APUSH Syllabus
Colegio Marista de Guaynabo
Thematic Outline First Period
Course Textbooks
1. Appleby, Joyce Oldham, National Geographic Society (U.S.) The American Vision
(New York, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill 2010) e - book
2. Brinkley, Alan, The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the United States, 6th Edition
(New York, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill 2011 Spanish Version) In the classroom
Additional reading material will be available through handouts, internet and other sources. The classroom
has a collection of biographies and paperback editions of important works of literature for dealing with
cultural and intellectual history, reference books, US history books, catalogs, art books and others to
compliment the textbooks.
Daily work and assignments will be posted in the Lo Calendar, www.mrsruthie.net and in
googlesites/lapaginademrsruthie.
First Period (9 weeks - August 10 - October 4)
Required reading in Textbook:
(1) Unit 1: Creating a Nation, Beginnings to 1789
(2) Chapters 1-5
Learning goals and activities
1. United States Physical and Human Geography (1 week August 13-17)
Understand the impact of topography, climate, regions (physical, cultural, and economic) and the origins
of the population composition of the territory in evaluating the development of the American Identity in
North America while working on a physical map of the United States and a primitive migrations map.
Compare and contrast Pre-Columbian societies of the Americas with the Indigenous societies of North
America at the arrival of the Europeans by charting similarities and differences between the cultures.
Read: Chapter 1 Colonizing America Sections 1-2
2. Colonial America, 1492-1690 ( 2 weeks August 20-31)
Explore the first European contact with Native American Populations, examine the Spanish, French and
English colonization of North America, and analyze the different lifestyles and conflicts in the colonies
of New England, the Atlantic coast and the south.
Describe religious diversity and its influence on politics, economics, society and government and the
topic of servitude and slavery in the early Colonial America.
Identify resistance to the colonial authority through a Time Line of different events, (the Bacon
Rebellion, the Glorious Revolution, and the Revolt of the Pueblo) including; date/ event/ cause and
effect/other.
Read: Chapter 1 Colonizing America Sections 3-4
3. Colonial development and English imperialism 1690-1754 (2 weeks September 3-14)
Assess population growth and immigration by the creation of charts and will explore the development of
the transatlantic sea trade preparing and using different maps and data.
Understand the growth of the plantation economy and the development of slave societies, the
Enlightenment Movement and the religious revivals of the Great Awakening and its leaders.
Analyze the Colonial Government and the American imperialist policy during the Mid Eighteen
Century.
Read: Chapter 1 Colonizing America Section 5
4. Building a nation, 1754-1789 (2 weeks September 17-28)
List the consequences of the French Indian War and the Proclamation of 1763.
Explain the relationships between England and its colonies that opened the road to Independence and
identify in a time line the causes and effects of the Revolutionary War in the colonies and the outside
world.
Understand the extraordinary ideas and outcomes of the American Revolution, including the
development of republic ideology.
Read: Chapter 2 The American Revolution Sections 1-4
5. The Federal Government (2 weeks October 1-11)
Explore the evolution of federalism beginning with the Continental Congress, the Articles of
Confederation, the structure and weaknesses of the government under the Articles and the role of
Enlightment, slavery and religion in the political process.
Discuss the ratification of the Constitution and the issues involving the structure of the Government of
the United States analyzing political cartoons.
Read: Chapter 3 Creating a Constitution Sections 1-3
Other Activities

Physical and Political maps of the Americas

Table of the 13 original colonies: name/location/year/type of colony/religion and or
economy/influence

Group activity: Posters to America. Groups of 3 students will prepare posters to recruit
Europeans to populate the new British colonies and present them orally in class. Posters should
convince and include land offerings, way of life and incentives. Each student, representing
different characters (given before the oral presentations) must choose from the presentations
which colony will benefit most and write a two page essay on the reasons for choosing a colony
over another.

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights: Research of the historical background of the
amendments.

AP Seminar: free-response writing

First Essay: Vikings, Spanish Conquistadores and Pilgrims, villains or heroes? A view from the
future. (Must document their views with primary sources other than those studied in class).

DBQ New England and Chesapeake ( assignment and later class discussion)

Topic Tests: Will include 50 multiple choice questions, 10 definitions or identification exercises
and a free-response-style essay.
Primary Source Readings
De las Casas, Bartolomé, The Black Legend, 1542, book excerpt, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents
R.C. Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop, Reasons for Puritan migration (Boston, 1864), I, 309-311
The Articles of Confederation
The Constitution of the United States of America
Secondary Source Readings
Tolson, Jay “Founding Rivalries More like squabbling brothers than `fathers,' how did they
succeed?” Us News and World Report February, 18 2001