UNITED STATES HISTORY SYLLABUS
2015-2016
Mr. Murphy Room 609 murphyt@highlands.k12.fl.us
863-471-5500 ext. 230
This is a year long course with an average enrollment of 25 students. The academic calendar uses a 90 minute, alternating block schedule.
Teaching Strategies
This course is divided between lectures, Socratic seminar and guided individual and collaborative research. Students are responsible for maintaining an awareness and understanding of current events, especially as they relate to the subject matter, as these are often discussed in class.
Course Description
This course is designed to provide students with the analytic skills and knowledge required to understand United States History. Students will learn to assess historical materials as to their relevance to a given interpretative problem, to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarships, to arrive at conclusions on the basis of informed judgments and to present these conclusions with articulate reasoning, supported by persuasive evidence. The express purpose of this course is to prepare students to take the History End of Course Exam.
Content
Historical topics of study will include the following: The Civil War; Reconstruction; immigration; industrialism; Populism; Progressivism; World War I; the Jazz Age; the
Great Depression; The New Deal; World War II; The Cold War; the post Cold-War era, and the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Critical analysis will be encouraged in the following areas: the development of an 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, citizenship and social reform movements; the role of religion in making the United States and the United States in a global arena. Specific units will include discussion and written analysis of relevant historical scholarship, differing and changing interpretations of events over time and the impact of various historians on those who succeed them.
Course Texts
There are two required texts for this course:

The Americans , Danzer, Klor de Alva, Kreiger, Wilson & Woloch.
 my.hrw.com

The Americans, Guided reading workbook

Florida US History End of Course Assessment Test Prep Workbook, Holt
McDougal
Grading will be as follows: Quizzes and Tests - 35%; historical essays – 35%; Class work-30 %. The End of Course exam will as 30% of each semester grade.

All essays, except those written in class must be typed (double-spaced). Essays will be graded on a rubric designed to measure the following factors: content; use of documentary and supporting evidence; grammar; spelling and depth of analysis.
Multiple choice and essay questions will be of the type used in the End of Course exam. Daily assessments will be administered with Chapter quizzes each week and tests upon completion of each Unit.
*Acceptance of assigned work after due date is at the sole discretion of the instructor and if accepted will be subject to an 11 point penalty per day for each day after due date.
Readings from other sources, listed below, will either be read and discussed in class or copies of readings will be distributed and assigned as directed. Test dates will be announced in advance, with weekly quizzes over the readings, vocabulary and class discussion. Assignments may be omitted, substituted or added as scheduling allows.
Reading Assignments and Course Calendar
First Semester, First Quarter
Unit One American Beginning to 1877
Week One/Two (1850-1877)
Objectives: Chapter 4, The Union in Peril
Explain the various plans to rebuild the South after the
Civil War.
Discus the successes and failures of Reconstruction.
Unit Two/Three, Bridge to the 20th Century (1877-1917)
Week Two (1877-1900) Chapter 5, Changes on the Western Frontier
Objectives: Explain the effect of westward expansion on Native
Americans.
Describe the lives of settlers on the Great Plains. address the rise of the Populist Party.
Week Three/Four (1877-1900)
Objectives:
Chapter 6, A New industrial Age
List the developments that helped industries to grow in the late 1880s.
Explain how big corporations became a powerful force in the economy.
Consider why workers organized unions and staged labor
Week Five/Seven ( 1877-1914) strikes.
Chapter 7, Immigrants and Urbanization
Objective: Describe immigrant life in the United States.
Explain the challenges of urbanization.

Understand the politics of the Gilded Age.
Week Eight/Nine (1877-1917) Chapter 8, Life At the Turn of the 20th Century
Objective: Describe how scientific and technological developments affected life at the turn of the 20th century.
Discuss the life of African Americans at the turn of the 20th century.
Explain why modern mass culture emerged in the United
States.
Unit 3, Modern America Emerges, 1890-1920
Week Ten/12 1890-1920)
Objective:
Chapter 9, The Progressive Era
Explain how the Progressive Movement increased the power of government to bring about reform.
Describe the effort to regulate business.
Describe efforts to protect individuals.
Week Thirteen/Fourteen (1890-1920) Chapter 10, America Claims An Empire
Objective: Consider why a country might want to acquire an overseas colonial empire.
Explain how the United States acquired overseas territories in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Week Fifteen (1914-1920) Chapter 11, The First World War
Objective:
Discuss the impact that American intervention in the Mexican
Revolution had on U s-Mexican relations.
Explain how the war began and why the United States became involved.
Predict social change in the United States that were accelerated by the war.
Explain the consequences of the war.
Unit 4, The 1920s and the Great Depression (1920-1940)
Week Sixteen (1919-1929) Chapter 12, Politics of the Roaring Twenties
Objective: Identify the issues that troubled Americans in the years after
World War 1.
Consider why President Harding's [promise of return to normalcy was attractive to many Americans.
Describe the economic developments that took place in the
1920s.
Week Seventeen (1920-1929) Chapter 13, The Roaring Life of the 1920's
Objective: Describe the differences between urban and rural areas. address the changing role of women.
Explain the influence of popular culture, mass media and cultural movements such as the Harlem Renaissance.

Winter Break, December 21-January 3, 2015
Week Eighteen (1933-1940) Chapter 14, The Great Depression Begins
Objective: Identify the weaknesses in the American economy exposed by the 1929 stock market crash.
Discuss the impact of the Great Depression had on the lives of
Americans.
Outline the actions taken by Hoover to combat the Great
Depression and consider how successful they were.
End of First Semester/Mid-Term exams
Week Nineteen (1933-1940) Chapter 15, The New Deal
Objective: Explain how the New Deal attempted to solve the problem of the Great Depression.
Discuss how New Deal policies affected various groups.
Describe the impact of the new Deal.
Week Twenty/ Twenty One (1931-1941)
Unit 5 World War II and its Aftermath (1931-1960)
Chapter 16, World War II Looms (1931-1941) Objective:
Explain how totalitarian rulers rose to power in Europe and in
Asia.
Describe how Germany was able to quickly conquer much of
Europe.
Define the term Holocaust and explain Hitler's rationale for this genocide.
Explain how the United States became involved in World War
II.
Week Twenty One/Twenty Two (1941-1945) Unit 5 World War II and its
Objective:
Aftermath (1931-1960)
Chapter 17, The United States in WWII
Describe the wartime mobilization of various industries.
Discuss the need for troops and war materials in order to fight the battles taking place in the European and Pacific theaters.
Consider the war effort's effects on the home front.
Week Twenty Two/Twenty Three (1945-1960) Chapter 18, Cold War Conflicts
Objective: Explain why there was tension between the United States and the Soviet Union in the years after World War II.

Discuss the causes and outcomes of the Korean War.
Describe how the Cold War affected life in the United States.
Week Twenty Four (1946-1961) Chapter 19, The Postwar Boom
Objective: Consider the war's effect on the American economy.
Discuss how Americans adjusted to post war life.
Explain how Eisenhower's presidency represented the era.
Unit 6, Living with Great Turmoil, (1954-1975)
Week Twenty Five (1960-1968) Chapter 20, The New Frontier and The Great Society
Objective: Discuss the foreign policy challenges that JFK faced.
Evaluate JFK's success in enacting his New Frontier.
Describe LBJ's Great Society.
Week Twenty Six (1954-1968)
Objective:
Chapter 21, Civil Rights
Explain early efforts to end segregation.
Define the victories of the civil Rights Movement.
Discuss the changes in the movement over time.
Week Twenty Seven/Twenty Eight (1954-1975) Chapter 22, The Vietnam War Years
Objective:
Discuss the impact that the fighting in Vietnam had on
American society.
Explain why the United States became involved in the conflict in Vietnam.
Describe how the Vietnam war ended. identify the war's lasting effects on the United States.
Week Twenty Eight (1960-1975) Chapter 23, An Era of Social Change
Objective: Explain how Latinos and Native Americans confronted injustices.
Describe the motivations behind the women's movement. point out the ways in which the counterculture challenged traditional American values.
Unit 7, Passage to a New Century, 1968-Present
Week Twenty Nine/Thirty (1968-1980) Chapter 24, An Age of Limits
Objective: Outline the domestic and foreign policies that President Nixon followed.
Explain how the Watergate scandal led to Nixon's resignation. identify the challenges that the Ford and Carter administration faced.
Explain why support for the environmental movement grew in the 1970s.
Week Thirty/ Thirty One (1980-1992) Chapter 25, The Conservative Tide

Objectives: Discuss the new conservatism that emerged with the elections of Reagan and Bush.
Describe the social concerns of the 1980s.
Explain how changes throughout the world affected USD foreign policy.
Week Thirty Two/thirty Three (1992-Present)
Objective: Chapter 26, The United States in Today's World
Explain why divisions developed in the country at the
Week Thirty Four beginning of the new millennium .
Describe the basis of the economic boom in the late 20th century.
Show how technological developments have affected life in the United States.
Discuss the changes that took place in the make-up of the
American population at the turn of the 20th century.
Epilog, Issues for the 21st Century
REVIEW for EOC
Week Thirty Five, approximately- U.S. History EOC
As of April 2015 There is no requirement for a final exam in U.S. History