Curricular Requirements
Page(s)
CR
1a
CR
1b
The course includes a college-level U.S. history textbook
2
The course includes diverse primary sources consisting of written document, maps,
images, quantitative data (charts, graphs, tables) and works of art
CR
1c
The course includes secondary sources written by historians or scholars interpreting
the past
CR
2
Each of the course historical periods receives explicit attention
CR
3
The course provides opportunities for students to apply detailed and specific
knowledge (such as names, chronology, facts, and events) to broader historical
understandings
The course provides students with opportunities for instruction in the learning
objectives in each of the seven themes throughout the course, as described in the
APUSH curriculum framework
The course provides opportunities for students to develop coherent written
arguments that have a thesis supported by relevant historical evidence – Historical
Argumentation
The course provides opportunities for student to identify and evaluate diverse
historical interpretations – Interpretation
The course provides opportunities for students to analyze evidence about the past
from diverse sources, such as written documents, maps, images, quantitative data
(charts, graphs, tables) and works of art – Appropriate use of historical evidence
The course provides opportunities for students to examine relationships between
causes and consequences of events or processes – Historical causation
The course provides opportunities for students for students to analyze patterns of
continuity and change over time and connect them to larger historical processes or
themes – Patterns of change and continuity over time
The course provides opportunities for students to investigate and construct different
models of historical periodization - Periodization
The course provides opportunities for students to compare historical developments
across or within societies in various chronological and geographical contexts –
Comparison
The course provides opportunities for students to connect historical developments
to specific circumstances of time and place, and to broader regional, national, or
global processes - Contextualization
The course provides opportunities for students to combine disparate, sometimes
contradictory evidence from primary sources and secondary works in order to
create a persuasive understanding of the past
The course provides opportunities for students to apply insights about the past to
other historical contexts of circumstances, including the present
3,5,7,8,10
,12 14,15,
16,17,18,
20, 21
3,5,7,10,
14,16, 18,
20
3,5,7,10,
12,14,16,
18,20
5,7,18,20
CR
4
CR
5
CR
6
CR
7
CR
8
CR
9
CR
10
CR
11
CR
12
CR
13
a
CR
13
b
3,4,6,7,8,
12,14,20,
21
2,3,6,7,8,
14,16, 20
8,13
3, 13, 17
3,7,13,14,
16
16,18,20
10,17
4,5,16,18,
20
3,6,10,12
2,14,15,1
7,18
18,21
Textbook
Kennedy, David and Elizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant: A History of the
Republic. 14th Edition (2011). [CR1a]
Grading
 Grades will be calculated by points
o Tests = 40%
o Quizzes = 20%
o Homework = 20%
o Class Participation = 20%
 Students progress will be evaluated through homework, writing assignments,
quizzes and tests
o Weekly chapter reading quizzes based on American Pageant readings
o Unit tests – Teacher-developed Unit tests, based on the new APUSH
format
 There will be formal writing assignments based on the written portions required
by the APUSH exam
o Short answers
o Long essay [CR5]
o DBQs [CR5][CR13a]
 Homework will be posted on School Wires and in-class
Notebook Requirement
 Students must have a multi-section notebook. The notebook will be divided into
the following sections:
o Notes
o Vocabulary
o Key-Concepts and Thematic Learning Objectives
2
Period 1[CR2]
(1491-1607)
On a North American continent controlled by American Indians, contact among the
peoples of Americas, and West Africa created a new world.
Textbook: American Pageant Chapter (pages): 1-2 [CR1a]
Content
 Interaction between Europeans,
Native Americans, and Africans
 The Colombian Exchange
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Spanish colonization
Foundations of slavery
Effect of colonization on Natives
Vocabulary
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Maize
Atlantic seaboard
Columbian Exchange
Demographic
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Encomienda system
God, gold, glory
Feudalism
Capitalism
Key Concepts
1.1: Before the arrival of Europeans, native populations in North America
developed a wide variety of social, political, and economic structures based in part
on interactions with the environment and each other.
1.2: European overseas expansion resulted in the Columbian Exchange, a series of
interactions and adaptations among societies across the Atlantic.
1.3: Contacts among American Indians, Africans, and Europeans challenged the
worldviews of each group.
Thematic Learning Objectives: (PEO-1) (PEO-4) (PEO-5) (ENV-1) (ENV-2) (ENV4) (WXT-1) (WXT-4) (WOR-1) (POL-1) (CUL-1) (ID-4)
Secondary Sources
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Crosby, Alfred. “The Columbian Exchange” [CR1c]
Merrell, James “The Indians’ New World: The Catawba Experience” [CR1c]
Mancall, Peter C. “Imperial Rivalries” [CR1c]
Zinn, Howard, “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress” [CR1c]
3
Primary Sources
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Columbus, Christopher. “Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain” [CR1b]
“The Requirement” (1514) [CR1b]
Bartolomé de Las Casas debates the subjugation of the Indians, 1550 [CR1b]
Student Activities

Students will read Howard Zinn’s “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”
and write a 5 page paper on the following question: What is Howard Zinn's main
argument in his opening chapter to A People's History of the United States? How
does the author use supporting evidence from early American history to prove
his point? [CR5]

Students will work in groups to complete the following Cooperative Learning
Activity: “3 Societies Converge/Visual Display”. Students will break into groups
in order to create a visual and textual display of the difference between African,
European, and Native American life before the 3 societies converged in the
1500s.
Group 1: Maya, Spain, Ghana
Topics to include, but are not
Group 2: Aztec, England, Mali
limited to:
Group 3: Inca, France, Songhai
Family life/Gender Environment
Group 4: Pueblo, Portugal, Benin
Social hierarchy,
Group 5: Iroquois, Roman Empire,
Slavery/Warfare/Weapons
Kongo
Arts Goods/Crops, Religion
Agriculture/Economy/Trade
Political structure
[CR12] [CR10] [CR4] [CR11]

Students will read Merrell, James “The Indians’ New World: The Catawba
Experience”. They will be asked to answer the following questions: identify how
Catawba culture passed through three distinct stages after contact with the
Europeans. What were the forces that produced those changes? What strategies
did the Catawbas use to hold on to their culture? (CR9) [CR5]

Students will read the following primary sources: “Letter to Ferdinand and
Isabella of Spain”, “The Requirement” (1514), Bartolomé de Las Casas debates
the subjugation of the Indians, 1550. Students will analyze the documents using
FLAPCAP (format, limitations, audience, purpose, context, authorship, point of
view). [CR7]

Students will create a chart with the following two columns at the top: 1)
Columbus’ achievements were historic and heroic, and 2) The legacy of
Columbus is primarily of genocide, cruelty, and slavery. Students will provide
evidence for both columns. [CR8]
4
Period 2 [CR2]
(1607-1754)
Europeans and American Indians maneuvered and fought for dominance, control,
and security in N.A., and distinctive colonial and native societies emerged
Textbook: American Pageant Chapters: 2-5 [CR1a]
Content
 Jamestown
 Conflicts with Natives
 Comparing the colonies
 Mass. Bay Colony
 The Middle colonies
 The Southern colonies
Vocabulary
 Colonization
 Rigid racial hierarchy
 Indentured servants
 New England
 Puritans
 Mixed economy
 Commerce/commercial
 Chesapeake colonies
 Chattel
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Indentured servitude and slavery
Bacon’s Rebellion
Salem Witch Trials
Colonial social structure
The Great Awakening
Colonial folkways
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Southern colonies
West Indies
Staple crops
Pueblo Revolt
Atlantic World
Anglicanism
Enlightenment
Mercantilism
Self-government
Key Concepts
2.1: Differences in imperial goals, cultures, and the North American environments
that different empires confronted led Europeans to develop diverse patterns of
colonization.
2.2: European colonization efforts in North America stimulated intercultural
contact and intensified conflict between the various groups of colonizers and native
peoples.
2.3: The increasing political, economic, and cultural exchanges within the “Atlantic
World” had a profound impact on the development of colonial societies in North
America.
5
Thematic Learning Objectives: (WXT-1) (WXT-2) (WXT-4) (PEO-1) (PEO-4)
(PEO-5) (WOR-1) (WOR-2) (ENV-1) (ENV-2) (ENV-4) (ID-1) (ID-4) (ID-5) (POL-1)
(CUL-1) (CUL-4)
Secondary Sources
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Breen, T.H. “Looking Out for Number One: Conflicting Cultural Values in Early
Seventeenth-Century Virginia” [CR1c]
Degler, Carl. “Were the Puritans Puritanical” [CR1c]
Farrow, Anne; Lange, Joel; Franke, Jenifer. “How the North Promoted, Prolonged,
and Profited from Slavery” [CR1c]
Zinn, Howard. “Persons of Mean and Vile Condition” [CR1c]
Malick, Terrance. The New World
Burns, Ric. New York: A Documentary Film (Episode 1)
After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection - Chapter 2: “The Visible and
Invisible Worlds of Salem”
Primary Sources
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Drayton, Michael. “Ode to the Virginian Voyage” [CR1b]
Winthrop, John. “A Model of Christian Charity” [CR1b]
Frethorne, Richard. “Letter of an Indentured Servant” [CR1b]
Equiano, Olaudah. “The Life of Olaudah Equiano” [CR1b]
The First Slaves chapter from "Voices of a People's History of the United States"
by Howard Zinn [CR1b]
Student Activities

Students will read the following two primary sources: "Ode to the Virginian Voyage"
(1619) and "A Letter from an Indentured Servant in Virginia" (1623). Students will
compare and contrast the perspectives of the authors of the documents and analyze
their differing views of migration to America.

Students will read the following handouts: "A Model of Christian Charity" by John
Winthrop and 2)"Looking out for number one: Conflicting Cultural Values in Early
17th Century Virginia" by T.H. Breen. The two handouts serve to illustrate to
students the divergent nature between MA and VA colonies. After reading them,
students will answer the following essay question: Compare and contrast Virginian
society to Massachusetts society in the early colonial period. What was the purpose,
goals, and values of MA Bay colony and how did they compare to Virginia.

Students will work in groups to complete the following Cooperative Learning
Activity: Students will create an advertising brochure to attract new settlers to their
group's assigned colony (New Amsterdam, PA, Georgia, Massachusetts Bay,
Jamestown). In doing so, each group will: 1) Identify target audience 2) Add
6
attractive features of the area 3) What is your message? 4) Geography: maps/towns
5) Leaders

Students will create a bar graph showing the differences in the values of exports and
imports for different colonies/regions in early colonial America.

Students will write a Colonial Diary entry by taking different perspectives (VA
tobacco grower, shipbuilding companies in Maine, wheat farmer in Delaware, rice
plantation owner in South Carolina, fisherman in New England, rum producer in the
West Indies) and analyzing the effect of the Navigation Acts for each individual.

Students will complete the following project on Colonial Scientific Achievements.
They will be assigned a colonial leader/scientist in which to research. Students will
provide a brief biography of the scientist, discussion of their achievement, and what
their findings might have contributed to the situation occurring in the colonies at the
time of their findings. The historical context of the project will include the
Enlightenment, rationality, republicanism, and the American Revolution (or build-up
to the Revolution).

Students will break into 2 groups: Royalist supporters of Edmund Andros and MA
colonials. Each side will prepare a written defense in the form of a courtroom closing
argument regarding the trial of royal governor of The Dominion of New England. The
groups will present their argument to the class.

Students will brainstorm and list the positive and negative effects of colonization for
both the mother country and the daughter colonies.

Students will write a short response to the following prompt: Is it possible for a
society to live a life of leisure and wealth without relying on the hard work of other,
poorer people?

Students will watch scenes from the film Amistad. Additionally they will read the
slave autobiography, “The Life of Olaudah Equiano”. Students will then create a
storyboard of the Middle Passage based on the two sources.

Students will create a detailed map of the Triangular Trade, highlighting the relevant
geographic areas and the items being transported across space. [CR4)

The First Slaves chapter from "Voices of a People's History of the United States" by
Howard Zinn contains a series of primary source documents. The class will split into
3 groups. The first group will read 3 documents on Slave Revolts. The second group
will read 4 petitions against slavery by slaves themselves appealing to the courts. The
last group will read a letter from a former slave to Thomas Jefferson, highlighting
Jefferson's "all men are created equal" hypocrisy. Students will answer questions
pertaining to their group's selections. Each group will then present their readings and
findings to the class.
7

Students will identify and explain differences between the colonial regions. Then
students will compare those findings with the differences in the various regions
(Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Northwest, Southeast) of the United States today.
Students should include examples of cultural, demographic, and political differences.

Students will read After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection - Chapter 2: “The
Visible and Invisible Worlds of Salem”. This reading analyzes the psychological and
social contexts of the Salem Witch Trials. Students will answer the following essay
question--According to the article, analyze the causes of the Salem Witch Trials.
8
Period 3 [CR2]
(1754-1800)
British imperial attempts to reassert control over its colonies and the colonial
reaction to these attempts produced a new American republic, along with struggles
over the new nation’s social, political, and economic identity.
Textbook: American Pageant Chapters: 6-10 [CR1a]
Content
 Anglo-French rivalry
 The French and Indian War
 Pontiac’s Rebellion
 Causes of the Revolution
 The Declaration of Independence
 The War for Independence
 Patriots and Loyalists
 The Articles of Confederation
 Shay’s Rebellion
Vocabulary
 Republic
 Migration/immigration
 Seven Years War
 Elites
 Grassroots movement
 Subjects
 American Revolution
 Loyalist/Patriot
 Declaration of Independence
 Neutrality
 French Revolution
 Haiti Latin America
 George Washington
 Farewell Address
 Democracy
 Thomas Paine
 Common Sense
 Articles of Confederation
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Constitutional Convention
The Constitution
Ratifying the Constitution
Bill of Rights
Washington and Adams admins
Hamilton’s economic policies
The rise of political parties
Washington’s Farewell Address
Alien and Sedition Acts
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Central power
Property qualification
Constitution
Federalism
Separation of powers
Bill of Rights
Ratification process
Political Parties
Framers
Backcountry culture
Missions
Appalachian Mountains
Northwest Ordinance
Public education
Mississippi River
National identity
Regional identity
Republican motherhood
9
Key Concepts
3.1: Britain’s victory over France in the imperial struggle for North America led to
new conflicts among the British government, the North American colonists, and
American Indians, culminating in the creation of a new nation, the United States.
3.2: In the late 18th century, new experiments with democratic ideas and republican
forms of government, as well as other new religious, economic, and cultural ideas,
challenged traditional imperial systems across the Atlantic World.
3.3: Migration within North America, cooperative interaction, and competition for
resources raised questions about boundaries and policies, intensified conflicts
among peoples and nations, and led to contests over the creation of a multiethnic,
multiracial national identity.
Thematic Learning Objectives: (ID-1) (ID-4) (ID-5) (ID-6) (POL-1) (POL-2) (POL5) (ENV-2) (ENV-3) (ENV-4) (CUL-1) (CUL-2) (CUL-4) (WXT-1) (WXT-2) (WXT-4)
(WXT-6) (WOR-1) (WOR-2) (WOR-5) (PEO-4) (PEO-5)
Secondary Sources
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Ellis, Joseph. “American Sphinx: The Contradiction of Thomas Jefferson” [CR1c]
Lender, Mark Edward. “The Cockpit Reconsidered: Revolutionary New Jersey as
a Military Theater” [CR1c]
Berkin, Carol. “It Was I Who Did It” [CR1c]
Zinn, Howard. “A Kind of Revolution” [CR1c]
Last of the Mohicans (film)
John Adams (mini-series): Episodes 1-2
Primary Sources
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Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770 [CR1b]
Paine, Thomas. “Common Sense” [CR1b]
Jefferson, Thomas. “Declaration of Independence” [CR1b]
U.S. Constitution [CR1b]
Articles of Confederation [CR1b]
Stamp Act Congress. “Resolutions” [CR1b]
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. “On Shay’s Rebellion” [CR1b]
Madison, James. “The Federalist Papers—Number 10” [CR1b]
Brutus. “Second Essay Opposing the Constitution” [CR1b]
Hamilton, Alexander. “Report on Manufactures” [CR1b]
Jefferson, Thomas. “Manufactures” [CR1b]
10
Student Activities

Students will work in groups to analyze the following DBQ question: In what
ways did the French and Indian War (1754-1763) alter the political, economic and
ideological relations between Britain and its American colonies? For each
document, students will identify and explain the intended audience, purpose,
historical context, and point of view, and connect one piece of outside
information. Additionally, students will identify the correct Historical Thinking
Skill, be able to craft a Thesis, and provide Contextualization and Synthesis
points.

Students will complete the following Cooperative Learning Activity. Each group will
be assigned a different event leading up to the Revolutionary War
1) Stamp Act
2) Townshend Acts
3) Boston Massacre
4) Boston Tea Party
5) Intolerable Acts
6) Lexington and Concord
7) Battle of Bunker Hill
8) Declaration of Independence
Two students will be assigned as news anchors. Each group will research their
incident in order to present a news report on their event. We will then perform the
news report as a class.

Students will read the “Declaration of Independence”. They will be tasked with
breaking the document into the four major sections, identifying what the major
argument is for each section, and the evidence Jefferson uses to support his argument.

Students will watch Episode 2 of the John Adams HBO mini-series. Based on the
episode depicting the First and Second Continental Congress, write an essay that
explains and details the differences in opinion between Pennsylvania representative
John Dickinson and Massachusetts representative John Adams during the Continental
Congress regarding the future of the American colonies.

Students will create a graphic organizer detailing the differences in opinion between
Loyalists and Patriots.

Students will investigate various state constitutions created after independence.
Students will investigate their state and study its original constitution by analyzing the
following categories: 1) Status of Slavery 2) Practice of Religion 3) Separation of
Powers (Executive, Legislative, Judicial) 4) Protection of Individual Rights 5)
Representation, right to vote 6) Armed forces/militia 7) Other notable features
Using the above categories, students will place their research on a mock constitution.
11

Students will analyze primary sources from John Locke and Adam Smith to
discover the influence of both authors in mainstream political and economic
values [CR3] [CR4]

Students will list the 10 events that led directly to the Revolution. Students will
defend their choices, and then pick the one event that made the Revolution
inevitable. [CR3]

Using a Venn diagram, students will compare the U.S. Constitution and the
Articles of Confederation. Students will write an essay on the prompt: Evaluate
the extent to which the Articles of Confederation were effective in solving the
problems of the new nation. What promises of republicanism did the Articles offer?
[CR5]

Students look at primary and secondary sources on the Articles of Confederation
and U.S. Constitution, then debate the degree to which the Constitution reflected
an emerging sense of American national identity [CR4]

Using Linda Kerber’s The Fears of the Federalists and Drew McCoy’s The Fears of
the Jeffersonian Republicans as sources, students will compare and contrast the
ideologies of Hamilton and Jefferson in terms of the role of government,
individual rights, and the economic destiny of the U.S. [CR6]
12
Period 4 [CR2]
(1800-1848)
The new republic struggled to define and extend democratic ideals in the face of
rapid economic, territorial, and demographic changes.
Textbook: American Pageant Chapters 11-17 [CR1a]
Content
 Jefferson’s presidency
 Marshall’s Court
 Barbary pirates
 Louisiana Purchase
 Jefferson’s embargos
 War of 1812
 American System
 Erie Canal
 Monroe and the Era of Good
Feelings
 Missouri Compromise
 Monroe Doctrine
 Corrupt bargain
 Jackson’s presidency
 Spoils system
 Tariff of Abominations
Vocabulary
 Mass democracy
 Constituencies
 Interest group
 Federalists/Democratic
Republicans
 Democrats/Whigs
 Second Great Awakening
 Liberal
 Romantic beliefs
 Abolition
 Xenophobia
 Old World vs. New World
 Textile
 Steam engine
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Nullification Crisis
Trail of Tears
Bank of the US
The Whig party
Texas Revolution
Westward migration
Irish/German immigration
Nativism
Industrial Revolution
Reform movements
Utopian societies
Antebellum slave system
Abolitionism
Texas annexation
Manifest Destiny
War with Mexico
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Interchangeable parts
Canal/roads
Telegraph
Semi-subsistent agriculture
Specialization
American System
Midwest
Market Revolution
National Bank
Tariffs
Isolationism
Louisiana Purchase
1820 Missouri Compromise
13
Key Concepts
4.1: The United States developed the world’s first modern mass democracy and
celebrated a new national culture, while Americans sought to define the nation’s
democratic ideals and to reform its institutions to match them.
4.2: Developments in technology, agriculture, and commerce precipitated profound
changes in U.S. settlement patterns, regional identities, gender and family relations,
political power, and distribution of consumer goods.
4.3: U.S. interest in increasing foreign trade, expanding its national borders, and
isolating itself from European conflicts shaped the nation’s foreign policy and
spurred government and private initiatives.
Thematic Learning Objectives: (POL-2) (POL-3) (POL-5) (POL-6) (ID-1) (ID-2)
(ID-5) (ID-6) (CUL-2) (CUL-5) (WOR-2) (WOR-5) (WOR-6) (WXT-2) (WXT-5)
(WXT-6) (WXT-7) (PEO-2) (PEO-3) (ENV-3)
Secondary Sources
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Wilentz, Sean. “The Market Revolution” [CR1c]
Dublin, Thomas. “Women, Work, and Protest in the Early Lowell Mills” [CR1c]
Faust, Drew. “Culture, Conflict, and Community: The Meaning of Power on an
Antebellum Plantation” [CR1c]
Francese, Carl. “The North American Phalanx” [CR1c]
Zinn, Howard. “The Intimately Oppressed” [CR1c]
Zinn, Howard. “We Take Nothing By Conquest, Thank God” [CR1c]
The Alamo (film) [CR1c]
Burns, Ric. New York: A Documentary Film (Erie Canal and Grid System) [CR1c]
The Amistad
The Donner Party (PBS documentary film)
Primary Sources
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Paul, Mary. “Letters” [CR1b]
Jefferson, Thomas. “To John Holmes” [CR1b]
Garrison, William Lloyd. “To the Public” [CR1b]
Douglas, Frederick. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas” [CR1b]
Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Society [CR1b]
Seneca Falls Convention, Declaration of Rights and Sentiments [CR1b]
Thoreau, Henry David. “Civil Disobedience” [CR1b]
The Monroe Doctrine [CR1b]
Andrew Jackson to the Cherokee Tribe, 1835 [CR1b]
14
Student Activities

Students will write an essay responding to the following question: To what
extent did the debates about the Mexican War and its aftermath reflect the
sectional interest of New Englanders, westerners, and southerners in the period
from 1845-1855? [CR12][CR10]

Students will be divided into groups to do presentations on Temperance,
Abolition, Women’s Suffrage, and Workers’ Rights. Each presentation will
include a poster created in the style of the era and analysis of primary sources
related to the topic [CR1b]

Students will compose a poem reflecting the ideals of the Seneca Falls
Convention

Students will create Cornell notes for chapters 11-17 of The American Pageant,
13th Ed.
15
Period 5 [CR2]
(1844-1877)
As the nation expanded and its population grew, regional tensions, especially over
slavery, led to a civil war – the course and aftermath of which transformed American
society.
Textbook: American Pageant Chapters: 17-22 [CR1a]
Content
 War with Mexico
 Popular sovereignty
 CA statehood
 Underground railroad
 Compromise of 1850
 Fugitive Slave Law
 Pierce and expansion
 Douglas and the KS-NE Act
 Uncle Tom’s Cabin
 Bleeding Kansas
 Dred Scott case
 Lincoln-Douglas debates
 Harper’s Ferry
 Election of 1860
 Secession
Vocabulary
 Expansionism
 Migration/immigration
 Manifest Destiny
 Mexican-American War
 Ethnic Communities
 Nativism
 Civil War
 Sectionalism
 Free labor manufacturing
 Abolitionists
 States’ rights
 Nullification
 Secession
 Election of 1860
 Compromise of 1850
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











The Civil war
Lincoln and civil liberties
Women and the war
Total war
Antietam
Black soldiers
Gettysburg
Sherman’s march
Appomattox
Lincoln assassination
Freed slaves
Reconstruction
Black Codes
Ku Klux Klan
Johnson impeachment














Kansas-Nebraska Act
Dred Scott decision
Republican Party
Abraham Lincoln
Free Soil platform
Reconstruction
Confederacy
Emancipation Proclamation
13th Amendment
14th Amendment
15th Amendment
Sharecropping system
Radical vs. moderate
Republicans
Segregation
16
Key Concepts
5.1: The United States became more connected with the world as it pursued an
expansionist foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere and emerged as the
destination for many migrants from other countries.
5.2: Intensified by expansion and deepening regional divisions, debates over slavery
and other economic, cultural, and political issues led the nation into civil war.
5.3: The Union victory in the Civil War and the contested Reconstruction of the
South settled the issues of slavery and secession, but left unresolved many questions
about the power of the federal government and citizenship rights.
Thematic Learning Objectives: (ID-2) (ID-5) (ID-6) (WXT-2) (WXT-6) (WOR-5)
(WOR-6) (ENV-3) (ENV-4) (PEO-2) (PEO-5) (PEO-6) (POL-2) (POL-3) (POL-5) (POL6) (CUL-2) (CUL-6)
Secondary Sources






McPherson, James M. “Antebellum Southern Exceptionalism: A New Look at an
Old Question” [CR1c]
Walters, Ronald. “Abolition and Antebellum Reform” [CR1c]
Robbins, Hollis. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Matter of Influence” [CR1c]
Zinn, Howard. “Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom”
[CR1c]
Ken Burns’ Civil War [CR1c]
The Conspirator (film—first twenty minutes for Lincoln assassination) [CR1c]
Primary Sources








Lincoln, Abraham. “Gettysburg Address” [CR1b]
Douglass, Stephen A. “Popular Sovereignty Should Settle the Slavery Question”
[CR1b]
Lincoln, Abraham. “Slavery Should Not be Allowed to Spread” [CR1b]
Hammond, James Henry. “The Mudsill Theory” [CR1b]
Davis, Jefferson. “First Inaugural Address” [CR1b]
Lincoln, Abraham. “First Inaugural Address” [CR1b]
Lincoln, Abraham. “Letter to Horace Greeley” [CR1b]
A proclamation on the suspension of habeas corpus, 1862 [CR1b]
17
Student Activities

Students read the sources in a DBQ on the Mexican-American War and engage in
a classroom debate on POTUS Polk’s motives for entering the war [CR4]

Students will research and then evaluate the thesis that the American Civil War
was a total war impacting those on the home front, abroad, as well as those on
the battlefield. Your essay must assess the impact of the war on all three areas by
focusing on U.S. regional economies and U.S. and Confederate relations with
Britain and France [CR12]

Students will read “Popular Sovereignty Should Settle the Slavery Question” by
Stephen A. Douglass and “Slavery Should Not be Allowed to Spread” by Abraham
Lincoln. Students will identify major arguments of each man, and then debate
whose argument was more persuasive. Students analysis should address at least
two of the following features from each of the documents: audience, purpose,
point of view, format, argument, limitations, and content germane to the
evidence considered [CR7]

Working in groups of three, and using the following articles as a basis for their
arguments, students will have a class discussion focused on the question: “What
caused the Civil War?” 1. “The Economic Origins of the Civil War” 2. “The
Political Origins of the Civil War” 3. “Slavery, the Constitution, and the Origins of
the Civil War” [CR8][CR6]

Students will read The Spectator article “White Southerners Defense of Slavery.”
What were the moral, political and economic arguments for slavery?

Students will create Cornell notes for chapters 17-22 of The American Pageant,
13th Ed.
18
Period 6 [CR2]
(1865-1898)
The transformation of the U.S. from an agricultural to an increasingly industrialized
and urbanized society brought about significant economic, political, diplomatic,
social, environmental, and cultural changes.
Textbook: American Pageant Chapters: 23-26 [CR1a]
Content
 Grant Administration
 Political corruption
 Economic depression
 Compromise of 1877
 Jim Crow
 Class conflict and ethnic clashes
 Billion Dollar Congress
 Homestead Strike
 Populists
 Railroads
 Age of Industry
 Gilded Age
Vocabulary
 Gilded Age
 Urbanization
 Monopolies
 Corporations
 Trusts
 Holding companies
 Social Darwinism
 Conspicuous consumption
 Unions
 New South
 Tenant farming
 Conservation











Gospel of wealth
Labor
Urbanization
Immigration
Settlement Houses
Nativism
Washington vs. DuBois
Urban culture
The Great West
Native conquest
Bryan vs. McKinley




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
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
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

Preservation
Populist Party
Political machines
Settlement house
Transcontinental railroad
Reservation
Assimilation
Laissez-faire
Plessy v. Ferguson
Utopianism
Social Gospel
19
Key Concepts
6.1: The rise of big business in the United States encouraged massive migrations and
urbanization, sparked government and popular efforts to reshape the U.S. economy
and environment, and renewed debates over U.S. national identity.
6.2: The emergence of an industrial culture in the United States led to both greater
opportunities for, and restrictions on, immigrants, minorities, and women.
6.3: The “Gilded Age” witnesses new cultural and intellectual movements in tandem
with political debates over economic and social policies.
Thematic Learning Objectives: (WXT-3) (WXT-5) (WXT-6) (WXT-7) (PEO-2)
(PEO-3) (PEO-4) (PEO-5) (PEO-6) (ID-2) (ID-5) (ID-6) (WOR-3) (CUL-3) (CUL-5)
(CUL-6) (ENV-5) (POL-3) (POL-6)
Secondary Sources




Zinn, Howard. “Robber Barons and Rebels” [CR1c]
Lears, T. Jackson. “The Gilded Age” [CR1c]
Kazin, Michael. “Populism and Agrarian Discontent” [CR1c]
Cherny, Robert W. “Entrepreneurs and Bankers: The Evolution of Corporate
Empires” [CR1c]
Primary Sources





Political cartoons
o “The Protectors of Our Industries” (1883)
o “Next!” (1904)
o "History repeats itself”
o “Hopelessly bound to the stake” (1883)
Workingmen’s Party of California pamphlet: “San Francisco’s Chinatown, 1880”
People’s Party campaign poster, 1892
Carnegie, Andrew. Gospel of Wealth
Riis, Jacob. How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York
20
Student Activities

Students will write an essay on this DBQ: In the post-Civil War U.S., corporations
grew significantly in number, size, and influence. Analyze the impact of big
business on the economy and politics and the responses of Americans to these
changes. Confine your answer to the period 1870-1900. [CR8] [CR13a]

Interpret statistics: Using data from the Digital History website on farming in the
Gilded Age, students will use OPTICS to discuss their findings in small groups
and report their conclusions to the class [CR1b]

Students will compare and contrast the competing interests of labor and capital
by completing a Competing Interests Chart [CR4][CR13a]

Students will analyze a map: major Indian battles and Indian reservations
(1860-1900) and compose a thesis paragraph analyzing the effects of westward
expansion on Native American peoples. [CR1b]

“Reading Like a Historian” lesson: Students exam why the U.S. invaded Cuba
thus initiating the Spanish-American War [CR1b]

“Reading Like a Historian lesson: Students exam how advocates and critics used
political cartoons to express their positions on annexation of the Philippines.
[CR1b][CR13a]

Students will create Cornell notes for chapters 23-16 of The American Pageant,
13th Ed.

Cooperative Learning Activity: The Gilded Age
Time Magazine
Students will break up into groups in order to create a mock Time Magazine on a given topic during
the Gilded Age. The topics will be focused on one of the following themes from the AP curriculum:
Identity, Work/Exchange/Technology, Peopling, Politics and Power, Ideas/Beliefs/Culture.
Requirements
1) There are 5 required elements of the magazine
a) The feature article
b) Interview
c) Yellow journalism article
d) The cover, graphics, political cartoons
2) The tone of the report is to be written as a recent retrospective at the turn of the century.
3) Be creative in both the magazine cover and the article itself.
4) Each group should answer the thematic learning objectives that connect to their theme. They are
as follows:
ID-2,5,6,7
WXT-3,5,6,7
PEO-2,3,5,6
POL-2,3,6
CUL-2,3,5,6

Synthesis Activity
* Groups will trace their topic based on today's lesson throughout US History.
21
*
*
*
*
Highlight the major eras and events associated with your topic.
Analyze how your topic connects to other historical periods or circumstances.
Are the comparisons being made to draw similarities, contrasts, or both?
Groups will create a graphic organizer to summarize these connections.
Ch. 23 (Gilded Age Politics)
1) Jim Crow
2) Panic of 1873
3) Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall
4) Chinese Exclusion Act
5) Great Railroad Strikes
22
Period 7 [CR2]
(1898-1945)
An increasingly pluralistic U.S. faced profound domestic and global challenges,
debate the proper degree of government activism, and sought to define its
international trade.
Textbook: American Pageant Chapters: 27-35 [CR1a]
Content
 American expansionism
 Hawaii
 Spanish-American War
 Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines
 Filipino insurgency
 The Open Door in China
 President Theodore Roosevelt
 Panama Canal
 Progressivism
 Muckrakers
 Temperance movement
 Trustbusting
 Conservation
 Dollar Diplomacy
 Election of 1912
 Wilson’s New Freedom
 Latin America
 WWI
 14 Points
Vocabulary
 Pluralistic
 Business cycle
 Great Depression
 Progressive Reform
 Welfare state
 Liberalism
 FDR
 New Deal
 Relief, recovery, reform
 Conservatives
 Modernization
 Tradition vs. innovation
 Urban vs. rural



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




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



League of Nations
Propaganda/civil liberties
Versailles Treaty
Red Scare
KKK
Immigration restriction
Prohibition
Consumption
Roaring 20’s culture
Great Depression
FDR
New Deal
Dust Bowl
Pearl Harbor
WWII
Japanese internment
Women and the war
Atomic bombs












Fundamentalist Christianity vs.
scientific modernism
Management vs. labor
Native born vs. immigrants
White vs. black
Idealism vs. Disillusionment
Harlem Renaissance
World War I
Xenophobia
Civil Liberties
Strikes
Red Scare
Quotas
23
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







Great Migration
Frontier closed
Imperialism
Spanish-American war
Filipino insurrection
Anti-imperialist
Interventionists vs.
Isolationists
Neutrality
Woodrow Wilson









American Expeditionary Force
Treaty of Versailles
League of Nations
World War II
Pearl Harbor
Japanese internment
Atomic bombs
Axis powers
Allied powers
Key Concepts
7.1: Governmental, political, and social organizations struggled to address the
effects of large-scale industrialization, economic uncertainty, and related social
changes such as urbanization and mass migration.
7.2: A revolution in communications and transportation technology helped to create
a new mass culture and spread “modern” values and ideas, even as cultural conflicts
between groups increased under the pressure of migration, world wars, and
economic distress.
7.3: Global conflicts over resources, territories, and ideologies renewed debates
over the nation’s values and its role in the world while simultaneously propelling
the United States into a dominant international military, political, cultural, and
economic position.
Thematic Learning Objectives: (WOR-3) (WOR-4) (WOR-6) (WOR-7)
(ID-3) (ID-6) (ID-7) (ID-8) (WXT-3) (WXT-5) (WXT-6) (WXT-7) (WXT-8) (ENV-5)
(POL-2) (POL-3) (POL-4) (POL-5) (POL-6) (POL-7)
(CUL-3) (CUL-5) (CUL-6) (CUL-7) (PEO-2) (PEO-3) (PEO-6) (PEO-7)
Secondary Sources





Badjer, Anthony J. “The Hundred Days and Beyond: What Did the New Deal
Accomplish?” [CR1c]
Cohen, Miriam. “Women and the Progressive Movement” [CR1c]
Zinn, Howard. “The Empire and the People” [CR1c]
Zinn, Howard. “War is the Health of the State” [CR1c]
The War (PBS documentary series on WWII) [CR1c]
24
Primary Sources





Theodore Roosevelt on the sinking of the Lusitania, 1915 [CR1b]
Triangle Shirtwaste Factory Fire pictures [CR1b]
Propaganda posters from WWI [CR1b]
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inauguration, 1933 [CR1b]
Japanese internment broadside, May 3, 1942 [CR1b]
Student Activities

Students will write a response to the following prompt: Analyze the roles that
women played in Progressive Era reforms from the 1880s-1920. Focus your essay
on two of the following: Politics; social conditions; labor and working conditions
[CR5]

Students will write an essay comparing and contrasting progressive era reform
with the antebellum reform movements [CR9] [CR11]

Students will read selections from Chapter 32 of the American Spirit and write a
response to the following: Analyze the origins and outcomes of the intense
cultural conflicts of the 1920s. In your response, focus on TWO of the following:
Immigration, Prohibition, Religion. [CR8]

Digital History: The Great Depression Statistics in maps – maps include data
from 1920, 1930, and 1940 that focus on wealth and income broken down by
race and gender. What do the numbers say? Not say? In small groups, students
will draw conclusions and share results with the large group [CR1b][CR7]

Students will write an essay on the following: To what extent were the policies of
the New Deal a distinct turning point in U.S. history, and to what extent were they
merely an extension of Progressive Era policy goals? Confine your answer to
programs/policies that addressed the specific needs of American workers [CR10]

“Reading Like a Historian” lesson: Students investigate a series of primary
documents to address the question: Why were Japanese-Americans interned
during WW II? [CR1b] [CR13a]

Students will create Cornell notes for chapters 27-35 of The American Pageant,
13th Ed.
25
Period 8 [CR2]
(1945-1980)
After WW II, the U.S. grappled with prosperity and unfamiliar international
responsibilities while struggling to live up to its ideals.
Textbook: American Pageant Chapters: 36-39 [CR1a]
Content
 The Cold war
 Marshall Plan
 Korean War
 Eisenhower admin
 McCarthyism
 Desegregation
 Space race
 JFK
 Vietnam
 Cuba
 Civil Rights
Vocabulary
 Collective security
 Containment
 Korean conflict
 Vietnam conflict
 Détente
 Decolonization
 Nationalist movements
 Nonaligned countries
 Cold War
 Oil crisis
 Military Industrial Complex
 Liberalism
 Non-violent protest










JFK assassination
Great Society
Nixon
60’s culture
China
Middle East
Watergate
Feminism
Energy crisis
Iran Hostage crisis













Desegregation of military
Brown v. Bd. of Education
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Lyndon Johnson
Great Society
Private sector
Baby boom
Suburbanization
Sun Belt
Conformity
Immigration Act of 1965
Counterculture
Sexual Revolution
26
Key Concepts
8.1: The United States responded to an uncertain and unstable postwar world by
asserting and attempting to defend a position of global leadership, with far-reaching
domestic and international consequences.
8.2: Liberalism, based on anticommunism abroad and a firm belief in the efficacy of
governmental and especially federal power to achieve social goals at home, reached
its apex in the mid-1960s and generated a variety of political and cultural responses.
8.3: Postwar economic, demographic, and technological changes had a far-reaching
impact on American society, politics, and the environment.
Thematic Learning Objectives: (ENV-5) (WOR-3) (WOR-4) (WOR-7) (WOR-8)
(ID-3) (ID-6) (ID-7) (ID-8) (POL-2) (POL-5) (POL-3) (POL-7)
(WXT-3) (WXT-5) (WXT-8) (CUL-5) (CUL-6) (CUL-7) (PEO-2) (PEO-3) (PEO-7)
Secondary Sources
The Sixties (excerpts from CNN documentary series) [CR1c]
Cluster, Dick. “They Should have Served that Cup of Coffee” [CR1c]
The Fog of War (documentary film about Robert McNamara) [CR1c]
Primary Sources
Brown v Board of Education decision [CR1b]
JFK’s Inaugural Address [CR1b]
MLK’s “I Have a Dream Speech” [CR1b]
Letter from Vietnam War soldier Marion Lee Kempner to home [CR1b]
LBJ’s televised address to the nation (March 31, 1968) [CR1b]
United Farm Workers Poster: “Viva Chavez” [CR1b]
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique excerpts [CR1b]
Activities

“Reading Like a Historian lesson.” Women in the 1950s. Is the image of the
happy 1950s housewife accurate? [CR1b]

“Reading Like a Historian lesson.” Civil Rights Act. Was JFK a strong supporter of
Civil Rights? [CR1b]

“Reading Like a Historian lesson” Montgomery Bus Boycott. Why did the
Montgomery Bus Boycott succeed? [CR1b]
27

“Reading Like a Historian lesson.” Great Society. Was the Great Society
successful? [CR1b]

“Reading Like a Historian lesson.” Anti-Vietnam. Why did many Americans
oppose the Vietnam War? [CR1b]

Students will research and write an essay regarding the patterns of change and
continuity between the first Red Scare of the 1920s and the period of McCarthyism
in the 1950s [CR9] [CR11]

The Cold War Across Time (1945-1990). A Jigsaw with Expert Groups
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/postwar-politics-and-originscold-war/resources/cold-war-across-time-1945%E2%80%931990-jigsaw
Guided Reading: Anti-Communism at Home
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/postwar-politics-and-originscold-war/resources/guided-readings-anti-communism-home


Students will write Cornell notes for chapters 36-39 of The American Pageant,
13th Ed.
28
Period 9 [CR2]
(1980-Present)
As the U.S. transitioned to a new country filled with challenges and possibilities, it
experienced renewed ideological and cultural debates, sought to redefine its foreign
policy, and adapted to economic globalization and revolutionary change in science
and technology
Textbook: American Pageant Chapters: 40-41 [CR1a]
Content
 Conservative rise
 Reagan and the USSR
 Gorbachev
 Reaganomics
 End of Cold War
 Persian Gulf War
Vocabulary
 Globalization
 Neoconservative
 Religious fundamentalism
 Deregulation
 Big government
 Ronald Reagan
 Mikhail Gorbachev
 Arms reduction





Clinton
2000 election
9/11
Iraq War
Obama








9/11
War on Terror
Afghanistan
Iraq conflict
Free Trade Agreements
Climate change
Fossil fuels
Computer/Internet revolution
Key Concepts
9.1: A new conservatism grew to prominence in U.S. culture and politics, defending
traditional social values and rejecting liberal views about the role of government.
9.2: The end of the Cold War and new challenges to
U.S. leadership in the world forced the nation to redefine its foreign-policy and
global role.
9.3: Moving into the 21st century, the nation continued to experience challenges
stemming from social, economic, and demographic changes.
Thematic Learning Objectives: (WXT-3) (WXT-7 (WXT-8) (POL-4) (POL-3) (POL7) (WOR-3) (WOR-7) (WOR-8) (ENV-5) (CUL-7) (ID-6) (ID-7) (PEO-2) (PEO-3)
(PEO-7)
29
Secondary Sources
 Why We Fight (documentary film) [CR1c]

Citino, Robert. “Technology in the Persian Gulf War of 1991” [CR1c]

Gil, Troy. “The Age of Reagan”
Primary Sources
 Iran Hostage's Diary / Robert C. Ode [CR1b]

Reagan Speech: “Tear down this wall,” 1987 [CR1b]

Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address [CR1b]

Mark Rickert. Discovering a mass grave in Iraq, 2003
Activities
 Students use a graphic organizer to compare and contrast the causes and goals
of each act as described excerpts from the 1924, 1965, and 1990 Immigration
Acts. (PEO-7) [CR4][CR9]

Students write an essay that compares technological developments from 1800 to
2014, noting the impact of technology on culture and politics [CR3][CR5][CR11]

Students will complete a compare and contrast chart of 1980s conservative and
New Deal philosophies on the role of government [CR11]

Using SOAPStone students will analyze the following document and evaluate the
extent to which POTUS Reagan met his goals: Roland Reagan: First Inaugural
Address. [CR13b]

Students write a mock op-ed for or against drilling for oil in the ANWR that cites
precedents in U.S. law and history to justify their position (ENV-5) [CR4]

Looking at economic data about employment, compensation, and household data
broken down by race, gender, and education from the 1970s to 2010, each
student will write an essay that makes an argument about whether or not the
American Dream existed [CR1b]

Students will create Cornell notes of chapters 39-42 of The American Pageant,
13th Ed.
Review
30
Identity
How did demographic and economic changes in American
society affect popular debate over American national identity
Work, Exchange,
How did the shift to a global economy affect American
and Tech.
economic life? How did scientific and technological
developments in these years change how Americans lived and
worked?
Peopling
How did increased migration raise questions about American
identity and affect the nation demographically, culturally and
politically?
Politics and
How successful were conservatives in achieving their goals?
Power
To what extent did liberalism remain influential political and
culturally?
America in the
How did the end of the Cold War affect American foreign
World
policy? How did the terrorist attacks of 9/11 impact
America’s role in the world?
Environment and How did debates over climate change and energy policy affect
Geography
broader social and political movements?
Ideas, Beliefs, and How did technological and scientific innovations in areas such
Cultures
as electronics, biology, medicine, and communications affect
society, popular culture, and public discourse? How did a
demographically diverse population shape popular culture?
31