Welcome to United States History! You are taking a demanding, COLLEGE LEVEL survey course in United States History. There is much that will be expected from you. You will read the entire textbook as well as numerous additional resource materials. You will be expected to analyze, reach conclusions, and to fully and firmly support those conclusions both orally and in writing. You will be expected to understand some of the new interpretations of the history of the United States and its people. You will be expected to do more than memorize names, dates and facts. You will use the factual information to construct meaningful a “larger” picture. The course will follow a chronological path but some topics or issues will bridge and overlap chronological period for their political, economics and social perspective. You will look at trends and cycles over time. The course is meant to challenge your thinking about the history of the United States.
Your personal responsibilities: Please note that in this class YOU, the student, must take primary responsibility for your success. One of the most important tasks for you is to read your textbook and any other assigned material! I will not cover every item in detail, it is not possible to cover 350 years of history in the time that we will have together. You should adhere to the reading schedule set forth regardless of the contents we are dealing with in class. During the school year, you will read one to two chapters a week (average of 40 pages), take notes both while reading and in class, do research outside of class, prepare special projects and presentations, read additional novels and nonfiction, write essays, and take tests. You must be proactive and ask for help when you need it.
Regular Classwork/Homework:
Your classwork will consist of group work, responses to readings, occasional hand-outs, and exit slips. Your homework, besides reading your assigned textbook pages, will be filling out your note packet on a NIGHTLY basis. I reserve to check your packets without prior notice for a grade. Be sure to bring your note packet to class every day. Your classwork and homework combined will equal to thirty percent of your grade.
Essay and Assessment:
Expect to write either an FRQ (free response question) or a DBQ (document based question) on a weekly basis. These are essays that you will have to think critically, analyze closely and have a concrete thesis for. The purpose of these essays is to allow you to step back, examine history from your own lens and reach conclusions unique to you. Additionally, every five to six chapters, you will have an exam. An exam is a reflection of what you have learned in the course. It is also an indicator of information that may need to be reviewed and presented again before the final. Essays will make up thirty percent of your grade and exams forty.
Class Schedule:
Part 1: Founding the New Nation (c. 33,000 B.C. – A.D. 1783)
New World Beginnings (pg. 4-24)
The Planting of English America (pg. 25-42)
Settling the Northern Colonies (pg. 43-65)
American Life in the Seventeenth Century (pg. 66-83)
Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution, The Dual for North America (pg. 84-121)
The Road to Revolution (pg. 122-140)
America Secedes from the Empire (pg. 141-163)
Part 2: Building the New Nation (1776-1860)
The Confederation and the Constitution (pg. 164-189)
Launching the New Ship of State, The Triumphs and Travails of the Jeffersonian Republic (pg. 190-255)
The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism (pg. 233-255)
The Rise of a Mass Democracy (pg. 256-286)
Forging the National Economy (pg. 287-319)
The Ferment of Reform and Culture (pg. 320-347)
Part 3: Testing the New Nation (1820-1877)
The South and the Slavery Controversy (pg. 348-369)
Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy, Renewing the Sectional Struggle, Drifting Toward Disunion (pg. 370-433)
Girding for War: The North and the South, The Furnace of Civil War (pg. 434-476)
Study for Final Exam, Final Exam
The Ordeal of Reconstruction (pg. 477-498)
Part Four: Forging the Industrial Society (1865-1899)
Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age, Industry Comes of Age (pg. 500-556)
America Moves to the City (pg. 667-589)
The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution, The Path of Empire (pg. 590-643)
Part Five: Struggling for Justice at Home and Abroad (1899-1945)
America on the World Stage, Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt (pg. 644-686)
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad, The War to End War (pg. 687-727)
American Life in the Roaring Twenties (pg. 728-152)
The Politics of Boom and Bust (pg. 753-776)
The Great Depression and the New Deal (pg. 777-805)
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War, America in World War II (pg.806-857)
Part Six: Making Modern America (1945-present)
The Cold War Begins (pg. 858-886)
The Eisenhower Era (pg. 887-915)
The Stormy Sixties (pg. 916-945)
The Stalemated Seventies (pg. 946-975)
The Resurgence of Conservatism (pg. 976-1013)
The American People Face a New Century (pg. 1014-1034)
Course Material:
The American Pageant, 12th Edition
Notebook
writing utensils
