AP U.S. History Syllabus
Ms. Hernandez-- Room 100
E-mail: mhernandez@laalliance.org Phone: (323) 905-1210
Course Description:
In this course, we will emphasize interpreting documents, mastering a significant body
of factual information, and writing critical essays. Topics that we will cover include life and
thought in colonial America, revolutionary ideology, constitutional development, Jeffersonian
and Jacksonian democracy, nineteenth-century reform movements, and Manifest Destiny.
Additional topics include the Civil War and Reconstruction, immigration, industrialization,
Populism, Progressivism, World War I, the Jazz Age, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great
Depression, the New Deal, World War II, the Cold War, the post-Cold War era, and the United
States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This course will fulfill the United States
history graduation requirement.
In addition to the topics listed above, the course will emphasize a series of key themes
throughout the year. These themes have been determined by the College Board as essential to a
comprehensive study of United States history. These themes discuss American diversity, the
development of a unique American identity, the evolution of American culture, demographic
changes over the course of America’s history, economic trends and transformations,
environmental issues, the development of political institutions and the components of
citizenship, social reform movements, the role of religion in the making of the United States and
its impact in a multicultural society, the history of slavery and its legacies in this hemisphere,
war and diplomacy, and finally, the place of the United States in an increasingly global society.
The course will trace these themes throughout the year, emphasizing the ways in which they
are inter-connected and examining the ways in which each helps to shape the changes over
time that are so important to understanding United States history. Ultimately, the theme we
will focus on is how American identity has developed overtime.
Textbook:
Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant. 13th ed.
Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006.
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-present. Harper Perennial
Modern Classics, 2005.
Heffner, Richard D. A Documentary History of the United States, 7th ed, New York: Penguin
Putnam, Inc., 2002.
[Additional readings may be assigned at the discretion of the instructor to supplement the
course textbooks.]
Supplies Needed:
1) 2 ½ - inch 3- ring binder
2) 10 dividers/tabs
3) College-ruled paper
4) Pencil bag with at least 2 pencils and 2 pens
5) 1 Five Star College-Ruled Notebook
If you do not come to class prepared with these supplies you will not be able to complete the
day’s activity. I will not provide you with any of these supplies so do not ask.
Class Structure:
This is an Advanced Placement class which means students will be required to be
independent, hard-working, self-motivated, and organized!
Every week students will be required to complete certain chapter readings in the
textbook by Monday so as to be prepared for class discussions throughout the week. You can
expect to have a DBQ (Document Based Question) or other short writing assignment to answer
at least once a week to help prepare you for these on the AP test. All document based questions
will ask students to analyze different people, places, events, and time-periods in U.S. History
and they will also require students to think critically about how that specific person, event or
time-period contributed to the development of the American identity.
Each unit also utilizes discussions of and writing about related historiography: how
interpretations of events have 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.
The class pace is going to move very quickly and students need to make sure they are
always staying on track and never missing assignments. Failure to do this may result in being
dropped from the course.
Additional Requirements:
In addition to content mastery, students will:
A. Write effective historical essays with a strong thesis, supporting information, and
develop a collegiate-level writing style.
B. Analyze historical documents for meaning, context, and relationship to historical topics
and issues.
C. Develop techniques (essential questions, Socratic questioning, debate) to discuss and
critically analyze historical topics.
D. Develop personal interpretations of different eras of history by reading and
interpreting various historians’ work.
Grading:
The majority of the class will be based on test scores and DBQ practice essays/other written
assignments. Unit exams will account for about 30% of the grade, DBQ responses will account
for 25% of the grade, 10% of the grade will be essay assignments and other projects, and 35%
of the grade will be the final exam.
My Expectations of You as a History Scholar! 
1) ON- TIME/PREPARED- Come to class on time and prepared with all required materials
every single day.
2) FOCUSED- No excuses! Take responsibility for your own actions. Follow directions the
first time they are given.
3) POSITIVE- Create a respectful classroom environment by considering the impact of your
words, thoughts, and actions.
4) PRODUCTIVE- Utilize every minute in class to its fullest.
5) HOLD YOURSELF TO HIGH STANDARDS, ANYTHING LESS IS NOT YOUR BEST- If
you know you are putting in 110% that is all I can ask for, but if you know you aren’t (and if I
find out you aren’t) that is not acceptable.
Discipline Procedures:
These are the potential consequences you can receive for any misbehavior at school. They can
be combined in conjunction with one another if an offense requires it. Ms. Caudillo will be
taking care of discipline and action plans so you can expect to be sent to her if there is a
discipline problem in class.
Misconduct
1-2 issues in class
3-4 issues in class
5 issues in class
6 issues in class
7 issues in class
Consequence
Phone call to parent/asked to step outside and speak
with Ms. Hernandez
Meeting with Parent before you can return to class
Sent to Assistant Principal’s Office
Corrective Action Plan, and/or potential home visit by a
social worker
Potential suspension or expulsion, and/or factor
considered in grade promotion, and or potential
withdrawal
Bathroom Breaks: Bathroom breaks are not allowed in class during DIRECT INSTRUCTION TIME OR
LECTURE. (Usually that’s the first hour of class). Additionally, you cannot use the restroom the first
30minutes and last 30minutes of class. On WEDNESDAY there is no restroom pass at all. Your pass out of
class is your signed agenda that is filled in with all of your homework. No agenda=no pass.
Class Schedule:
UNIT 1
Week 1
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
A People's History of the
United States: 1492present
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 1
Topics Covered:
New World beginnings, Pre-Columbian cultures, early explorations,
introduction of slavery, Spanish and French claims, and the rise of
mercantilism.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- Short answer assignment on Pre-colonial life in America
Read Ch. 1-5 and answer reading comprehension questions.
Geography/ Maps of the United States
Week 2
Textbook
American Pageant
Readings and Activities
Chapter 2 and 3
Topics Covered:
The planting of English America, The Chesapeake and southern
English colonies, ties with Caribbean economies, British
mercantilism.
Settling the Northern Colonies, New England and the Puritans,
religious dissent, colonial politics and conflict with British authority,
and the middle colonies.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on Chesapeake and New England Colonies
- Quiz on A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
Ch. 1-5
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 1
Colonial Geography
Article about life in American colonies
Week 3
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 4 and 5
Topics Covered:
American Life in the 17th Century, Tobacco and rice colonies, AfricanAmerican culture, colonial family life, dissent in New England and the
Salem Witch trials.
Colonial Society on the Eve of the Revolution, Immigration and
demographic change.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- Salem Witch Trials- mock trial
- Unit Test Chapter 1-5 of American Pageant (essay questions
and multiple choice questions)
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 1
Stamp Act
Sugar Act
* (Students will read these documents and discuss how they led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
UNIT 2
Week 4
Textbook
American Pageant
Readings and Activities
Chapter 6 and 7
Topics Covered:
The Duel for North America, Colonial involvement in British imperial
wars, consequences of the French and Indian War, and the Proclamation
of 1763.
The Road to Revolution, Roots of revolution and the role of
mercantilism, end of benign neglect, failure of diplomacy, first conflicts.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- Common Sense writing activity
- 5 Founding Ideals of American Democracy activity
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Selections from Common Sense by Thomas Paine
The Declaration of Independence
* (Students will read these documents and discuss how they led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
Week 5
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
A People's History of the
United States: 1492present
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 8 and 9
Topics Covered:
America Secedes from the Empire, The American Revolution, wartime
diplomacy, life on the home front, women and the war, and the impact
of the war on the institution of slavery.
The Confederation and The Constitution: Radical or Reactionary?
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on the American Revolution and how it helped develop the
American identity
- Unit Test Chapter 6-9 of American Pageant (essay questions
and multiple choice questions)
Read Ch. 6 and answer reading comprehension questions
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 2
Political Cartoon Analysis- The Revolutionary War
Federalist #10
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
*(Students will read these documents and discuss how they led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
UNIT 3
Week 6
Textbook
American Pageant
Readings and Activities
Chapter 10
Topics Covered:
Launching the New Ship of State, Early national politics and
economics, diplomacy during the French Revolution, and the making of
the office of the presidency.
Activities:
-
Outlining textbook chapters
Essential Questions
Research Essay on the American Revolution: Students
write a three-to four-page essay on the following question:
Which better reflects the ideals of the American Revolution,
the Articles of Confederation or the Federal Constitution?
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
President Washington’s Farewell Address
* (Students will read this document and discuss how it led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
Week 7
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
A People's History of the
United States: 1492present
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 11 and 12
Topics Covered:
Triumphs and Travails of Jeffersonian Democracy, The “Revolution of
1800,” the Marshall Court, diplomacy of Jefferson and Madison, the
Embargo Act, and the acceleration of expansion westward.
The Second War for Independence/Nationalism, The War of 1812, The
Era of Good Feeling, The American System, the diplomacy of
expansion, and forging a new national identity.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ comparing the policies and politics of Jefferson and
Madison
Read Ch. 7-8 and answer reading comprehension questions
Political Cartoon Analysis- Jefferson and Jackson
Marbury v. Madison Supreme Court Case and Chief Justice John
Marshall
*(Students will read this document and discuss how it led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
Week 8
Textbook
American Pageant
Readings and Activities
Chapter 13
Topics Covered:
The Rise of a Mass Democracy Jacksonian democracy and the Whigs,
national policy toward American Indians, the era of the “common man,”
expansion with the Texas revolution, and slavery and sectionalism.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on the “Slavery Issue”
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Unit Test Chapter 10-12 of American Pageant (essay questions
and multiple choice questions).
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapters 7
The Monroe Doctrine
*(Students will read this document and discuss how it led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
UNIT 4
Week 9
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 14
Topics Covered:
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 westward.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on Women’s Role in American Society
- Quiz on A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
Ch. 7-8
Political Cartoon Analysis – Women
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapters 8
Week 10
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Readings and Activities
Chapter 15 and 16
Topics Covered:
The Ferment of Reform and Culture, the Second Great Awakening, the
growth of reform, women’s roles in reform movements, creation of a
national culture, advancements in education and the sciences.
The South and the slavery controversy, cotton culture, southern society
and the impact of the plantation system, and the rise of abolitionist
movements.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- Unit Test Chapter 13-16 of American Pageant (essay questions
and multiple choice)
- Reform Essay: Students choose a reform issue
(temperance, women’s rights, abolition of slavery,
treatment of the insane, penal reform) and write a threeto four-page essay, focusing on the changes, if any, that
occurred as a result of reform efforts.
Political Cartoon Analysis- Reform movement
Sources
Documentary History of the United States: Chapters 10 and 11
UNIT 5
Week 11
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 17
Topics Covered:
Manifest Destiny and its Legacy of Expansion under Polk, Manifest
Destiny, and the war with Mexico.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on Manifest Destiny
Political Cartoon Analysis- Manifest Destiny
Documentary History of the United States: Chapters 10 and 11
Week 12
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
A People’s History of the
United States: 1492present
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 18 and 19
Topics Covered:
Renewing the Sectional Struggle, Popular sovereignty, the Compromise
of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the economics of expansion.
Drifting Toward Disunion, Abolition in the 1850s, the impact of Dred
Scott, the financial panic of 1857, political crisis in the election of 1860,
and the coming of the Civil War.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- Dred Scott decision- trial activity
- DBQ on the role of the Constitution in the crisis of the 1850s
Read Ch. 9 and answer reading comprehension questions
Documentary History of the United States: Chapters 11 and 12
Political Cartoon Analysis- Abolition
John C. Calhoun on the “Slavery Question”
Dred Scott v. Sanford
* (Students will read these documents and discuss how they led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the other key themes used throughout the
course.)
Week 13
Textbook
American Pageant
Readings and Activities
Chapter 20 and 21
Topics Covered:
Girding for War, Wartime diplomacy, economic changes in both the North
and South, women and the war, issues of civil liberties in wartime, The
Furnace of the Civil War, The Peninsula Campaign, the “Anaconda,” the
war in the West, Sherman’s March, Appomattox, the Emancipation
Proclamation, and the legacy of war in both the North and South.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on the Civil War
- Quiz on A People’s History of the United States: 1492-present Ch. 9
- The Civil War Photographs: This exercise, based on the
Library of Congress site, “Does the Camera Ever Lie?” The Web
site
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwpcam/cwcam1.h
tml) introduces students to the skills necessary for
deconstructing photographs. Here they will find, for example,
several cases of the same scene being depicted from multiple
angles, with the same dead soldiers being portrayed as both
Union and Confederate casualties. Students are able to discuss
how visual evidence can be manipulated.
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapters 13 and 14
Political Cartoon Analysis- Civil War
The Gettysburg Address
*(Students will read these documents and discuss how they led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the other key themes used throughout the
course.)
Week 14
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 22
Topics Covered:
The Ordeal of Reconstruction, the politics and economics of
Reconstruction, experiences of the freedmen, the rise of the Bourbon
South and the fate of Reconstruction, impeachment politics and the
balance of power.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on Reconstruction
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 15
Political Cartoon Analysis- Reconstruction
Week 15
Textbook
American Pageant
Readings and Activities
Chapter 23
Topics Covered:
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, and Populism.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- Unit Test Chapter 13-16 (essay questions and multiple choices)
Primary Sources
A People’s History of the
United States: 1492present
Read Ch. 11 and answer reading comprehension questions
Week of December 5th, 2011
PREPARING FOR FINAL EXAMS
UNIT 6
Week 16
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 24
Topics Covered:
Industry Comes of Age, Era of the Robber Barons, the lives of the
working classes and the growth of unionism, government and politics of
regulation, and the United States in the world economy.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on business in the late nineteenth century
- Quiz on A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
Ch. 11
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapters 17
Political Cartoon Analysis- Robber Barons
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (students will read portions of this novel
and discuss how its portrayal of the meat-packing industry affected
American society and American identity)
Week 17
Textbook
American Pageant
Readings and Activities
Chapter 25 and 26
Topics Covered:
America Moves to the City, Urbanization, new waves of immigration,
renewed instances of nativism, cultural life in urban America, the “New
Woman,”African-American push for expanded civil rights.
The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution, the close of the
frontier and its impact, industrialization of agriculture, and political
dissent among farmers.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on Immigration and issue of Nativism
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapters 18
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (students will read portions of this novel
and discuss how its portrayal of the meat-packing industry affected
American society and American identity)
Populist Party Platform
*(Students will read this document and discuss how it led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
Week 18
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 26 and 27
Topics Covered:
The Great West, the Agricultural Revolution, Empire and Expansion,
American expansion overseas, a new age of imperialism, The
Spanish-American War, the Open Door Policy, and America on the
world stage.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on the Settlement of the West
- Unit Test Chapter 24-27 of American Pageant (essay questions
and multiple choice)
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapters 19
Political Cartoon Analysis- Roosevelt, the Open Door Policy
UNIT 7
Week 19
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
A People's History of the
United States: 1492present
Readings and Activities
Chapter 28 and 29
Topics Covered:
Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt, Progressive reform and
the trusts, demographics of urbanization and the resulting political
impact, “Dollar Diplomacy,” and environmental issues.
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad, The New Freedom
versus the New Nationalism, Progressive economic reform, diplomacy
of neutrality, Wilsonianism, Idealism, and Pragmatism.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on Progressivism
- Quiz on The Jungle
Read Ch. 12 create a Cornell-Notes outline and answer reading
comprehension questions
Week 20
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
A People's History of the
United States: 1492present
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 30
Topics Covered:
The War to End War (aka WWI).
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on WWI
- Quiz on A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
Ch. 12
Read Ch. 14 create a Cornell-Notes outline and answer reading
comprehension questions.
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 20
Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points Address
*(Students will read this document and discuss how it led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
Week 21
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
A People's History of the
United States: 1492present
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 31
Topics Covered:
American Life in the Roaring Twenties, The “Red Scare”, immigration
issues, a mass-consumption economy, the Jazz Age and the Harlem
Renaissance, and traditionalism versus modernism.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- Harlem Renaissance poetry analysis
- Quiz on A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
Ch. 14
Read Ch. 15 create a Cornell-Notes outline and answer reading
comprehension questions.
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 21
“I Too Sing America” by Langston Hughes
*(Students will read this document and discuss how it led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
Week 22
Textbook
American Pageant
Readings and Activities
Chapter 32
Topics Covered:
The Politics of Boom and Bust Isolationism in the 1920s, foreign debt
and diplomacy, and the coming of the Great Depression.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- Short answer essays about the causes of the Great
Depression
- Quiz on A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
Ch. 15
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 22
Week 23
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 32 and 33
Topics Covered:
The Politics of Boom and Bust Isolationism in the 1920s, foreign debt
and diplomacy, and the coming of the Great Depression.
The Great Depression and the New Deal, FDR and “recovery, relief,
reform,” demographic changes associated with the Depression, cultural
changes in the 1930s, and the Supreme Court and the balance of
political power in government.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on the New Deal
- New Deal Essay: Students choose a minority group
(women, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native
Americans, etc.) or an interest group (farmers, business
leaders, organized labor, etc.) and write a three- to four-page
essay tracing the effect that the New Deal had on this group.
This exercise lets students assess how far-reaching the New
Deal was in affecting various groups in society and asks them
to come to terms with why the New Deal did not go farther in
helping such groups.
- Unit Test Chapter 31-32 of American Pageant (essay questions
and multiple choice)
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 23
UNIT 8
Week 24
Textbook
American Pageant
Readings and Activities
Chapter 34 and 35
Topics Covered:
FDR and the shadow of War, Attempts at neutrality and isolation,
diplomacy and economics of the prewar years, and the move to war
following Pearl Harbor.
America in World War II, the war in Europe and in the Far East, the
home front, changes for women and minorities during the war, and the
decision to use the atomic bomb and its consequences.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- Short answer essay on the attack on Pearl Harbor
- Pearl Harbor film- clips
- Unit Test Chapter 33-35 of American Pageant (essay questions
and multiple choice)
Primary Sources
Excerpts from Various
Sources
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 24
UNIT 9
Week 25
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
A People's History of the
United States: 1492present
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 36 and 37
Topics Covered:
The Cold War Begins, postwar prosperity and the Baby Boom,
communism and containment, diplomacy and the Marshall Plan, the
Korean War, the Red Scare, and the United States as a world power.
The Eisenhower Era, Consumer culture in the 1950s, the civil rights
revolution, McCarthyism, Cold War expansion, the space race, and
postwar literature and culture.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on either America in the 1950s or post-World War II
diplomacy
- Origins of the Cold War Essay: Students research
historians’ interpretations of the early Cold War, focusing on
how different sources assign responsibility for the
breakdown of U.S.–Soviet relations after the war. Students
produce a three- to four-page essay, noting which
interpretation of the Cold War they find most convincing.
- Unit Test Chapter 36-37 of American Pageant (essay questions
and multiple choice)
Read Ch. 16 create a Cornell-Notes outline and answer reading
comprehension questions
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 25 and 26
Brown v. the Board of Education
*(Students will read this document and discuss how it led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
Week 26
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
A People's History of the
United States: 1492present
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 38 and 39
Topics Covered:
The Stormy Sixties, The Cold War continues, expansion of the war in
Vietnam, the civil rights revolution and evolution, Johnson and the
Great Society, and immigration and demographic changes.
The Stalemated Seventies, Rise of conservatism, economic stagnation,
crisis over presidential power, environmental issues, feminism and the
women’s movement, civil rights and affirmative action, and foreign
policy and the issue of oil.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on the Cold War fears
- Quiz on A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
Ch. 16
Read Ch. 17-19 create a Cornell-Notes outline and answer reading
comprehension questions
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 27
John Kennedy, Inaugural Address
Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream” speech
Lyndon Johnson, “The Great Society” speech
* (Students will read these documents and discuss how they led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the other key themes used throughout the
course.)
Week 27
Textbook
American Pageant
Readings and Activities
Chapter 39 and 40
Topics Covered:
The Stalemated Seventies, The Resurgence of Conservatism, Reagan
and the “New Right,” the end of the Cold War, Reaganomics, politics
and the Supreme Court, globalization, and war and diplomacy in the
Middle East.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on civil rights in the 1960s
- Vietnam Oral History: Students interview either their
parents or another adult who lived through the Vietnam War
period and ask them about their experiences and their
attitude toward the war. Students then write an analysis of
their interview subject’s experiences and how they reflect
larger trends of the Vietnam War period.
Primary Sources
A People's History of the
United States: 1492present
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Unit Test Chapters 38-40 of American Pageant (essay questions
and multiple choice)
Read Ch. 17-19 create a Cornell-Notes outline and answer reading
comprehension questions.
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 28 and 29
Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Case
* (Students will read this document and discuss how it led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
UNIT 10
Week 28
Textbook
American Pageant
Primary Sources
A People’s History of the
United States: 1492present
Excerpts from Various
Sources
Readings and Activities
Chapter 41 and 42
Topics Covered:
America Confronts the Post-Cold War Era, The Clinton era, post-Cold
War politics and foreign policy, the contested election of 2000, and the
attack on the World Trade Center and America post-9/11.
The American People Face a New Century, Demographic changes,
changes in the family, immigration and related issues, a multicultural
society, the high-tech economy, and America in a global context.
Activities:
- Outlining textbook chapters
- Essential Questions
- DBQ on Post Cold War policies
- Quiz on A People’s History of the United States: 1492-present
Ch. 17-19
- Summative Essay on A People’s History Of the United
States: Students will write a final essay that compares and
contrasts A People’s History of the United States by Howard
Zinn, with the information we learned in our 2 textbooks and
various historical readings. Students will be prompted to
analyze what they have learned throughout the course by
making connections between the texts we have read, and by
providing their opinions (supported with evidence) about
the various sources of history. The purpose of this essay is to
encourage students to think conceptually about the
American past and various perspectives of it, as well as to
focus on historical change over time.
Read Ch. 20-25 create a Cornell-Notes outline and answer reading
comprehension questions
A Documentary History of the United States: Chapter 30 and 31
Republican Contract with America
* (Students will read this document and discuss how it led to the
development of the American identity. They will analyze these primary
sources to find evidence of the key themes used throughout the course.)
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UNIT 11
April 16 – May 9 , 2012: Review for the AP TEST