Advanced Placement
United States History
Course Syllabus
2013-2014
Kevin Palmer
Marbury High School
School phone: (334)387-1910
E-mail:
kevin.palmer@acboe.net
or
kpeagles36@live.com
ADVANCED PLACEMENT U.S. HISTORY - PURPOSE
The Advanced Placement program in United States History is designed to provide students with the analytical skills and
factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials of United States history. The course prepares
students for intermediate and advanced college courses by making demands upon them equivalent to those made by full-year
introductory college survey courses. In this pursuit, the acquisition of factual knowledge is the beginning point of the process,
not the end. Students will learn to interpret and evaluate the relative significance of primary and secondary source material,
and to present their evidence and conclusions clearly and persuasively in an essay format.
BASIC AND SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS
Basic text –
Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pagent.12th ed. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
Supplemental text –
Faragher, John M., Mari Buhle, Daniel Czitrom, and Susan Armitage. Out of Many. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Prentice Hall, 2011.
Many students have found an outline of American history useful. The History Department will consider placing one combined
order for students interested in a copy of Amsco’s United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination,
passing the saving of any volume discount on to students. Remember, this is optional and it does not take the place of a
thorough reading of the textbook.
OUTSIDE READING
One or more major outside reading assignments will be required each quarter. Additionally, scholarly essays and primary
source readings will be distributed throughout the year. Many of those readings will focus on conflicting historical
interpretations. Throughout the year students will be reading a collateral text dealing with some aspect of multiculturalism.
TESTS AND ESSAYS
Tests will generally consist of a multiple-choice section and an essay section of equal weight. Each test is likely to cover a
significantly greater volume of material than many students have previously experienced. These tests will emphasize factual
information, multiple causation/multiple outcomes, and the concept of change over time and will require students to interpret
and evaluate the events of history and support their conclusions with relevant specific factual information. There are likely to
be a minimum number of major grades per quarter. The limited number of grades per quarter means that each major grade
has a significant impact on the quarter grade. Students need to be aware of this and responsibly prepare for each major
assignment.
In addition to test essays, two to three additional in-class or out-of-class essays or DBQs (data based questions) will be
required per quarter. Each will count as a major grade. Pop quizzes will be used if it is apparent that students need additional
incentive to responsibly keep up with reading assignments.
MANDATORY AND OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENTS
Mandatory take home tests are required with the first unit. Following that, optional chapter take home tests may be completed
by students for a grade. Students may use their textbooks on take home tests but are to work independently with NO
sharing of information allowed between students. Additionally, students may complete an optional Main Idea Log for each
chapter. Optional assignments are designed to allow student to shore-up areas of weakness. Additionally, mandatory
assignments may vary from student to student based on individual weaknesses that need to be strengthened.
HOMEWORK
Homework will consist almost exclusively of reading assignments, and vocabulary with an occasional outside essay. Students who
are having difficulty with the course may need to initiate additional reinforcing activities (optional assignments). As students, you
are responsible for completing and mastering assignments on time. Early on, DBQs will be given to complete over a few days time.
**Due to the large volume of material, students should expect assignments over Thanksgiving break, Christmas holidays, and
spring break in order to be prepared for the AP test on May 14.
MAKE-UP WORK
Attendance in class is absolutely essential to the successful completion of the course and to the attainment of a passing grade on the
National Advanced Placement Examination. Students returning from excused absences are responsible for completing missed in
class assignments promptly (within two days). Be aware that the instructor is under no obligation to accept work after its assigned
due date without an excused absence.
ADDITIONAL HELP
The AP experience may place greater demands on students than those to which they are accustomed. It is likely that you will need
to meet with the instructor from time to time to overcome problems you are having. I welcome those opportunities to help you
one-to-one, and I encourage you to make arrangements to see me if you're experiencing difficulty. Mandatory conferences will be
scheduled with those students experiencing significant difficulty.
HONOR CODE
Students will abide by the honor code statement “I have neither given nor received help on this assignment” for all assignments
unless specifically exempted by the instructor. Violations of the honor code pledge will result in a zero for the assignment, a
disciplinary referral to the office for action consistent with the school system policy on cheating, and potential loss of status in honor
societies. Examples of violations of this policy include (but are not limited to) giving or receiving help on any in-class or take-home
test, essay, or quiz, plagiarism of material on take-home essays, and discussion of any quiz, test, or essay questions with students
who have not yet completed that assignment.
GRADING
Grading is based on a total points system. Each assignment has a total possible points value (i.e. major test = 100 points, optional
main idea log = 40 points, reading quiz = 10 points). At the end of the quarter a student will have completed a number of
assignments worth a certain number of total points. The value given to major tests (or any assignments identified as “test grade”)
will be 65% of your grade, quizzes, class work, and homework will be 35% of the grade.
HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS
The AP U.S. History course is dedicated to developing strong historical thinking skills among AP students. These skills are
tremendously important to grasp and develop throughout the course of the year. If you don’t understand what is listed below, be
certain to set up a conference so we can review these skills.
Skill type I - Chronological Reasoning
Learning Objective: Student demonstrates ability to reason about causality, continuity and
change over time, and periodization in the context of U.S. history.
Skill 1: Historical Causation
Historical thinking involves the ability to identify, analyze and evaluate the relationships between multiple historical causes
and effects, distinguishing between those that are long-term and proximate, and among coincidence, causation and
correlation.
You should be able to…
 Compare causes and/or effects, including between short term and long term effects
 Analyze and evaluate the interaction of multiple causes and/or effects
 Assess historical contingency by distinguishing among coincidence, causation, and correlation, as well as critiquing standard
interpretations of cause and effect.
Skill 2: Patterns of Continuity and Change Over Time
Historical thinking involves the ability to recognize, analyze and evaluate the dynamics of historical continuity and change
over periods of time of varying length, as well as relating these patterns to larger historical processes or themes.
You should be able to…Analyze and evaluate historical patterns of continuity and change over time.
 Connect patterns of continuity and change over time to larger historical processes or themes.
Skill 3: Periodization
Historical thinking involves the ability to describe, analyze, evaluate and construct models of historical periodization that
historians use to categorize events into discrete blocks and to identify turning points, recognizing that the choice of specific
dates gives a higher value to one narrative, region or group over another narrative, region, or group; therefore, changing
the periodization can change a historical narrative. Moreover, historical thinking involves being aware of how the
circumstances and contexts of a historian’s work might shape his or her choices about periodization.
You should be able to…
 Explain ways that historical events and processes can be arranged within blocks of time with key turning points.
 Analyze and evaluate competing models of periodization of U.S. history.
Skill Type II: Comparison and Contextualization
Learning Objective: Student demonstrates ability to compare and contextualize historical
developments across chronology and geography.
Skill 4: Comparison
Historical thinking involves the ability to describe, compare and evaluate multiple historical developments within one
society, one or more developments across or between different societies, and in various chronological and geographical
contexts. It also involves the ability to identify, compare and evaluate multiple perspectives on a given historical experience.
You should be able to…
 Compare related historical developments and processes across place, time, and/or different societies, or within one society.
 Explain and evaluate multiple and differing perspectives on a given historical phenomenon.
Skill 5: Contextualization
Historical thinking involves the ability to connect historical events and processes to specific circumstances of time and
place, and to broader regional, national or global processes.
You should be able to…
 Explain and evaluate ways in which specific historical phenomena, events, or processes connect to broader regional,
national, or global processes occurring at the same time.
 Explain and evaluate ways in which a phenomenon, event, or process connects to other, similar historical phenomena
across time and place.
Skill Type III: Crafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence
Learning Objective: Student demonstrates ability to create a plausible and persuasive
historical argument supported by analysis of relevant historical evidence.
Skill 6: Historical Argumentation
Historical thinking involves the ability to define and frame a question about the past and to address that question through
the construction of an argument. A plausible and persuasive argument requires a clear, comprehensive and analytical
thesis, supported by relevant historical evidence — not simply evidence that supports a preferred or preconceived position.
Additionally, argumentation involves the capacity to describe, analyze and evaluate the arguments of others in light of
available evidence.
You should be able to…
 Analyze commonly accepted historical arguments and explain how an argument has been constructed from historical
evidence.
 Construct convincing interpretations through analysis of disparate, relevant historical evidence.
 Evaluate and synthesize conflicting historical evidence to construct persuasive historical arguments.
Skill 7: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
Historical thinking involves the ability to describe and evaluate evidence about the past from diverse sources (including written
documents as well as works of art, archaeological artifacts, oral traditions and other primary sources), with respect to content,
authorship, purpose, format and audience. It involves the capacity to extract useful information, make supportable inferences
and draw appropriate conclusions from historical evidence, while also understanding such evidence in its context, recognizing
its limitations and assessing the points of view that it reflects.
You should be able to…
 Analyze features of historical evidence such as audience, purpose, point of view, format, argument, limitations, and context
germane to the evidence considered.
 Based on analysis and evaluation of historical evidence, make supportable inferences and draw appropriate conclusions.
Skill Type IV: Historical Interpretation and Synthesis
Learning Objective: Student demonstrates ability to interpret and synthesize analyses of
historical events and patterns.
Skill 8: Interpretation
Historical thinking involves the ability to describe, analyze, evaluate and create diverse interpretations of the past — as revealed
through both primary and secondary historical sources — through analysis of evidence, reasoning, contexts, points of view and
frames of reference. The particular circumstances and contexts in which individual historians themselves work and write shape
their interpretation and modeling of past events.
You should be able to…
 Analyze diverse historical interpretations
 Evaluate how historians’ perspectives influence their interpretations and how models of historical interpretation change
over time.
Skill 9: Synthesis
Historical thinking involves the ability to arrive at meaningful and persuasive new understandings of the past by applying all of
the other historical thinking skills, by drawing appropriately on ideas and methods from different fields of inquiry or disciplines,
and by creatively fusing disparate, relevant (and perhaps contradictory) evidence from primary sources and secondary works.
Additionally, synthesis may involve applying insights about the past to other historical contexts or circumstances, including the
present.
You should be able to…
 Draw appropriately on ideas and methods from different fields of inquiry or disciplines
 Combine disparate, relevant (and perhaps contradictory) evidence from primary sources and secondary works in order
to create a persuasive understanding of the past.
 Apply insights about the past to other historical contexts or circumstances, including the present.
Themes in U.S. History
The content learning objectives for the AP U.S. History course and exam are organized under seven themes, which are topics of
historical inquiry to explore throughout the AP U.S. History course. It is likely that the AP exam will ask you to examine one or more
of these factors in each of the essay questions. Think about how themes change within and between time periods and how they
interact with each other. You must know and understand each of these themes.
• Identity
• Work, Exchange, and Technology
• Peopling
• Politics and Power
• America in the World
• Environment and Geography — Physical and Human
• Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture
Work, Exchange, and Technology (WXT)
• Identity Li by Theme:
Ideny (ID)
This theme focuses on the formation of both American national identity and group identities in U.S. history. Students
should be able to explain how various identities, cultures, and values have been preserved or changed in different contexts
of U.S. history, with special attention given to the formation of gender, class, racial, and ethnic identities. Students should
be able to explain how these sub-identities have interacted with each other and with larger conceptions of American
national identity.
Overarching questions
 How and why have debates over American national identity changed over time?
 How have gender, class, ethnic, religious, regional, and other group identities changed in different eras?
• Work, Exchange, and Technology
This theme focuses on the development of American economies based on agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing.
Students should examine ways that different economic and labor systems, technological innovations, and government
policies have shaped American society. Students should explore the lives of working people and the relationships
among social classes, racial and ethnic groups, and men and women, including the availability of land and labor,
national and international economic developments, and the role of government support and regulation.
Overarching questions:
 How have changes in markets, transportation, and technology affected American society from colonial times to the present
day?
 Why have different labor systems developed in British North America and the United States, and how have they affected
U.S. society?
 How have debates over economic values and the role of government in the U.S. economy affected politics, society, the
economy, and the environment?
Learning Objectives by Theme:
• Peopling)
This theme focuses on why and how the various people who moved to, from, and within the United States adapted to their new
social and physical environments. Students examine migration across borders and long distances, including the slave trade and
internal migration, and how both newcomers and indigenous inhabitants transformed North America. The theme also illustrates
how people responded when “borders crossed them.” Students explore the ideas, beliefs, traditions, technologies, religions, and
gender roles that migrants/immigrants and annexed peoples brought with them, and the impact these factors had on both these
peoples and on U.S. society.
Overarching questions:
 Why have people migrated to, from, and within North America?
 How have changes in migration and population patterns affected American life?
• Politics and Power
Students should examine ongoing debates over the role of the state in society and its potential as an active agent for change. This
includes mechanisms for creating, implementing, or limiting participation in the political process and the resulting social effects, as
well as the changing relationships among the branches of the federal government and among national, state, and local
governments. Students should trace efforts to define or gain access to individual rights and citizenship and survey the evolutions of
tensions between liberty and authority in different periods of U.S. history.
Overarching questions:
 How and why have different political and social groups competed for influence over society and government in what would
become the United States?
 How have Americans agreed on or argued over the values that guide the political system, as well as who is a part of the
political process?
L• America in the Worlde World (WOR)
In this theme, students should focus on the global context in which the United States originated and developed, as well as the
influence of the U.S. on world affairs. Students should examine how various world actors (such as people, states, organizations, and
companies) have competed for the territory and resources of the North American continent, influencing the development of both
American and world societies and economies. Students should also investigate how American foreign policies and military actions
have affected the rest of the world as well as social issues within the U.S. itself.
Overarching questions:
 How have events in North America and the United States related to contemporary developmentsin the rest of the world?
 How have different factors influenced U.S. military, diplomatic, and economic involvement in international affairs and
foreign conflicts, both in North America and overseas?
• Environment and Geography — Physical and Human
This theme examines the role of environment, geography, and climate in both constraining and shaping human actions. Students
should analyze the interaction between the environment and Americans in their efforts to survive and thrive. Students should also
explore efforts to interpret, preserve, manage, or exploit natural and man-made environments, as well as the historical contexts
within which interactions with the environment have taken place.
Overarching questions:
 How did interactions with the natural environment shape the institutions and values of various groups living on the North
American continent?
 How did economic and demographic changes affect the environment and lead to debates over use and control of the
environment and natural resources?
• Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture()
This theme explores the roles that ideas, beliefs, social mores, and creative expression have played in shaping the United States.
Students should examine the development of aesthetic, moral, religious, scientific, and philosophical principles, and consider how
these principles have affected individual and group actions. Students should analyze the interactions between beliefs and
communities, economic values, and political movements, including attempts to change American society to align it with specific
ideals.
Class format:
All of the following readings should be completed by the beginning of the week during which they will be discussed. Test dates may
need to be arranged from time to time, but such changes will be announced well in advance.
Each unit utilizes discussions of and writing about related historiography: how interpretations of events changed over time, how
the issues of one time period have had an impact on the experiences and decisions of subsequent generations, and how such
reevaluations of the past continue to shape the way historians see the world today.
First Semester
Week of August 19-August 23
American Pageant:
Chapter 1, New World Beginnings
Pre-Columbian cultures, early explorations, introduction of slavery, Spanish & French claims, rise of mercantilism
Week of August 26-August 30
American Pageant:
Chapter 2, The Planting of English America
The Chesapeake & southern English colonies, ties with Caribbean economies, British mercantilism
Chapter 3, Settling the Northern Colonies
New England & the Puritans, religious dissent, colonial politics and conflict with British authority, the middle colonies
DBQ on Chesapeake and New England Colonies (due September 9)
Week of September 2-September 6
American Pageant:
Chapter 4, American Life in the 17th Century
Tobacco and rice colonies, African American culture, colonial family life, dissent in New England, & the Witch trials
Chapter 5, Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution
Immigration and demographic change, the Atlantic economy, the Great Awakening, education and culture, colonial politics
Unit Test: September 9 – Chapters 1-5
Test format will include both multiple choice and essay questions
Week of September 9-September 13
American Pageant:
Chapter 6, The Duel for North America
Colonial involvement in British imperial wars, consequences of the French & Indian War and the Proclamation of 1763
Chapter 7, The Road to Revolution
Roots of Revolution and the role of mercantilism, end of salutary neglect, failure of diplomacy, first conflicts
Documentary History:
Common Sense, The Declaration of Independence
Week of September 16-September 20
American Pageant:
Chapter 8, America Secedes from the Empire
The American Revolution, wartime diplomacy, life on the home front, women and the war, the impact of the war on slavery
Chapter 9, The Confederation and the Constitution
The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, the role of the Enlightenment, slavery and religion in the political process,
wartime diplomacy
Documentary History:
The US Constitution, Federalist Number Ten (Federalists Papers)
DBQ on the American Revolution
Unit Test: September 23 – Chapters 6-9
Test format will be multiple choice during class; essays will be completed at home.
Week of September 23-September 27
American Pageant:
Chapter 10, Launching the New Ship of State
Early national politics and economics, diplomacy during the French Revolution, the making of the office of the presidency
Documentary History:
“Federalists & Republicans”; “The Constitutionality of the National Bank”; “Washington’s Farewell Address”
Week of September 30-October 4
American Pageant:
Chapter 11, Triumphs and Travails of the Jeffersonian Republic
The Revolution of 1800, the Marshall Court, diplomacy of Jefferson and Madison, the Embargo Act, acceleration of expansion
West
Chapter 12, The Second War for Independence & Upsurge of Nationalism
The War of 1812, the Era of Good Feeling, the American System, the diplomacy of expansion, forging a new national identity
Documentary History:
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions; Marbury v Madison; “Chief Marshall for the Supreme Court”
DBQ comparing the policies and politics of Jefferson and Madison
Week of October 7-October 11
American Pageant:
Chapter 13, The Rise of a Mass Democracy
Jacksonian democracy and the Whigs, national policy toward American Indians, the era of the “common man,” the Texas
revolution, slavery and sectionalism
Documentary History:
The Monroe Doctrine; Veto of Bank Renewal Bill
Unit Test October 10 – Chapters 10-12
Test format will be multiple choice and essays to be completed in class.
Week of October 14-October 18
American Pageant:
Chapter 14, Forging the National Economy
The rise of the market economy, immigration and the increase in nativism, women in the workplace, the factory system,
the transportation revolution, and expansion west
Week of October 21-October 25
American Pageant:
Chapter 15, The Ferment of Reform and Culture
The Second Great Awakening and the growth of reform, women’s roles in reform movements, creation of a national
Culture, advances in education and the sciences
Chapter 16, The South and the Slavery Controversy
Cotton culture, southern society and the impact of the plantation system, the rise of abolitionist movements
Documentary History:
The first issue of The Liberator; Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
DBQ on the success of reform movements in increasing democracy in American society
Unit Test: October 28 – Chapters 14-16
Test format will include both multiple choice and essay questions to be completed in class.
Week of October 28-November 1
American Pageant:
Chapter 17, Manifest Destiny and its Legacy
Expansion under Polk, Manifest Destiny, war with Mexico
Week of November 4-November 8
American Pageant:
Chapter 18, Renewing the Sectional Struggle
Popular sovereignty, the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law, the economics of expansion
Chapter 19, Drifting Toward Disunion
Abolition in the 1850s, the impact of Dred Scott, the financial panic of 1857, political crisis in the election of 1860, the
coming of the Civil War
Documentary History:
John C. Calhoun on the “Slavery Question”; William Grayson, “The Hireling and the Slave”; Dred Scott v. Sanford
Week of November 11-November 15
American Pageant:
Complete Chapter 19
In-class DBQ – The role of the Constitution in the crisis of the 1850s
Week of November 18-November 22
American Pageant:
Chapter 20, Girding for War: The North and the South
Wartime diplomacy, economic changes in both the North and the South, women and the war, issues of civil liberties
in wartime
Chapter 21, The Furnace of Civil War
The Peninsula Campaign, the “Anaconda,” the war in the West, Sherman’s March, the Emancipation Proclamation,
Appomattox, the legacy of war in both the North and South
Documentary History:
Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address; The Emancipation Proclamation, The Gettysburg Address
In-class DBQ on a topic studied earlier in the year
Week of December 2-December 6
American Pageant:
Chapter 22, The Ordeal of Reconstruction
The politics and economics of Reconstruction, experiences of freedmen, the rise of the Bourbon South and the fate of
Reconstruction, impeachment politics and the balance of power
Documentary History:
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
Unit Test: December 6 – Chapters 20-22
Test format will include both multiple-choice and essay questions to be completed in class
Week of December 9-December 13
American Pageant:
Chapter 23, Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age
The rise of big business and the role of business in politics, class, and ethnic conflict, the rise of Jim Crow, Populism
Week of December 16-December 20
Semester Exams
Second Semester
Week of January 6-January 10
American Pageant:
Chapter 24, Industry Comes of Age
Era of Robber Barons, the lives of the working classes and the growth of unionism, government and politics of regulation,
The United States in the world economy
Documentary History:
Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas; Andrew Carnegie, Wealth
DBQ on business in the late nineteenth century
Week of January 13-January 17
American Pageant:
Chapter 25, America Moves to the City
Urbanization, new waves of immigration, renewed instances of nativism, cultural life in urban America, the “New Woman,”
and African American push for expanded civil rights
Chapter 26, The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution
The close of the frontier and its impact, industrialization of agriculture and political dissent among farmers
Documentary History:
Samuel Gombers, “Letter on Labor in Industrial Society,” Booker T. Washington, “Atlanta Exposition Address”
Populist Party Platform
Week of January 20-January 24
American Pageant:
Chapter 26, The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution
Chapter 27, Path of Empire
American expansion overseas, a new age of imperialism, the Spanish-American War, the Open Door, America on
the world stage
Unit Test: January 24 – Chapters 25-26
Test format will include both multiple-choice and essay questions to be completed in class.
Week of January 27-January 31
American Pageant:
Chapter 27, Path of Empire
Documentary History:
Alfred T. Mahan, The United States Looking Outward
In class DBQ on imperialism
Unit Test: January 31 – Chapters 26-27
Test format will be multiple choice.
Week of February 3-February 7
American Pageant:
Chapter 28, America on the World Stage
Crushing Filipino insurrection, Open Door notes, Teddy Roosevelt, Panama Canal, the Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine
Chapter 29, Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt
Progressive reform and the trusts, demographics of urbanization and the resulting political impact, “Dollar Diplomacy,”
environmental issues
Week of February 10-February 14
American Pageant:
Chapter 30, Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad
The New Freedom versus the New Nationalism, Progressive economic reform, diplomacy of neutrality
Documentary History:
Roosevelt Corollary, Alfred T. Mahan, The United States Looking Outward
Week of February 17-February 21
American Pageant:
Chapter 31, The War to End War
War in Europe and war on the home front, propaganda and civil liberties, the politics behind the making of the
Treaty of Versailles and its rejection by the US Senate
Documentary History:
Woodrow Wilson, War Message to Congress & Fourteen Points
In class DBQ on either Progressivism or the Treaty of Versailles
Week of February 24-February 28
American Pageant:
Chapter 32, American Life in the Roaring Twenties
The Red Scare and immigration issues, a mass-consumption economy, the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance,
traditionalism versus modernism
Unit Test: February 28 – Chapters 31-32
Test format will include both multiple-choice and essay questions to be completed in class.
Week of March 3-March 7
American Pageant:
Chapter 33, The Politics of Boom and Bust
Isolationism in the 1920s, foreign debt and diplomacy, the coming of the Great Depression
Documentary History:
Herbert Hoover, “Rugged Individualism”
Week of March 10-March 14
American Pageant:
Chapter 34, The Great Depression and the New Deal
FDR and “recovery, relief, reform,” demographic changes associated with the Depression, cultural changes in the
1930s, the Supreme Court and the balance of political power in government
Documentary History:
Franklin Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, NLRB versus Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation
Week of March 17-March 21
American Pageant:
Chapter 35, FDR and the Shadow of War
Attempts at neutrality and isolation, diplomacy and economics of the prewar years, the move to war following
Pearl Harbor
Chapter 36, America in World War II
The war in Europe and the Far East, the home front, changes for women and minorities during the war, the decision to
Use the atomic bomb and its consequences
Documentary History:
Franklin Roosevelt, The Quarantine speech; Franklin Roosevelt, The Four Freedoms speech
Unit Test: March 21 – Chapters 34-36
Test format will include both multiple-choice and essay questions to be completed in class.
Week of March 31-April 4
American Pageant:
Chapter 37, The Cold War Begins
Postwar prosperity and the Baby Boom, communism and containment, diplomacy and the Marshall Plan, the Korean War,
the Red Scare, the United States as a world power
Chapter 38, The Eisenhower Era
Consumer culture in the 1950s, the civil rights revolution, McCarthyism, Cold War expansion, the space race, postwar
literature and culture
Documentary History:
George Keenan, Sources of the Soviet Conduct; Brown versus the Board of Education; Eisenhower Farewell Address
In class DBQ on either America in the 1950s or post-World War II diplomacy
Week of April 7-April 11
American Pageant:
Chapter 39, The Stormy Sixties
The Cold War continues, expansion of the war in Vietnam, the civil rights revolution and evolution, Johnson and the
Great Society, immigration and demographic changes
Chapter 40, The Stalemate Seventies
Rise of conservatism, economic stagnation, crisis over presidential power, environmental issues, feminism and the
Women’s movement, civil rights and affirmative action, foreign policy and the issue of oil
Documentary History:
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address; Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail & “I Have A Dream” speech,
Lyndon Johnson, “The Great Society” speech
Week of April 14-April 18
American Pageant:
Chapter 40, The Stalemate Seventies
In class DBQ on civil rights in the 1960s
Unit Test: April 18 – Chapters 38-40
Test format will include both multiple-choice and essay questions to be completed in class.
Week of April 21-April 25
American Pageant:
Chapter 41, The Resurgence of Conservatism
Reagan and the “New Right,” the end of the Cold War, Reaganomics, politics and the Supreme Court, globalization, war and
diplomacy in the Middle East
Documentary History:
NOW statement of Purpose; Lyndon Johnson, “The Power of Media”; Roe versus Wade; Ronald Reagan Inaugural Address
Chapter 42, The American People Face a New Century
Demographic changes, changes in the family, immigration and related issues, a multicultural society, the high-tech
economy, America in a global context
Documentary History:
Republican Contract with America
Rudy Giuliani, Farewell Address, 2001
Week of April 28-May 2
Review Exam I & II
Discuss past DBQs
Go over first two Review Exams
Week of May 5- May 9
Review Exam III
Go over Review Exam
Final review
AP Exam