Advanced Placement U.S. History Syllabus
Ms. Polonio Room C306 or Faculty Room C219
apolonio@southingtonschools.org
AP U.S. History is a challenging course that is meant to be the equivalent of a freshman
college course and can earn students college credit. The AP U.S. History course is designed to
provide you with the analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with
problems in U.S. History from the Age of Exploration to present day. The course will also help
you develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment
and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in essay format.
The class is designed around the use of various teaching methods including lecture, group
discussions, debates, role-playing and political cartoons in order to help you “tackle” the
content material. It is vital to keep up with all the reading and writing assignments in order
participate in all class discussions and activities.
Course Text and readings
Henretta J, Brody D., and Dumenil L., America’s History 6th ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s, New York, 2008.
*Other readers will be consulted for primary sources throughout the year.
** You will also be responsible for purchasing outside reading materials that will be assigned throughout
the year. (See me if you have any concerns about this.)
***You are also advised to purchase an AP U.S. History Review Book for consultation throughout the
year. I will have recommendations for you.
Assignments/grading policy
Tests: (50%) You will be given at least 48 hours notice. Tests will be a combination of objective and
essay questions in accordance with the AP Exam format.
Projects/papers: Due throughout the year.
Quizzes: (35%) Most quizzes will be based on reading assignments, discussions and classroom activities.
Quizzes will also be a combination of objective, short answer, and essay questions.
Homework Check Quizzes: (15%) “Pop” quizzes will be given!!!
Consistent effort and improvement equals success!
Classroom behavior
1. RESPECT everyone and everything in our classroom.
2. Be on time and seated in your assigned seat by the time the bell rings. Refer to the attendance
policy in the Student Handbook.
3. Be prepared to learn everyday. This means bring your book, notebook and homework
assignment.
4. Do not disrupt the learning process for your classmates.
Cheating Policy
Anyone caught cheating on any sort of class work will receive a ZERO. No make-up will be allowed!
Cheating is defined as: a glance on another student’s paper, cheat sheets, copying answers, giving
answers, plagiarizing, or anything else that would compromise the validity of coursework.
Attendance
Much of the material is provided through lecture/discussion and group activities therefore, attendance is
essential. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to contact a fellow classmate to get the reading
assignments, notes or prepare for any other assessments.
1
Advanced Placement Exam: Friday May 6, 2010 cost is $84.00. The AP exam is not required, but
is highly recommended and may earn you college credit! 
Part II. Course Outline/Syllabus (as approved by College Board May 2007)
Unit 1: Creation of an American Society
Ch. 1-4
Primary and secondary sources include:
Bartolome de las Casas, excerpt from A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies
Christopher Columbus, excerpt from A Letter to Luis de Santangel, Keeper of the privy Purse
John Winthrop, “A Modell of Christian Charity”
After the Fact, “Serving Time in Virginia”
Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
Exam on Ch. 1-4
DBQ: New England vs. Chesapeake Region
Unit 2: The American Revolution and Launching of New Gov’t.
Ch. 5-7
Primary and secondary sources may include:
The Albany Congress, excerpt from The Albany Plan of Union
Stamp Act Congress, excerpt from Declaration and Grievances of the Colonies
John Dickinson, excerpt from Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
McCullough, David: excerpts from 1776.
Samuel Seabury, “A View of the Controversy between Great Britain and her Colonies”
Thomas Paine, excerpt from Common Sense
Declaration of Independence
Political Cartoons depicting British Perceptions of the War of Independence
United States Constitution and Bill of Rights
Leibiger, Stuart. “Founding Friendship” Washington, Madison and the Creation of the American
Republic
Federalist Papers #10 and #51
Excerpts from “Alien and Sedition Acts”
Jefferson and Madison’s excerpts from “Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions”
Paintings analyzing Republican Motherhood
Exam on Ch. 5-7
Constitutional Convention Project
FRQ: American Revolution
DBQ: French and Indian War
Unit 3: Era of National Development (Republican Power and Expansion)
Ch. 8+9
Primary and secondary sources may include:
George Washington’s Farewell Address
Various primary sources on slave advertisements
Thomas Jefferson, excerpts from First Inaugural Address
Excerpts from Hartford Convention Resolution
Political cartoons depicting Thomas Jefferson and the embargo
Excerpts from Newspaper Accounts of the War of 1812
John Quincy Adams, excerpts from “ Reflections on the Missouri Question”
2
James Monroe, excerpts from “The Monroe Doctrine”
Exam Ch. 8+9
FRQ: Effects of American Revolution on slavery and women.
Unit 4: Jacksonian Democracy
Ch. 10+11
Primary and secondary sources may include:
Political Cartoon of “King Andrew Jackson”
Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
Fuller, Margaret, excerpts from Woman in the Nineteenth Century
Henry David Thoreau excerpt from Resistance to Civil Government
Andrew Jackson’s Bank Veto Message,
Excerpt from Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America book 2 Ch. VII
John C. Calhoun’s Exposition on Nullification
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and picture of Trail of Tears
Exam Ch. 10+11
DBQ: Jackson of expansion of democracy
Unit 5: Expansion, Sectionalism and the Impending Crisis
Ch. 12-14
Primary and secondary sources may include:
John O’Sullivan excerpts from Manifest Destiny
Green, Thomas excerpt from Reflections upon the Present Political and Probable Future Relations of
Texas, Mexico, and the United States
James K. Polk excerpt from The President’s War Message to Congress
A People’s History of the United States Chapter 8
Child, Lydia Maria excerpt from Prejudice Against People of Color
Frederick Douglass excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Excerpts from The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Excerpt from South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession and Declaration of Independence
After the Fact: Ch. 6 “The Madness of John Brown”
Exam Ch. 12-14
Take home essay: Manifest Destiny
FRQ: Sectionalism
Unit 6: Reconstruction, the New South, and Expansion
Ch. 15+16
Primary and secondary sources may include:
Foner, Eric. “The New View of Reconstruction”
Black Codes of Mississippi
Organization and Principles of the Ku Klux Klan
After the Fact: “The View from the Bottom Rail”
Grady, Henry excerpt from The New South
Straker, Augustus D. excerpt from The New South Investigated
Washington, Booker T. excerpt from The Atlanta Compromise
Primary and secondary sources may include:
Frederick Jackson Turner “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.”
Chief Joseph An Indian’s Perspective
The Dawes Act
Exam Ch. 15+16
3
Unit 7: The Gilded Age
Ch. 17-19
Primary and secondary sources may include:
A People’s History of the United States Ch. 11 “Robber Barons and Rebels”
Andrew Carnegie excerpt from Gospel of Wealth
John D. Rockefeller Defends His Oil Trust
William Graham Sumner- An Absurd Effort to Make the World Over
Herbert Spencer
Henry Demarest Lloyd Attacks Monopolies
Jacob Riis Pictures from How The Other Half Lives
Exam Ch. 17-19
Group Project
MIDTERM EXAM
Unit 8: Introduction to the 20th Century
Ch. 20-22
Primary and secondary sources may include:
Excerpt from The Strength and Weakness of the People’s Movement
William Jennings Bryan excerpt from The “Cross of Gold” Speech
Upton Sinclair excerpts from The Jungle
Eric Schlosser excerpt from Fast Food Nation
Excerpt from “The Fight for Woman’s Suffrage: An Interview with Alice Paul”
Muller v. Oregon
Rose Scheiderman excerpt Working Women and the Vote
The Niagara Movement: Declaration of Principles
New York World “The War must Be Ended”
Albert Beveridge excerpt from The March of the Flag
Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League
The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
Exam Ch. 20-22
Group project/take home essay
Unit 9: From Prosperity to Despair
Ch. 23+24
Primary and secondary sources may include:
A. Mitchell Palmer excerpt from The Case against the Reds
William Allen White The Red Scare is Un-American
The Need for Immigration Restriction
After the Fact: Chapter 10 Sacco and Vanzetti
Excerpt from The Scopes Trial
Herbert Hoover from The New York City Speech
Excerpt from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Speech
Dorothea Lange Photographs of the Great Depression
Two views of the Great Depression- A Black Man’s Perspective and A Woman’s Account
Huey Long excerpt of Share Our Wealth
Exam Ch. 23+24
4
Unit 10: WWII and the Cold War
Ch. 25-27
Primary and secondary sources may include:
Henry Cabot Lodge excerpt from The Meaning of the Kellogg-Briand Treaty
Franklin Roosevelt’s The Four Freedoms
Jackdaws primary source packets
After the Fact: Chapter 12 The Decision to Drop the Bomb
Harry S. Truman: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima-The Public Explanation
Karl T. Compton: If the Atomic Bomb Had Not Been Used
Exam Ch.24-27
DBQ & FRQ:
Unit 11: The Turbulent ‘60’s and ‘70’s
Ch. 28 and 29
Primary and secondary sources may include:
George C. Wallace The Civil Rights Movement: Fraud, Sham, and Hoax
Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, “I Have A Dream”
Excerpts from Malcolm X’s “From the Ballot to the Bullet”
Casey Hayden and Mary King “Feminism and the Civil Rights Movement”
Richard Nixon
SALT Talks
Watergate Scandal
Unit Test
Group project/take home essay
FRQ:
Unit 12: Quick Review of 1980’s
Ronald Reagan and Reganomics
Iran/Contra Scandal
Cold War
Additional material WILL BE covered post AP Exam! 
5