APUS History Summer Assignment (2010)
Ellis, Joseph J., Founding Brothers. New York, Vintage Books, (2000)
ISBN: 0-375-70524-4
DUE: 1st day of class
You will be reading one book over the Summer, (Founding Brothers) and writing a total
of 3 essays. You must write 1 essay from Part 1, and write 1 essay from Part II below. The
essays must be double-spaced; 1-inch margins; and 12 point font. The essays must be at least 3
pages in length. You will be submitting all of your essays to www.turnitin.com, which is a
plagiarism website, so retain an electronic copy of your essays. You will be submitting them to
the website the first week of class, but turning in hardcopies of your papers on the first day of
class. No extensions or excuses about late papers will be accepted, so I suggest you don’t
procrastinate until the day before school starts to print out your papers. Be clear which of the
essays in Parts I and II you are answering at the beginning of each essay. These two essays will
be worth a total of 100 points, which is the same value as a test.
DUE: 2nd day of class
You will write an in-class essay covering one of the chapters from Founding Brothers.
This essay will be worth 50 points. This means that the Summer Assignment is worth a total of
150 points. If you fail to read the book in its entirety and either do not do the essays, or do
poorly on them, then there is little to no chance of you earning a passing grade for the 1st
trimester.
PART I
(Choose ONE)
1. Describe the “sharp differences” dividing the leadership of the revolutionary
generation (Ch. 2)
2. Contrast the arguments of the North and the South on the slave issue. (Ch. 3)
PART II
(Choose ONE)
3. Ellis indicates that “the truly effective centers of power were located in two political
partnerships based on personal trust.” Explain and discuss. (Ch. 5)
4. Adams and Jefferson had conflicting visions of the American Revolution. Explain
the essentials of this difference. Discuss an analogy in today’s world or in your own
life. (Ch. 6)
Dear student,
Welcome to Advanced Placement United States History. AP=College Level. That is the
way I will teach the course, and that is the level you are expected to perform at. I do not write
this to scare you, but rather to make sure that you are fully aware of the immense amount of time
and effort you will be required to invest in this class in order to obtain the grade you desire. Do
not worry though, hundreds of thousands of other high school students are also committing
themselves to this expedition.
This class simply takes more time and effort than other AP courses. It is unlike other AP
courses where once you understand a formula or principle in a few pages, you are ready for a
quiz or test. Unlike other classes where there is always one and only one correct answer, most
history questions have many correct answers but only one “best” answer. In AP U.S. History,
you are required to read 50-100 pages per week for homework. If you do not read this material,
or take an adult effort to understand it, you will not perform well in the course. That really is the
secret to this class. Much of the content that you will read will NOT be repeated in class and yet
you WILL be tested on it using multiple choice questions from actual past AP exams. We
simply do not have enough class time to rehash this content, as our very limited class time will
be focused on critical thinking, historiography, issues and themes, debates and discussions, and
more than anything else, how to write persuasively. In summation, you will read on your own
for “content” while I will coach you in class on “process”. If you do not know the facts we are
analyzing because you have fallen behind in the assigned readings, you will not be able to
succeed in this class and you will not be prepared for the AP test. I do not offer extra credit, so
don’t ask. I don’t round up grades at the end of each trimester, so don’t ask. If you have a
92.9%, you get a B+.
The most important thing you will learn in AP U.S. History is how to write well. The
names and dates of history are of far less importance than the ability to take a position and then
defend it intelligently. While all teenagers are opinionated, far less can spot author bias, sift
through contrary pieces of evidence, or structure a sophisticated argument in support of their
opinion. That is the focus of this course. As such, the writing assignments are numerous, and
often this course will seem more like an English class than a History class. You will find these
skills very useful not only on the AP test, but also on the ACT, SAT, your AP English tests, the
essays you write in college and graduate school, and in the workplace.
If you are ready to accept this challenge, than AP US History is right for you. If you are
not willing to take on this amount of responsibility at this point in your life, I suggest that you
drop down to a lower level US History class. Remember our school’s motto: “You come to
Carmel as a boy. If you care to struggle and work at it, you will leave as a man.”
Sincerely,
Coach Enright