Advanced Placement United States History
Course Description
The curriculum of this comprehensive, weighted-grade American History course is
developed by the College Board and prepares students to take the Advanced Placement
qualifying examination. The course may substitute for United States History. Extensive
writing, analysis of text and non-text sources, in-class and individual note-taking skills,
and an ability to read quickly with comprehension and retention is needed.
Course Objectives
Students will:
1. Understand the democratic principles of justice, equality, responsibility and
freedom and apply them to real-life situations.
2. Accurately describe various forms of government and analyze issues that
relate to the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy.
3. Observe, analyze, and interpret human behaviors, social groupings and
institutions to better understand people and the relationships among
individuals and among groups.
4. Understand economic principles of current and past U.S. History.
5. Recognize and understand the relationship between people and geography.
6. Understand, analyze, and interpret historical events, conditions, trends and
issues to develop historical perspective.
7. Use, interpret and apply data from primary and secondary sources.
8. Use historical data to support an argument or position.
9. Work in group settings to produce projects
10. Prepare for and successfully gain college credit from passing the Advanced
Placement United States History Exam.
Course Texts, Readings, and Video Sources
Paul S. Boyer, et al. The Enduring Vision (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000).
Darlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine and Stanley Harrold. The African-American
Odyssey (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000).
Carol Hymowitz and Michaele Weissman. A History of Women in America (New
York: Bantam, 1978).
Howard Zinn. A People’s History of the United States (New York: Harper Perennial,
1990).
Michael J. Kryzanek. U.S.-Latin American Relations (New York: Praeger, 1990).
Thomas G. Patterson, et al. American Foreign Policy (Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath,
1991).
Andrew Carroll (ed). Letters of a Nation (New York: Broadway Books, 1997).
John F. Kennedy. Profiles in Courage (New York: Harper Perennial, 2006).
Alexis de Tocqueville. Democracy in America (New York: Harper Perennial, 1988).
Joseph Heller. Catch-22 (New York: Scribner Paperback, 1996).
James J. Lorence. Enduring Voices (Lexington, Mass: D.C. Heath, 1993).
www.hippocamus.com
Various articles and handouts - as new material is uncovered and/or located.
Course Purpose
The purpose of this course is two-fold:
a. To provide you with the skills and information that will allow you to meet high
school graduation requirements, and
b. To prepare you to successfully complete the A.P. U.S. History Examination.
Organization
This class will be taught as a college-level class, will utilize college-level
materials and will have college-level expectations of students. This means you will be
primarily responsible for most of your own learning. You will not be able to succeed in
this class by merely reading, listening to lectures, and feeding back information on a test.
You will be expected to learn to think, not memorize.
A variety of teaching and learning strategies will be used, including but not
limited to: lecture-discussion, modified lecture-discussion, group and individual work,
projects, presentations, reading, writing, tests and other activities.
The course will be divided into eight units, generally corresponding to the
following time periods:
Unit I
Pre1400-1783
Unit II
1783-1800
Unit III
1800-1840
Unit IV
1840-1877
Unit V
1877-1898
Unit VI
1898-1920
Unit VII
1920-1940
Unit VIII
1940- Present
Within the given time-Periods, the subject matter will be loosely categorized into
political, economic, social and foreign affairs/intellectual history. As you can tell by the
unit time-periods, the chronological approach will be the guiding force in the
organization of the course. However, within the chronological presentation of materials,
there will be times when a thematic approach may be utilized, particularly in relation to
such topics as:
 The Constitution
 The Supreme Court
 Women’s History
 African-American History
 Native American History
 Labor History
 Immigration Movements
 Reform Movements
An attempt will be made to provide you with a syllabus for each of the eight units.
Each syllabus will contain:
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Unit outline
List of important terms
Reading assignments
Other assignments and activities
Possible essay questions
However, the syllabus will not necessarily limit the content or conduct of the
class. Adjustments can and will be made depending on the needs of the class.
You will be required to read three books (other than the text) for the class. The
first will be Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage, as part of your summer assignment and the
second will be a choice between The Virginian, The Ox-Bow Incident, Ragtime, The 42nd
Parallel, Native Son, Invisible Man, The Ugly American, and Catch-22, during the
Second Trimester (when we do not have class). Also, you will read one
biography/autobiography. This selection must pertain to U.S. History, and you must
notify me in advance of the title you pick for approval. An assignment and/or test will
accompany each.
You will be required to take notes during class discussions, lectures, from reading
assignments and from presentations by class members and others. These notes will make
up the major portion of your notebook requirements, but more importantly will form the
basis for the review for the A.P. Exam. These notebooks may be taken up four times each
trimester, corresponding with the Unit Exams. I will look at them to determine quality of
note-taking and analysis of content. At the beginning of the year we will go over the
proper way to take notes for this class.
Tests will consist of multiple-choice questions, open response questions and
document based questions (DBQ). On occasion, you will be required to interpret maps,
charts, graphs and political cartoons. Open response and DBQ’s must be written in blue
or black ink. Test questions will be structured as much as possible like those that will
appear on the A.P. Exam. There will be both chapter and unit exams. Unit exams will
deal with all material assigned during study of a unit (text and non-text), and will consist
of both multiple choice and essay questions. Chapter tests will be multiple choice,
numbering generally from 30-40 questions. I cannot stress enough the importance of
these summative assessments.
If anything changes in the organization of this course – and this is possible,
you will be informed in class, and it will also be posted on my webpage.
Grading
Scoring for this class will be divided up as follows:
Summer Assignment in total (1st trimester)/Book assignments (3rd trimester) – 10%
Notebook quizzes– 10%
Chapter Exams – 30%
Unit Exams – 40%
Classwork (discussions, DBQs, etc.) – 10%
Course Outline
UNIT I
Pre 1400-1783
Readings:
Text, Boyer, et al., chapters 1-6a
Hymowitz, Early American and the Revolutionary War, pp. 2-26
Hine, et al., chapters 1-4
Unit Outline:
1. America Begins
 The First Americans
i. The Peopling of North America
ii. Archaic Societies
 The Indians’ Continent
i. The Northern and Western Perimeters
ii. The Southwest
iii. The Eastern Woodlands
 American peoples on the Eve of European Contact
i. Family and Community
ii. Indian Spiritual and Social Values
2. Transatlantic Encounters and Colonial Beginnings, 1492-1630
 African and European Peoples
i. Mediterranean Crossroads
ii. West Africa and Its Peoples
iii. European Culture and Society
iv. Religious Upheavals
v. The Rise of Puritanism in England
 European Expansion
i. Seaborne Expansion
ii. The “New Slavery” and Racism
iii. Europeans Reach America
iv. Spain’s Conquistadores
v. The Columbian Exchange
 Footholds in North America
i. New Spain’s northern Frontier
ii. France: Initial Failures and Canadian Success
iii. The Enterprising Dutch
iv. Elizabethan England and the Wider World
v. The Beginnings of English Colonization: Virginia
vi. The Origins of New England: Plymouth Plantation
3. Expansion and Diversity: The Rise of Colonial America
 The New England Way
i. A City Upon a Hill
ii. The Pequot War
iii. The Development of a Puritan Orthodoxy
iv. Dissenting Puritans
v. Power to the Saints
vi. Community Life
vii. Puritan Families
viii. The Demise of the puritan Errand
ix. Expansion and native “Americans
x. Economics, Gender, and Satan in Salem
 Chesapeake Society
i. State and Church in Virginia
ii. Virginia’s first Families
iii. Maryland
iv. Tobacco Shapes a Way of Life
v. Morality, gender, and Kinship
vi. Tobacco’s Troubles
vii. Bacon’s Rebellion
viii. Slavery
 The Spread of Slavery: The Caribbean and Carolina
i. Sugar and Slaves
ii. Carolina: The First Restoration Colony
 The Middle Colonies
i. Precursors: New Netherlands and New Sweden
ii. English Conquests: New York and the Jerseys
iii. Quaker Pennsylvania
 Rivals for North America
i. France Claims a Continent
ii. The Spanish Borderlands
4. The Bonds of Empire, 1660-1750
 Rebellion and War
i. Royal Centralization
ii. The Glorious Revolution in England and America
iii. A Generation of War
 Colonial Economies and Societies
i. Mercantilist Empires in America
ii. A Burgeoning, Diversifying Population
iii. Rural Men and Women
iv. Colonial Farmers and the Environment
v. The Urban Paradox
vi. Slavery’s Wages
vii. The Rise of the Colonial Elites
viii. Elites and Colonial Politics
 Competing for a Continent
i. France and Native Americans
ii. Native Americans and the British Expansion
iii. British Expansion in the South: Georgia
iv. Spain’s Struggles
 Enlightenment and Awakening
i. The Enlightenment in America
ii. The Great Awakening
5. Roads to Revolution, 1744-1776
 Imperial Warfare
i. King George’s War
ii. A Fragile Peace
iii. The Seven Years War in America
 Imperial Reorganization
i. Friction Among Allies
ii. The Writs of Assistance
iii. The Sugar Act
iv. The Stamp Act
v. Resisting the Stamp Act
vi. Ideology, Religion, and Resistance
 The Deepening Crisis
i. The Quartering Act
ii. The Townshend Duties
iii. The Colonists’ Reaction
iv. “Wilkes and Liberty”
v. Women and Colonial Resistance
vi. Customs Racketeering
vii. The Boston Massacre
viii. Lord North’s Partial Retreat
ix. The Committees of Correspondence
x. Frontier Tensions
 Toward Independence
i. The Tea Act
ii. The Coercive Acts
iii. The First Continental Congress
iv. The Fighting Begins
v. The Failure of Reconciliation
vi. Declaring Independence
6. Securing Independence, Defining Nationhood, 1776-1788
 America’s First Civil War
i. Loyalists and Other British Sympathizers
ii. The Opposing Sides
iii. George Washington
iv. War in Earnest
v. The Turning Point
vi. The Continentals Mature
vii. Frontier Campaigns
viii. Victory in the South
ix. Peace of Paris
 Revolutionary Society
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Egalitarianism
A Revolution for Black Americans
White Women n the New Republic
Native Americans and the Revolution
The Revolution and Social Change
Essential Questions:
 What was the relationship between environmental changes in North America and
cultural changes among its Indian inhabitants?
 What were the nature and consequences of Native American communities’
interactions and exchanges with one another?
 What basic values did Native Americans have in common despite the vast cultural
differences that often separated them? How would these shard values compare
with those of the Europeans who arrived after 1500?
 How did trade and warfare affect West African and western European societies in
the sixteenth century?
 Which developments within Europe were most critical in facilitating expansion to
the Americas?
 Why were other European powers unable to match Spain’s imperial successes in
the early sixteenth century, and why were some of Spain’s rivals able to compete
effectively by the early seventeenth century?
 Why did Native Americans sometimes welcome, and other times resist, European
traders and colonizers?
 How and why did the four regions of English North America develop in such
different ways during the seventeenth century?
 Why did indentured servitude give way to racial slavery in England’s plantation
colonies? Why were both these institutions more limited in the non-plantation
colonies?
 How would you characterize and compare Indian-European relations in the
various colonial regions of North America during the seventeenth century? How
do you explain the similarities and differences you find?
 What factors contributed most significantly to England’s supremacy among
European powers colonizing North America during the seventeenth century?
 Why were France and Spain unable to match Britain’s imperial success in
mainland North America during the first half of the eighteenth century?
 What were the advantages and disadvantages of British mercantilism for the
mainland colonies?
 In what ways was the racial and ethnic composition of North America
transformed during the first half of the eighteenth century? What were the
principal causes of these changes?
 What were the most fundamental differences between the Enlightenment and the
Great Awakening? What, if anything, did the two movements have in common?
 How and why did the Seven Years War lead to a rupture between Britain and its
North American colonies?
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What were the fundamental differences between British officials and their
colonial opponents with respect to the status and role of the colonies within the
British Empire?
In what ways did protests against British policies affect political life within the
colonies?
How did colonial protesters overcome the distinct histories and identities of the
various colonies to mount a united front against British policies?
What were the most critical factors enabling the Americans to win the War of
Independence with Britain?
In what ways did the Revolution advance the ideals of liberty and equality in
American society, and in what ways did it stifle them?
Major Assignments and Assessments:
Analysis of Documents Set I (Lorence, Enduring Voices): The World of Native
Americans: Oral Traditions. Students will evaluate Native American religions noting
similarities and differences, also the relationship of the so called “naturalistic” Native
American religions and Christianity.
Case Study of the Salem Witch Trials: Elizabeth Jackson Howe. What influences caused
the trials? Students will develop a chart consisting of: accused witches, marital status,
location of home and financial circumstances. To include Documents Set I: Witchcraft
at Salem: The Social and Cultural Context.
(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?
UNIT II
1783-1800
Readings:
Text, chapters 6a-7
Hine, chapter 5
Selections from de Toqueville’s Democracy in America
Unit Outline:
1. Securing Independence, Defining Nationhood, 1776-1788
 Forging New Governments
i.
Tradition and Change
ii. From Colonies to States
iii. The Articles of Confederation
iv.
Finance, Trade, and the Economy
v.
The Confederation and the West
vi.
Shays’ Rebellion
vii.
The Philadelphia Convention
viii. The Struggle over Ratification
2. Launching the New Republic
 Constitutional Government Takes Shape
i.
Defining the Presidency
ii. National Justice and the Bill of Rights
 National Economic Policy and Its Consequences
i.
Hamilton and His Objectives
ii. Report on the Public Credit
iii. Reports on the Banks and Manufactures
iv.
Hamilton’s Legacy
v.
The Whiskey Rebellion
 The United States on the World Stage
i.
Spanish Power in the Far West
ii. The Trans-Appalachian Frontier
iii. France and Factional Politics
iv.
The British Crisis
 Battling for the Nation’s Soul
i.
Ideological confrontation
ii. The Republican Party
iii. The Election of 1796
iv.
The French Crisis
v.
The Alien and Sedition Acts
vi.
The Election of 1800
 Economic and Social Change
i.
The Household Economy
ii. Indians in the New Republic
iii. Redefining the Color Line
Essential Questions:
 Why did it take the new nation twelve years, from the Declaration of
Independence until the ratification of the Constitution, to design a lasting form
of national government?
 How and why did the political consensus prevailing at the time of
Washington’s first inauguration fracture into a two-party system by 1796?
 Why was the U.S. at various times at odds with Spain, Britain, and France at
the end of the eighteenth century?
 What principal issues divided federalists and Republicans in the presidential
election of 1800?
 What were the primary factors contributing to the declining status and welfare
of nonwhites in the new republic?
Major Assignments and Assessments:
(DBQ) “From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States
with an effective government.” Using the documents and your knowledge of the period,
evaluate this statement.
During this unit, there will be a thematic section on the Constitution, the class will go
over the body of the Constitution and then the students will get an Amendment to
research and present.
UNIT III
1800-1840
Readings:
Text, chapters 8-11
Hymowitz, ppg 40-122
Hine, Chapters 6-9
Unit Outline:
1. Jeffersonianism and the Era of Good Feelings
 The Age of Jefferson
i.
Jefferson’s Revolution
ii. Jefferson and the Judiciary
iii. The Louisiana Purchase
iv.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
v.
The Election of 1804
 The Gathering Storm
i.
Jefferson’s Coalition Fragments
ii. Jefferson and the Quids
iii. The Suppression of American Trade
iv.
Impressment
v.
The Embargo Act
vi.
The Election of 1808
vii.
The Failure of Peaceable Coercion
viii. Tecumseh and the Prophet
ix. Congress Votes for War
x. The Causes of War
 The War of 1812
i.
On to Canada
ii. The British Offensive
iii. The Treaty of Ghent
iv.
The Hartford Convention
 The Awakening of American Nationalism
i.
Madison’s Nationalism and the Era of Good Feelings
ii. John Marshall and the Supreme Court
iii. The Missouri compromise
iv.
Foreign Policy Under Monroe
v.
The Monroe Doctrine
2. The Transformation of American Society, 1815-1840
 Westward Expansion and the Growth of the Market Economy
i.
The Sweep West
ii. Western Society and customs
iii. The Federal Government and the West
iv.
The Removal of the Indians
v.
The Agricultural Boom
vi.
The rise of the Market Economy
vii.
Federal Land Policy
viii. The Speculator and the Squatter
ix. The Panic of 1819
x. The Transportation Revolution: Steamboats, Canals, and Railroads
xi. The Growth of the Cities
 The Rise of Manufacturing
i.
Causes of Industrialization
ii. The Faces of Industrialization
 Equality and Inequality
i.
Growing Inequality: The Rich and the Poor
ii. Free Black in the North
iii. The “Middling Classes”
 The Revolution in Social Relationships
i.
The Attack on the Professions
ii. The Challenge to Family Authority
iii. Wives, Husbands
iv.
Horizontal Allegiances and the Rise of voluntary Associations
3. Politics, Religion, and Reform in the Age of Jackson
 The Transformation of American Politics, 1824-1832
i.
Democratic Ferment
ii. The Election of 1824
iii. John Quincy Adams as President
iv.
The Rise of Andrew Jackson
v.
The Election of 1828
vi.
Jackson in Office
vii.
Nullification
viii. Jackson Versus Calhoun
ix. The Bank Veto
x. The Election of 1832
 The Bank Controversy and the Second Party System
i.
The War on the Bank
ii. The Rise of Whig Opposition
iii. The Election of 1836
iv.
The Panic of 1837
v.
The Search for Solutions
vi.
The Election of 1840
vii.
The Second Party System Matures
 The Rise of Popular Religion
i.
The Second Great Awakening
ii. Eastern Revivals
iii. Critics of Revivals: The Unitarians
iv.
The Rise of Mormonism
v.
The Shakers
 The Age of Reform
i.
The War on Liquor
ii. Public-School Reform
iii. Abolition
iv.
Women’s Rights
v.
Penitentiaries and Asylums
vi.
Utopian Communities
4. Life, Leisure, and Culture, 1840-1860
 Technology and Economic Growth
i.
Agricultural Advancement
ii. Technology and Industrial Progress
iii. The Railroad Boom
iv.
Rising Prosperity
 The Quality of Life
i.
Dwellings
ii. Conveniences and Inconveniences
iii. Disease and health
iv.
Popular health Movements
v.
Phrenology
 Democratic Pastime
i.
Newspapers
ii. The Theater
iii. Minstrel Shows
iv.
P.T. Barnum
 The Quest for Nationality in Literature and Art
i.
The American Renaissance
ii. Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe
iii. Literature in the Marketplace
iv.
American Landscape Painting
Essential Questions:
 How did Jefferson’s philosophy of government shape his policies toward the
public expenditures, the judiciary, and the Louisiana Purchase?
 What divisions emerged within Jefferson’s Republican Party during his
second term?
 What led James Madison to abandon Jefferson’s policy of “peaceable
coercion” and go to war with Britain in 1812?
 How did the War of 1812 influence American domestic politics?
 How did conflict in Europe work to the advantage of the United States
between 1800 and 1820?
 What caused the upsurge of westward migration after the War of 1812?
 How did the rise in the prices of farm commodities after 1815 relate t the
growth of banks, and how did the spread of banks relate to the Panic of 1819?
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How do you account for the vast public investment in canals during this era,
and how did the rise of canals and railroads affect where Americans lived and
how they made their living?
How did the combined effects of the transportation revolution and the rise of
industry influence relationships within families and communities?
Who were the winners and losers in this period of swift change?
In what ways had American politics become more democratic by 1840 than at
the time of Jefferson’s election in 1800?
What factors explain Andrew Jackson’s popularity? How did Jackson’s
policies contribute to the rise of the rival Whig party?
How did the Panic of 1837 and its aftermath solidify the two parties, Whigs
and Democrats?
What new assumptions about human nature lay behind the religious and
reform movements of the period?
In what ways did technology transform the daily lives of ordinary Americans
between 1840 and 1860?
Technological change contributed to new kinds of national unity and also to
new forms of social division. What were the main unifying features of
technology? The principal dividing or segmenting features?
How did technological advances and the expansion of the marketplace affect
American intellectual and artistic life? Which features of technological
progress did writers and artists welcome, and which ones dismayed or alarmed
them?
Major Assignments and Assessments:
(DBQ) Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as the guardians of the United States
Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic
opportunity. In light of the following documents and your knowledge of the 1820’s and
1830’s, to what extent do you agree with the Jacksonians’ view of themselves?
(DBQ) “The decision of the Jackson administration to remove the Cherokee Indians to
lands west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s was more a reformulation of the
national policy that had been in effect since the 1790’s than a change in that policy.”
Assess the validity of this generalization with reference to the moral, political,
constitutional, and practical concerns that shaped national Indian policy between 1789
and the mid-1830’s.
Students will watch excerpts of The Donner Party from the American Experience series
on PBS. Students will then have a discussion about why people felt it worthwhile to face
the challenges of moving west.
UNIT IV
1840-1877
Readings:
Text, chapters 12-16
Hymowitz, ppg 140-156
Hine, chapters 10-13
Unit Outline:
1. The Old South and Slavery, 1800-1860
 King Cotton
i.
The Lure of cotton
ii. Ties Between the Lower and Upper South
iii. The North and South Diverge
iv.
Cotton and Southern Progress
 Social Relations in the White South
i.
The Social Groups of the White South
ii. Planters and Plantation Mistresses
iii. The Small Slaveholders
iv.
The Yeomen
v.
The People of the Pine Barrens
vi.
Conflict and Consensus in the White South
vii.
Conflict over Slavery
viii. The Proslavery Argument
 Honor and Violence in the Old South
i.
Violence in the White South
ii. The Code of Honor and Dueling
iii. The Southern Evangelicals and White Values
 Life Under Slavery
i.
The Maturing of the Plantation System
ii. Work and Discipline of Plantation Laves
iii. The Slave Family
iv.
The Longevity, Diet, and Health of Slaves
v.
Slaves Off Plantations
vi.
Life on the Margin: Free Blacks in the Old South
vii.
Slave Resistance
 The Emergence of African American Culture
i.
The Language of Slaves
ii. African American Religion
iii. Black Music and Dance
2. Immigration, Expansion, and Sectional Conflict, 1840-1848
 Newcomers and Natives
i.
Expectations and realities
ii. The Germans
iii. The Irish
iv.
Anti-Catholicism
v.
Nativism, and Labor protest
vi.
Labor Protest and Immigrant Policies
 The West and Beyond
i.
The Far West
ii. Far Western Trade
iii. The American Settlement of Texas
iv.
The Texas Revolution
v.
American Settlements in California, New Mexico, and Oregon
vi.
The Overland Trail
 The Politics of Expansion
i.
The Whig Ascendancy
ii. Tyler and the Annexation of Texas
iii. The Election of 1844
iv.
Manifest Destiny
v.
Polk and Oregon
vi.
The Origins of the Mexican War
vii.
Intensifying Sectional Divisions
viii. The Wilmot Proviso
ix. The Election of 1848
x. The California Gold Rush
3. From Compromise to Secession,1850-1861
 The Compromise of 1850
i.
Zachary Taylor at the Helm
ii. Henry Clay Proposes a Compromise
iii. Assessing the Compromise
iv.
Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act
v.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
vi.
The Election of 1852
 The Collapse of the Second Party System
i.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
ii. The Surge of Free Soil
iii. The Ebbing of Manifest Destiny
iv.
The Whigs Disintegrate
v.
The Rise and Fall of the Know-Nothings
vi.
The Origins of the Republican Party
vii.
Bleeding Kansas
viii. The Election of 1856
 The Crisis of the Union
i.
The Dred Scott Case
ii. The Lecompton Constitution
iii. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
iv.
The Legacy of Harper’s Ferry
v.
The South Contemplates Secession
vi.
The Election of 1860
vii.
The Movement for Secession
viii. The Search for Compromise
ix. The Coming of the War
4. Freedom Reborn: Civil War, 1861-1865
 Mobilizing for War
i.
Recruitment and Conscription
ii. Financing the War
iii. Political Leadership in Wartime
iv.
Securing the Union’s Borders
 In Battle, 1861-1862
i.
Armies, Weapons, and Strategies
ii. Stalemate in the East
iii. The War in the West
iv.
Ironclads and Cruisers: The Naval War
v.
The Diplomatic War
 Emancipation Transforms the War
i.
From Confiscation to Emancipation
ii. Crossing Union Lines
iii. Black Soldiers in the Union Army
iv.
Slavery in the Wartime
v.
The Turning point of 1863
 War Society, North and South
i.
The War’s Economic Impact: The North
ii. The War’s Economic Impact: The South
iii. Dealing with Dissent
iv.
The Medical War
v.
The War and Women’s Rights
 The Union Victorious, 1864-1865
i.
The Eastern Theatre in 1864
ii. Sherman in Georgia
iii. The Election of 1864
iv.
Sherman’s March Through Georgia
v.
Toward Appomattox
5. The Crises of Reconstruction, 1865-1877
 Reconstruction Politics
i.
Lincoln’s Plan
ii. Presidential Reconstruction Under Johnson
iii. Congress Versus Johnson
iv.
The Fourteenth Amendment
v.
Congressional Reconstruction
vi.
The Impeachment Crisis
vii.
The Fifteenth Amendment
 Reconstruction Governments
i.
A New Electorate
ii. Republican Rule
iii. Count-attacks
 The Impact of Emancipation
i.
Confronting Freedom
ii. Black Institutions
iii. Land, Labor, and Sharecropping
iv.
Toward a Crop-Lien Economy
 New Concerns in the South
i.
Grantism

ii. The Liberals’ Revolt
iii. The Panic of 1873
iv.
Reconstruction and the Constitution
v.
Republicans in Retreat
Reconstruction Abandoned
i.
Redeeming the South
ii. The Election of 1876
Essential Questions:
 What major social divisions segmented the white south?
 Why did non-slaveholding whites come to see their futures as bound up with
the survival of slavery?
 What conditions in the Old South made it possible for a distinctive culture to
develop among the slaves, and what were the predominant features of the
culture?
 Why did the Whig party, which had won a thumping victory in 1840, suffer a
reversal of fortunes in the next four years?
 Why was the annexation of Texas so critical an issue? How did the
Democrats “sell” Texas annexation to the North in the election of 1844? Why
were the results of that election so important?
 How did the outcome of the Mexican War intensify intersectional conflict?
Why, specifically, did it split the Democratic Party?
 To what extent did the Compromise of 1850 represent a genuine meeting of
the minds between northerners and southerners? How, specifically, did the
controversy over enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act and the presidential
election of 1852 contribute to the undoing of the Compromise?
 Why did the Whig party collapse in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
Why did the Democratic Party not also collapse?
 How did the outbreak of conflict in Kansas influence the rise of the
Republican Party? Why was the republican doctrine of free soil able to unify
northerners against the South?
 What led southerners to conclude that the North was bent not merely on
restricting territorial slavery but on extinguishing slavery in southern states?
 Was the Civil War inevitable? If so, when did it become inevitable?
 What changes in administration did the war impose on the North and South?
 How successfully did the Union and the Confederacy respond to the pressures
of war?
 How did the issues of slavery and emancipation transform the war?
 What factors determined the military outcome of the war?
 In what lasting ways did the Civil War change the United States as a nation?
 How did Radical Republicans gain control of Reconstruction politics?
 What impact did federal Reconstruction policy have on the former
Confederacy, and on ex-Confederates?
 In what ways did newly freed southern slaves reshape their lives after
emancipation?


What factors contributed to the end of Reconstruction in the 1870’s, and
which was most significant?
To what extent should Reconstruction be considered a failure?
Major Assignments and Assessments:
(DBQ) “By the 1850’s the Constitution, originally framed as an instrument of national
unity, has become a source of sectional discord and tension and ultimately contributed to
the failure of the union it had created.” Using the documents and your knowledge of the
period 1850-1861, assess the validity of this statement.
Document Set: 16.2 or 16.3
Dred Scott v Sandford (1857)-examination of this landmark case will include looking at
the opinion given by Taney and class debate.
UNIT V
1877-1898
Readings:
Text, chapters 17-20
Hymowitz, ppg 176-192
Hine, chapter 14
Selections from William Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy.
Unit Outline:
1. The Trans-Mississippi West
1. Native Americans and the Trans-Mississippi West
i.
The Plains Indians
ii. The Transformation of Indian Life
iii. Custer’s Last Stand
iv.
“Saving” the Indians
v.
The Ghost Dance and the End of Indian Resistance on the Great Plains
2. Settling the West
i.
The First Transcontinental Railroad
ii. Settlers and the Railroad
iii. Homesteaders on the Great Plains
iv.
New Farms, New Markets
v.
Building a Society and Achieving Statehood
vi.
The Southwestern Frontier
3. Exploiting the West
i.
The Mining Frontier
ii. Cowboys and the Cattle Frontier
iii. Bonanza Farms on the Plains
iv.
The Oklahoma Land Rush
4. The West of Life and Legend
i.
The American Adam and the Dime-Novel Hero
ii. Revitalizing the Frontier Legend
iii. Beginning a Conservation Movement
2. The Rise of Industrial America
 The Character of Industrial Change
i.
Railroad Innovations
ii. Creativity, cooperation, and Competition
iii. Applying the Lessons of the Railroads to Steel
iv.
Consolidating the Industrial Order
v.
The Triumph of Technology
vi.
Mass Production, Mass Marketing
vii.
Industrialization: Costs and Benefits
 The New South
i.
Obstacles to Southern Economic Development
ii. The New South Creed and Southern Industrialization
iii. The Southern Mill Economy
iv.
The Southern Industrial Lag
 Industrial Work and the Work of Force
i.
From Workshop to Factory
ii. The Hardships of Industrial Labor
iii. Immigrant Labor
iv.
Women and Work in Industrializing of America
v.
Hard Work and the Gospel of Success
 Labor Unions and Industrial Conflict
i.
Organizing the Workers
ii. Strikes and Labor Violence
iii. Social Thinkers Probe for Alternatives
3. The Transformation of Urban America
 Urban Expansion
i.
The New Urban World
ii. A Revolution in Transportation
iii. A Mobile Population
iv.
Migrants and Immigrants
v.
Adjusting for an Urban Society
vi.
Slums and Ghettos
vii.
Fashionable Avenues and Suburbs
 The Urban Challenge
i.
Policing the City
ii. Governing the City
iii. Battling Poverty
iv.
No Approaches to Social Work
v.
The Moral-Purity Campaign
vi.
The Social Gospel
vii.
The Settlement-House Movement
 Reshaping the Urban Environment
i.
Rebuilding the City
ii. Toward A Metropolitan
4. Daily Life, Popular Culture, and the Arts, 1860-1900
 Everyday Life in Flux
i.
Bringing New Commodities to Rural and Small-Town America
ii. A Shifting Class Structure
iii. The Changing Family
iv.
Working-Class Family Life
 Middle-Class Society and Culture
i.
Manners and Morals
ii. The Cult of Domesticity
iii. Department Stores and Hotels
iv.
The Transformation of Higher Education
 Working-Class Leisure in the Immigrant City
i.
Streets, Saloons and Boxing Matches
ii. The Rise of Professional Sports
iii. Vaudeville, Amusement Parks, and Dance Halls
iv.
Ragtime
 Cultures in Conflict
i.
The Genteel Tradition and Its Critics
ii. Modernism in Architecture and Painting
iii. From Victorian Lady to New Woman
iv.
Public Education as a Arena to Class Conflict
Essential Questions:
 What were the major forces that drove westward expansion? What were the
roles of the army and industrial capitalism in the settlement of the West?
 How was the frontier myth of boundless economic opportunity used to justify
westward settlement and the displacement of Native Americans? How did
Native Americans respond to the directive to move to reservations?
 What was the political impact of settling the vast interior midsection of the
continent? Why were women given more political rights there than in the
East?
 How was the Wild West image of cowboys and Indians created? Why has it
remained so popular?
 How did the process of westward expansion make some
Americans more aware of the need to conserve natural resources by setting
them aside in national parks?
 What innovations in technology and business practices helped launch the vast
increases in the size and scale of industrial production in the post-Civil War
period?
 How were Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and other business leaders
able to dominate their rivals and consolidate control over their industries?
 Why did the South’s experience with industrialization differ from that of the
North and the Midwest?
 What was he workers’ response to the changing nature of work and to the
growth of national corporations?











In the clash between industry and labor, what tactics enabled corporate
executives in the 1890’s to undercut labor’s bargaining power?
What factors shaped the ways in which U.S. cities expanded in the late
nineteenth century?
What did immigrants contribute to urban life in America?
Why did some immigrants prosper more that others?
How and why did political bosses gain so much power in post-Civil War
cities?
How did civic leaders attempt to reform the urban poor? Why did their
attempts yield mixed results?
How did the changing standard of living among the middle and upper classes
reinforce their awareness of class difference? How were racial stereotypes
used to reinforce these distinctions?
What was Victorian morality, and in what ways did it influence social
conventions and patterns of everyday life?
In what ways did changes in the occupational structure and in educational
institutions affect the roles of women?
How did the conflict between the working classes and those above them help
reshape attitudes toward leisure and recreation at the turn of the century?
Why did Americans of different social classes grow disenchanted with
Victorian social and intellectual ideas?
Major Assignments and Assessments:
Students will compare History or Hollywood by watching the shootout scenes of the
movies Wyatt Earp, Gunfights at the OK Corral, and Tombstone, then looking at Wyatt
Earp’s deposition on the event.
Plessy v Ferguson (1896)- examination of this landmark case will include looking at
majority and minority opinions and class debate.
Carroll’s “Letters of a Nation”, students will examine personal letters from:
Massa Hadjo, a Sioux Indian, to the Chicago Tribune in an open letter responding
to the Tribune’s condemnation of the Ghost Dance Tradition.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Susan B. Anthony about the Women’s Rights
movement.
Mark Twain to the Gas Company about their “Chucklehead Policies”.
From Stiles’, In Their Own Words: Warriors and Pioneers. Emmitt Dalton’s, The
Last Reckoning.
From Stiles’, In Their Own Words: Robber Barons and Radicals. L.Q. C. Lamar,
An Ignorant Negro Majority and Booker T. Washington, The Reconstruction Period.
All will be viewed in the atmosphere of social change that was going on at the time.
Document Sets: 17.3, 18.2, 19.1, and 20.3
UNIT VI
1898-1920
Readings:
Text, chapters 21-23
Hymowitz, ppg192-285
Hine, chapters 15-16
Paterson, et al., American Foreign Policy, chapter 8
Selections from Williams’, Tragedy of American Diplomacy
Selection from Lewis’, The Jungle.
Unit Outline:
1. Politics and Expansionism in an Industrializing Age
 Party Politics in an Era of Social and Economic Upheaval
i.
Patterns of Party Strength
ii. The Stakes of Politics
iii. The Hayes White House: Virtue Restored
iv.
Regulating the Money Supply
v.
The Spoils System
vi.
Civil-Service Reform Succeeds
 Politics of Privilege, Politics of Exclusion
i.
1884: Cleveland Victorious
ii. Tariffs an Pensions
iii. 1888: Big Business and the GAR Strike Back
iv.
The Granger Movement
v.
The Alliance Movement
vi.
African Americans After Reconstruction
 The 1890’s: Politics in a Depression Decade
i.
1892: Populists Challenge the Status Quo
ii. The Panic of 1893: Capitalism in Crisis
iii. The Depression of 1893-1897
iv.
Conservatives Hunker Down
 The Watershed Election of 1896
i.
1894: Protest Grows Louder
ii. The Sliver Issue
iii. Silver Advocates Capture the Democratic Party
iv.
1896: Conservatism Triumphant
 Expansionist Stirrings and War with Spain
i.
Roots of Expansionist Sentiment
ii. Pacific Expansion
iii. Crisis over Cuba
iv.
The Spanish-American War
 Deepening Imperialist Ventures: The Philippines, China, Panama
i.
The Platt Amendment
ii. Guerrilla War in the Philippines
iii. Critics of Empire
iv.
The “Open Door”: Competing for the China Market
v.
The Panama Canal: Hardball U.S. Diplomacy
2. The Progressive Era

The Changing American Society an Economy
i.
Immigrant Masses and a New Urban Middle Class
ii. African American sin a Racist Age
iii. Corporate Boardrooms, Factory Floors
iv.
Workers Organize: Socialism Advances
 The Progressive Movement Takes Shape
i.
Progressivism: An Overview
ii. Intellectuals Lay the Groundwork
iii. New Ideas About Education and the Law
iv.
Novelists and Journalist Spread the Word
v.
Reforming the Political Process
vi.
Protecting the Workers, Beautifying the City
vii.
Corporate Regulation
 Progressivism and Social Control: The Movement’s Coercive Dimension
i.
Moral Control in the Cities
ii. Battling Alcohol and Drugs
iii. Immigration Restrict6ion
iv.
Eugenics: Scientific Bigotry
v.
Racism an Progressivism
 Blacks and Women Organize
i.
Controversy Among African Americans
ii. The Founding of the NAACP
iii. Revival of the Woman-Suffrage Movement
iv.
Breaking Out of the Women’s Sphere
 National Progressivism- Phase I: Roosevelt and Taft
i.
Roosevelt’s Path to the White House
ii. Labor Disputes an Corporate Regulation
iii. Consumer Protection and Racial Issues
iv.
The Conservation Movement
v.
Taft in the White House
vi.
A Divided Republican Party
 National Progressivism- Phase II: Woodrow Wilson
i.
The Four-Way Election of 1912
ii. Woodrow Wilson: The Scholar as President
iii. Tariff and Banking Reform
iv.
Corporate Regulation
v.
Labor Legislation and Farm Aid
vi.
Progressivism and the Constitution
vii.
1916: Wilson Edges Out Hughes
3. World War One
 Defining America’s World Role
i.
The Roosevelt Corollary in Latin America and the Balance of Power
in Asia
ii. Dollar Diplomacy in China and Nicaragua
iii. Wilson and Latin America
 War in Europe




i.
The Coming of War
ii. The American People’s Initial Responses
iii. The Perils of Neutrality
iv.
Stalemate in the Trenches
v.
The Election of 1916
vi.
The United States Enters the War
Mobilizing at Home, Fighting in France
i.
Raising an Army
ii. Organizing the Economy for War
iii. With the AEF in France
iv.
Turning the Tide
v.
African Americans in the AEF
Promoting the War and Suppressing Dissent
i.
Advertising the War
ii. Intellectuals, Cultural Leaders, and Reformers Present Arms
iii. Wartime Intolerance
iv.
Opponents of the War
v.
Suppressing Dissent by Law
Economic and Social Trends in Wartime America
i.
Boom Times in Industry and Agriculture
ii. Blacks Migrate Northward
iii. Women and the War
iv.
The War and Progressivism
Joyous Armistice, Bitter Aftermath
i.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
ii. Armistice
iii. The Versailles Peace Conference
iv.
The Fight over the League of Nations
v.
Racism and Red Scare
vi.
The Election of 1920
Essential Questions:
 What major domestic issues did politicians address in the late nineteenth
century? Why were these issues important to people?
 What social or economic groups had the greatest political clout in these years?
Which groups had less political influence or were excluded altogether?
 Why did discontent spread across parts of rural America in these years, and
what organizational forms did this discontent take?
 What were some of the social and political effects of the severe economic
depression of 1893-1897?
 Why did expansionist pressures build in America in the late nineteenth
century? In what specific ways was this expansionist impulse expressed?
 Is “progressivism” simply a label used by historians to describe many
divergent and even contradictory activities by different interest groups, or was
there an authentic “progressive movement” united by common values,
strategies, and concerns?








What social realities associated with America’s new urban-industrial order
particularly disturbed progressives at the city and state level? What
approached did they take to address these problems?
How did the reform impulse find expression at the national level in these
years? Which politicians and issues are particularly identified with
progressivism as a national movement?
How did progressive reform affect ordinary Americans, including women,
immigrants, poor city dwellers, and African Americans?
What general motivations or objectives underlay America’s varied diplomatic
involvement in Asia and Latin America in the early years of the twentieth
century?
Considering both immediate provocations and broader factors, why did the
United States enter the European war in April 1917?
How did America’s participation in the war affect the home-front climate?
In what specific ways did the role of the federal government in the U.S.
economy, and in American life more generally, change in 1917-1918?
How would you assess the role of President Woodrow Wilson in the creation
of the League of Nations, and in the Senate’s rejection of U.S. membership in
the League?
Major Assignments and Assessments:
(DBQ) Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois offered different strategies for
dealing with the problems of poverty and discrimination faced by African Americans at
the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Using the documents
and your knowledge of the period 1877-1915, assess the appropriateness of each of these
strategies in the historical context in which each was developed.
(DBQ) To what extent was late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century United
States expansionism a continuation of past United States expansionism and to what extent
was it a departure? Use the documents and your knowledge of United States history to
1914 to construct your answer.
Document Sets: 21.2, 22.2, 23.2
UNIT VII 1920-1940
Readings:
Text, chapters 24-26
Hymowitz, ppg 285-323
Hine, chapters 17-19
John A. Garraty, The New Deal, National Socialism, and the Great Depression, ppg 907944.
Unit Outline:
1. The 1920’s
 A New Economic Order
i.
A Decade of Prosperity
ii. New Modes of Producing, Managing, and Selling
iii. Women in the New Economic Era
iv.
Workers in a Business Age
v.
Ailing Agriculture
 Republicans in Power
i.
The Harding an Coolidge Years
ii. Retreat from Internationalism
iii. Progressive Stirrings, Democratic Divisions
iv.
Women and Politics in the 1920’s: A Dream Deferred
 Mass Society, Mass Culture
i.
Cities, Cars, consumer Goods
ii. During Energy Consumption and a Threatened Environment
iii. Routine Work, Mass-Produced Pleasure
iv.
Fads, Celebrities, and Heroes
 Cultural Ferment and Creativity
i.
The Jazz Age and the Postwar Crisis of Values
ii. Alienated Writers
iii. Achievements in Architecture, Painting, and Music
iv.
Advances in Science and Medicine
 A Society in Conflict
i.
Immigration Restriction; Hispanic newcomers
ii. The Sacco-Vanzetti Case
iii. The Ku Klux Klan
iv.
The Garvey Movement
v.
Fundamentalism and The Scopes Trial
vi.
Prohibition
 Hoover at the Helm
i.
The Election of 1928
ii. Herbert Hoover’s Social Thought
2. Crash, Depression, and New Deal
 Crash and Depression
i.
Black Thursday
ii. Onset of the Depression
iii. The Depression’s Human Tool
iv.
Hoover’s Response
v.
Mounting Discontent and Protest
vi.
The Election of 1932
 The New Deal Takes Shape
i.
New Beginnings
ii. The Hundred Days
iii. The NRA Bogs Down
iv.
Troubled Agriculture
v.
Controversy over Relief Strategy
vi.
The New Deal at High Noon: Popularity and Problems
 The New Deal Changes Course
i.
Challenges from Right and Left
ii. The Second New Deal: Expanding Federal Relief
iii. The Second New Deal: Turning Leftward
iv.
The Election of 1936: The New Deal at High Tide
v.
The New Democratic Coalition
vi.
The New Deal, the Environment, and the West
 The New Deal draws to a Close
i.
FDR and the Supreme Court
ii. The Roosevelt Recession
iii. The End of the New Deal
3. American Life in a decade of Crisis at Home and Abroad
 The American People in the Depression Decade
i.
The Plight of a People
ii. Industrial Workers Organize
iii. Gender Aspects of the Depression
iv.
Blacks, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans Cope with Hard
Times
v.
Family Life and Population Trends
 The American Cultural Scene in the Thirties
i.
Avenues of Escape: Radio and the Movies
ii. The Literature of the Early Thirties
iii. The Later Thirties: The Popular Font and Cultural Nationalism
iv.
The Age of Streamlining
v.
Undercurrents of Apprehension
 The United States in a Menacing World
i.
FDR’s Nationalism and the Good Neighbor Policy
ii. The Rise of Fascism in Europe and Asia
iii. The American Mood: No More War
iv.
Hesitant Response to the Fascist Challenge
v.
1938-1939: The Gathering Storm
vi.
American and the Jewish Refugees
Essential Questions:
 What economic developments underlay the prosperity of the 1920’s, and how
did those developments affect different social groups in America?
 What political values shaped American public life in this era of republican
ascendancy? How did Herbert Hoover social and political thought differ from
that of Harding and Coolidge?
 What is meant by “mass culture”? What developments helped create a mass
culture in the 1920’s, and how thoroughly did it penetrate American society?
 The 1920’s was a time of both cultural creativity and social tensions. Can you
identify any developments in American society in these years that contributed
to both the creativity and the tensions?
 What factors contributed to the1929 stock market crash and the Depression
that followed, and what were the immediate social and political effects of
these events?









What Depression-fighting strategy underlay the so-called First New Deal of
1933-1934, and what measures were adopted to implement this strategy?
Why did the Roosevelt administration partially change course in 1935, and
what strategies underlay the so-called Second New Deal?
Was the overwhelming support that African-Americans gave to the New Deal
justified? Give reasons for your answer.
Which New Deal programs proved unsuccessful, and why? Which had the
greatest long-term impact on American society?
What factors underlay the wave of unionization in the later 1930’s, what
sectors of the American labor force were most affected?
What was the impact of the Depression and the New Deal on those Americans
already on the economic margins, including many women, AfricanAmericans, Hispanics, and Indians?
What caused the upsurge of patriotism and cultural nationalism in the later
1930’s, and what were some of its manifestations?
What was the Good Neighbor policy, and how did it influence U.S. policies
and actions in Latin America?
How did the Roosevelt administration, and the American people as a whole,
respond to the rise of fascism and militarism abroad in the 1930’s?
Major Assignments and Assessments:
(DBQ) “It was the strength of the opposition forces, both liberal and conservative, rather
that the ineptitude and stubbornness of President Wilson that led to the Senate defeat of
the Treaty of Versailles.” Using the documents and your knowledge of the period 19171921, assess the validity of this statement.
(DBQ) President Franklin D. Roosevelt is commonly thought of as a liberal and President
Herbert C. Hoover as a conservative. To what extent are these characterizations valid?
Students will read the Garraty article to prepare for a class debate over the
differences/similarities between Hitler’s National Socialism and FDR’s New Deal.
Document Sets: 24.2, 25.2, 26.2
UNIT VIII 1940- Present
Readings:
Text, chapters 27-33
Hymowitz, ppg 323-374
Hine, chapters 20-23
Zinn, chapter 18
Unit Outline:
1. Waging Global War, 1939-1945
 Into the Storm, 1939-1941
i.
Storm in Europe
ii. The Election of 1940
iii. From Isolation to Intervention
iv.
Toward Pearl Harbor
v.
On the Defensive
 America Mobilizes for War
i.
Organizing for Victory
ii. A War Economy
iii. Science and the War
iv.
Propaganda and Politics
 War and American Society
i.
The New Mobility
ii. Education and Entertainment
iii. Women and the Family
iv.
Racism and Pluralism
v.
War and Diversity
vi.
The Internment of Japanese-Americans
 The Battlefront, 1942-1944
i.
The Allied Drive in Europe
ii. The War in the Pacific
iii. The Grand Alliance
iv.
The Election of 1944
 Triumph and Tragedy
i.
The Yalta Conference
ii. Defeat and Death
iii. The Atomic Bombs
2. Cold War America, 1945-1952
 Postwar Political Setting
i.
Demobilization and Reconversion
ii. Truman’s Troubles
 Anticommunism and Containment
i.
Confrontation and Polarization
ii. The Cold War Begins
iii. European Crisis, American Commitment
iv.
Confrontation
v.
The Cold War Heats Up
vi.
The Korean War
 The Truman Administration at Home
i.
The Eighteenth Congress
ii. The Politics of Civil Rights
iii. The Election of 1948
iv.
The Fair Deal
 The Politics of Anticommunism
i.
Loyalty and Security
ii. The Anticommunist Crusade
iii. Hiss and the Rosenbergs
iv.
McCarthyism
v.
The Election of 1952
3. America at Mid-century
 The Eisenhower Presidency
i.
The General as Chief Executive
ii. “Dynamic Conservatism”
iii. The Downfall of Joseph McCarthy
iv.
The Warren Court
v.
The Laws of the Land
 The Cold War Continues
i.
Truce in Korea
ii. Ike and Dulles
iii. Waging Peace
iv.
The Clandestine CIA
v.
Conflict in Vietnam
vi.
Antiwesternism in the Middle East
vii.
Frustrations Abroad
viii. The Eisenhower Legacy
 The Affluent Society
i.
The New industrial Society
ii. The Age of Computers
iii. Concentration and Consolidation
iv.
Blue-collar
v.
Prosperity and the Suburbs
 Consensus and Conservation
i.
Togetherness and the Baby Boom
ii. Domesticity
iii. Religion and Education
iv.
The Culture of the Fifties
v.
The Message of the Medium
 The Other America
i.
Poverty and Urban Blight
ii. Blacks’ Struggle for Justice
 Seeds of Disquiet
i.
Sputnik
ii. Rebellion of Youth
iii. Portents of Change
4. The Turbulent Sixties
 The New Frontier, 1960-1963
i.
The Election of 1960
ii. Kennedy’s Domestic Record
iii. Kennedy and Civil Rights
iv.
The African American Revolution
 New Frontiers Abroad: 1960-1963
i.
Cold War Activism
ii. To the Brink of Nuclear War
iii. Kennedy and Indochina
iv.
The Thousand-Day Presidency
 The Great Society
i.
Toward the Great Society
ii. The 1964 Election
iii. Triumphant Liberalism
iv.
The Warren Court in the Sixties
 The Changing Struggle for Equality, 1964-1968
i.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
ii. The Long, Hot Summers
iii. “Black Power”
iv.
Ethnicity and Activism
v.
A Second Feminist Wave
 The Lost Crusade in Vietnam, 1964-1968
i.
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
ii. Americanization of the War
iii. Opposition to the War
5. A Troubled Journey: From Port Huron to Watergate
 The Youth Movement
i.
Toward a New Left
ii. From Protest to Resistance
iii. The Waning of Student Radicalism
iv.
The Youth Culture
v.
The Sexual Revolution
 1968: The Politics of Strife
i.
The Tet Offensive in Vietnam
ii. A Shaken President
iii. Assassinations and Turmoil
iv.
Conservative Resurgence
 Nixon and World Politics
i.
Veitnamization
ii. LBJ’s War Becomes Nixon’s War
iii. America’s Longest War Ends
iv.
Détente
v.
Shuttle Diplomacy
 Domestic Problems and Divisions
i.
Richard Nixon: Man and Politician
ii. The Nixon Presidency
iii. A Troubled Economy
iv.
Law and Order
v.
The Southern Strategy
vi.
The Election of 1972
 The Crisis of the Presidency
i.
The Watergate Cover-Up
ii. A President Disgraced
6. Turning Inward: Society and Politics from Ford to Bush
 After the Sixties: Changing Social and Cultural Contours
i.
America Turns Inward
ii. The Women’s Movement: Gains and Uncertainties
iii. The Two Worlds of Black America
iv.
New Patterns of Immigration
v.
Brightening Prospects for Native Americans
vi.
Sexuality in the Era of AIDS
vii.
The Evangelical Renaissance
 Years of Malaise: Post-Watergate Politics and Diplomacy
i.
The Caretaker Presidency of Gerald Ford
ii. The Outsider as Insider: President Jimmy Carter
iii. The Middle East: Peace Accords and Hostages
iv.
The Sea of Troubles as Carter’s Term Ends
 The Reagan Revolution
i.
Background of the Revolution
ii. The Man Behind the Movement
iii. Reaganomics
iv.
Recession and Boom Times
v.
Reagan Confronts the “Evil Empire”
vi.
Tragedy and Frustration in the Middle East
vii.
Military Buildup and Antinuclear Protest
viii. Reagan Reelected
 Problems and Opportunities in Reagan’s Second Term
i.
Tax Reform, Budget Deficits, and Trade Gaps
ii. Middle East Encore: Talks and Terrorism
iii. The Iran-Contra Scandal
iv.
More Scandals and Embarrassments
v.
Reagan’s Mission to Moscow
vi.
The Election of 1988
 The Bush Years: Resolve Abroad, Drift at Home
i.
The Cold War Ends
ii. Operation Desert Storm
iii. Domestic Discontents
iv.
The Supreme Court Moves Right
v.
The Politics of Frustration
7. Bright Prospects and Nagging Uncertainties for a New Century
 The Clinton Era I: Debating Domestic Policy
i.
Shaping a Domestic Agenda
ii. 1994: A Sharp Right Turn
iii. Welfare Reform
iv.
Campaign ’96 and After: Tobacco Regulation and Campaign-Finance
Reform
v.
Impeachment and Beyond
 The Clinton Era II: The Quest for a Coherent Foreign Policy
i.
Diplomacy in the Era of a Global Economy
ii. A New World Order?
 America at 2000: An Overview
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Two-and-a-Half Cheers for the Economy
Problems and Promise in a Multicultural America
Protecting an Imperiled Environment
A Truce in the Culture Wars?
Essential Questions:
 What measures were taken by FDR and the Congress to mobilize the nation
for war?
 How did WWII affect the American economy?
 What were the major effects of WWII on American society, including
minorities and women?
 What were the war goals of the Allied powers? How did these goals affect the
strategies for waging war and the consequences for the postwar peace?
 Why did President Truman decide to drop the atomic bombs on Japan in
1945? What arguments have been raised to support and to condemn the
decision?
 How did the postwar policies of both the United States and the Soviet Union
contribute to the beginnings of the Cold War?
 In what ways was the foreign policy of the Truman administration the right
policy given the times and circumstances?
 What is the doctrine of containment, and how was it implemented from 1947
and 1950?
 What accounts for the demise of the New Deal spirit after World War II; and
what effects did this have on the Truman presidency, especially his domestic
program?
 What were the main domestic and international factors leading to the postwar
Red Scare, and why did Americans react to it as they did?
 Why is Eisenhower said to have practiced the politics of moderation? What
evidence from his domestic and foreign policies supports this view?
 What were the objectives, successes, and failures of the civil-rights movement
in the 1950’s?
 What explains the rise and fall of McCarthyism in the early 1950’s?
 What were the principal changes in foreign policy initiated by Eisenhower?
How successfully did these changes accomplish Eisenhower’s goals?
 How did television and developments like Levit-town affect American life?
How accurate is the fifties’ reputation as a period of conservatism and
conformity?
 How successful was the new Frontier in domestic affairs, especially the areas
of civil rights and economy? In foreign affairs?
 What were the similarities and differences between Kennedy’s and Johnson’s
goals and accomplishments?
 In what ways did Lyndon Johnson’s goals and accomplishments?
 What were the major successes and failures of the black movements for civil
rights and socioeconomic progress from 1964 to 1968? What factors
instigated the increase of black militancy in this period?
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How did the United States get involved in Vietnam and to what extent was
President Johnson responsible for the tragedy of Vietnam?
Why and how did the1960’s become a decade of political protest and cultural
insurgency? Why might 1968 be seen as a turning point in postwar American
life?
If President Nixon had chosen to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in
1969, how might the course of domestic events have changed?
What were the strategies by which the Republicans sought to build a new
political majority? How did they contribute to Nixon’s landslide reelection
victory in 1972?
How might the criminal and political abuses associated with Watergate have
led to the impeachment of President Nixon, and what was the impact of
Watergate on the American political system?
Did the events of 1973-1974, culminating in the resignations of Nixon and
Agnew, prove that the political system worked or that it failed? Explain.
What evidence suggests that the activist mood of the 1960’s faded in the
1970’s and early 1980’s, and what evidence suggests that on some issues the
spirit of protest remained very much alive?
To what extent was President Carter himself to blame for the “malaise” he
detected in America in 1979, and to what extent was Carter a victim of forces
beyond his control?
What were the key themes of the political ideology the Ronald Reagan
brought to the presidency? What specific steps did his administration take to
translate this ideology into practice?
How did the Reagan administration express its intense opposition to
communism, an dhow did U.S. relations with the world’s chief communist
nation, the Soviet Union, evolve over the course of the Reagan presidency?
In what ways did the end of the Cold War make for a safer world? In what
ways did it heighten global dangers and conflicts?
What were the key themes of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign and
the early years of his presidency?
How did Clinton’s priorities and approaches- and the constraints on his
power- evolve over the course of his two terms, and why?
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, how
successfully did ht United States adapt to its new role as the world’s only
remaining superpower?
What were the major economic trends in 1990’s America and the world?
How universally shared was the booming U.S. prosperity of the mid- and later
1990’s?
What social and cultural trends of the 1990’s seem most likely to shape the
course of American history as the twenty-first century dawns?
Major Assignments and Assessments:
(DBQ) “The United States decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima was a
diplomatic measure calculated to intimidate the Soviet Union in the post-WWII era rather
than a strictly military measure designed to force Japan’s unconditional surrender.”
Evaluate this statement using the documents and your knowledge of the military and
diplomatic history of the years 1939 through 1947.
Brown v Board of Education of Topeka (1954)- examination of this landmark case will
include analysis of opinions and class debate.
Students will watch HBO’s Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. They will then
work with primary documents from the Vietnam: Echoes from the Wall class set
provided by the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund. They will also listen to Vietnam era
music to set the class up for a debate pitting one team of Vietnam defenders against one
team of Vietnam protesters.
Document Sets: 27.1, 28.3, 29.1, 30.2, 31.2, 32.1, 33.2