AP United States History
The Advanced Placement program in U.S. History makes demands upon students that are equivalent to those made by full-year introductory college survey courses. This class requires a level of participation, diligence, commitment, effort, and autonomy beyond the ordinary high school level. The course will follow the College Board’s Advanced Placement U.S. History outline and the State of Michigan GLEC’s for Social Studies.
To enhance our study of American history, there will be daily homework and reading assignments, quizzes, and essays assigned to students throughout the year, including:
THEMES OF AP US HISTORY
These themes will be incorporated into each unit of study throughout the course of the year. Students should familiarize themselves with each of these themes and consider them both within and between units. Students should attempt to ascertain the “change over time” that each of the themes undergoes in the progression of U.S. History, but they should also be aware of the interactions of these themes on each other both within and between units of study.
AMERICAN DIVERSITY – diversity of the American people and the relationships among different groups… roles of race, class, ethnicity, and gender in US History
AMERICAN IDENTITY – views of American national character and ideas about American exceptionalism. Recognizing differences in context of what it means to be American.
CULTURE – diverse individual and collective expressions through literature, art, philosophy, music, theatre, film throughout US History including cultural conflict within society.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES – Changes in birth, marriage, and death rates, population size and density. Effects of immigration, internal migration, migration networks on society.
ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATIONS – Changes in trade, commerce, and technology across time. Effects of capitalist development, labor and unions, and consumerism on society.
ENVIRONMENT – Consumption and conservation of natural resources, impact of population growth, industrialization, pollution, urban and suburban expansion.
GLOBALIZATION – Engagement with the rest of the world from the 15th century to the present: colonization, mercantilism, global hegemony, market development, imperialism, cultural change.
POLITICS AND CITIZENSHIP – Colonial and revolutionary legacies, American political traditions, growth of democracy, development of the government. Defining citizenship and struggles for civil rights.
REFORM – Diverse movements focusing on broad range of issues (anti-slavery, education, labor, temperance, women’s rights, civil rights, gay rights, wars, public health, and government).
RELIGION – The variety of religious beliefs and practices in America from prehistory to 21st Century, influences of religion on politics, economics, and society.
SLAVERY AND ITS LEGACIES IN NORTH AMERICA – Systems of slave labor and other forms of unfree labor (indentured servitude, contract labor, etc…) in North American societies, the Atlantic World, and the American South and West. Includes patterns of resistance and long term effects of slavery.
WAR AND DIPLOMACY – Armed conflict from pre-colonial period to the 21st Century and the impact of war on American foreign policy and on politics, economy, and society.
Textbook
Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant. 14th ed. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006, 2010.
FALL TERM
Week of September 2-5
American Pageant: Chapter 6, The Duel for North America
New France, Fur Traders and Indians, Anglo-French colonial rivalries, The Seven Years’ War, Pontiac’s Uprising, The Proclamation of 1763.
Documents: Proclamation of 1763
-Intro to DBQ
-Chapter 6 Test (Take Home)
Week of September 8-12
American Pageant: Chapter 7, The Road to Revolution
Roots of revolution and the role of mercantilism, end of benign neglect, failure of diplomacy, first conflicts
Documents: Common Sense, The Declaration of Independence
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine the role of the protest in American History. Is protest required for the development/refinement of our democracy? Include revolutionary protests, as well as current protest efforts in your examination. (Theme 8: Politics and Citizenship)
-DBQ #1
Week of September 15-19
American Pageant: Chapter 8, American Secedes from the Empire
The American Revolution, wartime diplomacy, life on the home front, women and the war, the impact of the war on the institution of slavery.
-Chapter 7 and 8 Test
Week of September 22-26
American Pageant: Chapter 9, The Confederation and the Constitution
The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, the role of the Enlightenment, slavery and religion in the political process, wartime diplomacy
Recent scholarship: The Constitution: Radical or Reactionary?
Documents: The Constitution of the United States, Federalist Number Ten .
-30 min essay
Week of September 29- October 3
American Pageant: Chapter 10, Launching the New Ship of State
Early national politics and economics, diplomacy during the French Revolution, the making of the office of the presidency
Documents: “Federalists and Republicans,” “The Constitutionality of the Bank”, ”Washington’s Farewell Address”
-Chapter 9 and 10 Test
Week of October 6-10
American Pageant: Chapter 11, Triumphs and Travails of Jeffersonian Democracy
The “Revolution of 1800,” the Marshall Court, diplomacy of Jefferson and Madison, the Embargo Act, acceleration of expansion west.
Documents: “Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions”
-DBQ #2
Week of October 13-17
American Pageant: Chapter 12, The Second War for Independence/Nationalism
The War of 1812, The Era of Good Feeling, The American System, the diplomacy of expansion, forging a new national identity
Documents: Marbury v. Madison. “Chief Marshall for the Supreme Court”
-Chapter 11 and 12 Test
Week of October 20-24
American Pageant: Chapter 13, The Rise of a Mass Democracy
Jacksonian democracy and the Whigs, national policy toward American Indians, the era of the “common man,” expansion with the Texas revolution, slavery and sectionalism
Documents: The Monroe Doctrine, Veto of the bank Renewal Bill
-30 min essay
Week of October 27-30
American Pageant: Chapter 14, Forging the National Economy
The rise of the market economy, immigration and the increase in nativism, women in the workplace, the factory system, the transportation revolution, expansion west
-Chapter 13 and 14 Test
Week of November 4-7
American Pageant: Chapter 15, The Ferment of Reform and Culture
The Second Great Awakening and the growth of reform, women’s roles in reform movements, creation of a national culture, advances in education and the sciences.
Documents: The first issue of The Liberator, Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
-Take home DBQ #3
-Practice AP MC portion
Week of November 10-14
American Pageant: Chapter 16, The South and the Slavery Controversy
Cotton culture, southern society and the impact of the plantation system, the rise of abolitionist movements
American Pageant: Chapter 17, Manifest Destiny and its Legacy Expansion under Polk, Manifest Destiny, war with Mexico
-Chapter 15-17 Test
Week of November 17-25 (Walters in D.C Nov. 17-21)
American Pageant: Chapter 18, Renewing the Sectional Struggle
Popular sovereignty, the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law, the economics of expansion
Documents: John C. Calhoun on the “Slavery Question”, William Grayson, “The Hireling and the Slave”
-30 min essay
-Chapter 18 Test
Week of November 26-30(Thanksgiving Break)
American Pageant: Chapters 2 and 3
More directions to follow.
Week of December 1-5
American Pageant: Chapter 19, Drifting Toward Disunion
Abolition in the 1850s, the impact of Dred Scott, the financial panic of 1857, political crisis in the election of 1860, the coming of the Civil War
Documents: Dred Scott v. Sanford
-DBQ #4
-Chapter 19 Test
Week of December 8-12
American Pageant: Chapter 20, Girding for War
Wartime diplomacy, economic changes in both the North and South, women and the war, issues of civil liberties in wartime
American Pageant: Chapter 21, The Furnace of the Civil War
The Peninsula Campaign, the “Anaconda,” the war in the West, Sherman’s March, Appomattox, the Emancipation Proclamation, the legacy of war in both the North and South
Documents: Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, The Emancipation Proclamation, The Gettysburg Address
American Pageant: Chapter 22, The Ordeal of Reconstruction
The politics and economics of Reconstruction, experiences of freedmen, the rise of the Bourbon South and the fate of Reconstruction, impeachment politics and the balance of power
Documents: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
-No Civil War Test
Week of December 15-19
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, Populism
Documents: Southern defense of Jim Crow, Separate is Equal
-30 min essay
Week of Dec. 23-Jan. 3 (Christmas Break)
American Pageant: Chapters 4 and 5.
Directions to follow.
Week of January 5-9
American Pageant: Chapter 24, Industry Comes of Age
Era of the Robber Barons, the lives of the working classes and the growth of unionism, government and politics of regulation, the United States in the world economy
Documents: Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas, Andrew Carnegie, Wealth
-Chapter 23-24 Test
Week of January 12-16
American Pageant: Chapter 25, America Moves to the City
Urbanization, new waves of immigration, renewed instances of
nativism, cultural life in urban America, the “New Woman,” African-American push for expanded civil rights
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine the role of religion in America through social movements of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. How much or little of a role did religion play in these social movements and is this unique to the United States?
-DBQ #5
Week of January 20-23
American Pageant: Chapter 27, Empire and Expansion
American expansion overseas, a new age of imperialism, The Spanish-American War, the Open Door, America on the world stage
Documents: Alfred T. Mahan, The United States Looking Outward, Theodore Roosevelt, “Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine”
-Chapter 25 and 27 Take Home Test
-Practice AP MC portion
Spring Term
Week of January 27-30
American Pageant: Chapter 28, Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt
Progressive reform and the trusts, demographics of urbanization and the resulting political impact, “Dollar Diplomacy,” environmental issues
Documents: Theodore Roosevelt, “The New Nationalism”, Woodrow Wilson, The Old Order Changeth
-30 min essay
Week of February 2-6
American Pageant: Chapter 29, Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad
Election of 1912, Bull Moose, TR shifts, Defining Progressivism, Lofty goals, diplomatic troubles arise, preview of the great war
Documents: Lord Bryce’s Propaganda report, Pro-Ally Tactics
American Pageant: Chapter 30, The War to End War
War in Europe and war on the home front, propaganda and civil liberties, the politics behind the making of the Treaty of Versailles and its rejection by the U.S. Senate.
Documents: Woodrow Wilson, War Message to Congress, Woodrow Wilson, The Fourteen Points, George Creel Spreads Fear Propaganda, Wilson vs TR, Wilson testifies for Article X
-Chapter 28-30 Test
Week of February 9-12
American Pageant: Chapter 31, American Life in the Roaring Twenties
The “Red Scare” and immigration issues, a mass-consumption economy, the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance, traditionalism versus modernism
Documents: TR preaches Americanism, Cultural Pluralism, Margaret Sanger Campaigns for Birth Control
-DBQ #6
Week of February 17-20
American Pageant: Chapter 32, The Politics of Boom and Bust
Isolationism in the 1920s, foreign debt and diplomacy, the coming of the Great Depression
Documents: Herbert Hoover, “Rugged Individualism”, Roosevelt Indicts Hoover
-Chapter 31-32 Test
Week of February 23-27
American Pageant: Chapter 33, The Great Depression and the New Deal
FDR and “recovery, relief, reform,” demographic changes associated with the Depression, cultural changes in the 1930s, the Supreme Court and the balance of political power in government
Recent scholarship: The nature of the New Deal [CR6]
Documents: Franklin Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, N.L.R.B. versus Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, Hard Times Excerpts
-30 min essay
Week of March 2-6
American Pageant: Chapter 34, FDR and the Shadow of War
Attempts at neutrality and isolation, diplomacy and economics of the prewar years, the move to war following Pearl Harbor.
Documents: TBA
-Chapter 33-34 Test
Week of March 9-13
American Pageant: Chapter 35, America in World War II
The war in Europe and in the Far East, the home front, changes for women and minorities during the war, the decision to use the atomic bomb and its consequences
Documents: Franklin Roosevelt, The Quarantine speech, Franklin Roosevelt, The Four Freedoms speech, The Atlantic Charter
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine America’s history of war and evaluate the political solutions employed to end such conflicts. Reasons between successful and unsuccessful diplomatic efforts. (Theme 12: War and Diplomacy)
-DBQ #7
Week of March 16-20
American Pageant: Chapter 36, The Cold War Begins
Postwar prosperity and the Baby Boom, communism and containment, diplomacy and the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, the Red Scare, the United States as a world power
Recent scholarship: The origins of the Cold War
Documents: George Kennan, Sources of Soviet Conduct, William Faulkner, Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Prize
American Pageant: Chapter 37, The Eisenhower Era
Consumer culture in the 1950s, the civil rights revolution, McCarthyism, Cold War expansion, the space race, postwar literature and culture
Documents: Senator Speaks up, Newton Minnow’s “Vast Wasteland”
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine the effects of technology on our economy through the invention of the Television. (Theme 5: Economic transformations)
-Chapter 35-37 Test
Week of March 23-27
American Pageant: Chapter 38, The Stormy Sixties
The Cold War continues, expansion of the war in Vietnam, the civil rights revolution and evolution, Johnson and the Great Society, immigration and demographic changes
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Evaluate four specific reform movements throughout American History and which ultimately left the largest impact/change on society. Also, predict what the next big movement will be and when. (Theme 9: Reform)
-30 min essay
Week of March 31 - April 2
American Pageant: Chapter 39, The Stalemated Seventies
Rise of conservatism, economic stagnation, crisis over presidential power, environmental issues, feminism and the women’s movement, civil rights and affirmative action, foreign policy and the issue of oil
Documents: John Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream” speech, Lyndon Johnson, “The Great Society” speech
THINKING COPNCEPTUALLY: How did the Beatniks of the 1960’s open the door for cultural expression of the 1970’s? (Theme 3: Culture)
-Chapter 38-39 Test
Week of April 13-17
American Pageant: Chapter 40, The Resurgence of Conservatism
Reagan and the “New Right,” the end of the Cold War, Reaganomics, politics and the Supreme Court, globalization, war and diplomacy in the Middle East
Documents: NOW Statement of Purpose, Lyndon Johnson “The Power of the Media”, Edward R, Murrow, “Television and Politics”, Roe versus Wade, Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Addresses 1981, 1985
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine the use and abuse of the Great Lakes during the 20th century and the legislation that protects these waters. (Theme 6: Environment)
-DBQ #8
Week of April 20-24
American Pageant: Chapter 41, American Confronts the Post-Cold War Era
World Trade Center and America post-9/11, Republican Contract with America
Documents: George W. Bush, Joint Session of Congress, September 2001, Rudy Giuliani, Farewell Address, 2001
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine what characteristics make up an “American” and how these characteristics changed from the 18th Century to the 21st Century. (Theme 2: American Identity)
-Chapter 40-41 Test
April 27-May 1: Full Practice AP Exam
May 4-7: Comprehensive Review Sessions
FRIDAY MAY 8TH: AP United States History Exam $91 FEE
Free-Response Questions
The following is a list of FRQ topics/questions that you will answer throughout the year. Many are taken from past AP US History exams. These responses will focus on both analytical and interpretive aspects of US History. They are presented here by era.
II. American Revolution – Early Republic 1776 – 1800
1. During the seventeenth and increasingly in the eighteenth century, British colonists in America charged Great Britain with violating the ideals of rule of law, self government, and, ultimately, equality of rights. Yet the colonists themselves violated these ideals in their treatment of blacks, Native
Americans, and even poorer classes of white settlers. Assess the validity of this view.
2. Despite the view of some historians that the conflict between Great Britain and its thirteen North American colonies was economic in origin, in fact the American Revolution had its roots in politics and other areas of American life. Assess the validity of this statement.
III. Jeffersonian Democracy 1800 – 1825
1. The achievements of Generals are in the long run more decisive than the achievements of diplomats. Assess the validity of this generalization for the U.S. in the period 1800 – 1825.
2. Early United States foreign policy was primarily a defensive reaction to perceived or actual threats from Europe. Assess the validity of this generalization with reference to United States foreign policy on TWO major issues during the period from 1789 – 1825.
IV. Jackson and American Life 1825 – 1860
1. In what ways did the early nineteenth –century reform movements for abolition and women’s rights illustrate both the strengths and weaknesses of democracy in the early American republic?
2. Developments in transportation, rather than in manufacturing and agriculture, sparked American economic growth in the first half of the nineteenth century. Assess the validity of this statement.
V. Manifest Destiny 1840 –1860
1. Compare the expansionist foreign policies of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James K. Polk. To what extent did their policies strengthen the United States?
2. Discuss the impact of territorial expansion on national unity between 1800 and 1850.
VI. Slavery and Pre Civil War Issues 1840 – 1860
1. Why did the institution of slavery command the loyalty of the vast majority of ante-bellum whites, despite the fact that only a small percentage of them owned slaves?
2. Throughout our history, the Supreme Court has acted as a partisan political body rather than a neutral arbiter of constitutional principles. Assess the validity of this generalization for the period 1800 – 1860.
VII. Civil War and Reconstruction 1860 – 1877
1. The South never had a chance to win the Civil War. To what extent, and why, do you agree or disagree with this statement?
2. Discuss the political, economic, and social reforms introduced in the South between1864 and 1877. To what extent did these reforms survive the Compromise of 1877?
VIII. Agricultural and Industrial America 1865 – 1900
1. Popular fascination with the cowboy, the pioneer, and stories of Horatio Alger in the period 1870 to 1915 reflected America’s uneasiness of transition from an agrarian to an industrial society. Assess the validity of this statement.
2. Ironically, popular belief in the “self-sufficient farmer” and the “self-made man “increased during the nineteenth century as the reality behind these beliefs faded. Assess the validity of this statement.
IX. Intellectual, Cultural and Social Trends 1860 – 1900
1. From the 1840’s through the 1890’s, women’s activities in the intellectual, social, economic and political spheres effectively challenged traditional attitudes about women’s place in society. Assess the validity of this statement.
2. Assess the changing status of Blacks between emancipation and the end of the nineteenth century.
X. Politics 1877 –1900
1. Did the Republican Party from 1877 –1896 abandon its earlier principles and succumb to expediency?
2. Political movements in the U.S. often reflect a yearning for the past. Assess the validity of this statement in reference to the Populists.
XI. Expansionism 1890’s – 1914
1. How and why did the Monroe Doctrine become the cornerstone of United States foreign policy by the late nineteenth century?
2. Compare the debates that took place over American expansionism in the 1840’s with those that took place in the 1890’s, analyzing the similarities and differences in the debates of the two eras.
XII. The Progressives 1900 –1920
1. Analyze and evaluate Booker T. Washington’s program for American Blacks and W.E.B. DuBois’s challenge to that program.
2. Discuss the development of the women’s suffrage movement and account for its success.
XIII. World War I 1914 – 1920
1. The U.S. in the period 1898-1919 failed to recognize that it had vital interests at stake in Europe, where it tried to stay aloof. At the same time, it had fewer or no such interests in Asia, where it eagerly became involved. Assess the validity of this generalization.
2. The United States entered the First World War not “to make the world safe for democracy” as President Wilson claimed, but to safeguard American economic interests. Assess the validity of this statement.
XIV. The 1920’s
1. Alienation from American society is a dominant theme of the literature of the1920’s. Discuss this statement with reference to TWO writers (novelists, poets, playwrights, journalists, etc.) citing evidence from their works.
2. The 1920’s witnesses an assault by rural and small town America on Urban America. Assess the validity of this generalization.
XV. The New Deal 1932 - 1945
1. How do you account for the onset of the Great Depression of the 1930’s?
2. Account for the increased urbanization of Black Americans in the period 1914 to1945.
XVI. Isolationism and War 1921 - 1945
1. President Franklin Roosevelt was naïve and ineffective in his conduct of foreign policy from 1933 and 1941. To what extent and in what ways do you agree or disagree with this statement.
2. Prior to American involvement in both the First and Second World Wars, the United States adopted an official policy of neutrality. Compare the policy and its modifications during the period 1914-17 to the policy and its modifications during1939-41.
XVII. Postwar Years 1945 -1960
1. Discuss the changing attitudes of historians towards the origins of the Cold War.
2. Harry S. Truman was a realistic, pragmatic President who skillfully led the American people against the menace posed by the Soviet Union. Assess the validity of this generalization for President Truman’s foreign policy.
XVIII. 1960’s to the Present
1. Presidents who have been notably successful in either foreign affairs or domestic affairs have seldom been notably successful in both. Assess this statement with reference to TWO presidents, on in the nineteenth century, and the other in the twentieth century, giving reasons for success or failure in each case.
2. “Hawks” and “doves” have disagreed on United States involvement in wars since the inception of the nation. Compare the “hawk” to the “dove” position for both a war of the nineteenth century and a war of the twentieth century
TEST MAKE UP
Section
Question Type
Number of Questions
Timing
% of Total Exam Score
I
Part A: Multiple Choice questions
55 questions
55 minutes
40%
I
Part B: Short Answer questions
4 questions
45 minutes
20%
II
Part A: DBQ
1 question
60 minutes
25%
II
Part B: Long Essay question
1 question (choose from a pair
35 minutes
15%
Time Allotment
Historical Period
Date Range
Percentage of Instructional Time
Percentage of AP Exam
1
1491-1607
5%
5%
2
1607-1754
10%
3
1754-1800
12%
4
1800-1848
10%
45%
5
1844-1877
13%
6
1865-1898
13%
7
1890-1945
17%
45%
8
1945-1980
15%
9
1980-Present
5%
5%
The Advanced Placement program in U.S. History makes demands upon students that are equivalent to those made by full-year introductory college survey courses. This class requires a level of participation, diligence, commitment, effort, and autonomy beyond the ordinary high school level. The course will follow the College Board’s Advanced Placement U.S. History outline and the State of Michigan GLEC’s for Social Studies.
To enhance our study of American history, there will be daily homework and reading assignments, quizzes, and essays assigned to students throughout the year, including:
- Reading at least one chapter (approx. 30 – 40 pages) a week from a college-level textbook.
- Approximately 20 – 30 identifications are due a week. These identifications demonstrate the cause/effect relationship of history and require analysis and critical thinking skills.
- Occasional quizzes over readings.
- Tests covering ALL assigned reading and lecture notes from the previous week or two weeks. Some information on the chapter tests will NOT be covered in class. Students need to be aware of this and prepare responsibly for each exam.
- Many primary source analysis readings and secondary sources analysis readings.
- Bi-weekly essays and DBQ’s will be completed.
- A cumulative final exam may be given in May before or after the AP exam.
- Three-ring binder with dividers and loose-leaf paper. Please do not use this for any other subject.
- At least two blue or black ink pens and at least two pencils.
- Spiral bound packet of 4x6, note cards. Can be made with construction paper as you will use nearly 25 per week.
- Follow all school and class rules.
- Take responsibility for your behavior and your actions.
- Be on time and in your seat with your notebook open and homework assembled (i.e. stapled, paper clipped, labeled, organized, etc.) on your desk before the bell rings.
- Be prepared with all necessary materials and turn in assignments on time.
- Complete makeup work within three days of your return to school.
- Stay organized! Date all of your notes, keep track of your grades, file all papers immediately, and write down your assignments in your planner every day.
- Have access to the Internet at school or home.
- Have fun. If you have enrolled in this course, you obviously like studying history. Let’s enjoy our time in this class.
- Remember, the instructor does NOT give students grades, STUDENTS EARN THEM.
- Individual tests will cover a significantly greater body of information than that to which students may be accustomed. Some information on the chapter tests will NOT be covered in class.
- Homework consists primarily of weekly reading assignments for which the student is responsible for mastery of the factual information, chapter identifications, and supplemental handouts.
- Grades are based on the quality of the end product.
- There are very few “simple” assignments where students can improve their grades merely by completing the work.
- There are relatively few major graded assignments each quarter, which increases the need to put adequate preparations into each one.
- Students should aim for a 60% or higher on all of their tests. If a student earns 60% on all of his/her tests then that student will earn at least a C in the course.
- Responsibility for mastering the material rests with the student.
THEMES OF AP US HISTORY
These themes will be incorporated into each unit of study throughout the course of the year. Students should familiarize themselves with each of these themes and consider them both within and between units. Students should attempt to ascertain the “change over time” that each of the themes undergoes in the progression of U.S. History, but they should also be aware of the interactions of these themes on each other both within and between units of study.
AMERICAN DIVERSITY – diversity of the American people and the relationships among different groups… roles of race, class, ethnicity, and gender in US History
AMERICAN IDENTITY – views of American national character and ideas about American exceptionalism. Recognizing differences in context of what it means to be American.
CULTURE – diverse individual and collective expressions through literature, art, philosophy, music, theatre, film throughout US History including cultural conflict within society.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES – Changes in birth, marriage, and death rates, population size and density. Effects of immigration, internal migration, migration networks on society.
ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATIONS – Changes in trade, commerce, and technology across time. Effects of capitalist development, labor and unions, and consumerism on society.
ENVIRONMENT – Consumption and conservation of natural resources, impact of population growth, industrialization, pollution, urban and suburban expansion.
GLOBALIZATION – Engagement with the rest of the world from the 15th century to the present: colonization, mercantilism, global hegemony, market development, imperialism, cultural change.
POLITICS AND CITIZENSHIP – Colonial and revolutionary legacies, American political traditions, growth of democracy, development of the government. Defining citizenship and struggles for civil rights.
REFORM – Diverse movements focusing on broad range of issues (anti-slavery, education, labor, temperance, women’s rights, civil rights, gay rights, wars, public health, and government).
RELIGION – The variety of religious beliefs and practices in America from prehistory to 21st Century, influences of religion on politics, economics, and society.
SLAVERY AND ITS LEGACIES IN NORTH AMERICA – Systems of slave labor and other forms of unfree labor (indentured servitude, contract labor, etc…) in North American societies, the Atlantic World, and the American South and West. Includes patterns of resistance and long term effects of slavery.
WAR AND DIPLOMACY – Armed conflict from pre-colonial period to the 21st Century and the impact of war on American foreign policy and on politics, economy, and society.
Textbook
Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant. 14th ed. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006, 2010.
FALL TERM
Week of September 2-5
American Pageant: Chapter 6, The Duel for North America
New France, Fur Traders and Indians, Anglo-French colonial rivalries, The Seven Years’ War, Pontiac’s Uprising, The Proclamation of 1763.
Documents: Proclamation of 1763
-Intro to DBQ
-Chapter 6 Test (Take Home)
Week of September 8-12
American Pageant: Chapter 7, The Road to Revolution
Roots of revolution and the role of mercantilism, end of benign neglect, failure of diplomacy, first conflicts
Documents: Common Sense, The Declaration of Independence
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine the role of the protest in American History. Is protest required for the development/refinement of our democracy? Include revolutionary protests, as well as current protest efforts in your examination. (Theme 8: Politics and Citizenship)
-DBQ #1
Week of September 15-19
American Pageant: Chapter 8, American Secedes from the Empire
The American Revolution, wartime diplomacy, life on the home front, women and the war, the impact of the war on the institution of slavery.
-Chapter 7 and 8 Test
Week of September 22-26
American Pageant: Chapter 9, The Confederation and the Constitution
The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, the role of the Enlightenment, slavery and religion in the political process, wartime diplomacy
Recent scholarship: The Constitution: Radical or Reactionary?
Documents: The Constitution of the United States, Federalist Number Ten .
-30 min essay
Week of September 29- October 3
American Pageant: Chapter 10, Launching the New Ship of State
Early national politics and economics, diplomacy during the French Revolution, the making of the office of the presidency
Documents: “Federalists and Republicans,” “The Constitutionality of the Bank”, ”Washington’s Farewell Address”
-Chapter 9 and 10 Test
Week of October 6-10
American Pageant: Chapter 11, Triumphs and Travails of Jeffersonian Democracy
The “Revolution of 1800,” the Marshall Court, diplomacy of Jefferson and Madison, the Embargo Act, acceleration of expansion west.
Documents: “Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions”
-DBQ #2
Week of October 13-17
American Pageant: Chapter 12, The Second War for Independence/Nationalism
The War of 1812, The Era of Good Feeling, The American System, the diplomacy of expansion, forging a new national identity
Documents: Marbury v. Madison. “Chief Marshall for the Supreme Court”
-Chapter 11 and 12 Test
Week of October 20-24
American Pageant: Chapter 13, The Rise of a Mass Democracy
Jacksonian democracy and the Whigs, national policy toward American Indians, the era of the “common man,” expansion with the Texas revolution, slavery and sectionalism
Documents: The Monroe Doctrine, Veto of the bank Renewal Bill
-30 min essay
Week of October 27-30
American Pageant: Chapter 14, Forging the National Economy
The rise of the market economy, immigration and the increase in nativism, women in the workplace, the factory system, the transportation revolution, expansion west
-Chapter 13 and 14 Test
Week of November 4-7
American Pageant: Chapter 15, The Ferment of Reform and Culture
The Second Great Awakening and the growth of reform, women’s roles in reform movements, creation of a national culture, advances in education and the sciences.
Documents: The first issue of The Liberator, Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
-Take home DBQ #3
-Practice AP MC portion
Week of November 10-14
American Pageant: Chapter 16, The South and the Slavery Controversy
Cotton culture, southern society and the impact of the plantation system, the rise of abolitionist movements
American Pageant: Chapter 17, Manifest Destiny and its Legacy Expansion under Polk, Manifest Destiny, war with Mexico
-Chapter 15-17 Test
Week of November 17-25 (Walters in D.C Nov. 17-21)
American Pageant: Chapter 18, Renewing the Sectional Struggle
Popular sovereignty, the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law, the economics of expansion
Documents: John C. Calhoun on the “Slavery Question”, William Grayson, “The Hireling and the Slave”
-30 min essay
-Chapter 18 Test
Week of November 26-30(Thanksgiving Break)
American Pageant: Chapters 2 and 3
More directions to follow.
Week of December 1-5
American Pageant: Chapter 19, Drifting Toward Disunion
Abolition in the 1850s, the impact of Dred Scott, the financial panic of 1857, political crisis in the election of 1860, the coming of the Civil War
Documents: Dred Scott v. Sanford
-DBQ #4
-Chapter 19 Test
Week of December 8-12
American Pageant: Chapter 20, Girding for War
Wartime diplomacy, economic changes in both the North and South, women and the war, issues of civil liberties in wartime
American Pageant: Chapter 21, The Furnace of the Civil War
The Peninsula Campaign, the “Anaconda,” the war in the West, Sherman’s March, Appomattox, the Emancipation Proclamation, the legacy of war in both the North and South
Documents: Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, The Emancipation Proclamation, The Gettysburg Address
American Pageant: Chapter 22, The Ordeal of Reconstruction
The politics and economics of Reconstruction, experiences of freedmen, the rise of the Bourbon South and the fate of Reconstruction, impeachment politics and the balance of power
Documents: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
-No Civil War Test
Week of December 15-19
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, Populism
Documents: Southern defense of Jim Crow, Separate is Equal
-30 min essay
Week of Dec. 23-Jan. 3 (Christmas Break)
American Pageant: Chapters 4 and 5.
Directions to follow.
Week of January 5-9
American Pageant: Chapter 24, Industry Comes of Age
Era of the Robber Barons, the lives of the working classes and the growth of unionism, government and politics of regulation, the United States in the world economy
Documents: Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas, Andrew Carnegie, Wealth
-Chapter 23-24 Test
Week of January 12-16
American Pageant: Chapter 25, America Moves to the City
Urbanization, new waves of immigration, renewed instances of
nativism, cultural life in urban America, the “New Woman,” African-American push for expanded civil rights
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine the role of religion in America through social movements of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. How much or little of a role did religion play in these social movements and is this unique to the United States?
-DBQ #5
Week of January 20-23
American Pageant: Chapter 27, Empire and Expansion
American expansion overseas, a new age of imperialism, The Spanish-American War, the Open Door, America on the world stage
Documents: Alfred T. Mahan, The United States Looking Outward, Theodore Roosevelt, “Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine”
-Chapter 25 and 27 Take Home Test
-Practice AP MC portion
Spring Term
Week of January 27-30
American Pageant: Chapter 28, Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt
Progressive reform and the trusts, demographics of urbanization and the resulting political impact, “Dollar Diplomacy,” environmental issues
Documents: Theodore Roosevelt, “The New Nationalism”, Woodrow Wilson, The Old Order Changeth
-30 min essay
Week of February 2-6
American Pageant: Chapter 29, Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad
Election of 1912, Bull Moose, TR shifts, Defining Progressivism, Lofty goals, diplomatic troubles arise, preview of the great war
Documents: Lord Bryce’s Propaganda report, Pro-Ally Tactics
American Pageant: Chapter 30, The War to End War
War in Europe and war on the home front, propaganda and civil liberties, the politics behind the making of the Treaty of Versailles and its rejection by the U.S. Senate.
Documents: Woodrow Wilson, War Message to Congress, Woodrow Wilson, The Fourteen Points, George Creel Spreads Fear Propaganda, Wilson vs TR, Wilson testifies for Article X
-Chapter 28-30 Test
Week of February 9-12
American Pageant: Chapter 31, American Life in the Roaring Twenties
The “Red Scare” and immigration issues, a mass-consumption economy, the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance, traditionalism versus modernism
Documents: TR preaches Americanism, Cultural Pluralism, Margaret Sanger Campaigns for Birth Control
-DBQ #6
Week of February 17-20
American Pageant: Chapter 32, The Politics of Boom and Bust
Isolationism in the 1920s, foreign debt and diplomacy, the coming of the Great Depression
Documents: Herbert Hoover, “Rugged Individualism”, Roosevelt Indicts Hoover
-Chapter 31-32 Test
Week of February 23-27
American Pageant: Chapter 33, The Great Depression and the New Deal
FDR and “recovery, relief, reform,” demographic changes associated with the Depression, cultural changes in the 1930s, the Supreme Court and the balance of political power in government
Recent scholarship: The nature of the New Deal [CR6]
Documents: Franklin Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, N.L.R.B. versus Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, Hard Times Excerpts
-30 min essay
Week of March 2-6
American Pageant: Chapter 34, FDR and the Shadow of War
Attempts at neutrality and isolation, diplomacy and economics of the prewar years, the move to war following Pearl Harbor.
Documents: TBA
-Chapter 33-34 Test
Week of March 9-13
American Pageant: Chapter 35, America in World War II
The war in Europe and in the Far East, the home front, changes for women and minorities during the war, the decision to use the atomic bomb and its consequences
Documents: Franklin Roosevelt, The Quarantine speech, Franklin Roosevelt, The Four Freedoms speech, The Atlantic Charter
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine America’s history of war and evaluate the political solutions employed to end such conflicts. Reasons between successful and unsuccessful diplomatic efforts. (Theme 12: War and Diplomacy)
-DBQ #7
Week of March 16-20
American Pageant: Chapter 36, The Cold War Begins
Postwar prosperity and the Baby Boom, communism and containment, diplomacy and the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, the Red Scare, the United States as a world power
Recent scholarship: The origins of the Cold War
Documents: George Kennan, Sources of Soviet Conduct, William Faulkner, Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Prize
American Pageant: Chapter 37, The Eisenhower Era
Consumer culture in the 1950s, the civil rights revolution, McCarthyism, Cold War expansion, the space race, postwar literature and culture
Documents: Senator Speaks up, Newton Minnow’s “Vast Wasteland”
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine the effects of technology on our economy through the invention of the Television. (Theme 5: Economic transformations)
-Chapter 35-37 Test
Week of March 23-27
American Pageant: Chapter 38, The Stormy Sixties
The Cold War continues, expansion of the war in Vietnam, the civil rights revolution and evolution, Johnson and the Great Society, immigration and demographic changes
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Evaluate four specific reform movements throughout American History and which ultimately left the largest impact/change on society. Also, predict what the next big movement will be and when. (Theme 9: Reform)
-30 min essay
Week of March 31 - April 2
American Pageant: Chapter 39, The Stalemated Seventies
Rise of conservatism, economic stagnation, crisis over presidential power, environmental issues, feminism and the women’s movement, civil rights and affirmative action, foreign policy and the issue of oil
Documents: John Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream” speech, Lyndon Johnson, “The Great Society” speech
THINKING COPNCEPTUALLY: How did the Beatniks of the 1960’s open the door for cultural expression of the 1970’s? (Theme 3: Culture)
-Chapter 38-39 Test
Week of April 13-17
American Pageant: Chapter 40, The Resurgence of Conservatism
Reagan and the “New Right,” the end of the Cold War, Reaganomics, politics and the Supreme Court, globalization, war and diplomacy in the Middle East
Documents: NOW Statement of Purpose, Lyndon Johnson “The Power of the Media”, Edward R, Murrow, “Television and Politics”, Roe versus Wade, Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Addresses 1981, 1985
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine the use and abuse of the Great Lakes during the 20th century and the legislation that protects these waters. (Theme 6: Environment)
-DBQ #8
Week of April 20-24
American Pageant: Chapter 41, American Confronts the Post-Cold War Era
World Trade Center and America post-9/11, Republican Contract with America
Documents: George W. Bush, Joint Session of Congress, September 2001, Rudy Giuliani, Farewell Address, 2001
THINKING CONCEPTUALLY: Examine what characteristics make up an “American” and how these characteristics changed from the 18th Century to the 21st Century. (Theme 2: American Identity)
-Chapter 40-41 Test
April 27-May 1: Full Practice AP Exam
May 4-7: Comprehensive Review Sessions
FRIDAY MAY 8TH: AP United States History Exam $91 FEE
Free-Response Questions
The following is a list of FRQ topics/questions that you will answer throughout the year. Many are taken from past AP US History exams. These responses will focus on both analytical and interpretive aspects of US History. They are presented here by era.
II. American Revolution – Early Republic 1776 – 1800
1. During the seventeenth and increasingly in the eighteenth century, British colonists in America charged Great Britain with violating the ideals of rule of law, self government, and, ultimately, equality of rights. Yet the colonists themselves violated these ideals in their treatment of blacks, Native
Americans, and even poorer classes of white settlers. Assess the validity of this view.
2. Despite the view of some historians that the conflict between Great Britain and its thirteen North American colonies was economic in origin, in fact the American Revolution had its roots in politics and other areas of American life. Assess the validity of this statement.
III. Jeffersonian Democracy 1800 – 1825
1. The achievements of Generals are in the long run more decisive than the achievements of diplomats. Assess the validity of this generalization for the U.S. in the period 1800 – 1825.
2. Early United States foreign policy was primarily a defensive reaction to perceived or actual threats from Europe. Assess the validity of this generalization with reference to United States foreign policy on TWO major issues during the period from 1789 – 1825.
IV. Jackson and American Life 1825 – 1860
1. In what ways did the early nineteenth –century reform movements for abolition and women’s rights illustrate both the strengths and weaknesses of democracy in the early American republic?
2. Developments in transportation, rather than in manufacturing and agriculture, sparked American economic growth in the first half of the nineteenth century. Assess the validity of this statement.
V. Manifest Destiny 1840 –1860
1. Compare the expansionist foreign policies of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James K. Polk. To what extent did their policies strengthen the United States?
2. Discuss the impact of territorial expansion on national unity between 1800 and 1850.
VI. Slavery and Pre Civil War Issues 1840 – 1860
1. Why did the institution of slavery command the loyalty of the vast majority of ante-bellum whites, despite the fact that only a small percentage of them owned slaves?
2. Throughout our history, the Supreme Court has acted as a partisan political body rather than a neutral arbiter of constitutional principles. Assess the validity of this generalization for the period 1800 – 1860.
VII. Civil War and Reconstruction 1860 – 1877
1. The South never had a chance to win the Civil War. To what extent, and why, do you agree or disagree with this statement?
2. Discuss the political, economic, and social reforms introduced in the South between1864 and 1877. To what extent did these reforms survive the Compromise of 1877?
VIII. Agricultural and Industrial America 1865 – 1900
1. Popular fascination with the cowboy, the pioneer, and stories of Horatio Alger in the period 1870 to 1915 reflected America’s uneasiness of transition from an agrarian to an industrial society. Assess the validity of this statement.
2. Ironically, popular belief in the “self-sufficient farmer” and the “self-made man “increased during the nineteenth century as the reality behind these beliefs faded. Assess the validity of this statement.
IX. Intellectual, Cultural and Social Trends 1860 – 1900
1. From the 1840’s through the 1890’s, women’s activities in the intellectual, social, economic and political spheres effectively challenged traditional attitudes about women’s place in society. Assess the validity of this statement.
2. Assess the changing status of Blacks between emancipation and the end of the nineteenth century.
X. Politics 1877 –1900
1. Did the Republican Party from 1877 –1896 abandon its earlier principles and succumb to expediency?
2. Political movements in the U.S. often reflect a yearning for the past. Assess the validity of this statement in reference to the Populists.
XI. Expansionism 1890’s – 1914
1. How and why did the Monroe Doctrine become the cornerstone of United States foreign policy by the late nineteenth century?
2. Compare the debates that took place over American expansionism in the 1840’s with those that took place in the 1890’s, analyzing the similarities and differences in the debates of the two eras.
XII. The Progressives 1900 –1920
1. Analyze and evaluate Booker T. Washington’s program for American Blacks and W.E.B. DuBois’s challenge to that program.
2. Discuss the development of the women’s suffrage movement and account for its success.
XIII. World War I 1914 – 1920
1. The U.S. in the period 1898-1919 failed to recognize that it had vital interests at stake in Europe, where it tried to stay aloof. At the same time, it had fewer or no such interests in Asia, where it eagerly became involved. Assess the validity of this generalization.
2. The United States entered the First World War not “to make the world safe for democracy” as President Wilson claimed, but to safeguard American economic interests. Assess the validity of this statement.
XIV. The 1920’s
1. Alienation from American society is a dominant theme of the literature of the1920’s. Discuss this statement with reference to TWO writers (novelists, poets, playwrights, journalists, etc.) citing evidence from their works.
2. The 1920’s witnesses an assault by rural and small town America on Urban America. Assess the validity of this generalization.
XV. The New Deal 1932 - 1945
1. How do you account for the onset of the Great Depression of the 1930’s?
2. Account for the increased urbanization of Black Americans in the period 1914 to1945.
XVI. Isolationism and War 1921 - 1945
1. President Franklin Roosevelt was naïve and ineffective in his conduct of foreign policy from 1933 and 1941. To what extent and in what ways do you agree or disagree with this statement.
2. Prior to American involvement in both the First and Second World Wars, the United States adopted an official policy of neutrality. Compare the policy and its modifications during the period 1914-17 to the policy and its modifications during1939-41.
XVII. Postwar Years 1945 -1960
1. Discuss the changing attitudes of historians towards the origins of the Cold War.
2. Harry S. Truman was a realistic, pragmatic President who skillfully led the American people against the menace posed by the Soviet Union. Assess the validity of this generalization for President Truman’s foreign policy.
XVIII. 1960’s to the Present
1. Presidents who have been notably successful in either foreign affairs or domestic affairs have seldom been notably successful in both. Assess this statement with reference to TWO presidents, on in the nineteenth century, and the other in the twentieth century, giving reasons for success or failure in each case.
2. “Hawks” and “doves” have disagreed on United States involvement in wars since the inception of the nation. Compare the “hawk” to the “dove” position for both a war of the nineteenth century and a war of the twentieth century
TEST MAKE UP
Section
Question Type
Number of Questions
Timing
% of Total Exam Score
I
Part A: Multiple Choice questions
55 questions
55 minutes
40%
I
Part B: Short Answer questions
4 questions
45 minutes
20%
II
Part A: DBQ
1 question
60 minutes
25%
II
Part B: Long Essay question
1 question (choose from a pair
35 minutes
15%
Time Allotment
Historical Period
Date Range
Percentage of Instructional Time
Percentage of AP Exam
1
1491-1607
5%
5%
2
1607-1754
10%
3
1754-1800
12%
4
1800-1848
10%
45%
5
1844-1877
13%
6
1865-1898
13%
7
1890-1945
17%
45%
8
1945-1980
15%
9
1980-Present
5%
5%