History of the United States II Syllabus for 2011-2012
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Instructor Information
Instructor
Danny Haney (Curriculum Vitae)Office Hours
Course Information
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Course
HIST-1302-022 History of the United States II
Prerequisites
RDNG 0331-minimum grade of C or a score on a state-approved test indicating college-level reading skills
Course Description
A general survey of United States history from the European background to the present. The study includes political, economic, social and cultural aspects of life in this country and follows the development of the United States as a world power.
Student Resources Student Resources Website
Department Expectations
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Hours
(3 sem hrs; 3 lec)
Class Type
Dual Credit Course
Syllabus Information
Textbooks
\ Text: Brinkley, Alan, American History, a Survey (tenth edition). New York: McGrawHill College. 1999
Supplies
\ Pens, paper, pencils. Other supply needs will be discussed in class.
Student Performance
After studying the material presented in this course, the student will be able to:
1. Trace the development of a stable, democratic political system flexible enough to address the wholesale changes that occurred since the founding of the nation.
2. Explain how this nation has been peopled from the first inhabitants to the many groups that arrived in slavery or servitude during the colonial period down to the voluntary immigrants of the Civil War era.
3. Evaluate economic and technological changes as they have affected daily life, work, family organization, leisure, the division of wealth, and community relations.
4. Delineate the role of religion in our nation since 1877.
5. Recount how the recurring reform movements in U.S. history dealt with economic, political, and social problems in attempting to make their ideals congruent with reality.
6. Define the changes in our beliefs and values over time and describe how they have varied among different groups: women and men; non-whites and whites; and people of different regions, religions, and classes.
7. Describe the role of geographical factors in the history of the U.S.
8. Practice critical thinking and information retrieval skills.
Students Rights and Responsibilities
Student Rights and ResponsibilitiesLog in using the AC Connect Portal
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Expected Student Behavior
\ Students are expected to adhere to all Amarillo College and AHS school policies and procedures.
Grading Criteria
\ Organization: Outlines of assignments and due dates will be given at the beginning of each unit along with a list of key terms, event, actions, etc. Discussion questions will also be listed. Test dates and quizzes will also be noted. Additionally, individual essays will be assigned with proper due dates. There will be a major unit project that will fit each unit.
\\ Tests: Tests will be a mixture of essay and objective questions.
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Grading: A= 90%, B= 80%, C= 70%, D= 60%, F= 50%
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Attendance
\ Attendance: Good attendance to class is essential to success. Much of the material is provided by lecture, discussion, and presentations in class. Missing class can create problems.
Calendar
COURSE OUTLINE, SEMESTER II
The Instructor reserves the right to change the syllabus and/or calendar if necessary.
Week 1 and 2: XII. The rise of industry and labor (2weeks)
a. Themes
i. End of the frontier
ii. Rise of consumerism, manufacturing
iii. Partnership of government and business
iv. Consolidation of wealth
v. Immigration
vi. Unionizing labor
b. Content
i. Conquest of the west, government policy and law
ii. Realizing Hamilton’s dream, manufacturing
iii. Tycoons and monopolies
iv. Immigration, patterns of, legislation against, radicalism
v. Strikes
c. Readings
i. Text: selected readings, Chapters 16,17,18, and 19
ii Eugene Debs website, www.marxist.org/archive/debs/index/htm
iii. Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives
iv. John and Helen Lynd, Middletown
d. Assessments
i. DBQ, labor
ii. Essay, changes in the American cultural landscape brought on by urbanization
Week 3 and 4: XIII. Populism and Progressivism (2 weeks)
a. Themes
i. Industrialization and its impact on society
ii. Inflation, deflation
iii. Role of government in the economy
iv. Politics and third parties
b. Content Populism
i. Agrarian revolt
ii. Grange, Farmers Alliances
iii. Election of 1896, “Cross of Gold”
c. Content Progressivism
i. Social and political ills
ii. Muckrakers
iii. Social Gospel
iv. Reform
d. Readings
i. Text: Chapter 19, “From stalemate to Crisis,” pp. 672678,
Chapter 21, “Progressive Movement,” pp. 717743,
Chapter 22, “Battle for National Reform,” pp. 749770
ii. Excerpt from Muckrakers, Tarbell, Steffens, Sinclair.
iii. Lester Frank Ward, Dynamic Sociology
e. Assessments
i. Terms test
ii. DBQ: Role of the government in the economy and society
Week 5 and 6: XIV. The New Imperialism and World War I (2 weeks)
a. Themes
i. U.S. enters the world theater
ii. International anarchy in an age of hope
iii. American idealism and postwar disillusionment
b. Content
i. U.S. imperialism
ii. End of the policy of isolation
iii. World War I, cause
iv. Allied victory, the Treaty of Versailles
c. Readings
i. Text; Chapter 23
ii. Woodrow Wilson, ‘Fourteen Points”
iii. Henry Cabot Lodge, “Fourteen Reservation”
iv. Letters from the Panama Canal
d. Assessments
i. Essay: Problems Created by the “Big Stick”
ii. Multiple choice test
Week 7 and 8: XV. The Roaring Twenties (2 weeks)
a. Themes
i. Reaction v. idealism
ii. Growing prosperity and middle class lifestyles
iii. Revolution in manners and morals
b. Content
i. Postwar troubles, “a return to normalcy”
ii. The Jazz Age, mass media, consumerism, disillusionment
iii. Republican politics and the stock market crash
c. Readings
i. Edna St. Vincent Millay, Figs, “I burn my candle at both ends”
ii. F. Scott Fitzgerald, This side of Paradise, “All wars fought, all gods dead, all faith in man Shaken”
iii. Text, Chapter 23, “Society in Turmoil,” pp. 796802,
Chapter 24, “The New Era”
iv. Herbert Hoover, “Rugged Individualism”
d. Assessments
i. Essay: Reflections of Society: Millay and Fitzgerald
ii. DBQ: Cultural Conflicts in the 1920’s
Weeks 9 and 10: XVI. The Great Depression and the New Deal (2 weeks)
a. Themes
i. Collapse of the economy and human suffering
ii. Role of the government at a time of crisis
iii. Politics and progress during the 1930’s
b. Content
i. The downward spiral of deflation
ii. Franklin Roosevelt, the first hundred days
iii. Relief, Regulation, Pump Priming
iv. The Second New Deal
c. Readings
i. Text: Chapter 25, “The Great Depression,” pp.841870,
Chapter 26, “The New Deal,” pp. 875901
ii. Franklin Roosevelt, first inaugural address
iii. Huey Long, “Sharing the Wealth”
d. Assessments
i. Multiple Choice test
ii. Essay: Socialism or Capitalism: The Legacy of the New Deal
Weeks 11 and 12: XVII. The Second World War (2 weeks)
a. Themes
i. America’s response to aggression
ii. The home front and the upheavals of society
iii. Fighting a two ocean war, unconditional surrender
b. Content
i. American entrance into the war
ii. Harnessing America’s power
iii. Defeat of the Axis
c. Readings
i. Text: Chapter 27, “The Global Crisis,” pp. 908925,
Chapter 28, “America in a World at War,” pp. 931958
ii. Winston Churchill on the BBC, audio
d. Assessments
i. Multiple choice test
ii. Essay: America First?
Week 13 and 14: XVIII. Post War America (2 weeks)
a. Themes
i. The nuclear terror
ii. The pursuit of happiness
iii. Fighting segregation
b. Content
i. The Cold War to the Cuban Missile Crisis
ii. The Fifties and the affluent society
iii. The Civil Rights Movement
c. Readings
i. Text: Chapter 29, “The Cold War,” pp. 963988,
Chapter 30, “Affluent Society,” Chapter 31, “Expanding Liberal State,” pp. 10311037
ii. Martin Luther King, “I Have a Dream”
iii. Sweatt v. Painter, Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Cooper v. Aaron
d. Assessments
i. Terms test
ii. Essay: “How I Learned to Love the Bomb”
iii. DBQ: Judicial History of Segregation, 19491960
Weeks 15 and 16: XIX. The storm decade: Kennedy’s assassination to Nixon’s Resignation (2 weeks)
a. Themes
i. The age of disappointment
ii. War and protest
iii. A divided society
b. Content
i. Civil Rights and the Great Society
ii. The Vietnam War
iii. Protest and counterculture
iv. Abuse of power, The Pentagon Papers and Watergate
c. Readings
i. Text: “The Ordeal of Liberalism,” pp. 10381062,
Chapter 32, “The Crisis of Authority,” pp. 10671100
ii. Daniel Elsberg, “Interview on the Pentagon Papers”
iii. Henry Kissinger, “The Challenge of Interdependence”
d. Assessments
i. Essay: Betrayal of Trust
ii. Multiple choice test
Weeks 17 and 18: XX. The United States since 1975 (2 weeks)
a. Themes
i. American power: a dilemma
ii. Economic realities of the modern world
iii. The liberal and conservative debate
b. Content
i. The Carter and Reagan years
ii. American international interests and policy
iii. The world of 9/11
c. Readings
i. Text: Chapter 33, “The Age of Limits,” 11051123,
Chapter 34, “Modern Times,” pp. 11271158
ii. Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”
d. Assessments
i. Project: Complete Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” from 1990 to the present; groups will write lyrics for the 90’s and 2000-2007
using the same rhyme scheme and meter of Joel’s song. Additionally, the groups will perform their song in class. Creativity is encouraged; musical instruments, dance routine, costumes, etc.
Additional Information
\ Program: AP U.S. History is a mixture of the sophomore and junior classes. Sophomores in our IB program must take this as a prerequisite to their junior and senior IB History classes. Juniors have been required to take the AP track from the seventh grade up. Yet, we do not turn anyone away who feels up to the rigors of the course.
\\ Class size: 25 to 30 students
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Course design: AP U.S. History is an accelerated course designed to be an equivalent of a college freshman course. In fact, this is a college level class in a real sense because it is also a dual credit course in association with Amarillo College.
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Objectives:
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1. master a broad body of historical knowledge
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2. develop questions, hypotheses pertaining to historical movements
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3. to be able to write well developed essays supporting a thesis statement that will show historical knowledge, analysis, and application to the present and future
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4. to understand the basic concepts behind historiography
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5. to broaden the students’ work ethic; to maintain the workload inherent in this class
Syllabus Created on:
11/30/-1 12:00 AM
Last Edited on:
11/30/-1 12:00 AM