AP United States History
Course Description:
Advanced Placement U.S. History is a college-level course that surveys the history of the United States from the pre-colonial period to the present. The course is divided into periods of time and focuses on the themes in the AP Course Description. The themes to be covered will be 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 the place of the United State in the global arena. Emphasis is placed on critical and evaluative thinking skills, essay writing, and interpretation of original documents. The course will prepare students for the AP United States History exam. A college level textbook is used.
Course Textbooks:
Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Boston, Mass. : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006.
Feder, Bernard. Viewpoints: USA. New York, NY. : American Book Company, 1967.
Teacher created materials:
Handouts, map activities, discussion group activities, book discussion questions, peer editing materials, worksheets to reinforce content material
Course organization:
· The course is broken into nine units. Each unit will include textbook reading, primary source reading and analysis, secondary reading with discussion questions, and recent scholarship on the unit content.
· To prepare for the AP United States History Exam there will be either a DBQ (document based question) essay or a free response essay due for each unit. Each essay is to be typed and double spaced. Each unit will conclude with at unit test which will be made up of multiple choice questions and essay questions. As much as possible, the essays and exam questions are selected from prior year AP United States History Exams.
· Four practice exams will be given at the end of the course in preparation for the exam.
Course Outline:
Unit I Pre-colonial America to the Proclamation of 1763
American Pageant: Chapter 1, New World Beginnings 33,000 B.C.-A.D. 1769
· Pre-Columbian Cultures
· Early Exploration
· Introduction of Slavery
· Spanish and French Claims
· The Rise of Mercantilism
American Pageant: Chapter 2, The Planting of English America
· The Chesapeake and Southern English Colonies
· Ties with Caribbean Economies
· British Mercantilism
American Pageant: Chapter 3, Settling the Northern Colonies
· New England and the Puritans
· Religious Dissent
· Colonial Politics and Conflict with British Authority
· The Middle Colonies
American Pageant: Chapter 4, American Life in the Seventeenth Century 1607-1692
· Tobacco and Rice Colonies
· African-American Culture
· Colonial Family Life
· Dissent in New England and the Witch Trials
In class DBQ and DBQ tutorial: Chesapeake and New England colonies from The College Board Advanced Placement Exam 1993
Question: 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?
Teacher created map activity on colonial settlements
American Pageant: Chapter 5, Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution 1700-1775
· Immigration and Demographic Change
· The Atlantic Economy
· The Great Awakening
· Education and Culture
· Colonial Politics
American Pageant: Chapter 6, The Duel for North America 1608-1763
· Colonial Involvement in British Imperial Wars
· Consequences of the French and Indian War
· The Proclamation of 1763
Unit I Test: Pre-colonial America to the Proclamation of 1763
Covering chapters 1-6 in American Pageant
Multiple choice and essay questions
Unit II: The Revolution to Ratification of the Constitution
American Pageant: Chapter 7, The Road to Revolution 1763-1775
· Roots of Revolution
· The Role of Mercantilism
· End of Salutary Neglect
· The First Continental Congress
· Lexington and Concord
Primary Source Documents:
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson
American Pageant: Chapter 8, America Secedes from the Empire 1775-1783
· American “Republicanism”
· Patriots vs. Loyalists
· The French Alliance, 1778
· Yorktown, 1781
· The Paris Peace Treaty, 1783
DBQ: Loyalists and the American Revolution using document set from historyteacher.net as referenced on the AP Central website
Question: The War of Independence has been called a civil war within a civil war. Were the Patriots justified in abusing the Loyalists and expelling them?
American Pageant: Chapter 9, The Confederation and the Constitution 1776-1790
· State Constitutions
· Economic Differences Between States
· The Articles of Confederation
· The Northwest Ordinance, 1787
· Problems under the Articles
· Shays’ Rebellion
· The Constitutional Convention
· Ratification
Primary source documents:
The Articles of Confederation
The Constitution of the United States
Federalist 10 by James Madison
Secondary reading: Viewpoints: USA “How Critical Was the Critical Period?”
Unit II Test: The Revolution to Ratification of the Constitution
Covering chapters 7-9 in American Pageant and primary source documents
Multiple choice and essay questions
Unit III: Building the New Nation 1776-1860
American Pageant: Chapter 10 Launching the New Ship of State 1789-1800
· The First Administration 1789-1793
· The Bill of Rights, 1791
· National Politics and Economics
· Diplomacy During the French Revolution
· Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798
Primary source document:
The Bill of Rights
Washington’s Farewell Address
American Pageant: Chapter 11, Triumphs and Travails of Jeffersonian Democracy 1800-1812
· The “Revolution of 1800”
· John Marshall and the Supreme Court
· The Louisiana Purchase and Western Expansion
Primary source documents:
Marbury v. Madison 1803
McCullough v. Maryland 18919
“Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions”
DBQ: DBQ 3 from American Pageant pgs. A108-A109
Question: After his election in 1801, Jefferson often vigorously exercised the power of the national government and of the presidency in particular. Determine to what extent Jefferson, after entering the White House, maintained or altered his earlier philosophy of government. Use the documents and your knowledge of the period from 1790-1809 to compose your answer.
American Pageant: Chapter 12, The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism 1812-1824
· The War of 1812
· “The American System”
· The Era of Good Feelings
· The Missouri Compromise
· The Monroe Doctrine
Primary source documents:
Treaty of Ghent
The Missouri Compromise
The Monroe Doctrine
Secondary reading: Viewpoints: USA “How Did the Monroe Doctrine DefineOur Foreign Policy?”
American Pageant: Chapter 13, The Rise of Mass Democracy 1824-1840
· Jacksonian Democracy and the Whigs
· The Nullification Crisis
· National Policy Toward American Indians
· Jackson and the Bank of the United States
· The Texas Revolution
· Slavery and Sectionalism
Primary source documents:
Jackson’s Message to Congress “On Indian Removal”
Worchester v. Georgia 1832
Recent Scholarship: “What was Jacksonian Democracy?” American Pageant pg. 285
American Pageant: Chapter 14, Forging the National Economy 1790-1860
· The Rise of the Market Economy
· Immigration and the Increase in Nativism
· Women in the Workplace
· The Factory System
· The Transportation Revolution
· Westward Expansion
Primary source documents:
Gibbons v. Ogden 1824
American Pageant: Chapter 15, The Ferment of Reform and Culture 1790-1860
· The Second Great Awakening
· Women’s Roles in Reform Movements
· Creation of a National Culture
· Advances in Education and the Sciences
Primary source documents:
Seneca Falls Declaration
Unit III Test: Building the New Nation 1776-1860
Covering chapters 10-15 in American Pageant
Multiple choice and essay questions
Unit IV: The Civil War and Reconstruction 1860-1877
American Pageant: Chapter 16, The South and the Slavery Controversy
· The Economy of the South
· Southern Social Structure
· Life Under Slavery
· The Abolitionist Movement
Secondary reading:
Viewpoints: USA , What Were he Causes of the Civil War?
section 1 “Did the Abolitionists help or hinder their cause?”
American Pageant: Chapter 17, Manifest Destiny and its Legacy
· Manifest Destiny
· The Annexation of Texas
· War with Mexico
Primary source documents:
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
American Pageant: Chapter 18, Renewing the Sectional Struggle
· The Underground Railroad
· The Compromise of 1850
· The Fugitive Slave Law
· The Kansas Nebraska Act
Primary source documents:
The Compromise of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Law
The Kansas Nebraska Act
Teacher created map activity on the Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, and Kansas-Nebraska Act
Secondary readings:
Viewpoints: USA , What Were the Causes of the Civil War?
Section 2 “Was States’ Rights the Real Issue?”
Section 3 “Were Economic Differences the Determining Factor?”
American Pageant: Chapter 19, Drifting Toward Disunion
· Abolition in the 1850s
· The Impact of Dred Scott
· Financial Panic of 1857
· Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858
· John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry, 1859
· The Election of 1860
· Secession
Primary sources:
Dred Scott v. Sanford 1857
Secondary reading:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
American Pageant: Chapter 20, Girding for War: The North and the South 1861-1865
· Fort Sumter
· The Border States
· European Intervention?
· Civil Liberties During Wartime
· The Fate of The South
Primary sources:
Telegram announcing the surrender of Fort Sumter
American Pageant: Chapter 21, The Furnace of the Civil War 1861-1865
· Bull Run
· The Peninsula Campaign
· The War at Sea
· Antietam
· The Emancipation Proclamation
· Gettysburg
· Sherman’s March
· Gettysburg Address
· Appomattox
· The Assassination of Lincoln
Primary sources:
The Emancipation Proclamation
Gettysburg Address
Articles of Agreement Relating to the Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia
Free Response Essay: From 2000 AP United States History Free-Response Questions
Question: Assess the moral arguments and political actions of those opposed to the spread of slavery in the context of TWO of the following:
Missouri Compromise
Mexican War
Compromise of 1850
Kansas-Nebraska Act
American Pageant: Chapter 22 The Ordeal of Reconstruction
· The Politics and Economics of Reconstruction
· Experiences of Freedmen
· The Rise of the Bourbon South
· Impeachment
· Seward’s Folly
Primary source documents:
Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution 1865
Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution 1868
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution 1870
Secondary source documents:
Viewpoints USA: “Was Reconstruction as Evil as it Has Been Painted?”
Unit IV Test : The Civil War and Reconstruction 1860-1877
Covering chapters 16-22 in American Pageant
Multiple choice and essay questions
Unit V: Industrialization, Imperialism, and Progressivism
American Pageant: Chapter 23 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
· The Populists
Recent scholarship: “The Populists: Radicals or Reactionaries?” American Pageant pg. 529
American Pageant: Chapter 24 Industry Comes of Age
· The Railroads
· Speculators
· Barons of Industry
· Early Government Regulation
· The Gospel of Wealth
· The Rise of Trade Unions
American Pageant: Chapter 25 America Moves to the City
· Urbanization
· New waves of Immigration
· Renewed Instances of Nativism
· Cultural Life in the Cities
· The “New Woman”
· Life for African-Americans
Primary source documents:
Lochner v. New York 1905
Secondary reading: excerpts from
Shame of the Cities by Jacob Riis
Teacher created map activity on urban growth in the U.S. from 1870-1920
American Pageant: Chapter 26 The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution
· The Industrialization of Agriculture
· Bryan vs. McKinley
DBQ: From the 2000 AP United States History Exam
Question: How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in the period from 1875-1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the level of success achieved. Use the documents and your knowledge of the period from 1875 to 1900 to construct your response.
American Pageant: Chapter 27 Empire and Expansion
· The Annexation of Hawaii
· Spanish-American War
· Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines
· The Filipino Insurrection
· Open Door Policy
· The Foreign Policy of Theodore Roosevelt
Primary source documents:
De Lome Letter
Platt Amendment
Theodore Roosevelt’s Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
American Pageant: Chapter 28 Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt
· The Muckrakers
· Women vs. the Saloon
· Roosevelt as “Trust Buster”
· Consumer Protection
· Conservation
· William Howard Taft
· “Dollar Diplomacy”
Recent scholarship: “The Environmentalists” American Pageant pg. 670
Secondary reading: excerpts from
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The Bitter Cry of the Children by John Spargo
Unit V Test : Industrialization, Imperialism, and Progressivism
Covering chapters 23-28 in American Pageant
Multiple choice and essay questions
Unit VI: World War I and the Roaring Twenties
American Pageant: Chapter 29 Wilsonian Progressivism and Home and Abroad
The Election of 1912
The New Freedom
War in Europe and American Neutrality
Secondary reading:
The Good Years: From 1900 to 1914 by Walter Lord
American Pageant: Chapter 30 The War to End War
· America enters WWI
· Wilson and the Fourteen Points
· How Workers, African-Americans, and Women Changed the American Economy at Home
· The Paris Peace Conference
· America Rejects the Versailles Treaty and the League of Nations
Primary source documents:
The Zimmerman Note
Wilson’s War message to Congress
President Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Schneck v. United States 1919
Free Response Essay: From the 2000 AP United States History Exam
Question: To what extent did the US achieve the objectives that led it to enter the First World War?