AP Essay Grading Scale
AP United States History
Class Syllabus 2014
9 or 8 =
7 or 6=
5 or 4 =
3 or 2=
1=
98 or 93
88 or 83
78 or 73
68 or 63
50
= A
= B
= C
= D
= F
Welcome to AP US History. You have chosen to become part of a very dynamic and challenging class that will
test your intellectual abilities. The class is not difficult, but it is time consuming. This is a demanding class in
which we will have only limited instructional days before the Wednesday, May 7th AP US History Exam. The
exam cost $89.00. In order to be successful, you need to READ the book.
Textbook
Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Boston, Mass.: Houghton
Mifflin Co., 2006.
Newman, and John M. Schmalbach. United States History Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. 2nd
revised edition. New York, NY: Amsco Publications, Inc., 2006.
Primary Resources Text
Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Spirit. 11th ed. Vol 1 and Vol 2 Boston,
Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006.
Points of Emphasis
In this class students will be asked to read various articles, essays, book excerpts, primary sources, and analyze
paintings, cartoons, maps, and graphs. Each unit we study will ask students to look at change over time. Writing based
on historical perspective and interpretation will be required. Writing using selected readings will aid students in
developing and interpreting historical perspective.
Some of the THEMES in this class include how Reform has changed America over time, evolution of American
Culture, development of the American Identity, Economic Transformation, the role of religion in the making of
the US and its impact on a multicultural society, and how the US went from Isolationism to Globalization.
By the end of this class you will be able to:
Analyze and interpret various perspectives, primary sources, political cartoons, maps, graphs, and
articles through writing.
Demonstrate knowledge of American political, social, and economic history through writing.
Discuss cause and effect relationships and compare and contrast a wide range of topics.
Work in study, project, and presentation groups in order to help others and gain personal knowledge
of US History.
Successfully complete the AP US History course, receive at least a 3 on the AP US History Exam
A good portion of the class is essay writing. I am looking for facts, not flowery metaphors. Some of you will find this
easy and others of you may struggle. Please come see me any time. I am here to help you be successful. Essays are
graded according to the box at the top of this page.
Grading
Grading will be based on Essays, Tests, Pop Quizzes, and Homework assignments. Tests are multiple choice with 4-5
answers to choose from, Identification terms, and essay format. Tests will always cover 3 or more chapters! Class
participation is required and will count as a class grade. Pop Quizzes do occur frequently based on reading assignments
and in-class lecture and/or discussion. Be prepared and READ. Homework, class work, and other projects will be
assigned.
Important Points
1. Use ID terms and primary sources to guide your learning.
2. READ (expect a quiz everyday based on reading)
3. Use the reading guides to assist with the chapter readings.
Absentee Policy
All students who are absent from school are responsible for making up all work including taking tests, doing projects
and getting the notes the student missed. A test must be taken within one week from the date of their return to school
or it will result in a zero. Students should talk to me BEFORE class begins to get all missed assignments and papers
Do not wait until class begins to get these missed assignments. DO NOT LET YOURSELF GET BEHIND!!
NOTEBOOK/SUPPLIES!
All students will keep a three-ring binder/virtual notebook divided into sections. Those sections may include:
Primary Source Assignments
Notes and ALL class work/notes and handouts in the order they are given out
Record of all test scores and project grades
Completed and Graded Assignments
Plan ahead: You will need a flash drive, ear buds, and a computer microphone(optional). Once we get out laptops on
September 3rd, we will shift away from the three-ring binder. There will be different APPS that will NEED to
download.
Homework
Homework will appear on the board. The student should make every effort to write down any assignment. Also, be
prepared to complete reading assignments on a daily basis. You can expect a POP QUIZ two times a week based on
reading assignments and class material. Primary sources and questions may be accessed using Evernote or Edmodo.
Answers should be kept in your notebook.
Topic Presentation
In this class you will be assigned a topic/time period to present. This will introduce the next Unit. Everyone’s topic
and presentation is different and I will allow you to choose your topic on the first day of school.
1. The presentation can be in any format you choose such as PowerPoint, Keynote, Inspire, etc. but I encourage you to
use some form of technology.
2. In the presentation, you must introduce the class to your topic. Your topic must include no more than two main
ideas/events in each of the following areas: Social, Political, Economic, Diplomatic, and Cultural.
3. You must also include at least 3 primary sources to help you in supporting your topic presentation. This can
include letters, newspaper articles, maps, advertisements, artwork, quotes from period books or novels, speeches,
graphs, etc. Each of the 3 documents or primary sources should address a different aspect (social, political, etc). The
documents should be the framework around your description of your assigned topic/time period. Simple pictures of
people, and things may not count as a document. You should ask for help if you are questioning whether it will work
or not.
4. After you explain the main idea/event to the class, you must also explain the result/reaction by the government or
society to this event.
5. Don’t hesitate to ask for help! Presentations should last no longer than 10 minutes. DO NOT JUST READ THE
PRESENTATION to the class. You must be an expert on the topic you are assigned.
Key Vocabulary
All students will be given Key Vocabulary terms. These will be given before each lesson. These terms are given so
that the student may use them to prepare for a test, and check for understanding of the main ideas during or after
reading.
Tardy Policy
Tardiness will not be tolerated. Students must be in their assigned seats working on the question of the day,
vocabulary, or other assigned activities. I will strictly follow the schools policy regarding a student who is tardy.
**You may contact me by using the following e-mail address: chandlerrc@rss.k12.nc.us
** Follow JCHS_AH on Twitter!!
** Sign up for Remind 101: TEXT- @f2baf9 TO- (469)-518-6902
Helpful Hints to success:
Read every night—follow the calendar
Analyze information- don’t just memorize
it
Read- don’t put it off!
Ask questions- come see me
-
Don’t get frustrated or overwhelmedtake your time
Ask for help- I am here for you
Get a study group organized- share
Be prepared every day for class- you
don’t know what may happen
-
READ
AP US History (American Pageant) First Period
Course Calendar Fall 2014
Textbook Pages
Topics
Approximate Test Date
Pg. 4-104
Colonial America
September 4
Pg. 104-190
Revolution-Constitution
September 10
9/11
Pg. 190-256
Early Republic-Monroe
September 17
9/18
Pg. 256-390
Jackson/Reform/Manifest Destiny
September 24
Pg. 390-504
Causes/Civil War/Reconstruction
October 2
10/3
Pg. 504-626
Farmer/Industry/Immigration/Gilded Age
October 14
10/15
Pg. 626-696
Imperialism and Progressive Era
October 23
Midterm Exam
END OF 1st QUARTER
October 24
October 24
Pg. 696-800
WWI/ 20’s/ Depression/ New Deal
October 31
November 7
Pg. 800-909
WWII/ Cold War 1950’s
November 19
Presentation
Dates
9/25
10/25
11/3
11/10
400 QUESTIONS
11/20
Pg. 882-966
Civil Rights
November 25
12/1
Pg 909-942
New Frontier/Great Society/ Vietnam
December 10
Pg. 942-1024
Nixon/ 1970’s/ 1980’s/ 1990’s
December 22
AP REVIEW
January 5-9
Final Exams
January 12-15
AP US HISTORY EXAM
Friday, May 8th
8:00 am
12/11
AP US History
Course Calendar Fall 2014
Colonial America
August 25 - September 4
American Pageant: Chapter 1, New World Beginnings
New world geology, Pre-Columbian America, Africans and Europeans, Columbian exchange,
Mexican conquest, rise of Spain, Conquistadores
Spirit: Visualizing the New World 1506-1510
Hernan Cortez Conqers Mexico
Aztec Chroniclers Describe the Spenish Conuest of Mexico
Mungo Park Describes Slavers in the African Interior 1790
John Cabot Voyages for England 1497
American Pageant: Chapter 2, The Planting of English America
Jamestown, English and the Natives, Virginia an Maryland, England in the Caribbean, Carolinas and
Georgia.
Spirit: Starving Time 1609
The Intolerant Act of Toleration 1649
Persecutions of the Catholics 1656
American Pageant: Chapter 3, Settling the Northern Colonies
Puritan New England religion, Massachusetts Bay Colony establishment, resistance and control in
New England colonies.
Spirit: Framing the Mayflower Compact 1620
John Cotton Describes New England’s “Theocracy” 1636
Anne Hutchinson is Banished 1637
John Winthrop’s Concept of Liberty 1645
American Pageant: Chapter 4, American Life in the 17th Century
Tobacco and Slave Labor, Rebellion in Virginia, African American culture, Society and Life in New
England and the Southern Colonies, Salem witch trials.
Spirit: A Contract for Indentured Service 1635
The Baconite Grievances 1677
Slavery is Justified
The Conscience of a Slave Trader 1694
The Stono River Rebellion in South Carolina 1739
Cotton Mather on the Education of his Children 1706
The Salem Witchcraft Hysteria 1692
American Pageant: Chapter 5, Colonial Society on the Eve of the Revolution
Immigration and population growth, Atlantic economy, religion, Great Awakening, Education in
Colonial America, Zenger Case and freedom of the press.
Spirit: Gottlieb Mittleberger Voyages to Pennsylvania 1750
The Pattern of Colonial Commere 1766
Unit Test: Thursday September 4 Chapters 1-5
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
DBQ on Southwest American Settlement
Revolution-Constitution
September 5 – September 10
American Pageant: Chapter 6, The Duel for North America
Fur trade and the French competition, consequences of the French and Indian War, Pontiacs
Rebellion and the Proclamation of 1763
Spirit: Pontiac Rallies his Warriors 1763
The Proclamation of 1763
American Pageant: Chapter 7, The Road to Revolution
Roots of revolution, mercantilism, salutary neglect vs. taxation, resistance to taxes, organization of
the colonies, failure of diplomacy, first conflicts
Spirit: Benjamin Franklin Testifies Against the Stamp Act 1766
Philadelphia Threatens Tea Men 1773
American Pageant: Chapter 8, American Secedes from the Empire
The American Revolution, Patriots and Loyalists, French alliance, Declaration of Independence, life
on the home front, women and the war, peace.
Spirit: Thomas Paine Talks Common Sense 1776
Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence
The Hanging of a Loyalist
John Adams Contemplates a Model Treaty 1776
American Pageant: Chapter 9, The Confederation and the Constitution
The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, state vs. central power, the Enlightenment,
slavery and religion in the political process, creation of sectionalism at the Constitutional
Convention, rebellion
Spirit: The Argument over Slave Importations 1787
George Mason is Critical 1787
An Anti-Federalist Demands Deliberation 1787
James Madison Defends the New Constitution 1787
Documents: Common Sense and Crisis by Thomas Paine
The Declaration of Independence
The Constitution of the United States
Federalist Papers
Unit Test: Wednesday September 10 Chapter 6-9
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
DBQ on the French and Indian War
Early Republic-Monroe
September 11 – September 17
American Pageant: Chapter 10, Launching the New Ship of State
Politics in early federal America, the economics behind a National Bank, Conflicts and foreign
affairs with Britain, Precedents established, Federal vs. Republican vision of governments.
Spirit: State Debts and the National Bank
Overawing the Whiskey Boys
The Retirement of Washington
American Pageant: Chapter 11, Triumphs and Travails of Jeffersonian Democracy
The “Revolution of 1800,” John Marshall and federal power strengthened, diplomacy of Jefferson
and Madison, the Embargo Act, conflicts with Natives and westward settlement.
Spirit: The Three-Fifths Clause Gives Jefferson a Dubious Victory
Marshall Sanctions the Bank 1819
Lewis and Clark Meet a Grizzly 1805
The Resort to Economic Coercion
American Pageant: Chapter 12, The Second War for Independence/Nationalism
The War of 1812, The Era of Good Feelings, The American System, Monroe Doctrine and the
establishment of US position in foreign affairs, Expansion westward and the growth of
slavery/sectionalism
Spirit: Tecumseh Challenges William Henry Harrison 1810
Disloyalty in New England
Missouri Statehood Controversy
Unit Test: Wednesday, September 17 Chapters 10-12
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
DBQ: Evaluate the accuracy of the time period after the War of 1812 as an ‘Era of Good Feelings”
Jackson/Reform/Manifest Destiny
September 18 - September 24
American Pageant: Chapter 13, The Rise of a Mass Democracy
Jacksonian democracy, Whigs, BUS, Indian Removal Act, “common man” politics, states rights
and nullification
Spirit: Jackson Vetoes the Maysville Road Bill 1830
Clay Protests 1830
Nullification Crisis
Transplanting the Tribes
The Emergence of Mass Political Parties
American Pageant: Chapter 14, Forging the National Economy
The market economy, immigration and nativism, the Lowell system and women, the transportation
revolution, commercial agriculture.
Spirit: The Spread of the Factory
Agitation for the Ten-Hour Day 1835
The Coming of the Iron Horse
American Pageant: Chapter 15, The Ferment of Reform and Culture
Religion and reform, women’s roles in reform movements, a national artistic and literary movement,
advances in education, science, invention, technology, utopian community experiment.
Spirit: The Changing Role of Women
Three Views of Indians
American Pageant: Chapter 16, The South and the Slavery Controversy
Cotton culture, southern society and the impact of the plantation system, the abolition movement
Spirit: A Slave Boy Learns a Lesson 1827
A Former Slave Exposes Slavery 1850
Documents:
Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail
Sociology for the South vs. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
American Pageant: Chapter 17, Manifest Destiny and its Legacy
Polk’s impact on the shape of American landscape, Manifest Destiny, war with Mexico
Spirit: Provoking War with Mexico
Unit Test: Wednesday, September 24
Chapters 14-17
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
DBQ
Causes/Civil War/ Reconstruction
September 25 – October 2nd
American Pageant: Chapter 18, Renewing the Sectional Struggle
Popular sovereignty, the Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Law, Kansas Nebraska Act.
Spirit: David Wilmot Appeals for Free Soil 1847
Southerners Threaten Secession 1849
Reactions to the Fugitive Slave Law
The Debate over the Kansas-Nebraska Bill
American Pageant: Chapter 19, Drifting Toward Disunion
The impact of Uncle Toms Cabin, Dred Scott case and its impact, Lincoln-Douglas debates, John
Brown, division of American in 1860 and the resulting secession.
Spirit: The Dred Scott Decision
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
American Pageant: Chapter 20, Girding for War
Martial Law and the boarder states, women and the war, advantages and disadvantages by region,
the economy of the war, European impact on the war.
Spirit: British Involvement
Abraham Lincoln Defines the Purposes of the War
American Pageant: Chapter 21, The Furnace of the Civil War
The Peninsula Campaign, battle plans, the war in the West, Sherman’s March, Appomattox, politics
behind the Emancipation Proclamation, the legacy of war in both the North and South, assassination.
Spirit: The Proclaiming of Emancipation
Documents: The Gettysburg Address
American Pageant: Chapter 22, The Ordeal of Reconstruction
Reconstruction policy: Congress vs. Presidential, economics and freedom after the war, resistance to
Reconstruction, the end of Reconstruction, the New South, impeachment politics and the balance of
power
Spirit: The Debate on Reconstruction Policy
The Legacy of Reconstruction
“Black Reconstruction”
Unit Test: Thursday, October 2nd
Chapters 18-22
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
DBQ: Effectiveness of Reconstruction
Farmer/Industry/Immigration/Gilded Age
October 3rd – October 14th
American Pageant: Chapter 23, Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age
Big business, corruption, the rise of Jim Crow, Railroads and the Farmer, Populism and its legacy
Spirit: The Spread of Segregation
Cleveland and the Tariff
American Pageant: Chapter 24, Industry Comes of Age
Railroads connect America, Robber Barons, growth of unions, New South, government and politics
of regulation in industry and railroads.
Spirit: A Defense of Long Haul Rates 1885
John D. Rockefeller Justifies Rebates 1899
Andrew Carnegies Gospel of Wealth 1889
Labor in Industrial America
American Pageant: Chapter 25, America Moves to the City
Urbanization, Industrialization, new waves of immigration and restrictions, nativism, AfricanAmericans and the early Civil Rights, “New Woman”, turn of the century culture
Spirit: The New Immigration
The Church on the Defensive
Anti-Saloon Crusade
Changing Role of Women
American Pageant: Chapter 26, The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution
Culture of the West, impact of the railroad on Native Americans and the growth of America, the
close of the frontier and its impact, industrialization of agriculture and political dissent among
farmers, Populism, the debate behind bimetallism.
Spirit: The Plight of the Indian
The Farmers Protest Movement
The Pullman Strike
The Free Silver Mirage
Documents: Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives
Frederick J. Turner, Frontier in American History
William Jennings Bryan, “Cross of Gold” speech
Populist Party Platform 1892
Unit Test: Tuesday, October 14th
Chapters 23-26
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
DBQ
Free Response
Imperialism and Progressive Era
October 15th – October 23rd
American Pageant: Chapter 27, Empire and Expansion
American expansion overseas, Imperialism, The Spanish-American War, the Open Door Policy,
Economics and newspapers of imperialism, addition to the Monroe Doctrine.
Spirit: Yellow Journalism in Flower
The Debate over Imperialism
Roosevelt Launches a Corollary 1904
American Pageant: Chapter 28, Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt
Progressive reform, trust busting, labor, prohibition and women, demographics of urbanization and
the resulting political impact, “Dollar Diplomacy,” environmental issues
Spirit: The Heyday of Muckraking
The Crusade for Woman Suffrage
American Pageant: Chapter 29, Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad
The Election of 1912, New Freedom versus the New Nationalism, Progressive economic reform,
diplomacy of neutrality and isolationism,
Spirit: The Election of 1912
Campaigning for Monetary Reform
Acquiescing in the British Blockade
Documents: Alfred T. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History
Unit Test: Thursday, October 23rd Chapters 27-29
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
WWI/ 1920’s /Depression and New Deal
October 28th – November 7th
American Pageant: Chapter 30, The War to End War
War in Europe and war on the home front, propaganda and civil liberties, Fourteen Points, the Great
Migration, the politics behind the making of the Treaty of Versailles and its rejection by the U.S.
Senate.
Spirit: The Propaganda Front
Struggle over the Peace Treaty
Documents: Woodrow Wilson’s War Message to Congress
American Pageant: Chapter 31, American Life in the Roaring Twenties
The “Red Scare” and immigration issues, Prohibition, a mass-consumption economy, the Jazz Age
and the Harlem Renaissance, traditionalism versus modernism, culture and religious debate, the
emergence of the American hero.
Spirit: The Reconstituted Ku Klux Klan
New Goals for Women
American Pageant: Chapter 32, The Politics of Boom and Bust
Isolationism and Laissez-faire in the 1920s, radio and mass culture, foreign debt, high tariffs, and
diplomacy, Black Tuesday and the causes of the Great Depression
Spirit: Warren Harding and the Washington Conference
Herbert Hoover Clashes with Franklin Roosevelt
An Appraisal of Hoover
American Pageant: Chapter 33, The Great Depression and the New Deal
FDR and “recovery, relief, reform,” the debate over socialistic programs and their critics,
Depression impact on society, cultural changes in the 1930s, New Deal Programs and their legacy,
the attempted expansion of the Supreme Court, political power struggle.
Spirit: The Face of the Great Depression
Voices of Protest
Conservation in the New Deal
The Supreme Court Fight and After
FDR Inaugural Address (sound recording)
Unit Test: Friday, October 31st and Friday, November 7th Chapters 30-33
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
DBQ: Effectiveness of the New Deal
WWII/Cold War/ 1950’s
November 10th – November 19th
American Pageant: Chapter 34, FDR and the Shadow of War
Attempts at neutrality and isolation, the end of isolationism, diplomacy and economics of the prewar
years, preparation of war, declaration war following Pearl Harbor
Spirit: The Struggle Against Isolationism
American Pageant: Chapter 35, America in World War II
The war in Europe and in the Pacific, the home front economy, changes for women and minorities
during the war, the decision to use the atomic bomb and its consequences, civil rights violations
during war time on the Japanese Americans
Spirit: War and American Society
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
American Pageant: Chapter 36, The Cold War Begins
Postwar prosperity and the Baby Boom, communism and containment, diplomacy and the Marshall
Plan, the Red Scare, abandonment of peace time isolationism, Korean War
American Pageant: Chapter 37, The Eisenhower Era
Suburbia, car and consumer culture in the 1950s, migration, McCarthyism, Cold War expansion, the
space race, postwar literature and culture
FDR Declaration of War (sound recording)
Unit Test: Wednesday, November 19th
Chapters 34-37
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
DBQ
Free Response
Civil Rights Movement
November 20th – November 25th
American Pageant: Chapter 37, The Eisenhower Era
The civil rights revolution begins, leaders and organization, the social impact of ending segregation,
Brown v. Board
American Pageant: Chapter 38, The Stormy Sixties
The civil rights revolution explodes, the politics behind Civil Rights, Civil Rights and Vietnam
American Pageant: Chapter 39 The Stalemated Seventies
Civil Rights, desegregation, and Affirmative Action
Unit Test: Tuesday, November 25th Chapters 37-39
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
New Frontier/Great Society/ Vietnam
December 1st – December 10th
American Pageant: Chapter 38, The Stormy Sixties
The Cold War continues, expansion of the war in Vietnam, the civil rights revolution and evolution,
Johnson and the Great Society, immigration and demographic changes.
American Pageant: Chapter 39, The Stalemated Seventies
Legacy of Vietnam, rise of conservatism, economic stagnation, crisis over presidential power,
environmental issues, feminism and the women’s movement, civil rights and affirmative action,
foreign policy.
Unit Test: Wednesday, December 10th
Chapters 38-39
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
Nixon/1970’s/1980’s/1990’s/Present
December 11th –December 22nd
American Pageant: Chapter 39, The Stalemated Seventies
Rise of conservatism, economic stagnation, crisis over presidential power, environmental issues,
feminism and the women’s movement, civil rights and affirmative action, foreign policy and the
issue of oil
American Pageant: Chapter 40, The Resurgence of Conservatism
Reagan and the “New Right,” the end of the Cold War, Reaganomics, politics and the Supreme
Court, globalization, war and diplomacy in the Middle East
American Pageant: Chapter 41, American Confronts the Post-Cold War Era
The Clinton era, post-Cold War politics and foreign policy, the controversial election of 2000, the
attack on the World Trade Center and America post-9/11
American Pageant: Chapter 42, The American People Face a New Century
Demographic changes, changes in the family, immigration and related issues, a multicultural
society, the high-tech economy, America in a global context
Documentary History: Chapters 30 and 31 Republican Contract with America
George W. Bush, Washington National Cathedral Prayer Service,
September 2001
George W. Bush, Joint Session of Congress, September 2001
Rudy Giuliani, Farewell Address, 2001
Unit Test: Monday, December 22nd
Chapters 39-42
Multiple choice, key terms, and essay questions.
January 5th – January 9th – Final Exam Review
January 12th – January 16th – Final Exams
Second Semester REVIEW: Details to be announced. I am planning review meetings this spring
where we will discuss and review US History. The greatest challenge to most Fall semester students is
retaining the vast amount of information we have covered. You must also review on your own, if you are
going to be successful on the AP exam!
AP US HISTORY EXAM: Friday, May 7th 8:00am