AP United States History

Syllabus
The Advanced Placement course in United States History is a challenging course that is
meant to be the equivalent of a freshman college course and can earn students college
credit. It is a two-semester survey of American History, from the age of exploration and
discovery to the present. Solid reading and writing skills, along with a willingness to
devote considerable time to homework and study are necessary to succeed. Emphasis is
placed on critical and evaluative thinking skills, essay writing, and interpretation of
original documents.
Students will master a broad body of historical knowledge and demonstrate an
understanding of historical chronology. They will be able to use historical data to support
their argument or position, interpret and apply data from original documents, including
cartoons, graphs, letters, etc. Students will effectively use analytical skills of evaluation,
cause and effect, compare and contrast, along with working with others to solve
problems.
The course will meet five times per week for 55 minutes each day, and it relies primarily
on the developmental lesson, daily homework, quizzes, multiple-choice and essay exams.
All units are four to five weeks in length, with various DBQs throughout the units. There
will be a mid-term exam after Unit 4 over all material covered to that point and then a
final exam at the end of the year on all material covered since the mid-term. During the
month of April there will be optional night study groups twice a week prior to Unit 9.

Course Materials
The courses basic text is America: Past and Present (New York: Longman, 2011),
written by Robert A. Divine, et al. Some other works consulted for handouts to
accompany daily lessons and to produce homework assignments and DBQs are listed
below and referred to in abbreviated form throughout the syllabus.
Dollar and Reichard
McGraw-Hill, 2002)

American Issues: A Documentary Reader (Glencoe,

Madaras and SoRelle

2005)

Taking Sides: American History Vols. I & II (McGraw-Hill,

Curriculum Calendar
Unit 1: Colonial History to 1763
Required Reading:
Chapters 1 thru 4 in Divine

Various primary sources in chapters 2 thru 4 in American Issues including:

o Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
o An Indentured Servant Writes Home by Richard Frethorne
o Virginia Laws for Blacks

Key Discussion Topics: Native American culture, European conquest, race and freedom,
Political revolts, American Enlightenment, Political cultures, Century of Imperial war.
Work on how a DBQ is set up and what the difference is between descriptive and analysis
thinking. We will use the question concerning how different economic and social
systems evolved within the three colonial regions of British North America. Other
questions will be used for essay assessment, such as, analyzing the cultural and economic
responses by the European countries toward the Indians of North America prior to 1750.

Unit 2: Revolution for a New Government

Required Reading:
Chapters 5 thru 8 in Divine

Various Articles in Part 2 of Taking Sides Vol. I including:

o Was the American Revolution a Conservative Movement?
Yes Carl Degler / No Gordon Wood
o Was President Jefferson a Political Compromiser?
Yes Morton Borden / No Forrest McDonald

Key Discussion Topics: Origins of resistance, Military course of the war, Peace
negotiations, weaknesses and accomplishments of the Articles of Confederation, the roles
of Hamilton and Madison, Constitution of 1787, the rise of Political parties, Revolution
of 1800, Jeffersons imprint, War of 1812.

Two DBQs this unit the first one will be the 2005 DBQ: To what extent did the American
Revolution fundamentally change American society? This will be a take home
assignment. The second one will compare and contrast the actions of Thomas Jefferson
as president against the philosophies that defined the Republican Party which he led.
This one will be worked on in class in a group setting with class discussion of
information and documents. Other questions that can be used for essay assessment, such
as, comparing the Articles of Confederation vs. the Constitution along with analyzing the
contributions of Adams, Jefferson, and Washington in helping to establish a stable
government after the adoption of the Constitution.

Unit 3: Nation building and Jacksonian Period

Required Reading:
Chapters 9 thru 12 in Divine

Various primary sources in Chapters 9 and 10 in American Issues

including:
o Jacksonian Nationalism and its Limits: The Bank Veto by
Andrew Jackson
o The Destiny of the Race by Thomas Hart Benton

Key Discussion Topics: Transportation expansion, Market economy, Missouri

Compromise, Monroe Doctrine, Bank war, Indian removal, White society in the South,
Slavery and the Southern economy.
A second take home DBQ concerning Jacksons presidency, 1990 DBQ where the
Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as the guardians of the United States
Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic
opportunity, whether or not we agree with this assessment. Also we will look at a variety
of questions concerning the time period covered discuss information and writing thesis
statements for each question, such as What factors contributed to the reemergence of a
two party system in the period 1820 to 1840?

Unit Four: Sectionalism, Civil War and Reconstruction

Required Reading:
Chapters 13 thru 16 in Divine

Various articles in part 3 and 4 in Taking Sides Vol. I including:

o Was the Mexican War an Exercise in American Imperialism?

Yes Rodolfo Acuna / No Norman Braebner
Did Abraham Lincoln Free the Slaves?
Yes Allen Guelzo / No Vincent Harding
Key Discussion Topics: Manifest Destiny, Mexican-American war, Industrial revolution,
Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott case, slavery and its impact on
the South, Election of 1860, Secession, Total War, Emancipation Proclamation,
Presidential Reconstruction, Congressional Reconstruction, Black codes, Sharecropping,
Jim Crow laws.
Special Activity: Students will explore a series of Civil War photographs and then try to
discuss what information they can get from the photos along with applying that
information to the period and then using analysis and synthesis to arrive at an evaluation
for the photo.
Work on 1987 DBQ The 1850s: Prelude to Civil War, will be worked on and discussed
in class. Other questions, such as, evaluating the impact of the Civil War on political and
economic developments in the three regions of the United States or analyzing the
effectiveness of political compromise in reducing tensions during this units time period
can be used with essay assessment.

Unit Five: The Gilded Age

Required Reading:
Chapters 17 thru 20 in Divine

Various articles in Chapter 17 and 18 in American Issues including:

o The Best Fields for Philanthropy by Andrew Carnegie
o Workers and the Church by Richard T. Ely
o Anglo-Saxon Supremacy by Josiah Strong

Key Discussion Topics: Settling the West, Laissez-Faire and Social Darwinism, Rise of
Industrialists, Labors response, Urbanization, Immigration, Social Gospel, Politics of
1890s, Big Government, Republicans and the Populists.

Various questions concerning Indians, the settlement of the West, City Life, the Federal
Government and Laissez-Faire, Immigration, and whether Industrialists are Robber
Barons or Captains of Industry will be discussed and essays will be included for
assessment.

Unit 6: Progressive Era and Foreign Policy

Required Reading:
Chapters 21 thru 24 in Divine

Various articles in Chapter 19 and 20 in American Issues including:

o An Industrial Utopia: Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
o Strategic Reasons for American Expansion by Alfred T. Mahan

Key Discussion Topics: Progressivism, Muckrakers, Trust-busting, Social Justice

movement, Womens Suffrage, Square Deal, New Freedom, Imperialism, SpanishAmerican war, Teddy Roosevelt corollary, Panama Canal, Dollar Diplomacy, Moral
Diplomacy, Neutrality, World War I, Versailles Treaty controversy.
Work on the 2003 DBQ in evaluating the effectiveness of the Progressive Era reformers
and the federal government in bringing about reform at the national level. This will be a
take home assignment. Other questions concerning our objectives in entering World War
I, Imperialism, and the differences between the Presidents of this era will be entertained.
Essays will be used for assessment purposes.

Unit Seven: New Deal to World War II to Cold War

Required Reading:
Chapters 25 thru 28 in Divine

Various articles in Part 2 and 3 in Taking Sides Vol. II including:

o Did the New Deal prolong the Great Depression?
Yes Jim Powell / No Roger Biles
Did President Roosevelt deliberately withhold information about the
Attack on Pearl Harbor from the American commanders?

Yes Robert Theobald / No Roberta Wohlstetter

Special Activities: Students will view a series of photographs concerning World War II.
In class they will discuss their overall impressions of the photos, list all people, objects,
and activities in the photos, draw inferences from the photos, raise question concerning
what they see in the photos, and try to evaluate the photos. The students will also do the
same with photographs concerning the internment of the Japanese during World War II
and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Key Discussion Topics: Normalcy, Red Scare, New KKK, Harlem Renaissance, The
Crash, Great Depression, Relief, Recovery, and Reform, Critics of the New Deal,
Isolationism, Appeasement and Foreign policy, Pearl Harbor, Blitzkrieg, European war,
Pacific war, Atomic Bomb decision, Cold War, Containment, Korean War, Indochina,
McCarthyism.
Work on a DBQ concerning FDR and the New Deal reforms, also work concerning
questions dealing with World War II, the Cold War, and the differences between the two
Red Scares. Essays will be used for assessment purposes.

Unit Eight: Protests to Conservatives to America in Flux

Required Reading:
Chapters 29 thru 32 in Divine

Various articles in Chapters 27 thru 30 in American Issues including:

o Challenge and Response: The Gulf of Tonkin by Lyndon B.
Johnson
o The War Powers Act, A Presidents View by Richard Nixon
o The End of Watergate: Pardoning Nixon by Gerald Ford

Key Discussion Topics: Postwar economic boom, Rise of suburbs, Civil rights, New
Frontier, Warren court, Great Society, War on poverty, Vietnam, Black power, Womens
liberation, Nixon and Kissinger, Watergate, OPEC, Affirmative Action, Carter, Sadat and
Begin, Iranian Hostage crisis, Changing American population, Clinton, New Millennium.

In class DBQ on identifying and assessing the impact of three major events that were
responsible for the undermining American public support for the Vietnam War will be
used, along with various other questions concerning Watergate, Womens rights, etc. will
be used with essays assessments.

Unit 9 One week review for May AP Exam

Sample test of multiple choice questions with excerpts included

Work on DBQ second day
Work on short answer and long essay questions third day
Review work and try to answer any questions