HIST205

History 205-03 – THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO
Prof. Frank “Trey” Proctor

Fall 2025

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Class: MWF 12:30-1:20pm

Room: 218 Burton Morgan

Office Hours: MWF 10:30-11:30, Tues 9-10 and by appointment

Office: 404 Fellows Hall

Telephone: 740-587-5791

Email: proctorf@denison.edu

Preferred pronouns: he/him/his

Description:

From the very beginning, the magnitude and meaning of the “Conquest” of Mexico has been a point of controversy and acclaim. Worlds were upended. An empire fell. Tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands died. Christendom was vastly expanded. And, a new society, a colonial society, was constructed on the ashes of the Aztec capital.

The readings in this course take us through the historiography of the Conquest, from its original Spanish and indigenous chroniclers through current interpretations and approaches. Along the way we will treat the complexities, myths, and legacies of the process of Spanish conquest. Key questions include – how do we account for the Spanish victory and for the consolidation of Spanish power in Mesoamerica? Conversely, how do we account for indigenous defeat? What role did the Catholic Church, Spanish settlers, and indigenous peoples play in the fall of the Aztecs and the consolidation of conquest society?

Course Goals

CRITICAL THINKING AND CLEAR COMMUNICATION - I want to know what YOU, not others and not computers, think about a question. And, I want to help YOU refine your ability to communicate those amazing thoughts in written and oral form.

INFORMATION LITERACY and ACTIVE READING - These are core components of the skills above. We have to work to figure out what a source says; why it says it; what it doesn’t say; why it doesn’t say it; and, how all of those answers help us interpret, engage, and use a source to answer our specific (historical) questions.

Written and oral communication skills are going to be key to your success at Denison and beyond. The primary goal of this course, therefore, is to strengthen your abilities as an effective writer, speaker, and listener. Much of what we teach at Denison is critical thinking, the ability to assess various types of arguments and to construct arguments of your own that will stand up to the critical assessment of others. To that end, in this class we will work to:

1) Sharpen your ability to

- Ask complex yet answerable questions

- Articulate and communicate complex theses/arguments

- Marshal evidence in support of those arguments in written and oral forms in order to prove your position

2) Hone your skills at interpreting various types of written and visual sources and historical literature, to reinforce your ability to identify and critique the various explicit and implicit arguments within such sources, and to employ such sources in the service of making your own written and oral arguments.

3) Further transform you from a passive to an active recipient of information. To encourage critical reading and viewing as a key to success in college and beyond.

4) Strengthen your skills at expressing your informed conclusions about any topic in written forms.

5) Strengthen your skills at expressing your informed conclusions about any topic in oral forms AND hearing the informed conclusions of others and responding to them.

Writing: This course fulfills one of the two Writing Overlay (W) General Education Requirements. A primary objective of this course is to cultivate students’ habits as effective writers by assisting you to improve your abilities to conceptualize, write, and revise effective nonfiction expository and analytical prose. Effective writing is clear, unified, concise, informed, persuasive, and thoughtful. It requires the recognition that writing is not linear, but is a complex and often cyclical process that eventually results in a finished, polished product. And, effective writing must take into account the importance of intended (and unintended) audience(s).

Orality/Aurality: This course also fulfills the Oral Competency Overlay (R) General Education requirement. We will spend significant time this semester discussing and practicing various dimensions of oral communication: understanding audience and setting, selecting and organizing information and/or constructing oral arguments, speaking with clarity and effect, listening effectively, and attending to disciplinary and cultural conventions of speaking and listening.

To fulfill this goal, we will focus on three forms of Oral Communication (orality and aurality) that are central to your success both as a student at Denison and in your personal, professional, and civic lives after you leave Denison –

Assignment Due Dates and Grading

Graded Writing Assignments

Assignment Due Date Weight
Essay #1 Full Draft of Paper on Conquest of Mexico through July 1, 1520 / Peer Review Workshop 10/4 –
Essay #2 Complete Draft Paper #2 10/9 7.5%
Essay #3 Full Draft on Spanish Perspectives / Peer Review Workshop 10/25 –
Essay #4 Paper #4 10/30 10%
Essay #5 Full Draft on Indigenous Perspectives / Peer Review Workshop 11/6 –
Essay #6 Paper #6 Perspectives 11/13 12.5%
Essay #7 Critical Literature Review (by 5pm) 12/3 5%
Essay #8 Full Draft Podcast Script / Peer Review Workshop 12/10 7.5%
Essay #9 Final Script (Wed @ 11:00am) 12/17 15%

Stepping Stone Assignments for Final Podcast

Assignment Due Date Weight
Initial Thoughts on Final Project 11/8 –
Annotated Bibliography for Final Paper 11/20 2.5%
Argument Proposal for Final Paper 12/1 2.5%
Peer Assessment of 2 classmates’ Podcasts (Tues @ 5pm) 12/16 –
Final Podcast (Wed @ 11:00am) 12/17 –

Graded Oral Competency Work

Assignment Due Date Weight
Presentation #1 Spanish Primary Sources (2-person teams) 9/22-10/23 5%
Presentation #2 Short Podcast on Indigenous Primary Sources 11/1-11/4 2.5%
Presentation #3 Podcast on Secondary Sources (3-person teams) 11/8-11/21 7.5%
Presentation #4 Final Podcast 12/17 –

Other Work

Assignment Due Date Weight
Reviews of Peers’ Presentations, Peer Review, and They Say/I Say exercises Ongoing 7.5%
Contribution Ongoing 15%

Assignments

Tutorials

The electronic version of They Say/I Say that you are required to purchase includes a series of tutorials for each chapter. You are expected to finish the tutorial for each chapter on the day that it is assigned. (However, you will have an additional week to complete them for credit. After that you can complete them, but you will not receive credit towards your final grade).

DO NOT WAIT TO COMPLETE THESE TUTORIALS

You will be graded only on completion. If you complete 100% you will receive an A+ for this portion of your grade.

Please select the “Tutorial Tab” after having read the associated chapter through Canvas.

Papers

Specific prompts for each paper can be found on the weekly schedule

These papers will be formal historical essays, which will be graded on the thoughtfulness of the argument (thesis) and the degree to which the thesis is supported by cited evidence.

You may tailor these essays to your final research topic/questions, if and when you define it, so long as your topic plays an explanatory role in the outcome of the Conquest.

The prompts encourage you to employ the They Say/I Say model, failure to do so can negatively impact your final grade.

Failure to submit a complete initial draft of a paper will carry an automatic 10% penalty on the final grade for that paper.

Please use “Track Changes” in Word to mark the revisions you make to your original draft. You can turn on “track changes” under the review tab (and can set it so that you cannot see all the change you make if you like).

To submit a final paper, please upload the final revision (with Track Changes) to Canvas.

Paper Format: The papers must be double spaced, 12-point font, have proper footnotes, and must be saved in as a Word file (.doc). Papers submitted as Google Docs or as a Works file will be considered late. (see the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed., for style guidelines). YOUR PAPER MUST BE 1250-1500 words in length (excluding notes).

For a guide to the proper citation style, consult the section on the “Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition” in Bullock, Brody, and Weinberg, The Little Seagull Handbook, 192-226.

Failure to include proper citations in footnotes will result in a 10% penalty on your final grade for that assignment.

On each paper please include the following: Name, date, and Word Count in the upper left-hand corner followed by the title centered on the page (please do not include a title page).

Informal Assignments - Students will be asked to upload copies of their initial drafts AND pictures of their peer review sheets. These will be graded on a 0, 50, 75, 100 grading scale. Students who do not submit a full initial draft will receive a full grade reduction in the final grade for that assignment (A- to a B-).

Critical Literature Review

Your task is to identify a major question about the conquest of Mexico (say, the role of Doña Marina), and to write a 500-word essay that identifies how three different authors we read (11/06-11/17) seek to answer that question. You should seek to put those authors in conversation, to identify the major (and minor) differences between their positions, and to signal to your readers which arguments you find most convincing. (HINT - try to avoid writing separate paragraphs on each author, but work to combine their ideas within a single idea of your own). For example,

Mark Fiege, Stephen Mihm, and Denison alumna Katie Loveday all interpret the imagery on a postbellum South Carolina $1 banknote as promoting an agrarian ideal, but they diverge in how they understand the racial and political meanings embedded within that vision. Fiege emphasizes the ecological and cultural significance of manual labor, interpreting the blacksmith as a symbol of pre-industrial, muscle-powered productivity. He sees the imagery as celebrating a world rooted in physical labor of the farmer and the mechanic. While he acknowledges that the “enigmatic” cotton picker might have been designed to reassure white viewers that African Americans would remain in subordinate roles, even in freedom, he leaves room for the possibility that the cotton picker represents an independent yeoman. Mihm, by contrast, interprets the note as an instrument of racial propaganda. He argues that the deliberate choice to exclude symbols of industrial progress, and instead highlight labor scenes evocative of the slaveholding past, signals a nostalgic and deeply racialized agrarian ideal. For Mihm, the note was part of a broader effort to legitimize white supremacy and undercut Reconstruction. Loveday insists that this “idealized world” can only be fully understood when the third image, the girls or young women - bare footed, bare shouldered, girls in a coquettish pose, are considered in relation to the other two. The sexist nature of the image, and its connections to the white blacksmith who appears to be leering at them, suggest that this idealized world was only for white men.

Final Project

Working individually, you will complete a research project on some element of the Conquest of Mexico and use it to produce a Podcast. You are free to select the focus of your project, in consultation with the professor, so long as you can address the topic relying (primarily) on the materials we read together in class. (A great example of this is the topic of human sacrifice. This is a complicated project, but you would need to focus your consideration on the role of human sacrifice in the context of the conquest; rather than pursue a deep study of the religious and political meanings of sacrifice to Mesoamericans.)

The goal is to make a historical argument relative to the Conquest of Mexico, not to present an encyclopedic summation of a topic or issue. To that end, your paper will consist of two parts. You MUST present an argument, and a full counter argument (at least 150 words), on your topic. We will develop the specific nature of the two elements of your paper in consultation with each other.

Format – This project is different from the first four we have written this semester. While those have been restricted to considering how the authors we have read explained the conquest, and responding to them; or, to a specific literature review, this project is your opportunity to explore a topic of your choice relative to the conquest. The only requirement is that you rely heavily on the readings we’ve completed and discussed together as a class, particularly the primary sources. Your experiences with your first four papers should help you write sections of your final project, but to help you conceptualize the podcast I would encourage you to consider and include the following:

1) Write for an uninitiated audience (think about what this suggests you should include or leave out)

2) Provide a brief narrative of events (that are important to your topic)

3) Include a reference to other arguments section relevant to your topic

4) Draw specific evidence from the primary sources we’ve read this semester to support your arguments

***You might conceive of this as a dialog in which one side makes an argument, another side makes a counterargument,*** **and you indicate where you fall in the debate.**

5) In the end, you will need to reach a formal conclusion, but the purpose of this exercise is to encourage us to fully consider arguments that contradict our own in the pursuit of presenting our own argument.

6) Oh, and make it entertaining, something that you would want your parents or your roommates to hear.

The project must

1) Articulate a historical question that emanates out of the primary sources on the conquest of Mexico

**TO BE CLEAR, your reading of the primary sources must be the basis for your argument and thus you want to spend time explicating the source, within the context of your arguments, to your reader.**

2) Engage the ideas of others in service of making your arguments.

Potential Topics

A non-exhaustive list of potential topics includes:

     
Quetzalcoatl   Hernán Cortes
Moteuczuma II   Andrés de Tapia
Horses   The Night of Sorrows
Malintzin   Villa Rica de la Veracruz
Cholula   Brigantines
Huitzilopotchli   Human Sacrifice
Tlaxcala   Tenochtitlán
Cultures of War   Omens
Smallpox   Weapons / Technology
Toxcatl    

You will conduct library and Internet research, locating a minimum of eight (8) different sources to complete your final project. A minimum of four of those sources must be scholarly works (secondary sources - either monographs, chapters from edited volumes, or academic journal articles); and, at least two of those sources must be different from assigned readings for the course.

In this paper, much like the three short papers written earlier in the semester your primary goal is to advance an historical argument.

As part of the research process, students will submit the following stepping stone assignments

Stepping Stone Assignments for Final Podcast

Initial Thoughts on Final Podcast – In 250 words, please identify the topic and major questions that you plan to address in the final paper. Please include a list of potential sources that you plan to use beyond those assigned for class.

The Annotated Bibliography: For the annotated bibliography, please open with a one paragraph summation of your research project and research questions. Then, list each source you will employ in your research with a bibliographic citation in Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition style, followed by an annotation (in one to three sentences) which contains your evaluative comments indicating the nature of the source, any special problems it might pose (e.g., excessive bias), and how it will contribute to your work. Make sure the annotations are in your own words. Your bibliography should include separate sections for primary and secondary sources. You may use sources listed in the syllabus, but a significant expectation is that you will also find a significant number of sources not included there.

The Argument Proposal: Once you have completed the research to compose your Annotated Bibliography, you should have a better idea of what it is you want to argue, so that’s when you will submit a brief proposal (a paragraph or two) of your argument. Though this is preliminary and you’re not wedded to it for your final project, I urge you to think hard about this portion of the assignment. Test your ideas with me, with friends, with consultants in the Writing Center. Do more research as you focus more intensely. The sooner you begin thinking about these ideas and trying them out on paper, the better you’ll do in constructing your argument and not panicking about writing the paper at the last minute. This proposal must include a thesis, the types of evidence you intend to use, and the conclusion—the answer to the “so what?” question—you expect to reach.

The script for your podcast paper should utilize the materials you’ve found in your research to present a historical argument. The goal is not an encyclopedic summary of information about your topic of interest, but rather an argument.

Podcast

You will also prepare and present a podcast on your research project as part of your final project. You will need to submit both an audio file (and a script) of that portion of the project. Please include a title for your podcast, an intro and outro, and music for transitions. You may use multiple voices (if you want to have a classmate read primary sources, or use a dialogue format, but you must be the dominant voice).

The podcast should be no longer than ten (10) minutes long. The primary goal is to present your major questions, arguments, and evidence in oral form. You can treat this as very similar to the previous two presentations you will have completed throughout the semester.

The length of the podcast means that you cannot simply “read” a paper from start to finish (reading one double-spaced page takes 2-2.5 minutes). So, your goal should be to think about the most important information and arguments from your final project that you need to include to allow your listener to understand your questions and arguments. And, you should think hard about how to engage you listeners with that information.

To facilitate our understanding of the difference between a podcast and “reading a paper out loud,” you will be required to write and submit a script for your podcast.

Hint – this should also help you during the revision process. Try to think of the podcast and paper assignments as complementary and not as distinct.

Hints –

Please upload your final as an MP3 file (not a .wav file)

Books for Purchase

YOU MUST PURCHASE HARD COPIES except for They Say/I Say; electronic copies will not be accepted

Grades and Grading

Grading is a pedagogical tool. It is meant to signal to students where and how they can improve on meeting the expectations for the assignments in our class. They are not a reflection of ability, character, or effort. My comments on assignments are meant to highlight where improvement is possible on that assignment and should serve as guideposts for future assignments. They are not a road map to earning “A’s.” That may take time and practice. And, I am here to help you in that journey.

I believe strongly in the power of constructive criticism, so my comments will identify strengths I see in a particular assignment but will focus more so on the areas that I see where improvement is possible.

LETTER GRADES ON FORMAL ESSAYS:

An “A” signifies that all of the rhetorical, grammatical, and stylistic features of an essay demonstrate a nearly professional polish and work together to advance a clear, interesting, persuasive, and significant analytic argument. The essay exhibits superior skill in reading texts closely and interpreting them, not merely offering opinions about them. The ideas are organized in a sequence that reinforces the logic of the thesis, and they are illustrated and supported by well-chosen and coherently integrated quotations and details from the subject text. Such an essay demonstrates the writer’s awareness of the readers’ needs. It doesn’t waste their time with filler, irrelevant material, or needlessly wordy phrasing. Nor does it neglect to explain complex ideas and to enable the readers to experience them with powerful detail and textual support. An “A” essay is unified, coherent, focused, developed, precisely phrased, interesting, significant, and stylistically effective.

A “B” signifies that an essay shows much promise, that with some careful revising and further development (not just editing) it might have the potential to earn an “A.” Between adequate and excellent, a “B” essay offers and supports intelligent arguments that unify and shape the subsequent paragraphs. The "B" paper does not display the high level of close reading and originality of thought of the "A" paper. It may contain several minor problems in logic and interpretation, such as occasional lack of sufficient analysis of quotations. But it will show evident care, persuasive analysis, and reliable facility with grammatical skills. It may lack the fresh insight or the impressive power of phrasing that is evident in an “A” paper, but it shows thought and planning as it advances an important interpretive argument.

A “C” indicates that an essay meets the minimal requirements of an assignment. It makes an argument though it might be obvious and commonplace. The essay presents quoted passages to support its claims but has not always made their relevance clear to the reader. The "C" paper may contain too much summary of the text without sufficient analysis of it. Its argument may contain illogical conclusions or problems in interpretation caused by misreading. A “C” essay does not demonstrate the grammatical control that produces emphatic and clear phrasing. There are likely to be occasional grammatical errors—though not so frequent that they distract the reader from the ideas being discussed.

A “D” essay might show effort and insight but it lacks the basic features that enable an essay to be read with understanding—such things as unity, clear focus, grammatical control, clear and purposeful organization, audience awareness, sufficiency of supporting detail and quoted evidence. A “D” essay might be in an early phase of drafting. It might wander from its key idea into irrelevant ideas or to things that were added merely to reach a target length. It might offer ideas that don’t go beyond the familiar and use overly general phrasing and clichés without showing successful engagement with complex ideas.

A paper might fail (F) if it’s extremely difficult to read, if it doesn’t have an idea that connects its parts, if it doesn’t offer support for its claims, if it’s merely summary and not argument, if it doesn’t fulfill the assignment, if ideas are not grouped into paragraphs, or if persistent grammatical errors draw the readers’ attention away from the topic. An essay might also fail if phrases or ideas have been used without proper acknowledgement from a source (plagiarism).

Late Papers: Only late papers accompanied by a valid excuse (illness with doctor's note, university sanctioned extra-curricular activity, family emergency, etc.) will be accepted without penalty. All other late papers will be penalized one full letter grade on the day following the due date (A to B) and one third of a letter grade (B to B-) for each day after that. Missed assignments will be assigned a score of zero.

Academic Integrity

Please do your own work. Plagiarism will not be tolerated in any form. The students and faculty of Denison University are committed to academic integrity and will not tolerate any violation of this principle.  Academic honesty, the cornerstone of teaching and learning, lays the foundation for lifelong integrity.

Academic Integrity Academic dishonesty is, in most cases, intellectual theft. It includes, but is not limited to, providing or receiving assistance in a manner not authorized by the instructor in the creation of work to be submitted for evaluation. This standard applies to all work ranging from daily homework assignments to major exams. Students must clearly cite any sources consulted—not only for quoted phrases but also for ideas and information that are not common knowledge. Neither ignorance nor carelessness is an acceptable defense in cases of plagiarism. It is the student’s responsibility to follow the appropriate format for citations. Students should ask the professor for assistance in determining what sorts of materials and assistance are appropriate for assignments and for guidance in citing such materials clearly.

Proposed and developed by Denison students, passed unanimously by DCGA and Denison’s faculty, the Code of Academic Integrity requires that instructors notify the Associate Provost of cases of academic dishonesty, and it requires that cases be heard by the Academic Integrity Board. Further, the code makes students responsible for promoting a culture of integrity on campus and acting in instances in which integrity is violated. The punishment for plagiarism/academic dishonesty in this class will be a grade of zero for the assignment in question and potentially a failing grade for the course in egregious cases.

Note on Technology and AI

While AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can be powerful tools, you should not rely on them to complete your assignments. Doing so may constitute a violation of the Denison University Academic Integrity Policy. (We will have a class day focused on how AI works, and how it might be appropriate to use it on an assignment like those required in this class). See below for full AI statement.

Appropriate Use of Course Materials

The materials distributed in this class, including the syllabus, exams, handouts, study aids, and in-class presentations, may be protected by copyright and are provided solely for the educational use of students enrolled in this course.  You are not permitted to redistribute them for purposes unapproved by the instructor; in particular you are not permitted to post course materials or your notes from lectures and discussion on commercial websites (or upload them to a Generative AI site). Unauthorized uses of course materials may be considered academic misconduct.

Disability Statement

Any student who feels he or she may need accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately as soon as possible to discuss his or her specific needs. I rely on the Academic Support & Enrichment Center in 104 Doane to verify the need for reasonable accommodations.

Writing Center

The Center is a free resource available to all Denison students.  Student writing consultants from many majors help writers one-on-one in all phases of the writing process, from deciphering the assignment, to discussing ideas, to developing an argument, to finalizing a draft.  Please visit the [Writing Center Website]{.underline} for locations and hours.

L2 or Multilingual Support

In addition to the academic support services available to all Denison students, students who use English in addition to other languages can meet with Denison’s Coordinator of Multilingual Learning, Kalynda Thayer. If English is not your first or only language, please consider utilizing this resource, which is available to ALL Denison students. Ms. Thayer offers a variety of support for L2 students, including consulting with you about your written language (grammar, syntax, word-choices), strategies to manage your reading assignments, assistance with class conversation and presentations, and to help devising ways to develop and effectively use all your skills in English. You can email her at thayerk\@denison.edu to schedule an appointment.

The course adheres to Denison’s Academic Credit Policy. Significant feedback on writing is a core component of this course. Students are expected to review instructor feedback and reflect on how to incorporate that into their future work. Throughout the semester, students will complete group assignments and they are expected to meet together with their group mates and with the professor for guidance on group projects.

AI Statement

The development of generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard are transforming the landscape of higher education. With that reality in mind, here are some guiding principles for the use of AI in our course (other faculty may have different policies, and it is YOUR responsibility to know what each of your professors determine is the acceptable and ethical use of AI in their courses).

Course Schedule

THIS SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE (all revisions will be marked in Red)

Week 1 (August 29)

Friday 8/29

Week 2 (September 1-5)

Monday 9/1

Wednesday 9/3

Friday 9/5

Week 3 (September 8-12)

Monday 9/8

Wednesday 9/10

Friday 9/12

Week 4 (September 15-19)

Monday 9/15

Wednesday 9/17

Friday 9/19

Week 5 (September 22-26)

Monday 9/22

Tuesday 9/23

Wednesday 9/25

Friday 9/27

Week 6 (September 30 - October 4)

Monday 9/30

Wednesday 10/2

Friday 10/4

Week 7 (October 7-11)

Monday 10/7

Wednesday 10/9

Friday 10/11

Week 8 (October 14-18)

Monday 10/14

Wednesday 10/16

Friday 10/17

Week 9 (October 21-25)

Monday 10/21

Wednesday 10/23

Friday 10/25

Week 10 (October 28 - November 1)

Monday 10/28

Wednesday 10/30

Friday 11/1

Week 11 (November 4-8)

Monday 11/4

Wednesday 11/6

Friday 11/8

Week 12 (November 11-15)

Monday 11/11

Wednesday 11/13

Friday 11/15

Week 13 (November 18-22)

Monday 11/18

Wednesday 11/20

Friday 11/22

Thanksgiving Break (November 24-28)

No Classes November 24-28

Week 14 (December 1-5)

Monday 12/1

Wednesday 12/3

Friday 12/5

Week 15 (December 8-12)

Monday 12/8

Wednesday 12/10

Friday 12/12

Finals Week

Wednesday, December 17 @ 11:00am

Thursday, December 18 @ 5pm