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U.S. History

Syllabus

Course Essential Questions

  • To what extent does the United States live up to the ideals established in the founding documents?
  • How has the struggle for rights and opportunity been a defining feature of American history?
  • How do unresolved conflicts throughout American history continue to impact the country (us) today?

Course Learning Objectives

  • Synthesize a variety of sources in order to arrive at an understanding of major events, turning points, and trends in U.S. history since the Constitution was written.
  • Compare the founding principles and ideals of America with ongoing challenges and debates in America.
  • Research selected topics in American history in order to explain how different groups have worked to achieve increased rights and opportunities

Unit 1: Foundations of Democracy (Weeks 1-3)

Week 1: Getting Started and Introduction to American History

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Understand the rules and policies of the course, and expectations of you as a contributing member of our learning community
  • Begin to build community by sharing important information with your teacher and classmates about yourself and your school, and creating a social contract together for guidelines on interacting throughout the class
  • Develop your skills for navigating the course environment and using the various course tools
  • Compare your experience and prior knowledge of American history with our learning community

Week 2: America's Founding Documents and Ideals

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Evaluate the ideals established in the Declaration of Independence
  • Identify the central conflicts of the Constitutional Convention and the compromises that were made
  • Compare the different perspectives on the ratification of the Constitution

Week 3: Early Partisan Divides

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Evaluate the competing visions of America of the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans
  • Identify the protections granted to American citizens under the Bill of Rights
  • Describe how foreign relations began to impact American politics

Unit 2: Growth and Challenges in a New Nations (Weeks 4-6)

Week 4: Industrialization in the North

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe the effect of industrialization on producers, consumers, and workers
  • Explain the impact of expanded transportation on the economy and Americans’ lives in the nineteenth century
  • Compare the different interests and priorities of emerging social classes

Week 5: Westward Expansion & Jacksonian Democracy

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Provide examples of the ways more Americans were becoming involved with politics and assess the impact of this expanded participation
  • Explain the Indian Removal Act and its effect on Native American people

Week 6: Slavery, the American South, and the Impact of the Slave Economy Nationally

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Compare the role of slavery in the agrarian economy of the South with the role of the slavery economy in the industrialized North
  • Describe the lives of enslaved people and the ways they sought to resist slavery
  • Explain the differences and similarities between free Black people and enslaved people

Unit 3: The Civil War - America’s Second Revolution (Weeks 7-10)

Week 7: Expansion and Growing Divides

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Analyze critical events and policies leading to the Civil War and the connections among them
  • Explain the role of abolitionists and the abolitionist movement in impacting public perception of slavery

Week 8: The Road to the Civil War

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe the impact of the Election of 1860
  • Compare the ideals of the US Constitution and the Constitution of the Confederate States of America
  • Compare the strengths and weaknesses of the Confederacy and the Union

Week 9: The Civil War

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Analyze the role and policies of Civil War-era leaders
  • Compare the strengths and weaknesses of the Confederacy and the Union
  • Identify and describe the major turning points of the Civil War

Week 10: Reconstruction

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Analyze the role and policies of Civil War-era leaders
  • Compare the strengths and weaknesses of the Confederacy and the Union
  • Identify and describe the major turning points of the Civil War

Week 11: Review and Assessment Week

Unit 4: The Ongoing Struggle to Expand Citizenship & Opportunity (Weeks 12-15)

Weekly Learning Objectives

Week 12: Westward Expansion and Native American Policy

  • Explain how the federal government facilitated Americans’ westward migration
  • Compare the impact of the policies of Indian removal and assimilation on Native Americans

Week 13: Immigration and Reform

Weekly Learning Objective

  • Describe the different experiences and settlement patterns of major immigrant groups around the turn of the 20th century

Week 14: Economic Growth, Urbanization, and the Labor Movement

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Evaluate the leaders of big business at the turn of the century as "robber barons" or "captains of industry"
  • Identify the challenges that Americans faced due to industrialization and urbanization
  • Compare the tactics of different efforts to organize workers (labor unions)

Week 15: Challenges of Farmers and the Failure of Reconstruction

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the economic and political challenges facing farmers after the Civil War
  • Evaluate the impact of the farmers’ protest movement
  • Describe the increased role of the federal government in the South

Unit 5: America on the World Stage (Weeks 16-18)

Week 16: The Progressive Movement

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the primary goals of the Progressive movement
  • Compare the goals and tactics of various Progressive activists
  • Analyze the impact of major governmental policies of the Progressive era

Week 17: America’s Growing Role in World Affairs

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Analyze the causes (and impact?) of the growing role of the US in world affairs
  • Describe US actions to create a global empire and evaluate the impact of those actions
  • Compare the foreign policy of Presidents T Roosevelt and Taft

Week 18: World War I and Isolationism

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the rationale and events leading to the US entry into WWI
  • Evaluate the impact of WWI on the ongoing struggle for civil rights and economic opportunity (organized labor, women's suffrage, and civil rights
  • Explain the impact of the Treaty of Versailles and the significance of American absence from the League of Nations

Unit 6: Economic Growth and the Role of Government (Weeks 19-21)

Week 19: The Roaring 20s for whom?

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe the cultural, artistic, and technological changes of the 1920s that made for a more "modern" America
  • Compare the impact of economic prosperity on different groups in American society through the 1920s
  • Analyze the impact of Nativism and racism on American culture and politics.

Week 20: The Great Depression

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe the underlying weaknesses in the US economy that contributed to the Great Depression
  • Compare the economic and social impact of the Great Depression on different groups in American society
  • Evaluate the economic philosophy and policies of President Hoover

Week 21: The New Deal

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe the economic philosophy of FDR and key pieces in his "First New Deal"
  • Describe the key pieces in FDR's "Second New Deal" and evaluate how they addressed criticisms of the First New Deal
  • Analyze the short and long-term impact of New Deal policies and programs

UNIT 7: World War II Changed America (Weeks 22-25)

Week 22: American Entry into World War II

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe the factors that gave rise to fascism & Nazism in Europe
  • Identify the key turning points as the US went from a policy of neutrality to engagement in WWII
  • Compare the strategies and turning points in the European theater with the Pacific theater

Week 23: The Impact of World War II and the Homefront

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe how WWII changed employment opportunities and patterns
  • Analyze the constitutional impact of the Japanese internment policy
  • Compare the rights and responsibilities African American soldiers had while fighting abroad to the rights afforded to them at home.

Week 24: Post-War America and the Onset of the Cold War

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe the issues faced by returning veterans and policies created to address them
  • Analyze the economic, political, and social shifts in American society after WWII
  • Compare the economic and political systems of the US and the Soviet Union
  • Explain the events and factors that led to the Cold War

Week 25: The Cold War at Home and Abroad

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe US involvement in various Cold War "hotspots" around the world
  • Analyze the roots and impact of McCarthyism and stifling political dissent
  • Trace US policy in Vietnam from the late 1950s through the end of the Vietnam War
  • Analyze the consequences of the Vietnam War

Week 26: Review and Assessment Week

Unit 8: Ongoing Fight for Civil Rights (Week 27-29)

Week 27: The Turbulent 1960s

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe the counterculture of the 1960s
  • Compare the protest movements of the 1960s with current challenges in American society
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of young people in making change
  • Identify the different groups advocating for economic, social, and political change in the 1960s & 1970s

Week 28: The Civil Rights Movement

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Trace the major events and developments of the Civil Rights Movement from the Brown v Board decision through the assassination of MLK, Jr. (create a timeline?)
  • Analyze the strategies and tactics different individuals and groups used to expand civil rights
  • Evaluate the political impact of the Civil Rights Movement

Week 29: Backlash and Corruption

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Describe the beliefs and rise of the "Silent Majority"
  • Explain the divisions in the Democratic party in the late 1960s
  • Analyze the impact of Watergate and Nixon's resignation on American politics and culture

Unit 9: Modern America (Weeks 30-33)

Week 30: Economic Growth and Stratification

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Compare and contrast the economic and social policies of the Reagan and Clinton administrations and their impact on the nation
  • Analyze the increasing partisan divides of the 1990s and the impact on American politics and culture

Week 31: America in the 21st Century

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain how the United States responded to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the rationale for the war in Afghanistan and Iraq
  • Evaluate the significance of President Barack Obama's election

Week 32: Living up to the Ideals of America’s Founding

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Analyze the backlash to racial progress and ongoing barriers to equal opportunity
  • Describe some of the major economic, social, and political challenges of the last 20 years

Week 33: Course Wrap-Up

Weekly Learning Objective

  • Reflect on the progress towards achieving the founding ideals of the US and the challenges and barriers that remain