Advanced Placement United States History Course Description: AP® U. S. History is a challenging course that is meant to be the equivalent of a freshman college course and can earn students college credit. It is a two-semester survey of American history from the age of exploration and discovery to the present. Solid reading and writing skills, along with a willingness to devote considerable time to homework and study, are necessary to succeed.
Emphasis is placed on critical and evaluative thinking skills, essay writing, interpretation of original documents, and historiography. Course Objectives Students will: • master a broad body of historical knowledge • demonstrate an understanding of historical chronology • use historical data to support an argument or position • differentiate between historiographical schools of thought • examine how political institutions, social and cultural developments, diplomacy, and economic trends are interweaved throughout history interpret and apply data from original documents, including cartoons, graphs, letters, etc. • effectively use analytical skills of evaluation, cause and effect, compare and contrast • work effectively with others to produce products and solve problems • prepare for and successfully pass the AP U. S. History Exam Historical Themes: In addition to the course objectives listed above, the course will emphasize a series of key themes throughout the year.
The themes will include discussions of American diversity, the development of a unique American identity, the evolution of American culture, demographic changes over the course of America’s history, economic trends and transformations, environmental issues, the development of political institutions and the components of citizenship, social reform movements, the role of religion in the making of the United States and its impact in a multicultural society, the history of slavery and its legacies in this hemisphere, war and diplomacy, and finally, the place of the United States in an increasingly global arena.
The course will trace these themes throughout the year, emphasizing the ways in which they are interconnected and examining the ways in which each helps to shape the changes over time that are so important to understanding United States history. Course Texts : Primary Texts: John J. Newman and John M. Schmalbach. United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination (New York: Amsco School Publications, 2004). David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. The American Pageant: A History of the Republic (Boston: McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin, 2005).
Supplementary Texts: Yad Vashem. Echoes and Reflections: A Multimedia Curriculum on the Holocaust (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2005). Frederick M. Binder and David M. Reimers. The Way We Lived: Essays and Documents in American Social History. 4th edition, Volume I: 1492-1877 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000). Frederick M. Binder and David M. Reimers. The Way We Lived: Essays and Documents in American Social History. 4th edition, Volume II: 1865-Present (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000). Diane Ravitch. The American Reader: Words That Moved a Nation. New York: Harper Perennial/Harper Collins, 1991). Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History. 10th edition, Volume I: The Colonial Period to Reconstruction. (Connecticut: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2003). Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History. 10th edition, Volume II: Reconstruction to the Present. (Connecticut: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2003). Julie A. Schumacher, et al. A House Divided: America’s Civil War. (Iowa: Perfection Learning Company, 2000).
Upton Sinclair. The Jungle. (New York: Bantam Books, 1981). Joseph J. Ellis. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. (New York: Random House, Inc. , 2000). James W. Loewen. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995). Michael Oesterreicher. Pioneer Family: Life on Florida’s Twentieth-Century Frontier. (Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1996). Document Based Questions in American History. (Illinois: The DBQ Project, 2002). Luther Spoehr and Alan Fraker.
Doing the DBQ: Advanced Placement U. S. History Exam: Teaching and Learning with the Document-Based Question. (College Entrance Examination Board and Educational Testing Service, 1995). Bert Bower et al. History ALIVE! (California: Teachers’ Curriculum Institute, 1999). The Way We Saw It. (Wisconsin: Highsmith, Inc. , 2000). Grading Policy: A: 100-90, B: 89-80, C: 79-70, D: 69-60, F: 59-0 Course Assignments: Assignments will be graded using a point system. Unit exams, quizzes, and projects will be worth more points than homework or classwork assignments.
In addition, students will be graded on class participation for some activities. Students will receive a rubric for Free-Response and Document-Based Questions based on the Advanced Placement grading scale. Classes will be a combination of lecture, group work, and answering student questions. For each unit of knowledge, students will be required to write an analytical paper, using the 9-point AP scale, and answer AP-formatted multiple-choice questions in the exact times allotted on the AP exam. Students will be required to keep a notebook of all returned assignments and handouts.
In April, students will revise their analytical papers that are written throughout the year as a part of the review session to improve their writing skills and knowledge of each historical period. Course Outline: First Semester Unit 1: Founding the New Nation 1. Pre-Columbian Societies • Early inhabitants of the Americas • American Indian empires in Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi Valley • American Indian cultures of North America at the time of European contact 2. Transatlantic Encounters and Colonial Beginnings, 1492-1690 • First European contacts with Native Americans Spain’s empire in North America • French colonization of Canada • English settlement of New England, the Mid-Atlantic region, and the South • From servitude to slavery in the Chesapeake region • Religious diversity in the American colonies • Resistance to colonial authority: Bacon’s Rebellion, Glorious Revolution, and Pueblo Revolt 3. Colonial North America, 1690-1754 • Population growth and immigration • Transatlantic trade and growth of seaports • 18th century back country • Growth of plantation economies and slave societies • The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening Colonial governments and imperial policy in British North America 4. The American Revolutionary Era, 1754-1789 • The French and Indian War • The Imperial Crisis and resistance to Britain • The War for Independence • State Constitutions and the Articles of Confederation • The federal Constitution Corresponding Texts: American Pageant: Ch. 1-8; APUSH Prep: Ch. 1-5 Possible DBQs: • Doing the DBQ: Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by people of English origin, by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. Why did this difference in development occur? History Unfolding: Daily Life in Colonial America • History Unfolding: The Witches of Salem • History Unfolding: Colonial America in the 18th Century • 2004 Exam: In what ways did the French and Indian War (1754-63) alter the political, economics, and ideological relations between Britain and its American colonies? Use the years 1740-1766. • History Unfolding: The American Revolution • 1999 Exam: To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution? 1750-1776. • 2005 Exam: To what extent did the American Revolution change American society?
In your answer be sure to address political, social, and economic effects of the Revolution in the period from 1775-1800. Possible FRQs: • “With the dawn of the 16th century, there came together in Europe both the motivation and the means to explore and colonize territory across the seas. ” Assess the validity of this statement with respect to a) religion, b) trade, and c) technology. • In what ways did the English colonies develop differently from the Spanish and the French colonies? • Compare the English relationship and the French relationship with the Native Americans. “From the beginning, the English colonies had democratic characteristics. ” Assess the validity of this statement with reference to majority rule and representative government in Virginia and Massachusetts. • How did geographic features determine the lives of the colonists in the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies? • How did economic, geographic, and social factors encourage the growth of slavery as an important part of the economy of the southern colonies between 1607 and 1775? • To what extent did mercantilism affect the political and economic development of England’s 13 American colonies? Compare William Penn’s goals as Pennsylvania’s founder with James Oglethorpe’s goals as one of Georgia’s founders. • Comment on the extent to which each of the following contributed to a more democratic society in the American colonies a) the Great Awakening, b) immigration, c) the Zenger case. • Beginning in 1763, colonists faced a series of conflicts that led to the break with Great Britain. Discuss these crises, stressing the role of each in the growth of the independence movement. • Contrast the background of these two groups of Americans: those who became Loyalists and those who became Patriots. Compare the Articles of Confederation to the U. S. Constitution including the Bill of Rights. Unit 2: Building the New Nation 1. The Early Republic, 1789-1815 • Washington, Hamilton, and shaping of the national government • Emergence of political parties: Federalists and Republicans • Republican Motherhood and education for women • Beginnings of the Second Great Awakening • Significance of Jefferson’s presidency • Expansion into the trans-Appalachian west; American Indian resistance • Growth of slavery and free Black communities • War of 1812 and its consequences 2.
Transformation of the Economy and Society in Antebellum American • Transportation revolution and creation of a national market economy • Beginnings of Industrialization and changes in social and class structures • Immigration and nativists reaction • Planters yeoman farmers and slaves in the cotton South 3. Transformation of Politics in Antebellum America • Emergence of the second party system • Federal authority and its opponents: judicial federalism, the Bank War, tariff controversy, and states’ rights debates • Jacksonian democracy and its successes and limitations . Religion, Reform, and Renaissance in Antebellum America • Evangelical Protestant revivalism • Social reforms • Ideas of domesticity • Transcendentalism and utopian communities • American renaissance: literary and artistic expressions Corresponding Texts: American Pageant: Ch. 9-15; APUSH Prep: Ch. 6-8 Possible DBQs: • History Unfolding: “A Republic, If You Can Keep It” • History Unfolding: The Journey of Lewis and Clark • 1998 Exam: … To what extent was this characterization of the two parties accurate during the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison? 2002 Exam: Historians have traditionally labeled the period after the War of 1812 the “Era of Good Feelings. ” Evaluate the accuracy of this label, considering the emergence of nationalism and sectionalism with reference to the years 1815-1825. • History Unfolding: Manifest Destiny-Images of an American Idea • Doing the DBQ: Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as the guardians of the U. S. Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. In light of the following documents and your knowledge of the 1820s-1840s, to what extent do you agree with the Jacksonians’ view of themselves? 2002 Exam: “Reform movements in the United States sought to expand democratic ideals. ” Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to the years 1825-1850. Possible FRQs: • “America’s first foreign policy, formulated by presidents Washington and Adams, had as its primary goal the avoidance of war at all cost. ” Assess the validity of this statement in terms of three of the following: Citizen Genet controversy, Jay Treaty, Proclamation of Neutrality, or the XYZ Affair. • Did we become an independent country in 1776, 1787, or 1790? • Compare Hamilton and Madison’s political views and personalities. “The early part of the 19th century was marked by strong pressures to force Native Americans from their lands along the western frontier of the United States. ” Assess the validity of this statement with reference to three of the following: Andrew Jackson, Tecumseh, the Lewis and Clark expedition, or William Henry Harrison. • Jefferson called his election as president the “Revolution of 1800. ” Assess the impact of this revolution on domestic and foreign affairs. • In what ways did the Marshall Court tip the scales in favor of the national government’s supremacy over the states? The Jacksonian period (1824-1848) has been celebrated as the era of the “common man. ” To what extent did the period live up to its characterization? Consider the following: economic development, politics, and reform movements. • In what ways did the concept of Manifest Destiny affect the foreign and domestic policies of the United States in the years 1840-1850? • Compare the cult of domesticity with the goals of the Seneca Falls Convention. • In what ways did the Second Great Awakening and religion influence the reform movements of the period 1820-1860? “In the early 19th century, there was widespread discrimination in the United States against people who were different from the white Protestant majority. ” Assess the validity of this statement with reference to: free African Americans, Native Americans, and Irish and German immigrants. • Explain how the Mexican-American War increased tensions both politically and socially between the North and South over the issue of slavery. • Explain how three of the following influenced the development of the last West from the 1850s-1900. Miners, cattlemen, farmers, immigrants, or cities. Unit 3: Testing the New Nation . Territorial Expansion and Manifest Destiny • Forced removal of Native Americans to the trans-Mississippi West • Western migration and cultural interactions • Territorial acquisitions • Early U. S. imperialism: the Mexican War 2. The Crisis of the Union • Pro-and antislavery arguments and conflicts • Compromise of 1850 and popular sovereignty • Kansas-Nebraska Act and the emergence of the Republican Party • Abraham Lincoln, the election of 1860, and secession 3. The Civil War • Two societies at war: mobilization, resources, and internal dissent • Military strategies and foreign diplomacy Emancipation and the role of African Americans in the war • Social, political, and economic effects of war in the North, South, and West 4. Reconstruction • Presidential and Radical Reconstruction • Southern state governments: aspirations, achievements, failures • Role of African Americans in politics, education, and the economy • Comprise of 1877 • Impact of Reconstruction Corresponding Texts: American Pageant: Ch. 16-22; APUSH Prep: Ch. 9-15 Possible DBQs: • Doing the DBQ: To what extent did the natural environment shape the development of the West beyond the Mississippi and the lives of those who lived and settled there?
How important were other factors. Use your knowledge of the time period 1840s-1890s. • History Unfolding: From Jackson to Lincoln- The Emergence of a Democratic Nation • History Unfolding: The Abolitionist Movement • History Unfolding: The Civil War • Prep Book: Reform movements, westward expansion, and states’ rights forced the United States to face the issue of slavery. Evaluate the relative importance of each influence as a cause of the Civil War with reference from 1850-1861. • 2005 Exam: In the early 19th century, Americans sought to resolve their political disputes through compromise, yet by 1860 this no longer seemed possible.
Analyze the reasons for this change with reference to the years 1820-1860. Possible FRQs: • “The North had won the Civil War before it began. ” Assess the validity of this statement with respect to specific military, economic, and political factors during the years 1848-1860. • To what extent is it correct to say that the Civil War represented a second American Revolution? • Of the following causes of the breakup of the Union in 1860-1861, which three do you consider most important? Explain your reasoning. Weak presidential leadership Breakup of the Democratic Party Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act Decision in the Dred Scott case
Fanaticism on the slavery issue • Compare the goals and strategies of the Lincoln, Johnson, and congressional plans of Reconstruction. • Analyze the reasons for the failure of congressional Reconstruction to achieve lasting civil rights for the freemen and women. Unit 4: Forging an Industrial Society 1. The Origins of the New South • Reconfiguration of Southern agriculture: sharecropping and crop lien system • Expansion of manufacturing and industrialization • Politics of segregation: Jim Crow and disfranchisement 2. Development of the West in the Late 19th Century • Expansion and the development of western railroads Competitors for the West: miners, ranchers, homesteaders, and American Indians • Government policy toward American Indians • Gender, race, and ethnicity in the far West • Environmental impacts of western settlement 3. Industrial America in the Late 19th Century • Corporate consolidation of industry • Effects of technological developments on the worker and the workplace • Labor and unions • National politics and influence of corporate power • Migration and immigration: the changing face of the nation • Proponents and opponents of the new order, e. g. , Social Darwinism and Social Gospel 4. Urban Society in the Late 19th Century Urbanization and the lure of the city • City problems and machine politics • Intellectual and cultural movements and popular entertainment Corresponding Texts: American Pageant: Ch. 23-27; APUSH Prep: Ch. 16-19 Possible DBQs: • History Unfolding: The Industrial Revolution in the Early Republic • History Unfolding: Lowell- The Factory Comes to America • History Unfolding: The Irish in America- The Great Famine and the Great Migration • History Unfolding: “A Complete Emancipation”- The Birth of the Women’s Rights Movement • Prep Book: The rise of corporations transformed the United States in the late 19th century.
Discuss the changes and determine if the transformations were for the better considering the years 1880-1900. • Flag book: “The politics of the Gilded Age failed to deal with the critical social and economic issues of the times. ” Assess the validity of this statement with reference to the years 1865-1900. Possible FRQs: • Discuss how industrialization changed businesses and labor in the United States from 1865-1900. • Compare the goals, methods, and achievements of the National Labor Union, the Knights of Labor, and the American Federation of Labor. How did the characteristics and experiences of the “new” immigrants of the 1880-1914 time period compare to those of the “old” immigrants who came before them? • Explain how three of the following factors changed American cities between 1865-1900. Architecture Government Immigration Popular culture Transportation Course Outline: Second Semester Unit 5: Struggling for Justice at Home and Abroad 1. Populism and Progressivism Agrarian discontent and political issues of the late 19th century • Origins of Progressive reform: municipal, state, and national • Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson as Progressive presidents • Women’s roles: family, workplace, education, politics, and reform • Black America: urban migration and civil rights initiatives 2. The Emergence of America as a World Power • American imperialism: political and economic expansion • War in Europe and American neutrality • The First World War at home and aboard • Treaty of Versailles • Society and economy in the postwar years 3. The New Era: 1920s The business of America and the consumer economy • Republican politics: Haring, Coolidge, and Hoover • The culture of Modernism: science, the arts, and entertainment • Responses to Modernism: religious fundamentalism, nativism, and Prohibition • The ongoing struggle for equality: African American and Women 4. The Great Depression and the New Deal • Causes of the Great Depression • The Hoover administration’s response • Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal • Labor and union recognition • The New Deal coalition and its critics from the Rights and the Left • Surviving hard times: American society during the Great Depression . The Second World War • The rise of fascism and militarism in Japan, Italy, and Germany • Prelude to war: policy of neutrality • The attack on Pearl Harbor and United States declaration of war • Fighting a multifront war • Diplomacy, war aims, and wartime conferences • U. S. as a global power in the Atomic Age 6. The Home Front during the War • Wartime mobilization of the economy • Urban migration and demographic changes • Women, work, and family during the war • Civil liberties and civil rights during wartime • War and regional development Expansion of government power Corresponding Texts: American Pageant: Ch. 28-36; APUSH Prep: Ch. 20-25 Possible DBQs: • Flag book (end): To what extent were the reform efforts of the Progressive Era aimed at maintaining the existing society and to what extent did they bring about radical changes? • Doing the DBQ: Populism • Doing the DBQ: Expansionism • 2000 Exam: How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in the period from 8175-1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the level of success achieved. • Flag book: “The ideals used to justify U. S. nvolvement in WWI disguised the real reasons for Wilson’s change in policy from neutrality to war and, in fact, violated the traditional values of the American nation. ” Assess the reasons for the change in U. S. policy in 1917, and whether the reasons were consistent with traditional American values. • 1997 Exam: To what extent did political and economic developments as well as assumptions about the nature of women affect the position of American women during the period 1890-1925? • 2003 Exam: Evaluate the effectiveness of Progressive Era reformers and the federal government in bringing about reform at the national level.
In your answer be sure to analyze the successes and limitations of these efforts in the period 1900-1920. • Doing the DBQ: The 1920s- Traditions v. Modernism • 2003 Exam: FDR and the New Deal • 2004 Exam: How and for what reasons did United States foreign policy change between 1920 and 1941? Possible FRQs: • Compare Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom approach to regulation with Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism approach. • Progressives believed that greater democracy was the key to solving society’s problems.
Identify three problems that Progressives addressed and, for each, describe a democratic reform that was designed to deal with the problem. • Compare Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois regarding their objectives and methods. • Assess the importance of three of the following in the U. S. decision to declare war against Spain in 1898. Yellow journalism Sinking of the Maine U. S. business interests Naval strategists The Cuban revolution • Explain the impact of U. S. involvement in World War I on three of the following: African Americans, women, civil liberties, labor unions, and business. Describe and account for the rise of nativism in American society from 1900-1930. • Analyze the role of three of the following in explaining the Great Depression: farm problems, income distribution, world trade and finance, government policy, and the stock market. • Select three New Deal agencies or commissions and assess how well each satisfied the three R’s of relief, recovery, and reform. • In what ways did economic conditions and developments in the arts and entertainment help create the reputation of the 1920s as the Roaring Twenties? • “A different U. S. foreign policy in the 1930s could have prevented the outbreak of World War II. Assess the validity of this statement by a) summarizing U. S. policy toward Asia and Europe and b) evaluating the extent to which that policy was either effective or ineffective in preserving peace. • “President Roosevelt recognized the dangers of fascism early and did all that he could, under the circumstances, to lead the nation away from a policy of isolationism. ” Assess the validity of this statement by analyzing three of the following: U. S. response to the Panay incident, Munich agreement, cash and carry, quarantine speech, or destroyers-for-bases deal. “Discrimination continued during World War II despite the patriotism of all groups of Americans. ” Assess this statement with reference to three of the following: African Americans, Japanese Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, or women. Unit 6: Making of Modern America 1. The United States in the Early Cold War • Origins of the Cold War • Truman and containment • Cold War in Asia: China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan • Diplomatic strategies and policies of the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations • Red Scare and McCarthyism • Impact of Cold War on American society 2. The 1950s Emergence of the modern civil rights movement • Affluent society and “the other America” • Consensus and conformity: suburbia and middle-class America • Social critics, non-conformists, and cultural rebels • Impact of changes in science, technology, and medicine 3. The Turbulent 1960s • From the New Frontier to the Great Society • Expanding movements for civil rights • Cold War confrontations: Asia, Latin America, and Europe • Beginnings of Detente • Antiwar movement and counterculture 4. Politics and Economics at the End of the 20th Century • Election of 1968 and “the Silent Majority” Nixon’s challenges: Vietnam, China, Watergate • Changes in the American economy: energy crisis, deindustrialization, and the service economy • New Right and Reagan revolution • End of the Cold War 5. Society and Culture at the End of the 20th Century • Demographic changes: surge of immigration after 1965, Sunbelt migration, graying of America • Revolutions in biotechnology, mass communications, and computers • Politics in a multicultural society 6. U. S. in the Post-Cold War World • Globalization and the American economy • Unilateralism vs. multilateralism in foreign policy • Domestic and foreign terrorism Environment issues in the global context Corresponding Texts: American Pageant: Ch. 37-42; APUSH Prep: Ch. 26-30 Possible DBQs: • 2001 Exam: What were the Cold War fears of the American people in the aftermath of WWII? How successfully did the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower address these fears? Use the documents and your knowledge of the years 1948-1961 to construct your response. • Flag book: “President Johnson’s policy in Vietnam was doomed to fail for both political and military reasons. ” To what extent is this assessment of Johnson’s policy supported by the historical evidence? 1995 Exam: Analyze the changes that occurred during the 1960s in the goals, strategies, and support of the movement for African American civil rights. • UCF Seminar: Compare the different presidential foreign policies toward Vietnam and discuss the reaction of America society toward these policies with reference to 1954-1975. Possible FRQs: • In what ways did the early years of the Cold War (1946-1952) affect American political, economic, and social life? In your analysis, comment on three of the following: liberalism v. conservatism, civil liberties, size of the government, U. S. nvolvement in world affairs, and economic prosperity. • “The Cold War hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union was inevitable. ” Assess the validity of this statement. • Which policies, the New Deal or the Fair Deal, had the greatest impact on domestic policies in American History? • “The chief impetus for the civil rights movement came from African Americans, not from elected officials. ” Assess the validity of this statement by analyzing three of the following: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Montgomery bus boycott, Little Rock crises, sit-ins, or Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960. To what extent did television affect American culture and politics in the 1950s? • “Even though Lyndon B. Johnson was not a greatly admired as President Kennedy, he was a more effective leader than Kennedy in domestic affairs. ” Assess the validity of this statement. • Compare President Johnson’s policy in Vietnam with the policies of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. • Explain how three of the following contributed to the social revolutions of the 1960s: New Left, civil rights movement, counterculture, women’s movement, or war in Vietnam. Discuss, with respect to three of the following, the view that the 1960s represented a period of profound cultural change: education, gender roles, music, or race relations. • Why did the antiwar movement gain more support as time went on? • What were the abuses in the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s decisions on Vietnam, and what impact did those issues have on domestic politics in the 1970s? • Evaluate whether or not Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy was a success, using four of the following in your analysis: human rights policy, Panama Canal Treaty, Camp David Accords, Iranian revolution, or SALT II Treaty. “Between 1960 and 1975, there was great progress in the struggle for political and social equality. ” Assess the validity of this statement with respect to two of the following groups during that period: African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, or women. • How did U. S. involvement in the Middle East in the 1970s affect American society? • Evaluate the effects of the Reagan administration on politics and economics during the 1980s.
