A.P. U.S. History Syllabus 2015
Course Description:
AP US History is a challenging course that is designed to be the equivalent of a freshman college course
in a high school setting. It is a year-long survey of American history from the age before Columbus 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 Historical Thinking skills, essay writing,
interpretation of original documents and historiography.
Students will be required to apply the effort necessary to think as a historian and develop the ability to
analyze historical evidence to determine its validity and relevance, identify point of view and the nature of bias,
and recognize the necessity of objectivity and substantiation. The methodology of a historian involves skills
that are highly transferable--the ability to formulate generalizations, interpret and use data and to analyze and
weigh evidence from conflicting sources of information are applicable to many other academic and practical
disciplines.
AP United States History is more challenging and stimulating compared with other high school courses, it
takes more time and requires more homework (but you already know that). Consequently, there will be a focus
on strengthening skills in taking objective exams, in addition to writing clear and compelling essays and doing
research and analysis of historical data. Therefore, regular study, frequent practice in writing, historical
analysis, class discussions/debates/seminars, and study/review/and test-taking strategies are major elements of
the course.
Course Objectives:
 Master a broad body of knowledge
 Develop Historical Thinking Skills
*
Demonstrate an understanding of historical
chronology
*
Use historical data to support an argument or
position
*
Differentiate between different schools of
historical thought
*
Interpret and apply data from original
documents, including cartoons, graphs, letters,
*
*

etc.
Effectively use analytical skills of evaluation,
cause and effect, compare and contrast
Work effectively with others to produce
products (such as original DBQs, PowerPoint
presentations, review sheets for the entire
class) and solve problems
Prepare for and successfully pass the
Advanced Placement Exam
Course Text:
“The American Pageant” 12th Edition. David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen and Thomas A. Bailey
Secondary Sources: Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents from the National Archives
Foreword by Michael Beschloss
Oxford University Press
America: A Narrative History Ninth edition Volume One
by George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi
Norton Press
America: A Narrative History Ninth edition Volume Two
by George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi
Norton Press
A People's History of the United States
by Howard Zinn
HarperCollins
America, Imagine a World without Her
by Dinesh D'Souza
Regnery Press
Grading Policy
o 60% Exams/Projects/Essays
o Summative grades
o 40% Daily work/Homework/Quizzes
o Formative grades
Late Work Policy
Flexible opportunities will be afforded for the completion late work.
After 2 days, late work penalty is left up to teacher’s discretion
 Assignments that are graded in class and used as an instructional teaching strategy may not be
turned in late. Students will be informed that the assignments cannot be turned in late when the
assignment is given
 It is the student’s responsibility to contact the teacher and make arrangements regarding late
work.
Testing Policy:
Any type of communication with fellow classmates during a test will be interpreted as cheating. A
person caught cheating will receive a zero on the test and be considered for a discipline referral.
Make-up Work
ø Students who are absent from class will have two (2) days for every day missed (maximum of two (2)
weeks) in order to make up missed assignments before any penalty will be incurred.
ø Additionally, if a student is absent on the day that an exam has been scheduled, the student must take
the exam within five school days after s/he returns. Teachers have the option of giving alternate make-up
assessments. This assumes that no new material was introduced while the student was absent and that the exam
was scheduled prior to the absence.
ø Exams retakes will be available to students who have scored 69 or lower for a maximum grade of 70.
Students must retake within five (5) school days and are responsible for making the arrangements with the
teacher.
ø Make-up on long term assignments will be handled on a case by case basis.
ø It is the student's responsibility to contact the teacher and make arrangements regarding missed
assignments and/or exams due to absences from class for any reason
ø Students who are absent from school for School Business (a school related activity) and are on campus
the day of the absence must turn on any long term assignments due that day before leaving. If a student is
unable to find the teacher (after multiple attempts), s/he may leave the assignment with the academic dean.
Tutoring
Tutoring will be available from 7:30 – 8:35 am and at other times by appointment in the classroom.
» It is the student's responsibility to make an appointment with their teacher to set up tutoring sessions.
This will ensure that the teacher and student can meet at a time and on a day that is convenient for both. It is
also the student's responsibility to show up for any prearranged tutoring sessions. Students can inform their
teacher of a need for tutoring in person or via email. Students are responsible to sign in and out at each tutoring
session.
Semester Exams
Semester exams (Q2 and Q4) are comprehensive exams that allow the teachers and the students to assess
the acquisition of knowledge and skills covered during the grading period. Semester exams are not calculated
as part of the 9 weeks week grade; they are calculated as 20% of the final grade for the semester.
Major Learning Objectives by “Themes of the Course”
These themes are woven throughout unit discussions, with assessments (quizzes, essays, and exams)
being structured around them:

America in the World: (WOR)

Environment and Geography- Physical and
Human: (ENV)

Identity: (ID)National Identity

Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture: (CUL)

Politics and Power: (POL)

Work, Exchange, and Technology: (WXT)

Peopling: (PEO)
Course Topics:
Period 1: 1491-1607 On a North American
continent controlled by American Indians, contact
Historical Argumentation: Student essay
among the peoples of Europe, the Americas, and
with a thesis statement and using for support the
West Africa created a new world.
text, Zinn, D'Sousa, and Tindall evaluate the
Themes: (PEO)(ENV)(WXT)(POL)(CUL)
treatment of the Native Americans.
Unit 1: Pre-Columbian History to 1763
1.
Pre-Columbian Societies
a. Early inhabitants of the Americas
b. American Indian empires in
Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the
Mississippi Valley.
c. American Indian Cultures of North
America at the time of European
contact.
2.
Transatlantic Encounters and Colonial
Beginnings, 1492-1690
a. First European contacts with Native
Americans.
b. Spain’s empire in North America.
c. French colonization of Canada.
d. English settlement of New England,
the Mid-Atlantic region, and the South.
e. From servitude to slavery in the
Chesapeake region.
f. Resistance to colonial authority:
Bacon’s Rebellion, the Glorious
Revolution and the Pueblo Revolt.
Contextualization: Student essay on the
impact of the Columbian exchange on the
Native Americans in the 1500s.
Interpretation: Using the reading from
Zinn and D'Sousa, compare and contrast their
interpretations of Columbus.
Period 2: 1607-1754 European and American
Indians maneuvered and fought for dominance,
control, and security in North America, and
distinctive colonial and native societies emerged.
Themes:(PEO)(WXT)(WOR)(ENV)(ID)(CUL)
3.
Colonial North America, 1690-1754
a. Population growth and immigration.
b. Transatlantic trade and the growth of
seaports.
c. The eighteenth-century back country.
d. Colonial governments and imperial
policy in British North America.
4.
Activities
a. Activity: Building a Thesis
b. Reading: Bacon’s Rebellion
c. Graphic Organizer: English Colonies
in North America
d. Colonial Economics Map
e. Reading and reconstruction of Salem
Witch Trials
f. LEQ: Summarize key economic
g.
h.
i.
j.
activities of the English colonies by
region during the 18th century.
Political Cartoon: Columbus then and
Now
Project: Events leading to the
American Revolution
DBQ: 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
difference in development occur?
Reading Quizzes (Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Period 3:1754-1800 British imperial attempts to
reassert control over its colonies and the colonial
reaction to these attempts produced a new
American republic, along with struggles over the
new nation's social, political, and economic
identity.
Themes:(ID)(POL)(ENV)(CUL)(WOR)(WXT)
Unit 2: The American Revolution (1763-1783)
5.
The American Revolutionary Era, 17541789
a. The French and Indian War
b. The Imperial Crisis and resistance to
Britain
c. The War for Independence
d. State constitutions and the Articles of
Confederation
e. The Federal Constitution
Periodization: Students will make a
time-line of events leading up to the
signing of the Declaration of
Independence.
e. Reading: Women of the Revolution
f. Reading: Shay’s Rebellion
g. Debate: Articles of Confederation vs.
Constitution
h. Constitutional Analysis
i. Reading Quizzes (Chs. 6, 7, 8 and 9)
Period 4: 1800-1848 The new republic struggled to
define and extend democratic ideals in the face of
rapid economic, territorial, and demographic
changes.
Themes:(POL)(ID)(CUL)(WOR)(WXT)(ENV)
Unit 3: Building the New Nation (1776-1860)
7.
The Early Republic, 1789-1815
a. Washington, Hamilton, and shaping of
the national government
b. Emergence of political parties:
Federalists and Republicans
c. Republican Motherhood and education
of women
d. Beginnings of the Second Great
Awakening
e. Significance of Jefferson’s presidency
f. Expansion into the trans-Appalachian
West; American Indian resistance
g. Growth of slavery and free Black
communities
h. The War of 1812 and its consequences
Essay LEQ How did the War of 1812
help define a new American identity? (ID)
8.
Appropriate use of relevant Historical
evidence: Analyze Thomas Paine's Give
me Liberty or give me Death speech for
tone, audience and purpose.
6.
Activities
a. Map: French & Indian War
b. Reading: Boston Massacre
c. Map: Proclamation of 1763
d. Reading: American Declaration of
Independence
Transformation of the Economy and
Society in Antebellum America
a. The transportation revolution and
creation of a national market economy
b. Beginnings of industrialization and
changes in social and class structures
c. Immigration and nativist reaction
d. Planters, yeoman farmers, and slaves in
the cotton South
Essay LEQ How did Eli Whitney's
invention of the cotton gin affect
slavery? (WXT)
9.
The Transformation of Politics in
Antebellum America
a. Emergence of the second party system
b. Federal authority and its opponents:
judicial federalism, the Bank War,
tariff controversy, and state’s rights
debates
c. Jacksonian Democracy and its
successes and limitations
10.
Religion, Reform, and Renaissance in
Antebellum America
a. Evangelical Protestant revivalism
b. Social Reforms
c. Ideals of domesticity
d. Transcendentalism and utopian
communities
e. American Renaissance: literary and
artistic expressions
Essay LEQ How did the Second Great
Awakening affect slavery, women's
rights and prohibition? (CUL)
11.
the Constitution of 1787; Hamilton
versus Jefferson; the rise of political
parties; foreign affairs with Great
Britain, France, and Spain; the
"'Revolution of 1800.” Jefferson's
imprint; causes and results of the
"strange" War of 1812; nationalism to
sectionalism; the demise of the
Federalists and the rise of the two party
system; and the early Industrial
Revolution. Mass democracy; Jackson
versus Calhoun; the Bank War; the
Indian removal; the rise of the working
class; the Whig alternative; and the
reformist "benevolent empire.
h. Reading Quizzes (Ch. 10, 11, 12, 13,
14, and 15)
Activities
a. Secondary sources on the antifederalists
b. Maps and charts on sources of
federalist and anti-federalist support
c. Key Discussion Topics: The structure
of the government under the Articles of
Confederation; weaknesses and
accomplishments of the Articles'
government; foreign affairs in the
Confederation period; the nationalist
critique and the role of Hamilton and
Madison; the Constitutional
Convention; and the debate over
institutions in U.S. ratification.
d. DBQ – Andrew Jackson’s names is
tied very closely with democracy. Is it
historically accurate to do so?
e. Supreme Court Case: Marbury vs.
Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland,
Dartmouth College v. Woodward, and
Gibbons v. Ogden
f. Political Cartoon: Franklin’s Albany
Plan
g. Key Discussion Topics: The new
government's structure; an overview of
Period 5: 1844-1877 As the nation expanded and its
population grew, regional tensions, especially over
slavery, led to a civil war- the course and
aftermath of which transformed American society.
Themes:(ID)(WXT)(WOR)(ENV)(PEO)(POL)(CU
L)
Unit 4: Testing the New Nation (1820-1877)
12.
Territorial Expansion and Manifest
Destiny
a. Forced removal of American Indians to
the Trans-Mississippi West
b. Western migration and cultural
interactions
c. Territorial acquisitions
d. Early U.S. imperialism and the
Mexican War
13.
The Crisis of the Union
a. Pro and Antislavery arguments and
conflicts
b. Compromise of 1850 and popular
sovereignty
c. The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the
emergence of the Republican Party
d. Abraham Lincoln, the election of 1860,
and secession
Historical Causation: Students will
debate the immediate and long term
causes of the Civil War
Historical Argumentation: Student essay using a
thesis statement and evidence from the text, Zinn
and Tindall for support argue that the Civil War
was or was not inevitable.
14.
Civil War
a. Two societies at war: mobilization,
resources, and internal dissent
b. Military strategies and foreign
diplomacy
c. Emancipation and the role of African
Americas in the war
d. Social, Political, and economic effects
of the war in the North, South and
West
Periodization: Students will make a
time-line of events leading up to the
start of the Civil War.
15.
Reconstruction
a. Presidential and Radical
Reconstruction
b. Southern state governments:
aspirations, achievements and failures
c. Role of African Americans in politics,
education, and the economy
d. Compromise of 1877
e. Impact of Reconstruction
16.
The Origins of the New South
a. Reconfiguration of southern
agriculture: sharecropping and crop
lien system
b. Expansion of manufacturing and
industrialization
c. The politics of segregation: Jim Crow
and disfranchisement
Comparison: Compare the lives of
African Americans before and after the
Civil War in both the North and the
South.
17.
Activities
a. Map: Louisiana Purchase
b. Missouri Compromise Map and LEQ
c. Reading: Nat Turner’s Rebellion
d. Reading: Everyday Life in Antebellum
America
e. Map: Mexican Cession
f. Project: Prevent the Civil War
g. Map: Civil War-Union vs.
Confederacy
h. Essay: Why did the North have such
an advantage over the South in the
Civil War?
i. Write an obituary for Abraham Lincoln
j. Reconstruction Amendment analysis
k. Reading: Black Codes
l. Reading: Gettysburg Address and
Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address
m. Key Discussion Topics: O'Sullivan's
phrase -"Young America" - the lure of
the West (1820-1840); Texas, New
Mexico, Utah, and Oregon; Polk and
war with Mexico; and the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo. The peculiar
institution and its impact on the South;
abolitionism and North-South
relations; the turbulent 1850s; "Free
Soil" Republicanism; Lincoln; and
secession. The South's chance of
victory; a question of leadership;
Lincoln versus Davis; emancipation;
the military course of the war in brief;
Reconstruction; the sharecropping
system; the "crime" of 76; and the
Compromise of 1877.
n. Reading Quizzes (16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
21, and 22)
Period 6: 1865-1898 The transformation of the
United States from an agricultural to an
industrialized and urbanized society brought about
significant economic, political, social
environmental , and cultural changes.
Themes:(WXT)(WOR)(CUL)(PEO)(ID)(ENV)(PO
L)
Unit 5: Forging an Industrial Society (1865-1899)
18.
19.
Development of the West in the Late
Nineteenth Century
a. Expansion and development of western
railroads
b. Competitors for the West: miners,
ranchers, homesteaders, and American
Indians
c. Government policies toward American
Indians
d. Gender, race, and ethnicity in the far
West
e. Environmental impacts of western
settlement
Comparison: Compare the life of the
farmer before and after the
Transcontinental Railroad.
The Emergence of America as a World
Power
a. American Imperialism: political and
economic expansion
b. War in Europe and American neutrality
c. The First World War at home and
abroad
d. Treaty of Versailles
e. Society and economy in the postwar
years
Essay LEQ How did the
Transcontinental Railroad affect the
Indians and the immigrants? (WXT)
Historical Causation: Student essay
describing the immediate and the long
term causes of the Great War.
Industrial America in the Late Nineteenth
Century
a. Corporate consolidation of industry
b. Effects of technological development
on the worker and workplace
c. Labor and Unions
d. National Politics and influence of
corporate power
e. Migration and immigration: the
changing face of the union
f. Proponents and opponents of the new
order, e.g. Social Darwinism and
Social Gospel
Synthesis: Student essay comparing the
evidence from our text and from America Past and
Present about worker wages during the Gilded Age
and Union effectiveness.
20.
Appropriate use of relevant Historical
evidence: Analyze the Thomas Nast political
cartoon of Boss Tweed on page 504 of the
American Pageant text.
Urban Society in the Late Nineteenth
Century
a. Urbanization and the lure of the city
b. City problems and machine politics
c. Intellectual and cultural movements
and popular
21.
Contextualization: Why did the US
become a world power after the Spanish
American War?
22.
Activities
a. Map: Railroads in America
b. Political Cartoon: Gilded Age
Corruption
c. Picture Analysis: Ethnic neighborhood
d. Project: Robber Barons
e. Reading: Battle of Little Bighorn
f. Writing: Yellow JournalismCarnegie’s Homestead strike
g. LEQ: Who was the best or worst
president of the Gilded Age?; 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,
Transportation, Labor,
Industrialization;
h. Analyze the impact of any TWO of the
following on the American industrial
worker between 1865 and 1900.:
Government Actions, Labor Unions,
Immigration, Technology Changes
i. Map Analysis: Plains tribes
j. Reading: Cross of Gold
k. Key Discussion Topics: Settling the
West: a question of exploitation;
laissez-faire and social Darwinism; the
rise of the industrialists; labor's
response; urbanization; immigration
and "Tweed-ism"; the "'Social Gospel";
the politics of the 1890s: big
government Republicans and the
Populists
l. Reading Quizzes (23, 24, 25, 26, and
27)
Period 7: 1890-1945 An increasing pluralistic
United States faced profound domestic and
global challenges, debated proper degree of
government activism, and sought to define its
international role.
consumer economy
b. Republican politics: Harding,
Coolidge, Hoover
c. The culture of Modernism: science, the
arts, and entertainment
d. Responses to Modernism: religious
fundamentalism, nativism, and
Prohibition
e. The ongoing struggle for equality:
African Americans and women
Essay LEQ How did farming in the
West and the economic conditions lead
to the Dust Bowl in the 1930s? (ENV)
Continuity and Change over time:
Students will make a before and after
cartoon of the 19th Amendment.
25.
The Great Depression and the New Deal
a. Causes of the great Depression
b. The Hoover’s administration’s
response
c. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the
New Deal
d. Labor and union recognition
e. The New Deal coalition and its critics
from the Right and the Left
f. Surviving hard times: American
society during the Great Depression
26.
The Second World War
a. The rise of fascism and militarism in
Japan, Italy, and Germany
b. Prelude to war: policy of neutrality
c. The attack of Pearl Harbor and United
States declaration of war
d. Fighting a multifront war
e. Diplomacy, war aims, and wartime
conferences
f. The United States as a global power in
the Atomic Age
27.
The Home Front During the War
a. Wartime mobilization of the economy
b. Urban migration and demographic
changes
c. Women, Work, and family during the
war
Themes:(WOR)(ID)(WXT)(POL)(ENV)(CUL)(PE
O)
Unit 6: Struggling for Justice at Home and
Abroad (1899-1945)
23.
Populism and Progressivism
a. Agrarian discontent and political issues
of the late nineteenth century
b. Origins of Progressive reform:
municipal, state, and national
c. Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson as
Progressive presidents
d. Women’s roles: family, workplace,
education, politics, and reform
e. Black America: urban migration and
civil rights initiatives
Essay LEQ What effects did the Great
Migration have on the Northern Cities
and African Americans? (PEO)
Essay LEQ In what areas did the
Progressives want to change things for
the American people and why? (POL)
24.
The New Era: 1920s
a. The business of America and the
d. Civil liberties and civil rights during
wartime
e. War and regional development
f. Expansion of government power
28.
Activities
a. Video: America Builds the Panama
Canal
b. Writing: Summarize American
imperial activities in the world prior to
1914
c. Political Cartoon: Big Stick
Diplomacy
d. Write a muckraker article
e. Project: Women Reformers
f. DBQ: Summarize the impact of
American participation on World War I
on: the national economy, civil
liberties, and public attitudes
g. Key Discussion Topics: Progressivism:
a ferment of ideas; the "muckrakers";
"trust-busting"; the "Social justice"
movement; the "Purity" crusade; state
and local reforms; women's suffrage;
the progressive presidents Teddy
Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson; the
"Square Deal" and the "New Freedom.
Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover:
"Republican Orthodox"; normalcy; the
"Red Scare"; immigration legislation;
the new" Ku Klux Klan; the Harlem
Renaissance and Countee Cullen; the
crash of the stock market and the onset
of the Great Depression; and Hoover
and Voluntarism. The origins and
effects of the Great Depression;
Hoover's "Voluntarism" approach;
Franklin Roosevelt and the "Hundred
Days"; relief, recovery, and reform;
critics of the New Deal -the "Economic
Royalists') on the right and Long,
Townsend, and Coughlin; the Supreme
Court fight and the end of the New
Deal. Isolationism, pacifism, and
neutrality and their ramifications for
U.S. policy in Europe, Latin America,
and Asia during the 1920s and early
1930s; neutrality legislation of the
1930s; undeclared war in Europe and
the course of U.S.-Japanese relations in
the late 1930s; Pearl Harbor; halting
German blitz; turning the tide in the
Pacific and the decision to drop the Abomb; the war on the home front;
wartime diplomacy.
h. Reading Quizzes (Ch. 28, 29, 30, 31,
32, 33, 34, 35, and 36)
Period 8:1945-1980 After World War II, the
United States grappled with prosperity and
unfamiliar international responsibilities while
struggling to live up to its ideals,
Themes:(WOR)(ENV)(POL)(CUL)(ID)(WXT)(
PEO)
Unit 7: Making Modern America: 1945 to the
Present
29.
The United States and the Early Cold War
a. Origins of the Cold War
b. Truman and containment
c. The Cold War in Asia: China, Korea,
Vietnam, Japan
d. Diplomatic strategies and policies of
the Eisenhower and Kennedy
administrations
e. The Red Scare and McCarthyism
f. Impact of the Cold War on American
society
30.
The 1950s
a. Emergence of the modern civil rights
movement
b. The affluent society and “the other
America”
c. Consensus and conformity: suburbia
and middle-class America
d. Social critics, nonconformists, and
cultural rebels
e. Impact of changes in science,
technology, and medicine
Essay LEQ How did the Double V
campaign in WWII lead to the Civil
Rights movement back home?(WOR)
Continuity and Change over time:
Students will describe the role of women
b. Unilateralism vs. multilateralism in
foreign policy
c. Domestic and foreign terrorism
d. Environmentalism issues in a global
context
in the US from 1900 to 1950.
31.
32.
The Turbulent 1960s
a. From the New Frontier to the Great
Society
b. Expanding movements for civil rights
c. Cold War confrontations: Asia, Latin
America, and Europe
d. Beginning of Détente
e. The antiwar movement and the
counterculture
Politics and Economics at the End of the
Twentieth Century
a. The election of 1968 and the “Silent
Majority”
b. Nixon’s challenges: Vietnam, China,
Watergate
c. Changes in the American economy:
the energy crisis, deindustrialization,
and the service economy
d. The New Right and the Reagan
Revolution
e. End of the Cold War
Period 9: 1980-Present -As the United
States transitioned to a new century
filled with challenged and possibilities, it
experienced renewed ideological and
cultural debates, sought to redefine its
foreign policy, and adapted to economic
globalization and revolutionary changes
in science and technology.
Themes:(POL)(WXT)(WOR)(CUL)(ID)
(PEO)(ENV)
33.
Society and Culture at the End of the
Twentieth Century
a. Demographic changes: surge of
immigration after 1965, Sunbelt
migration, and the graying of America
b. Revolutions in biotechnology, mass
communication, and computers
c. Politics in a multicultural society
34.
The United States in the Post-Cold War
World
a. Globalization and the American
economy
Student debate: Has the EPA become
too powerful today?(ENV)
35.
Activities
a. LEQ: Explain the rationale for the
postwar policy of containment. Show
how it was applied in the Truman
Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and
NATO
b. Supreme Court Case: Brown v. Board
of Education of Topeka, Kansas,
Gideon v. Wainwright, Miranda v.
Arizona, and Roe v. Wade
c. LEQ: What explains the widespread
affluence of the 1950’s? What was the
specific impact of television on
American values and lifestyles?
d. Political Cartoon: McCarthyism,
Equal Rights Amendment, The fall of
Communism
e. Project: Aspects of the Cold War
f. Key Discussion Topics: Cold War in
Europe; the beginning of atomic
diplomacy, containment (Truman
Doctrine, Marshall Plan, NATO); crisis
in Berlin; the Cold War expands: the
loss of China and the Korean War; the
Cold War at home: McCarthyism; Ike,
Dulles, and the Cold War in Asia, the
Middle East, and Latin America; JFK
and "flexible response the Second
Berlin Crisis; the Cuban Missile crisis.
The postwar economic boom and the
rise of the suburbs; did the 1950s
represent the true "good life"?; the civil
rights struggle; the New Frontier; the
Warren Court; and the Great Society's
War on Poverty. Involvement and
escalation in Vietnam; Vietnam
dilemma and stalemate; the student
revolt; Black Power and Women's Lib;
the election of 1968; Nixon, Kissinger
- ending the Vietnam War; the election
of 1972; and Watergate. OPEC and the
oil shock; inflation and the new
economy; the start of affirmative
action; setbacks and gains for women;
the election of 1976; Carter; Sadat;
Khomeini; and disillusionment and the
renewed Cold War. 911, The War on
Terrorism.
Contact Me
If you need to contact me to ask questions outside of the classroom or to receive clarifications about
assignments or to inform me of pertinent situations that could affect your educational success, feel free to e-mail
me at ______________________ You may also leave a phone message at _____________. My conference
time is 2nd period.
After you and your parent or guardian have read the class expectations and syllabus, sign and return the
Expectation/Syllabus acknowledgement sheet. No hall passes will be issued without the acknowledgement
form being turned in.
 AP United States History
 _______________________
 Rm. _____
_________________
 _________________
 __________ High School
Syllabus Receipt
Dear Parent or Guardian,
I am looking forward to working with you and your student. After reviewing and discussing the
syllabus with your child, sign below, and return this form to me.
Student’s Name (Please Print)
Parent/Guardian Signature
Student Signature
Date
Date