Welcome to American History I, an exploration of the history of a unique constitutional quasi-democratic republic from before the arrival of Europeans to the period after the Civil War known as Reconstruction. I am David Seager, your instructor for this course. I first taught for CCV in 1989 at the St. Johnsbury site. CCV’s students inspired me to acquire my doctorate and continue to enrich my life. I have been teaching online for CCV since spring 2004. Over that time, I have taught courses in World History, American History, Vermont History, Native American History, American Politics & Government, Introduction to Political Science, Introduction to Sociology, and Ethnicity & Diversity in the US.

After spending many years in Vermont, I currently live in the "Finger Lakes" of west-central New York State. Known as New York’s wine country, the region is characterized by long deep lakes surrounded by vineyards and farms and is the ancestral home of the Onöndowa’ga (Seneca) tribe of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people (Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance; Ganondagan).

The finger lakes have many wineries (Finger Lakes Wine Country); happily, the region also has a growing craft brew industry (Finger Lakes Beer Trail).

Besides wine and beer, there are other attractions, including historic sites of various kinds (Seward House; Women's Rights National Historic Park; Glenn H Curtiss Museum; HLW Maritime Museum; Safe Haven Museum). There is a great museum of glass making (Corning Museum of Glass) and plenty of boating and hiking opportunities (Finger Lakes Boating Museum.; Finger Lakes NY State Parks; Finger Lakes Land Trust). In an amazing coincidence, the Finger Lakes National Forest is administratively connected to the Green Mountain National Forest (Green Mountain and Finger Lakes NF). And, at least near the lakes, there are fewer bugs to torment walkers: no black flies, fewer mosquitoes--a virtual paradise!

Until COVID arrived to mess up our lives, when I was not on my computer or hiking on area trails, I worked for several years at a local winery in Hector, New York on the southeast shore of Seneca Lake.

My teaching philosophy emerges from my class origins and educational experiences and from my tenacious determination to achieve my own academic goals. Coming from a low socioeconomic background, I entered college late despite a voracious appetite for books as a child and young adult. Working-class high school graduates were expected to find a suitable vocation rather than attend college. Never satisfied with that scenario, I eventually became the only person in my family to acquire a graduate degree. My objective is to prepare learners to be independent critical thinkers who value and practice democracy in ways that validate the adage that “the personal is political.” Toward that end, I am committed to a progressive educational philosophy that encourages intellectual growth in an atmosphere of cooperation and respect, with sympathy toward diversity in student backgrounds, interests, and skills. Personal empowerment and appreciation of the importance of the human and ecological communities to individual life are two goals of my teaching process.

History, Sociology, and Political Science are my greatest intellectual interests. I hold a bachelor's degree in History/Politics (with a minor in Sociology/Anthropology) from Johnson State College; an inter-disciplinary Master's degree in Social Sciences from Binghamton University; and a doctorate in American History (Twentieth Century, with emphasis on the 1960s and an exam field in Sociology) from the University of Maine.

I am available online every day of the semester. There is a thread in every weekly module labeled, "Questions to Instructor" for general inquiries that are not really private, a question, perhaps, that others may benefit from the answer. But also you can email me anytime with private questions or concerns just like you might approach a professor privately outside class time. It is my policy to answer email within one day; often I can reply within hours and sometimes in just a few minutes. My email address is: david.seager@ccv.vsc.edu.