U.S. History Syllabus
Course Description: U.S. History is a survey
course covering American history. The class is taught in accordance with
the AP U.S. History curriculum framework and examines the nations’ political,
diplomatic, intellectual, cultural, social, and economic history from 1491 to
the present. A variety of instructional approaches are employed and
a college level textbook is supplemented by primary and secondary
sources.
The course is broken up into nine historical periods investigating
seven themes in each, and developing nine historical thinking skills. The difference between the AP class and the
regular U.S. History class is that the regular class will not be required to do
additional readings or essays. Also they
will need to know only 4 of the 7 essential questions for each unit and the
unit tests will be multiple choice and short answer with no essay
questions. Here is the break down of
grades:
Class Assignments – 20%
Projects – 20%
Tests – 20%
Quizzes – 10%
Blogs – 10%
Essays – 20%
Scale:
100- 93 = A
92.49- 90 = A-
89.49- 87 = B+
86.49-83.00 = B
82.49- 80.00 = B-
79.49-77.00 = C+
76.49- 73 = C
72.49-70.00 = C-
69.49-67.00 = D+
66.49- 63.00 = D
62.49- 60 = D-
Below 60 = F
Late Work: Mark down 10% per day.
You are expected to turn in work on the deadlines due.
Students should
expect homework 3-4 nights a week.
U.S. History is
broken down into the following Units based on time periods:
Periodization:
Period 1 (1491-1607)
Period 2 (1607-1754)
Period 3 (1754-1800)
Period 4 (1800-1848)
Period 5 (1844-1877)
Period 6 (1865-1900)
Period 7 (1890-1945)
Period 8 (1945-1989)
Period 9 (1980-Present)
THEMES:
Identity: This theme focuses on the
formation of both American national identity and group identities in U.S.
History. Students should be able to explain how various
identities, cultures, and values have been preserved or changed in different
contexts of U.S. History, with special attention given to the formation of
gender, class, racial, and ethnic identities. Students should
also be able to explain how these sub identities have interacted with each
other and with larger conceptions of American national identity.
Work, Exchange, and Technology: This
theme focuses on the development of American economies based on agriculture,
commerce, and manufacturing. Students should be able to
explain ways that different economic and labor systems, technological
innovations, and government policies have shaped American society. Students
should be able to explore the lives of working people and the relationships
among social classes, racial and ethnic groups, and men and women, including
the availability of land and labor, national and international economic
developments, and the role of government support and regulation.
Peopling: This theme focuses on why and
how the various people who moved to, from, and within the United States adapted
to their new social and physical environments. Students
should be able to explain migration across borders and long distances,
including the slave trade and internal migration and how both newcomers and
indigenous inhabitants transformed North America. The theme also
illustrates how people responded when “borders crossed them.” Students
should be able to discuss the ideas, beliefs, technologies, religions, and
gender roles that migrants/immigrants and annexed people brought with them and
the impact these factors had on both these peoples and on U.S. society.
Politics and Power: This theme examines the
ongoing debates over the role of the state in society and its potential as an
active agent for change. This includes mechanisms for creating,
implementing, or limiting participation in the political process and the
resulting social effects, as well as the changing relationship among branches
of the federal government and among national, state, and local governments. Students
should be able to trace efforts to define or gain access to individual rights
and citizenship and explain the evolutions of tensions between liberty and
authority in different periods of U.S. history.
America in the World: In this theme, students
focus on the global context in which the United States originated and developed
as well as the influence of the United States on world affairs. Students
should be able to discuss how various world actors (such as people, states,
organizations, and companies) have competed for the territory and resources of
the North American continent, influencing the development of both American and
world societies and economics. Students should also be able to
explain how American foreign policies and military actions have affected the
rest of the world.
Environment and Geography – Physical and
Human: This theme examines the role of environment, geography,
and climate in both constraining and shaping human actions. Students
should be able to analyze the interaction between the environment and Americans
in their efforts to survive and thrive. Students should also be able
to explain the efforts to interpret, preserve, manage, or exploit natural and
man-made environments, as well as the historical contexts within which
interactions with the environment have taken place.
Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture: This theme
explores the roles that ideas, beliefs, social mores, and creative expression
have played in shaping the United States. Students should be
able to explain the development of aesthetic, moral, religious, scientific, and
philosophical principles and consider how these principles have affected individual
and group actions. Students should also be able to analyze the
interactions between beliefs and communities, economic values, political
movements, including attempts to change American society to align it with
specific ideas.
Historical Thinking Skills:
Historical Causation
Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
Periodization
Comparison
Contextualization
Historical Argumentation
Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
Interpretation
Synthesis
Each Unit will contain the following:
1) Lecture and discussion of topics:
Students will participate in discussions based on course
topics. Reading quiz content is embedded in class discussions.
2) Primary Source Analysis: Students will
analyze primary sources in which they identify, analyze, and evaluate each of
the sources. Students will use SOAPStone and HAPP-Y to look at two
or more of the following features: historical context, purpose and intended
audience, the author’s point of view, type of source, argument and tone. Visuals
will also be analyzed using OPTICS.
3) Viewpoints: Students will examine,
analyze and compare opposing viewpoints expressed in either primary or
secondary sources and determine which sources make the most convincing argument
and why?
4) Six Degrees of Separation: Students will
be provided with two events spanning decades, but related by their
theme. They will select six events in chronological order that link
the first event in the series with the last. Students will write the name
of each selected event, and use their research and knowledge of the time period
to create an argument to support the events selected. Students must
emphasize both cause and effect and/or demonstrate continuity or change over
time in their linking.
5) 2-Day Unit Test that will have four
components: analytical multiple-choice questions (MC), analytical short answer
questions (SA), a free response essay (FRQ) and a document based question
(DBQ). Each component of the exam matches a portion (or a potential)
AP test and will emphasize the application of historical thinking skills to the
answer.
6) Reading quizzes based on chapter
assignments.
7) Note taking and History Logs (informal
writing)
Essay Questions will be broken down using SPRITE.
In addition some units will have Formal Projects or extended
Essay/Research assignments.
GRADING: All work will be graded on a point
system. Daily work, which includes student discussion questions,
history logs, primary source analysis, viewpoint analysis are worth 10-40
points. Projects, which includes Six Degrees of Separation, map
projects, posters, and Power Points (among others, is worth
50-100. Reading quizzes are worth 25 points. Unit Tests
are worth 500 (multiple choice – 200, short answer (2) – 100, Free Response
-100, and Document Based Question – 200). Other essays will be worth
100. Late work will be marked down 10% per day.
Grading Scale will follow Skagway School District’s normal
grade scale. This class is on the 5-point scale.
PRIMARY TEXTBOOK:
The American Pageant, David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth
Cohen, and Thomas A Bailey, 15th ed., Random House, 2014
PRIMARY SOURCES:
Opposing Viewpoints, Vol. 1&2, William Dudley and
Thomson Gale, 2007.
Thinking Through the Past, Vol. 1&2, John
Hollitz, 2010.
SECONDARY SOURCES:
A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn,
2010.
A Patriot’s History of the United States, Larry
Schweikart, and Michael Allen, 2004.
United States History: Preparing for the Advance
Placement Examination, John J. Newman, and John M. Schmalbach, 2015.
Don’t Know Much About History, Kenneth Davis,
2003.
UNIT 1: 1491-1607- The American
Pageant, chapters 1-2; Don’t Know Much About History pages
1-32.
Content: Geography and environment; Native
American diversity in the Americas; Spain in the Americas; conflict and
exchange; English, French, and Dutch settlements; and the Atlantic economy.
Key Concepts:
1.1: Before the arrival of Europeans, native populations in
North America developed a wide variety of social, political, and economic structures
based in part on interactions with the environment and each other.
1.2: European overseas expansion resulted in the Columbian
Exchange, a series of interactions and adaptations among societies across the
Atlantic
1.3 Contacts among American Indians, Africans, and Europeans
challenged the worldviews of each group.
Activities:
History Logs – Record notes on blogs. Write a 1-2
page summary of them. Choose 1 idea or event that is the most
important and discuss why. Write a short essay: What have you
learned? What have you thought about? What questions do
you have?
Primary Source Analysis: Photos of Native American Journal
and Pottery; Map of American Indian pre-1492 demographics; “Letter to Luis de
Santangel”; “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies” by Bartoleme de
las Casas; Excepts from the journal of Christopher Columbus.
Viewpoints: Students will read an excerpt from “1491, Howard
Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States chapter
1, A Patriot’s History of the United States and write an essay
with a thesis statement in response to the question, “Were the conquistadores
or Columbus immoral?”
Six Degrees of Separation: From 1491 to Jamestown.
Students will be given a different pre-contact native
population to research developing an oral presentation/visual aid showing
social, political, and economic structures and interaction with the environment
and other groups.
Working in groups students will analyze reasons for the
development of different labor systems in the following regions: New England,
Chesapeake, the southernmost Atlantic coast, and the British West Indies.
UNIT I Test.
Students will discuss answers to the following essential
questions:
Identity – How did the identities of colonizing
and indigenous American societies change as a result of contact in the
Americas?
Work, Exchange, and Technology – How did the
Columbian Exchange – the mutual transfer of material goods, commodities,
animals, and diseases – affect interaction between Europeans and natives and
among indigenous peoples in North America?
Peopling – Where did different groups settle in
the Americas (before contact) and how and why did they move to and within the
Americas (after contact)?
Politics and Power – How did Spain’s early entry
into colonization in the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America shape European
and American developments in this period?
America in the World – How did European attempts
to dominate the Americas shape relations between Native Americans, Europeans,
and Africans?
Environment and Geography – How did pre-contact
populations of North America relate to their environments? How did
contact with Europeans and Africans change these relations in North America?
Ideas, Beliefs, and Cultures – How did cultural
contact challenge the religious and other values systems of peoples from the
Americas, Africa, and Europe?
UNIT 2: 1607-1754 –
readings The American Pageant chapters 2-4. A
People’s History of the United States chapter 2.
Content: Growing trade; unfree labor; political differences
across the colonies; conflict with Native Americans; immigration; early cities;
role of women, education, religion and culture; and growing tensions with
British.
Key Concepts:
2.1 Differences in imperial goals, cultures, and the North
American environments that different empires confronted led Europeans to
develop diverse patterns of colonization.
2.2 European colonization efforts in North American
stimulated intercultural contact and intensified conflict between the various
groups of colonizers and native peoples.
2.3 The increasing political, economic, and cultural
exchanges within the “Atlantic World” had a profound impact on the development
of colonial societies in North America.
Activities:
History Logs – notes, short writings in response to notes
and readings.
Primary Source Analysis: Students will read “Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards; an indentured servant’s letter
home; Bacon’s Manifesto; The Maryland Toleration Act; a letter about the Small
Pox Inoculation; map of a Puritan town; painting of a colonial Virginia tobacco
farm; and colonial export chart broken down by region and products.
Viewpoints: Students will read articles from Opposing
Viewpoints and be ready to discuss the two articles focusing on
sourcing and contextualization. “A Defense of the Salem Witch
Trials” (1692) by Cotton Mather and “An Attach on the Salem Witch Trials”
(1692) by Thomas Brattle.
Students will describe the settlements of Northern, Middle,
and Southern colonies showing motives, location, religious influences,
political system, economic structure, labor source, relations with natives and
discuss the environmental and geographic impact on the development of each
region.
After studying colonial development and utilizing all
readings, students will write an essay on the following: Early
encounters between American Indians and European colonists led to a variety of
relationships among the different cultures. Analyze how the actions taken
by BOTH American Indians and European colonists shaped those relationships in
TWO of the following regions. Confine your answers to the 1600s.
A) New England
B) Chesapeake
C) Spanish Southwest
D) New York and New France
Six Degrees of Separation: From Jamestown to the French and Indian
War.
Unit Test.
Students will discuss possible answers to the following
essential questions:
Identity – What were the chief similarities and
differences among the develop of English, Spanish, Dutch, and French colonies
in America?
Work, Exchange, and Technology – How did
distinct economic systems, most notably a slavery system based on African
labor, develop in British North America? What was their effect on
emerging cultural and regional differences?
Peopling – Why did various colonists go to the
New World? How did the increasing integration of the Atlantic world
affect the movement of peoples between its different regions?
Politics and Power – In what ways did the
British government seek to exert control over its American colonies in the 17th and
18th centuries?
America in the World – How did competition
between European empires around the world affect relations among the various
peoples in North America?
Environment and Geography – How and why did the
English American colonies develop into distinct regions?
UNIT 3: 1754-1800 – The American
Pageant chapters 5-10; Don’t Know Much About History pages
41-100
Content: Colonial society before the war for
independence; colonial rivalries; the Seven Years War; pirates and other
democrats; role of women before, during, and after 1776; Articles of
Confederation, the Constitution, the rise of political parties, national
identity; work and labor (free and unfree); regional economical differences.
Key Concepts
3.1: Britain’s victory over France in the imperial struggle
for North America led to new conflicts among the British government, the North
American colonists and American Indians, culminating in the creation of a new
nations, the United States.
3.2: In the late eighteenth century, new experiments with
democratic ideas and republican forms of government, as well as other new
religious, economic and cultural ideas, challenged traditional imperial systems
across the Atlantic World.
3.3: Migration within North America, cooperative
interactions and competitions for resources raised questions about boundaries
and policies, intensified conflicts among peoples and nations, and led to
contests over the creation of a multiethnic, multiracial national identity.
Activities:
History Log – notes and short answer writings based on
readings.
Primary Source Analysis: Students will read and analysis the
following – Map of Proclamation of 1763, Speeches at Fort Pitt by Tecumseh,
Join or Die Cartoon, Common Sense, Declaration of Independence, Letters,
Proclamation and Paintings surrounding the Saratoga Campaign (Arnold, Burgoyne,
Jane McCrea and others), The Articles of Confederation, Federalist #45, The
Constitution, Washington’s Farewell Address, map of Northwest Ordinance/Slavery
abolition, two artists contrasting views of the Boston Massacre, diagram of
Hamilton’s Financial Plan, Abigail Adams Letters to John Adams, Jefferson’s
First Inaugural.
Drawing on primary sources, students engage in a debate over
the question, “Did the Revolution assert British rights or did it create an
American national identity?”
Viewpoints: Students will read “The War for Independence was
Not a Social Revolution” by Howard Zinn and “The War for Independence was a
Social Revolution” by Gordon S. Wood. Using these articles as well as
the primary documents from the period, students will write an essay responding
to the following: Based on the arguments provided by Zinn and Wood as
well as the primary source documents, to what extent did the American
Revolution fundamentally change society? In your answer, be sure to
address the political, economic, and social effects of the Revolution in the
period from 1775 to 1800.
Students will research and a list of causes of both Shay’s
Rebellion and The Whiskey Rebellion. Then students will write a
short analysis of the significant of both events as a link between the American
Revolution and the creation of a new nation.
Students will list 10 events that led directly to the
Revolution. Students will defend their choices, the pick the one event
that made the Revolution inevitable.
Six Degrees of Separation: 1607 to 1800.
Unit Exam – multiple choice, short answer questions, long
essay, document-based essay.
During this unit students will discuss possible answers to
the following essential questions:
Identity: How did different social group identities
evolve during the revolutionary struggle? How did leaders of the new
United States attempt to form a national identity?
Work, Exchange, and Technology: How did the newly
independent United States attempt to formulate a national economy?
Peopling: How did the revolutionary struggle and its
aftermath reorient white-American Indian relations and affect subsequent
population movements?
Politics and Power: How did the ideology behind the
revolution affect power relationships between different ethnic, racial, and
social groups?
America in the World: How did the revolution become
an international conflict involving competing European and American powers?
Environment and Geography: How did the geographical
and environment characteristics of regions open up to white settlements after
1763 affect their subsequent development?
Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture: Why did the patriot
cause spread so quickly among the colonists after 1763? How did the
republican ideals of the revolutionary cause affect the nation’s political
culture after independence?
Unit 4: 1800-1848 – The American
Pageant chapters 11-17; Don’t Know Much About History pages
100-126.
Content: Definition of democratic practices;
expansion of the vote; market revolution; Louisiana Purchase, War of 1812,
territorial and demographic growth; two-party system; Andrew Jackson; and role
of the federal government in slavery and the economy.
Activities:
History Log – notes and short answers on reading
assignments.
Primary Sources Analysis: Letter to Mercy Otis Warren,
Monroe Doctrine, The Nullification Proclamation, Self Reliance, Jackson’s First
Message to Congress, Jackson’s Veto of the Bank, John O’Sullivan on Manifest
Destiny, William B. Travis Letter from the Alamo, contrasting illustrations of
the “Trail of Tears”, James Madison’s War Message.
Students will complete a concept map on the following four
Marshall Court Decisions: Marbury V. Madison; Mcculloch V. Maryland; Dartmouth
College V. Woodward; Gibbons V. Ogden.
Viewpoints: Looking at various sources students will decide
whether the War of 1812 was the 2nd War for Independence or a
War for Territory.
Six Degrees of Separation: From Jefferson to the Reform Era.
Students will reflect on Seneca Falls – in what ways was it
a consequence of pre-1848 reform activities and what did it contribute to the
movement for women’s rights afterward? Students will write an essay
that makes an argument in response to this question.
During this unit students will discuss possible answers to
the following essential questions:
Identity: How did debates over American
democratic culture and the proximity of many different cultures living in close
contact affect changing definitions of national identity?
Work, Exchange, and Technology: How did the growth of
mass manufacturing in the rapidly urbanizing North affect definitions of and
relationships between workers, and those for whom they worked? How
did the continuing dominance of agriculture and the slave system affect
southern social, political, and economic life?
Peopling: How did the continued movement of
individuals and groups into, out of, and within the United States shape the
development of new communities and the evolution of old communities?
Politics and Power: How did the growth of ideas of
mass democracy, including such concerns as expanding suffrage, public
education, abolitionism, and care for the needy affect political life and
discourse?
America in the World: How did the United States use
diplomatic and economic means to project its power in the western
hemisphere? How did foreign governments and individuals describe and
react to the new America Nation?
Environment and Geography: How did environmental and
geographic factors affect the development of sectional economics and
identities?
Ideas, Beliefs, and Cultures: How did the idea of
democratization shape and reflect American arts, literature, ideals, and
culture?
Unit 5: 1844-1877 – The American
Pageant, chapters 17-22; Don’t Know Much About History pages
127-165
Content: As the nation expanded and its
population grew, regional tensions, especially over slavery, led to a civil war
– the course and aftermath of which transformed American
society. Tensions over slavery; reform movements; imperialism;
Mexican War; Civil War; and Reconstruction.
Key Concepts:
5.1 The United States became more connected with the world
as it pursued an expansionist foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere and
emerged as the destination for many migrants from other countries.
5.2 Intensified by expansion and deepening regional
divisions, debates over slavery and other economic, cultural and political
issues led the nation into civil war.
5.3 The Union victory in the Civil War and the contested
Reconstruction of the South settled the issues of slavery and secession, but
left unresolved many questions about federal government power and citizenship
rights.
Activities:
History Log – notes and short answers to reading assignments.
Primary Source Analysis: Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass, Accounts about poor Whites, Polk’s War Message, Civil Disobedience,
Fugitive Slave Law, Dred Scott v. Sanford, The Impending Crisis in the South,
the Lincoln –Douglas debates, Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address,
Emancipation Proclamation, Mississippi Black Codes, map delineating southern
session, two paintings of Manifest Destiny, Civil War photos.
Viewpoints: John Brown – Terrorist or Hero?
Viewpoints: Who Freed the Slaves – Students will present
their viewpoint on who freed the slaves from one of the following groups:
Congress, Lincoln, Military, or African-Americans. In addition
students will explain why the other three groups were not as effective.
Students read the sources in a document-based question on
the Mexican-American War and engage in a classroom debate on President’s Polk’s
motives for entering the war.
Students will read “Popular Sovereignty Should Settle the
Slavery Question” by Stephen A. Douglas; “Slavery Should Not Be Allowed to
Spread” by Abraham Lincoln from Opposing Viewpoints. Students
will identify major arguments of each man, and then debate whose argument was
most persuasive. Their analysis should address at least two of the
following features from each of the documents: audience, purpose, point of
view, format, argument, limitations, and content germane to the evidence
considered.
Six Degrees of Separation: From the Liberator to the
Compromise of 1877.
Chronological Reason: Students look at the evolution of
public policies related to slavery and racial inequality to 1877.
UNIT Test – multiple-choice questions, short answer
questions, DBQ and Long Essay (on public policies related to slavery).
During this unit students will discuss possible answers to the
following essential questions:
Identity: How did migration to the United States
change popular ideas of American Identity and citizenship as well as regional
and racial identities? How did the conflicts that led to the Civil
War change popular ideas about national, regional, and racial
identities? How did the conflicts that led to the Civil War change
popular ideas about national, regional, and racial identities throughout this
period?
Work, Exchange, and Technology: How did the maturing
of northern manufacturing and the adherence of the South to an agricultural
economy change the nation economic system by 1877?
Peopling: How did the growth of mass migration to the
United States and the railroad affect settlement patterns in cities and the
West?
Politics and Power: Why did attempts at compromise
before the war fail to prevent the conflict? To what extent, and in
what ways, did the Civil War and Reconstruction transform American political
and social relationships?
America in the World: How was the American conflict
over slavery part of larger global events?
Environment and Geography: How did the end of slavery
and technological and military developments transform environment and
settlement patterns in the South and West?
Ideas, Beliefs, and Cultures: How did the doctrine of
Manifest Destiny debates over territorial expansionism and the Mexican
War? How did the Civil War struggle shape Americans’ beliefs about
equality, democracy, and national destiny?
Unit 6: 1865-1900 – The American
Pageant, Chapters 22-28; Don’t Know Much About History pages
257-303
Content: The transformation of the United States
from an agricultural to an increasingly industrialized and urbanized society
brought about significant economic, political, diplomatic, social, environmental,
and cultural change. Includes: Rise of labor unions and the Populist
Party; general themes of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and
imperialism; Indian Wars, the Spanish American War, conquests in the
Pacific.
Key Concepts:
6.1 The rise of big business in the United States encouraged
massive migrations and urbanization, sparked government and popular efforts to
reshape the U.S. economy and environment, and renewed debates over U.S.
national identity.
6.2 The rise of big business and an industrial culture in
the United States led to both greater opportunities for and restrictions on
immigrants, minorities, and women.
6.3 The “Gilded Age” witnessed new cultural and intellectual
movements in tandem with political debates over economic and social
policies.
Activities:
History Log – notes and short answers on reading
assignments.
Primary Source Analysis: Red Cloud’s Speech, Excerpts
from Huck Finn, Dawes Act, Chinese Exclusion Act, A Black Woman’s
Appeal for Civil Rights, Populist Party Platform, Bosses of the Senate Cartoon,
Images from How the Other Half Lives, Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of
Wealth, Petition to the Ohio state legislature against women suffrage, Jane
Addams Twenty Years at Hull House, map of the overseas possessions of the U.S.
Viewpoints: After reading excerpts from Jane Addams, Louise
de Koven Bowen and Hilda Satt Polacheck students will decide if the progressive
social reformers were generous and helpful or condescending and judgmental
towards immigrants. Students will list 3 main points and evidence
the support.
Populist Party Speech – Students will analyze documents on
the Populist Party and create a speech on why they should be the Populist Party
Presidential nominee in 1892.
Unit Test – Multiple-choice questions, short answer
questions, DBQ, and Long Essay.
During this unit students will discuss possible answers to
the following essential questions:
Identity: How did the rapid influx of immigrants from
other parts of the world than northern and western Europe affect debates about
American national identity?
Work, Exchange, and Technology: How did technological
and corporate innovations help to vastly increase industrial
production? What was the impact of these innovations on the lives of
working people?
Peopling: How and why did the sources of migration to the
United States change dramatically during this period?
Politics and Power: How did the political
culture of the Gilded Age reflect the emergence of new corporate
power? How successful were the challenges to this
power? Why did challenges to this power fail?
America in the World: How did the search for new
global markets affect American foreign policy and territorial ambitions?
Environment and Geography: In what ways, and to what
extent, was the West “opened” for further settlement through connection to
eastern political, financial, and transportation systems?
Ideas, Beliefs and Cultures: How did artistic and
intellectual movements both reflect and challenge the emerging corporate
order?
UNIT 7: 1890-1945 – The American
Pageant chapters 29-35; Don’t Know Much About History pages
323-436
Content: An increasingly pluralistic United
States faced profound domestic and global challenges, debated the proper degree
of government activism, and sought to define its international
role. Includes: The formation of the Industrial Workers of the World
and the AFL; industrialization and technology, mass production and mass
consumerism, the radio and the movies; WWI; Harlem Renaissance; The Great Depression
and the New Deal, and WWII.
Key Concepts:
7.1: Government, political and social organizations
struggled to address the effects of large-scale industrialization, economic
uncertainty, and related social changes such as urbanization and mass
migration.
7.2: A revolution in communications and transportation
technology helped to create a new mess culture and spread of “modern” values
and ideas, even as cultural conflict between groups increased under the
pressure of migration, world wars, and economic distress.
7.3 Global conflicts over resources, territories and
ideologies renewed debates over the nation’s values and its role in the world,
while simultaneously propelling the United States into a dominant international
military, political, cultural, and economic position.
Activities:
History Logs – notes and short responses to reading
assignments.
Primary Source Analysis: Early 1900s new transportation
advertisements; 1920s advertisements; Espionage Act of 1917; Sedition Act of
1917; Eugene Deb’s Speech Condemning Espionage Ace and Sedition Act; The
Zimmermann Note; FDR’s 1stInaugural Address; Roosevelt’s Court
Packing Plan; FDR’s Day of Infamy Speech; Truman’s The Decision to Drop the
Atomic Bomb; New Deal political cartoons (pro and con), graph showing economic
cycles during the Great Depression and WWII.
Viewpoints: Japanese internment during WWII?
DBQ Deconstruction: DBQ on how the different policies of FDR
and Hoover toward the proper role of government reflected five decades of
debates about citizenship, economic rights, and the public good. Be
sure to indicate how specific policies reflect the global economic crisis of
the 1930s.
Students will write an essay comparing Wilson’s Neutrality
document to George Washington’s, and discuss the changes, if any, in the
context in which U.S. foreign policy was made.
Unit Test – Multiple Choice Questions; Short Response
Questions; DBQ and Long Question: To what extent were the policies of
the New Deal a distinct turning point in U.S. History, and to what extent were
they merely an extension of Progressive Era policy goals? Confine
your answer to the programs/policies that addressed the specific needs of
American workers.
During this unit students will discuss possible answers to
the following essential questions:
Identity: How did the continuing debates over
immigration and assimilation reflect changing ideals of national and ethnic
identity? How did class identities change in this period?
Work, Exchange, and Technology: How did movements for
political and economic reform take shape in this period, and how effective were
they in achieving their goals?
Peopling: Why did public attitudes towards
immigration become negative during this time period? Why did
opposition emerge to various reform programs?
Politics and Power: How did reformist ideals change
and reformers took them up in different time periods? Why did
opposition emerge to various reform programs?
America in the World: Why did U.S. leaders decide to
become involved in global conflicts such as the Spanish American War, World War
I, and World War II? How did debates over interventions reflect
public views of America’s role in the world?
Environment and Geography: Why did reformers seek for
the government to wrest control of the environment and national resources from
commercial interests?
Ideas, Beliefs, and Cultures: How did “modern”
cultural values evolve in response to developments in
technology? How did debates over the role of women in American
public life reflect changing social realities?
Unit 8: 1945-1989 – The American
Pageant, chapters 36-39; Don’t Know Much About History pages
418-463
Content: After World War II, the United States
grappled with prosperity and unfamiliar international responsibilities, while
struggling to live up to its ideals. Includes: Atomic age and the Cold
War; the Korean War; suburban development and the affluent society; the other
America; Vietnam; the Beat Generation; the social movements of the long 1960s;
Great Society programs; economic and political decline in the 1970s; the rise
of conservatism.
Key Concepts:
8.1: The United States responded to an uncertain and
unstable postwar world by asserting and attempting to defend a position of
global leadership, with far-reaching domestic and international consequences.
8.2: Liberalism, based on anticommunism abroad and a firm
belief in the efficacy of governmental and especially, federal power to achieve
social goals at home, reached it apex in the mid-1960s and generated a variety
of political and cultural responses.
8.3: Postwar economic, demographic and technological changes
had far-reaching impacts on American society, politics, and the environment.
Activities:
History Log – notes and short responses on assigned
readings.
Primary Source Analysis: The Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine,
Massive Retaliation, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Nuclear Testing
Films from the 50s, Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, The Other America, Letter
from Birmingham Jail, chart illustrating the statistics of the draft during the
Vietnam War and the casualty rate of the same, Tonkin Gulf Resolutions, Tim
Driscoll “There Really Is A War” Letter from Vietnam, Jimmy Carter Inaugural
Address, Reagan’s Tear Down This Wall speech.
Viewpoints: Truman from Truman Doctrine vs. Reagan from Tear
Down This Wall Speech.
Coffee House – after reading and discussing Beat poetry
(Ginsberg, Corso, Synder), students will write their own “beat” poetry on an
issue of the 50s.
Origins of the Cold War debate: Some scholars argue that the
Cold War started with the Russian Revolution. Examine primary and
secondary sources and make a case for the Cold War starting in 1945 or 1917.
Shootings at Kent State: Students will close read “The
Shooting at Kent State” by Tom Grace and listen to the pod cast “What Really
Happened at Kent State” (http://missedinhistory.com/podcasts/what-really-happened-at-kent-state/ ). The
student will write two editorials: the 1st editorial will
address why the government had the right to allow the National Guard to fire on
the students; the second will address why the firing was wrong.
Students will also listen to various songs from the sixties
and discuss the role of popular music in affecting attitudes toward the Vietnam
War.
Six Degrees of Separation: From Containment to “Tear Down
This Wall”.
Unit Test – Multiple Choice Questions, Short Answer
Reponses, DBQ, Long Essay.
During this unit students will discuss possible answers to
the following essential questions:
Identity: How did the African-American Civil Rights
movement affect the development of other movements based on asserting the
rights of different groups in American society? How did American
involvement in the Cold War affect debates over American national identity?
Work, Exchange, and Technology: How did the rise of
American manufacturing and global economic dominance in the years after World
War II affect standards of living among and opportunities for different social
groups?
Peopling: How did the growth of migration to and
within the United States influence demographic change and social attitudes in
the nation?
Politics and Power: How did the changing fortunes of
liberalism and conservatism in these years affect broader aspects of social and
political power?
America in the World: Why did Americans endorse a new
engagement in international affairs during the Cold War? How did
this belief change over time in response to particular events?
Environment and Geography: Why did public concern
about the state of the natural environment grow during this period, and what
major changes in public policy did this create?
Ideas, Beliefs, and Cultures: How did changes in
popular cultural reflect or cause changes in social attitudes? How
did the reaction to these changes affect political and public debates?
Unit 9: 1980-present – The
American Pageant, chapters 40-42
Content: Summary of Reagan’s domestic and
foreign policies; Bush Sr. and the end of the Cold War; Persian Gulf; Clinton
as a New Democrat; technology and economic bubbles and recessions, race
relations, and the role of women; changing demographics and the return to
poverty; rise of the prison complex and the war on drugs; 9/11 and the domestic
and foreign policies that followed; and Obama.
Key Concepts:
9.1: A new conservatism grew to
prominence in U.S. culture and politics, defending traditional social values
and rejecting liberal views about the role of government.
9.2: The end of the Cold War and new
challenges to U.S. leadership in the world forced the nation to redefine its
foreign policy and global role.
9.3: Moving into the 21st century, the
nation continued to experience challenges stemming from social, economic and
demographic changes.
Activities:
History Log – notes and short responses on reading
assignments
Primary Source Analysis:
Jimmy Carter Crisis in America
1980s Car advertisements
Ronald Reagan Air Traffic Controllers’ Strike
Bill Clinton’s First Inaugural Speech
George W Bush Republican Nomination Acceptance
Speech
Ronald Reagan Evil Empire Speech
Ronald Reagan Support of the Contras
George W Bush September 20 Address to Congress
Creation of Homeland Security Department
Bill Clinton Address on Health Care Reform
Barack Obama Address on Health Care
Political cartoons (pro and con) on the Patriot Act
View Points: The Patriot Act vs. Amendment IV of the
Constitution
Iconic Moments: The entire class composes a list of iconic
moments or events associated with US History in the period 1980 to the Present.
Students can begin with moments or events that occurred within their own
lifetimes, but also include moments/events that cover the chronological span,
1980-Present. The purpose of this exercise is to deepen the students’ awareness
of specific content within Period 9. Then the students will categorize the
moments using the seven themes of AP US History.
Six Degrees of Separation: From The Reagan Revolution to the
Election of Barack Obama.
Unit Test – multiple-choice questions, short answer
questions, FRQ and DBQ.
During this unit students will discuss possible answers to
the following essential questions:
Identity: How did demographic and economic changes in
American society affect popular debates over American national identity?
Work, Exchange, and Technology: How did
the shift to a global economy affect American economic life? How did
scientific and technological developments in these years change how Americans
lived and worked?
Peopling: How did increased migration raise questions
about American identity and the nation demographically, culturally, and
politically?
Politics and Power: How successful were conservatives
in achieving their goals? TO what extent did liberalism remain influential
politically and culturally?
America in the World: How did the end of
the Cold War affect American foreign policy? How did the terrorist
attacks of 9/11 impact America’s role in the world?
Environment and Geography: How did debates over
climate change and energy policy affect broader social and political movements?
Ideas, Beliefs, and Cultures: How did technological
and scientific innovations such as elections, biology, medicine, and
communications affect society, popular culture, and public
discourse? How did a more demographically diverse population shape
popular culture?
REVIEW For EXAM after Unit 9.
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