Advanced Placement United States History

Course Syllabus/Outline

Welcome to Advanced Placement United States History.  This advanced placement course is designed to give you a grounding in the subject of United States History and the major interpretive questions that arise from the study of selected themes within the discipline.  It is intended to prepare you for future intermediate and advanced collegiate courses by making demands upon you equivalent to those found in most full-year introductory college survey courses.  It is also intended to prepare you for the College Board A.P. Exam in American History which will be administered in May.  This course has been developed to provide you with the analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials found in the study of American History.  You will be asked to gain knowledge of the “facts” about American political institutions, social and cultural developments, diplomacy, and economic trends. You will also learn how to assess historical materials in terms of their relevance, their reliability, and their importance and weigh them against the evidence and interpretations of historical scholarship.  Although there is a minimum to be gained by rote memorization of names and dates in an encyclopedic manner, you must be able to draw upon a reservoir of systematic factual knowledge in order to exercise analytic skills intelligently.  Striking a balance between mastering factual knowledge and mastering critical analysis is a demanding but crucial task in reaching success in this course.                          

Your enrollment in this year long course indicates an interest on your part to participate intellectually at an elevated academic level and signals the fact that you are willing to engage yourself in academic study that is both accelerated and challenging.  It also indicates the willingness, on your part, to devote considerable time and effort to the study of the materials that will be covered in this class.  Excellent study skills and study habits, a genuine interest in your own personal education, as well as the personal responsibility for learning are necessary attributes for you to possess in order to achieve success in this class.  Most juniors enrolled in one advanced placement course are usually enrolled in a second and sometimes a third and fourth.  This ambitious academic study load calls for a well-established set of study habits and a mastery of time management.  Reading is the primary conduit of information in a course such as this, with discussions, oral inquiries, and writing assignments being built around the reading materials assigned.  Performance is directly linked to preparation.  Keeping up with the reading is a key to success in this course!  It is important for you to plan your study time carefully – making sure that you do not sacrifice valuable study time for one subject at the expense of another.

Course Objectives:  Students will:

·          master a broad body of historical knowledge.

·          demonstrate an understanding of historical chronology.

·          use historical data to support and argument or position.

·          effectively use analytical skills of evaluation and assessment.

·          interpret and apply information from primary and secondary sources.

·          prepare for and successfully pass the A.P. U.S. History Exam.

Course Texts and Readings:

·          The American Spirit (vols. 1 and 2) Kennedy and Bailey

·          Historical Viewpoints (vols. 1 and 2) Garraty

·          Conflict and Consensus (vols. 1 and 2) Davis and Woodman

Course Requirements (CR):

1.        Study of political institutions in U. S. History

2.        Study of social and cultural developments in U. S. History

3.        Study of diplomacy in U.S. History

4.        Study of economic trends in U.S. History

5.        Use of themes and/or topics as broad parameters for structuring the course

6.        Analyze evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship

7.        Extensive instruction in analysis and interpretation of primary sources

8.        Frequent practice in writing analytical and interpretive essays such as document-based questions and thematic essays

Course outline Semester One

Unit one: Colonial History (3 weeks)

CR-1,2,7,5,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 1-4

Broken Spears

Content:

1. The race for colonization. Historical precedence. European influences. Native American resistance.
2. Emerging regional patterns and how they evolved.
3. Compare and contrast of the Southern, Middle, and New England political, economic, social, and religious patterns.
4. Cultural differences between Americans and Europeans.

Major Assignments:

Focus Assignment #1

Development of a chart comparing the Southern, Middle and New England colonies

DBQ preparation:

An introduction to the document based question. New England and Chesapeake Regions

Unit two: The Road to Independence

CR-1,2,4,5,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 5-7

Content:

1. The issue of mercantilism as it relates to the economic security of the colonies.
2. The British policy of neglect.
3. The French and Indian War and the relationship to the colonies.
4. British policy changes, post 1763.
5. Emerging colonial cooperation and the move toward independence.

Major Assignments:

Focus Assignment #2

Development of a British Policy Chart detailing the various British policies enacted following the Seven Years’ War.

Unit three: Birth of a Nation and the Constitution (2 weeks)

CR-1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 8-10

Thomas Paine, Common Sense

Charles Ingles, Views of a Loyalist

Federalist Papers

Anti-Federalist Papers

Content:

1. Impact of the colonial experience on post-independence governance.
2. The impact of the American Revolution.
3. The country under the Articles of Confederation.
4. The Constitutional Convention and the reign of compromise.
5. The struggle for ratification, Federalists v. Anti-Federalists.
6. The Bill of Rights
7. Hamilton v. Jefferson.
8. Alien and Sedition Acts

Major Assignments:

Debate: Loyalists v Patriots.

Focus Assignment #3:

Visual interpretation of the Bill of Rights. A word-less look at the significance of our protected rights.

DBQ: Articles of Confederation

Unit four: Jefferson’s Administration/Growth of Nationalism (2 weeks)

CR-1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 11-13

Jefferson’s views on slavery.

Handouts

Foundations of American Foreign Policy

Role of the Judiciary

Coming Together – Nationalism

Content:

1. The growth and evolution of political parties.
2. National growth and the increase of nationalism.
3. The Jefferson administration and the Louisiana Purchase.
4. The causes, conduct and consequences of the War of 1812.
5. Marshall court rulings and precedents.
6. The implementation of the Monroe Doctrine.

Major Assignments:

Corps of Discovery activity.

Work on the Semester Event Project

Case briefs for Supreme Court decisions.

Unit five: The Age of Jackson (2 weeks)

CR-1,2,4,5,7,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 14-19

Handouts:

Early Industrial Revolution

The Evolution of Democracy from Jefferson to Jackson

Westward Expansion

Purifying the Nation

Content:

1. The emergence of the second American party system.
2. The rise of the "common man" in American politics.
3. Geographical and economic expansion.
4. Reform movements and the American character.
5. Jackson’s Administration:

• Cherokee removal
• Bank War
• Nullification
• Spoils System

       6.  Manifest Destiny and the War with Mexico.

       7.  Immigration; social, political, and economic developments; and reform movements, 1820-1850.

Major Assignments:

Focus Assignment #4

Create a story board on social developments during the 1820’s – 1850’s.

Debate over the War on Mexico.

DBQ: Cherokee removal or Jacksonian Reformers

Unit six: Slavery and Sectionalism (2 weeks)

CR-1,2,4,5,6,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 20-22

Opposing Viewpoints: John C. Calhoun v. Daniel Webster.

Handouts:

Compromise and Conflict – The Road to War

Abolition – The Role of the Individual in Effecting Change

Content:

1. Slavery as a social and economic institution.
2. The politics of slavery:

• Missouri Compromise
• Abolitionists
• Compromise of 1850
• Kansas-Nebraska Act and Bleeding Kansas
• Dred Scott decision
• Lincoln-Douglas Debates
• John Brown’s Raid
• Election of 1860

       3.  Causes of the Civil War.

Major Assignments:

The Trial of John Brown

Secession debate

DBQ: Constitutional Causes of Sectionalism

Unit 7: Civil War and Reconstruction (4 weeks)

CR-2,4,5,6,7,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 23-25

Opposing Viewpoints: Slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation – Lincoln v. Jefferson Davis

Content:

1. Military Strategies, strengths and weaknesses, events and outcomes.
2. The home front, North and South.
3. Mobilizing manpower, finances, public opinion
4. Social, economic, and political impact of the war
5. Presidential v. Congressional Reconstruction plans and actions.
6. Economic developments: The New South.
7. 1877 compromise and Home Rule.
8. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois leadership styles and programs.
9. Native Americans

• Plains Wars and Reservation Policy
• Dawes Act

        6.  Comparison of reform attitudes towards African-American and Native-Americans in the late

            19^thcentury.

Major Assignments:

Civil War leadership

Gettsburg the movie/Killer Angels .  An evaluation.

DBQ: Washington and Du Bois

Unit 8: Rise of Business and Labor (2 weeks)

CR-2,4,5,6,7,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 26-27

Handouts

The Emergence of Industrial America

The Growing Economic Crisis of the Late Nineteenth Century

National Government in the 19^th century – A Sham of Democracy

The Philosophy of the Industrialists

Content:

1. Political alignment and corruption in the Gilded Age.
2. Industrial growth.
3. Government support and actions.
4. Business tycoons: methods, accomplishments, philosophies.
5. Rise of organized labor.
6. Political corruption and reform.
7. Unions, leaders, methods, successes and failures.

Major Assignments:

Group Newspaper Assignment.

DBQ: Laissez-faire violations in the 1800’s.

Semester One finals. End of the first semester. L

Semester II

Populists and Progressives (3 weeks)

CR-1,2,4,5,6,8

Text, Chapters 29,30,28 (in that order)

Opposing Viewpoints in American History

Labor Unions and Wealth

Content:

1. Inflation/Deflation –Role of government in the economy.
2. Role and effectiveness of third parties.
3. Immigration and urbanization.
4. Patrician reformers.
5. Agrarian revolt

• Post-war problems.
• Attempts to organize.
• Election of 1896.

1. Women’s roles and issues.
2. Political corruptions and reforms.
3. Business and labor issues.

Focus Assignment #2

Bio-Boards of a major reformer or muckraker.

DBQ: Farm problems

Imperialism and World War I (3 weeks)

CR-1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 31-35

Opposing Viewpoints in American History

Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations

Content:

1. Reasons for new interest in world affairs
2. Spanish-American War

• Cuban situation and the US reaction.
• Military preparedness and action.
• Treaty provisions.
• Philippine Annexation – debate and results.

1. Open Door Policy
2. Teddy Roosevelt’s "Big Stick" Diplomacy.

• Roosevelt Corollary and applications.
• Panama intervention and canal building.
• Nobel peace prize.

1. Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy
2. Wilson’s Moral or Missionary Diplomacy

• Relations with Panama, Mexico, Haiti, Philippines.

• Neutrality, 1914-1917.
• World War I as a war "to make the world safe for democracy."

1. Various interpretations of US motives in World War I

• WWI at home.
• Harassment of Germa n-Americans.

• Women and minorities.
• Espionage and Sedition Acts.
• Business and labor unions.
• Creel Committee – wartime propaganda.

1. Treaty negotiations and Senate rejection of the Versailles Treaty.

Major assignments:

Simulated debate over the Philippine Annexation.

World War I position paper.

DBQ: Imperialism or Versailles Treaty.

1920’s-1930’s (3 weeks)

CR-2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Text, Chapters 36-38

Handouts

Opposing Viewpoints in American History

Prohibition, New Deal, Great Depression

1. The 1920’s:

• Post war recession and agricultural problems
• Intolerance
• KKK
• Immigration restrictions
• Sacco and Vanzetti

1. Prohibition and organized crime
2. Jazz age culture, youth rebellion, literature of disillusionment
3. Business growth and consolidation, credit, advertising
4. Harding, Coolidge, Hoover Administrations

• Scandals
• Trickle-down economics
• "Business of America is Business"
• Boom and bust in the stock market
• Foreign policy

1. The 1930’s

• Hoover v. Roosevelt’s approaches to the Depression
• New Deal legislation
• Supreme Court Reactions and court packing plan
• Dust bowl and demographic shifts
• Extremist alternatives: Coughlin, Long, Townsend
• Political party alignment – the new democratic coalition
• Impact of the Great Depression on various population groups

Major Assignments

Character journals and essays

Creating a DBQ

DBQ: Cultural conflicts in the 1920s or Hoover and Roosevelt as conservatives or

liberals.

World War II and the origins of the Cold War (2 weeks)

CR-1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 39-41

Content:

1. US response to aggression – neutrality legislation, Lend-Lease Act
2. Pearl Harbor and US response
3. Military strategy

• Germany first
• Second Front Debate
• Island Hopping
• Atomic Bomb

1. Home front

• Relocation of Japanese-Americans
• Women and minorities in the workplace
• Demographic impact

1. Wartime diplomacy and Cooperation

• Atlantic Charter (compare to fourteen points)
• Wartime conferences
• United Nations Founding and participation

1. Splintering of Wartime Alliances and Adoption of Containment

• Berlin and German Division
• Truman Doctrine
• Marshall plan
• NATO
• Korea

Major Assignments

Comparisons and contrasts of World War I and World War II

Group debate on:

• Japanese interment camps
• The decision to drop the atomic bomb

Cold War Pen Pals

Post-War Domestic Issues (2 weeks)

CR-2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 41-46

Content:

1. Truman’s Administration

• Fair Deal
• GI Bill of Rights
• Taft-Hartley Act
• 22^nd Amendment
• 1948 Election
• Loyalty program

1. Eisenhower’s Administration

• McCarthyism
• Modern Republicanism
• Highway Construction
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
• Earl Warren Court

1. Kennedy/Johnson Administrations

• Civil rights movement: Popular and government responses
• War of poverty and Great Society Programs
• Counterculture and Anti-establishment Movements

Major Assignments:

Analysis of the Civil Rights movement

DBQ: Civil Rights

Foreign Policy – Eisenhower – Reagan (3 weeks)

CR-1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Readings:

Text, Chapters 42-45

Opposing Viewpoints in American History

Handouts

Content:

1. Eisenhower
2. Liberation, not containment

• John Foster Dulles
• Massive retaliation

1. Asia policies

• Korea
• Southeast Asia – Geneva Accords and aid to South Vietnam

1. Peaceful co-existence – Khrushchev’s visit
2. U-2 Incident
3. Kennedy

• Flexible Response
• Aid for social and economic development
• Peace Corps
• Alliance for Progress
• Southeast Asia military and economic aid
• Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Johnson

• Vietnam War

1. Nixon/Ford

• Vietnamization
• Nixon Doctrine
• China Card
• Détente

1. Carter

• Human Rights Policies
• Camp David Accords
• Panama Canal Treaties
• SALT II, Afghanistan, and Olympic boycott
• Iran Revolution and hostage crisis

1. Reagan

• "The Evil Empire"
• Strategic Defense Initiatives (SDI)
• End of the Cold War

Major Assignments

Cold War Analysis

AP Exam Prep

Exam May 11^th