Brief Description of Course
Advanced Placement United States History is a survey course that covers the PreColumbian period to the present. Both chronological and thematic approaches are
used to discuss and analyze the political, social and cultural, economic, and
diplomatic aspects of United States History. Analysis of historical documents,
writing of critical essays, mastering of a large body of factual information,
consideration of multiple interpretations of history, and skills in answering multiple
choice questions will be emphasized. Students will be required to take the national
AP exam in May.
Besides the chronology the course will look at the following themes as they relate to
various periods of U.S. History: the diversity of cultures among the American
people; how Americans identify themselves; interaction of cultures, generational
and gender cultural issues, cultures of Americans in various regions of the U.S., high
culture (literature, art, music, philosophy, etc.), and popular culture; demographics;
economic changes, growth, booms and busts; conservation as a national and state
issue; aspects of U.S. History as seen within the global context; politics, government,
civil rights, parties; reform movements that emphasize to an extent democratic
ideals; religion, its diversity and its role in shaping American politics, economics,
and society; slavery; and foreign policy as the means to accomplishing American
goals of national interest and security and how the U.S. interacted with other
nations. Maps are prominently displayed and used every day in class!
Textbook and Supplementary Sources
Devine, Robert America past and Present. New York:Addison-Wesley, 2003
Rossiter, Clinton The Federalist Papers. New York: Panguin Group, 1961
Description:Peter n. Sterns, Documents in World History (New York: Longman, 2003)
John Garraty, Historical Viewpoints (New York: Longman, 1997)
Vaillancourt, U.S. History, A Document-based Skillbook, (New Jersey, 2006)
Holt, Rinehart, The Constitution, Past, Present, and Future (New York, 2006)
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Signet
Classic, Penguin, 1997.
Riordon, William L. Plunkitt of Tammany Hall. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1963.
Franklin, John Hope and Moss, Alfred A., Jr. From Slavery to Freedom. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1988.
Various Documents collected over the years, from internet sites, from the internet
site
Accompanying the America past and Present text
Unit Information
Unit 1—North America Before the Arrival of the Europeans to 1688
(Summer assignment) Prior to the start of school, students must read chapters 1-4. Use
provided study guide to take notes from chapter. Complete crosswords for chapters.
With the start of school students will review and discuss the following.
Topics—
1 Diversity of Early American Indian tribes, their political, social, religious, cultural
characteristics of Eastern Woodland, Mississippi Valley, and Southwestern tribes.
2. The Spanish reasons for colonization, the nature of settlements, interaction with the
Indians including the Pueblo Revolt; the French reasons for colonization, the nature of
settlements, interaction with the Indians.
3. The English settlements: comparison of the Chesapeake, New England, Middle, and
Southern colonies (economic, political, social, cultural, religious differences and
similarities); the origins of representative government, slavery, town meetings and
county sheriffs, cash crop economy and economic interdependence, demographics
(family patterns, population growth, settlement in the backcountry), identity (American,
Virginian, etc., or English?), religious beliefs and dissent
4. Mercantilism—Navigation Acts, “triangular trade”, Dominion of New England, the
Glorious Revolution.
5. Politics and government in the English colonies: town meetings; counties; governors,
councils, and assemblies
6.Indentured servitude and slavery; Headright system in Chesapeake
7. Demographics in colonial America: women, family life, social mobility
8. Economic developments: cash crops, slave trade, New England merchants
9. Interactions and conflicts with the Indians
10. Life and revolts in the backcountry: Bacon’s Rebellion, Regulators, Paxton Boys
11. Salem Witch Trials and the causes for mass hysteria analyzed in later periods: Red
Scare of 1919, McCarthyism of the 1950s, Profiling
12. First Great Awakening and its impact on thought and social and religious
developments in colonial America and beyond.
Assignments
1. They write paragraphs on three groups of Indians (Eastern Woodland, Mississippi
Valley, Southwestern) showing their political, economic, and social
characteristics revealing the diversity of the earliest inhabitants.
2. Students write short paragraphs comparing the purposes, types of settlement, and
forms of interaction with the Indians of the Spanish, French, English, and Dutch.
3. Students keep a chart showing similarities and differences among the 13 English
colonies: date of settlement, leader, economies, special features of each.
4. Students read excerpts from Edmund S. Morgan’s The Puritan Dilemma to
consider historical interpretation.
Documents
1. Read and discuss the Mayflower Compact
2. Take home essay DBQ: New England and Chesapeake Regions
Analyze documents in the 1993 DBQ comparing Chesapeake and New England
colonies (especially the rosters of two ships in 1635, one to Virginia and the other to
Massachusetts to speculate on the social, economic, and political developments in the
two regions)
Unit 3—The American Revolution
Topics
1. The European Wars and diplomacy and their impact on colonial America
2. Salutary Neglect
3. French and Indian War: causes and results for France, England, and the British
colonies, Iroquois Confederation
4. England’s New Colonial Policy and growth of resistance to taxes and imperial
control
5. Development of colonial unity: Albany Congress to Second Continental Congress
6. Diverse identities: Loyalists and Patriots
7. Historical interpretations of economic, social, ideological, political, geographical
causes for the Revolution.
8. Social and cultural results of the War: women and blacks
9. Diplomacy during the after the war
Assignments
1. Chapters 4 and 5 to page 135 in Brinkley
2. Edmund S. Morgan’s Meaning of Independence chapters on Adams and
Washington (historical interpretations of events and leading figures)
3. Test 2—Multiple choice and Identifications with analysis of their significances in
the bigger picture
4. Analytical Essay—Students will choose one of three free response essays to write
in class. (Scoring is based on the 9-point AP grading scale. Students use
birthdates instead of names to insure objectivity in scoring.) A full day of class is
spent in preparing students to write analytical essays. Handouts showing steps to
follow in planning an writing essays are distributed. Students may use the
handouts when planning and writing their essays in class.
5. Historical interpretations—Students read “The American Revolution” and “The
Age of Revolutions” (global context) essays in Brinkley for class discussion on
multiple interpretations of the causes (economic, political, social and cultural,
geographic) for the Revolution and the Revolution in global context.
Documents
1. Analysis of the Declaration of Independence including its importance in the
global context
2. Analyses of documents in DBQ’s: a) 2004-- French and Indian War (especially
the cartoon of “Join or Die”) b) 2005-- American Revolution (especially the
documents showing Indian attitudes toward the Revolution) c) 1999- development
of unity, identity, and diversity of thought before and after the Revolution.
3. Students discuss the meaning of documents in small groups then decide how to
use the documents in writing a response to the DBQ.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#2: Colonial History (2 weeks)
The first part of the course is handled by assigning students a series of tasks to complete over the
summer vacation, including:
Required Readings:
· Chapters 1-4 in Devine
· The Declaration of Independence
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Content:
Motives and methods of colonization: Spain, France, England
Push-pull factors bringing colonists to the New World
Comparison and contrast of Southern, middle, and New England political, economic, social, and
religious patterns
Cultural differences between Americans and Europeans
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Major Assignments:
Reading, crosswords and completion of study guide will be completed by students during summer
vacation.
Develop a chart explaining the financing, motivation for founding, and political, social, and economic
organization of each area.
1. plantation colonies
2. New England
3. middle colonies
Include a definition of “joint stock,” “proprietary.” And “Royal” or “Charter” colonies, the degree of
self government and the extent of participation, economic base, labor, opportunities for social and
political mobility, education, etc. What elements did the colonies have in common? What major
differences existed?
Take home essay DBQ: New England and Chesapeake Regions
Unit#1 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#2 The American Revolution 1763 1783
Topics
1. The European Wars and diplomacy and their impact on colonial America
2. Salutary Neglect
4. French and Indian War: causes and results for France, England, and the British
colonies, Iroquois Confederation
5. England’s New Colonial Policy and growth of resistance to taxes and imperial
control
6. Development of colonial unity: Albany Congress to Second Continental Congress
7. Diverse identities: Loyalists and Patriots
8. Historical interpretations of economic, social, ideological, political, geographical
causes for the Revolution.
9. Social and cultural results of the War: women and blacks
10. Diplomacy during the after the war
Assignments
6. Chapters 5 to page Devine
7. Edmund S. Morgan’s Meaning of Independence chapters on Adams and
Washington (historical interpretations of events and leading figures)
8. Essay: Connect the cost of the French and Indian War, Mercantilism, and Taxation without
Representation to the decision for independence.
9. Historical interpretations—Students read “The American Revolution” and “The
Age of Revolutions” (global context) essays in Brinkley for class discussion on
multiple interpretations of the causes (economic, political, social and cultural,
geographic) for the Revolution and the Revolution in global context.
Documents
1. Analysis of the Declaration of Independence including its importance in the
global context
2. Create a chart of the policies of England after the French and Indian War; and the colonial
response. Include: Proclamation of 1763, Grenville Acts, Townsend Acts, Committees of
Correspondence, tea Act, Boston Tea party, Intolerable Acts, First Continental Congress,
Samuel Adams, Sons of Liberty, and Second Continental Congress
3. Analyses of documents in DBQ’s: a) 2004-- French and Indian War (especially
the cartoon of “Join or Die”) b) 2005-- American Revolution (especially the
documents showing Indian attitudes toward the Revolution) c) 1999- development
of unity, identity, and diversity of thought before and after the Revolution.
4. Students discuss the meaning of documents in small groups then decide how to
use the documents in writing a response to the DBQ.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#3 The Critical Era
1781-1789
Topics
1. Similarities and differences of state constitutions
2. Nature and effectiveness of government under the Articles of Confederation
3. Foreign affairs, land policy, economic crisis
4. Shays’ Rebellion
5. Multiple interpretations for the calling of the Constitutional Convention:
economic, social struggle, ideological, political
6. The Constitution
7. The debate over ratification: Federalists and Anti-Federalists
Assignments
1. Chapter 6, pp. Chapter#6 Devine
2. Students analyze documents in 1983 DBQ on effectiveness of the government
under the Articles of Confederation. What is an “effective” government?
3. Crossword for assigned chapters
4. Study guide
5. Handouts from the Federalist Papers by Sterns
6. Develop a chart explaining the differences between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists and
include any compromises made.
7.
Debate: prepare debate from point of view of a Federalist/ Anti-Federalist about the new
Constitution.
8.
Take home Free response essay: How did the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
show the need for a new Constitution and how did the new Constitutional address those
weaknesses?
Documents
1. The Articles of Confederation
2. The Constitution
3. Federalist #10
4. 1983 DBQ—effectiveness of the government under the Articles of Confederation
5. Students read each document and write short analysis paragraphs (1781-1789)
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#4
The Federalist Era (1788-1800)
Topics
1. Bill of Rights
2. Washington’s leadership and events of his administration
3. Hamilton’s economic program
4. Rise of political parties
5. Foreign policies of the Washington and Adams administrations
6. Alien and Sedition acts and the origins of the states’ rights vs. federal power
debate
7. Election of 1800—a revolution?
Assignments
1. Chapter 7, pp.
2. Test —Multiple choice and identifications with analysis of their significances in
the bigger picture
3. Comparison of the ideological, economic, social and cultural, and diplomatic
preferences of the Federalists and Republicans (assignment in U.S. History
exercise book from the Center for Learning)
4. Crossword for assigned chapters
5. Study guide
6. Take home essay: Write an essay in which you evaluate the effectiveness of the New
Constitutional government in handling foreign affairs with France and England.
Documents
1. Bill of Rights analyzed and discussed: was there more concern for protecting
rights guaranteed by the Revolution or for protecting rights from a strong national
government? Multiple interpretations considered.
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#5 (2 weeks)
Republicans in Power (1801-1828)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 8 and 9 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Causes and results of the War of 1812; rise in secionalism, Fall of the Federalsits and the rise of the
two party system; and early industrial revolution.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Debate: Prepare a debate in which you take a for / against view on the pending War of 1812 against
England
Unit# 6 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#6 (2 weeks)
The Jacksonian Era (1828-1840)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 10 and 11 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Jackson and the politics of democracy, Jackson versus Calhoun, The bank War, rise of the working
class; Nullification crisis; Whigs; Torcqueville's wisdom; Rise in Evagelicalism; abolitionist and
women's rights
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Develop a chart explaining the dirrerent points of view between Jackosn and Calhoun and Fereral
rights Versus States rights.
Debate: Plan a debate surrounding the Nullification crisis. Be prepared to defend a pro/con view.
Unit#6 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#7 (1 week)
Age of Expansion (1830-1860)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 12 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
* DBQ on Indian Removal by Vaillancourt
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Texas revolution; Trail of Tears; Mormon Trek; Manifest Destiny, New Mexico, Oregon and war with
Mexico; Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo; Sucess of railroads; new working class and Immigration.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Take home essay: Write an essay where you evaluate Manifest Destiny and decide if it had a
positive or negative impact on America
Unit# 7 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#8 (2 weeks)
Slavery and the Coming of the Civil war (1800-1860)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 13, 14 and 15 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
Secondary source readings on "The Compromise of 1850", "The Kansas Nebraska Act", "Scott v.
Stadford".
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Develop a chart explaining the reasons for, the compromises made and the impact of Comromise of
1850, Kansas Nebraska Act; Free soil movement; Bleeding Kansas; Dred Scott, Lecompton
Constitution; and the Election of 1860
"perculiar" Institution and its impact on America, Cotten as king; Black Experience under Slavery;
Comromise of 1850, Kansas Nebraska Act; Free soil movement; Bleeding Kansas; Dred Scott,
Lecompton Constitution; and the Election of 1860
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
In class essay: Assess the moral arguments and political actions of those opposed to the spread of
slavery in the context of TWO of the following.
Missouri Compromise, Mexican War, Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act
Unit#8 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#9 (2 weeks)
Civil War and Reconstruction
Required Readings:
· Chapters 15 and 16 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
* Handout on the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, and Thirteenth Amendment by
Vaillancourt
Content and/or Skills Taught:
South Versus North ability to fight a war
Total War, Emancipation and the Compromise of 1877
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Develop a chart explaining the the differences and similarities between the northern and southern
armys and their predictability to win. Also indicate the impact King Cotten had on the war?
Unit#9 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit 10 (5 weeks)
The Guilded Age (1865-1900)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 17,18, 19, and 20 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Settling the west; Impact of anifest Destiny on Native Americans; Impact of Gold in Californis;
Laissez-faire and social Dawinism; Trancontinental Railroad and its impact; Carnegis, Rockefeller;
big government and the populists.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Essay: Write and essay in which you concider the positive and negative impact Industrialization had
on America.
Unit#10 test
Midterm: AP multiple choice questions and selected short answers. From cjhapter#1 through 17
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#11 (2 weeks)
The Progressive Era (1900-1917)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 22 and 23 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
* The Pendleton Act by Vaillancourt
Content and/or Skills Taught:
The Changing face of Industrialism; Progressivism, Muckrakers, Trustbusting; Impact of the NAACP
and the Niagara Movement; State and local reforms,; Women's suffrage; "Square Deal" and "New
Freedom"
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Create a chart in which you show the problems created by industrialism, the changes reformers
made. Include the impact of the Progressive Presidents (Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson)
Essay: Free response: Write an essay in which you evaluate the problems of industialization and the
changes made during the Progressive Period.
Unit#11 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit #12 (2 weeks)
Foreign Policy (1898-1920)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 21 and 24 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
* Hand out on Plessy v. Ferguson, Platt Amendment, and the Roosevelt Corollary by Vaillancourt
Content and/or Skills Taught:
America an Imperialist nation; War with Spain; Foreign Policy, America as a Police Power; Teddy
Roosevelt and Panama; "Big Stick", "Dollar" and "Moral" Diplomacy; Neutrality, Submarine warfare,
Zimmerman Letter; America at War (WWI).
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Create a chart in which you show the United State's growth a a world power and its progress toward
involvement in WWI
Essay: Take home essay: Write an essay in which you evaulate the costsand /or benifits America's
involvement in WWI.
Unit#12 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit# 13 (1 week)
The Roaring 20's
Foreign Policy (1898-1920)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 25 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
* Handout on the Nineteenth Amendment by Vailencourt
Content and/or Skills Taught:
The second Industrial Revolution; The Red Sacre; Prohibition; The rise of the Ku Klux Klan;
Immigration Restrictions; the crash of the Stock Market and the beginning of the Great Depression.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Essay: Write an essay in which you describe the history of the Women's Suffrage movement.
(Include: declaration of Sentiments, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the Nineteenth
Amendment.
Unit#13 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#14 (1 week)
The Great Depression (1929-1940)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 26 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
* Tennessee Valley Authority Act, National Industrial Recovery Act, and national Labor Relations Act
by Vailencourt
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Origins of the Great Depression; Hover and the Depression; Roosevelt and the Hundred Days; The
New Deal(recovery & relief); Fireside Chats; Huey Long, Townsend, and Coughlin; and the Supreme
Court and Roosevelt.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Creat a chart in which you analyze the New deal programs and their purpose and impact on the
depression.
Unit# 14 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#15 (1921-1945)
America and the World
Required Readings:
· Chapters 27 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
* Handouts on the Land Lease Act, Declaration of War against Japan, Japanese Relocation Order
and Manhattan Project by Vaallencourt
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Reasons for American Isolationism; Neutrality and its impact on U.S. police in Europe, Latin
America, and Asia; Undeclared War in Europe; Japanese / American relations and the attack on
Pearl harbor; War in Europe; Turning the tide in the Pacific and the A Bomb.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Debate: Take a good look at American and Japanese foreign policies. Debate from the perspective
of each nation in an attempt to avoid war.
Unit# 15 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit # 16 (2 weeks)
Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy and the Cold War(1945-1963)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 28,and 30 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
* Handouts on the Truman Doctrine, The Marshall Plan, The United States Recognition of Isreal, The
Restoration of Korea, Establishment of the Peace Corps, and Arial Photographs of the Cuban Missiles
in Cuba by Vaillencourt.
Content and/or Skills Taught:
The Cold War and (Truman Doctrine; Marshall Plan; Korean war; Crisis in China; Berlin Crisis; Cold
War at home, McCarthyism;Cold War in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America; JFK and flexable
response; and The Cuban Missle Crisis.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Essay #1 Free Response. Write in essay in which you evaulate why America entered the Cold War
and the expected sucess the United States hoped to have.
Unit# 16 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit#17 (1 week)
From the Fair Deal to the Great Society: The Triumph of Reforem (1945-1968)
Required Readings:
· Chapters 29 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
* Handouts on Brown v. Board of Education, The March on Washington Offical Program
Civil Rights Act, and Votings Rights Act by Vaillencourt
Content and/or Skills Taught:
The postwar economic boom and the rise of the suburbs; the civil rights strugle, the New Frontier;
The Warren Court; and the Great Society's was on poverty;
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Essay: Write an essay about the struggle for civil rights in America.
I expect you to include how the wars affected the African American, Indian and Hispanic struggle for
civil rights.
Include any legislation, important people, Civil Rights Movement, government leaders, special
events etc
Unit#17 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit# 18 ( 2 weeks)
Vietnam to Watergate
Required Readings:
· Chapters 30 and 31 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Involvement and escalation in Vietnam; the Vietnam dilemma, stalemate; American student revolt,
Black Power; Women's Liberation Movement;; Nixon and Kissinger; the ending of the Vietnam War
and Watergate.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Essay: Write an essay in which you evaluate the costs and benifits to America from its involvement
in Vietnam. (Include forein and domestic issues)
Unit#18 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit# 19 (1 week)
Ford, Carter and the 70's
Required Readings:
· Chapters 32 in Devine
· Crossword for assigned chapters
· Study guide
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Opec and the oil crisis; Infaltion in the new economy; Beginnings of Affirmative Action; Women's
strugle for equality; Sadat; Khomeini; and the prospect of a new Cold war.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Group Projects. Each group of 3 will investigate the American miliraty involvement in the past 100
years, Each group will be ready to explain the following. The 2 places the United States should not
have Intervened and the 2 places the United States was most justified to use inervention.
Unit# 19 test
Unit Name or Timeframe:
Unit# 20
AP United States History Review
Review multiple chapters each night with corresponding quizzes. Selected DBQ and Essays every
other day. Lecture and review.
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Alternate Approaches
Textbooks/Course Materials Edit
Textbooks
Author:Divine, Robert
Second Author:Breen, T.H.
Title:America past and Present
Publisher:Person
Published Date:2003
Description:AP United States History Text book
Other Course Materials
Material Type:Primary Source
Description:Peter n. Sterns, Documents in World History (New York: Longman, 2003)
John Garraty, Historical Viewpoints (New York: Longman, 1997)
Vaillancourt, U.S. History, A Document-based Skillbook, (New Jersey, 2006)
Holt, Rinehart, The Constitution, Past, Present, and Future (New York, 2006)
Websites
Periodicals
Additional Information Edit
Requirement:
How Course Meets Requirement:Course Objective – Student will:
· master a broad body of historical knowledge
· demonstrate an understanding of historical chronology
· use historical data to support an argument or position
· differentiate between historiographical schools of thought
· interpret and apply data from original documents, including cartoons, graphs, letters, etc.
· effectively use analytical skills of evaluation, cause and effect, compare and contrast
· work effectively with others to produce products and solve problems
· prepare for and successfully pass the AP U.S. History Exam