AP US History Syllabus

 

Coach Gregory

Neville High School

Room 514

1st, 4th, & 5th Periods

 

 

 

 

 

Unit 7- Trans-Mississippi West, Industrialism, and The Gilded Age: two weeks

 

 

 

Chapter 18: Conquest and Survival: The Trans-Mississippi West

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. The varied and vibrant ethnic and racial cultures that characterized the American West &

 

how whites enforced their dominant role by the latter part of the 19th century.

 

2. The transformation of the far West from a sparsely populated region of Indians and

 

various early settlers of European and Asian background into a part of the nation's capitalistic economy.

 

3. The closing of the frontier as Indian resistance was eliminated, miners and cowboys

 

spearheaded settlements, and railroads opened the area for intensive development.

 

4. The development of mining, ranching, and commercial farming as the three major

 

industries of the West.

 

5. The problems faced by farmers as the agricultural sector entered a relative decline.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 18 of primary text, Out of Many, The Homestead Act, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments, Activities and Assessments

 

1. Chart-Identify similarities & differences of life in the mining, farming, & cattle frontiers.

 

2. Examine the various policies governing the Plains Indians and their long-rang effect on

 

the Native Americans.

 

3. "Analyze the ways in which technology, government policy, and economic conditions         changed American agriculture between 1865-1900?" (2007 DBQ)

 

 

 

Chapter 19: Incorporation of America

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. How various factors (raw materials, labor supply, technology, business organization,

 

growing markets, & friendly governments) combined to thrust the U.S. into worldwide industrial leadership.

 

2. How this explosion of industrial capitalism was both extolled for its accomplishments

 

and attacked for its excesses.

 

3. How American workers, who on the average benefited, reacted to the physical and

 

psychological realities of the new economic order.

 

4. How labor changed with the emergence of labor unions: Knights of Labor, AFL

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 19 of primary text, Out of Many, Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth, Sumner’s What the Social Classes Owe to Each Other, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments, activities, and assessments

 

1. The emergence of Industrial America (The Center for Learning: explain the significance

 

of factors responsible for American industrialism, divide factors into categories, and

 

write thesis statement to account for the U.S. becoming the foremost industrial power in

 

the world by 1900)

 

2. Strikes or Riots Chart (Duke)

 

3. The Growing Economic Crisis or the Late 19th Century-document analysis (The Center

 

for Learning)

 

4. Activity: Class debate – Social Darwinism vs. Social Gospel: which is more accepted in modern     times?  Have groups analyze the differing views and make the arguments relating to modern         standards of acceptance.  (CUL)

 

5. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test – chapters 18-19

 

 

 

 

 

Unit 8- Imperialism and Progressivism: three weeks

 

 

 

Chapter 20: Commonwealth and Empire

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. How evenly balanced the Democratic and Republican parties were during the late 19th

 

century, and how this balance flowed from differing regions and socioeconomic bases.

 

2. The inability of the political system to respond effectively to the nation's rapid social and

 

economic changes.

 

3. How the troubled agrarian sector mounted a powerful but unsuccessful challenge to the

 

new directions of American industrial capitalism, and how this confrontation came to a head during the crisis of the 1890s – The Rise of the Populists.

 

4. Why Americans turned from the old continental concept of Manifest Destiny to a new,

 

worldwide expansionism.

 

5. That the U.S. assumed a much more assertive and interventionist foreign policy,

 

      especially toward the Caribbean region.

 

6. How the Spanish-American War served as the catalyst to transform imperialist stirrings

 

into a full-fledged empire.

 

7. How the nation had to make attitudinal, political, and military adjustments to its new role

 

as a major world power.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 20 of primary text, Out of Many, Bryan’s Cross of Gold, Kipling’s White Man’s Burden, examples of Yellow Journalism, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments, Activities, and Assessments

 

1. 1870-1900 Chart: Economy, Demographics, population, and foreign/diplomatic policy

 

2. Political Party Platform positions-comparisons (Duke)

 

3. Analyze the reasons for the emergence of the Populist Movement in the late 19th century. (1995 FRQ)

 

4. Researching the causes of the Spanish-American War (The Center for Learning:

 

Description of events and their significance as a cause of war)

 

5. A Policy for a New Age-documents analysis to understand how the role of the U.S. in

 

world affairs changed in the early 20th century. (The Center for Learning)

 

6. Compare T. Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson's foreign/diplomatic policies. Which president       was the most imperialistic?  What were the long-range effects of these foreign policies on           American diplomacy.  Students participate in class debate on research results. (WOR)

 

7. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test – chapter 20

 

 

 

Chapter 21: Urban America and the Progressive Era

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. How progressivism was a reaction to the rapid industrialization and urbanization of the

 

United States in the late 19th century and how all progressives shared an optimistic vision            that an active government could solve problems and create an efficient, ordered society.

 

2. How the social and economic lure of the city attracted foreign and domestic migrants,

 

and how these newcomers adjusted to urban life.

 

3. How rapid urban growth forced adaptations to severe problems of government

 

mismanagement, poverty, inadequate housing, & precarious health and safety conditions.

 

4. How the urban environment served as the locus for new philosophical ideas, fresh

 

approaches to education, rapid expansion in journalism, and a new consumerism.

 

5. How the new order of urban culture inspired serious writers and artists to render realistic

 

portrayals of the seamy side of city life, while many middle- and upper-class Americans were engaging in expanded forms of leisure and entertainment.

 

6. How temperance, immigration restriction, and women's suffrage movements took on

 

crusade-like aspects.

 

7. How Theodore Roosevelt's leadership helped fashion a new expanded role for the

 

national government.

 

8. That politics during the administration of Taft showed that most of the nation desired a

 

more progressive approach.

 

9. How the administration of Wilson embodied both conservative & progressive features.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 21 of primary text, Out of Many, "Hull House", Sinclair’s The Jungle, Riis’ How the Other Half Lives, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments, Activities and Assessments

 

1. Arts in the Gilded Age (The Center for Learning: authors, architects, and artists)

 

2. Progressivism-Liberal Reform or Conservative Reaction? Chart: National, State, and

 

local legislation in the areas of political, economic, or social reform.

 

3. Class research project – compare rivalry between DuBois and Washington    to the rivalry of M.L. King other black leaders in the 1960’s.

 

4. Compare T. Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson's domestic policies. Which president was the

 

most progressive?

 

5. "The Progressive Era was generally ineffective because the movement tended to

 

encompass too many social problems of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Compose

 

      an argument in which you agree or disagree." (DBQ)

 

6. Multiple Choice Test-chapter 21

 

 

 

Unit 9- War and Prosperity: two weeks

 

 

 

Chapter 22: World War I

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. How the United States, which had leaned toward the Allies since the outbreak of World

 

War I, was eventually drawn into full participation in the war.

 

2. That the American intervention on land and sea provided the balance of victory for the

 

beleaguered Allied forces.

 

3. How the Wilson administration financed the war, managed the economy, and encouraged

 

public support of the war effort.

 

4. That Woodrow Wilson tried to apply his lofty war aims to the realities of world politics

 

and that he substantially failed.

 

5. That the American war effort had profound economic, social, and racial significance on      the nation and world for the remainder of history.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 22 of primary text, Out of Many, House-Grey Memorandum, 1915-1916, Zimmerman Note, Wislon’s War Declaration, Brief of Schenck v. US, Fourteen Points, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree,and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments, Activities and Assessments

 

1. Argue pro and anti-war sentiment and whether Espionage Act was justified.  Compare the act to previous and future suppressions of 1^st Amendment rights.

 

2. WWI Chart analysis – Comparison of Eastern and Western Fronts

 

3. Class project: recreate the Versailles Treaty 14 Points to make the US ratify it and   create lasting world peace. Examine how America could have played a major role in             the League Of Nations and possibly preventing WWII, had it joined. (WOR)

 

4. To what extent did the U.S. achieve the objectives that led it to enter the First World

 

War? (2000 FRQ)

 

5. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test -chapter 22

 

Chapter 23: The Twenties

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. How automobile boom & new technology led to the economic expansion of the 1920s.

 

2. That most workers and farmers failed to share equitably in the decade's prosperity.

 

3. How a nationwide consumer-oriented culture began to shape society and how the "new

 

woman" emerged.

 

4. How the changing society disenchanted some artists and intellectuals and led to broad

 

cultural conflict over ethnic and religious concerns.

 

5. That Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, despite their dissimilar personalities, presided

 

over ardently pro-business administrations.

 

6. How certain groups and organizations went to great lengths to limit modernity

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 23 of primary text, Out of Many,Brief of Scopes Monkey Trial,Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments, Activities and Assessments

 

1. The Literature of the 1920s-analyze as reflections of the decade (The Center for

 

Learning)

 

2. Research Reports on the Twenties-topics include: politics & government, economics,

 

cultural clashes, diplomacy & foreign affairs, and mass culture (The Center for Learning)

 

3. Class project: recreate the arguments of the Scopes Monkey Trial to fit modern agruments. Analyze how times would create a very different outcome. (CUL)

 

4. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test -chapter 23

 

 

 

Unit 10- Depression and War: three weeks

 

 

 

Chapter 24: The Great Depression and the New Deal

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. How weaknesses underlying the apparent prosperity of the 1920s led to the Great

 

Depression, & how the stock market crash touched it off in the U.S. & around the world.

 

2. That neither the efforts of local & private relief agencies nor the early volunteerism of

 

Hoover were able to halt the spiral of rising unemployment & declining production.

 

3. How the economic pressures of the depression affected the American people, especially

 

minorities.

 

4. How the misery of those affected by the depression swept FDR into the presidency.

 

5. How FDR, although limited by his basically traditional economic views, pushed through

 

programs of economic planning and depression relief.

 

6. How popular protests against New Deal policies from rightists, leftists, and those who

 

defied categorization inspired Roosevelt to launch the Second New Deal.

 

7. That, despite Roosevelt's overwhelming reelection in 1936, the New Deal was virtually

 

moribund by 1938, thanks to increasing conservative opposition, his own political blunders, and continued hard times.

 

8. That the New Deal helped give rise to a new role for the national government as a

 

"broker state" among various organized interests.

 

9. How the Dust Bowl added insult to injury.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 25 of primary text, Out Of Many, Roosevelt’s 1^st Inaugural Address, excerpts from Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints, The Great Depression and the New Deal: Legislative Acts in Their Entirety (1932-1933 and Statistical Economic Data),  

 

 

 

 

 

Major Assignments, Activities and Assessments

 

1. The Causes of the Great Depression-ranking possible causes. Write a thesis statement

 

showing how your 3 or 4 most important causes are related. (The Center for Learning)

 

2. On what causes of the Depression did President Hoover place emphasis? How did that shape his response? (FRQ)

 

3. Chart of New Deal Programs-classify programs using "Relief, Recovery, and Reform"

 

4. Activity: Class debate – compare governmental responses to the Great Depression and the 2007-2008 recession.  Divide class into four groups, researching the reactions and non-      reactions of the government in both periods and create arguments of whether they were            effective, justified, and necessary. (POL)

 

5. "Analyze the responses of FDR’s administration to the problems of the Great           Depression. How effective were these responses?  How did they change the role of the    federal government?” (2003 DBQ)

 

6. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test - Chapter 24

 

 

 

Chapter 25: World War II

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. In the 1920s, the U.S. tried to increase its role in world affairs, especially economically,

 

while avoiding commitments.

 

2. How America, in the face of growing world crises in the 1930s, turned increasingly

 

toward isolationism and legislated neutrality.

 

3. How war in Europe and Asia gradually drew the U.S. closer and closer to war until the

 

attack on Pearl Harbor finally sparked American entry into World War II.

 

4. That the vast productive capacity of the U.S. was the key to the defeat of the Axis.

 

5. That the war had a profound effect on the home front.

 

6. How three major western offensives combined with an ongoing Russian effort to defeat

 

Germany.

 

7. How sea power contained the Japanese, and how Allied forces moved steadily closer to

 

      Japan and prepared for an invasion until the atomic bomb ended the war.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 25 of primary text, Out of Many, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments and assessments

 

1. Construct a timeline of U.S. foreign policy decisions from the Washington Conference of

 

1921 to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Assess the claims of isolationism and neutrality.

 

2. Students will write an essay comparing Wilson's Neutrality document to George

 

Washington's, and discuss the changes, if any, in the context in which the U.S. foreign policy was made.

 

3. WWII war chart-March to Victory

 

4. Statistical study – compare estimated costs and casualties of a mainland invasion of Japan and the listed costs and casualties of the atomic bomb attacks on Japan and conclude whether Truman was justified in his decision to use the bombs.

 

5. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test - Chapter 25

 

 

 

Unit 11- The Cold War, Prosperity, and Liberalism: five weeks

 

 

 

Chapter 26: The Cold War 1945-1952

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. How a legacy of mistrust between the U.S. and the USSR combined with the events of

 

World War II to cause the Cold War.

 

2. How policy of containment led to increasing US involvement in crises around the world.

 

3. How World War II ended the depression and ushered in an era of nervous prosperity.

 

4. That the turbulent postwar era climaxed in a period of hysterical anti-communism.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 26 of primary text, Out of Many, Presidential Address to Congress, March 12, 1947,     transcripts of HUAC and the McCarthy Hearings, NSC-68, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments and assessments

 

1. Analyze Allied cooperation during WW II to form generalizations about the Cold War

 

origins-Allied Conferences from 1941 to 1945 (The Center for Learning)

 

2. Evaluate the wisdom of the Truman Doctrine. (The Center for Learning)

 

3. Activity: Chart post-WWII U.S. foreign/diplomatic policy- i.e. Czechoslovakia, Blockade   of West Berlin, China's fall to communism, & North Korea's invasion of South Korea. Make          cultural and geographic connections about where these events took place and what people   were involved. (EVI)

 

4. DBQ- "How effective was U.S. foreign policy during the period of 1945-1963 in

 

combating Communist aggression in Europe and Asia?"

 

 

 

Chapter 27: America at Midcentury

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. That the technological, consumer-oriented society of the 1950s was remarkably affluent

 

and unified despite the persistence of a less privileged underclass and the existence of a small corps of detractors.  

 

2. How President Eisenhower presided over a business-oriented "dynamic conservatism"

 

that resisted most new reforms without significantly rolling back the activist government programs born in the 1930s.

 

3. How containment and the U. S. preoccupation with communism led the nation to use

 

military force against leftist nationalist movements in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and, most disastrously, Vietnam.

 

4. While Eisenhower continued to allow containment by building alliances, supporting anti-

 

communist regimes, maintaining the arms race, & conducting limited interventions, he

 

also showed an awareness of American limitations & resisted temptations for greater commitments.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 27 of primary text, Out of Many, Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, White House transcripts of Bay of Pigs Invasion, Nelson’s The Evolving Presidency – Kennedy’s Letter to Soviet Premier Khrushchev, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments Activities and Assessments

 

1. Analyze similarities and differences of the post-war economies and cultures following of    the 1920’s and 1950’s. (FRQ)

 

2. Assess the long-term effects of Truman’s and Eisenhower’s policies of Global influence      versus Wilson’s policy of Isolationism.

 

3. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test – chapters 26-27

 

 

 

Chapter 28: The Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1966

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. How the Supreme Court's school desegregation decision of 1954 marked the beginning of

 

      a civil rights revolution for African Americans

 

2. How Lyndon Johnson used the legacy of John Kennedy plus his own political skill to

 

erect his Great Society and fight the war on poverty with programs for health, education, job training, and urban development.

 

 

 

3. How the civil-rights movement finally generated enough sympathy among whites to

 

accomplish the legal end of segregation, but the persistence of racism gave rise to the black power philosophy and left many problems unsolved.

 

4. How other minority groups benefitted from the Civil Rights Movement.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 28 of primary text, Out of Many, Brief of Brown v. Board of Education, King’s Letters from a Birmingham Jail & I Have a Dream and other speeches, excerpts from Civil Rights Act of 1964 & Voting Rights Act of 1965, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments, Activities and Assessments

 

1. Chart the accomplishments of the New Frontier and the Great Society

 

2. Timeline of the Civil Rights movement

 

3. Class research: students research and present findings on how relationships between races and cultures morphed into a more uniquely American identity as compared to different time periods in history. (ID)

 

4. Analysis of the Brown Decision-Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution

 

5. Evaluate the effectiveness of civil disobedience and social agitation in accomplishing the    goals of the early Civil Rights Movement. Did they turn on or turn off the movement’s    opponents? (FRQ)

 

6. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test-chapters 28

 

 

 

Chapter 29: War at Home, War Abroad

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. How and why Johnson escalated the Vietnam War following the Gulf of Tokin Incident.

 

2. How Johnson lost credibility over Vietnam, helping end his presidency.

 

3. How Nixon gradually reduced the American ground forces in Vietnam, but increased the

 

air war as he & Kissinger sought peace with honor, which turned out to be nothing more

 

than a way for the U.S. to leave the war with a decent interval before North Vietnam's victory.

 

4. That Nixon and Kissinger believed that stability in a "multipolar" world could be

 

achieved only by having the U.S. forge a bold new relationship with China and, at the

 

same time, seek a detente with the Soviet Union through grain sales and arms reductions.

 

5. How 1968 became a critical year for American liberalism.

 

6. How the struggle for Civil Rights splintered in its philosophy and approach amongst its       various leaders and by region.

 

7. How movements by youth, ethnic minorities, and women challenged social norms.

 

8. That Nixon's inconsistent economic policies failed to solve "stagflation," which was as

 

much international as domestic in origin.

 

9. How Nixon's fear of opposition & assumption that his own fortunes were identical to

 

those of the nation led to his downfall through the scandals collectively known as Watergate.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 29 of primary text, Out of Many, excerpts from Autobiography of Malcolm X, excerpts from All the President's Men, Nelson’s Evolving Presidency – Articles of Impeachment against Richard Nixon, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments, Activities and Assessments

 

1. Comparison of the Korean War and the Vietnam War and the foreign/diplomatic

 

      decisions, which led to U.S. involvement.

 

2. Class project – create a compromise between the Non-Violent Movement and Militant        Movement to create a unified approach to the broader Civil Rights Movement. (ID)

 

 

 

3. Cultural movements of the 1970s-feminism, anti-war, Indian, environmentalism. Identify

 

key players, actions, and accomplishments

 

4. "Assess The Crimes of Richard Nixon" to understand the forced resignation of President

 

Nixon. (The Center for Learning)

 

5. Analyze the ways in which the Vietnam War heightened social, political, and

 

      economic tensions in the United States. (2008 DBQ)

 

6. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test – chapter 29

 

 

 

Unit 12 – Modern America since 1974: two weeks

 

 

 

Chapter 30: The Conservative Ascendancy, 1974-1987

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1.. How the environment became an issue in American life.

 

2. That Nixon's efforts to build a policy of less federal dominance of the states and more

 

      respect for traditional values reaped more political gain than practical result.

 

3. That Ford managed to restore confidence in the presidency but remained unable to make

 

significant breakthroughs in solving the nation's international & economic problems.

 

4. That the difficult problems faced by Carter, including a sluggish economy, an energy

 

crunch, & a Middle Eastern crisis, combined with his leadership style to ensure that he would be a one-term president.

 

5. That Reagan's personality soothed Americans & his brand of conservatism struck a

 

responsive chord as he moved toward a reduced role for government in the economy and an increased emphasis on the military.

 

6. How the New Right challenged the liberal-moderate consensus that had dominated

 

American politics since the New Deal.

 

7. How the fall of the Soviet Union altered America's foreign policy and domestic goals,

 

and the new problems and issues that emerged in the post-Cold War era. Required Readings

 

Chapter 30 of primary text, Out of Many, Brief of Roe v. Wade, White House transcripts of Iranian          Hostage Crisis, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments, Activities and Assessments:

 

1. Assessment of President Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon

 

2. Timeline of the Iranian Hostage Crisis and the diplomatic decisions of President Carter

 

3. Assessment of the success of Reagan and the reasons for his conservative policies.

 

4. To which president of the 20^th century would Reagan most closely compare and why? (FRQ)

 

5. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test - chapter 30

 

 

 

Chapter 31: Toward a Transitional America, since 1988

 

Key Discussion Topics

 

1. That during this period a technology-driven, global economy emerged to shape relations

 

between nations.

 

2. How Bill Clinton won the presidency by focusing on the economy, and though the

 

Republican Party rebounded in 1994, Clinton was reelected in 1996.

 

3. How the 1990s was both an era of intense party partisanship & rapid economic

 

expansion.

 

4. That fundamental changes in the economy led to significant changes in lifestyle and

 

expectations for middle-class Americans.

 

5. That America was becoming more ethnically diverse, due to the changes in immigration

 

after 1965 and the high birth rates of Hispanic residents.

 

 

 

6. That the civil rights movement, affirmative action, and other liberal reforms had left a

 

legacy of improved opportunities for educated, middle-class African Americans but that the urban African American underclass seemed even worse off than before.

 

7. That the nation faced a rising number of seemingly intractable social problems, including

 

drug addiction, AIDS, environmental hazards, and a deprived underclass.

 

8. That some Americans came to believe that defining an American "culture" and its values

 

was the most important problem facing the nation.

 

9. That while globalization had advantages, it also had its perils, and ancient conflicts began

 

to involve more people and more nations.

 

Required Readings

 

Chapter 31 of primary text, Out of Many, Brinkley's Where Historians Disagree, and/or Historical Viewpoints

 

Major Assignments, Activities and Assessments

 

1. Research paper-topic from Key Discussion Topics

 

2. Looking at statistical economic data about employment, compensation, and household

 

data broken down by race, gender, and education from the 1970's to 2010, each student

 

will write an essay that makes an argument about whether or not the American Dream existed.

 

3. Analyze the similarities of the 1991 Gulf War and the Global War on Terror.

 

4. Multiple Choice and Short Answer test - chapter 31

 

 

 

Remaining time will be spent in review for the AP Exam.