Advanced Placement United States History Syllabus
Course Overview:
The Advanced Placement Program in United States History is a full year college-level survey course
designed to provide students with the analytical skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with
the problems and issues raised by American history. The curriculum has been consciously structured to help
students prepare for the national AP exam administered in May. The first trimester of the course presents a
survey of American history from colonialism to Jacksonian Democracy (1607-1840); the second trimester
continues the survey from events leading up to the Civil War to the Great Depression and Roosevelt’s New
Deal (1840-1939); and the third trimester completes the survey with coverage from the Second World War to
the present (1939-2001), and also includes a comprehensive two-week review for the AP exam in May.
Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on developing the political, economic, social and cultural themes
of our nation’s past. Students’ mastery of history and ability to think analytically will be measured in many
ways including, but not limited to: tests, papers, free response question essays (FRQs), document based
question essays (DBQs), quizzes, presentations, and journal entries. Class time after the May exam will be
devoted to an introduction to the study of philosophy while reading Sophie’s World: A Novel Aabout the
History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1991).
Course Description:
AP U.S. History is designed to give students a solid grounding in the chronology of American history
and in the major interpretive questions that derive from the study of selected themes. The survey-based
approach calls for 80 selected reading assignments in the course textbook along with supplementary readings
in the form of reading notes, primary source documents (full length and excerpted), and chapter selections
from select books providing both chronological and thematic coverage. To assess the student’s progress,
frequent exams and essays will be assigned to check for retention of knowledge and understanding of
important historical themes, respectively. Announced reading quizzes will be given more frequently to
identify areas of confusion or weakness on the part of the student. Also, students will be required to keep a
journal each trimester that the teacher will review to evaluate each student’s comprehension of lectures,
discussions, and other activities. Also, all students will have several informal presentations – debates,
student-led discussions, and class presentations -- to give during the year on historical topics chosen for them.
Again, the objective of the course is to prepare students to take the AP exam in May and to provide them with
a challenging, comprehensive, and enriching survey of American history.
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Course Materials:
The course’s basic text is America: A Concise History, 2nd Edition (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2002) written by James A. Henretta, et al. Other resources that are issued in class and that students are
expected to use in class and at home include the following:
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Reading Notes, Document Excerpts, and Discussion Questions for AP United States History (teachergenerated)
Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992)
Richard D. Heffner, A Documentary History of the United States (New York: Penguin Press, 2002)
David Hackett Fischer, Liberty and Freedom (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) [Xeroxes]
Eric Foner, The Story of American Freedom (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1998) [Xeroxes]
Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co.,
1993) [Xeroxes]
Virginia Bernhard et al. Firsthand America: A History of the United States (New York: Brandywine
Press, 1994) [Xeroxes]
Teacher Materials:
Audio CDs and accompanying transcript books from The Teaching Company have proved instrumental in
composing class lectures, directing class discussions, and organizing class assignments. Specific courses
included:
 Patrick Allit, The American Identity (Chantilly, Virginia: The Teaching Company, 2005)
 Allen Guelzo, The American Mind (Chantilly, Virginia: The Teaching Company, 2005)
 Allen Guelzo, Gary Gallagher, and Patrick Allit, The History of the United States, 2nd Edition
(Chantilly, Virginia: The Teaching Company, 2003)
Course Expectations:
The Teacher:
 will assist students in preparing for the AP exam
 will provide students with guiding principles on “How to Write Effectively”
 will provide students with a working vocabulary in American history
 will help students develop concepts and generalizations in American history
 will provide students with opportunities to apply the skills of critical reading and writing
 will encourage and guide students in discussing and defending their conclusions about American
history
 will employ a marking system that treats all students alike and shows no favoritism
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The Student:
 will attend class and be on time, always.
 will assume the primary responsibility for acquiring the facts and knowledge of American history
 will keep up with all reading assignments (about 6 hours per week)
 will contribute intelligently to class discussions and seminars
 will submit all essays on time and in an appropriate format
 will keep a journal that will contain thoughtful responses to important interpretative or thematic
questions
 will present oral presentations and lead discussions on frequent occasions
Content Themes:
The content of course that is aligned with the College Board AP United States History themes of:
American Diversity, American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic Transformations,
Environment, Globalization, Politics and Citizenship, and Reform:
Trimester I – Units #s 1-4
Discovery, Colonialism, Revolution, and Constitution (1609-1789)
1. The cultural exchange that resulted from contact between Europeans and Native Americans.
2. The origins and objectives of England’s first settlements in the New World.
3. How and why English colonies differed from one another in economic, political, and religious
organization and administration.
4. The problems that arose – with the natives, Great Britain, and themselves – as the colonies
matured and expanded, and how the colonists attempted to solve them.
5. The emergence of the particularly American “mind and spirit”: a study in colonial literature, art,
and thought.
6. How it was that colonists who had enjoyed the benefits of belonging to a great empire, rose in
rebellion against the nation that was responsible for its birth and prosperity.
7. How the thirteen colonies were able to win their independence from one of the most powerful
nations on earth.
8. How the American Revolution was not only a war for independence, but also a struggle to
determine the nature and identity of the nation being created.
9. The political, social, and economic problems that remained after, or were created by, the American
Revolution.
10. How and why the Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation.
11. The Constitution as a “living document”: the impact of the Bill of Rights on individual freedoms
and governmental powers.
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Trimester I – Units # 5-7
Early Republic, War of 1812, Jacksonian Democracy, Demographic Growth (1789-1841)
1. How contrasting views of what the nation should become led to the rise of America’s first political
parties.
2. The way in which the new United States was able to establish itself as a nation in the eyes of
foreign powers and its own people.
3. The rise and fall of the Federalist Party and the role that Thomas Jefferson and his DemocraticRepublican followers played in reshaping American politics.
4. How the American people and their government responded to the nation’s physical expansion and
population boom.
5. How American ambitions and attitudes came into conflict with British policies and led to the War
of 1812.
6. How postwar expansion shaped the nation during the “Era of Good Feelings.”
7. How mass participation became the hallmark of the American political system and fostered the rise
of politicians like Andrew Jackson.
8. How the dramatic economic growth of the antebellum period, brought on by the transportation and
market revolutions, transformed American society.
9. How antebellum reform movements and utopian societies changed the moral and intellectual
landscape of the United States.
10. How agitation on behalf of the causes of abolition, women’s rights, temperance, and religious
plurality evoked new energies in the direction of equality, diversity, universal freedom.
Trimester II – Units #s 8-9
Manifest Destiny, Slavery, Civil War, and Reconstruction (1842-1877)
1. How the rapid development, and divergence, of the economies and societies of the North and the
South contributed to the rising tension between nationalism and states’ rights.
2. The nature of the South’s “peculiar institution” and the effect it had on the Southern way of life.
3. How the crusade against slavery became the most powerful element in the early American reform
movement.
4. How the idea of Manifest Destiny led America to the annexation and acquisition of western lands
at the expense of Mexico.
5. How the question of the expansion of slavery deepened divisions between North and South.
6. How the South came to attempt secession, and how the government of the United States under
Abraham Lincoln responded.
7. How both sides mobilized for the Civil War, and what that mobilization revealed about the nature
of each side and its chances for victory in the war.
8. How Radical Reconstruction changed the South but fell short of the full transformation needed to
secure equality for blacks.
9. How white leaders reestablished economic and political control of the South and how the race
question continued to dominate southern life.
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Trimester II – Units # 10-11
Western Expansion, Eastern Industrialization, American Progressivism (1865-1914)
1. The transformation of the Far West from a sparsely populated region of Native Americans into an
integral part of the nation’s growing, capitalistic economy.
2. The closing of the frontier as Native American resistance was eliminated, miners and cowboys
spearheaded settlement, and railroads opened the area for intensive farm development.
3. How various factors (raw materials, labor supply, technology, business organization, growing
markets, and friendly governments) combined to thrust the United States into worldwide industrial
leadership.
4. How this explosion of industrial capitalism was both extolled for its accomplishments and attacked
for its excesses.
5. How American workers reacted to the physical and psychological realities of the new economic
order.
6. How the social and economic lure of the city attracted foreign and domestic migrants, and how
these newcomers adjusted to urban life.
7. How rapid urban growth attracted attention to severe problems of government mismanagement,
poverty, crime, inadequate housing, and precarious health and safety conditions.
8. The inability or unwillingness of municipal, state, and national governments to respond effectively
to the nation’s growing social and economic ills.
9. How the troubled agrarian sector mounted a powerful but unsuccessful challenge to the new
directions of American industrial capitalism, and how this confrontation came to a head during the
crises of the 1890s.
10. How progressivism was a reaction to the rise of corporate monopolies, political corruption, and
social depravity in the late nineteenth century.
11. That all progressives shared an optimistic view that active, democratic government could solve
problems and create an efficient, ordered society.
12. How the temperance, immigration-restriction, and women’s suffrage movements took on crusadelike aspects.
13. How Theodore Roosevelt’s leadership helped fashion a new, expanded role for the national
government and helped to create the modern presidency.
14. How the administrations of William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson embodied both
conservative and progressive features.
Trimester II – Units #12-13
American Imperialism, World War I, 1920s, Depression and New Deal (1914-1941)
1. Why Americans abandoned the old continental concept of Manifest Destiny to embrace a new
worldwide expansionism.
2. How the nation made political and military adjustments to accommodate its new role as a major
world power.
3. That the United States pursued a much more assertive and interventionist foreign policy, especially
toward the Caribbean region.
4. How the United States, which pursued a policy of neutrality throughout most of World War I, was
eventually drawn into full participation in the war.
5. How the Wilson administration financed the war, managed the economy, and encouraged public
support for the war effort.
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American Imperialism, World War I, 1920s, Depression and New Deal (1914-1941) (cont.)
6. That Woodrow Wilson tried to apply his lofty war aims to the realities of world politics and that he
substantially failed.
7. That the American war effort had profound economic, social, and racial significance.
8. How World War I resulted in a curtailment of civil liberties for outspoken political minorities or
suspect ethnicities.
9. How the automobile boom and new technologies led to the economic expansion of the 1920s, but
left out most workers and farmers who failed to share equitably in the decade’s prosperity.
10. How a nationwide consumer-oriented culture began to shape a modern society but created tension
between rural and urban populations.
11. How weaknesses underlying the apparent prosperity of the 1920s led to the Great Depression, and
how the stock market crash touched it off.
12. How the economic pressures of the Depression affected American people from all walks of life:
elite and working class, men and women, white and black, young and old, etc.
13. How Franklin Roosevelt pushed through programs of economic planning and direct relief in the
First New Deal, and how criticism of his policies inspired Roosevelt to launch a Second New Deal.
14. That the New Deal helped give rise to a new role for the national government as a “broker state”
among various organized interests.
Trimester III – Units 14-16
World War II, Cold War, Prosperity and Civil Rights
1. How America, in the face of growing world crises in the 1930s, turned increasingly toward
isolationism and legislated neutrality.
2. How events in Europe and Asia gradually drew the United States closer and closer into World War
II, until the attack on Pearl Harbor compelled American entry.
3. The Japanese-American internment and the limits placed on liberty and freedom in times of war.
4. The vast productive capacity of the United States was the key to defeating the Axis and had a
profound impact on the home front in America.
5. How the World War II home front provided opportunities for women and racial minorities to
advance economically but also denied them full acceptance into American society.
6. How sea power contained the Japanese, and how the Allied forces moved steadily closer to Japan
and ended the war with the dropping of the atomic bomb.
7. How a legacy of mistrust between the United States and the Soviet Union combined with
disappointments during World War II led to the advent of the Cold War.
8. How the policy of containment led to an increasing United States involvement in crises around the
world.
9. How the post-World War II economy ushered in an era of nervous prosperity otherwise known as
the “Affluent Society”.
10. The turbulent postwar era climaxed in a period of hysteria of anti-communism known as
McCarthyism.
11. That the technological, consumer-oriented society of the 1950s supported a large middle class yet
ignored a less privileged underclass living in American cities and the countryside.
12. How the Supreme Court’s school desegregation decision in 1954 marked the beginning of a civil
rights revolution for American blacks.
13. How the civil rights movement finally generated enough sympathy among whites to accomplish
the legal end of segregation, but the persistence of racism gave rise to the black power philosophy
and left many problems unsolved.
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Trimester III – 17-18
Vietnam, Watergate, and the Rise of Political Conservatism
1. How containment and the its preoccupation with communism led the United States to use
military force against leftist nationalist movements in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and
disastrously in Vietnam.
2. How Richard Nixon believed that stability in a “multipolar” world could only be established by
ending the Vietnam War, forging a new relationship with China, and seeking détente with the
Soviet Union.
3. How Nixon’s fear of opposition and his arrogant assumption that his own fortunes were identical
to those of the nation led to his downfall through Watergate
4. That Gerald Ford managed to restore the confidence in the presidency but remained unable to
make significant breakthroughs in solving the nation’s international and economic problems.
5. That the difficult problems faced by Jimmy Carter, including a sluggish economy, an energy
crunch, and a Middle Eastern crisis reduced him to a one-term president.
6. That Ronald Reagan’s personality soothed Americans and his brand of conservatism struck a
responsive chord as he moved toward a reduced role for government in the economy and an
increased emphasis on military spending.
7. That the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union forced the United States to
revaluate its role in the world.
8. How William Clinton won the presidency by focusing on the economy but failed to accomplish his
major initiatives due conservative resistance in Congress and the backlash of personal scandals.
9. That the civil rights movement, affirmative action, and other liberal reforms improved
opportunities for educated blacks but came under attack by political and cultural conservatives.
10. That the nation faced a rising number of seemingly intractable social problems including violent
crime, drug addiction, homelessness, AIDS, environmental hazards, and a deprived underclass.
11. How the nation’s foreign policy and domestic priorities were transformed by the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001.
Trimester III – AP Exam Review
The Exam, Multiple Choice, and FRQ and DBQs
1. Explanation of AP Exam: time, contents, breakdown, scoring, and strategies.
2. Discussion of Multiple Choice strategies and scoring system used by the College Board.
3. Two practice tests taken using online media resources offered by the Boston Public Library and
REA Associates.
4. Three practice tests taken from the released AP United States History Exams of 1984, 1988, and
1996.
5. Review of FRQs and DBQs from released AP United States History Exams from 1996-2006.
6. Discussion of essay-writing strategies and helpful writing advice provided by AP Central webpage.
7. Scoring and discussion of actual student-responses to exam questions on past exams, available on
the AP Central webpage.
8. Further discussion of strategies between students who will take exam and seniors who took the
exam during the previous year.
9. Independent study in class where students use note cards, web pages, reading notes, and textbooks
to review for exam.
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Scope and Sequence of AP Unites States History Course
Unit One. The Meeting of Cultures (1492-1607)
One Week
Student Readings:
Chapter 1, Worlds Collide: Europe and America, in Henretta
Chapter 2, Invasion and Settlement, in Henretta
Reading Notes #1: Native Americans and Contact
Document Excerpts: Ship’s Log of Christopher Columbus, 1492
Bartolome de Las Casas Indicts the Conquistadores, 1542
Martin Luther’s On Christian Freedom, 1520
Richard Hakluyt Lists Reasons for English Colonization, 1584
Content Objectives (the student will understand):
 the origins and variety of civilizations that existed in pre-Columbian America.
 the European voyages of discovery and the explorers who searched for a passage to Asia.
 the exchanges and clashes that resulted from European contact with the indigenous people of the New
World.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Notes: Introduction: Ideas that distinguish Americans and their history: 1) a “passion for freedom”, 2)
faith in “popular government”, 3) “pursuit of education”, 4) “willingness to experiment”, 5) belief in
“American exceptionalism”
2. Chart Exercise: Students create a large chart comparing Native American civilization with European
Civilization during the baseline year of 1400. Categories in the chart must include: political structure,
religious beliefs, social organization, cultural advancements, and economic system.
3. Journal Writing: Respond to the following -- Why was it Europe that initiated contact with the
Americas and not the other way around? What factors propelled Europe from an “inward-looking”
civilization to an expansive “outward-looking” one and what forces had the opposite effect on the
Americas?
4. In-Class Reading: Ecological Revolution. Students, in groups, are asked to create a list of the ways that
the Columbian Exchange transformed European and American societies.
5. Informal Debate: Were the Indians Victims? Students read opposing viewpoints of two historians –
Forrest McDonald and Eugene Genovese – and debate whether the destruction of the Native Americans
represented an early form of genocide or the result of competition between civilizations.
6. SOAPS – Document Analysis: Students learn to analyze documents by this method – Source, Occasion,
Audience, Purpose, and Significance.
7. Test on content objectives.
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Unit Two: British North America (1607-1754)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 3, The British Empire in America, in Henretta
Chapter 4, Growth and Crisis in Colonial Society, in Henretta
Chapter 2, The “Tempest” in the Wilderness: The Racialization of Savagery, in Takaki
Chapter 3, The Giddy Multitude: The Hidden Origins of Slavery, in Takaki
Chapter 1, Serving Time in Virginia: The Perspectives of Evidence in Social History, in Davidson
Reading Notes #2: New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies
Reading Notes #3: Colonial Society
Document Excerpts: The Mayflower Compact, 1620
John Winthrop’s A Model of Christian Charity, 1630
Roger Williams's Plea for Religious and Political Liberty, 1645
William Penn's Frame of Government, 1682
Andrew Hamilton’s Defense of John Peter Zenger and a Free Press, 1735
Jonathan Edwards's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Sermon, 1741
Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1733-58
Content Objectives (the student will understand):
 the reasons for the founding of the different colonies in North America.
 the factors making for England's success in North America.
 the social and cultural differences that existed between the colonists and Native Americans.
 the impact of slavery and free labor in distinguishing southern from northern colonies.
 the development of a distinct colonial culture influenced by the Enlightenment and the Great
Awakening.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Summer Reading: Love and Hate in Jamestown by David A. Price (Vintage Books, New York,
2005).Teacher and students discuss the book assigned for summer reading. The discussion focuses on the
interaction, both positive and negative, between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians.
Questions for stimulating discussion: Was the colony’s policy of alternating intimidation and flattery
towards the Indians really effective? List ways in which the Powhatans were the equals, or even the
superiors, of the English settlers? How important was Pocahontas to the survival of the Jamestown
colony? How was John Smith the “quintessential” American?
2. Create a Colonial Town: To illustrate the similarities and differences that existed between the three
sections of British Colonial America, students are to design one of the three fictitious colonial towns in the
17th century. 1/3 of the class will draw a typical town in New England, 1/3 of the class will draw a typical
town in the Middle Colonies, and 1/3 of the class will draw one for the Southern (plantation) Colonies.
Town plans should illustrate the following: geography, land use, employment, industry, commerce,
religion, education, class structure, type of governance, and foreign relations (Indians). Students write a
follow-up paragraph describing how their town exemplifies the characteristics of the region it was located
in.
3. PRIMES Chart: Students create a chart that compares and contrasts the three colonial sections
according to the following themes: population, politics, religion, intellectual trends, military, economic,
and social organization.
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Assignments and Assessments (continued):
4. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: What factors account most for the
success of the Puritans in establishing an ordered society in New England? How important were
Puritan religious values to the survival and success of the Massachusetts Bay Colony?
5. In-Class Reading: Capital Punishment in Early America: A Kind of Moral Theater? Students read and
comment on the nature of crime and the role of punishment in Puritan society.
6. Geography and Demographics: Handout #10 Map Locations, The English Colonies; Handout #11
Population Growth in the Colonies
7. Notes: Intellectual History of Colonial North America (handout): John Winthrop and Puritanism; Anne
Hutchinson and Dissent (Antinomian Heresy); Half-Way Covenant and the rise of Secularism; Ben
Franklin and the American Enlightenment; Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening. Emphasis is
placed on the rebellious and democratic character of these important intellectual antecedents to the
American Revolution.
8. PowerPoint: Colonial Culture: Painters, Printers, and Preachers. Teacher provides examples of the
works of John Singleton Copley who embraced and advanced the “Anglicization” of American culture;
the maxims of Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac that defined an American philosophy; and the spiritual
ideas of Cotton Mather (who accommodated the Enlightenment) and Jonathan Edwards (who dissented
against all Enlightenment thought).
9. Guide to Writing AP Essays (adapted from Patrick Rael of Bowdoin College) Students read packet that
summarizes the components of good essay-writing in history. Subjects covered: brainstorming, writing an
introduction, thesis construction, essay organization, topic sentences, paragraphs, supporting details, and
conclusion.
10. Test and Take-Home Essay: Students choose one of the following and write a 4-paragraph essay in
response.
-- Compare and contrast the ways in which economic development affected politics in Massachusetts
and Virginia in the period from 1607 to 1750. (2005) OR
-- Compare the ways in which TWO of the following reflected tensions in colonial society. (2003B)
Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
Pueblo Revolt (1680)
Salem witchcraft trials (1692)
Stono Rebellion (1739)
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Unit Three: Empire Under Strain and Revolution (1754-1783)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 5, Toward Independence: Years of Decision, in Henretta
Chapter 6, War and Revolution, in Henretta
PP. 104-118, Tory Elites to Liberty or Death!, in Fischer
Chapter 1, The Birth of American Freedom, in Foner
Chapter 2, To Call it Freedom, in Foner
Reading Notes #4: Road to Revolution
Reading Notes #5: The American Revolution
Document Excerpts: Thomas Hutchinson Recounts the Mob Reaction to the Stamp Act in Boston, 1765
The Declaration of Rights and Grievances of the First Continental Congress, 1774
Patrick Henry's Give Me Liberty Speech, 1775
The Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms of the Second
Continental Congress, 1775
Thomas Paine's Common Sense, 1776 [Heffner]
Abigail Adams’s Remember the Ladies Letter to John Adams, 1776
The Declaration of Independence, 1776 [Heffner]
Abigail Adams Instructs Her Son on Republican Virtue, 1783
Content Objectives (the student will understand):
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England's changing policies in the political and economic administration of the colonies.
the relations between the English colonists and their neighbors in North America. The French
and the Indian War.
the changes in British colonial policy after 1763.
how the Whig ideology shaped the colonial response to changes in British policy.
the role of Revolutionary leaders, including Samuel and John Adams, John Dickinson, Thomas Paine,
Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington.
American and British military strategies and the Revolutionary War's major turning points.
the American Revolution understood as a "political revolution" more than a “social revolution”
Assignments and Assessments:
1. DBQ Analysis: As a class, students review the events of the French and Indian War and study the
components of the DBQ. Students receive copies of the 2004 DBQ: In what ways did the French and
Indian War (1754-63) alter the political, economic, and ideological relations between Britain and its
North American colonies? Students learn to dissect/analyze the question, evaluate documents for main
idea, insert outside information in document margins; group documents by pairs; relate documents to
question being answered, etc.
2. Politics of Empire: Handout #14 What Should George Grenville Do?; Handout #15 Who Fired First at
Lexington? (Students hypothesize on the motivations of famous and ordinary actors in history)
3. In-Class Reading: Popular Culture and Revolutionary Ferment. Students read and comment on how
revolutionary leaders inflamed public opinion to oppose taxes, Parliament, and King.
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Assignments and Assessments (continued):
4. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: Which side was more responsible for
pushing events toward a military confrontation, Parliament or the colonies? Which groups in colonial
society most actively supported the rebellion and why? What groups opposed and why? What groups
were ambivalent or disinterested?
5. Document Analysis: Draft of Declaration of Independence: Students analyze specific lines in each of
the three parts of the Declaration -- Statement of Principles, List of Grievances, and Declaration – for
meaning and intent. Students also speculate on why the 2nd Continental Congress struck out particular
parts of Jefferson’s draft.
6. Informal Debate: What Kind of Revolution? Students read opposing viewpoints of two historians –
Forrest McDonald and Eugene Genovese – and debate whether the Revolution was radical or conservative
in nature.
6. Notes: Consequences of the American Revolution according to J. Franklin Jameson and Gordon Wood:
a) disappearance of the “old” aristocracy; b) equal economic opportunity fuels political democracy; c)
stimulus to business and commercial enterprises; d) promotion of education; e) rise of egalitarian
thinking; f) new status for women; g) slavery ended in New England; h) contradiction between slavery
and freedom more evident; i) enlarged franchise in selected states; j) Native Americans lose valuable ally
(Great Britain), etc..
7. Test and Take-Home DBQ Essay: Students write a 5-paragraph essay in response to the following:
-- To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their own identity and unity as Americans by
the eve of the Revolution? (1999). In class, on the essay due date, students analyze a model response
to the 1999 DBQ and then write comments on their own papers relating to strengths and weaknesses.
Unit Four: Confederation to Constitution (1783-1789)
One Week
Student Readings:
Chapter 7, The New Political Order, in Henretta
PP. 179-202, Republican Hero: George Washington to Republican Statesmen as Symbols, in Fischer
Reading Notes #6: The New Nation
Document Excerpts: The Articles of Confederation, 1777
The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, 1786
The United States Constitution, 1787 [Heffner]
Benjamin Franklin’s Comments on the Constitution, 1787
Federalist #10 by James Madison, 1787-1788 [Heffner]
Federalist #51 by James Madison, 1787-1788
Patrick Henry's Against the Constitution Speech, 1788
Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to James Madison on the Constitution, 1787
The Bill of Rights, 1791 [Heffner]
Content Objectives (the student will understand):
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the achievements and weaknesses of the Confederation government under the Articles of
Confederation.
the issues involved in writing the United States Constitution.
the debate over ratifying the Constitution – personalities, compromises, and controversies
the ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights
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Assignments and Assessments:
1. Group Exercise: Students in groups are given questions to research about the “Critical Period” in
American history, 1783-1789 (John Fiske). They must create a banner with at least THREE bullets that
help answer a specific question. Also, they must provide a supporting example for each bullet. Questions
include: What problems developed in the new country as a result of victory and independence? How were
the Articles of Confederation inadequate for the challenges faced at the time? What were the motives of
the men who wanted to amend or scrap the Articles? How were the defects of the Articles redressed by the
new Constitution? What problems arose at the 1787 Convention and how, if at all, were they resolved?
2. The Constitution: Handout #18 The Separation of Powers; Handout #19 Federalists and AntiFederalists; Handout #20 Analyzing the Constitution
3. In-Class Reading: The Elusive Constitution: The Search for Original Intent. Students read and comment
on the role and vision of James Madison, the “Architect of the Constitution”.
4. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to the following questions: What did the Framers value? To
what extent were the moral values and political principles of the Declaration of Independence
incorporated into the United States Constitution? To what extent were they left out, and if so, why? Is the
Constitution a “liberal” or “conservative” document?
5. Constitution Analysis: Students work through the Constitution and extract passages that reflect
“strengths” and “weaknesses” of the Constitution as a framework of government. They record the
location of the passage, analyze its language, and then present justifications for why a particular citation
represents a strength or a weakness.
6. Précis Assignment: Federalist Papers: Students are asked to write a précis statement for one of the
Federalist Papers. They are given an example of a précis for Federalist #10. This is a writing exercise to
sharpen students writing skills in preparation for writing concise, analytical, and persuasive prose.
7. Mini-Debates on Bill of Rights: Civil Liberties in Contemporary American Society: The goal of the lesson
is to involve students in debating the “rights” and “counter-rights” of Americans as identified by Professor
Alan Dershowitz in his book, Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age (1999).
8. Test and In-Class Essay: Students write a 4-5-paragraph essay in response to the following:
-- Analyze the degree to which the Articles of Confederation provided an effective form of
government with respect to any TWO of the following. (1996)
Foreign relations
Economic conditions
Western lands
OR
-- In your opinion, to what extent was the United States Constitution a radical departure from the
Articles of Confederation? (2005)
13
Unit Five: First Presidents and New Republic (1789-1816)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 8, Westward Expansion and a New Political Economy, in Henretta
Chapter 9, The Quest for a Republican Society, in Henretta
PP. 228-246, The Original Uncle Sam to The Many Faces of Miss Liberty, in Fischer
Reading Notes #7: The Federalist Era
Reading Notes #8: Jefferson as President
Reading Notes #9: The War of 1812
Document Excerpts: Alexander Hamilton's On the Constitutionality of an Act to Establish a Bank, 1791
[Heffner]
President George Washington's Farewell Address, 1796 [Heffner]
Thomas Jefferson's Mazzei Letter, 1796
Thomas Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolutions, 1798 [Heffner]
President Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801 [Heffner]
Marbury v. Madison, 1803 [Heffner]
President Madison's War Message, 1812
Content Objectives (the student will understand):





Alexander Hamilton's national economic program under Washington and Adams.
the beginnings of the first national party system.
the elements of Federalist foreign policy.
the domestic policies of the Republicans in power – Jefferson, Madison.
the causes and consequences of the War of 1812.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Journal Writing: Students write a long paragraph summarizing the evolution of the early foreign policy
of the United States. In the paragraph, they make parenthetical references to the events that they have read
about -- example: “As he witnessed the growing animosity between two emerging political parties,
Washington cautioned against political ties with European nations. (Washington’s Farewell Address).”
2. Federalism Holds Sway: Handout #24 Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures; Handout #25 The Alien and
Sedition Acts; Handout #26 A Senator Opposes the Louisiana Purchase
3. In-Class Viewing: Equal Justice Under Law: Marbury v. Madison OR Burr v. United States. [A
production of The Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution (1987); Warren Burger,
Chairman.] Students watch and summarize the role played by John Marshall in strengthening the power of
the Supreme Court through “judicial review”.
4. Notes: Chart contrasting the political beliefs of Federalists and Democratic Republicans on the
following issues: Funding at par, B.U.S., Excise Tax, Protective Tariff, U. S. Constitution, Democracy,
Nationalism, French Revolution, Jay Treaty, Alien and Sedition Acts, Louisiana Purchase, etc.
5. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: What were the motives behind
Hamilton’s programs for federal taxation, assumption, and currency regulation? What was it in his
motives that so upset Jefferson and Madison? Compare and contrast the political, economic, and social
philosophies of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Explain the sort of nation each wished to
create. Speculate on how Jefferson and Hamilton might react to current conditions in American domestic
and foreign affairs.
14
Assignments and Assessments (continued):
6. In-Class Worksheet: Thomas Jefferson and the Rise of the Democratic-Republicans. Students evaluate
four aspects of Jefferson’s presidency: Style and Principles, Taxes and Economy, Foreign Relations,
and Expansion of Boundaries. Additionally, students evaluate one of several of Jefferson’s more famous
quotes about government and society and compare it to his record as president.
7. Comparison Chart: War of 1812. Students compare the War of 1812 to the War in Iraq in the following
concerns: a) Steps to war, b) Reasons for war, c) Events of war, and d) Results or Significance of war.
8. Test and Take-Home DBQ Essay: Students write a 6-paragraph essay in response to the following:
-- With respect to the federal Constitution, the Jeffersonian Republicans are usually characterized as
strict constructionists who were opposed to the broad construction of the Federalists. To what extent
was this characterization of the two parties accurate during the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison?
(1998)
Unit Six: Nationalism and Early Sectionalism (1816-1828)
One Week
Student Readings:
Chapter 10, The Economic Revolution, in Henretta
Chapter 5, No More Peck O’ Corn, in Takaki
Reading Notes #10: The Era of Good Feelings
Reading Notes #11: Slavery in the New Republic
Reading Notes #12: Antebellum Economy
Document Excerpts: McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819
Chancellor James Kent's Speech on Universal Suffrage, 1821
The Monroe Doctrine, 1823 [Heffner]
Tallmadge Amendment, 1819,
From the Slave Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, 1789
From the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 1845
Content Objectives (the student will understand):




the political realignment of the "Era of Good Feelings."
how economic policy, diplomacy, and judicial decisions reflected the nationalism of these years.
the institution of slavery and other issues that promoted sectionalism.
the expansion of agriculture, industry, and transportation.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Notes: Factors Contributing to the early Industrial Revolution and a National Economy: patents;
subsidies and land grants for roads, canals, and railroads (Transportation Revolution); tariffs; public
education; frontier; immigration; Supreme Court decisions; national bank; transition of capital investment
from commerce to manufacturing, etc..
2. Notes: Summary of the Status of Different Social Groups in Early American Society: white men, white
women, children, slaves, slaveowners, business elites, and the urban poor.
3. Chart: Students create a chart that illustrates and explains the issues around which the three sections of
the country (North, South and West) began to divide: protective tariff, internal improvements, Second
National Bank, Missouri Compromise (and slavery). Class discussion follows.
15
Assignments and Assessments (continued):
4. Era of Good Feelings: Handout #27 United States Exports and Imports, 1790-1820; Handout #29
John Marshall’s Important Cases; Handout #30 The Monroe Doctrine
5. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following question: The period of 1816-1825 has been
referred to as the “Era of Good Feelings”. How did America flourish as a nation and as a people during
this decade? What events or trends implied that this era of peace and prosperity would not last?
Consider the following factors: politics, society, culture, foreign affairs, and the economy. Provide a
generalization for each category and support each conclusion with evidence from the reading and notes.
6. In-Class Reading: The Evolution of a “Mill Girl”. Students read and comment on the conditions of
factory work in the textile mills of New England. How do they contrast with working conditions today?
Why were young girls employed as factory operatives? Also, students read Plantation Women – White
and Black. Students comment on how the “peculiar institution” impacted women on southern plantations.
7. Slave Records: In groups, students read, analyze, and answer questions about a slave inventory copied
from the books of a New Orleans sugar plantation owner. Students also read accompanying slave
vignettes that detail the life and regimen of a field slave on a typical plantation in the South. Students
discuss the economy of owning slavery, and the impact that the “peculiar institution” had on slaves,
masters, and overseers. Students explore both the practical rationale for slavery (a secure labor force),
and the intellectual rationale (racism and the fear of an alliance between a black and white underclass).
8. Test and In-Class Essay: Students write a 5-paragraph essay in response to the following:
-- Although the power of the national government increased during the early republic, this development
often faced serious opposition. Compare the motives and effectiveness of those opposed to the growing
power of the national government in TWO of the following. (2003)
Whiskey Rebellion, 1794
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, 1798-1799
Hartford Convention, 1814-1815
McCulloch v. Maryland, 1832-1833.
16
Unit Seven: Jackson’s America and Early Reform (1828-1840)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 11, A Democratic Revolution, in Henretta
Chapter 12, Religion and Reform, in Henretta
Chapter 4, Toward the Stony Mountains: From Removal to Reservation, in Takaki
Chapter 6, Emigrants from Erin: Ethnicity and Class within White America, in Takaki
Reading Notes #13: Jacksonian Democracy I
Reading Notes #14: Jacksonian Democracy II
Reading Notes #15: Antebellum Intellectualism, Religion, and Reform
Document Excerpts: John C. Calhoun's South Carolina Exposition and Protest, 1828
Daniel Webster's Reply to Robert Hayne, 1830 [Heffner]
President Jackson’s Nullification Proclamation, 1832
President Jackson's Veto of the National Bank, 1832 [Heffner]
Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, 1835
William Lloyd Garrison’s The Liberator (First Issue Editorial), 1831
Charles G. Finney Defines Revivalism, 1834
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essay on Self-Reliance, 1841
Henry David Thoreau's Walden, 1854
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, 1844
A Declaration of Women's Rights, Seneca Falls, 1848 [Heffner]
Horace Mann’s The Case For Public Schools, 1848
Content Objectives (the student will understand):





the Elections of 1824 and 1828 and the emergence of the popular democracy.
the social and political context of the Jackson and Van Buren administrations.
Andrew Jackson's attitudes and actions concerning the Nullification, Indian policy and the Bank of the
United States.
the rise of the second national party system.
the rise of the Second Great Awakening, social reform movements, and a national literature.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Journal Writing: In a paragraph, students explain who they think deserved to be President in 1824.
They must consider the following: qualifications, political philosophies, election results, and the state of
the nation in 1824. Also, they consider which is more important: that a president represent and carry out
the interests of the majority while in office OR that a president creates a national consensus behind his
ideas while in office. Students first do background reading on the Elections of 1824+1828. (handout)
2. Notes: Chart on the differences between Democrats and Whigs in the Second Party System. Issues
of conflict include: Clay’s “American System”, constitution, states’ rights, slavery, majoritarian rule,
monopolies, immigration, social morality, etc.
17
Assignments and Assessments (continued):
3. Dinner Party: Students research an antebellum writer or reformer using resources in the school library
or computer lab. They take notes pertaining to that person’s life, his ideas or cause, and how he worked
toward his goals. Questions to be answered in their research include: What criticisms of American society
did the individual have? What methods did the person employ to convince others? What success did the
individual have in promoting reform? What detail(s) of the person’s work or life made him an interesting
historical figure? Students are then arranged around a conference table and speak, in character, about
several of the following topics: feminism, slavery, temperance, immigration, technology, reason and truth,
spiritual salvation, war, literature, etc.. Some of the individuals include: Lucretia Mott, Margaret Fuller,
Horace Mann, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Grandison Finney, William Backus,
William Lloyd Garrison, Joseph Smith, Ralph Waldo Emerson, etc.
4. Jacksonian Democracy: Handout #32 Andrew Jackson Inaugurated; Handout #33 Electing Presidents
in the “New Politics”; Handout #38 Immigration to the United States from Great Britain, Ireland, and
Germany, 1820-1859
5. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: Andrew Jackson thought of himself as
the “president of the people.” Was he? What can you find in the career of Jackson that would support his
assertion, and what can you find to deny it? Discuss the careers of John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and
Daniel Webster, and explain why each failed to reach the presidency. How and why did the campaign of
1840 set a new pattern for presidential contests? Does this pattern persist today? Explain.
6. In-Class Reading: On the Hustings in Michigan. Students read and comment on the advantages and
disadvantages of increased popular interest and participation in American politics. Also, students read:
Spiritualism and comment on how the Second Great Awakening and Transcendentalism transformed how
many Americans viewed themselves and their world.
7. Utopian Society Advertising Poster: In groups of three, students jigsaw readings on three utopian
societies formed during the Jackson era: the Shakers, New Harmony, and Brook Farm. Students
then create a poster-size advertisement for their own utopian society that incorporates key facets of all
three societies they studied. They present these posters to the class and the class debates the merits and
failures of antebellum “come-outers”
8. Test and In-Class DBQ: Students write a 6-paragraph essay in response to the following:
-- 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
documents and your knowledge of the 1820s and 1830s, to what extent do you agree with the
Jacksonians’ view of themselves? Students are given a rubric for grading this essay before class.
18
Unit Eight: Impending Crisis and Civil War (1840-1865)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 13, The Crisis of Union, in Henretta
Chapter 14, Two Societies at War, in Henretta
Chapter 7, Foreigners in Their Native Land: Manifest Destiny in the Southwest, in Takaki
Chapter 6, The Madness of John Brown: The Uses of Psychohistory, in Davidson and Lytle
Chapter 4, The Boundaries of Freedom in the Young Republic, in Foner
PP. 313-340, The Civil War as a Clash of Symbols to The Iconography of Emancipation, in Fischer
Reading Notes #16: Texas and Manifest Destiny
Reading Notes #17: Road to Civil War I: 1850-1854
Reading Notes #18: Road to Civil War II: 1855-1861
Reading Notes #19: Civil War I: Union vs. Confederate
Reading Notes #20: Civil War II: Diplomacy and Emancipation
Document Excerpts: John L. O’Sullivan’s The Great Nation of Futurity, 1845
Henry David Thoreau's Essay on Civil Disobedience, 1849
John C. Calhoun's Last Speech on the Slavery Question, 1850 [Heffner]
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852
George Fitzhugh, The Failure of Free Society, 1854
Charles Sumner’s The Crime Against Kansas Speech, 1856
Hinton R. Helper, The Impending Crisis, 1857
Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857 [Heffner]
Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858 -- Freeport and Charleston, Illinois
John Brown's Statement to the Court, 1859
South Carolina’s Declaration of Causes of Secession, 1860
General Sherman Recalls the March Through Georgia, 1864
** The speeches of Abraham Lincoln are taught separately and together in a separate lesson titled:
“The Mind of Abraham Lincoln” (see below)
Content Objectives (the student will understand):









the causes, course, and consequences of the Mexican-American War of 1846-48.
the economic, social, and cultural differences between the North and the South.
the politicization of slavery by extremists in both the North and the South.
how the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act reflected sectional tensions.
the rise of a third-generation party system: Republicans and Democrats.
the specific events that led to the secession of the southern states.
the main course and major strategies of the Civil War.
how the war affected the home front, North and South.
the reasons for, and results of, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Notes: Students study notesheet on the differences and similarities existing between the North and the
South (1820-1860) in the following areas: economics, social organization, cultural norms, and politics
2. Map and Timeline: Students complete an outline map showing the territorial acquisitions of the United
States from 1840-1860 and the growing division of Northern and Southern states over the issue of
slavery as well as divisions within those regions. Students create an accompanying timeline that illustrates
the growing divide between the North and the South leading up to the Civil War
19
Assignments and Assessments (continued):
3. Compromise of 1850: Students design a proposal for settling the status of the “Mexican Cession”,
resolving issues between the North and the South, and preventing the escalation of tensions that will
eventually lead to civil war. Each proposal or plan is written from the perspective of one of the following
individuals: Northern Whig, Northern Democrat, Southern Democrat, Border State Unionist.
4. “The Mind of Abraham Lincoln”: Students read excerpts from Lincoln’s famous speeches from 1858 to
1865 and trace Lincoln’s intellectual evolution on the following subjects: a) slavery, b) the Constitution,
c) secession and the South, d) the Union, e) the Civil War, and f) God. The speeches students will read
and analyze are the following: House Divided Speech, 1858; Cooper Union Address, 1860; First
Inaugural Address, 1861; Reply to Horace Greeley's Prayer of Twenty Millions, 1862; Gettysburg
Address, 1863; and Second Inaugural Address, 1865 [Heffner]
5. The Civil War Era: Handout #40 The Distribution of the Slave Population; Handout #42 A Day on the
Oregon Trail; Handout #44 Political Decisions During the Civil War; Handout #45 The Military Draft in
the Union and the Confederacy
6. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: Compare the methods used and the
results obtained by the North and the South to finance the war, raise troops, furnish supplies, care for the
wounded, and influence world opinion. Compare the social and economic impact of the Civil War on the
North and the South. How were the following groups impacted by the Civil War: southern women,
slaves, free blacks plantation owners, immigrants, northern farmers, factory workers, etc.
7. In-Class Reading: The Enigma of John Brown. Students use the article, and the reading on Brown in
Davidson and Lytle, to judge Brown either “insane” or a “martyr” to the cause of abolition. Also,
students read: Soldiering. Students comment on the lives of ordinary soldiers fighting for both the Union
and the Confederacy.
8. Informal Debate: The Civil War: What Were The “Real” Causes? Students read opposing viewpoints of
two historians – Forrest McDonald and Eugene Genovese – and debate whether slavery or states’ rights
was the more immediate cause of the Civil war.
9. Test and In-Class Essay: Students write a 5-paragraph essay in response to one of the following:
-- Assess the moral arguments and political actions of those opposed to the spread of slavery in the
context of TWO of the following. (2000)
Mexican War
Compromise of 1850
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Dred Scott Decision
-- Analyze the economic consequences of the Civil War with respect to any TWO of the following in the
United States between 1865 and 1880. (1997)
Agriculture
Labor
Industrialization
Transportation
20
Unit Nine: Reconstruction and Race (1865-1900)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 15, Reconstruction, in Henretta
Chapter 7, The View from the Bottom Rail: Oral History and the Freedmen’s Point of View, in Davidson
Chapter 5, A New Birth of Freedom, in Foner
Reading Notes #21: Reconstruction I : Moderate Republicans and Radical Republicans
Reading Notes #22: Reconstruction II : The End of Reconstruction
Document Excerpts: Representative Thaddeus Stevens’s Speech on Reconstruction, 1865
The Louisiana Black Codes, 1865
President Johnson’s Cleveland Speech, 1866
Articles of Impeachment Against President Johnson, 1868
The Fourteenth Amendment, 1868 and The Fifteenth Amendment, 1870
A Freedman Recalls a Visit from the Ku Klux Klan, 1871
J.W. Leigh’s Observations on Negro Rule, 1876
The Slaughterhouse Cases, 1873
Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Compromise Speech, 1895 [Heffner]
Plessy v. Ferguson and Justice John Marshall Harlan’s Dissent, 1896
W.E.B. Dubois’s Talented Tenth Speech, 1905
Content Objectives (the student will understand):






the Presidential and Congressional approaches to Reconstruction.
Congressional efforts to reshape southern society (13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments)
the political and economic condition of African-Americans in the early postwar years.
national politics in the 1870s and the end of Reconstruction
race relations in the New South.
the civil rights philosophies of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Journal-Writing: Students respond to one of the five key questions about Reconstruction with their own
judgments or insights: 1) How to rebuild the South after its destruction during the Civil War? 2) What
should be the condition or status of African Americans in the South? 3) How should the South be
reintegrated into the Union? 4) Who would control the process of Reconstruction: Southern states, the
president, or Congress? 5) What should be done with the leaders of the Confederacy – amnesty or
prosecution?
2. Notes: Students complete chart comparing and contrasting the reconstruction plans of Abraham
Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and the Radical Republicans of Congress: a) what were the purposes and
provisions of each plan? b) how did each plan impact former Confederates and African-Americans?
c) how did each plan define Union and Democracy? d) how did each plan succeed or fail?
3. Cartoon Shuffle: Students are assigned cartoons, by Thomas Nast, that chronicle the rise and fall
of Andrew Johnson. For each cartoon, students identify what event in Johnson’s administration it refers to
and explain why Nast portrayed Johnson the way he did at that time. Students share their conclusions with
the class.
4. Reconstruction: Handout #47 The Impeachment Trial of President Andrew Johnson; Handout #48 A
Grand Jury Condemns the Ku Klux Klan
21
Assignments and Assessments (continued):
5. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: What was the crop lien system and why
did it arise? What were the consequences this system and the continuing dependence on “cash- crop”
(cotton) agriculture for: African-Americans, the Southern economy, and political stability? Could this
system be fairly described as a “vicious circle” for freedmen?.
6. Video Presentation: Students watch a selection from The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith and
discuss how Griffith portrayed “Republican Rule” in the South and why he glorified the Ku Klux Klan.
Students reflect on “real” racial relations during Reconstruction in the South and why whites feared the
new freedmen. Students read the essay: Changing Views of Reconstruction and comment on how historywriting has been influenced by modern events and revisionism that takes place at the time of the writing.
7. In-Depth Reading: Students read Chapter 2, “Of the Dawn of Freedom”, in The Souls of Black Folk by
W.E.B. Dubois and construct a “report card” on the performance of the Freedmen’s Bureau and
Republican state governments with regard to: a) relieving physical suffering, b) promoting free labor, c)
facilitating land redistribution, d) fostering public education, e) caring for black veterans, f) seeking
equitable justice in disputes between whites and blacks
8. Informal Debate: Reconstruction: A Success or a Failure? Students read opposing viewpoints of two
historians – Forrest McDonald and Eugene Genovese – and debate the true merits of Reconstruction to
spreading freedom and democracy, improving equality, and addressing the racial divide in America.
9. Test and Take-home DBQ: Students write a 6-paragraph essay in response to one of the following:
-- In what ways and to what extent did constitutional and social developments between 1860 and 1877
amount to a revolution? (1996)
Unit Ten: Western Expansion and Eastern Industrialization (1865-1890)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 16, The American West, in Henretta
Chapter 17, Capital and Labor in the Age of Enterprise, in Henretta
Chapter 19, The Rise of the City, in Henretta
Chapter 9, The “Indian Question”: From Reservation to Reorganization, in Takaki
Chapter 11, Between Two Endless Days: The Continuous Journey to the Promised Land, in Takaki
Chapter 6, Liberty of Contract and Its Discontents, in Foner
PP. 375-390, The Golden Door to Bright Eyes and Standing Bear, in Fischer
Chapter 8, The Mirror with a Memory: Photographic Evidence and the Urban Scene, in Davidson
Reading Notes #23: Conquering and Settling the Great Plains
Reading Notes #24: Industrialization
Reading Notes #25: Rise of the Labor Movement
Document Excerpts: Geronimo Comments on the Coming of the White Man, 1880s
Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor, 1881
Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, 1893
Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth Essay, 1889 [Heffner]
John D. Rockefeller Defends his Business Practices, 1890s
Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, 1906
Samuel Gompers on What the Workingman Wants, 1890 [Heffner]
In re Debs, 1895
The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, 1883
Jacob Riis and How the Other Half Lives
Carl Sandburg’s Chicago, 1916
22
Content Objectives (the student will understand):






the cattle, mining, and farming frontiers.
late nineteenth-century Native American government policy.
factors that fueled the growth of the post–Civil War economy.
the methods and achievements of major entrepreneurs.
the rise of large labor unions.
the rise of the cities
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Chart: Students fill in a chart that identifies and analyzes the different “phases” of the federal
government’s handling of the Native American question (1850-1906): treaties, removal, concentration,
large reservations, assimilation (Dawes Act), and destruction of environment (buffalo-hunting).
Students identify key people and conflicts as well as evaluate the overall success or failure of American
Indian policy.
2. Chart: Students fill in a chart on the organization of capital through pools, trusts, holding companies,
interlocking directorates, and through vertical and horizontal integration. Students also research the
business philosophies of Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Morgan and how they justified their
riches.
3. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: What factors promoted settlement of the
West? Why did the unsettled West hold a particularly strong romantic appeal for Americans? How has the
romantic vision of the frontier been perpetuated in American culture? Describe the conditions for farming
on the Great Plains. What special grievances contributed to an “agrarian malaise” in the latter
nineteenth century?
4. In-Class Reading: The Machine That Talk? Students read and comment on the impact of technology on
industry and American culture. Also, students read: Revivalism in the Modern City and comment on
the problems arising in modern cities and how religion and evangelical preachers responded to them.
5. The West and the East: Handout #51 Views on Indian Policy; Handout #52 A Kansas Homesteader
Builds a Sod House in 1877; Handout #53 Railroads and the Creation of a National Market; Handout
#54 Andrew Carnegie Visits Oil Creek; Handout #56 American Labor in the 1890s; Handout #61
Viewpoints on Pullman, Illinois; Handout #60 A Letter From a Polish Immigrant; Handout #58
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall
6. PowerPoint: In small groups, students are assigned one union (or organization of workers) that emerged
in the late 19th century to combat the power of employers. Students research each organization and
compile information on the following: leadership, membership, beliefs/principles, type of union (skilled,
unskilled, fraternity), industry or region of strength, actions (strikes, protests, boycotts, etc), effectiveness,
etc. Groups present their PowerPoints to the class and teach their classmates on what made their union
distinctive. Some unions and organizations include: National Labor Union, Knights of Labor, American
Federation of Labor, Industrial Workers of the World, American Railway Union, United Mine Workers,
etc.
7. Informal Debate: Jay Gould: Robber Baron or Industrial Statesmen? Students read opposing
viewpoints of two historians – Mary Klein and Thomas West – and debate whether entrepreneurs like Jay
Gould helped or hindered the economic progress of the nation.
23
Assignments and Assessments (continued):
8. Video: Seeds of Change, Vol. 1 in The American Century (ABC News and the History Channel)
narrated by Peter Jennings. Students watch segment which provides profiles and interviews of American
immigrants who came to America during the “New” Immigration. Students compose a letter to a relative
back in Europe from the perspective of an immigrant living in one of New York City’s ethnic ghettoes
describing his or her new life in America.
9. Test and In-class DBQ: Students write a 5-6 paragraph essay in response.
-- How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in the period from 1875
to 1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the level of success achieved. (2000)
Unit Eleven: Gilded Age Politics, Populism, Progressivism (1876-1920)
Student Readings:
Chapter 18, The Politics of Late Nineteenth-Century America, in Henretta
Chapter 20, The Progressive Era, in Henretta
Chapter 9, USDA Government Inspected: The Jungle of Political History, in Davidson
Chapter 7, Progressive Freedom, in Foner
PP. 401-417, “Freedom, the Symbol of Equality” to The Presidential Election of 1912
Reading Notes #26: Gilded Age of Politics
Reading Notes #27: Rise and Decline of Populism
Reading Notes #28: The Progressivism Era I – States
Reading Notes #29: The Progressivism Era I – Federal Government
Document Excerpts: The Pendleton Civil Service Act, 1883
Munn v. Illinois, 1877
The Omaha Platform, 1892 [Heffner]
William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech, 1896 [Heffner]
Henry George’s Progress and Poverty, 1879
Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward, 1888
Jacob Riis and The Battle with the Slum, 1902
Lincoln Steffens and The Shame of the Cities, 1904
Jane Addams and Twenty Years at Hull-House, 1910
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Speaks of the Solitude of Self, 1892
Charlotte Perkins Gilman Indicts the American Home, 1903
Muller v. Oregon, 1906
Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism, 1910 [Heffner]
Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom, 1912 [Heffner]
Content Objectives (the student will understand):








political developments in the Gilded Age.
problems, both real and perceived, affecting American farmers.
the rise of the agrarian revolt and the Populists.
the significance of the Election of 1896.
the support for change and the rationale of Progressivism.
the basic elements of progressive reform.
the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.
the significance of the election of 1912.
24
Two Weeks
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Notes: The Political Parties in Balance. Students compare and contrast the Democratic and Republican
parties of the Gilded Age with those same parties today. Students focus on: political philosophies,
positions on specific issues, demographic constituencies, and strategies for winning contested elections.
2. Six Degrees of Separation: Students imagine that Grover Cleveland is the center of the political
universe during the Gilded Age. They have to explain how a number of people and terms can be
connected to Cleveland in some way. They must make the connections within six degrees. This provides a
review of Gilded Age presidents, party leaders, and key political events.
3. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: What problems or injustices motivated
farmers to organize through the Grange, Farmer’s Alliances, and finally the Populist Party? Analyze the
successes and failures of Populism. Did Populism amount to an “agrarian revolt” in America? Analyze
the election of 1896 in terms of the candidates, campaigns, issues, and outcome.
4. Talk Show: Students conduct library research on a progressive reformer who focused on changing the
status quo in one of the following areas: politics, economics, society, or culture. Students present their
individuals to the class and respond to critical questions from audience members that will engage them in
further discussion and debate. Examples of individuals include: David Phillips; Robert LaFolette, Carrie
Chapman Catt, Henry George, Henry Demarest Lloyd, Eugene Debs, Jane Addams, Upton Sinclair, Jacob
Riis, Washington Gladden, John Dewey, William James, etc.
5. In-Class Reading: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement. Students read and comment on
the purpose and reaction to Sanger’s crusade. Also, students read: Measuring the Mind and comment on
how I.Q. Tests led to a call for immigration restrictions and popularized the idea of eugenics.
6. Populism and Progressivism: Handout #59 Educational Achievement in the United States, 1870-1985;
Handout #63 The Wonderful World of Oz (Populist allegory); Handout #67 When Should the Government
Get Involved?
7. Brainstorm for Essay Question: As a class, students brainstorm specific “supporting details” for the
question: Which president made the most significant contributions to promoting progressive change in
America from 1900-1920? Answer with reference to the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt, William
Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. On the board, the class assembles the policies, events, and legislation
that distinguished each administration
8. Notes: Election of 1912: Students compare and contrast the political platforms of the 4 candidates for
the presidency in 1912: Taft and New Conservatism; Debs and Social Self-Rule; Roosevelt and New
Nationalism; Wilson and New Freedom. Students should see that Taft and Wilson promoted small
government and the reliance on legal mechanisms to enforce equality of opportunity, while Roosevelt and
Debs favored large government and the exertion of moral force in favor of the multitudes. This split in
opinion over the role of the federal government still exists in contemporary society today.
9. Test and In-Class Essay – “Timed” (35 minutes): Students write a 5-paragraph essay in response.
-- How successful were progressive reforms during the period 1890 to 1915 with respect to
TWO of the following? (2005B)
Industrial conditions
Urban life
Politics
25
Unit Twelve: American Imperialism and World War I (1898-1919)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 21, An Emerging World Power, in Henretta
Chapter 22, War and the American State, in Henretta
PP. 425-441, The Great War and Mr. Wilson to Liberty as the First Casualty in Fischer
Chapter 8, The Birth of Civil Liberties, in Foner
Reading Notes #30: American Imperialism
Reading Notes #31: World War I
Document Excerpts: Alfred T. Mahan’s The Interest of America in Sea Power, 1897 [Heffner]
Theodore Roosevelt’s Praises The Strenuous Life, 1899
Albert J. Beveridge’s Defense of American Imperialism, 1900
Mark Twain’s To the Person Sitting in Darkness, 1901
President Wilson's War Message to Congress, 1917 [Heffner]
George Norris Protests America’s Entry in to the War, 1917
Alan Seeger’s I Have a Rendezvous with Death, 1916
Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, 1918 [Heffner]
President Wilson’s Pueblo Speech, 1919
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in Schenck v. United States, 1919
Content Objectives (the student will understand):







the circumstances that led to America's "New Imperialism”.
the causes of the Spanish-American War.
Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy in Latin America.
Wilson's foreign policy towards Mexico.
America's neutrality, intervention, and role in World War I.
Wilson's efforts to promote his Fourteen Points
the defeat of the Versailles Treaty and the League of Nations by the U.S. Senate.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. PRIMES Graphic Organizer: Students create a graphic organizer that details the political, religious,
intellectual, military, economic, and social reasons or justifications for why the United States decided to
become an imperial nation at the turn of the century.
2. Mini-research: Students are assigned a noted figure who either supported or opposed American
annexation of the Philippines (and other American imperial actions). Students must create a facsimile
legal deposition which reveals that person’s justifications for his or her opposition or support. The
deposition should be written in a “question” and “answer” format. Sample individuals include: Jane
Addams, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie (the Anti-Imperialist League) and Alfred Thayer Mahan, Henry
Cabot Lodge, and John Hay (Pro-Imperialism), etc. Depositions are copied and distributed to the class for
consideration. The class then convenes as a mock “World Court” to pass judgment on American
imperialism.
26
Assignments and Assessments (continued):
3. Notes: Students study notes on reasons for Wilson’s change in policy, concerning World War I, from
neutrality (1914-1917) to intervention (1917-1919). Students then evaluate the meaning and sincerity of
several of quotations attributed to Wilson or the Democratic Party: “America is too proud to fight”; “We
must be neutral in thought as well deed”; “He kept us out of the war”; and “German submarine warfare …
is warfare against mankind”; “The world must be made safe for democracy”; “We seek no conquests,
territory, or concessions for ourselves..”; “It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war”;
etc. Students discuss the question: When should a democracy go to war?
4. Group Essay: In small groups, students collaborate to answer the following question: How did Wilson’s
organization of the nation during WW I advance or restrain Progressive ideas and values? Groups should
record specific actions taken by Wilson to organize the economy and society for WWI as well how these
measures or the crisis positively or negatively impacted particular groups in society, including: women
(Nineteenth Amendment, work in war industries ), workers (higher wages, National War Labor Board),
African Americans (Great Migration, and race riots) immigrants (“100% Americanism” and suspicion),
dissidents (Socialist Party, IWW), average American (Eighteenth Amendment, “Victory Gardens”), etc. In
their groups, students use a class period to write the essay and pass it in for a grade.
5. In-Class Reading: Students review examples of propaganda posters, speeches, and slogans that were
created by George Creel’s Committee on Public Information. Students explain how Creel’s propaganda
promoted unity and universal sacrifice for the war effort, but also “100% Americanism” and suspicion of
immigrants. Students also examine the effect of Schenck vs. United States, and the effect of war on civil
liberties, as analyzed by Alan Dershowitz in Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age (1999).
6. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: Compare Wilson's Fourteen Points with
the Treaty of Versailles. To what extent did they represent fair and adequate plans for a new world
order following World War I. Why did the United States Senate reject membership in the League of
Nations? Who is to blame for the failure of the United States to adopt the Treaty of Versailles, Wilson or
the Senate?
7. Imperialism and World War I: Handout #65 The causes of the Spanish-American War; Handout #66
McKinley Justifies Annexation of the Philippines; Handout #68 Why Did The United States Enter World
War I/; Handout #69 Four Views of the American Role in the League of Nations
8. Informal Debate: Wilsonian Internationalism: Curse or Blessing? Students read opposing viewpoints of
two historians – Thomas Knock and Shari Osborne – and debate whether war is more or less justifiable
when it is fought on the basis of high idealism rather than self-defense or national interest. Comparisons
and contrast should be made to more modern American wars and wartime leaders.
9. Test and In-Class Essay – “Timed” (35 minutes): Students write a 5-paragraph essay in response.
-- Assess the relative influence of THREE of the following in the American decision to declare war
on Germany in 1917. (1995)
German naval policy
American economic interests
Woodrow Wilson’s idealism
Allied propaganda
27
Unit Thirteen: From Prosperity to Depression to the New Deal (1919-1939) Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 23, Modern Times: The 1920s, in Henretta
Chapter 24, The Great Depression, in Henretta
Chapter 25, The New Deal, in Henretta
Chapter 10, Sacco and Vanzetti: The case of History versus Law, in Davidson
Chapter 9, The New Deal and the Redefinition of Freedom, in Foner
PP. 448-474, Women’s Suffrage to Living Free, in Fischer
Reading Notes #32: 1920s Society and Culture
Reading Notes #33: 1920s Politics and the Great Depression of the 1930s
Reading Notes #34: Roosevelt and the First New Deal
Reading Notes #35: The New Deal’s Legacy
Document Excerpts: Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt, 1922
William Jenning’s Bryan’s God and Evolution, 1922
Marcus Garvey’s The Three Stages of Negro Contact with the White Man, 1920s
Langston Hughes’ Let America Be America Again, 1925
Herbert Hoover's Rugged Individualism Speech, 1928 [Heffner]
Franklin D. Roosevelt's Forgotten Man Radio Address, 1932
Franklin Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address, 1933 [Heffner]
Senator Huey Long's Share Our Wealth Speech, 1935
Franklin Roosevelt's Second Inaugural Address, 1937
Content Objectives (the student will understand):








the reactionary strains and social ferment of the 1920s.
the influence of modernism and materialism in American culture.
the political conservatism of the presidencies of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover.
growth in the American economy in the 1920s.
the causes of the Great Depression.
the social effects of the Great Depression and Roosevelt's efforts at relief, recovery, and reform.
criticism of the New Deal, from both the right and the left.
how the New Deal greatly expanded the federal government's authority and responsibilities.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Notes: 1919: A Turning Point in U.S. History? Students investigate the year 1919 as a potential turning
point in U.S. (and world) history (as was 1776, 1787, 1800, 1828, 1865, 1900, etc..) and reflect on the
ramifications of events that took place during that year (Versailles, Spanish Flu, recession, strikes, Red
Scare, race riots, Wilson’s stroke, League of Nations, etc..)
28
Assignments and Assessments (continued):
2. 1920s Biography Presentation: Students work in the computer lab and research an important social or
cultural figure of the 1920s. Choices include: Charlie Chaplin, Henry Ford, Duke Ellington, Billy Sunday,
Al Capone, H.L. Mencken, Clara Bow, William J. Bryan, David Stephenson, etc. Students bring research
to class and briefly present their individual. Questions to consider for class discussion of 1920s society
and culture: How were tensions between a modern and more traditional America manifested? What role
did new technologies play in shaping the society and culture of the decade? How did literature and the
arts project a realistic or critical image of America and Americans? How was the 1920s a decade of
intolerance as well as one of indulgence? How did the icons of the era shape the perceptions Americans
had of themselves or of their country?
3. DBQ Analysis: Students and teacher read, analyze, and plan an essay for the 1986 DBQ: The 1920’s
were a period of tension between new and changing attitudes on the one hand and traditional values and
nostalgia on the other. What led to the tension between old and new AND in what ways was the tension
manifested? Teacher reviews the following: analysis of question parts, thesis construction, outlining,
document analysis, document pairing, arranging outside information in document margins, timed-writing
hints. This exercise is preparation for a timed-writing DBQ on the New Deal.
4. Journal Writing: Students respond to the following prompt: Explain the causes of the Great Depression
using 5 of the critical terms among the 8 on the board that refer to relevant causes. Students have five
minutes to write as complete an answer as possible. This is more practice for timed-writing essays.
5. In-Class Reading: Marcus Garvey: Racial Redemption and Black Nationalism. Students read and
comment on the impact the Great Migration and Harlem Renaissance had on African-American identity
(“New Negro”) and unity. Also, students read: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Quest for Social Justice and
comment on the role played by the First Lady in promoting the cause of minority rights, as well as debate
the legacy of the New Deal. Students comment on these questions: Does a government have a moral
responsibility to provide for the welfare of its citizens? Did the New Deal create a welfare state that still
exists today?
6. “Alphabet Soup” Notes: Students use their textbooks to complete a chart outlining the major programs
of FDR’s First and Second New Deal. Students are required to identify: the problem addressed, the
solution offered by the agency created, and whether the agency/effort was a success or a failure.
7. Notes: Criticism of the New Deal from Left and Right: Students contrast the ideas of Huey Long,
Francis Townsend, and Charles Coughlin (Left – FDR not doing enough) with those of the American
Liberty League and the Supreme Court (Right – FDR doing too much). Students discuss the question:
Was Roosevelt, and his New Deal, fundamentally “conservative” or “liberal”? Justify your answer.
8. The 1920s and 1930s: Handout #70 The Immigration Act of 1924; Handout #71 The Automobile in the
1920s; Handout #72 How Will You Invest your Money (stock speculation); Handout #74 What Caused the
Great Depression; Handout #76 What Should Be Done About The Depression; Handout #70 Two Views of
Roosevelt and the New Deal; handout #81 Letter From the Dust Bowl; Handout #83 Accounts of the
Memorial Day Massacre
9. Video: Boom to Bust, Vol. 1 and Hard Times, Vol. 4 in The American Century (ABC News and the
History Channel) narrated by Peter Jennings. Students watch excerpts from each segment and list
contrasting examples of the political, economic, social, cultural, and intellectual trends of these to
antipodal decades
10. Test and In-Class DBQ Essay – “Timed” (60 minutes): Students write a 6 paragraph essay in response.
-- Analyze the responses of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration to the problems of the Great
Depression. How effective were these responses? How did they change the role of the federal
government? (2003)
29
Unit Fourteen: The Second World War (1941-1945)
One Week
Student Readings:
Chapter 26, The World at War, in Henretta
Chapter 12, The Decision to Drop the Bomb: The Uses of Models in History, in Davidson
Chapter 10, Fighting For Freedom, in Foner
PP. 514-538, Remembering Pearl Harbor to Rosie the Riveter, in Fischer
Reading Notes #36: Road to World War II
Reading Notes #37: World War II
Document Excerpts: Franklin Roosevelt’s Quarantine Speech, 1937 [Heffner]
Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms Speech, 1941 [Heffner]
Charles A. Lindbergh’s America and the War Speech, 1941
General George S. Patton Rallies His Troops, 1944
Korematsu v. United States and Justice Owen Roberts’s Dissent, 1944
Dellie Hahne Recalls the War’s Impact on Women’s Attitudes, ca. 1945
Karl Shapiro’s Elegy for a Dead Soldier, 1945
Truman's Announcement of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, 1945
Content Objectives (the student will understand):






isolationism and peace movements between the two World Wars.
America's response to German aggression in Europe.
how events in Asia led to Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the global war.
the social and economic effects of World War II on America.
how the Allied military forces won the war.
the efforts of the Allies to shape the postwar world.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Timeline: Students construct a timeline of Nazi aggression in Europe and Japanese aggression in Asia.
Students define all the ideological differences between Hitler’s National Socialism, Stalin’s Soviet
Communism, and America’s Republican Democracy. Students comment on the question: How is a
democracy better or worse equipped, than fascism or communism, to fight a war of enormous
proportions?
2. Journal Writing: Students respond to the following – Why did the United States want to stay neutral at
the beginning of World War II (Nye Commission); What is the lesson of appeasement? (Munich
Conference); How did FDR convince Congress and the nation to slowly intervene on the side of Great
Britain? (Atlantic Charter).
3. Map Exercise: Students are given battle maps of the Pacific Theater, North African Campaign, Italian
Campaign, and European Campaign and asked to summarize the course of the Allied assault in those
theaters. Students then explain how changes in technology helped to explain the contrasts of World War I
(advantage to the “defender”) and World War II (advantage to the “attacker”).
30
Assignments and Assessments (continued):
4. World War II: Handout #84 FDR’s “Four Freedoms” Speech; Handout #85 What Positions Should the
United States Take at Yalta?; Handout #86 Viewpoints on the Atomic Bomb
5. Video: Homefront, Vol. 3 and Civilians at War, Vol. 3 in The American Century (ABC News and the
History Channel) narrated by Peter Jennings. Students watch excerpts from each segment and discuss how
Americans’ peaceful mobilization for the war effort contrasted sharply with civilians in Europe and Asia
who became targets in the waging of “total war”.
6. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: How did World War II increase the role
of government in American society and the nation's economy? Discuss the political, social, and economic
advances and/or setbacks that wartime provided for American laborers, women, and minorities.
7. Informal Debate: Why Did We Drop The Atomic Bomb? Students read opposing viewpoints of two
historians – Paul Fussell and Martin Sherwin – and debate why the atomic bomb was used to end the war
in the Pacific and whether its use was justified at the time, and in retrospect. Pre-debate reading: Chapter
12 in Davidson and Lytle.
8. Test only on content objectives.
Unit Fifteen: The Cold War (1945-1963)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 27, Cold War America, in Henretta
Chapter 10, From Rosie to Lucy: The Mass Media and Images of Women in the 1950s, in Davidson
Chapter 11, Cold War Freedom, in Foner
PP. 574-593, The Cold War to The Great Fear, in Fischer
Reading Notes #38: Truman and the Cold War
Reading Notes #39: Eisenhower, the Cold War, and Civil Rights
Document Excerpts: The Sources of Soviet Conduct by George Kennan, 1947 [Heffner]
The Truman Doctrine, 1947
William Faulkner’s Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Prize, 1949 [Heffner]
Joseph R. McCarthy’s Wheeling, W.Va. Speech, 1950
John Foster Dulles’ Massive Retaliation Speech, 1954
Eisenhower's Farewell Address, 1961 [Heffner]
Kennedy's Inaugural Address, 1961 [Heffner]
Kennedy’s Strategy of Peace Speech, 1963
Content Objectives (the student will understand):







the origins and early development of the Cold War under Truman.
U.S. involvement in the Korean War.
the sources of McCarthyism.
American foreign policy in the 1950s under Eisenhower.
Kennedy's efforts to combat communism in Cuba.
Truman’s Fair Deal Program.
Eisenhower’s “Modern Conservatism”
31
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Notes: Origins of the Cold War. Student take notes on the economic and ideological differences,
competitive cultural and political values, divergent foreign policy and security concerns, and the legacy of
acrimony resulting from disagreements in World War I and World War II that made the United States and
its former ally, the Soviet Union, “sudden” adversaries.
2. Notes: Students complete a chart contrasting the “failure” of Truman’s domestic policy (1945 -1948)
which attempted to extend the New Deal against conservative opposition from both parties, with the
“success” of his foreign policy (1945-1948) which resulted in the containment of Soviet aggressive
designs. Topics on the notesheet include: Civil Rights, Taft-Hartley Act, Fair Deal, Marshall Plan, Berlin
Airlift, National Security Act, etc.
3. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: Who were the Dixiecrats, and what issue
led to their rise? Discuss the candidates, issues, and campaign strategies in the election of 1948. What
general factors made the United States susceptible to the anti-communist paranoia of 1947 to 1953? What
activities fanned the fury and paved the way for the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy?
4. DBQ Practice: Students work in pairs analyzing the 2001 DBQ: What were the Cold War fears of the
American people in the aftermath of the Second World War? How successfully did the administration of
President Dwight D. Eisenhower address these fears? Students develop a strategy for writing the essay
and then “two” pairs are selected at random to present to the class how they would write the DBQ. They
must discuss their thesis, use of documents, selection of outside information, and essay organization.
Then, these pairs respond to questions and criticisms from the rest of the class.
5. In-Class Reading: The “Lost Sheep” of the Korean War. Students read and comment on the defection
of 21 American soldiers to Communism and the inability of the United States in the Korean Conflict, to
follow up on its victories in World War II. Students answer the question: Why wasn’t the United States
able to prevail in the Korea? What lessons were learned from the Korean War?
6. Scavenger Hunt: We Didn’t Start the Fire. Students use the lyrics to the Billy Joel song and their
textbook to locate and define items mentioned in the song and explain their connection or relation to the
Cold War and the culture of the 1950s and 1960s that it helped to create.
7. The Cold War: Handout #88 Viewpoints on the Origins of the Cold War; Handout #89 Reasons for
Truman’s Surprise Victory in 1948; Handout #90 The Korean War: Should We Have Invaded Red China;
Handout #91 Cause and Effect in Postwar America; Handout #92 The Political Spectrum and the
Eisenhower Presidency; Handout #94 The Nixon-Khrushchev “Kitchen Debate”; Handout #98 What Will
You Advise in Response to Soviet Missiles in Cuba?
8. Video: Best Years, Vol. 3 (ABC News and the History Channel) narrated by Peter Jennings. Students
answer questions about how the escalation of the Cold War made America both a prosperous and perilous
country in which to live. Happy Daze, Vol. 4. Students answer questions on the economy and culture of
America in the 1950s that developed in the shadow of the Cold War – McCarthyism, growth of suburbs,
increase in automobiles and highways, Rock and Roll, the Beats, postwar prosperity and fear, etc.
9. Document Analysis: Students read John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address and are asked to extrapolate
the meaning of 10 highlighted sentences within the speech. Then, students are asked to respond to the
speech from the perspective of: 1) an ordinary American; 2) Nikita Khrushchev; 3) Fidel Castro; 4)
Harold Macmillan; and 5) a peasant or farmer living in the “Third World”
10. Test and In-Class Essay – “Timed” (35 minutes): Students write a 5 paragraph essay in response.
-- Analyze the influence of TWO of the following on American-Soviet relations in the decade
following the Second World War. (1996)
Yalta Conference
Communist revolution in China
Korean War
McCarthyism
32
Unit Sixteen: The Sixties and Civil Rights (1960-68)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 28, The Affluent Society and the Liberal Consensus, in Henretta
Chapter 12, Sixties Freedom, in Foner
Chapter 11, The Television Debates, in The Making of the President, 1960, by Theodore White
PP. 603-618, “Free At Last” to The Feminine Mystique, in Fischer
Reading Notes #40: The Affluent Society and Civil Rights
Reading Notes #41: JFK and LBJ and the 1960s
Document Excerpts: The Ames Brothers’ The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane, 1955 (lyrics)
The Good Wife’s Guide From Housekeeping Monthly, 1955 (apocryphal?)
Newton Minnow’s “Vast Wasteland” Speech to TV Broadcasters, 1961
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 1954 [Heffner]
Alabama Governor George Wallace’s Inauguration Address, 1963
Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963 [Heffner]
President Kennedy's Report to the American People on Civil Rights, 1963 [Heffner]
Malcolm X Defines Black Nationalism and Criticizes Dr. King’s Pacifism, 1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society Speech, 1965 [Heffner]
Tom Hayden’s Port Huron Statement, 1962
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, 1962
Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, 1963
Miranda v. Arizona, 1966
Content Objectives (the student will understand):






emergence of the “Affluent Society” during the 1950s and early 1960s
Kennedy's New Frontier and Johnson's Great Society.
the achievements of the civil rights movement and its ensuing splinter movements.
social conformity and rebellion in the 1960s.
the youth movement (or Counterculture) and modern feminism.
accomplishments of the Warren Court (1953-69).
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Notes: America in the 1950s under Eisenhower. Students identify and take notes on two cultural
currents in American society in the 1950s: #1.“conservatism and conformity” as represented in the
suburbs, middle class families, TV, business, the “cult of femininity”, and “duck and cover” drills AND
#2. “liberalism and nonconformity” represented in the Beats, rock-and-roll music, civil rights, art,
literature, and intellectual trends. Students should recognize the liberal undercurrent to the conservatism
of the 1950s as well as note that materialism and consumerism were driven by factors like: the “baby
boom”, credit cards, advertising, automobiles, etc..
2. Notes: Students take notes on several reformers who raised awareness to the problems facing America
as it continued to prosper and modernize. The content of the notes cover: the environment (Rachel
Carson); consumer activism (Ralph Nader), the New Left (Tom Hayden), feminism (Betty Friedan and
Gloria Steinem); economic inequality (J. K. Gailbraith and James Harrington); migrant farm workers
(Caesar Chavez); Free Speech (Mario Savio). Conclusion: economic stability or prosperity, because it
sharpens the contrast between the “haves” and “have-nots” in society, can encourage reform-thinking.
33
Assignments and Assessments (continued):
3. Elections: Students research the presidential elections of 1960, 1964, and 1968 and answer the
following question: How did television transform politics during the 1960s and influence the outcomes of
the elections of these years? What did author and political consultant Joe McGinnis mean when he used
the phrase “the selling of the president”? Students might comment on the influence of cable news, the
internet and blogs, and other technology innovations on politics today.
4. Oral History: The Dream Lives On: Interview. The aim of this exercise is to explore history from the
“bottom up” by seeking out individuals who lived during the “sixties” (probably neighbors or
grandparents) and asking them about their personal experiences and impressions of the decade. The hope
is to involve students personally in the recording of history and to bring to light considerable information
about the social history of the decade. Students ask questions about college, work, women, fashion, music,
politics, protest, and personal recollections about the famous people or events of the time.
5. In-Class Reading: Rise of a New Idiom in Modern Painting: Abstract Expressionism. Students read and
comment on the techniques, content, and message of abstract artists like Pollack, Rothko, and Warhol
(Pop Art). Also students read: Unintended Consequences: The Second Great Migration and comment on
the different nature of immigration following Johnson’s Immigration Act of 1965. Students could also
debate the pros and cons of modern immigration.
6. Case Brief: In pairs, students research the parties, background, issue, holding, and rationale of any one
of a list of Supreme Court cases tried during the Warren Court (1953-1969), which expanded the civil
liberties of ordinary Americans. Students comment on why they agree or disagree with the Court’s
decision in each of these cases. Examples include: Engel v. Vitale (1962); Baker v. Carr (1962); Gideon v.
Wainwright (1963); Griswold vs. Connecticut (1965); Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969); etc.
7. The Sixties: Handout #95 Demographic Trends after World War II; Handout #97 John F. Kennedy
Speaks on the Religious Issue; Handout #99 The Record of the Kennedy Administration; Handout #101
The Great Society; Handout #103 Report of the Kerner Commission on Civil Disorders
8. Video: A Time for Justice (Civil Rights, 1954-65). The video summarizes the major events of the civil
rights movement culminating in the Selma March and the achievement of voting rights for AfricanAmericans in the South. At the conclusion of the presentation, students are asked: Who did more to
promote the cause of civil rights and incite positive government intervention: King, his followers, and
their message OR George Wallace, Ross Barnett, Eugene “Bull” Connor, and other racist whites?
9. Informal Debate: JFK – A Question of Character? Students read opposing viewpoints of two historians
– Thomas Reeves and Thomas West – and debate whether Kennedy deserves the recognition he has
received posthumously for being a courageous, principled leader and an archetypical president.
10. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: Why did the 1960s produce liberation
movements among minority groups, as well as a counterculture in the United States? Discuss the
philosophy, achievements, and limitations of these movements. How did the assassinations of Robert
Kennedy and Martin Luther King signify major changes in American society in 1968? Why do some
historians refer to this year as a turning point in modern American History?
11. Test and In-Class Essay – “Timed” DBQ (60 minutes): Students write a 5-6 paragraph essay in
response.
-- Analyze the changes that occurred during the 1960s in the goals, strategies, and support of the
movement for African American civil rights. (1995)
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Unit Seventeen: The Vietnam War to Watergate (1945-1975)
Two Weeks
Student Readings:
Chapter 29, War Abroad and at Home: The Vietnam Era, in Henretta
Chapter 30, The Lean Years, in Henretta
Chapter 14, Instant Watergate: Footnoting the Final Days, in Davidson
Chapter 15, Where Trouble Comes: History and Myth in the Films of Vietnam, in Davidson
Reading Notes #42: The Vietnam War
Reading Notes #43: Richard Nixon and the 1970s
Document Excerpts: President Lyndon B. Johnson's Why We Are in Vietnam Speech, 1965
Senator J. William Fullbright’s The Arrogance of Power, 1966
President Nixon's Silent Majority Speech, 1969
Country Joe MacDonald’s Fixin’-To-Die Rag, Woodstock, 1969 (lyrics)
New York Times v. United States, 1971
John Kerry Questions A War Gone Wrong, 1971
Potter Stewart on Freedom of the Press, 1974 [Heffner]
Fred Marchant’s Vietnam Era, 1980s (poem)
Yusef Komunyakaa’s Facing It, 1988 (poem)
The House of Representatives Issues Articles of Impeachment, 1974 [Heffner]
Nixon vs. United States, 1974
Gerald Ford’s Inaugural Address, 1974
Content Objectives (the student will understand):
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




the background to the Vietnam War.
America's growing involvement in Vietnam and the rising opposition to it
the Tet Offensive and 1968.
ending the war in Vietnam.
the legacy of the Vietnam War.
Watergate and Nixon's resignation.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Notes: Students study timelines of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Timeline #1: U.S. Escalation 19541965 and Timeline #2: U.S. De-Escalation and Defeat 1968-1975. Students focus on the political reasons
for involvement and the policy failures of the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.
2. Literature: Students read passages of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and The Nuclear Age.
Students study the impact -- intellectual, emotional, and psychological – that the war had on the soldiers
fighting the war and on the students involved in the anti-war protests back home. Also, each student is
assigned a poem written by an American or Vietnamese participant in the Vietnam War and must present
the poem, and an analysis of the poem, to the class.
3. Notes: Lessons of the Vietnam War: Students study the effects of the Vietnam War – on Vietnam
and America – and explore the concept known as the “Vietnam Syndrome”. With notes that outline 25
lessons learned in Vietnam (political, military, humanitarian, etc.), students evaluate the most recent
American military interventions (in Kosovo, Somalia, Persian Gulf, Iraq War) to gauge the impact of
these lessons on subsequent American foreign policy.
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Assignments and Assessments (continued):
4. In Class Reading: The Pentagon Papers Affair. Students read and take a position on the actions of
Daniel Ellsberg in releasing to the press the secret Pentagon study of the war known as the Pentagon
Papers. Students discuss the questions: Was Ellsberg a traitor or a patriot? How have those terms been
redefined in the modern age?
5. Vietnam and beyond: Handout #104 Viewpoints on the Vietnam War; Handout #106 The 1968 Election;
Handout #107 The Shanghai Communiqué; Handout #108 Laws Passed During the Nixon Administration;
Handout #109 Chronology of Watergate; Handout #110 Pros and Cons of Affirmative Action; Handout
#111 The Changing Employment Scene for Women; Handout #112 Demographic Changes in the United
States; Handout #113 Which Immigrants Shall We Take?; Handout #114 The OPEC Cartel and its
Effects; Handout #115 The Pardon of Nixon by Ford; Handout #116 Kissinger on Détente with the Soviet
Union
6. Video: All The Presidents Men (1976). Students watch selected segments from this popular film to see
how the Watergate scandal broke and to become acquainted with its major players. Students discuss the
responsibility of the media – as the Fourth Estate – to check the power of the federal government.
7. Document Analysis: Students examine a three-page memorandum written for Watergate Special
Prosecutor Leon Jaworski in August 1974, after Richard Nixon resigned, presenting arguments both in
favor and opposed to prosecuting Nixon as a private citizen for his involvement in the Watergate coverup. Students discuss the question: Would you or would you not have been in favor of prosecuting former
President Richard Nixon in August 1974? Explain.
8. Notes: Politics of Resentment. Students research examples on the conservative backlash to the cultural
liberalism of the 1960s. Such examples should include: Phyllis Schafly and STOP ERA; Jerry Falwell and
the Moral Majority; the Burger Court and Bakke vs. University of California,etc.
9. In-Class Discussion: Students respond to following questions: The Tet Offensive is often noted as a
significant turning point in the Vietnam War. Explain how this was so and why. Explain the factors that
contributed to the overwhelming reelection of Richard Nixon in 1972. Why did his supporters resort to
“dirty tricks” when a favorable outcome seemed assured?
10. Test and In-Class Essay – “Timed” (35 minutes): Students write a 5 paragraph essay in response.
-- Analyze the extent to which TWO of the following transformed American society in the 1960s
and 1970s. (2005)
The Civil Rights movement
The antiwar movement
The women’s movement
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Unit Eighteen: Modern Times (1976-2001)
One Week
Student Readings:
Chapter 31, A New Domestic and World Order, in Henretta
PP. 681-713 Morning in American (the Reagan Revolution) to America Attacked, in Fischer
Reading Notes #44: Modern Times
Document Excerpts: Roe v. Wade, 1973 [Heffner]
President Carter's Crisis of Confidence Speech, 1979
The Reverend Jerry Fallwell Organizes the Moral Majority, 1979
President Reagan's First Inaugural Address, 1981 [Heffner]
Mario Cuomo, A Tale of Two Cities Speech, 1984 [Heffner]
Newt Gingrich, Contract With America, 1994 [Heffner]
President George W. Bush Responds the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001
[Heffner]
Content Objectives (the student will understand):







the Ford and Carter administrations.
the demographic, social, and economic reasons for the rise of Ronald Reagan and Republican
conservatism.
changing relations with the Soviet Union, including the end of the Cold War.
the economic and social aspects of the 1980s.
the causes and aftermath of the Gulf War.
the Democratic resurgence of the early 1990s;
the Election of 2000 and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Notes: Students study a chart of the issues that divided Liberals and Conservatives during the 1980s
and 1990s.General topics include: taxes, the economy, labor, energy, welfare, crime, foreign policy,
women, civil rights, religion, etc.
2. In-Class Journal: Students respond to the following questions about society in the Carter, Reagan, and
Bush years: What impact did the energy crisis have on ordinary Americans? What were some of the
characteristics of the “Me” decade? What important developments occurred in Black America during the
Reagan-Bush years? What were the critical issues of the 1980s and 1990s in the areas of cultural diversity
and pluralism?
3. Video: Starting Over, Vol. 5 (ABC News and the History Channel) narrated by Peter Jennings. Students
answer questions about American society and culture in the 1970s and the attempts of presidents Ford and
Carter to heal the country and restore public confidence in the federal government. A New World, Vol. 6.
Students answer questions about American society and culture in the 1980s, the rise of Ronal Reagan and
conservatism, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
4. In Class Reading: The Christian Right. Students read and comment on the impact that evangelical
Christians had on American politics and culture during the late 1970s and 1980s.
5. Revolution of 1980? Students compare and contrast the elections of 1800 and 1980 to determine
whether the advent of Ronald Reagan, and the “new” conservatism of his administration, represented a
revolution in politics, domestic policy, and foreign policy to the extent that the Jefferson’s election did.
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Assignments and Assessments (continued):
6. Carter to Bush II: Handout #117 The Carter Foreign Policy; Handout #118 The Carter Human Rights
Policy; Handout #121 Promoting Democracy and Peace (Ronald Reagan).
7. One-on-One Debates: With a partner, students choose a controversial social issue from the Republican
Contract With America (1994) or from the platform of the Moral Majority. Students do library and online
research on one side of the issue; they create a survey on the issue, distribute copies to their classmates
and tabulate results; they contact and interview an authority or expert on the issue; they prepare a position
paper with talking points to use during their debate (with their partner) in front of the class. Some of the
issues to be debated include: abortion, tort reform, death penalty, teen pregnancy, tax credits , the United
Nations, business regulation, environmental controls, school prayer, AIDS, gay marriage, family
values, Church and State, immigration, welfare, etc..
8. Timeline: Students create a timeline illustrating the challenges and dangers faced by the United States
from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism to the terrorist attacks of September 11..
(1989-2001)
9. Test and In-Class Essay – “Timed” (35 minutes): Students write a 5-paragraph essay in response.
-- How did the technology of the 1980s and 1990s impact American business,, society,
culture,? Explain with reference to TWO of the following:
personal computers
cable television
the Internet
Review for May AP Exam
One-Two Weeks
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