AP United States History: Summer Assignment 2017
This year in APUSH you will be examining the problems faced and the solutions put forward by the United States and its people. Problems of governance, economy and culture have shaped the history of the United States as both the government and the people have attempted to stay true to the foundational principles of the nation. These principles, as we shall see this year, have been as contested in history as they are today.
Although our course will begin with Spanish colonization in 1492, the United States did not become a political entity until independence was declared from the British in 1776. For this reason this summer assignment requires you to examine the foundational principle of the United States, that is, that all people are created equal and that all people have the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” These are words that millions of students blindly memorize and accept but rarely reflect upon. What does it mean to have a right to life? What is liberty? How do we know when we have liberty? How do we know when it is absent? Jefferson wrote these words in an era when you could be sentenced to death for stealing a horse. Does “life” mean the same to us now?Moreover, what could “liberty” mean in a land that openly practiced slavery in 1776 and how could the author, a slave owner, not notice the hypocrisy in his words?
This assignment requires you to examine the relationship between liberty (freedom) and happiness by examining your own understanding of what these terms mean and how they apply to everyday life. This will require you to reflect deeply on your past, present and future.
Step 1: Reflect on what freedom and happiness means.
Step 2: Express this reflection by designing a sculpture/artistic expression that reflects this meaning – be creative. It can be made of any medium and will be brought in the first month of school.
Step 3: Print a label that includes the following: Title, Medium, Brief explanation of the artwork (about a paragraph).
Step 4: Since this label will not be enough to truly explain your idea, create an interview transcript where you explain your piece of art in-depth. You can choose who gets to interview you (Dr. Legnini, Jimmy Fallon, Bill Nye the Science Guy) You can write as much as you want about the topic, but your transcript MUST include how your art was influenced by the following sources (please read BEFORE constructing your artwork).
Sources for Step 1-4 (MUST USE FIVE OF THE FOLLOWING):
Declaration of Independence
Two Treatises of Government: Ch. 2 Of the State of Nature
Thomas Hobbes Leviathan Ch. 13
Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Speech
Coca Cola happiness
Malcolm Gladwell: Happiness
Victor Frankel on Statue of Liberty/Statue of Responsibility
Kant and the Categorical Imperative
Jefferson and Slavery
Pursuit of Happyness Clip
Wealth Inequality in America
Happy Songs