Turning Points, Honors/ A.P. United States History
Elaine Davis and Beth Floyd
2013-2014
United States History
2013-2014
Brief Description of Course
This Advanced Placement United States course is designed to provide a college-level U.S. History course for students who enjoy studying history and want to further enhance their analytical skills, as well as broaden their base of knowledge. The course will be designed to prepare students for the AP Exam in May 2014. The first semester, Turning Points, Honors will cover competencies that are required by College Board for AP US History and are in the authorized syllabus. The first semester is also a part of AP US History. Students must earn an A or B for the U.S. History-Honors class first semester in order to move into Advanced Placement U.S. History in the spring semester.
Students will interpret documents, write critically, learn factual and conceptual knowledge, and develop an understanding of the themes of U.S. History. Students will study political, economic, and social history throughout the course.
The course will include a study of life during colonial times, the Revolution, the federal period, Jeffersonian Democracy, the development of the two-party system, Jacksonian Democracy, the reform period, Manifest Destiny, Civil War and Reconstruction, immigration, industrialization, Populism, Progressivism, World War I, Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance, Great Depression and the New Deal, World War II, the Cold War, the ending of the Cold War, and the U.S. in the twenty-first century. The course will also focus on key themes determined by the College Board as essential to a comprehensive study of U.S. History. These themes will include American diversity, the development of an American identity, the evolution of American culture, demographic changes, economic trends, environmental issues, the development of political institutions and the components of citizenship, social reform, the role of religion in the making of the U.S. and its impact on a multicultural society, the history of slavery and its legacy, war and diplomacy, and the place of the U.S. in an increasingly global arena.
The AP US History course satisfies the North Carolina graduation requirement for United States History. Grading will be as follows:
Tests: 20%
Daily class assignments: 20%
Homework: 10%
Projects: 30%
Portfolios: 20%
*The final exam will count 25% of the semester grade.
Each unit of study will include discussions of and writing about related historiography; how interpretations of events have changed over time, how issues in one time period impact subsequent generations, and how reevaluations of the past continue to shape the way historians see the world today. This syllabus for this course has been authorized by College Board. The competencies required will be covered in Turning Points-H first semester and in A.P. U.S. History second semester. The competencies for the course will be covered in both semesters. Therefore, in order to prevent confusion, the syllabus will be posted in chronological order on our websites. Students may want to print the syllabus out in its entirety in order to mark off topics as we cover them.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Our contact information is as follows:
Elaine Davis – email ; planning period is 1:37 – 3:14, Monday through Friday
Beth Floyd – email ; planning period is 1:37-3:14, Monday through Friday
The school phone number is 910-671—6050.
Unit Information
Unit Name or Timeframe: (This unit covers material prior to the beginning of the NCSCOS; therefore, there is no objective number. This topic will be covered in the spring only. This is the first AP USH Objective.)
“America’s Enduring Vision"
Content and/or Skills Taught: (AP Goals and Objectives)
Pre-Columbian cultures; cultural diversity; early explorations; kinship and gender; reciprocity; the introduction of slavery; Spanish, French, and English claims; the rise of mercantilism.
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Essay: "Geology, geography, and environment are among the fundamental building blocks of human history." Explain the meaning of this statement, and illustrate it with as many specific examples from the text and class discussion as possible. Due: August 29, 2007.
Unit Name or Timeframe: (AP Goals and Objectives)
The Rise of Colonial America (Will be covered in second semester)
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Enduring Vision: Chapter 3, Expansion and Diversity: The Rise of Colonial America
New England Colonies
The Middle Colonies
Chesapeake Colonies
The Carolina Colonies/The Caribbean
Rivals for North America: France and Spain
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Selected Vocabulary
Short Answer Questions
Class Analysis of The Mayflower Compact as a beginning of self- government in the English Colonies
(The American Reader: Words That Moved A Nation)
Reading: "A Puritan Account of the Pequot War, 1637" (from Document Set 1, Enduring Vision)
Video with writing assignment: "Profiles in Courage: Anne Hutchinson"
Document Set Two (Enduring Vision): "Witchcraft at Salem: The Social and Cultural Context";
Practice DBQ
Unit Name or Timeframe: (AP Goals and Objectives)
The Bonds of Empire(Will be covered in second semester)
Enduring Vision: Chapter 4, The Bonds of Empire, 1660-1750
Glorious Revolution and its effect on relations between England and its colonies
British Mercantilism: Did it help or harm the English mainland colonies?
Why was Britain more successful than Spain or France at building a colonial empire in North
America?
Enlightenment: the philosophies and the impact
The Great Awakening: the philosophies and the impact
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Rebellion in the colonies
Colonial economies and societies
Competing for North America
The Enlightenment in British America
The Great Awakening in British America
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Selected Vocabulary
Short Answer Questions
Poor Richard’s Almanack by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin
Franklin’s "List of Virtues". Review aphorisms and virtues, and discuss how they reflected colonial philosophy and encouraged self-reliance. (Both are located in The American Reader.)
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners In The Hands of an Angry God" Read and review the message being delivered. Compare the Enlightenment philosophies with the message of the Great Awakening. How were they similar; how were they different? What impact did these schools of thought have on religious, social, educational, and political developments in eighteenth-century America?
Essay: How much equality, liberty, and self-government existed in the American colonies in the
period 1700-1750? Include specific examples.
Unit Name or Timeframe: (AP Goals and Objectives)
Enduring Vision: Chapter 5 Roads to Revolution (Will be covered in second semester)
Content and/or Skills Taught:
The French and Indian War
The British Acts Levied on the Colonists
Colonial Ideology
Colonial Resistance, including the role of women
The Boston Massacre
The First Continental Congress
Thomas Paine’s "Common Sense" and "The Crisis"
The Declaration of Independence
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Selected Vocabulary
Short Answer Questions
Read and analyze the works of Thomas Paine. What messages were being sent to the colonists? We will hold a shared inquiry session on these readings.
Read the Declaration of Independence. How was it divided? To whom was it addressed? Summarize the major grievances listed in the document. How does this promote John Locke’s idea of the social contract? Is the signing of this document an act of treason? Explain your position.
Unit Name or Timeframe: (AP Goals and Objectives)
Enduring Vision: Chapter 6 Securing Independence, Defining Nationhood, 1776-1788 (Will be covered in second semester)
Content and/or Skills Taught:
The American Revolution
The Treaty of Paris, 1783
The Revolution and Social Change
The Articles of Confederation
Western Lands
Shays’ Rebellion
The Constitutional Convention
The Federalist Papers and Ratification
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Selected Vocabulary
Short Answer Questions
The Articles of Confederation: Why did the colonists design a government that did not have a strong central government? What difficulties did the U.S. face under the Articles of Confederation, both domestic and foreign? What were the accomplishments under the Articles? Why was change necessary?
Federalist Papers Numbers 1, 10, 54, 69
Essay: Discuss the social, economic, and political changes within the 13 states produced by the
American Revolution. Be sure to consider things such as slavery, status of women, property
distribution, voting rights, and religion.
DBQ on the American Revolution.
Unit Name or Timeframe: NCSCOS 1.01 Identify the major domestic issues and conflicts experienced by the nation during the Federalist Period.
1.02 Analyze the political freedoms available to the following groups prior to 1820: women, wage earners, landless farmers, American Indians, African Americans, and other ethnic groups.
1.03 Assess commercial and diplomatic relationships with Britain, France, and other nations.
Enduring Vision: Chapter 7 Launching the New Republic, 1789-1800
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Defining the Presidency
The Bill of Rights
Alexander Hamilton and the Formulation of Federalist Policies
Foreign Affairs, 1789-1796
The Emergence of Party Politics, 1793-1800
Economic and Social Change: Technology and Market Production, Women in the Republic, Native
Americans in the Republic
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Selected Vocabulary
Short Answer
Read and analyze Hamilton’s Report on the Public Credit and Report on the National Bank. How do these documents outline a financial plan for the U.S.? Describe opposition to this plan. How does this lead to the formation of the first political parties?
Graphic Organizer comparing Hamilton and Jefferson.
Washington’s Farewell Address: What does he outline as an appropriate course for the U.S.? What warnings does he issue?
(Shared Inquiry)
Essay: Discuss the dangers the nation faced during the Federalist era, 1789-1800, and how it overcame or survived them. Include conflict among social, economic, and sectional interest groups; challenges from foreign nations; and threats to individual liberties and the Bill of Rights.
Unit Name or Timeframe: Objectives
2.01 Analyze the effects of territorial expansion and the admission of new states to the Union.
2.02 Describe how the growth of nationalism and sectionalism were reflected in art, literature, and language.
2.03 Distinguish between the economic and social issues that led to sectionalism and nationalism.
Enduring Vision: Chapter 8 Jeffersonianism and the Era of Good Feelings
Content and/or Skills Taught:
The Age of Jefferson
The Louisiana Purchase/Lewis and Clark Expedition
Impressment and the Embargo Act of 1807
The War of 1812
The Awakening of American Nationalism
The Monroe Doctrine
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
"The Revolution of 1800" - Was it a Revolution?
Graphic Organizer - War of 1812: Causes, Spark, Major Events, and Significance
Documents to analyze: Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address; Francis Scott Key’s "The Star Spangled Banner"; President Madison’s call for the declaration of war, 1812
Video excerpt: Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Journals of Patrick Gass
Graphic Organizer: Lewis and Clark Expedition (goals, achievements, significance)
DBQ: The Trans-Mississippi-West through the Eyes of Lewis and Clark
Unit Name or Timeframe:
2.04 Assess political events, issues, and personalities that contributed to sectionalism and nationalism.
2.05 Identify the major reform movements and evaluate their effectiveness.
2.06 Evaluate the role of religion in the debate over slavery and other social movements and issues.
Enduring Vision: Chapter 9 The Transformation of American Society, 1815-1840 and Chapter 10
Democratic Politics, Religious Revival, and Reform, 1824-1840
Content and/or Skills Taught:
Westward Expansion
The Removal Policy
The Growth of the Market Economy; the Speculator and the Squatter
The Transportation Revolution
Industrialism
Equality and Inequality; the Rich and the Poor; Free Blacks in the North; the Middling Class
The Revolution in Social Relationships: Attack on the Professions; Challenge to Family Authority;
Wives and Husbands; Horizontal and Vertical Allegiances; Voluntary Associations
The Elections of 1824 and 1828
The Jacksonian Era
The War on the Bank
The Elections of 1836 and 1840
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Selected Vocabulary
Short Answer
Graphic Organizer comparing Jeffersonianism and Jacksonianism
Analysis of the slavery argument with westward expansion (slavery and sectionalism)
Evaluation of the Removal Act and its impact; role of executive authority under Jackson
Graphic Organizer of the Elections of 1824, 1828, 1832,1836, and 1840. Include candidates, parties, issues, results, significance.
Reading: Alexis de Tocqueville’s "Democracy in America"
Shared Inquiry
Essay: Alexis de Tocqueville in his "Democracy in America" was impressed by the "general equality of condition among the people." Writing about the same period, New York merchant Philip Hone stated "the two extremes of costly luxury in living, expensive establishments, and improvident waste are presented in daily and hourly contrast with squalid misery and hopeless destitution." How do you account for these very different assessments? Which man came closer to the truth? Why?
Unit Name or Timeframe: (continue previous objectives)
Enduring Vision: Chapter 10 Democratic Politics, Religious Revival, and Reform
Chapter 11 Technology, Culture and Everyday Life, 1840-1860
Content and/or Skills Taught:
The Second Great Awakening
Critics of Revivals: The Unitarians, Mormonism, Shakers
The Age of Reform: Temperance, Public School Reform, Abolition, Women’s Rights, Penitentiaries and Asylums, Utopian Communities
Quality of Life: Disease and Health; Popular Health Movements
The Emergence of Democratic Pastimes: Newspapers, Theater, Minstrel Shows, P.T. Barnum
Roots of American Renaissance: Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller Whitman, Hawthorne, Melville, Poe
American Landscape Painting
Major Assignments and/or Assessments:
Reading: Charles Grandison Finney - Compare to goals of earlier writings from first Great
Awakening.
Reading and Shared Inquiry: Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. Compare to the style of Declaration of Independence.
Students will create a booklet of reform movements featuring major leaders, events and the
significance of the movement. The booklet must include at least 3 primary sources with an analysis.
The student will also select a contemporary reform movement and compare the goals and
accomplishments to earlier reforms. Source citations must be included. The student will select one area of reform for a brief oral presentation in class. (Rubric will be provided.)
Excerpts from listed authors will be read in stations in the classroom. Students will analyze the style and purpose of the writers to determine what American form of writing emerged.
Gallery of American Painters: Students will bring in examples of landscape painters of the time period for an analysis of style and purpose.
Students will develop a well-written essay explaining how American nationality was reflected in