Advanced Placement United States History
Course Description:
Advanced Placement United States History is a survey class offering a solid,
thorough introduction to the key ideas, events and people that have influenced the
course of our nation’s history. The American Pageant by Thomas A. Bailey and David
M. Kennedy is the textbook for the class. Whenever possible, a wide variety of
supplemental reading will be provided through either handouts or reserve reading
available in the school library. Students are expected to keep up with all assignments in
order to be able to share their thoughts and findings with the class.
Class sessions are devoted to lectures, discussions of reading, student
presentations, cooperative learning, simulations, classwork, review, games and
audiovisual materials. Students are introduced to primary sources of historical
documentation as well as some of the major secondary literature including books,
reference books, scholarly journals and major periodicals. Students are expected to
learn how to do historical research, writing and document analysis as well as enhance
their understanding of the historiography of the United States in order to become
informed, involved, and effective members of their local, state, national and international
communities.
Course Prerequisites and Concurrent Requisites:
Prerequisite(s): World History, 20th Century, and previous instructor recommendation
Concurrent Requisite(s): None
Course Objectives:
Topic
Objective
Discovery and Settlement • Define key terms.
of Colonial America
• Identify early motivations and reasons for English and
Spanish settlement in the New World.
• Demonstrate how these changed with the realities of
“America”.
• Explain the similarities and differences in the
development of the southern, middle and New England
colonies.
• Determine why the colonies developed as they did.
• Assess why slavery became such a widespread
institution in many colonies.
• Summarize the political foundations and examples of
self-government that were established early in the
English colonies.
• Appraise the importance of this early democratic
tradition.
• Discuss how the French and Indian War changed
Great Britain’s relationship with the American colonies.
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Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Objective
The Revolutionary Period •
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The Critical Period:
Confederation,
Constitution and the
Federalists
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Jeffersonian Democracy •
and the Era of Good
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Feelings
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Define key terms.
Express where the American colonists acquired their
ideas about a “right of revolution”.
Illustrate the growing ideological differences between
Great Britain and her colonies that helped precipitate
the conflict.
Cite the incidents and revolutionary “tools” that
furthered the cry for independence.
Analyze and then decide if the colonists were justified
in their claim of British tyranny.
Define key terms.
Calculate if the Revolution and new constitutional
government brought about dramatic economic, political
and social change.
Generalize how the nature, character and ideas of the
framers led to such heated debate over ratification of
the constitution.
Estimate why the rift between the federalists and antifederalists was so great.
Describe the critical foreign policy issues that had their
genesis in the Federalist period.
Recall specific examples to illustrate these examples.
Assemble the political and economic “firsts” that can be
attributed to this era and measure their importance in
United States History.
Define key terms.
Measure the significance of Jefferson’s election in
1800.
Distinguish between Jefferson’s actions as President
and his stated political ideals.
Examine why Jefferson made this shift.
Compile the reasons why the United States went to
war in 1812.
Recognize who led the opposition to the war and why
they opposed it.
Point out the significance of the post-war period of
“nationalism”.
Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Objective
3
Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Jacksonian Democracy
Objective
• Define key terms.
• State the character and promise of Jackson’s new
democracy.
• Judge if Jacksonian democracy was realized by all in
the United States.
• Interpret how the presidency of Andrew Jackson
precipitated the growth of sectionalism.
• Deduce how Jackson’s presidency led to the reemergence of a two-party system in the United States.
Economic Expansion and •
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Manifest Destiny
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Reform Movements and the •
Second Great Awakening •
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The Approaching Fury
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Define key terms.
List technological and transportation advances critical
to the emergence of early industrialization and
expansion.
Tell how these advances were important.
Decide if these advances fueled sectionalism.
Interpret how the idea of “manifest destiny” was used
to support U. S. expansionism.
Conclude whether or not “manifest destiny” fueled
sectionalism in the U.S.
Develop a list of reasons for the Mexican War.
Validate whether the list above justified war.
Define key terms.
Show how the Second Great Awakening spurred
reform in America. Name specific examples and
specific areas where reform occurred.
Tell why the women’s movement gained momentum
during this period.
Detect how literature reflected this period of reform and
support your findings with specific examples.
Collect information on the background and objectives
of the abolitionist movement and debate the
movement’s effectiveness.
Define key terms.
Relate how and why southern attitudes hardened
towards slavery as the Civil War approached.
Categorize the differences that existed in the attitudes
of southern and northern whites towards slavery.
Classify how blacks responded to slavery and cite
examples.
Sketch and rate how American expansionism in the
1840s and 1850s became tied to the slavery question.
Inventory the major crises and events that led to the
Civil War.
Select which event was the “point of no return” and
Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Objective
defend it.
Civil War and
Reconstruction
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The Gilded Age
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Define key terms.
Prepare a list of reasons as to why eleven
Southern states seceded in 1860-61.
Compose a list of strengths and weaknesses of
the North and the South at the outset of war.
Outline the strategies of both sides to try and win
the war.
Identify Lincoln’s goals and strategies as a war
time leader.
Assess whether he violated the Constitution and in
turn should be considered the “Great
Emancipator”.
Compose a list of the long-term effects of the Civil
War and appraise their lingering effects on today.
Restate the reconstruction plans of Lincoln,
Congress, Johnson, and the Radical Republicans
of 1867.
Compare and contrast the plans for
reconstruction. Measure the success of
Reconstruction as a period.
Compile a list of the long-term effects of
Reconstruction on the South and appraise its
effects on race relations and politics in the 20th
century.
Define key terms.
Inspect the quality of political leadership during
this era.
Summarize the factors that encouraged the wave
of industrial growth during this era.
Evaluate why labor unions grew during this time
period.
Identify the ideas/philosophies that served to
justify the capitalistic fervor of the period.
Relate the forces of industrialization, immigration,
and urbanization to each other.
Label the type of immigrants arriving 1870-1910.
Sketch the experiences and situations new
immigrants discovered upon their arrival during the
Gilded Age.
Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Objective
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Differentiate between the thinking of Marcus
Garvey, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B.
DuBois concerning the movement for black
equality.
Choose which strategy for equality was best suited
to the times.
Paraphrase the key issues of the Gilded Age.
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6
Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Objective
Exploitation of the West •
and the Populist Movement •
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Define key terms.
Reproduce the U. S. government strategy to
eliminate the “Indian problem”.
Construct a list of economic inventions, ideas, and
activities that forever changed the west.
Calculate how the above list resulted in the effects
that happened.
Explain the growing plight of the farmer in the
Gilded Age.
Validate the need to coin silver in this era.
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American Expansionism,
1870-1914
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Define key terms.
Assemble a list of events/ideas that spawned U. S.
expansionism in this period.
Contrast America’s justification for expansion with
the ideals of democracy and self-government.
Express how Theodore Roosevelt characterized
America’s changing role in world affairs. Detect
the implications of this change.
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The Progressive Movement, •
1900-1920
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Woodrow Wilson and
World War I
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Define key terms.
Recognize the broad goals of progressivism.
Inspect how the goals evolved from Theodore
Roosevelt through William Taft and Woodrow
Wilson.
Illustrate how muckrakers promoted public
concern for reform.
Label the aspects of society that were the principal
targets of reform.
Choose and defend whether the Progressive Era
was liberal or conservative in its outcome
Define key terms.
Demonstrate how Wilson’s idealism was changed
by foreign policy events.
List the reasons why the United States was drawn
into WWI.
Deduce why Wilson’s plan for a peaceful postwar
world failed.
Judge whether or not Wilson’s foreign policy was a
success or failure.
Assess whether or not the U.S. government
overstepped its boundaries in restricting civil
Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Objective
liberties in WWI.
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Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Objective
The Roaring 20s
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Define key terms.
Describe the reasons for American isolationism in
the 1920s and cite examples.
A big theme in the 1920s is conflict. Identify the
evolving contrasts between traditional values and
the new culture of the 1920s and select examples
to prove that the conflict existed.
Appraise the influence of conservatism on political
and economic policies in the 1920s. Defend the
need for this conservative outlook.
Express and evaluate Hoover’s response to the
Great Depression.
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The Great Depression
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Define key terms.
List the causes for the Great Depression.
Relate the nature of human experiences during
the Great Depression.
Summarize FDR’s New Deal and how it revived
the spirit of the American people.
Outline the ideas that influenced the decision to
carry out a New Deal.
Examine how the New Deal evolved over time.
Assess the short and long term effects of the New
Deal according to conservatives and liberals.
Rate the success of the New Deal.
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Foreign Affairs of the 1930s •
and World War II
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Define key terms.
Determine why FDR kept following isolationist
policy in the 1930s for so long.
Illustrate the events that pulled the United States
into World War II.
Explain United States strategy to win the war, and
cite examples of this strategy.
Generalize the social and economic changes that
were brought on by the war.
Recognize the major conferences of the great
leaders during WWII, and interpret how their
relationships defined the postwar years.
Argue whether or not the United States should
have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945.
Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Objective
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10
Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Objective
The Cold War, 1945-1975 •
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The Postwar Economic
Boom and the 1950s
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The Tumultuous 1960s
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Define all key terms.
Compile the political, economic, social, cultural,
military, and ideological reasons for the cold war.
Construct the reasoning behind the strategy of
containment pursued by the United States during
the cold war.
Assess if the cold war was inevitable by examining
the various events and actions of the period that
contributed to a snowballing of tensions
Distinguish between the nature of U.S. presidential
leadership and presidential administrations during
this period with respect to foreign affairs and cold
war policy from Truman-Nixon.
Define key terms.
Name examples of postwar prosperity that
surfaced in the 1950s and estimate how Truman
and Eisenhower supported them.
Report how cold war tensions manifested
themselves on the homefront.
Construct the world of African-Americans in the
1950s and relate this to their revolt against their
inferior status.
Summarize the civil rights movement of the 1950s
and include key events, leaders, strategies and
influences.
Validate whether or not the 1950s are the age of
conformity.
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Define key terms.
Compose the key civil rights events of the 1960s
and assess whether or not the strategy changed
and evaluate the success of the movement as a
whole.
• Restate what initiated the domestic turmoil of the
1960s.
• Describe the nature of presidential leadership in
the 1960s in domestic affairs.
• Rate whether or not the legend is the same as the
reality.
Evaluate the impact of the Vietnam War on the
Revision Date
Course Title (cont.)
Topic
Objective
Nixon, Watergate and
Recent History
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homefront and on our long term foreign policy of
containment
Define key terms.
Recognize how conflicts in the Middle East have
come to impact the United States.
Explain Watergate and assess its impact on
modern American politics and culture.
Appraise the legacy of the Carter administration
and cite supporting examples from domestic and
foreign policy.
Identify the Iran hostage crisis and appraise its
long term impact on the American people.
Assemble a list explaining why conservative
politics made such a comeback in 1980 and the
decade to follow.
Paraphrase the concept of supply-side economics
and judge whether or not the policy worked for the
United States.
Discuss Reagan’s foreign policy strategy in
regards to the cold war and cite examples.
Decide if Reagan’s foreign policy was successful
and the reason for the fall of the Berlin Wall in
1989.
Analyze the foreign policy strategy of the
presidency of George Bush.
Recall Desert Storm and evaluate its long-term
effects on U.S. foreign policy
Compile a list of the key events of the Clinton
presidency and assess whether or not Clinton will
have a favorable legacy.
Describe the 2000 presidential election and
discuss its short and long-term impacts.
Recall Sept. 11 and estimate this tragic events
long-term impact on the domestic and foreign
policy of the United States
Revision Date