Course Overview

Advanced Placement United States History is a college level survey course of our nation's history from the period of European exploration to the modern era.  This course seeks to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the nation's social and economic history as well as a history of the nation's foreign policies and foreign involvement.  As this is a college level course, students must be self-motivated, self-directed learners who are willing to commit to completing substantial research, reading and writing outside of the classroom environment.

Each unit of study will culminate in a unit test consisting of 36 multiple choice questions and one free response question drawn from former AP exams.  Students will complete a Document Based Question each unit and will complete thematic research papers and oral presentations.

Course Textbooks:

Heffner. R. D. (Ed.). (2002). A Documentary History of the United States. New York,  NY: Penguin Books. (Required)

Kennedy, D. M. & Bailey, T. A. (2002). The American Pageant: A History of the Republic. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. (Required)

Kennedy, D. M. & Bailey, T. A. (2002). The American Spirit. (Vol. I: to 1877). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. (in class supplement)

Kennedy, D. M. & Bailey, T. A. (2002). The American Spirit. (Vol. II: Since 1865).  Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. (in class supplement)

Newman, J. J., and Schmalbach, J. M.. (2004) United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. New York: Amsco. (Required)
 

The course progression will follow this timeline:
 

1ST QUARTER

Unit 1:  New World Colonies
~ 3.5 weeks

Objectives:
• Describe the Pre-Columbian Societies
• Compare Spanish, French and British settlement of the New World
• Compare the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies
   o Analyze the government structures established in the colonies
   o Analyze the economic foundations of the colonies
   o Analyze the impact of religion on the colonies
• Evaluate the impact of the colonists settlements on the native population
• Assess the population growth and change within the colonies and evaluate its impact on the colonies relationship with Great Britain
• Explain the cause of the French and Indian War; identify and explain the short and long term consequences of the war

American Spirit Chapters and Sections:
• 2:  Precarious Beginnings in Virginia
• 5:  The Great Awakening

Unit 2:  Building a New Nation
~ 3.5 weeks

Objectives:
• Explain the impact of mercantilism on the Colonies
• Analyze the “Acts” that lead the Colonists to declare their independence
• Describe the strengths and weaknesses of both the Colonial and British armies
• Describe the Articles of Confederation; explain the rational of its construction; analyze the problems of the Articles of Confederation
• Explain the values of the federalists and the anti-federalists; synthesize the differences between the two groups.
• Analyze the process used to devise a new federal government; describe the government that was formed
• Analyze the domestic, economic and international challenges faced by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison

American Spirit Chapters:
• 7:  The Burden of Mercantilism
• 9:  The Shock of Shays Rebellion
• 9:  State Debts and the National Bank
• 9:  Alien Sedition Hysteria

A Documentary History of the United States:
•  “Common Sense”, Thomas Paine
• Federalist Number 10, James Madison
• Washington's Farewell Address
• The Monroe Doctrine

2ND QUARTER
Unit 3:  Jacksonian Democracy & the Antebellum Era
~ 3.5 weeks

Objectives:
• Identify and describe the evolution of political parties
• Explain the ways in which President Jackson promoted the interests of the common man
• Explain the ways in which President Jackson both increased and decreased the power of the federal government
• Analyze the impact of the industrial and transportation revolution of the late 1700 and early 1800s
• Identify and explain the reform movements of the early to mid 1800s
• Evaluate the impact of slavery on the physical growth of the nation as well as on the growing political division of the nation
• Analyze the ways and means through which territory was added to the United States

American Spirit Chapters:
• 13:  The Nullification Crisis
• 13:  The War on the Bank
• 14:  The Spread of the Factory
• 14:  The Flocking of Immigrants
• 18:  The Wilmot Proviso Issue
• 18:  The Compromise Debates of 1850
• 18:  Reactions to the Fugitive Slave Law

A Documentary History of the United States:
• First Issue of the Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison
• Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
• Dred Scott v. Sanford, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney for the Supreme Court

Unit 4:  Civil War & Reconstruction
~ 3.5 weeks

Objectives:
• Analyze the short and long term causes of the Civil War
   o Explain the economic interdependence  of the North and the South; evaluate the South's economic status compared to that of the North
   o Evaluate the role of states rights v. national government
   o Evaluate the impact of the election of Lincoln
   o Analyze the impact of the ‘peculiar institution’ as a cause of the war
• Evaluate the North and South's strengths and weaknesses during the war
• Analyze the Reconstruction plans of Lincoln, Johnson and the U.S. Congress
• Evaluate the results of Reconstruction on the South

American Spirit Chapters:
• 22:  The Debate on Reconstruction Policy
• 22:  “Black Reconstruction”

A Documentary History of the United States:
• The Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln
• Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

3RD QUARTER

Unit 5:  Building an Industrial Society & the Populists
~ 3.5 weeks

Objectives:
• Analyze the development and changes that occurred in industry with particular focus on railroads, steel, and oil
   o Evaluate the impact of these developments on labor; analyze the rise of trade unions
• Evaluate the problems of political and business corruption
• Analyze the concerns of the Populists; evaluate their success in achieving political change
• Analyze the debate over the coinage of silver
• Describe the changing patterns of immigration
   o Explain the rise of nativism and analyze its impact on U.S. policies
• Explain the rise of cities
• Explain the U.S. policy towards Native Americans and evaluate its impact on Native American society

Readings:
American Pageant Chapters:

American Spirit Chapters:
• 23:  Race Divides the South
• 24:  The Trust and Monopoly
• 24:  The New Philosophy of Materialism
• 24:  Labor in Industrial America
• 25:  The Changing Role of Women
• 26:  The Plight of the Indian
• 26:  The Farmers Protest Movement
• 26:  The Free-Silver Mirage

Documentary History of the United States:
• “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” Frederick Jackson Turner
• Letter on Labor in Industrial Society, Samuel Gompers
• Populist Party Platform
• “Cross of Gold” Speech, William Jennings Bryan

Unit 6:  Imperialism, Progressivism & WWI
~ 3.5 weeks

Objectives:
• Analyze the U.S. motives for imperialism
   o Describe the Spanish American War
   o Evaluate the U.S. policies toward the various lands acquired through this war
• Describe the demographics of the Progressives; analyze the reforms they advocated
• Analyze the change in U.S. policies towards industry
• Evaluate the reforms created to help labor and immigrants
• Assess the work of African American and women leaders in bringing civil rights reform to their constituents
• Explain the U.S. isolationism
• Analyze the motives for the U.S. involvement in WWI

Readings:
American Pageant Chapters:

American Spirit Chapters:
• 27:  The Siren Song of Imperialism
• 28:  The Bitter Fruits of Imperialism
• 29:  The Plight of Labor
• 29:  The Crusade for Women's Suffrage
• 31:  War with Germany
• 31:  The Propaganda Front

Documentary History of the United States:
• Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, Theodore Roosevelt
• War Message to Congress, Woodrow Wilson

Unit 7:  The Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression & WWII
~ 3 weeks (this unit will carry over into the 4th Quarter)

Objectives:
• Explain the social and cultural revolution of the 1920s
• Explain the cause of the boom the U.S. economy of the 1920s
• Analyze the problems faced by farmers in the 1920s
• Analyze the cause of the Great Depression and Hoover’s policy response to the Depression
• Explain the New Deal and evaluate its success
• Explain FDR’s early foreign policy and analyze the change from a policy of isolationism to involvement in WWII
• Analyze the U.S. involvement in WWII
• Analyze the impact of the U.S. involvement in WWII on the home front

Readings:
American Pageant Chapters:

American Spirit Chapters:
• 33:  Depression Descends
• 33:  Herbert Hoover Clashes with Franklin  Roosevelt
• 34:  The Face of the Great Depression
• 34:  Voices of Protest
• 34:  Conservation in the New Deal
• 36:  War in the American Society
• 36:  The Second Front Controversy
• 36:  Dropping the Atomic Bomb

Documentary History of the United States:
• F.D.R.’s  First Inaugural Address

4TH QUARTER

Unit 8:  The Cold War
~ 2.5 weeks

Objectives:
• Explain the post-war boom of the 1950s
• Analyze the U.S. strategy towards the containment of Communism
   o Describe the U.S. strategy towards the rebuilding of Europe
   o Explain the U.S. competition with the USSR
   o Analyze the U.S. involvement in the Korean and Vietnam Wars
• Explain the Red Scare
• Analyze the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s
• Explain the evolving economic roles of men and women
• Analyze the success of the Great Society

Readings:
American Pageant Chapters:

• 37:  The Truman Doctrine
• 37:  The Marshall Plan
• 38:  The McCarthy Hysteria
• 38:  The Supreme Court and the Black Revolution
• 39:  President Johnson's Great Society
• 39:  The Black Revolution Erupts
• 39:  Vietnam Troubles

Documentary History of the United States:
• The Marshall Plan, George C. Marshall
• Brown v. Board, Chief Justice Earl Warren for the Supreme Court
• Civil Rights Speech, JFK
• Birmingham City Jail “Unwise and Untimely” Letter, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Unit 9:  Modern America
~ the Seventies, Eighties, & Nineties
~ 1. 5 weeks

Objectives:
• Analyze the evolution in U.S. relations with Communist nations
• Analyze evolution of U.S. economic policy after the Great Society
• Evaluate the foreign policies of Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton

Readings:
American Pageant Chapters:

American Spirit Chapters:
• 40:  The Move to Impeach Nixon
• 40:  The Revitalization of the Feminist Movement
• 41:  The Reagan “Revolution” in Economic Policy
• 41:  Reagan’s Foreign Policies
 

Weekly AP Review Quiz:  This quiz is due each Friday at 6pm.  The quiz contains 40 randomly selected questions on all of the units we have covered thus far and must be completed in 27 minutes.  The quiz may be taken as many times as the student wishes; the best score achieved each week will count as a quiz grade.

AP TEST REVIEW:

Term Review:
Colonial Era
Revolution & Early National Era
Antebellum Era through the Civil War
Reconstruction through the Gilded Age & Imperialism
Progressives through the New Deal