Bailey, Thomas A. and Kennedy, David M. (eds.), The American Spirit: Vol I and II, (Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998) 9th edition.
 

Purpose: (From the College Board AP Handbook)

The AP program in United States History is designed to provide students with the analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in United States history. The program pre-pares 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 interpretive 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.

General Student Expectations:

I.   Reading Assignments:  Students are expected to read assignments from the text, supplemental text(s), and  those assigned as outside reading when they are assigned.  Reading assignments will be independent and are necessary to participate in lecture, discussions and other class activities.

II.  Written Assignments: Advanced Placement U.S. history (from here on refered to as APUSH) is largely dependent on the student’s writing ability and their development in writing historically based essays.  These essays include, but are not limited to, free response questions, problem analysis, and Document Based Questions (DBQ).  Students will be required to retain all written assignments in the Course for future reference in Final exam preparation and preparation for the AP Exam.

III. Discussion/Questions/Debate: During the course of both semesters, students will be given topics on particular historical questions in each Unit.  Each student will be assigned a topic for the semester and lead discussion and or debate on the issue.

IV.   Biographical and Era Research: Each student will choose an individual from American history that had an impact on the individual’s era.  This research will be used for the student to participate in a panel discussion and or role-play assuming the identity of their character.  This will be done in the second semester.

V.   Supplemental Reading:  A Supplemental reading list will be provided for the student to further explore the various topics discussed in the course.

Brief Overview of Course Units:

I.  Colonial and Revolutionary America--Chapters 1-4
       A. North America: Pre-Columbian, Discovery, and settlement of the New World to 1650
       B. America and the British Empire 1650-1754
       C. Colonial Society in the Mid 18th Century
       D. The British Empire under strain 1754-1775
       E. The American Revolution

II.  The New Republic--Chapters 5-10
      A.  The Constitution and the New Republic
      B.   Jeffersonian Democracy
      C.  The “Era of Good Feelings”
      D.   Jacksonian America
      E.  America’s Economic revolution

III.  The Antebellum Period and the Civil War—Chapters 11-15
      A. The Old South, Cotton and Slavery
      B. Antebellum Culture and reform
      C. Manifest destiny and the coming crisis
      D. The Civil War
      E. Reconstruction

IV.  The Industrial Revolution and the Guilded Age. Chapters 16-20
     A. The Old West
     B. The rise of Industry
     C. Urbanization in the Industrial Age
     D. Populism and Free Silver
     E. Imperial America

V.  Reform and the Great War. Chapters 21-23
    A. The Progressive Movement
    B. The Age of Theodore Roosevelt
    C. World War I

VI. Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal.  Chapters 24-26
    A. The roaring Twenties
    B. The Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression
    C. The New Deal

VII.  Becoming a World Power--Chapter 27-29
    A. Diplomacy in the 1920’s and 1930’s
    B. World War II
    C. Truman and the origins of the Cold War

VIII.  Eisenhower and The Conservative 50’s--Chapters 30-31
    A. 1950’s Society
    B. Civil Rights 
    C. Ike and the Cold War

IX.  The Ordeal of Liberalism
    A. The “New Frontier” 
    B. Civil Rights and the Warren Court
    C. Vietnam
    D. The Crisis of Authority 

X.  Carter, Ford and the “Reagan Revolution”