APUSH Syllabus
COURSE OVERVIEW:
AP US History is designed to provide students with the analytical skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with issues and events in American history and with intermediate and advanced college courses. Students will learn to analyze and interpret a variety of historical resources and develop the ability to use documentary materials, maps, pictorial, and graphic evidence of historical events. Students should be able to express themselves with clarity and precision.
Topics include life and thought in colonial America, revolutionary ideology, constitutional development, Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, nineteenth-century reform movements, and Manifest Destiny. Other topics include the Civil War and Reconstruction, immigration, industrialization, Populism, Progressivism, World War I, the Jazz Age, 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.
In addition to the topics listed above, the courses 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. The themes will include discussions of 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 arena.
COURSE TEXTS and READINGS:
Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant. 12th ed. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002.
Kennedy, David M. and Thomas Bailey. The American Spirit: Volume I: To 1877. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002
Kennedy, David M. and Thomas Bailey. The American Spirit: Volume II: Since 1865. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath.
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle.
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: Harper Perennial, 2005.
Various articles and handouts.
CURRICULUM CALENDAR:
SEMESTER 1
Unit I: Colonial History to 1763
American Pageant: Chapters 1-6
I. Discovery
a. Exploration
b. Native Americans
II. Colonial Development
a. Early
i. New England
ii. Virginia/Chesapeake
b. Later
i. New England
ii. Middle
iii. Southern
III. 18th Century Influences
a. Mercantilism
b. Great Awakening
c. Backcountry
d. New Immigrants
e. The American Mind
DBQ on Chesapeake and New England Colonies
The Growing Pains of Virginia reading
Witchcraft in Colonial New England reading
Spirit: Founding the Middle Colonies, 62-63
Spirit: The Great Awakening, 94-96
Unit II: Revolution, Confederation and Constitution
American Pageant: Chapters 6-9
I. Road to Revolution, 1754-1775
a. Anglo-French rivalries and Seven Years’ War
b. Imperial reorganization of 1763
i. Stamp Act
ii. Declaratory Act
iii. Townshend Acts
iv. Boston Tea Party
c. Philosophy of the American Revolution
II. The American Revolution, 1775-1783
a. Continental Congress
b. Declaration of Independence
c. War
i. French Alliance
ii. War and society: Loyalists vs. revolutionaries
iii. War economy
d. Articles of Confederation
e. Paris Peace Conference
f. Creating state governments
i. Political organization
ii. Social reform: women, slavery
III. Constitutional Convention, 1787
a. Philadelphia: drafting the Constitution
b. Federalists vs. Anti-federalists
c. Bill of Rights
The Clash Between France and England reading
Declaring Independence analysis
Common Sense analysis
“Arms, Men and the Constitution” from Constitution, volume 1. no. 3
Unit III: Federalist Era
American Pageant: Chapters 9-11
I. Washington presidency
a. Hamilton vs. Jefferson and origins of political parties
i. Hamilton’s financial program
ii. Foreign policy and ensuing controversies
b. Adams presidency
i. Alien and Sedition Acts
ii. XYZ Affair
iii. Election of 1800
II. “Revolution of 1800”
a. Jefferson Presidency
i. Louisiana Purchase
ii. Embargo of 1807-1809
b. John Marshall and the Supreme Court
c. Madison’s Presidency
i. Dealings with the French
Federalist Number Ten
“Washington’s Farewell Address” reading
DBQ on the New Nation
Spirit: The Louisiana Purchase, 221-223
UNIT IV: Building the New Nation
American Pageant: Chapters 12-15
I. War of 1812
a. Invasion of Canada
b. Hartford Convention
II. Era of Good Feelings
a. Monroe Doctrine
b. Marshall Court rulings, revisited
III. Jacksonian Democracy
a. “Spoils System”
b. Bank War
i. Pet Banks
ii. Nicolas Biddle
c. Cherokee Removal
d. Nullification/sectionalism
i. John C. Calhoun
e. Two-party system
f. Texas revolution
IV. National Economy
a. Market economy
b. Immigration and increase in nativism
c. Westward expansion
d. Factory system
V. Reform and Culture
a. Utopian societies
i. Oneida
ii. Brook farm
b. Mormons
c. Temperance
d. National literature
e. Second Great Awakening
“Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions”—reading, discussion
Nationalism assignment—creation of a notebook to include Supreme Court cases, art, literature.
“Creating a Utopian Society” simulation
Spirit: Transcendentalism and Earthly Utopias, 333-338
Unit V: The New Nation
American Pageant: Chapters 16-19
I. The South and Slave Controversy
a. Slave Trade
b. Sectionalism
i. “King Cotton” and the Southern economy
1. Plantation system
ii. “Peculiar Institution”
iii. Abolition societies
II. Manifest Destiny
a. Boundary disputes with Britain
b. Expansion westward
c. Annexation of Texas
d. War with Mexico
III. Sectional Struggle Renewed
a. “Popular Sovereignty”
b. Compromise of 1850
c. Fugitive Slave Law
d. Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
IV. Disunion
a. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
b. Dred Scott decision
c. Lincoln-Douglas debates
d. John Brown and Harper’s Ferry
e. Lincoln’s victory
f. Secession
New Nation DBQ
“Road to War” handout
Dred Scott DBQ
Spirit: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 428-429
Unit VI: Civil War and Reconstruction
American Pageant: Chapters 20-22
I. North and South
a. Strengths/weaknesses
b. Home Front
i. Mobilizing manpower, finances
ii. Social, economic and political impact of the war
c. Foreign intervention
d. Battles
i. Ft. Sumter
ii. Bull Run, both
iii. Gettysburg
iv. Antietam
v. Anaconda Plan
vi. Sherman’s March to the Sea
e. Gettysburg Address
f. Emancipation Proclamation
II. Reconstruction
a. Congressional vs. Presidential
b. Compromise of 1877
c. 13-15th Amendments
Civil War DBQ
Reconstruction DBQ
Spirit: Graft and Shortages North and South, 446-448
Spirit: The Proclaiming of Emancipation, 465-470
SEMESTER 2
Unit VII: Forging an Industrial Society
American Pageant: Chapters 23-26
I. Gilded Age Presidents
a. Grant—Cleveland
b. Corruption and scandal
i. Whiskey Ring
ii. Credit Mobilier
iii. Black Friday
c. Compromise of 1877—end of Reconstruction
II. Industrialization and Urbanization
a. Populism vs. Progressivism
b. Immigration
i. Old
ii. New
c. Literary, art, music
i. Walt Whitman
ii. Mark Twain
d. Women and the “New Morality”
e. Black Leaders
i. W.E.B Dubois
ii. Booker T. Washington
III. Agricultural Revolution
a. Conquest of Native Americans
b. Mining
c. Ranching
d. Farming
e. “Sodbuster”
The Gilded Age DBQ
Immigration DBQ
Spirit: The New Immigration, 106-110
Unit VIII: Path of Empire
American Pageant: Chapters 27-28
I. America Becomes an Empire
a. American Expansionism
i. Hawaii
ii. Monroe Doctrine—Britain and Venezuela
b. Spanish-American War
i. Sinking of the Maine
ii. “Rough Riders”
iii. Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico’
iv. Yellow Journalism
II. America on the World Stage
a. Filipino Insurrection
b. Open Door Policy
c. Panama Canal
d. Roosevelt Corollary
e. Russo-Japanese War and the emergence of Japan
Unit IX: Progressivism: TR, Taft, Wilson
American Pageant: Chapters 29, 30
I. Muckrakers
a. Upton Sinclair
i. The Jungle
ii. Pure Food and Drug Act
iii. Meat Inspection Act
b. Ida Tarbell
c. Lincoln Steffens
II. Prohibition
III. Conservation
IV. “Bull Moose Party”
a. Election of 1912
i. New Freedom vs. New Nationalism
b. TR, Taft, Wilson, Debs
V. Wilson and Moral Diplomacy
Spirit: Corruption in the Cities, 203-206
Spirit: The Election of 1912, 231-233
Spirit: Moral Meddling in Mexico, 239-241
Analysis of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Unit X: World War I and the 1920s
American Pageant: Chapters 31-33
I. Causes of US involvement
a. Zimmermann Note
b. U-boats
II. Propaganda and Civil Liberties
a. George Creel
b. Espionage Act
c. Sedition Act
III. Wilson’s 14 Points
a. League of Nations
b. Henry Cabot Lodge
IV. Roaring Twenties—Boom and Bust
a. “Red Scare”
b. Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance
c. Immigration concerns
d. Republican Ideology
i. Harding
1. “Ohio Gang”
2. Teapot Dome
ii. Coolidge
iii. Hoover
1. Coming of the Great Depression
2. Crash of 1929
World War I DBQ
Spirit: War with Germany, 248-250
Spirit: The Reconstituted KKK, 278-279
Spirit: New Goals for Women, 284-291
Spirit: Warren Harding and the Washington Conference, 293-295
Excerpts from the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (coordination with AP English teacher).
Unit XI: Great Depression and the New Deal
American Pageant: Chapters 33-34
I. Hoover
a. RFC
b. “Hoovervilles”
II. FDR
a. “First Hundred Days”
i. Bank Holiday
ii. “Relief, Recovery, Reform”
b. Alphabet Soup—New Deal Agencies
c. Supreme Court and the New Deal
Spirit: The Face of the Great Depression, 309-313
Spirit: Voices of Protest, 318-324
The Great Depression DBQ
Unit XII: World War II
American Pageant: Chapters 35-36
I. FDR and Foreign Policies
a. Neutrality and isolationism
b. Good Neighbor Policy
c. Franco and the Spanish-Civil War
II. German and Japanese Aggression
a. Munich Agreement
b. Panay Incident
III. Relations with Britain
a. Lend-Lease
b. Atlantic Charter
IV. Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor
a. Mobilization for War
b. Japanese-American Internment Camps
V. War in Europe
a. D-Day
b. Holocaust
c. Battle of Stalingrad
VI. War in Japan
a. Midway
b. “Island Hopping”
c. Decision to use the atomic bomb
VII. War at Home
a. Women and factories
b. Great Depression ends
Spirit: Dropping the Atomic Bomb, 391-393
Holocaust Museum Houston assignment—students will visit the Holocaust Museum in Houston and answer questions pertaining to the exhibits.
Unit XIII: The Cold War
American Pageant: Chapters 37-38
I. Postwar prosperity
a. Suburbs
b. “Sunbelt”
c. Baby Boom
II. Yalta Conference
a. UN
b. Division of Europe
c. NATO
d. Marshall Plan
III. Korean Conflict
a. MacArthur and Truman
b. Stalemate
IV. Eisenhower Republicanism
V. McCarthyism
a. HUAC
VI. Desegregating the South
a. Brown vs. Board of Education
b. Martin Luther King, Jr.
VII. US and USSR
a. Space Race
b. U-2 incident
c. “Kitchen Debates”
VIII. Conformity vs. Nonconformity
a. Beatniks
b. Rock n Roll
c. Rise of Television
The Cold War DBQ
Spirit: The Sacking of General Douglas MacArthur, 432-435
Spirit: The McCarthy Hysteria, 441-444
Various readings from Kerouac, Ginsberg
Unit XIV: Stormy Sixties and Stalemate Seventies
American Pageant: Chapters 39-40
I. JFK and the “New Frontier:
a. Televised Nixon, Kennedy debates
b. Bay of Pigs Invasion
c. Cuban Missile Crisis
d. Space Race
e. Kennedy Assassination
II. LBJ and the “Great Society”
a. Civil Rights
i. Civil Rights Act of 1964
ii. Montgomery Bus Boycott
iii. Sit-In movement
iv. Freedom Summer
b. Vietnam
i. Expansion
ii. Tet Offensive
c. 1968
i. Assassination of MLK
ii. Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
d. Counter-Culture Revolution
i. Vietnam protests
ii. Woodstock
iii. “Free Love” generation
III. Nixon
a. Foreign Policy with China
b. Vietnamization
c. Watergate
IV. Environmental Issues, Feminism
a. Silent Spring, Rachel Carson
b. Unsafe at Any Speed, Ralph Nader
c. Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan
V. Ford and Carter
a. Oil embargo
b. Stagflation
c. Middle East Crisis
d. Iranian Hostage Crisis
Spirit: Vietnam Troubles, 494-504
Spirit: The Politics of Protest in the 1960s, 505-510
Spirit: the Revitalization of the Feminist Movement, 544-552
Unit XV: Conservatism and the New Century
American Pageant: Chapters 41-42
I. Reagan’s Presidency
a. Reaganomics
b. The end of the Cold War
c. War and diplomacy in the Middle East
d. Iran-Contra
e. Religious Right
f. Supreme Court and Conservatism
II. George Bush, Bill Clinton
a. Persian Gulf Crisis
b. “Operation Desert Storm”
c. Clinton’s foreign policy
d. Clinton’s Impeachment Trial
III. 21st Century
a. Bush-Gore 2000 election
b. 9/11 and Terrorism
c. Immigration concerns
Spirit: The Reagan “Revolution” in Economic Policy, 558-563
Spirit: The Continuing Debate on Abortion, 616-618
Spirit: Can the United States Still Afford to Be a Nation of Immigrants?, 627-635
Create a Political Cartoon Assignment
Grading Guidelines:
Major Grades=70% of six weeks average. These include tests, projects, essays and presentations. 3 will be given each six weeks.
Daily Grades=30% of six weeks average. These include quizzes, readings assignment, essays and discussions. At least 6 will be given each six weeks.
Social Studies Test Days:
Tuesdays and Fridays
A cumulative final exam will be given at the end of each semester. It counts 16% of the semester average. Students may exempt the spring semester exam if they meet district criteria.
Extra Credit opportunities will be given. More info to follow.
Late Policy:
Major projects= One day late 25 point deduction, two days late 50 point deduction. After three days late assignment becomes a zero in the grade book.
Daily grades= One day late 50 point deduction.
All missed work will be made up in a timely manner with cooperation between teacher and student.
You will need to purchase 1 spiral notebook, multiple packs of loose-leaf paper, pens and pencils, highlighters, and a folder or 3-ring binder. It is also advisable to possess a flash drive.
Instructor Information:
Carrie Juarez
Klein Forest High School
Room 915 House 9
Conference period: 1st (7:25-8:10)
832-484-4749
Parent Name: ______
Parent Signature: ______
Student Name: ______
Student Signature: ______
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