US History AP – Tangney
2009 - 2010
Syllabus
“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Guiding Question for the Course: The Declaration of Independence sets forth lofty goals and expectations
for an enlightened nation to follow. How well has the United States adhered to the Declaration over the
past 230 years?
Texts:
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Baker, Emerson W. The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New
England.
Boyer, Paul S. et al. The Enduring Vision: Sixth Edition.
Hofstadter, Richard. The American Poltical Tradition.
Swanson, James Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer
PS Packet: Denotes a packet of primary source documents and or essays / articles from
other historians. These packets will be available to read on my website.
Overview and Rationale:
The United States History AP course is designed as the equivalent of two semesters of College
Introductory level history. Additionally, the national AP examination is held in early May, so we
are going to be very calendar driven from the start. The primary readings will be in the course’s
primary text Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, hereafter EV. Enduring Vision
is a dense narrative style history of the United States that is particularly strong on political history.
In addition to the textbook readings, each week will have a packet of Primary Source documents
and historically themed articles to read as well. Links to these readings will be found on my
website accessible through www.marbleheadschools.org. On the first day of school your
summer reading book reviews for The Devil of Great Island and Manhunt are due. Additionally
we will have a test mixing multiple choice and open response questions on the two books on the
first day. It is imperative that you thoroughly read and complete the summer assignments;
failure to do so will put your success in this course in jeopardy from the first day of school.
Course Evaluation:
The grading for AP US History is as follows:
70% Tests, Quizzes, Essays, and Projects
30% Homework, Preparation, Class Participation
AP EXAM:
All AP students are expected to take the AP Examination in May.
AP US History – Tangney
Summer Preparation Assignment: 2009-2010
Welcome to AP US History. Hopefully you have signed up for this class because you
love history, enjoy reading about history, and are looking forward to a challenging
course. This course is very schedule driven because of the AP Exam in May, as a result
your summer preparation is especially important.
Assignments that need to be ready for the 1st day of class:
 Read, and write book notes for The Devil of Great Island, by Emerson Baker.
Although the Marblehead Public Library does not have this book, it is available
through many of the local public libraries on the noblenet network. If you choose
to purchase this book it is dramatically less expensive at amazon.com than from
other sources.
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Read, and write book notes for Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer
by James Swanson. This book is readily available through all major public
libraries and bookstores.
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Write a book review for one (your choice) of the two books listed above.
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Read, and take notes on the reading packet from United States History: Preparing
for the Advanced Placement Examination by John Newman. If you plan to buy
an AP review / test prep book this year I would recommend this one by Amsco
School Publications. You will not need to show me these notes, they are for your
use to prepare for the 1st day test.
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Be prepared for a test on the first day that includes questions on all three reading
assignments. 60% of this test will be former AP Exam questions (multiple
choice) that connect to the Amsco packet reading, 40% of the test will be open
response questions about your familiarity with the two books.
Details for the Book Notes Assignments:
 Your book notes assignment will be a short skeleton description of the book, the
author’s major arguments and the kind of evidence that the author uses to build
his case.
 Your book notes should not try re-state everything that the book said. You should
write no more than 500 words for each book notes assignment.
 Your book notes should include:
o An overall description of the work including the bibliographic information
for the book.
o A summary of the author’s thesis: What is the author trying to prove /
What makes this work different from other books about this time period in
US History.
o A bullet list of arguments made and types of evidence used to support the
thesis. This should be a representative list and not an index of EVERY
piece of information in the book.
o Explain how this work connects to another aspect of American History.
o What are some questions that this book brings up that might merit further
investigation?
Details for the Book Review Assignment:
 The book review should be an evaluative essay that discusses the strengths and
weaknesses of the book.
 The review should include an overall assessment of the writing / readability of the
book, but should really focus on the author’s thesis and how well he supported his
thesis.
 The book review should:
o Be no more than 1000 words.
o Be properly organized with a distinct introduction and conclusion and
several supporting paragraphs.
o Be free of major spelling / editing / proofreading mistakes.
o Include the bibliographic citation for the book.
o Begin with an overall description of the book, especially how it is
organized.
o Explain the author’s thesis: What was he trying to prove that was unique?
Do you think the author proved his point? Why or why not?
o What were the important arguments that the author used in order to prove
his thesis? Do you think he did so successfully or not?
o Assess the author’s use of evidence: What kind of evidence did he use to
support his arguments? Was there enough evidence, did anything seem
missing?
o Assess the book overall as a tool for historical study / understanding.
Schedule of Assignments:
Week
ending
9/11
9/118
Content Themes
Assigned Readings
Welcome Back:
Historiography, AP Style
Critical Reading, Summer
Assignments
Summer Reading Assignments:
Book reviews on Devil of Great
Island and Manhunt, opening day
test.
Readings Due - EV Ch 2, PS
Packet: Howard Zinn’s “Columbus,
The Indians, and Human Progress”,
Mary Norton’s “The Conquest of
Chocolate”, Gregory Ceiro’s “Were
the Spaniards Really that Cruel?”
EV – CH 3 (The Emergence of
Colonial Societies)
PS Packet: NE v. VA Passenger
Lists, Mayflower Compact.
Bacon’s Manifesto,
“Vengeful Women of Marblehead” Account of Marblehead during
Metacom’s War, John Winthrop: A
Modell of Christian Charity ,
Columbus Day Pro and Con
Readings, James Oglethorpe Vision
for the Foundation of Georgia
A New World: Exploration
and the Foundations of the
British Colonies
Assessments / Skill
Focus / Other
Summer Reading
Essays Due
4 Day Week
Comparing
historical sources
and the role of the
historian.
Reading Quiz:
Multiple Choice
questions and
Document ID
Questions from
Class (Ch 2,3)
Quiz prep will
emphasize
importance of
context as key to
analyzing historical
documents.
9/25
British Americans: Culture
and Economics, the Great
Awakening.
EV Ch 4 (The Bonds of Empire)
PS Packet: – Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God, Humphrey
Chadbourne Probate Inventory and
Will 1667, Ben Franklin: Proposals
Relating to Education
Concept of material
culture / physical
evidence as
historical source
material.
10-2
Battle of North America:
Indian Wars, European
Rivalries and their impacts
on Colonial Life.,
CE Ch 5 (Roads to Revolution)
PS Packet: Join or Die, Magna
Reduced Cartoons, Journal entry
from William Trent: Stationed at Fort
Pitt, Proclamation of 1763, Petition
to Make Pig Iron 1750, James Otis:
The Rights of the British Colonies,
4 Day Week
No Taxation and Other
Myths: Causes of the
American Revolution
EV Ch 6 (Securing Independence
PS: Franklin Testimony to
Parliament on Stamp Act,
Eyewitness Account of the Boston
Tea Party, The Olive Branch
Petition, The Suffolk Resolves,
Samuel Drowne’s Testimony on the
Boston Massacre 1770
10/9
Reading Quiz Ch
4,5: Reading quizzes
throughout the year
will include several
“AP Style” multiple
choice questions
along with Ids and
FRQs from previous
AP exams.
Concepts of agency
and perspective in
historical study.
10/16
DBQ Prep / American
Revolution
EV – Ch 7 through p. 206 /
(Launching the New Republic)
PS – Declaration of Independence,
Common Sense, G. Washington Letter
after the Battle of Trenton, Letters
from Valley Forge, Slaves’ Appeal to
General Gage 1774, Benjamin
Banneker Letter to Thomas Jefferson
1791
10/23
American Revolution / Early
Republic / The Constitution /
Hamiltonians v.
Jeffersonians
10/30
11/6
11/13
11/20
The 1812 Era / The Era of
Good Feelings: The
Embargo, The War, Monroe
as Statesmen, The Corrupt
Bargain
Society 1800-1860
Utopian Societies, Second
Great Awakening,
Republican Motherhood,
Reform Movements
Era of Jackson: Expansion
of Democracy, Rise of Mass
Campaigning, Manifest
Destiny, Compromises,
Growth of Sectional
Tensions,
Antebellum Political Topics
(cont from previous week)
EV – Ch 7
Oliphant Article Jefferson v. Hamilton
PS: Federalist #10, Washington’s
Farewell Address, Excerpts from John
and Abigail Adams Letters Articles of
Confederation Excerpt, Jefferson and
Hamilton Quotes on the Constitutionality
of the Bank, Whiskey Rebellion
Proclamation,
EV – Ch 8 (Jeffersonianism and the Era
of Good Feelings)
PS Packet: Monroe Doctrine, JQ
Adams Inaugural Address, James
Kent: Argument Against Universal
Suffrage 1821, “When Political
becomes Personal” Essay describing
the changing nature of electoral
politics as seen through the Adams /
Jackson elections.
EV – CH 9 (Transformation of
American Society)
PS: Excerpts from Toqueville
(Religion and Tyranny of the
Majority), Seneca Falls Declaration,
RW Emerson: Self Reliance, Lucy
Stone Letters,
EV Ch 10 (Democratic Politics,
Religious Revival and Reform)
Hofstadter Chapter on John C.
Calhoun from “American Political
Tradition”
PS Packet: Marshall Opinion from
Worcester v. Georgia, Jackson
Campaign Broadside, Jackson
slaying the Bank Cartoon, Allen
Read Article “Could Andrew Jackson
Spell?” (1963),
EV CH 11 (Technology, Culture and
Everyday Life) (No packet this week
/ catch up for end of term)
4 Day Week
DBQ – New
England v.
Chesapeake
Colonies
DBQ prep will
emphasize carefully
analyzing the
question and
establishing a strong
thesis.
Review of strong and
weak examples from last
week’s DBQs..
In class debate: Is
expanded suffrage
always a good thing?
DBQ – Alien and
Sedition Acts
DBQ Prep will
emphasize connecting
outside knowledge to
your documents.
4 Day Week
Cumulative Test Ch 6-9
Multiple Choice + FRQs
Review strong / weak
examples from Term test
FRQs
11/27
Slavery in America
12/4
Pre Civil War: Bleeding
Kansas John Brown’s Raid,
Impact of Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, Birth of the
Republican Party
12/11
Civil War: Relative
preparedness of each side,
Events of the Early War,
Foreign Policy, Nature of
Civil War Combat
12/18
12/23
VA
VA
1/8
Civil War: Emancipation
Proclamation, Gettysburg,
Sherman’s March, and the
End of Total War
Reconstruction: Presidential
v. Congressional
Reconstruction, Rise of
Black Codes and the KKK,
Exodusters and Black
Migration
CA
CA
Indian Removal and the
West
1850-1900: Sources of
EV Ch 12 (The Old South and
Slavery) PS Packet: Selections from
WPA Slave Narratives, Excerpts
from Confessions of Nat Turner,
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 ,
Testimony of Fugitive Slave Edward
Hicks,
Ch 10-12 Reading Quiz
EV Ch 13 (Immigration, Expansion,
and Sectional Conflict)
PS Packet: NY Tribune Editorial on
Kansas Nebraska Act, Buchanon
1860 State of Union, Greeley
Editorial on John Brown 1859,
South Carolina Articles of Secession.
EV Ch 14 (From Compromise to
Secession)
Hofstadter Chapter on Lincoln,
PS Packet: Jefferson Davis
Resignation Address, Mary Chestnut
Diary Entries 1860, Robert E Lee’s
Resignation Letter, Lincoln’s 1861
State of Union, Emancipation
Proclamation, Constance Harrison:
Reactions to Secession and 1st
Manassas
EV Ch 15 (The Crucible of
Freedom: Civil War)
PS Packet : Baltimore Cartoon of
Lincoln and the Emancipation
Proclamation, Gettysburg Address,
Sherman’s letter to the Leaders of
Atlanta 1864, Sullivan Ballou: Letter
from to his wife, Battle Hymm of
the Republic Lyrics, Lincoln’s
Condolence Letter to Mrs. Bixby
John Brown as example
of perception v. reality.
EV Ch 16 (The Crises of
Reconstruction)
PS Packet: PA Democratic
Broadside from 1866 Election,
Accounts of Freedmen Migrating
West, Thadeus Stevens Speech on
Congressional Reconstruction,
Frederick Douglass: Essay on
Reconstruction, Lincoln on voting
rights, Stevens on voting rights,
William Ravenal on voting rights, A.
Johnson on Voting rights
TI
TI
EV Ch 17 (The Trans-Mississippi
West)
PS Packet: Eyewitness Account of
3 Day Week
Thanksgiving
Stress importance of
agency in undocumented populations.
DBQ – Northern Middle
Class Women due Thu
12/4
DBQ Prep – Emphasize
the big “BUT” – How to
account for exceptions to
your thesis or evidence
that seems to contradict
your thesis.
Reading Quiz Ch 13,14 –
Multiple Choice + FRQs
Concept – The Civil War
as a transformative
event.
DBQ – John Brown
Friday
DBQ Prep – New
Challenge = Doing the
whole DBQ in one class
period.
ON
ON
Emphasize study
strategies for long term
tests compared to short
Conflict, Plains Indians
Lifestyles, Reservations and
Broken Treaties, Dawes Act
and Carlisle School
Homestead Act and other
incentives, Turners Thesis,
Myths of the Old West, Role
of Women in Homesteading
The Rise of American Big
Business
the Oklahoma Land Rush, The
Homestead Act, Chief Seattle: How
Can you Buy the Sky, Chief Joseph
“Thunder Traveling to the Loftier
Mountain Heights” 1877, Turner’s
“The Significance of the Frontier”
1893
term quizzes.
EV Ch 18 (Rise of Industrial
America)
PS Packet: Frederick Taylor:
Scientific Management, Carnegie
and Rockefeller on the “Proper
administration of wealth” ,
1/22
1/29
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
Midterms
Midterms
DBQ – Settlement of the
West
Review for Midterms
(Midterm exam will be
comprised of 25 former
AP Multiple Choice
questions and 2 FRQs
XXXXX
XXXXX
2/5
US at 1900 – Populists, The
Grange, Rise of Mass
Entertainment, Immigration
and Urbanization
EV Ch 19 (Transformation of Urban
America)
PS Packet: Sinclair: The Jungle
Excerpt, Emma Lazarus “The New
Colossus”, Cartoons and Photos
from Ellis Island and Angel Island,
Jacob Riis “How the Other Half
Lives” Excerpt, Henry Cabot Lodge:
The Restriction of Immigration 1889
EV 20 (Daily Life 1860-1900)
Hofstadter Chapter on Theodore
Roosevelt
PS Packet – BT Washington, WEB
DuBois, Marcus Garvey Prim
Sources on African Americans at
turn of century, Roosevelt “New
Nationalism Speech”
1/15
2/12
Politics and Imperialism
Gilded Age through
Roosevelt
2/19
2/26
3/5
Progessivism, Settlement
Houses, Immigration, Trust
Busting, Muckraking,
Immigration Roosevelt and
Wilson Domestic Politics
The US and WWI:
Neutrality, Preparedness,
Submarine Warfare, Battle
over Versailles
Feb Vacation Week –
EV CH 21 (Politics and Expansion in
an Industrializing Age)
Wilson Chapter from Loewen “Lies
My Teacher Told Me”
EV Ch 22 (The Progressive Era)
Race Cleansing in America:
Eugenics Article, Ruth Crocker:
Social Work and Social Order:
Chapter 2 From Foreign House to
American Settlement
EV Ch 23 (WWI)
PS Packet: 14 Points, McCutcheon
Cartoon “Crime of the Ages: Who
Did It?”, Wilson, DuBois on the
Treaty of Versailles,
How have historians
regarded Turner’s Thesis
over the years?
Compare immigration
discrimination stories
with slavery
discrimination. – What
accounts for the
differences?
Re-enforce concept of
Agency.
Reading Quiz Ch 19,20
Multiple Choice and
FRQ.
Based on “new
nationalism” is it
surprising or not that
modern Republicans so
frequently cite
Roosevelt?
DBQ – Washington and
DuBois Due after
Vacation
Re-enforce context
essential to interpreting
sources.
Reading Test Ch 21-23
Multiple choice and FRQ
Class Debate: Was it a
mistake for the US to
3/12
3/19
3/26
4/2
4/9
The Roaring 20s: Red
Summer, False Prosperity,
Consumerism, Women’s
Changing Images
The Great Depression:
Causes, Hoover Response,
Dustbowl Life, The New
Deal, The Demagogues,
Wagner Act
The Late ‘30s and WWII:
America the Isolationist,
Arsenal of Democracy
US and WWII: US / Japan
relations in the 30s, Nature
of the War, Japanese
Internment, Decision to
Drop the Bomb
Cold War Era / and Ike:
Yalta and Potsdam,
Containment, Korea, The
Military Industrial Complex
EV Ch 24 (The 1920s)
William Tuttle Jr: :Red Summer
1919: Reading on the Chicago Race
Riots,
PS Packet: Scopes Trial Transcript,
Text of 1924 Immigration Act, 1924
Letter to Rep Baker of California
from the San Francisco American
Legion Chapter, HW Evans’ “The
Klan’s Fight for Americanism” ,
Margaret Sanger on Birth Control
EV Ch 25 (Crash, Depression and
New Deal)
Hofstadter: FDR Chapter
Case Study: Portsmouth, NH during
the Great Depression, Andover, MA
Emergency Committee Survey from
1932, “A Boy Tramp Tells of the Big
Trouble” from Boy and Girl Tramps
of America 1934 , “Joe Morrison
Remembers the Drop” from Hard
Tmes 1970, Philip Broughton “Man
Meets Job: How Uncle Sam Helps” US Gov Public Affairs pamphlet
1941
EV Ch 26 (American Life in a
Decade of Crisis at Home and
Abroad)
PS Packet: FDR: Roosevelt Pleads
for Repeal of the Arms Emargo
1939, FDR: Fireside Cha on the
Arsenal of Democracy”, Charles
Lindbergh Argues for Isolation 1941,
Chicago Tribune criticizes FDR
1941, Dr. Seuss Cartoons from
World War II,
EV Ch 27 (Waging Global War)
PS Packet: Truman on the decision to
drop the Bomb, Alfred Burgos,
Richard Gordon, Leon Beck: Bataan
Death March Survivors Interviewed
for American Experience, Time
Magazine Exerpts 1943-1945 A Trip
to Japan, One Square Mile of Hell,
Young Frank, Moment in Tehran,
Reveille for Workers, Bombing of
Boise City, No Stopping, Excerpts
from John Hersey: Hiroshima
EV CH 28 (Cold War America)
PS Packet: NSC 68, George
Kennan: Containment, US and
Soviet exchange of notes in response
to the Berlin Wall, Pro and Con
readings on joining NATO (Walter
Lippman, Sen Connally TX, Sen Taft
enter WWI?
DBQ – Fight over
Versailles Treaty
Review strong / weak
DBQ examples.
4 day week
Reading Quiz Ch 24,25
Multiple Choice and
FRQ.
Using local history to
prove / disprove general
historical beliefs.
DBQ – Immigration Law
of 1924
Class presentations based
on Dr. Suess WWII
cartoons.
Reading Quiz Ch 26,27
4 Day Week
Depression and WWII:
As a single
transformative
movement in US history.
DBQ – Decision to Drop
the Bomb
Review strong / weak
DBQ examples.
Did US over-react to
4/16
The 1960s – Vietnam:
Sputnik, Bay of Pigs, Berlin
as Context, Nature of
Involvement, Tet and the
Turning of Public Opinion,
My Lai and other Lies
4/23
Vacation Week
4/30
The 50s / 60s Civil Rights:
Protest Movement, Student
Movements, Black
Nationalism, Breakdown of
Movement
5/7
The 1970s / 1980s: Post
Vietnam and Watergate
Attitudes, Détente and
Renewed Cold War,
Reaganomics
OH, Kennan), Time Magazine: Facts
of Attack (1959 predictions for
nuclear exchange), JFK letter to Life
Magazine about nuclear weapons 91961
EV Ch 30 (The Turbulent 60s)
PS Packet: Declaration of
Independence of the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam 1945, Carol
Mirman eyewitness to Kent State
Shootings, LBJ: American Policy in
Vietnam 1965, Defends American
Commitment to South Vietnam 1966
Nixon: Vietnamization and the
Invasion of Cambodia, Sandy
Kempner – Vietnam Soldier’s Letter
Home 1966, Walter Cronkite “report
from Vietnam” 1968
EV Ch 31 (A Troubled Journey from
Port Huron to Watergate)
April Vacation Week
EV Ch 32 (Society and Politics from
Ford to Bush)
James Loewen: Excerpt from Lies
on FBI actions regarding the Civil
Rights Movement ,
PS Packet: Foundation Documents
for SNCC, Earl Warren Quote on
School Desegregation, Chart of
School Integration in 1960, MLK I
Have Dream Speech, John Lewis
March on Washington Speech,
George Wallace 1964 Candidacy
Announcement Speech
PS Packet: Richard Nixon:
Watergate Speech,, Taperecordings
Speech Gerald Ford: Pardon of
Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan: Evil
Empire Speech, George HW Bush
quotes on diversity, taxes, Persian
Gulf War
Cold War?
Reading Quiz Ch 28,30
Multiple choice and
FRQ.
Students prepare
Supreme Court cases
study guide due after
vacation.
DBQ – 1960s Civil
Rights
Optional AP Specific test
prep sessions after
school.
AP Practice Tests