Advanced Placement: United States History Syllabus
Erika Cox
Room 19
253-583-5418 ext. 3019
ecox@cloverpark.k12.wa.us
Office Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30-9:00 AM and 3:30-4:00 PM; also by appointment
Overview
AP U.S. History is a challenging course that is meant to provide a college-level experience.
The yearlong course will cover the main themes of U.S. history from Pre-Columbian
cultures to present day and will include a study of political institutions, social and cultural
developments, diplomacy, and economic trends as viewed from the different thematic
lenses provided below. There will be an emphasis on interpreting documents, retaining a
broad body of factual information, and writing analytical and interpretive essays. All of the
skills practiced and mastered in class will be vital to performing well on the AP exam in the
spring semester.
Course Objectives
Students will:
 Know and understand a broad body of historical knowledge
 Demonstrate an understanding of historical chronology
 Interpret and use data from primary sources including documents, cartoons,
photographs, charts, graphs, maps, letters, government records, etc.
 Effectively apply analytical skills including evaluation, cause and effect, and
compare and contrast
 Produce products that display historical knowledge and understanding
 Prepare for and perform their best on the AP U.S. History exam
Course Texts and Resources
Textbook: Kennedy, David M., Lizbeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant.
14th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006.
Course web site: http://teacherweb.com/WA/HarrisonPrep/myers/photo10.aspx
Assignments, notes and additional course information are posted to the teacher’s page
located under the school district and school name.
Supplemental Resources
Brown, Victoria Bissell and Timothy J. Shannon. Going to the Source. Vol. 1 & 2. Boston:
Wadsworth, 2010.
DuBois, Ellen Carol and Lynn Dumenil. Through Women’s Eyes: An American History with
Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009.
Course Organization
This course will be organized around major themes as adopted from the official themes
provided by College Board in order to prepare for the AP exam. Students can expect to
encounter many of the themes throughout the course units.
 American Diversity
 American Identity
 Culture
 Reform
 Demographic Changes
 Religion
 Economic Transformations
 Slavery and its Legacies in North
America
 Environment
 War and Diplomacy
 Globalization
 Politics and Citizenship
Assignments:
Reading: Expect reading each night from the textbook or other resources.
Study Guides: Each chapter is to be outlined using a provided note-taking strategy.
Notes: Notes are to be kept from your own reading, class discussions and lectures.
SOAPSToneS: Thinking routine used to analyze documents.
One-Pager: A visual representation of major themes and concepts encountered in the
course.
Multiple Choice: Previous AP exam questions.
DBQ/FRQ: Document and Free-response essays.
Unit Exams: Provided at the end of units to assess student understanding of enduring
themes and factual information.
Dates are subject to change with the exception of the AP test on May 14, 2014.
Unit 1: First Americans to Revolution 1450 to 1783
Themes: American Diversity and Identity, Culture, Environment, Religion, Politics and
Citizenship
September 3-6
Course Introduction
Opening activity – In 3-4 well written paragraphs, define what it means to be an American.
The American Pageant: Chapter 1
Study Guide skill – Introduce Cornell Notes
SOAPSToneS: “Animals of the Carolinas”
Topics: First Americans, early explorations and settlement, introduction of slavery, foreign
claims
September 9-13
The American Pageant: Chapter 2
Study Guide skill – Review Cornell Notes
The American Pageant: Chapter 3
One-Pager – Compare and contrast the treatment of Native Americans by the Spanish,
French and British
Topics: Jamestown, The Chesapeake and New England colonies
September 16-20
The American Pageant: Chapter 4
The American Pageant: Chapter 5
Study Guide skill – Introduce KWL
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Document Based Question – What is it?
Topics: social and economic aspects of Colonial society, Southern Society, slavery in the
New World, immigration, The Great Awakening
September 23-27
The American Pageant: Chapter 6
The American Pageant: Chapter 7
Study Guide skill – Review KWL
Doing the DBQ – New England/Chesapeake societies (1993)
Topics: influence of Spanish and French settlements, Mercantilism, Intolerable Acts and
American Dissent
September 30 – October 4
The American Pageant: Chapter 8
Study Guide skill – Choice: Cornell/KWL
Review DBQ essays – look at examples
Small group re-write: make this 4 a 5!
Topics: French Alliance, American Revolution
Unit 1 Exam – multiple choice and essay questions
Assignments and Assessments: One-Pager: French/Spanish/British treatment of Native
Americans, SOAPSToneS: primary document analysis, DBQ: New England/Chesapeake
societies, Unit Exam
Unit 2: Building the New Nation 1776-1860
Themes: American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic Transformations,
Politics and Citizenship, Reform
October 7-11
The American Pageant: Chapter 9
Study Guide skill – Intro 3 Level Questions
Constitutional Scavenger Hunt – Identify and categorize major powers defined in
Constitution
SOAPSToneS – Federalist Papers
The American Pageant: Chapter 10
Study Guide skill – Review 3 Level Questions
FRQ – The Constitution vs. Articles of Confederation
One-Pager: Federalists versus Republicans
Readings: Federalist Papers, Articles of Confederation and U.S. Constitution, Marbury v.
Madison
Topics: Articles of Confederation, Shay’s Rebellion, Constitutional Convention, Ratification,
Federalist Movement, Hamilton’s economic policies, Washington’s presidency, Adams’s
presidency, Alien and Sedition Acts
October 14-18
The American Pageant: Chapter 11
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Study Guide skill – Intro Essential Questions
The American Pageant: Chapter 12
Study Guide skill – Review Essential Questions
DBQ – Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal
Topics: The Jefferson presidency, John Marshall and the Supreme Court, The Louisiana
Purchase, War of 1812, The Treaty of Ghent, “The American System”, Era of Good Feelings,
The Monroe Doctrine
October 21-25
The American Pageant: Chapter 13
The American Pageant: Chapter 14
Study Guide skill – Choice: 3 Level or Essential Questions
One-Pager: Jackson’s war on the Bank of the United States
Individual re-write of DBQ – Jackson/Indian
Topics: The “corrupt bargain” of 1824, Spoils System, The Age of Jackson, Jackson’s war on
the Bank of the United States, Nullification crisis, Whig Party, Revolution in Texas,
Economic expansion, immigration and economic impact, Transportation revolution
October 28- November 1
The American Pageant: Chapter 15
Study Guide skill – Choice: 3 Level or Essential Questions
Topics: Temperance, Women’s Rights, science, art and culture, educational and religious
reforms
Unit 2 Exam
Assignments and Assessments: One-Pager: Federalists vs. Republicans, Jackson’s war on
the Bank of the United States, SOAPSToneS: primary document analysis, FRQ: The
Constitution vs. Articles of Confederation, DBQ: Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal, Unit
Exam
Unit 3: Testing the New Nation 1820-1877
Themes: American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic Transformations,
Reform, Slavery and its Legacies in North America, War and Diplomacy
November 4-8
The American Pageant: Chapter 16
The American Pageant: Chapter 17
Study Guide skill – Any choice: For the remainder of the chapters you must select the
study guide format most suited for you as a learner.
One-Pager: Manifest Destiny
Topics: King Cotton, economies of the North and South, life under slavery, the Abolitionist
movement, Manifest Destiny, Westward Expansion
November 12-22
The American Pageant: Chapter 18
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The American Pageant: Chapter 19
Study Guide skill – Choice
Topics: Popular sovereignty, the underground railroad, The Compromise of 1850, Fugitive
Slave Law, Kansas-Nebraska Act, election of 1856, Dred Scott case, financial panic of 1857,
Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown’s raid, Lincoln and Republican victory, secession
November 25-December 6
The American Pageant: Chapter 20
FRQ: The Civil War
The American Pageant: Chapter 21
Study Guide skill – Choice
DBQ – Civil WAR: Constitutional Crisis
Topics: Financing the war, economic impact, women and the war, civil liberties, military
campaigns, African American soldiers, William Sherman, Assassination of Lincoln
December 9-13
The American Pageant: Chapter 22
Study Guide skill – Choice
One-Pager: Reconstruction
Topics: Reconstruction – Congressional, Presidential, Military, and the influence of the KKK
Unit 3 Exam
Assignments and Assessments: One-Pager: Manifest Destiny, Reconstruction
SOAPSToneS: primary document analysis, FRQ: The Civil War, DBQ: Civil War:
Constitutional Crisis, Unit Exam
Unit 4: Forging an Industrial Society 1869-1909
Themes: American Diversity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic Transformations,
Environment, Globalization, Reform, Slavery and its Legacies in North America
December 16-20
The American Pageant: Chapter 23
The American Pageant: Chapter 24
Study Guide skill – Choice
Topics: Grant Presidency, post-Civil War era, economy of the 1870s, political parties and
partisans, Compromise of 1877, emergence of Jim Crow, “Billion Dollar Congress”, the
Populists, railroad boom, industry in the South, the rise of trade unions
January 6-10
The American Pageant: Chapter 25
Study Guide skill – Choice
The Gilded Age: Lives of the Rich and Famous Article Assignment
Topics: Urbanization, the “New Immigrants”, education, Booker T. and DuBois, women and
culture in urban America
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January 13-17
The American Pageant: Chapter 26
Study Guide skill – Choice
History Web: Character Images of the American Frontier (West)
Topics: The conquest of the Indians, mining and cattle in the West, industrialization of
agriculture, Election of 1896
January 21-24
The American Pageant: Chapter 27
Study guide skill – Choice
Topics: Expansionism, Spanish-American War, acquiring Puerto Rico and the Philippines,
Filipino insurrection, Open Door Policy in China, T. Roosevelt Presidency, Panama Canal
Unit 4 Exam
Assignments and Assessments: One-Pager/History Webs: West, Unions and
Industrialization, Urbanization and Immigration, U.S. Imperialism SOAPSToneS: primary
document analysis, FRQ: Jim Crow South, DBQ: Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. DuBois,
U.S. Imperialism Unit Exam
Semester Two
Unit 5: Struggling for Justice at Home and Abroad 1900-1945
Themes: American Diversity, American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic
Transformations, Environment, Politics and Citizenship, War and Diplomacy
January 27-31
The American Pageant: Chapter 28
FRQ: Progressivism
The American Pageant: Chapter 29
Study Guide skill – Choice
One-Pager: World War 1
Topics: Progressivism, the muckrakers, Temperance Movement, Conservation, Taft’s
“dollar diplomacy”, Roosevelt breaks with Taft, election of 1912, Wilson’s Presidency,
diplomacy in Latin America, The Great War and American neutrality
February 3-7
The American Pageant: Chapter 30
FRQ: The Home front in WWI
The American Pageant: Chapter 31
Study Guide skill – Choice
One-Pager: 1920s
DBQ: The Roaring 20s
Topics: America goes to war, Wilson’s Fourteen Points, propaganda and civil liberties, back
on the home front, drafting soldiers, League of Nations, Senate rejection of Versailles
Treaty, “Red Scare”, immigration restriction, prohibition, mass-consumption economy,
Automobiles, Jazz Age, economic boom
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February 10-13
The American Pageant: Chapter 32
The American Pageant: Chapter 33
Study Guide skill – Choice
One-Pager: The Great Depression
Topics: Hoover Presidency, Great Crash of 1929, Election of 1932, Hundred Days Congress,
Relief, Recovery and Reform, Depression Demagogues, National Recovery Administration,
Tennessee Valley Authority, Election of 1936, Supreme Court fight, New Deal assessed,
February 18-21
The American Pageant: Chapter 34
Study Guide skill – Choice
Topics: Roosevelt’s early foreign policy, Axis aggression, Isolation and Appeasement, The
Lend-Lease Act, Pearl Harbor
February 24-28
The American Pageant: Chapter 35
Study Guide skill – Choice
DBQ: The Atom Bomb
Topics: Japanese internment, Mobilizing the economy, War’s effect on women and
minorities, Campaigns, The Atom Bomb
Unit 5 Exam
Assignments and Assessments: One-Pager/History Webs: World War 1, 1920s, the Great
Depression, SOAPSToneS: primary document analysis, FRQ: Progressive Movement, The
Home front in WWI, DBQ: the Roaring 20s, the Atomic Bomb, Unit Exam
Unit 6: Making Modern America 1945- Present
Themes: American Diversity, American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic
Transformations, Environment, Globalization, Politics and Citizenship, Reform, Religion,
Slavery and its Legacies in North America, War and Diplomacy
March 3-7
The American Pageant: Chapter 36
One-Pager: Post-War America
The American Pageant: Chapter 37
Study Guide skill – Choice
Topics: Postwar prosperity, Baby Boom, The United Nations, Communism and
containment, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan and NATO, affluent America, Election of
1952, McCarthyism, Brown v. Board of Education, the space race and the arms race, Election
of 1960
March 10-14
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The American Pageant: Chapter 38
One-Pager: Civil Rights
FRQ: Culture of Conformity: 1950s
The American Pageant: Chapter 39
FRQ: The Year 1968
Study Guide skill – Choice
Topics: J.F.K, Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missile crisis, The struggle for civil rights, L.B.J and
the “Great Society”, Civil Rights Movement, The Vietnam disaster, Cultural upheavals of the
1960s, Nixon’s foreign policy, Middle East foreign policy, The Watergate Scandal, Feminism,
Election of 1976, Iranian hostage crisis
March 17-21
The American Pageant: Chapter 40
One-Pager: Cold War
FRQ: Reagan Conservatism
The American Pageant: Chapter 41
Study Guide skill – Choice
Topics: Reagan Presidency, Iran-Contra scandal, Conservatism and the courts, Election of G.
Bush (1980), End of the Cold War, Persian Gulf War, Election of 1992, Post-Cold War
foreign policy, Clinton impeachment trial, The controversial 2000 election, 9/11, War in
Iraq
March 24-28
The American Pageant: Chapter 42
Study Guide skill – Choice
Topics: High-tech economy, America’s changing culture
DBQ: TBD – create out of sources
Unit 6 Exam
Assignments and Assessments: One-Pager/History Webs: Post-War America, Civil Rights,
Cold War, SOAPSToneS: primary document analysis, FRQ: Culture of Conformity: 1950s,
The Year 1968, Reagan Conservatism, DBQ: TBD, Unit Exam
Review and Test Prep: April 7-May 9
AP Test Wednesday May 14, 2014
Post-Test Project
Documentary Project
Guidelines and rubric to be distributed in class
Classroom Expectations
This course is meant to provide rigorous instruction and will require a major effort on
behalf of every student. You will be expected to complete readings and assignments when
assigned and be an active participant in class every day.
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Assessments will be evaluated according to the Advanced Placement and College Board
rubric along with our school’s standards based policy. Students will receive appropriate
rubrics and guidelines for each assessment.
Plagiarism is not acceptable and will result in disciplinary actions. All of your work must
include your original draft.
Grading Policy
Formative Assessments: Study
Guides, Homework, etc
Summative Assessments:
DBQs, FRQs, Tests, etc
Final Exam
Daily Assignments &
Homework
Class Participation
Assessments & Essays






10%
Other assignments will also be assigned as needed. If you miss
class, you need to make up the work that you miss.
70%
You must complete all tests, essays and projects. If you miss a test,
it is your responsibility to set up a time to take it in a TIMELY
manner.
20%
Other assignments will also be assigned as needed. If you miss
class, you need to make up the work that you miss.
Do you start the journal prompt when you come into the
classroom? Do you stay on task? Do you speak your mind and
contribute your ideas in class? Are you working hard, being nice,
and having fun?
You must complete all quizzes, tests, essays and projects. If you
miss a quiz or test, it is your responsibility to set up a time to take
it in a TIMELY manner.
This course will uphold the HP Grading Policy as outlined in the 2013-2014 Student Handbook.
Student grades are standards based.
You will be required to resubmit any major assignments that don’t meet standard (3.0 or a B),
especially DBQs, FRQs and other major assignments.
Late assignments will be accepted, but NO WORK CAN BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE GRADING
PERIOD ENDS.
You will be assigned Pride Lunch to complete missing assignments.
Assignments requiring research and outside sources must be cited properly using MLA format.
Check out www.easybib.com for help on citing.
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Parents and students can reach me by email for questions or concerns regarding class or
student progress. I may also be reached by phone and am available before and after school.
I will also post assignments and announcements on Teacherweb.
Erika Cox
ecox@cloverpark.k12.wa.us
253-583-5418
We have read and discussed the class syllabus.
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