Ardrey Kell High School

Yvette Cerbone

Ardrey Kell High School

2012-2013

AP United States History

Course Syllabus

The AP U.S. History course is designed to provide students with the analytical skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in U.S. history. Students will develop the skills necessary to interpret historical documents and evaluate various historical perspectives in order to present reasons and evidence clearly.Class will meet every other day (A/B day schedule) for 84 minutes. For students to get the most out of class time they must prepare nightly, making themselves familiar with the assigned reading and vocabulary, as well as completing any written homework assigned. Class time will be structured around a variety of small-group and individual skill based lessons, short lectures, quizzes and multiple choice & essay tests.

Throughout the course, students will examine the content presented through the thematic lenses of American Diversity, American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic transformations, Environment, Globalization, Politics and Citizenship, Reform, Religion, Slavery and Its Legacies in North America and War & Diplomacy

The course and exam provide qualified students in secondary school the equivalent to an introductory college course in U.S. history. The AP U.S. History Exam presumes at least one year of college-level preparation. In order to be successful in a collegiate level course, students must be exposed to and develop the analytical and writing skills needed to be pass the AP exam in mid-May of 2013.

Grading

According to standards set by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, all Advanced Placement courses are weighted in the following manner; 70% Tests, 15% Quizzes, 15% Student Work

Texts

Kennedy, David M., Cohen, Lizabeth, J., Bailey, Thomas. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA, 2006.

* Bring this class each day as it will be used as a part of class lecture and discussion.

Schweikart, Larry and Allen, Michael, A Patriot’s History of The United States: From Columbus’s Great Discovery to the War on Terror. Penguin Books. Ltd. New York, 2004.

Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States: 1492 - Present. Harper Collins, NY, 2010.

**All other reading material will be provided by the instructor throughout the year, via print or electronic form

Summer Reading Assignment

Students will be expected to read chapter 1 – 3 of Larry Schweikart & Michael Allen’s A Patriot’s History of The United States and complete a series of written assignments that provide students with the opportunity to develop the writing skills of formulating thesis statements that are supported with specific factual information.

Curriculum Calendar

Unit I:Colonial America (1607 – 1750)Days 1-7

During the first half of this unit, students will be focusing on the reasons for European settlement in North America with a concentration on the British colonies beginning with Jamestown. Students will be considering the economic and religious impetus of the early colonial period. Class lecture and discussion will examine the comparative development of the New England and the Chesapeakecolonies. (It is expected that student complete the assigned reading in regards to Columbus and European settlement of the New World before 1607, although it will only be addressed minimally in class lecture and discussion.) The second half of this unit will continue to examine the colonial period, but will shift focus to the conflicts between European nations as well as the political upheavals in Britain, and how those ideas and events played themselves out in North America. Students will also reflect upon the changes that were occurring in colonial society in terms of landownership and politics. During this half of the unit, students will study the origins of slavery and economic theory of mercantilism and its practice.

Topics:

Pueblo

Mound Builders

New France

Missionaries

Fur trade

Black Legend

New Netherland

English Reformation

Treaty of Tordesillas

Jamestown

John Rolfe

Indentured Servants

Middle Passage

Plymouth Colony

Pilgrims

Separatists

Mayflower Compact

“City on a Hill”

William Bradford

Great “Puritan” Migration

Anne Hutchinson

Puritans

Chesapeake

Middle Passage

William Penn

Quakers

Restoration

John Locke

Thomas Hobbes

Mercantilism

Navigation Acts

House of Burgesses

Glorious Revolution

James Oglethorpe

Head-right

Salutary Neglect

Iroquois Confederacy

Albany Plan of Union

The Great Awakening

King George’s War

King Philip’s War

Stono Rebellion

Bacon’s Rebellion

Harvard College

Half-way covenant

Phyllis Wheatley

Jonathan Edwards

George Whitefield

Salem Witch Trials

Peter Zenger

Readings:

Chap. 1, New World Beginnings pp. 8 – 23

Chap. 2, The Planting of English America pp. 25 – 41; 106- 109

Chap. 3, Settling the Northern Colonies pp. 43 - 63

Chap. 4, American Life in the Seventeenth Century pp. 66 – 82

Chap. 5, Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution pp. 89 – 99; 100 - 104

Assignments:

“Small Group Activity: Colonial Identity” - Students will create a chart that illustrates the motivations for the founding of the New England, Middle, Chesapeake and Carolina colonies. Students will provide information in regard to religious affiliation, leadership, and economy

Write one paragraph for each question:

1)Discuss the role of religious dissent in the founding of the first New England colonies.

2)Explain the principal causes of violence and warfare within the colonies during the late seventeenth century.

3)Why did the economic competition among European nation-states lead to periods of warfare in the colonies from 1697 until 1753?

4)Explain the connection between the institution of slavery and the building of a commercial empire.

Jigsaw Activity: Historiography of Slavery (1619 – 1741) –Students will read an assigned article about slavery, preparing 5 points to share with jigsaw groups. Students will conclude the lesson by writing a paragraph that demonstrates how the role of African Americans changed over time from 1619 – 1741.

FRQ –In class

“Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by people of English origin, by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. Why did this difference in development occur?”

Multiple Choice Test w/Free ResponseDay 9

Unit II: From Empire to Independence(1754-1789)Days 8 - 13

During the first half of this unit, students will be examining the causes & effects of the French and Indian War, especially the changes in British policies that inflamed the colonists and eventually unified its resistance. During the latter half of this unit students will study the military, political, and diplomatic events of the American Revolution with a concentrated focus on the representative bodies and constitutions of the new republic. Students will consider the relationship between the “American” identity that was forming with the distrust of government power that lay beyond the reaches of local communities and states.

Topics:

The French and Indian War

Proclamation of 1763

Pontiac’s Rebellion

Paxton Boys

Thomas Paine/Common Sense

Crisis Papers

Sugar Act

Currency Act

Stamp Act

Stamp Act Congress

Olive Branch Petition

Townshend Acts

Sons of Liberty

Boston Massacre

Boston Tea Party

“No taxation w/o representation”

Coercive “Intolerable” Acts

First/Second Continental Congress

Lexington & Concord

The War in New England

Loyalists/Tories

Gaspee Affair

Saratoga

Articles of Confederation

Treaty of Alliance 1778

Yorktown

Treaty of Paris of 1783

Readings:

Chap. 6, The Duel for North America pp. 109 – 121

Chap. 7 The Road to Revolution pp. 122 – 138

Chap. 8, America Secedes from the Empire pp. 140 – 163

Chap. 9, The Confederation and the Constitution pp. 164 – 181

Chap. 10, Launching the New Ship of State pp. 181 - 193

Assignments:

Small Group Activity: Graphic Organizer: The Path to Revolution” –Students will identify the causes and effects of the events that led to the American Revolution from 1763 – 1775.

Outline the changes in British policy toward the colonies from 1750 – 1776

DBQ

“To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution?”

Write one paragraph for each question:

1)How were the ideals of American republicanism expressed in the Declaration of Independence?

2)Why was the Battle of Saratoga considered the turning point of the Revolutionary War?

3)How was the Articles of Confederation a great document for beginning a nation during war time, but a terrible document for growing a new nation during peace time?

Multiple Choice Test w/ Free ResponseDay 14

Unit III: The Evolution of a National GovernmentDays 15 - 17

Through the course of this unit students will evaluate the accomplishments and inadequacies of the Articles of Confederation, and analyze how economic and political changes immediately following the war illustrated the need to reform the new national government and build a strong new national community. Throughout this unit, students will apply their knowledge of the political struggles of the early years of the new republic in their examination of great changes in geography that came about during the Jefferson Administration.

Topics:

Articles of Confederation

Shays’ Rebellion

Land Ordinance of 1785

Northwest Ordinance

Annapolis Convention

Hartford Convention

Declaration of Independence

Constitutional Convention

Bill of Rights

Great Compromise

Three-fifths Compromise

ThomasJefferson

James Madison

Republican motherhood

Whisky Rebellion

George Washington

Alexander Hamilton

John Adams

Federalists/ Anti-Federalists

Federalist Papers

Washington’s Farewell Address

Tariff

Excise tax

Adams-Onis Treaty

Citizen Genet

Impressment

Jeffersonian Republicans

Tecumseh

Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions

National Debt

Bank of the United States

Judicial Review

Treaty of Ghent

The Election on 1800

Marbury vs. Madison

John Marshall

Louisiana Purchase

Lewis & Clark

Loose/strict constructionist

War Hawks

The Barbary Pirates

Haitian Rebellion

Alien & Sedition Acts

XYZ Affair

Embargo Act of 1807

Readings:

Chap. 10, Launching the New Ship of State, cont. pp. 193 - 209

Chap. 11, The Triumphs and Travails of the Jeffersonian Republic pp. 211 – 232

“A Kind of Revolution” (Ch. 5) from Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States

Assignments:

Small Group Activity: “The Articles of Confederation-The Challenge of Sovereignty” –Students will explain the significance of facts about the AofC and then organize the facts within the categories of Foreign, Domestic, Economic, Political. Each group will then develop a thesis statement concerning why the Aof C failed?

Response to Zinn: Use your knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and The Bill of Rights to support your position for or against Zinn’s statement that “when economic interest is seen behind the political clauses of the Constitution ….the document becomes … the work of certain groups trying to maintain their privileges.”

Graphic Organizer: Evaluate the role of two of the following individuals in promoting American nationalism from 1796 to 1812: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, John Adams

Expanding Maps & Graph reading Skills: Political & economic trends from 1801 – 1815.

Unit IV:America’s Destiny? (1790 – 1850)Days 18 - 21

Students will analyze how territorial and economic expansionism was central to the socio-political debates that arose during the first half of the nineteenth century stemming from the spirit of nationalism that was inspired by the War of 1812. Additionally, this unit will focus on the manner in which the First Industrial Revolution changed the size and social order of America’s pre-industrial cities and towns. Students will examine the way in which the factory system and immigration gave rise to social and religious movements in the first half of the nineteenth century. Additionally, students will continue to look at how territorial expansionism caused greater cleavages between Northerners and Southerners on the issue of slavery.

Topics:

Nationalism vs. Sectionalism

Eli Whitney/cotton gin

Interchangeable parts

Samuel Slater

Lowell girls

Robert Fulton

Gibbons v. Ogden

Samuel F. B. Morse

John Deere

Cyrus McCormick

Hudson River School

Transcendentalism

Erie Canal

National Road

Short Staple Cotton

The Factory System

Deism

The War Hawks

War of 1812

The Treaty of Ghent

Monroe Doctrine

John C. Calhoun

Henry Clay

The “American System”

Missouri Compromise

Tariffs

Transportation Revolution

Era of Good Feeling

Denmark Vesey

Readings:

Chap. 12, The Second War for Independence & the Upsurge of Nationalism

pp. 233-246; 246-254

Chap. 14, Forging the National Economy pp. 287-318

Chap. 16, The South and the Slavery Controversy, pp. 350-362

Assignments:

Working with documents: “The End of Homespun –The Early Industrial Revolution” –Students will assess primary source documents to evaluate their relative importance in promoting the first Industrial Revolution in the United States.

Small-group Project: “Coming Together –Nationalism Ascendant” –Students will pull together elements of emerging nationalism (from a teacher assigned list) and interpret its significance as a turning point of national thought & action.

• Each group will create a series of written responses that address the political, economic & cultural developments from 1800 – 1840
• Each group will design an original political cartoon that illustrates a position on domestic issues or foreign policy during the time period

Multiple Choice Test w/ Free ResponseDay 22

Unit V: Jacksonian America, Reform and the Fight for the ‘Common Man’

Days 23 - 27

During this unit, students will be evaluating the notions of universal manhood suffrage and the emerging reform ideologies of the early 19th century. Students will engage in a variety of small group activities that will shed light on how these issues will drive increasing sectional tensions between the established east and the emerging west as well as the social and political issues that increase the chasm between the North and the South. By the end of the unit student will be well versed in the political battles that defined American politics from the Jacksonian era to the election of 1848.

Topics:

Second Great Awakening

Charles G. Finney

Alexis De Tocqueville/ Democracy in America

The Election of 1824

Andrew Jackson

Democratic Party

Martin Van Buren

Universal White Male Suffrage

Bank War

Spoils System

Indian Removal

Trail of Tears

Reform Movements; Abolitionism, Education, Temperance, Women’s Rights

Seneca Falls Convention

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Lucretia Mott

Dorothea Dix

William Lloyd Garrison/ The Liberator

Gag Rule

Nullification

Daniel Webster

Utopianism

Mormonism

Brigham Young

Joseph Smith

Yeoman Farmer

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

Oregon Territory

Clayton-Bulwan Treaty

Oregon Trail

Manifest Destiny

Davy Crockett

Sam Houston

Wilmot Proviso

Mexican American War

Mexican Cession

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Gadsden Purchase

American Party/Know -Nothings

Compromise of 1850

Readings:

Chap. 13 The Rise of Mass Democracy pp. 256-273; 273 – 284

Chap. 15 The Ferment of Reform & Culture pp. 320-345

Chap. 16The South and Slavery Controversy pp. 362-368

Chap. 17 Manifest Destiny and Legacy, 1841 – 1848 pp. 370-405

Chapter 7, “As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs” from Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States

Assignments:

Primary Source Partner Activity –Students will work with a partner to identify one primary source each that explicitly illustrates a major issue during the Jacksonian Era. In class student will construct a 3 to 5 sentence summary of how their primary sources illustrate change over time.

DBQ -“The decision of the Jackson administration to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s was more a reformulation of the national policy that had been in effect since the 1790’s than a change in policy.”Assess the validity of this generalization with reference to the moral, political, constitutional, and practical concerns that shaped national Indian policy between 1789 and the mid-1830’s.

“Purifying the Nation” –Students will research an assigned antebellum era reformer for homework. They will prepare a one minute presentation for the class that identifies the philosophy of each crusaders, organizations with which they were affiliated, successes and failures of the crusaders during their lifetime, and what value they had to pointing the way to future reform.

Response to Zinn Reading –In an era of rapid territorial expansion and the emergence of reform movements, why do you think Indian Removal did not become an issue in light of how public the U.S. government’s conflict with native peoples was. (1 page)

Free Response Essay (Take Home)

“Analyze the validity of the statement; Abolitionism differed little from other reform movements in its tactics, but the effects of antislavery activism were politically explosive.”

“Westward Expansionism-A Force for Unity or Division”

• Independent Student Activity –enlarging the U.S. Map Activity
• Triad ActivitySectional Framework Activity-students will adopt a persona in order to evaluate the political, social and economic divide that emerged with the rapid expansion of U.S. territory from 1803 – 1848.

Multiple Choice Test w/ Free ResponseDay 28

Unit VI: The Civil War Era (1850 -1877)Days 29 - 35

During this unit students will examine the causes of the Civil War and its outcomes throughout the Reconstruction era. The first half of the unit will be an in-depth investigation of political debate surrounding socio-economic issues of slavery in antebellum America. The second half of the unit will examine the reasons why political debate was no longer viable in preventing disunion and violent conflict. Additionally, students will look at the limitations of the war and Reconstruction legislation in reshaping race relations in American society.

Topics:

Antebellum

Nat Turner

Grimke Sisters

Underground Railroad

Frederick Douglas

Harriet Beecher Stowe/ Uncle Tom’s

Cabin

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Bleeding Kansas

Sumner-Brooks Affair

Free Soilers

Nativism

Dred Scott

Fugitive Slave Act

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

John Brown’s Raid

Election of 1860

Establishment of the Confederacy

Fort Sumter

Antietam

Gettysburg Address

African American soldiers