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Advanced Placement United States History 2016-2017

Course: Advanced Placement United States History

School: Maspeth High SchoolMaspeth, NY 11373

School Code: 24Q585

Principal: Kurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir

AP Social Studies: Mr. Nicholas Scales

Teacher: Mr. Nicholas ScalesE-mail: [email protected]

School Year: 2016-2017

mailto:[email protected]


Program:AP United States History will be taught to 11th Grade students who are fulfilling a one year requirement of the study of United States history, beginning with pre-Columbian societies and ending with the present day.

Course Description:The Advanced Placement program in United States History is designed to provide students with the analytical skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in U.S. history. Students should learn to assess historical materials, including their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability and their importance in an effort to weight the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. This advanced placement U.S. history course develops the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment and to present ideas clearly and persuasively. As much as possible, the AP course is taught by college format, emphasizing lectures and essay examinations.

The course is designed to allow students to develop a greater understanding of nation’s rich history including, but not limited to: its diverse populations and societies, the importance of religion, the evolutionary process of shaping our national identity, cultural, demographic and economic transformations, foreign and domestic policies, and the evolutionary process of adaptability in the continuous process of meeting the needs of our citizens and society. The AP U.S. History course is divided into 28 focus areas and will be approached by analyzing and interpreting both primary and secondary sources. Throughout the course students should have a sense of multiple causation and change over time; in addition to comparing developments and trends from one period to another.

Supplemental Readings:

Zinn, H. A Peoples History of the United States: 1492 - Present. New York: Harper Collins, 2005

Rohatyn, F. Bold Endeavors: How our government built America, and why it must rebuild now. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009

Foner, E. Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History. 2nd Edition, Volumes 1 & 2,New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008

In addition, primary sources provided throughout the textbook will be utilized/analyzed, as well as primary sources from numerous College Board recommended/suggested websites.


Current Events:Understanding and connecting our country’s history to the events our nation faces today is an essential component of recognizing change and continuation over time, as well as comparing developments and trends from one period to another. As such, students will be required to choose one current event article each week and analyze that article in relation to the various themes in the study of Advanced Placement United States History. Students will then construct visual interpretations of these current events as they connect to events in our nation’s history. Finally, students will choose one theme in United States history, and using their articles and research organize a project research paper that accounts for the similarities, differences, continuities and changes in trends and perspectives within that theme.

A list of approvable source for articles will be provided by the teacher. Students will keep these summaries in a portfolio and will become part of their project grade.

In addition, students will construct an evolving introspective paper using Rohatyn’s Bold Endeavors. Students will evaluate the history of our nation’s various opportunities and policies to invest federal money into projects in an effort to perpetuate national progress and, to what extent are similar possibilities currently available to our nation. Examples include the Erie Canal, the Homestead Act, The Panama Canal, and the GI Bill, among others.

Methodology/Teaching Strategies:

1. Lecture/discussion/briefings2. Pair/Share/Group assignments/Presentation3. Debates and Round Tables4. Computer workshops/Power Point presentations5. Films/Documentaries6. Analysis of various forms of art, political cartoons, images, maps, charts, and statistics.

Methods of Evaluation:

1. Exams 25% - this includes AP format multiple choice and free response questions (Quizzes, Unit exams, Mid-year exam, and the final exam (AP released exam).

2. Independent Work 20% - homework, documents, outlines, and assigned readings.3. Essays 25% - students will be assigned one free response essay (AP format) per week which

addresses comparisons or continuities and change over time.4. Projects 15% - this includes the current events project, the portfolio of all of their articles and

analyses, and all other projects (both individual and group-based) assigned throughout the fall and spring semesters.

5. Class discussion 15% – participation through round tables, question and answer sessions, and daily active engagement in lessons and presentations.

Course Planner:


The course will be taught throughout the fall and spring semester with approximately 30 weeks devoted to instruction and review.

COURSE OUTLINE/UNITS OF STUDY

UNIT I: (10 DAYS)Pre-Columbian Societies, Transatlantic Encounters, & Colonial America

TEXTBOOK READING:Out of Many – Chapters 1 - 5

ADDITIONAL/SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS & PRIMARY SOURCES: (Supp) A People’s History: chapters 1-3 (Primary) “Encountering Native Americans” (1524) Giovanni da Verrazano (Primary) Bartolome’ de las Casas on Spanish Treatment of the Indians (1528) (Primary) Sending Women to Virginia (1622) (Primary) “A Model of Christian Charity” (1630) John Winthrop (Primary) The Trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637) (Primary) “A Jesuit Priest Describes New Amsterdam” (1642) Isaac Jogues (Primary) Maryland Act Concerning Religion (1644) (Primary) “The Importance of Tobacco” (1660) George Alsop (Primary) Nathaniel Bacon on Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) (Primary) The Pueblo Revolt (1680) (Primary) “The Stono Rebellion” (1739) James Oglethorpe (Primary) “The Passage of Indentured Servants” (1750) Gottlieb Mittelberger (Primary) Complaint of an Indentured Servant (1756) (Primary) Women in the Household Economy (1709) (Primary) The Trial of John Peter Zenger (1735)

THEMES/GUIDELINES ADDRESSED: (1, 2, 3)American Diversity, Slavery and its legacies, Religion, Roots of American Identity

Discovery and Settlement in the New World (1492-1650) o Europe and the 16th century, Spanish, English and French exploration, first English

settlements in Jamestown and Plymouth, Spanish and French settlements and long term influence, American Indians.

America and the British Empire (1650-1754) o Chesapeake country, growth of New England, Restoration colonies, mercantilism; the

Dominion of England, origins of slavery. Resistance to colonial authority: Bacon’s Rebellion, Pueblo Revolt.

Colonial Society in the Mid-18 th century o Social structure in family, farm and town life, including the plantation economies and

slave societies, and the Backcountry. o Culture, including the decline in religious devotion and the Great Awakening, politics of

revivalism, the Enlightenment, religious diversity; and new immigrants.


LECTURE/DISCUSSION/GUIDING QUESTIONS: How did the settlement of English colonies give rise to the unique economic, political and social

condition that defined an emerging American Identity? Connecting today – does where you live affect how you live?

How did the need for labor in the colonies give rise to chattel African slavery? What role did “unfree” labor play in colonial American society?

Was religion a unifying or a dividing force – or was it both? To what extent and why did religious toleration increase in the American colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries?

How did the interaction between European and Native American people transform both groups and cultures?

Did Puritanism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction? What were the Puritan’s aspirations? How do Puritan society and values compare to present society and values?

Between 1607 and 1763, to what extent did Americans gain control of their political and economic institutions?

For the period before 1750, analyze the ways in which Britain’s policy of salutary neglect influenced the development of American society as illustrated in the following: legislative assemblies, commerce, and religion (from 1995).

ANTICIPATED ASSIGNMENTS:*Addressing the Free Response Essay Question: (including thesis writing, organization, and incorporating factual knowledge and critical thinking and interpretation)(from 1998) Analyze the extent to which religious freedom existed in British North American colonies prior to 1700.

(from 2000) Analyze the cultural and economic responses of TWO of the following groups to the Indians of North America before 1750: British, French, Spanish.

*Addressing the Document Based Essay Question: (from 1993) 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 development occur?

UNIT 1 AP FORMAT EXAM40 Multiple Choice/1 FRQ Essay

UNIT 2: (15 DAYS)The American Revolutionary Era (1754-1780) & the Early Republic (1789-1815)

TEXTBOOK READING:Out of Many – Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9

ADDITIONAL/SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS & PRIMARY SOURCES: (Supp) Bold Endeavors – Prologue and Chapter 1 (Supp) A People’s History: chapters 4 & 5


(Primary) “The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved” (1763) James Otis (Primary) Declaration of Independence (Primary) “Join or Die” political cartoon (Primary) Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania – John Dickinson (Primary) The Boston “Massacre” or Victims of Circumstance (1770) (Primary) John Andrews to William Barrell, Letter Regarding the Boston Tea Party (Primary) Association of the New York Sons of Liberty (1773) (Primary) “Common Sense” & “American Crisis”- Thomas Paine (Primary) “Give me Liberty” speech – Patrick Henry (Primary) “Original Rough Draught” of Dec. of Independence – Thomas Jefferson (Primary) Abigail and John Adams on Women and the American Revolution (1776) (Primary) Federalist Paper 51 – James Madison (1787) (Primary) James Winthrop on the Anti-Federalist argument (1787) (Primary) Hamilton & Jefferson – creation of the National Bank (Primary) Washington’s Farewell Address (1796) (Primary) Marbury v. Madison (1803) (Primary) First Inaugural address: Thomas Jefferson (Primary) Alien & Sedition Acts (1798) (Primary) Felix Grundy, Battle Cry of the War Hawks (1811) (Primary) McCullough v. Maryland (1819)

THEMES/GUIDELINES ADDRESSED: (4, 5)American Identity, Politics and Citizenship, Economic Transformations, Reform, Slavery and its legacies, & War and Diplomacy

(1750-1776) Empire to Independence: Seven Years War in America o French and Indian War, Albany Conference, Colonial aims and interests, frontier

warfare, conquest of Canada, struggle for the West; Imperial Crisis in British North America – American nationalism, the press, politics, and Republicanism, Sugar and Stamp Acts, Stamp Act crisis, repeal of Stamp Act, Townshend Revenue Acts, early political boycott against imports, politics of revolt and the Boston Massacre; Resistance to rebellion – Inter-colonial cooperation, Boston Tea Party, Intolerable Acts, First Continental Congress, Lexington & Concord; Deciding for Independence – Second Continental Congress, fighting in the North and South, Canada, the Spanish Borderlands, and the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence.

(1776-1786) The American Revolution: War for Independence o Patriots and Loyalists, Northern campaigns of 1777, French Alliance and Spanish

borderlands, Indian peoples and the Revolution in the West, War in the South, Yorktown; United States in Congress Assembled – Articles of Confederation, financing the war, negotiating independence, crisis of demobilization, problems of the West; Revolutionary politics in the state – broadened base of politics, the First State Constitutions, Declaration of Rights – the Bill of Rights, Spirit of Reform, African-Americans and the Revolution.

(1786-1800) The New Nation: Crisis of 1780’s


o Economic crisis, state remedies, and movement towards a new national government; The new Constitution – the Constitutional Convention, Ratifying the new constitution and the Bill of Rights; Washington’s presidency, federal judiciary, Hamilton’s financial program, beginnings of foreign policy, relations between American peoples and Indian peoples, Spanish Florida and British Canada, domestic and international crisis, Jay Treaty, Pinckney’s Treaty, Washington’s farewell address; Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans – Rise of political parties, Adams presidency, Alien and Sedition Acts, Revolution of 1800, Democratic political culture; American artists, liberty of the press, birth of American literature and women on the intellectual scene.

(1790-1824) Agrarian Republic o North American communities from coast to coast – Spanish colonies, Haiti and the

Caribbean, British North America, Russian America, Trans-Appalachian- Cincinnati, Atlantic Ports form Charleston to Boston; Cotton and the economy of the young republic, shipping and economic boom; Jefferson’s presidency – Republican agrarianism, an independent judiciary, the Louisiana Purchase and incorporating Louisiana, Texas and the struggle for Mexican independence; Problems with Neutral Rights, the Embargo Act, Marbury v Madison, contradictory Indian policy and Indian resistance; War of 1812 – War Hawks, campaigns against Northern and Southern Indians, the Hartford Convention, Treaty of Ghent; Defining boundaries – westward surge, Election of 1816 and the Era of Good Feelings, diplomacy of John Quincy Adams, panic of 1819, the Missouri Compromise.

LECTURE/DISCUSSION/GUIDING QUESTIONS: To what extent (using docs. 1999) had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity

as Americans by the eve of the Revolution? What were the social, political, and economic factors that drove the American colonies to independence? How did the American Revolution influence and reflect American values and character?

Did British policies from 1764-1775 appear to violate colonial economic and political rights? How did the colonial mindset provide the backdrop for the Revolution? How did world politics affect the course and outcome of the Revolution? How did the American Revolution affect women and African-Americans? What challenges did the early federal government face in establishing a strong central

government from 1789-1820? How were the conflicts between central and local power resolved?

How did the Articles of Confederation emerge, and why did they fail to create an effective, long term government in America? (docs. 1985) Evaluate the statement, “From 1781-1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an effective government”.

What developments at home and abroad create a call to strengthen the Articles of Confederation?

How did the Constitution represent a conservative counter-revolution to the Articles of Confederation?

How did the Washington administration develop Federalist solutions to the nation’s economic and political problems?

In what ways and to what extent did the new government and the Constitution balance concerns over liberty and order?


Hamilton and Jefferson had opposing views for the economic future of America. What were those visions and how were they resolved in the early national period?

Analyze how Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic Republicans strengthened American democracy.

War of 1812: How did it change America politically and economically? How did it help launch the Market Revolution?

How was the postwar era marked by a rise and fall of nationalism?

ANTICIPATED ASSIGNMENTS:*2 scheduled in-class multiple choice quizzes and at 2 take home essay quizzes.*Addressing the Free Response Essay Question: (including thesis writing, organization, and incorporating factual knowledge and critical thinking and interpretation)(from 1992) Evaluate the relative importance of the following factors prompting Americans to rebel in 1776: Parliamentary taxation, British military measures, restriction of civil liberties, the legacy of colonial religious and political ideas.

(from 1997) Analyze the extent to which the American Revolution represented a radical altercation in American political ideas and institutions. Confine your answer to the period 1775-1800.

*Addressing the Document Based Essay Question: (from 2004) In what ways did the French and Indian War (1754-63) alter the political, economic and ideological relations between Great Britain and its American colonies?

(from 2005) To what extent did the American Revolution fundamentally change American society? In your answer, be sure to address the political, social, and economic effects of the Revolution in the period 1775-1800.

(from 2009) From 1775-1830 many African Americans gained freedom from slavery, yet during the same period the institution of slavery expanded. Explain why BOTH of those changes took place. Analyze the ways that BOTH free African Americans and enslaved African Americans responded to the challenges that confronted them.

UNIT 2 AP FORMAT EXAM50 Multiple Choice/1 FRQ Essay/1 DBQ Essay

UNIT 3: (15 DAYS)Antebellum America, Growth of Democracy, Sectionalism and Social Reform


ADDITIONAL/SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS & PRIMARY SOURCES: (Supp) Bold Endeavors: chapter 2 & 3 (Supp) A People’s History: chapters 6 & 7 (Primary) A July Fourth Oration (1800)


(Primary) George Tucker on Gabriel’s Rebellion (1801) (Primary) The “Commoner” Takes Office (1828) (Primary) Indian Removal Act 1830 (Primary) Appeal of the Cherokee Nation (1830) (Primary) Andrew Jackson, Veto of the Bank Bill (1832) (Primary) Josephine L. Baker,“A Second Peep at Factory Life” (1840) (Primary) Orestes Brownson, “The Laboring Classes” (1840) (Primary) Letter by a Fugitive Slave (1840) (Primary) Frederick Douglass on the Desire for Freedom (1845) (Primary) Immigrants Arriving in New York City (1853) (Primary) Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (1823) (Primary) “The Liberator”, William Lloyd Garrison (1831) (Primary) Lyman Beecher, Six Sermons on Intemperance (1828) (Primary) A Lowell Mill Girl Tells Her Story (1836) (Primary) Catherine Beecher on the “Duty of American Females” (1837) (Primary) Angela Grimke on Women’s Rights (1837) (Primary) Seneca Falls Declaration (1848) (Primary) Horace Mann on Education and National Welfare (Primary) Various political cartoons

THEMES/GUIDELINES ADDRESSED: (6, 7, 8, 9)

American Diversity, American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic transformations, Politics and Citizenship, Religion, and Slavery and its legacies

(1790s-1850s) The South and Slavery o King Cotton and Southern expansion, the American slave system, African-American

religion, freedom and resistance, slave revolts, free African-Americans, the “white majority”, poor white people, planters, planters elite, plantation life, coercion and violence, the defense of the institution of slavery.

(1824-1840) Growth of Democracy o Jacksonian Democracy; “Era of Good Feelings”, the Bank War, Elections of 1824,

1828; Spoils system, nullification, states’ rights debate; “Era of the Common Man”, Populism vs. Elitism; Indian Removal and Trail of Tears; internal improvements, Second Party System, Whigs and Democrats, Panic of 1837 Campaign of 1840, creating a national American culture.

(1790s-1840s) Industry and the North o Pre-industrial ways of working- rural and home production, the social order;

Transportation revolution – roads, canals, steamboats, railroads, and the effects of the transportation revolution; Market revolution – accumulation of capital, commercial markets, commercial agriculture, British technology and American industrialization, Lowell Mills, family mills, social and economic system of the South, new social order: wealth and class, middle class, transcendentalism and Self Reliance.

(1820s-1850s) The New Age: Immigration and ethnicity


o Patterns of immigration, Irish, German, ethnic neighborhoods, urban popular culture; Urban America – growth of cities, class structure and living, patterns in the cities, civic order, and urban life of free African Americans; Labor Movement and Urban Politics – artisanal politics, union movements, big-city machines; Social reform movements – Evangelism, reform, and social control, ideals of domesticity, education, temperance, moral reform, asylums, prisons, Utopianism and Mormonism. Anti-Slavery and Abolitionism – the American Colonization Society, African Americans’ fight against slavery, abolitionists, abolitionism and politics; the women’s rights movement.

LECTURE/DISCUSSION/GUIDING QUESTIONS: How and to what extent did American democracy expand to include previously disenfranchised

sections of society? What social, political, and economic forces facilitated these changes? How and to what extent did the Supreme Court influence the debate on states’ rights during the

period 1810-1850? Did the Jacksonian Era increase citizen participation in politics? How did democratic ideals

evolve during the Jacksonian era? How did Andrew Jackson change the focus and role of the presidency? How were states’ rights defined in the Jacksonian era? How did economic disagreements develop around the Market Revolution? How did the second party system develop during the 1830’s? What circumstances promoted the reform movements of the 1830’s and 1840’s? How did different personalities and philosophies divide the abolitionist movement in the 1830’s

and 1840’s? Did the reform movement in the 1830’s and 40’s make America a gentler society? How did the “cult of domesticity” both promote and restrain the women’s movement in the

1840’s and 1850’s? Explain how political reforms of the Age of Jackson clash with the social reforms of the era. American reform movements between 1820 and 1860 reflected both optimistic and pessimistic

views of human nature and society. Assess the validity of this statement in reference to reform movements of THREE of the following: Education, Temperance, Women’s rights, utopian experiments, and penal institutions. (from 1988)

In what ways and to what extent did the forces of growth and expansion tie the United States together while simultaneously contributing to its disunion?

How did developments in transportation bring about economic and social change in the United States between 1820 and 1860?

ANTICIPATED ASSIGNMENTS:*Addressing the Free Response Essay Question: (including thesis writing, organization, and incorporating factual knowledge and critical thinking and interpretation)(from 1997) Analyze the extent to which the American Revolution represented a radical alteration in American political ideas and institutions. Confine your answer to the period 1775 and 1800.


(from 1983) Early United States foreign policy was primarily a defensive reaction to perceived or actual threats from Europe. Assess the validity of the generalization with reference to the United States foreign policy on TWO major issues during the period 1789 and 1825.

(from 1999) How did TWO of the following contribute to the reemergence of a two party system in the period 1820 to 1840? Major political personalities, states’ rights, economic issues.

*Addressing the Document Based Essay Question: (from 1998) With respect to the federal Constitution, Jeffersonian Republicans are usually characterized as strict constructionists who were opposed to the broad constructionism of the Federalists. To what extent was this characterization of the two parties accurate during the presidencies of Jefferson and Madison? Use documents and knowledge of the period 1801-1817.

(from 1990) Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. In light of the following documents and your knowledge of the 1820s and 1830s, to what extent do you agree with the Jacksonians’ view of themselves?

(from 2002) “Reform movements in the United States sought to expand democratic ideals”. Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to the years 1825-1850. Use the following documents and your knowledge of the period 1825-1850 to construct your response.


UNIT 4: (15 DAYS) Territorial Expansion, Manifest Destiny, and a Nation in Crisis

TEXTBOOK READING:Out of Many – Chapters 14, 15, 16, 17

ADDITIONAL/SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS & PRIMARY SOURCES: (Supp) Bold Endeavors: chapters 4 & 5 (Supp) A People’s History: chapters 8 - 10 (Primary) John L. O’Sullivan, Manifest Destiny (1845) (Primary) Thomas Corwin, Against the Mexican War (1847) (Primary) Harriet Beecher Stowe from Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) (Primary) Dred Scott v Sanford (1857) (Primary)Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) (Primary) Lincoln – A House Divided (1858) (Primary) South Carolina Ordinance of Secession (1860) (Primary) Why They Fought (1861)


(Primary)A Confederate General Assess First Bull Run (1861) (Primary) Clara Barton, Medical Life at the battlefield (1862) (Primary) Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (1863) (Primary) James Henry Gooding’s Letter to President Lincoln (1863) (Primary) John Dooley, Passages from a Journal (1863) (Primary) Firsthand Accounts of the New York City Draft Riots (1863) (Primary) Mississippi Black Codes (1865) (Primary) Carl Schurz, Report on Conditions in the South (1865) (Primary) Petition of Committee on Behalf of the Freedmen to Andrew Johnson (1865) (Primary) The 14th Amendment (1868) (Primary) Albion T. Tourgee, Letter on KKK activities (1870) (Primary) The Nation, the State of the South (1872) (Primary) Robert B. Elliot on Civil Rights (1874) (Primary) Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Home Life” (1875) (Primary) A Sharecrop Contract (1882) VIDEO – excerpts from: THE CIVIL WAR, KEN BURNS - PBS

THEMES/GUIDELINES ADDRESSED: (10, 11, 12, 13)

American Identity, Demographic Changes, Economic transformations, Politics and Citizenship, American Diversity, Slavery and its legacies, and War and Diplomacy

(1830s-1850s) Territorial Expansion: Exploring the West o Fur trade, government-sponsored exploration, expansion and Indian policy, forced

removal of American Indians to trans-Mississippi West; Politics of expansion – Manifest Destiny, territorial acquisitions, Oregon, Santa Fe’ trade, Texas, Americans in Texas, Texas and the election of 1844; Early U.S. Imperialism – the Mexican-American War; California and the Gold Rush – Russian-California Trade, early American settlements, gold, mining camps; Politics of Manifest Destiny – the Wilmot Proviso, Free-Soil Movements, election of 1848.

(1850s) The Coming Crisis o Expansion, growth, politics, culture and national identity in the 1850’s; The Compromise

of 1850 –popular sovereignty, political parties and slavery, congressional debate, pro- and antislavery arguments and conflicts, compromises, the Fugitive Slave Act, the election of 1852, politics of expansion; Crisis of the National Party System – the Kansas-Nebraska Act, “Bleeding Kansas”, politics of Nativism, the Republican Party and the election of 1856; The Differences Deepen – the Dred Scott decision, the Lecompton Constitution, the Panic of 1857, John Brown’s Raid; The South Secedes – the election of 1860, the South leaves the Union, the North’s political options, establishment of the Confederacy, Lincoln’s inauguration.

(1861-1865) The Civil War o Communities mobilize for war – Fort Sumter, the call to arms, the Border States, Battle

of Bull Run, relative strengths of the North and South; Governments organize for war – expanding the power of the Federal government, diplomatic objectives, Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy, contradictions in Southern Nationalism; Fighting – war in Northern Virginia, Shiloh and the War for the Mississippi, War in the Trans-Mississippi West, the


Naval War, the Black Response; The Death of Slavery – the politics of emancipation, black fighting men; Front Lines and the Home front – the toll of war, Army nurses, life of a common soldier, wartime politics, economic and social strains on the North, the New York City draft riots, failure of Southern nationalism; The tide turns – the turning point of 1963, Grant and Sherman, the 1864 election, Appomattox, the death of Lincoln.

(1863-1877) Reconstruction o The politics of Reconstruction – the defeated South, Lincoln’s plan, Johnson and

Presidential Reconstruction, the Radical Republic vision, Presidential Reconstruction vs. Congressional Reconstruction, Impeachment of Johnson, the election of 1868, Women’s suffrage and Reconstruction; Meaning of freedom – the African American family, African American churches and schools, land and labor post-slavery, origins of African American politics; Southern politics and society – Southern Republicans, reconstructing the states, white resistance and “Redemption”, white Yeoman, white merchants and “king cotton”; Reconstructing the North – the age of capital, Liberal Republicans and the election of 1872, the Depression of 1873, the electoral crisis of 1876- the “corrupt bargain”, the impact of Reconstruction.

LECTURE/DISCUSSION/GUIDING QUESTIONS: How did the ideas of Manifest Destiny emerge from nationalistic beliefs about America’s past

and its future? Although Americans perceived Manifest Destiny as a benevolent movement, it was, in fact an

aggressive imperialism pursued at the expense of others. Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to American expansionism in the 1840’s. (from 1990)

Did the Texas-American conflict of the 1830’s encourage America’s drive westward to the Pacific?

How did the Mexican War promote sectional division rather than national unity? Discuss the impact of territorial expansion on national unity between 1800 and 1850. Why did the institution of slavery command the loyalty of the vast majority of antebellum

whites, despite the fact that only a small percentage of them owned slaves? (FRQ from 1973). Analyze the ways in which supporters of slavery in the 19th century used legal, religious, and

economic arguments to defend the institution of slavery. (FRQ from 1995) Evaluate the degree to which the Civil War and Reconstruction forged a new sense of identity

and nationhood for the American people. Include a focus on civil rights for African Americans. How was the Compromise of 1850 more a triumph of sectional self-interest than a true national

compromise? Did the Kansas-Nebraska Act realign the American political system? How did Abraham Lincoln’s election help bring about southern succession? How did the Civil War transform the societies in both the North and the South? How did slavery influence Lincoln’s political and military decisions during the war? Analyze the social, economic, and political results of the Civil War. Although generally considered to be a war over the institution of slavery or states’ rights, there

are various other reasons why Americans, both North and South, chose to fight in the Civil War. Discuss at least three motivating factors.

How did congress gain control of Reconstruction from the President? Why was President Andrew Johnson impeached?


Why did Radical Reconstruction fail to make permanent changes in America? How do you account for the failure of Reconstruction to bring social and economic equality of

opportunity to the former slave? (FRQ from 1983) How and why did the lives and status of Northern middle-class women change between 1776

and 1876? (DBQ from 1981) In what ways and to what extent did constitutional and social developments between 1860 and

1877 amount to a revolution? (DBQ from 1996)

ANTICIPATED ASSIGNMENTS:*Addressing the Free Response Essay Question: (including thesis writing, organization, and incorporating factual knowledge and critical thinking and interpretation)

(from 1997) Analyze the economic consequences of the Civil War with respect to any TWO of the following in the United States between 1865 and 1880: Agriculture, Labor, Transportation, Industrialization.

(from 2000) 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, Compromise of 1850, Mexican War, Kansas-Nebraska Act.

(from 1992) Discuss the political, economic, and social reforms introduced in the South between 1864 and 1877. To what extent did these reforms survive the Compromise of 1877?

*Addressing the Document Based Essay Question: (from 1982) John Brown’s raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in October 1859 involved only a handful of abolitionists, freed no slaves, and was over in two days. Although many Northerners condemned the raid, by 1863 John Brown had become a hero and martyr in the North. To what extent and in what ways do the views about John Brown expressed in the documents illustrate changing North-South relations between 1859 and 1863?

(from 2006) Discuss the changing ideals of American womanhood between the American Revolution and the outbreak of the Civil War. What factors fostered the emergence of the “republican motherhood” and the “cult of domesticity”? Assess the extent to which these ideas influenced the lives of women during this prior. In your answer be sure to consider issues of race and class.


UNIT 5: (15 DAYS)Development of the West, Industrializing America, Empire Building, & the Progressive Era



ADDITIONAL/SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS & PRIMARY SOURCES: (Supp) Bold Endeavors: chapter 6 (Supp) A People’s History: chapters 11 & 12 (Primary) Horace Greeley, An Overland Journey (1860) (Primary) Chief Joseph, An Indian’s View of Indian Affairs (1879) (Primary) Tragedy at Wounded Knee (1890) (Primary) Benjamin Harrison, Report on Wounded Knee Massacre and the Decrease in Indian

Lane Acreage (1891) (Primary) Address by George Engel, Condemned Haymarket Anarchist (1886) (Primary) Charles Loring Brace, “The Life of the Street Rats” (1872) (Primary) Edward Bellamy, from “Looking Backward”, (1888) (Primary) Henry George, from “Progress and Poverty” (1879) (Primary) William Graham Sumner on Social Darwinism (1880) (Primary) The Populist Platform (1892) (Primary) Ida B Wells-Barnett, “A Red Record” (1895) (Primary)Henry Cabot Lodge, “The Business World vs. the Politicians” (1895) (Primary) Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) (Primary)The Spanish-American War (1898) (Primary) Rev. Charles G. Ames on the Anti-Imperialist Movement (1898) (Primary) Albert Beveridge, A Defense of Imperialism (1900) (Primary)Mark Twain, “Incident in the Philippines” (1924) (Primary)Jane Addams, “Twenty Years at Hull House” (1910) (Primary) Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “Women and Economics” (1898) (Primary)Helen M. Todd, “Getting Out the Vote” (1911) (Primary)John Spargo, from “The Bitter Cry of Children” (1906) (Primary)Lincoln Steffens, from “The Shame of the Cities” (1904) (Primary) Walter Rauschenbusch and the Social Gospel (1912) (Primary) Margaret Sanger on “Free Motherhood”, from Woman and the New Race (1920) (Primary) Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom (1913)

THEMES/GUIDELINES ADDRESSED: (14, 15, 16, 17)American Diversity, American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic transformations, Politics and Citizenship, Environment, Globalization, Reform, Religion, and Slavery and its legacies, War and Diplomacy.

(1860-1900) Trans-Mississippi West o Government policy towards American Indians - conquests, Reservations and the

slaughter of the Buffalo, the Indian wars; Internal Empire – mining towns, Mormon settlements, Mexican borderland communities; the Open Range – the sporting life, community and conflict; Farming communities on the plains – the Homestead Act, populating the plains, gender, race and ethnicity in the far West, work –dawn to dusk; The world’s breadbasket – new production technologies, producing for the global market, California agri-business, environmental impacts of Western settlement -the toll on the land; Western landscape – nature’s majesty, the legendary “wild west”, and the “American Primitive”; Transforming Indian Society – Reform policy and politics, the Ghost Dance, endurance and rejuvenation.


(1865-1900) Incorporation of America o The rise of industry and business – revolutions in technology and transportation,

expansion/development of Western railroads, mechanization takes command, expanding markets for goods, integration, combination and mergers, the Gospel of Wealth, Social Darwinism; Labor and unions – the wage system. Knights of Labor, the American Federation of Labor; the New South – an internal colony, southern labor, and the transformation of communities; Urbanization – population demographics, migration and immigration, urban landscape and the city and environment; the rise of “Consumer Society” – self improvement and the middle class, life in the streets; Conflicts in culture: Education, leisure and public space, national pastimes.

(1870-1900) Commonwealth and Empire o National Governing class – growth of government, machine politics, spoils system, civil

service reform; Organization of Farmers – the Grange, the Farmers Alliance, workers search for power, women build alliances, Populism and the People’s Party; Crisis of 1890s – Depression of 1893, era of workers strikes,, the Social Gospel, election of 1896; Age of Segregation – nativism and Jim Crow, mob violence and lynching; Imperialism of righteousness – the White Man’s Burden, foreign missions, building overseas empires; the Spanish-American War – a “splendid little war” in Cuba, war in the Philippines.

(1900-1917) Urban America and the Progressive Era o The Currents of Progressivism – unifying themes, female dominion, the urban machine,

political progressives and urban reforms, progressivism in the statehouse, muckraking, intellectual trends promoting reform. Social Control and its Limits – Prohibition movement, social evils, redemption of leisure, standardizing education. Working class Communities and Protest – new immigrants, urban ghettos, company towns, AFL, IWW. Women’s Movements and Black Awakening – The new woman, birth control, racism and accommodations, racial justice, NAACP, black women’s activism. National Progressivism – Theodore Roosevelt, trust-busting and regulation, conservation, preservation and the environment, Republican split, the election of 1912, Woodrow Wilson’s first term.

LECTURE/DISCUSSION/GUIDING QUESTIONS: What political social and economic changes contributed the most to the industrial growth and

expansion of the United States? How did these changes affect America’s character and economic system?

How did the actions of the federal government open the West to settlement after the Civil War? How did industrialization and urbanization change economic and social relationships in the last

half of the 19th century? How did industrialization transform the role of government in American society after the Civil War?

To what extent did the natural environment shape the development of the West beyond the Mississippi and the lives of those who lived and settled there? How important were other factors? (DBQ from 1992)

How did farmers and workers try to improve their quality of life between the years of 1865 and 1890?

Class Project – Analyzing Documents: o Documents A-H reveal some of the problems that many farmers faced in the late 19 th

century (1800-1900) saw as threats to their way of life. Using the documents and your


knowledge of the period, explain the reasons for agrarian discontent AND evaluate the validity of the farmers’ complaints. (DBQ from 1983)

How did popular fascination with the cowboy, the pioneer and stories of Horatio Alger in the period of 1870 to 1915 reflect American’s uneasiness of transition from an agrarian to an industrial society?

Although the economic development of the Trans-Mississippi West is popularly associated with hardy individualism, it was in fact largely dependent on the federal government. Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to western economic activities in the 19 th century.

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.

American’s have been a highly mobile people. Describe and account for the dominant population movements between 1820 and 1900.

Was Andrew Carnegie a prime representative of the industrial age or an industrial leader atypical of the period?

The path to labor organization was marked by false starts and wrong moves. Assess the validity of this generalization for the period of 1865-1900.

Why did the United States expand overseas in the 1870’s and 1880’s? How did the U.S. become a dominant power in the Caribbean and South America after the Civil

War? How was the war with Spain in 1898 a culmination of a “new Manifest Destiny” of the 1880s and

1890s? How did the Spanish-American War transform American policy toward South America and the

Far East? How did the promise of equality for African Americans turn into the inequality of Jim Crow? Assess the changing status of Blacks between emancipation and the end of the 19 th century. Analyze the reasons for the emergence of the Populist movement in the late 19 th century. Although many Americans between 1870 and 1915 blames political corruption at the state and

local level on public indifference or greedy politicians, such corruption reflected a serious crisis of traditional institutions in dealing with social and economic problems of modern America. Assess the validity of this generalization


(from 1998) Analyze the impact of any TWO of the following on the American industrial worker between 1865-1900: Government actions, immigration, labor unions, technology changes.

(from 1991) 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.


(from 1994) Compare and contrast the attitudes of THREE of the following towrd the wealth that was created in the United States during the late 19th century: Andrew Carnegie, Eugene V. Debs, Horatio Alger, Booker T. Washington, Ida M. Tarbell.

(from 1993) Analyze the ways in which state and federal legislation and judicial decisions, including those of the Supreme Court, affected the efforts of any TWO of the following groups to improve their position in society between 1880 and 1920: African Americans, Farmers, Workers.

*Addressing the Document Based Essay Question: (from 1989) Booker T. Washington and WEB DuBois offered different strategies for dealing with the problems of poverty and discrimination faced by Black Americans at the end of the 19 th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Using the documents and your knowledge of the period 1877-1915, assess the appropriateness of each of these strategies in the historical context in which each was developed.

(from 2007) Analyze the ways in which technology, government policy, and economic conditions changed American agriculture in the period of 1865-1900. In your answer be sure to evaluate farmers’ responses to these changes.

(from 2000) How successful was organized labor in improving the position of workers in the period from 1875 to 1900? Analyze the factors that contributed to the level of success achieved. Use the documents and your knowledge of the years 1875-1900 to construct your response.


UNIT 6: (20 DAYS) World War I, Boom and Bust, and World War II

TEXTBOOK READING:Out of Many – Chapters 22-25

ADDITIONAL/SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS & PRIMARY SOURCES: (Supp) Bold Endeavors: chapters 7, 8, 9 (Supp) A People’s History: chapters 15, 16 (Primary) Woodrow Wilson on America and the World (1916) (Primary) Boy Scouts of America, from “Boy Scouts Support the War Effort” (1917) (Primary) American Troops in the Trenches (1918) (Primary) Eugene V. Debs, Speech to the Jury (1918) (Primary) W.E.B. DuBois, “Returning Soldiers” (1919) (Primary) Marcus Garvey on “Africa for the Africans” (1921) (Primary) Manuel Gamio on a Mexican American Family and American Freedom (1926) (Primary) The Fight for Civil Liberties (1921) (Primary) Clarence Darrow at the Scopes Trial (1924) (Primary) Congress Debates Immigration (1921)


(Primary) Alain Locke, The New Negro (1925) (Primary) Advertisements (1925, 1927) (Primary) Family Planning (1926) (Primary) FDR’s First Inaugural Speech (Primary) John Steinbeck, “The Harvest Gypsies” (1936) (Primary) Franklin D. Roosevelt on Economic Freedom (1936) (Primary) Herbert Hoover on the New Deal and Liberty (1936) (Primary) Norman Cousins, “Will Women Lose Their Jobs?” (1939) (Primary) Frank H. Hill on the Indian New Deal (1935) (Primary) Albert Einstein, Letter to President Roosevelt (1939) (Primary) Franklin D. Roosevelt on the Four Freedoms (1941) (Primary) Henry R. Luce, The American Century (1941) (Primary) Henry A. Wallace, The Century of the Common Man (1942) (Primary) Japanese Relocation Order (February 19, 1942) (Primary) A. Philip Randolph, “Why We Should March” (1942) (Primary) Korematsu v. the United States (1944) (Primary) World War II and Mexican-Americans (1945) VIDEO – excerpts from: THE WAR, KEN BURNS – PBS VIDEO – excerpts from: Time of Fear - PBS

THEMES/GUIDELINES ADDRESSED: (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)American Diversity, American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic Transformation, Globalization, Politics and Citizenship, Reform, War and Diplomacy

(1914-1920) World War I o Becoming a World Power - Roosevelt’s Big Stick, Dollar Diplomacy, Wilson’s moralism.

The Great War – American neutrality, preparedness and peace, safe for democracy. American Mobilization – Selling the war, opposition, racism in the military, American’s in battle, the economy, business, and labor of war. Women at work, women’s suffrage, prohibition, public health. Repression and reaction – the Espionage and Sedition Acts, the Great Migration and Racial tensions, labor strikes. An Uneasy Peace – the Fourteen Points, Treaty of Versailles, Russian Revolution, Red Scare, the election of 1920.

(1920-1929) The Twenties o Postwar Prosperity and its Price – the second industrial revolution, welfare capitalism,

the auto age, cities and suburbs, agriculture and ailing industries. The New Mass Culture – movie made America, radio, new journalism, advertising, the record industry, sports and celebrities. Resistance to Modernity – prohibition, immigration restriction, the KKK, religious fundamentalism, the Scopes trial. The State, Economy and Business – Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, War debt, reparations, commerce and foreign policy. Promises postponed – feminism in transition, Mexican immigration, the “new negro”, intellectuals and alienation, election of 1928.

(1929 – 1940) The Great Depression and the New Deal o Hard Times – the Bull Markets, the Crash, unemployment, Hoover’s failure, protest and

the election of 1932. FDR and the First New Deal – restoring confidence and the first one hundred days, “alphabet agencies”. The Second New Deal – Roosevelt’s critics, the


second one hundred days, rise of the CIO and labor’s upsurge, strikes. The New Deal in the South and West – Southern farming and landholding, rural electrification and public works, the Dust Bowl, a New Deal for Indians. Depression-Era Culture – film and radio in the 1930’s, the Swing era, the documentary impulse. The Limits of Reform – Court packing, the women’s network, a new deal for minorities, and the Roosevelt Recession (1938).

(1941-1945) World War II o The Coming of World War II – isolationism, Roosevelt, Pearl Harbor. Arsenal of

Democracy – mobilizing for war, organizing the economy, new workers. Life on the home front – families, internment of Japanese Americans, Zoot Suit riots. Men and Women in Uniform – creating the armed forces, women in the military, the medical corps, prisoners of war. The World at War – Soviets halt the Nazi’s, allied offensive, high cost of European victory, war in Asia and the Pacific. The Last Stages of War – the Holocaust, the Yalta Conference, the Atomic Bomb.

LECTURE/DISCUSSION/GUIDING QUESTIONS: How does the United States become embroiled in World War I in 1917? 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.

Assess the relative influence of THREE of the following in the American decision to declare war on Germany in 1917: German Naval Policy, American economic interests, Woodrow Wilson’s idealism, allied propaganda, American’s claim to world power.

Why did the United States Senate reject U.S. membership in the League of Nations and refuse to ratify the Treaty of Versailles?

How did local, state, and national government attempt to solve problems of industrialization and urbanization through progressive reforms?

What new features of America culture emerged in the 1920’s? Did the indulgences of the 1920’s provide the foundation for the Great Depression? How did the nation deal with the crisis and what is the legacy of the political and policy changes that resulted? What was responsible for ending the Great Depression?

Evaluate the extent as to how the 1920’s became a struggle between reformers and the defenders of the status quo.

The 1920’s witnesses an assault by rural and small town America on urban America. Assess the validity of this generalization.

How were the roles and expectations for women transformed from 1900-1919? How did the “New Negro” emerge in America from 1900-1929? How did the Republican Party policies in the 1920’s try to turn political and economic thinking

back to the past? How did opposition to immigration evolve into full-fledged discrimination from 1900-1929? In class project (from 1986) DBQ – The 1920’s were a period of tension between new and

changing attitudes on one hand and traditional values and nostalgia on the other. What led to the tension between old and new AND in what ways was the tension manifested?


Although American writers of the 1920’s and 1930’s criticized American society, the nature of their criticisms differed markedly in the two decades. Assess the validity of this statement with specific references to writers in both decades.

To what extent and why did the United States adopt an isolationist policy in the 1920’s and 1930’s (1998)

How did the prosperity of the 1920’s collapse in the Great Depression of the 1930’s? Analyze the ways in which the Great Depression altered the American social fabric of the 1930’s

(1996) How did Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt attempt to restore prosperity through political

and economic programs? How did the New Deal change the relationship between the national government and the

people of the United States? How did it affect the lives of women and African Americans? How did the major unresolved issues from World War I lead to World War II? President Franklin D. 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? How did the United States move from isolationism to internationalism from 1935-1945? How did World War II transform American society? In what ways did World War II change

American domestic politics and culture? In what ways did World War II provide the foundation for the Cold War? Why has World War II been considered “the good war”?

ANTICIPATED ASSIGNMENTS:*Addressing the Free Response Essay Question: (including thesis writing, organization, and incorporating factual knowledge and critical thinking and interpretation)(from 2000) To what extent did the United States achieve the objectives that led it to enter the First World War?

(from 1993) Identify THREE of the following New Deal measures and analyze the ways in which each of the three attempted to fashion a more stable economy and a more equitable society: Agricultural Adjustment Act, Wagner National Labor Relations Act, and the Securities and Exchange Commission Social Security Act

(from 1982) 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 1914-1917 to the policy and its modifications during the 1939-1941.

*Addressing the Document Based Essay Question: (from 2003) Analyze the responses of Franklyn D. Roosevelt’s administration to the problems of the Great Depression. How effective were these responses? How did they change the role of the federal government? Use the documents and your knowledge of the period of 1929 – 1941 to construct your essay.

(from 1988) The United States decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was a diplomatic measure calculated to intimidate the Soviet Union in the post Second-World-War era rather than a strictly military measure designed to force Japan’s unconditional surrender. Evaluate this statement


using the documents and your knowledge of the military and diplomatic history of the years of 1930 through 1947.


UNIT 7: (15 DAYS)The Cold War, Mid-Century America, and the Civil Rights Movement


ADDITIONAL/SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS & PRIMARY SOURCES: (Supp) Bold Endeavors: chapter 10 (Supp) A People’s History: chapter 17 (Primary) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) (Primary) Containment (1947) (Primary) Harry S. Truman, “The Truman Doctrine” (1947) (Primary) Walter Lippmann, “A Critique of Containment” (1947) (Primary) George Marshall. “The Marshall Plan” (1947) (Primary) Ronald Reagan, Testimony Before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1947) (Primary) Henry Steele Commanger, “Who is Loyal to America?” (1947) (Primary) Joseph R. McCarthy, from Speech Delivered to the Women’s Club of Wheeling, West

Virginia (1950) (Primary) Joseph R. McCarthy on the attack – Congressional Record (1950) (Primary) Richard M. Nixon, “What Freedom Means to Us” (1959) (Primary) Ladies Home Journal, “Young Mother” (1956) (Primary) Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique” (1963) (Primary) Allen Ginsberg, “Howl” (1955) (Primary) C. Wright Mills on “Cheerful Robots” (1959) (Primary) Clark Kerr, “Industrialism and Industrial Man” (1960) (Primary) Milton Friedman, “Capitalism and Freedom” (1962) (Primary) Dwight D. Eisenhower, Decision Not to Intervene at Dien Bien Phu (1954) (Primary) John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address (1961) (Primary) John F. Kennedy, Cuban Missile Address (1962) (Primary) Lyndon Johnson, The War on Poverty (1964) (Primary) Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) (Primary) James Baldwin on Student Radicals (1960) (Primary) The Sharon Statement (1960) (Primary) Barry Goldwater on Extremism in the Defense of Liberty (1964) (Primary) Lyndon B. Johnson, Commencement Address at Howard University (1965) VIDEO – excerpts from: The Fabulous 50’s


THEMES/GUIDELINES ADDRESSED: (23, 24, 25)American Diversity, American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Economic Transformations, Environment, Globalization, Politics and Citizenship, Reform, War and Diplomacy

(1945-1952) The Cold War o Global Insecurities as war’s end – financing the future, division of Europe, the United

Nations, collective security. Policy of Containment – the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, Berlin Crisis, NATO, atomic diplomacy. Cold War liberalism – the 1948 election, the Fair Deal. Cold War at Home – National Security Act of 1947, Loyalty-Security Program, Red Scare, spy cases, McCarthyism. Cold war culture – anxieties, military-industrial communities in the West. The Korean War, price of national security, Election of 1952 – “I Like Ike”.

(1952-1953) America at Mid-Century o The Eisenhower Presidency, suburban life, organized labor and the AFL-CIO, expansion of

higher education, health and medicine. Youth Culture – rock and roll, deviance and delinquency. Mass Culture and its discontents – television and politics, culture critics. The Cold War continued – the new look on foreign affairs, intervening around the world, Ike’s Warning: the military-industrial complex. John F. Kennedy and the New Frontier – the election of 1960, new frontier liberalism, Kennedy and the Cold War, the Cuban Revolution and the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, assassination of President Kennedy.

(1945-1966) The Civil Rights Movement o Origins of the movement – civil rights after WWII, the segregated South, Brown V. Bd. of

Education, Crisis in Little Rock. 1957-1962: Martin Luther King Jr., SCLC, Sit-ins: Greensboro, Nashville, Atlanta, SNCC and “Beloved Community”, the election of 1960 and civil rights, Freedom Rides, the Albany Movement: the Limits of Protest. 1963-65: Birmingham, JFK and the March on Washington,, LBJ and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Freedom Summer, Malcolm X and black consciousness, Selma and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Civil Rights beyond black and white – Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigrants, Puerto Ricans, Japanese Americans, Indian Peoples, Remaking the Golden Door: Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

LECTURE/DISCUSSION/GUIDING QUESTIONS: How did atomic power shape the development of the Cold War? To what extent were cold war

fears grounded in reality? What role did government propaganda play in shaping American attitudes about the cold war?

How did the containment of Soviet power become the cornerstone of American foreign policy from 1945 to 1989?

In what ways did Presidents Truman, Kennedy and Johnson operate in the political shadow of Franklin D. Roosevelt?

How did the United States and the Soviet Union go from World War II allies to World War II adversaries?

How and why did America drift into a new Red Scare in the 1950’s? How do you account for the appeal of McCarthyism in the United States in the era following the

Second World War?


How did President Eisenhower establish “modern Republicanism” in the 1950’s as an answer to the New Deal?

To what extent did the decade of the 1950’s deserve its reputation as an age of political, social and cultural conformity?

To what extent were the Soviet Union and the United States equally responsible for bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962?

Although the 1960’s are usually considered the decade of greatest achievement for Black civil rights, the 1940’s and 1950’s were periods of equally important gains. Assess the validity of this statement.

How did the Civil Rights Movement gain political and social momentum from 1948-1968? Assess the impact of individuals and organized groups in bring about change in society and

government policy during the Civil Rights era. What role did larger social forces play in helping or hurting these efforts?


(from 1986) Reform movements of the 20th century have shown continuity in their goals and strategies. Assess the validity of this statement for ONE of the following pairs of reform movements:

Progressivism and the New DealWomen’s suffrage and post-Second World War FeminismThe New Deal and the Great Society

(from 1992) In what ways did the Great Society resemble the New Deal in its origins, goals and social and political legacy? Cite specific programs and policies in support of your arguments.

(from 1996) Analyze the influence of TWO of the following on American-Soviet relations in the decade following the Second World War: Yalta Conference, Korean War, Communist Revolution in China, McCarthyism.

(from 2000) Discuss with respect to TWO of the following, the view that the 1960’s represented a period of profound cultural change – Education, Music, Gender Roles, Race Relations.

*Addressing the Document Based Essay Question:

(from 2001) What were the Cold War fears of the American people in the aftermath of the Second World War? How successfully did the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower address these fears? Use the documents and your knowledge of the years 1948-1961 to construct your response.

(from 1995) Analyze the changes that occurred during the 1960’s in the goals, strategies, and support of the movement for African American civil rights. Use the documents and your knowledge of history of the 1960’s to construct your response.

UNIT 7 AP FORMAT EXAM


70 Multiple Choice/2 FRQ Essay/1 DBQ Essay

UNIT 8: (15 DAYS)War at home and abroad, the Conservative ascendancy, and America since 1988

TEXTBOOK READING:Out of Many – Chapters 29 -31

ADDITIONAL/SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS & PRIMARY SOURCES: (Supp) A People’s History: chapters 18 - 25 (Primary) Paul Potter on the Antiwar Movement (1965) (Primary) National Organization for Women Statement of Purpose (1966) (Primary) Donald Wheeldin, “The Situation in Watts Today” (1967) (Primary) Redstockings Manifesto (1969) (Primary) Cesar Chavez, “Letter from Delano” (1969) (Primary) The Gay Liberation Front, Come Out (1970) (Primary) Barry Commoner, The Closing Circle (1971) (Primary) Phyllis, Schlafly, “The Fraud of the Equal Rights Amendment” (1972) (Primary) Jimmy Carter on Human Rights (1977) (Primary) James Watt, “Environmentalists: A Threat to the Ecology of the West: (1978) (Primary) Jerry Falwell, Listen America (1980) (Primary) Ronald Reagan’s Inaugural Address (1981) (Primary) The Freedom Revolution (1995) (Primary) Declaration for a Global Democracy (1999) (Primary) Bill Clinton, Remarks at the “America’s Millennium” Celebration (1999) (Primary) The National Security Strategy of the United States (2002) (Primary) Robert Byrd on the War in Iraq (2003) (Primary) Anthony Kennedy, Opinion of the Court in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) (Primary) Sandra Day O’Connor, Opinion of the Court in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004) (Primary) Archbishop, Roger Mahoney, “Called by God to Help” (2006) VIDEO – excerpts from: 1968, with Tom Brokaw – The History Channel

THEMES/GUIDELINES ADDRESSED: (26, 27, 28)American Diversity, American Identity, Culture, Demographic changes, Economic transformations, Environment, Globalization, Politics and Citizenship, Reform, Religion, War and Diplomacy

(1965-1974) War Abroad, War at Home o Vietnam- America’s longest War- Johnson’s war, the credibility gap. Generation in

conflict – campus protest and mass mobilization, teenage soldiers. Wars on poverty – the Great Society, cities in crisis, urban uprisings. 1968 – Tet Offensive, King, the War, and the Assassination, the democratic campaign, “the whole world is watching”. Politics of Identity – black power, women’s liberation movement, gay liberation movement, Chicano Rebellion, Red power, Asian American movement. Roe v. Wade, Kent State, The Nixon Presidency – the Southern strategy, Kissinger, Nixon’s war, Detente, China and the


Soviet Union, domestic policy. Watergate – Foreign policy as a conspiracy, the age of dirty tricks, and fall of the executive.

(1974-1991) The Conservative Ascendancy o The overextended society – troubled economy, sunbelt/snowbelt communities, Ford

Presidency, Carter Presidency, new urban policies, endangered environment. New Conservatism – the new right, the “me” decade, anti-ERA, anti-abortion. Adjusting to a new world – Cold War thaw, foreign policy and “Moral Principles”, Iran Hostage Crisis, the 1980 election. Reagan Revolution – the great communicator, Reaganomics, election of 1984, Recession, recovery, and fiscal crisis. The celebration f wealth, two-tiered society, feminization of poverty, drugs, AIDS, homelessness. Reagan’s foreign policy – the Reagan doctrine and central America, Iran-Contra scandal, the collapse of communism.

(Since 1988) Toward a Transnational America o Reagan’s successor: George H.W. Bush, the Persian Gulf War, the Economy and the

election of 1992. The Clinton Presidency – Clinton’s internationalism, presiding over the boom, silicon valley, new electronic culture, new immigrants and their communities. A New Age of Anxiety – the racial divide, the forces of fear, culture wars, high crimes and misdemeanors. The New Millennium – election of 2000, Global warming, a global community. War on Terror – terrorist attack on America, reshaping U.S. foreign policy, invasion of Iraq, the election of 2004.

LECTURE/DISCUSSION/GUIDING QUESTIONS: How did the social and political upheavals make the 1960’s the most tumultuous decade of the

20th century for the American people? Foreign affairs rather than domestic issues shaped presidential politics in the election year of

1968. Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to foreign and domestic issues.

How was containment modified from 1945 to 1989 to fit presidential philosophies and changing world events?

How did the Vietnam conflict become America’s greatest failure of the Cold War? How did Middle Eastern conflicts complicate America’s attempt to contain Communism and

maintain peace in the region? How was America’s Latin American policy part of the larger containment effort from 1945-1989? 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, one in the 19th century and the other in the 20th century, giving reasons for success or failure in each case.


(from 1998) 1968 was a turning point for the United States. To what extent is this an assessment? In your answer, discuss TWO of the following: National Politics, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights.


(Possible FRQ) Americans developed an increasingly negative view of the Vietnam War, especially after 1968. Discuss the various factors that contributed to this trend, including the role of TV, the nature of the military campaign and strategies, anti-war demonstrators, and the policies of the Johnson and Nixon administrations.

(from 1999) Assess the success of the United States policy of containment in Asia between 1945 and 1975.

*Addressing the Document Based Essay Question:

(from 2008) Analyze the ways in which the Vietnam War heightened social, political, and economic tensions in the United States. Focus your answer on the period 1964 – 1975.


FINAL EXAMINATION – FULL ADVANCED PLACEMENT A.P. U.S. HISTORY EXAM

Friday May 5th, 2017– Advanced Placement United States History Examination