness web site for additional information: http://www.purdue.edu/emergency_preparedness

See the class Brightspace page

for further explanations of University Policies