AP United States History – This course has been audited and approved by the AP
Standards board
Course Overview
AP U.S. History at Adair County High School is a year long course taught on the trimester block (75 minutes). It is a lecture course that covers all the topics in the U.S.
History Course Description. The class is open to sophomores and juniors. We are a rural high school and our goal is to encourage students to take a difficult curriculum so enrollment in the class is open. It is recommended that students have a B average in
World Civilization (Honors) but other students who have a strong interest in History or are motivated to do the work can enroll. Students who enroll need to understand the importance of keeping up with the demanding reading load.
Our number one goal is to give students a deep understanding of our nation’s history.
Our second goal is for the students to prepare for and successfully pass the AP U.S.
History Exam. Besides lecture and discussion students will also use historical data to support a position (analysis of numerous primary and secondary historical sources, charts, maps, and cartoons). Students will receive consistent practice on the interpretation and writing of Document-Based Questions. Students will also contrast various schools of historiography.
Course Texts and Supplementals
David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. The American Pageant, thirteenth edition (Boston: Mcdougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin, 2006).
Each student will also have an edition of the following supplements:
The American Spirit Vol. I and II. Bailey and Kennedy’s text of primary sources along with test for those sources.
Mark Epstein, Fast Track to a 5, Preparing for the AP United States History Examination
(Boston: Mcdougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin, 2006).
Belohlavek/Kramer. Document-Based Questions Practice to Accompany The American
Pageant (Mcdougal Littell, 2006).
Kennedy/Cohen/Bailey, Student eBook to accompany The American Pageant, 13 th
ed.
Michael Hutchison, DBQ Practice, Book 1 and 2. (Culver City, CA: Social Studies
School Service)
Erica Amann, DAC Student Study Guide to AP US History (DAC Educational
Publications, 2003).

Clifton Dorset-Hill, Preparing for the A.P. United States History Examination A Review
Book For Students (Joplin, Missouri: Chalk Dust Press, 2005).
Steven E. Woodworth, The Essential of United States History 1500-1789 From Colony to
Republic (Piscataway, NJ: Research & Educational Association).
John F. Chilton, The Essentials of United States History 1789-1841 The Developing
Nation (Piscataway, NJ: Research & Educational Association).
Robert D. Geise, Barron’s Study Keys EZ-101 American History to 1877 (Hauppauge,
NY: Barron’s Educational Series).
Mary Jane Capozzoli Ingui, Barron’s Study Keys EZ-101 American History 1877 to the
Present (Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Series).
Exam Notes, (Piscataway, NJ: Research & Educational Association).
My room has a large collection of American Heritage and Civil War Times. It is also well supplied with historical series wall maps, reference books, and atlas. Our school library is well stock with important historical works and our students have access to our outstanding local college library at Lindsey Wilson College.
Other resources that I teach from: Doing the DBQ by Luther Spoehr and Alan Fraker,
US History Skillbook with writing instruction and practice and Threads of History both by Michael Henry, Debating the Documents: Interpreting Alternative Viewpoints in Four
Primary Source Documents, Pro vs. Con: Conflicting Views of Major Events in
American History by Education Innovations, Taking Sides: Clashing Views on
Controversial Issues in American History, Opposing Viewpoints in American History by
William Dudley, and Historical moments: Changing Interpretations of America’s Past by
Jim R. McClellan.
Teaching Strategies
Lecture and Discussion – supplemented with videos, DVDS, Field trips, and technology.
Students are also tested on the chapters from The American Pageant to insure that they are reading each chapter.
Regular practice on free response questions.
Regular practice on the analysis of primary resources and the writing of Document-Based
Questions.
A comprehensive final exam at the end of each semester worth 20% of the semester grade.
This is my 18 th year teaching A.P. United States History. It has been my passion. It has helped many rural students to have educational opportunities that would have not been possible without Advanced Placement. Many of students have gone on to selective admission schools and a lot of them are studying history. Our A.P. US History program

has grown in numbers and in success over these 18 years. Our average class size in recent years is well over 30. Our group mean on the AP test has been well above the national average. For a rural school in south central Kentucky we feel this is outstanding.
Our students have really taken pride in outperforming the national average. The material before Reconstruction is prior to the High School Ky. Program of Study for U.S. history, but it does cover many of the concepts, not only in U.S. History, but geography, government, and economics as well.
Course Outline
Unit 1: Colonial History
Text, Bailey and Kennedy, Chapters 1-5
(10 days)
Content:
Motives and types of colonization
Factors bringing the colonist to the New World
Three Worlds meet: European, African, Indian
SS-HS-3.2.1
SS-HS-4.1.1 & 5.1.1 are
Embedded in each unit
Contrast the middle, Southern, and New England colonies
Colonial Society
Primary resource activity:
Document skill – Determining what documents mean (U.S. History Skillbook)
Debating the Documents, Slavery and Virginia’s Enlightened Aristocracy
Unit 2: Independence and Constitution
Text, Chapters 6-9
(7 days)
Content:
France and Britain battle for North America
Our changing relationship with Great Britain-post 1763
Effects of mercantilism
Colonial cooperation
The movement toward Independence
Military victory and results of the Treaty of Paris
SS-HS-1.1.2
SS-HS-1.2.2
Reasons for the Articles of Confederation and its strengths and weaknesses
The Constitutional Convention – The people and the compromises
Ratifying the Constitution
Primary resource activity:
Pro vs. Con: The 1787 Constitution
Document skill: Determining Credibility: Whom do you believe?
Ben Franklin: A New American Identity? Interpreting Alternative Viewpoints in Four
Primary Source Documents
Loyalists and Patriots: Interpreting Alternative Viewpoints in Four Primary Source
Documents

Unit 3: The New Nation
Text, Chapters 10-12
(7 days)
Content:
Hamilton vs. Jefferson
The impact of the French-British conflict
Alien and Sedition Acts
The “Revolution of 1800”
Jefferson – foreign policy
SS-HS-1.3.1
SS-HS-1.3.2
The Louisiana Purchase
War of 1812: Causes and Results
The Era of Good Feelings
Nationalism
The Marshall Court Decisions
The Monroe Doctrine
Primary source activity:
1977 DBQ – The Alien & Sedition Acts
Taking Sides – Was Thomas Jefferson a Political Compromiser? Morton Borden (yes) and Forrest McDonald (no)
Unit 4: The Age of Jackson
Text, Chapters13-15, 17
(8 days)
SS-HS-2.3.1
SS-HS-4.3.2
Content:
The Election of 1824 and the founding of Jackson’s Democratic Party
The Rise of Mass Democracy-emergence of the “Common Man”
The Jackson Administration:
*Spoils System
*Nullification crisis
*Indian removal
*Jackson’s war on the Bank
Westward Expansion
Mexican War
Immigration
Reform movements 1820-1850
Utopian experiments
The transportation revolution
Religious developments
Primary resource activity

Revivalists and Utopians: Reform in Antebellum America. Interpreting Alternative
Viewpoints in Four Primary Source Documents
Pro vs. Con: Indian Removal
DBQ Skills – Analyzing Charts
Debating the Documents: The War with Mexico
Unit 5: Prelude to Civil War
Text, Chapters 16, 18-19
SS-HS-2.3.1
SS-HS-3.3.1
(8 days)
Content:
Slavery and the Cotton Kingdom
Causes of the War
*Missouri Compromise
SS-HS-4.2.2
*Abolitionist
*Uncle Tom’s Cabin
*Compromise of 1850
*Kansas-Nebraska Act and Bleeding Kansas
*Dred Scott
*Lincoln-Douglas Debates
*John Brown
*Hinton Helper
*The Election of 1860
Primary source activity:
Debating the Documents: Was John Brown a Hero?
Debating the Documents: The Missouri Compromise
Debating the Documents: Calhoun vs. the Abolitionist
Pro vs. Con: Slavery in Federal Territory
Unit 6: Civil War and Reconstruction
Text, Chapters 20-22
(16 days)
Content:
Secession
Military strategies, advantages and disadvantages
The war – battles and results
The home front
Legacy of the war
Presidential vs. congressional Reconstruction plans
The South during Reconstruction
The legacy of Reconstruction
Primary resource activity:
SS-HS-2.3.1
SS-HS-5.2.1

Debating the Documents: Blue or Gray, Why Men Fought in the Civil War
Ken Burns Civil War series
Unit 7: The West
Text, Chapter 26
(12 days)
SS-HS-4.4.2
SS-HS-4.3.1
Content:
The Frederick Jackson Turner Thesis
The Miners
The Cattle Kingdom
The Homesteaders
The Indian Wars
The Reservation system
The fading frontier
Unit 8: The Gilded Age
Text, Chapters 23-25
(16 days)
Content:
Party politics
Political corruption and reform
Examine the Presidential administrations
American Industry comes of age
Railroads
SS-HS-3.4.1
SS-HS-3.4.2
SS-HS-3.4.3
SS-HS-4.3.1
SS-HS-4.3.2
SS-HS-5.2.2
SS-HS-5.2.3
Lords of industry
Rise of organized labor
Populism and William Jennings Bryan
Urbanization
The “New Immigrants”
Social and cultural developments of the late 19 th
century
The Social Gospel
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois
Primary Resource activity:
1983 DBQ the Populist
Taking Sides – Was John D. Rockefeller a Robber Baron? Matthew Josephson (yes) and
Ron Chernow (no)
Where Historians Disagree: Populism – Audio visual series comparing the views of historians John D. Hicks, Lawrence Goodwyn and Walter T.K. Nugent with that of Richard Hofstadter
Primary Sources in U.S. History – The Social Gospel, Religion and Progressivism
1989 DBQ – Booker T. Washington & W.E.B. DuBois

Unit 9: Imperialism
Text, Chapter 27
(8 days)
SS-HS-5.2.4
Content:
The Changing role of the U.S. in the world – from isolation to world power
Reasons for new interest in world affairs
Territorial gains
The Spanish-American War
Results of the war
The Filipino insurrection
The Open Door Policy
Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” Diplomacy
The Panama Canal
Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy
Wilson’s “Missionary” Diplomacy – relations with Mexico
Primary resource activity:
The Panama Canal – Examining the Reliability of Sources
Mark Twain – American Culture and Anti-Imperialism
A Republic or an Empire –The American Debate over Imperialism
Above activities are from Primary Sources in U.S. History series
Pro vs. Con – Imperialism in Latin America (Good or Bad Influence)
Unit 10: The Progressive Era
Text, Chapter 28-29
(9 days)
Content:
Unit 11: World War I
Text, Chapter 30
SS-HS-5.2.4
Local, state, and national reform
Muckrakers
Women’s issues
Consumer and environmental protection
Roosevelt’s New Nationalism, Taft’s policies, and Wilson’s New Freedom
Primary source activity:
President Theodore Roosevelt – Speak softly and Regulate When Necessary
Writing an Introductory Paragraph from U.S. History Skillsbook
SS-HS-5.2.4

(9 days)
Content:
Origins of the war
American neutrality
Reasons for our involvement
Wilsonian idealism and the 14 points
The homefront

Propaganda and civil liberties

Women and minorities
America fights in France
Treaty negotiations and Senate rejection of the Versailles Treaty
Results of the war
Unit 12: The Roaring Twenties
Text, Chapters 31-32
(9 days)
Content:
The post-war economy
The first red scare
SS-HS-5.2.4
Immigration restriction
KKK
Prohibition and crime
The automobile, radio and the movies
Jazz age culture
The economic boom and mass-consumption
The presidential administrations

Scandals

Supply side theory

Promotion of business

Boom and Bust

Foreign Policy
Primary source activity:
1986 DBQ – The 1920s
Unit 13: The 1930s
Text, Chapter 32
(9 days)
Content:
Hoover’s and Roosevelt’s approaches to the Depression
New Deal – Effectiveness and criticisms
The Supreme Court fight
The Dust Bowl
SS-HS-5.2.5

Depression Demagogues
Shifts in political alignments – The Roosevelt coalition
Primary source activity:
1984 DBQ – Hoover and Roosevelt: Liberal or Conservative?
Unit 14: World War II
Text, 34-35
SS-HS-5.2.5
(9 days)
Content:
Origins of War – Europe in the 20’s and 30’s
* The rise of Nazism and Fascism
German, Italian, and Japanese aggression
Isolation and appeasement
Pearl Harbor
The Home Front

Japanese internment

Women and minorities

Economic impact
Military Strategy

European and African war

Island Hopping in the Pacific

D-day and victory in Europe

Atomic Bomb
Wartime diplomacy
Results of war
Primary source activity:
1988 DBQ the Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb
Audio visual series – Bill Moyers the Dictator and the Democrat, a comparison of Hitler and Roosevelt
Unit 15: The Cold War Begins
Text, 36
SS-HS-5.2.6
(9 days)
Content:
Baby boom
The Truman Presidency
Origins of Cold War
United Nations
Fall of Eastern Europe
Containment
Truman Doctrine
Marshall Plan

NATO
Germany and the Berlin crisis
Anti-communism at home
Korea
Primary source activity:
Taking Sides: Did Communism Threaten America’s Internal Security after World War II.
John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr (yes), Richard M. Fried (no).
Unit: 16 Happy Days 1952-1960
Text, 37
(9 days)
Content:
SS-HS-5.2.6
Affluent American
Mass produced culture
Effects of Television
Eisenhower Administration and modern Republicanism
Brown v. Board of Education and the origins of the civil rights revolution
Space race
Interstate highways
Ike and the Cold war-Dulles and Brinkmanship
Literature
Primary source activity:
Organizing the DBQ from U.S. History Skillbook
Unit: 17 the Stormy Sixties
Text, 38
(9 days)
SS-HS-5.2.6
Content:
The Kennedy Administration
Kennedy and the Cold War

Origins of Vietnam

Bay of Pigs

Cuban Missile Crisis
Kennedy and civil rights
New Frontier
Moon shot
Peace Corps
Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society
Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam escalation
Civil rights revolution explodes
Counterculture and anti-establishment movements

Election of Nixon
60’s culture
Primary source activity:
Pro vs. Con – Vietnam Conflict (Commit American Troops or Stay Out)
Unit 18: The 70’s and beyond
SS-HS-5.2.7
Text, 39-41
(9 days)
Content:
Economic stagnation
Vietnamization
Openings to China and the Soviet Union
Nixon and the Supreme Court
Détente
The Middle East and the oil crisis
Nixon’s domestic program
Watergate
Feminism
School busing and affirmative action
The Ford Administration
The fall of South Vietnam
The Carter Administration
Energy crisis and inflation
Carter and foreign policy

Human rights

Camp David Accords

Panama Canal Treaties

Afghanistan

The Sandinistas

Iran Revolution and hostage crisis
The Reagan Revolution – America moves right
The New Right
The Moral Majority
Tax cuts and supply side economics
Reagan and the Soviets
Reagan’s military buildup
SDI
Gorbachev, Reagan, and the end of the Cold War
Iran-Contra
The fall of communism in Eastern Europe
The George H.W. Bush Administration
The death of the Soviet Union
The Persian Gulf War
Bush’s domestic battles
The Clinton Administration


Domestic policy

Post-Cold War foreign policy

Impeachment
George W. Bush
The election of 2000
9-11
War of Terror
Primary source activity:
Taking Sides – Did President Reagan Win the Cold War. John Lewis Gaddis (yes),
Daniel Deudney and G. John Ikenberry (no).
As the A.P. exam approaches students receive DBQ practice books to take home and work on. They will also take released exams as practice. Students receive a number of study guides and review outlines. We start the review process four to six weeks prior to testing.
My class also contains many other audio visual resources. I also have a large collection of primary sources which I may substitute for those listed.