AP US History Summer Assignment
2017-2018 School Year
The purpose of this assignment is to get you thinking about American history, the role that history can play in our lives
and to encourage you to think critically. It will also allow us to get a jump start on the first period so we can hit the
ground running come the new school year. There is a lot to cover (9 periods from 1491-today) and by working on the
first period over the summer you will have some basic knowledge and skills that will give us a chance to ensure we
are able to cover all of the material and skills you need to score a 5 on the AP exam and ace the End of Course Test.
The assignment is to be completed by Wednesday, August 2nd and will count towards your first marking period
grade. If you have any questions over the summer relating to the assignment or the course, please email me! Please
don’t wait until the last moment to get started on the assignment as there is a lot to do. I don’t check my email 24/7 so
please allow a few days for a response.
There are 5 parts to the assignment and all parts must be handwritten. I will not accept typed assignments. On the AP
exam you will have to hand write all parts so we need to practice this skill from the very beginning. Be sure to label
each part clearly.
Notes & Reminders:
The assignment must be handwritten and clearly labeled
All parts of this assignment will be due Wednesday, August 2nd
Do not wait until the end of the summer to get started on this assignment
Email me with questions throughout the summer: [email protected]
Part 1 – Sign up for the APUSH remind
Part 2 - Textbook Notes
Read the first chapter of our textbook. Don’t worry, you don’t have to check out a textbook. A copy of chapter one can
be found [here] or on the Alcovy summer assignment website. As you read the chapter you will be expected to take
notes. Use the chapter reading guide to help you decide what information is important and what information is
frivolous (A LOT OF THE INFORMATION IS FRIVOLOUS). The notes you take should be done on lined paper and
handwritten. Typed notes will not be accepted.
Throughout the year you will be expected to read the textbook and take notes. We will have weekly reading quizzes
which you will be able to use your notes on. Our first reading quiz will be Wednesday August 9 th over this very
chapter. Being able to pull out key information and understand what you’ve read is a skill that you will need not only
for this class but for your college career going forward. Use the chapter guide below to help you decide what you
should focus on:
Chapter 1: New World Encounters (pp 3-28)
Divine, Robert A. America past and Present. 7th AP ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.
Big Picture Themes
1. The New World, before Columbus, there were many different Native American tribes. These people were very
diverse. In what’s today the U.S., there were an estimated 400 tribes, often speaking different languages. It’s
inaccurate to think of “Indians” as a homogeneous group.
2. Columbus came to America looking for a trade route to the East Indies (Spice Islands). Other explorers quickly
realized this was an entirely New World and came to lay claim to the new lands for their host countries. Spain and
Portugal had the head start on France and then England.
3. The coming together of the two world had world changing effects. The biological exchange cannot be
underestimated. Food was swapped back and forth and truly revolutionized what people ate. On the bad side,
European diseases wiped out an estimated 90% of Native Americans
Terms (know the following and their significance)
Land Bridge Theory
Agricultural Revolution
Three Sisters (main crops)
Anasazi aka “Ancestral Puebloan”
Mississippian Mound Builders
Cahokia
Aztec
Eastern Woodland People: Iroquois, Algonquin
Columbian Exchange
Impact of disease on Native population
Sub-Saharan Africa
Norse Vikings
Ferdinand & Isabella
Conquistadores
God, Gold, Glory
Christopher Columbus
Treaty of Tordesillas
Hernán Cortés
Montezuma
Encomienda system
Bartolomé de las Casas
Mestizos
Mullatos
Criollos
Peninsulares
Jacques Cartier
Samuel de Champlain
Quebec
French trade with Natives
Protestant Reformation
Calvinism
Puritans
Church of England
Roanoke
Critical Thinking Questions (be able to answer the following)
How did Native American societies experience substantial change prior to European conquest?
What factors contribute to the size and sophistication of the American Indian civilizations
Describe the common features of North American Indian culture.
How would you compare the relationships between Europeans formed with West Africans to the ones they formed
with native Americans?
Explain the positive and negative effects of the Colombian Exchange on the New World and the Old World.
How would you compare and contrast the role of religion and economics in the development of the Spanish, French
and English empires?
Why was Cortes able to defeat the powerful Aztecs?
Describe the impact of the encomienda system.
How did a relatively small European nation like England rise to a position of world power?
Part 3 – Primary & Secondary Document Analysis
Read the included documents in this packet. For each document complete a document analysis using the guide below
and answer all the given questions.
In this course you will have to analyze historical documents. These will be primary and secondary sources and will
include written documents, images, charts, audio, and video. The College Board will require you to use these skills on
the Document Based Question as well as with in the Multiple Choice questions. As such we will do A LOT of practice
of these skills. Below is the basic guide you will need as you complete your summer work.
HIPPO Question Guide
H
I
Historical Context
Intended Audience
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Where and when was the source created?
What was going on at the time?
What has just happened?
Is the document a reaction to some event?
How does this source represent the period?
“After the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882…”
To whom is the piece directed?
Does it identify a person or a group of persons the author expects to inform or
influence?
P
Point of View
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●
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A certain person or certain people?
How might this affect the reliability of the source?
Example: “By appealing to fellow industrial workers, …”
What is the main idea?
What point is the author trying to make?
What is the author’s tone?
What is the author’s bias?
How does the author’s background or position impact the message? (Race, class,
gender, age, region, occupation, values, motives)
●
P
O
Purpose
Organization
Synthesis/
Historical
Connection
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Example: “As an African American, ….”
Why was the source produced?
What was the author trying to accomplish?
Did he/she have ulterior motives?
Examples: Persuade, Urge, Demand, Establish, Expose, Question, Discredit,
Justify, Warn, (Despite..)
How does your analysis of the document fit into your argument?
Does it provide a counter-argument?
How will you use this source as evidence to support your thesis?
Connects to a larger historical context, time period, geographical area, etc.
Think BIG picture…
What happens next?
What happened that caused this to happen?
Document 1 – Christopher Columbus, Journal (1492)
…Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes, lovers and promoters of the Holy Christian Faith, and
enemies of the false doctrine of Mahomet and of all idolatries and heresies, you thought of sending me, Christobal
Colon, to the said regions of India to see the said princes and the peoples and the lands, and the characteristics of
the lands and of everything and to see how their conversion to our Holy Faith might be undertaken. And you
commanded that I should not go to the East by land, by which way it is customary to go, but by the route to the West,
by which route we do not know for certain that anyone previously has passed. … And for that you granted me great
favors and ennobled me so that from then on I might call myself "Don" and would be Grand Admiral of the Ocean Sea
and Viceroy and perpetual Governor of all the islands and lands that I might discover and gain and [that] from now on
might be discovered and gained in the Ocean Sea…
Thursday I October
…because the caravel Pinta was a better sailor and went ahead of the Admiral [sometimes Columbus refers to
himself in the third person] it found land and made the signals that the Admiral had ordered. A sailor named Rodrigo
de Triana saw this land first, although the Admiral, at the tenth hour of the night, while he was on the stern castle saw
a light, although it was something so faint that he did not wish to affirm that it was land. But he called Pero Gutierrez,
the steward of the king's dais, and told him that there seemed to be a light, and for him to look: and thus he did and
saw it. He also told Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, whom the king and queen were sending as veedor of the fleet, who
saw nothing because he was not in a place where he could see it. After the Admiral said it, it was seen once or twice;
and it was like a small wax candle that rose and lifted up, which too few seemed to be an indication of land. But the
Admiral was certain that they were near land…the Admiral entreated and admonished them to keep a good lookout
on the forecastle and to watch carefully for land; and that to the man who first told him that he saw land he would later
give a silk jacket in addition to the other rewards that the sovereigns had promised, which were ten thousand
maravedis as an annuity to whoever should see it first. At two hours after midnight the land appeared, from which they
were about two leagues distant … Soon they saw naked people; and the Admiral went ashore … he said that they
should be witnesses that, in the presence of all, he would take, as in fact he did take, possession of the said island for
the king and for the queen his lords, making the declarations that were required, and which at more length are
contained in the testimonials made there in writing. Soon many people of the island gathered there.
… in order that they would be friendly to us -- because I recognized that they were people who would be better freed
and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force -- to some of them I gave red caps, and glass beads which they
put on their chests, and many other things of small value, in which they took so much pleasure and became so much
our friends that it was a marvel. Later they came swimming to the ships' launches where we were and brought us
parrots and cotton thread in balls and javelins and many other things, and they traded them to us for other things
which we gave them, such as small glass beads and bells. In sum, they took everything and gave of what they had
very willingly. But it seemed to me that they were a people very poor in everything. All of them go around as naked as
their mothers bore them; and the women also, although I did not see more than one quite young girl. And all those
that I saw were young people, for none did I see of more than 30 years of age. They are very well formed, with
handsome bodies and good faces. Their hair coarse -- almost like the tail of a horse-and short. They wear their hair
down over their eyebrows except for a little in the back which they wear long and never cut. Some of them paint
themselves with black, and they are of the color of the Canarians, neither black nor white; and some of them paint
themselves with white, and some of them with red, and some of them with whatever they find. And some of them paint
their faces, and some of them the whole body, and some of them only the eyes, and some of them only the nose.
They do not carry arms nor are they acquainted with them, because I showed them swords and they took them by the
edge and through ignorance cut themselves. They have no iron.
Their javelins are shafts without iron and some of them have at the end a fish tooth.... All of them alike are of goodsized stature and carry themselves well. I saw some who had marks of wounds on their bodies and I made signs to
them asking what they were; and they showed me how people from other islands nearby came there and tried to take
them, and how they defended themselves; and I believed and believe that -- they come here from tierrafirme to take
them captive. They should be good and intelligent servants, for I see that they say very quickly everything that is said
to them; and I believe that they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed to me that they had no religion.
Our Lord pleasing, at the time of my departure I will take six of them from here to Your Highnesses in order that they
may learn to speak...
…I was attentive and labored to find out if there was any gold; and I saw that some of them wore a little piece hung in
a hole that they have in their noses. And by signs I was able to understand that, going to the south or rounding the
island to the south, there was there a king who had large vessels of it and had very much gold.... This island is quite
big and very flat and with very green trees a I and much water and a very large lake in the middle and without any
mountains; and all of it so green that it is a pleasure to look at it. And these people are very gentle, and because of
their desire to have some of our things and believing that nothing will be given to them without their giving something,
and not having anything, they take what they can and then throw themselves into the water to swim....
Source: E. G. Bourne, ed., The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot (New York, 1906)
-----------------------------Document 1 Questions
1. Complete your choice of HIPP (Historical Context, Intended Audience, Purpose or Point of View)
2. State ONE relevant Synthesis/Historical Connection AND explain the connection
3. How does Columbus’ diary reflect Spanish colonial goals? (Gold, God, Glory) Give specific examples for each
4. How does Columbus’ journal differ from the actual experience of the native peoples? … I recognized that they were
people who would be better freed and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force …
Document 2 - Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. (1542)
The Indies were discovered in the year one thousand four hundred and ninety-two. In the following year a great many
Spaniards went there with the intention of settling the land. Thus, forty-nine years have passed since the first settlers
penetrated the land, the first so claimed being the large and most happy isle called Hispaniola, which is six hundred
leagues in circumference. Around it in all directions are many other islands, some very big, others very small, and all
of them were, as we saw with our own eyes, densely populated with native peoples called Indians. This large island
was perhaps the most densely populated place in the world. There must be close to two hundred leagues of land on
this island, and the seacoast has been explored for more than ten thousand leagues, and each day more of it is being
explored. And all the land so far discovered is a beehive of people; it is as though God had crowded into these lands
the great majority of mankind.
And of all the infinite universe of humanity, these people are the most guileless, the most devoid of wickedness and
duplicity, the most obedient and faithful to their native masters and to the Spanish Christians whom they serve. They
are by nature the most humble, patient, and peaceable, holding no grudges, free from embroilments, neither excitable
nor quarrelsome. These people are the most devoid of rancors, hatreds, or desire for vengeance of any people in the
world. And because they are so weak and complaisant, they are less able to endure heavy labor and soon die of no
matter what malady. The sons of nobles among us, brought up in the enjoyments of life's refinements, are no more
delicate than are these Indians, even those among them who are of the lowest rank of laborers. They are also poor
people, for they not only possess little but have no desire to possess worldly goods. For this reason they are not
arrogant, embittered, or greedy. … They are very clean in their persons, with alert, intelligent minds, docile and open
to doctrine, very apt to receive our holy Catholic faith, to be endowed with virtuous customs, and to behave in a godly
fashion. And once they begin to hear the tidings of the Faith, they are so insistent on knowing more and on taking the
sacraments of the Church and on observing the divine cult that, truly, the missionaries who are here need to be
endowed by God with great patience in order to cope with such eagerness. …
Yet into this sheepfold, into this land of meek outcasts there came some Spaniards who immediately behaved like
ravening wild beasts, wolves, tigers, or lions that had been starved for many days. And Spaniards have behaved in no
other way during the past forty years, down to the present time, for they are still acting like ravening beasts, killing,
terrorizing, afflicting, torturing, and destroying the native peoples, doing all this with the strangest and most varied new
methods of cruelty, never seen or heard of before, and to such a degree that this Island of Hispaniola once so
populous (having a population that I estimated to be more than three million), has now a population of barely two
hundred persons.
Source: Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. (1542)
-----------------------------Document 2 Questions
1. Complete your choice of HIPP (Historical Context, Intended Audience, Purpose or Point of View)
2. State ONE relevant Synthesis/Historical Connection AND explain the connection
3. How does De Las Casas’ point of view differ from that of Columbus?
4. How might have this been shaped by the Protestant Reformation?
Document 3 – Aztec Small Pox victims image
-----------------------------Document 3 Questions
1. Complete your choice of HIPP (Historical Context, Intended Audience, Purpose or Point of View)
2. State ONE relevant Synthesis/Historical Connection AND explain the connection
3. What consequences did the Columbian Exchange have on both Europeans and on American Indians?
Document 4 – Transcript of the Spanish Trial in the Aftermath of a Pueblo Revolt (1598)
By this time the Indians had given them some flour and maize, although not so much as was needed. For this reason,
ad because the Indians themselves suggested it, the maese de campo [commanding general of the royal troops in
New Mexico] sent Captain Diego Nunez de Chaves with six men to get the rest of the provisions at the places
indicated by the Indians. He went, and a short time later the maese de camp asked this witness to find out what the
captain was doing. This witness went to Captain Diego Nunez, who told him that the Indians would not give anything,
and told him to return to the maese de campo for more men to finish the task quickly as it was getting very late. This
witness did so, and the maese de campo gave him six more men to gather flour in other places and to finish quickly.
When he went to ask for some at the house not far from there, he heard shouting at that moment from the direction of
Captain Diego Nunez. What happened was that the Indians, as soon as they saw that the forces were divided, began
to attack and kill. So this witness fell back immediately with his soldiers to rejoin the mase de campo, followed by the
Indians who had hitherto accompanied this witness. They pursued the Spaniards in large groups, and began to hurl
countless stones, arrows, and clubs, not only from the ground, but from the terraces, both men and women
participating in the attack. This witness is certain that this was done treacherously and with premeditation, as they
waited until the Spaniards were divided, as he has stated. This witness saw Captain Diego Nunez and his soldiers fall
back toward the maese de campo, who at that very moment received an arrow wound in the leg, and other soldiers
were killed and wounded. The Indians were so numerous, threw so many stones, and shot so many arrows that they
forced the Spaniards to a high cliff where they killed the maese de campo, Captains Felipe de Escalante and Diego
Nunez, other soldiers and two Indian servants…
Source: George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey, eds. And trans., Don Juan de Onate, Colonizer of New Mexico, 15951628, vol. 5 (Albuquerque: Univeristy of New Mexico Press, 1953), 434-435
------------------------------
Document 4 Questions
1. Complete your choice of HIPP (Historical Context, Intended Audience, Purpose or Point of View)
2. State ONE relevant Synthesis/Historical Connection AND explain the connection
3. How might the speaker’s audience have influenced the details that he chose to highlight?
4. What details of the violence at Acoma might this speaker have left out?
Part 4 – Period 1 Key Concepts 1491-1607
Below you will find the Key Concepts for Period 1 which spans the years 1491-1607. The chart and information below
is taken from the Collegeboard Framework for the AP US History course. Read the information in the chart and list
examples of each in the blank box on the right. Examples can be people, places, events, dates, ideas, etc. You can
write directly onto this chart … no need to copy it onto a separate sheet of paper.
Key Concept 1.1: As native populations migrated and settled across the vast expanse of North America over time,
they developed distinct and increasingly complex societies by adapting to and transforming their diverse
environments.
Related Thematic
Learning Objective
MIG-2.0 Analyze causes of
internal migration and
patterns of settlement in
what would become the
United States, and explain
how migration has affected
American life.
GEO-1.0: Explain how
geographic and
environmental factors shaped
the development of various
communities, and analyze
how competition for and
debates over natural
resources have affected both
interactions among different
groups and the development
of government policies
I. Different native societies adapted to and transformed their environments through innovations in
agriculture, resource use, and social structure.
A) The spread of maize cultivation from present day Mexico
northward into the present-day American Southwest and
beyond supported economic development, settlement,
advanced irrigation, and social diversification among
societies.
B) Societies responded to the aridity of the Great Basin and
the grasslands of the western Great Plains by developing
largely mobile lifestyles.
C) In the Northeast, the Mississippi River Valley, and along
the Atlantic seaboard some societies developed mixed
agricultural and hunter gatherer economies that favored
the development of permanent villages.
D) Societies in the Northwest and present-day California
supported themselves by hunting and gathering, and in
some areas developed settled communities supported by
the vast resources of the ocean.
Key Concept 1.2: Contact among Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans resulted in the Columbian Exchange and
significant social, cultural, and political changes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Related Thematic Learning
Objective
WXT-2.0: Explain how
patterns of exchange,
markets, and private
enterprise have developed,
and analyze ways that
governments have responded
to economic issues
European expansion into the Western Hemisphere generated intense social, religious, political, and
economic competition and changes within European societies.
WXT-3.0: Analyze how
technological innovation has
affected economic
development and society
B) The Columbian Exchange brought new crops to Europe
from the Americas, stimulating European population
growth, and new sources of mineral wealth, which
facilitated the European shift from feudalism to capitalism.
A) European nations’ efforts to explore and conquer the
New World stemmed from a search for new sources of
wealth, economic and military competition, and a desire to
spread Christianity
WOR – 1.0 Explain how
Cultural interaction,
cooperation, competition and
conflict between empires,
nations, and peoples have
influenced political,
economic, and social
developments in North
America
C) Improvements in maritime technology and more
organized methods for conducting international trade, such
as joint-stock companies, helped drive changes to
economies in Europe and the Americas.
MIG-1.0: Explain the causes
of migration to colonial North
America, and later, the
United States, and analyze
immigration’s effects on U.S.
society.
II. The Columbian Exchange and development of the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere
resulted in extensive demographic, economic, and social changes.
WXT-1.0: Explain how
different labor systems
developed in North America
and the United States, and
explain their effects on
workers’ lives and U.S.
society.
A) Spanish exploration and conquest of the Americas were
accompanied and furthered by widespread deadly
epidemics that devastated native populations and by the
introduction of crops and animals not found in the
Americas.
B) In the encomienda system, Spanish colonial economies
marshaled Native American labor to support plantation
based agriculture and extract precious metals and other
resources.
GEO-1.0: Explain how
geographic and
environmental factors shaped
the development of various
communities, and analyze
how competition for and
debates over natural
resources have affected both
interactions among different
groups and the development
of government policies
C) European traders partnered with some West African
groups who practiced slavery to forcibly extract slave labor
for the Americas. The Spanish imported enslaved Africans to
labor in plantation agriculture and mining.
CUL-1.0 Explain how religious
groups and ideas have
affected American society
and political life.
III. In their interactions, Europeans and Native Americans asserted divergent worldviews regarding
issues such as religion, gender roles, family, land use, and power.
CUL-3.0 Explain how ideas
about women’s rights and
gender roles have affected
society and politics.
CUL-4.0 Explain how different
group identities, including
racial, ethnic, class, and
regional identities, have
emerged and changed over
time
D) The Spanish developed a caste system that incorporated,
and carefully defined the status of, the diverse population
of Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans in their
empire.
A) Mutual misunderstandings between Europeans and
Native Americans often defined the early years of
interaction and trade as each group sought to make sense
of the other. Over time, Europeans and Native Americans
adopted some useful aspects of each other’s culture.
B) As European encroachments on Native Americans’ lands
and demands on their labor increased, native peoples
sought to defend and maintain their political sovereignty,
economic prosperity, religious beliefs, and concepts of
gender relations through diplomatic negotiations and
military resistance.
WOR – 1.0 Explain how
Cultural interaction,
cooperation, competition and
conflict between empires,
nations, and peoples have
influenced political,
economic, and social
developments in North
America
C) Extended contact with Native Americans and Africans
fostered a debate among European religious and political
leaders about how non-Europeans should be treated, as
well as evolving religious, cultural, and racial justifications
for the subjugation of Africans and Native Americans.
Part 5 – Period 1 Change and Continuity over Time Chart
For every period we will look at things that stayed the same (continuity) and things that are different (change) and also
ask why? After completing all of the previous work fill in the Change and Continuity over Time (CCOT) chart below.
The chart has broken down by the 7 themes that we will discuss with each and every period. For each theme please
restate it/explain what it means in your own words. Then for each theme identify key aspects of this period that stayed
the same (continuities) and things that are different (change). For each continuity and change you identified you will
need to analyze why that occurred. Feel free to write on this chart or if you need more space you can copy it onto
another sheet of paper.
Theme
American and
National
Identity
Work,
Exchange, and
technology
Culture and
Society
Politics and
power
Key Continuities
Key Changes
Analysis of continuities/changes
(Why did this change occur?)
America in the
World
Geography and
the
Environment
Migration and
Settlement