Advanced Placement
United States History
2012-13
Textbook: Out of Many: A History of the American People – Faragher, Buhle, Czitrom,
Armitage. Pearson/Prentice Hall. 5th Edition. (Replacement cost: $93.47)
Introduction: The Advanced Placement Program (AP) course and examination in United
States History are intended for qualified students who wish to complete studies in
secondary school equivalent to college introductory courses in U.S. History. The
examination presumes at least one academic year of college-level preparation.
Purpose: The AP program in United States History is designed to provide students with
the analytical skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems
and materials in United States history. The program prepares students for intermediate
and advanced college courses by making demands upon them equivalent to those made
by full-year introductory college courses. Students should learn to assess historical
materials – their relevance to a given interpretative problem, their reliability, and their
importance – and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical
scholarship. An AP United States History course should thus develop the skills necessary
to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment and to present reasons and
evidence clearly and persuasively in essay format. All county AKS (Academic
Knowledge and Skills) objectives for this 11th grade Social Studies course will be
presented during the semester. The skills are listed on pages 51-52 in the 2009-2010
Academic Knowledge and Skills booklet.
Course Description: AP United States History is a challenging course that is meant to be
the equivalent of a freshmen college survey course and has the potential for the students
to earn college credit. This course will provide instruction and practice in historical
analysis and interpretation, solid reading and writing skills, along with a willingness to
devote considerable time to homework and study. Success for the student is a direct
correlation to their commitment to study. Emphasis is placed on essay writing,
interpretation of primary source material, and historiography.
Course Units: The College Board has determined the following themes as essential to a
comprehensive study of United States History. The themes are discussion of American
diversity, the development of a unique American identity, the evolution of American
culture, demographic changes over the course America’s history, economic trends and
transformations, environmental issues, the development of political institutions and the
components of citizenship, and social reform movements. The course will trace these
themes throughout the study of the following units:
1. Colonial America – 1490s-1756
Primary Sources:
Aztec description of the Spanish conquest
Mayflower Compact
Olaudah Equiano: The Middle Passage
2. Revolutionary America – 1756-1783
Primary Sources:
White person’s view of the Stono Rebellion
George Washington’s letter to Robert Orme
Paul Revere’s etching of the Boston Massacre
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
3. The Articles of Confederation Era – 1781-1788
Primary Sources:
Washington’s and Jefferson’s reaction to Shay’s Rebellion
Ratification debate – George Clinton, James Madison
4. The Federalist and Jeffersonian Eras – 1788-1808
Primary Sources:
Washington’s Farewell Address
Jefferson and Hamilton-foundations of political parties
Debate on the Louisiana Purchase
5. Nationalism and Sectionalism – 1808-1828
Primary Sources:
Marshall on McCulloch v. Maryland
Jackson and the Spoils System
6. The Age of Jackson – 1828-1844
Primary Sources:
Nullification Crisis
War on the Bank of the United States
Indian Removal Act
7. Jacksonian Reform and Southern Society
Primary Sources:
Angelina Grimke’s An Appeal to Christian Women of the South
8. Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War – 1844-1850
Primary Sources:
Seneca Falls Convention
William Channing and Dorothea Dix
Three views on the Indians – De Tocqueville, George Clinton,
Audubon
9. The 1850s, Prelude to the Civil War – 1850-1861
Primary Sources:
William Lloyd Garrison’s The Liberator
Wilmot Proviso
Kansas-Nebraska Debate
Compromise of 1850
10. The Civil War – 1861-1865
Primary Sources:
Reactions to the Emancipation Proclamation
13th, 14th and 15th Amendments
11. Reconstruction and Western Development – 1865-1896
Primary Sources:
Debate on Lincoln’s 10 % Plan
Debate of Johnson’s Reconstruction policy
Legacy of Reconstruction
12. The Age of Big Business – 1865-1890
Primary Sources:
Pendleton Act
Carnegie – The Gospel of Wealth
Russell Conwell – “Acres of Diamonds”
13. Politics and Society in the 1890s
Primary Sources:
Life in a Southern Mill
Knights of Labor – Terrance Powderly and Samuel Gompers
14. The Age of Imperialism – 1896-1916
Primary Sources:
Imperialism debate – 1899
Roosevelt Corollary
15. The Progressive Era – 1900-1916
Primary Sources:
Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
Gentlemen’s Agreement
16. World War I and the 1920s – 1916-1929
Primary Sources:
Debate on Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Debate on Article X
Hoover and FDR – Election of 1932
17. The Thirties and World War II – 1929-1945
Primary Sources:
Opposition to the AAA
Debate on the TVA
Court packing debate – FDR and Huey Long
Truman and the Atomic Bomb
18. The Cold War and the Fifties – 1944-1960
Primary Sources:
FDR and the Yalta Agreement
George Keenan - containment
Truman Doctrine
Marshall Plan
John Kenneth Galbraith – The Affluent Society
19. The Sixties and Nixon – 1960-1974
Primary Sources:
JFK and the quarantine of Cuba
MLK – Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Michael Harrington - The Other America
20. The United States since 1974
Primary Sources:
Nixon’s defense on the attack of Cambodia
Warren and the rights of criminals
Assignments: The foundation for success in this course is based upon reading, including
the text, first and foremost, and supplemented by document readings from America A
Narrative History, and various essays and handouts. Reading is assigned on a daily basis
and quizzed the next day. Note taking on this reading is strongly encouraged. Writing
assignments on the documents are done on a unit basis. This is a valuable activity in
preparation for the DBQ. Preparation for the DBQ is a year long process. Students are
asked to answer questions about the documents and essays and asked to evaluate the
relative strength of each.
In addition to the documents, instruction in analysis and interpretation of other related
primary sources is most definitely included. An emphasis is placed on including in their
reading notes, notations on works of art, pictorial and graphic information, and tables.
Political cartoons are especially highlighted. Examples:
1. “Join or Die”
2. Paul Revere’s “Boston Massacre”
3. “Washington Crossing the Delaware”
4. “Rising Sun Symbol” – Washington’s chair
5. Chart – Articles/Federal Government
6. Evolution of Political Parties
7. “The Embargo”
8. “Present State of our Country” – War of 1812
9. Election of 1824 – chart
10. Election of 1828 – chart
11. “Crooked voting” – Irish/Germans
12. “The Country School” – Winslow Homer
13. Compromise of 1850 – chart
14. Harriet Beecher Stowe
15. Election of 1860 – chart
16. Recruitment poster of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry
17. Boss Tweed Cartoon – Thomas Nast
18. Election of 1876 – chart
19. “I Want My Pa” – anti-Cleveland cartoon
20. William Vanderbilt cartoon – “The Public be Damned”
21. “The Octopus”
22. “Bosses of the Senate”- cartoon
23. “The Strike” – painting
24. Jane Addams – Hull House
25. New Immigration – chart
26. Ida B. Wells – portrait
27. Indian Wars – map (1864-1890)
28. Coxey’s Army – picture
29. “The Imperial Menu” – McKinley cartoon
30. “The World Plunders” – cartoon
31. “Uncle Sam’s White Elephant” – cartoon
32. “TR and the Big Stick” – cartoon
33. Breaker Boys – picture
34. Ida B. Tarbell – picture
35. Anti-German propaganda – poster
36. Eugene V. Debs – picture
37. WWI Food Administration poster
38. “Radicals on the Run” – Red Scare
39. “Immigration Funnel” – 1924 cartoon
40. Langston Hughes – portrait
41. Teapot Dome Scandal
42. Bank Failures – chart
43. Huey Long – picture
44. Mary McLeod Bethune – picture
45. Court Packing – cartoon
46. No Third Term – 1940 campaign poster
47. The Four Freedoms – Rockwell poster
48. “Rosie the Riveter” – poster
49. Tuskegee Airmen – picture
50. Nixon, the Red Hunter – picture
51. “Dewey Defeats Truman” – Picture
52. Women in the Labor Force 1900-1995 – chart
53. Election of 1972 – chart
54. “The Triumph of the Right” – cartoon 1980
55. “Wallflowers” – cartoon
The following is a listing of maps that are highlighted and used in related activities:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
Principal voyages of Discovery
Main sources of African slaves (1500-1800)
Immigrant groups in 1775
Colonial Economy
Colonial trade patterns
Imperial Wars – impact in the Americas
Ohio Country (1753-1754)
North America (after 1763)
War in the South (1780-1781)
Louisiana Purchase
Missouri Compromise
Removal of the Southern Indian tribes
Main routes west before the Civil War
Mexican War/Mexican Cession
Legal status of slavery – Revolution to the Civil War
Compromise of 1850
Seceding states
Civil War campaigns
Military Reconstruction districts
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
Cattle trails
United States in the Caribbean (1917)
Internal migration in the United States during WWII
United States and the Pacific Theater – WWII
WWII in North Africa and Europe
Postwar partition of Germany
Continual review of their lecture notes is also a major factor in their success not only on
the lecture tests but also on the AP Test. Lecture tests model the AP Test. They are a
combination of multiple choice and free response questions. After the tests are graded and
returned, the class does test corrections. The time for the test corrections is very
valuable, as it provides another opportunity to discuss the material. It also helps the students in
how better to study in preparation for AP multiple choice questions. The tests
are timed in the same fashion as the AP Test.
The writing component of the test is a combination of free response questions and DBQ
questions. This writing is timed with the same guidelines of the AP Test.. Questions for the tests
are selected from the released AP Test questions. A regular lecture test with include either free
response questions or a DBQ, not both. The document work cited earlier provides a foundation for
writing the DBQ. DBQ questions include:
-French and Indian War
-Article of Confederation
-John Brown’s Raid
-Expansionism and Imperialism – 1890s-1914
-Hoover and FDR – 1930s
-Civil Rights – 1960s
-President Johnson’s policy in Vietnam
The textbook includes at the end of many chapters an introduction to the historiography
for the topic. Students are to read this section and take appropriate notes. They are
responsible as part of their daily reading. After the quiz, a short discussion will take place as is
appropriate.
Video tape and DVD clips are used to supplement class lecture notes and class
discussions. The students periodically will be asked to write reflection papers on the
videos/DVDs shown in class. The videos/DVDs have proved to be a very valuable source of
outside information for the DBQ.
Objectives of the Course: The most important course objective is to prepare students
for success on the AP Exam in May. College credit is determined by the student’s score
on the AP Exam.
The AP Exam: The examination is 3 hours and 5 minutes in length and consists of two
sections: a 55 minute multiple choice section and a 130 minute free response section.
The free response section begins with a mandatory 15 minute reading period. Students
are advised to spend most of the 15 minutes analyzing the documents and planning their
answer to the document based question (DBQ) in Part A. Suggested writing time for the
DBQ is 45 minutes. Parts B and C each include two standard essay questions that, with
the DBQ, cover the period from the first European explorations of the Americas to the
present. Students are required to answer one essay question in each part in a total of 70
minutes. Suggested time to be spent on each of the essay questions they choose to
answer in Parts B and C is 5 minutes of planning and 30 minutes of writing.
Grading System:
Classroom Assignments……………………35%
Summative Assignments……………………45%
Final / EOCT……………………………….20%
Grading Scale:
A
B
C
D
F
90-100
80-89
74-79
70-73
0-69
Classroom Rules: The rules and regulations in the Shiloh Agenda Book and Gwinnett
County Discipline Handbook apply to the classroom. The Shiloh High Discipline,
Attendance and Make-Up policies can be found on pages 21-32 of the 2011-12 Shiloh
Agenda Book.
Keys to Success:
1. Come to class (too much information, too little time)
2. Be on time to class (both feet on the carpet when the bell rings)
3. Be prepared to work
4. Bring all materials to class EVERYDAY (Agenda, Notebook, Pencil,
Blue/Black Pen, Textbook)
5. Be Respectful
6. NO FOOD OR DRINK (except water) ALLOWED IN THE CLASSROOM
I reserve the right to amend this syllabus as needed throughout the year.