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History 1210: U.S. History to the 1890s

This guide provides information resources for the study of United States history of the pre-Colombian era through the end of the nineteenth century

Historical Thinking Skills -- the "C's"

The C's of Historical Thinking

Chronology (Chronos = Time): history or chronicles tell stories about things that happen over time (in real human experience); humans sense there is a past, present, and future

Change Over Time vs Continuity over Time: these chronological events reveal that over time things can change or can continue to remain the same

Complexity: as life evolves from the simple to the complex, the past or history grows more complex and multi-causal 

Causality (Cause & Effect; Cause & Consequences): historical narratives often explore what cause an event and what were the effects and consequences of an event; there's curiosity over what prior conditions created a historical event

Context: as the sense of past grows more lengthy and complicated, humans start arranging events into frameworks of patterns and/or background stories to help explain the past

Contingency: historical events happen in a world of complex interconnections; a changne in a single prior condition of any historical event could create a different outcome; no historical event is inevitable 

Citing Sources - Chicago Style