Course Description:

Hayden White reminds us, history has a subjective dimension—historians construct claims, create narratives, interpret facts, build cases, possess agendas, have pre-dispositions. History is much more interesting than students sometimes think.

 

 

History is basically a study of the people who have come before us. A course of this nature attempts to analyze and to interpret those people and the events that shaped their lives. An understanding of history can give a long-range perspective to your life without which it might be impossible to be truly human. Also, history partially reveals the nature of individual persons and of human societies-their strengths and weaknesses, humanity and inhumanity, rationality and irrationality, progress and regression, etc. It may even suggest something about the ultimate meaning of life itself. A study of history also gives us information about how people who experienced life before our time tried to solve problems that confronted their societies. Some of these problems continue to plague humankind today. Examining the problems of the past and the attempts to solve them offers possible suggestions for solving the problems of the present. United States History I Honors is the study of American history within the scope of world affairs. From the earliest colonial times, the United States has been influenced by the events, people, and forms of government in other nations – and America has influenced world affairs. Students journey through the past examining the development of American government, struggles to maintain life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, economic collapse and recovery, the Constitution as a living – growing document, through the social and political changes of America at the turn of the 20th century.This course will cover the political, social, and economic development of the United States from the earliest explorations through the First World War, including colonial settlements, the formation of the Republic, the growth of nationalism, territorial expansion, the development of sectionalism, the Civil War, Reconstruction, industrialization, imperialism, and Progressivism, and America’s role in World War I.

 

Course Outline:

Quarter 1:Founding the New Nation (New World Beginnings to 1754)

Quarter 2: Building the New Nation (1754- 1848)

Quarter 3: Testing the New Nation (1844- 1877)

Quarter 4: Forging an Industrial Society (1865- 1896)