History of the United States II Syllabus for 2011-2012
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Course
HIST-1302-024 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
Supplies
\ Pens, pencils, paper. 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
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Expected Student Behavior
\ Students are expected to follow all high school and Amarillo College policies and procedures.
Grading Criteria
\ All unit exams, essays and research papers will constitue 60% of a six weeks grade. Quizzes, group presentations and homework will constitute 40% of a sxi weeks grade.
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Attendance
\ Oral participation and regular daily attendance are required as an essential part of this course.
Calendar
The Instructor Reserves the Right to Change the Syllabus and/or Calendar if Necessary.
Week One through Four:
UNIT 1 The Gilded Age
Required Readings: Bailey Chapters 23,24,25
“Era of Good Stealings” Mark W. Summers
Handout – General characteristics of the Gilded Age
Key Discussion Topics
- Gilded Age politics
- Expansion and development of western railroad
- Rise of industrialist / labor’s response
- Urbanization, immigration, Social Gospel, Social Darwinism
Assignment:
- Interpret assigned political cartoons.
- We will begin reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It will be read and discussed over the next few chapters.
- Out of class essay: From the 1840’s through the 1890’s, women’s activities, in the intellectual, social, economic, and political spheres effectively challenged traditional attitudes about women’s place in society. Assess the validity of this statement.
Exam Ch 23-25
Week Five through Nine:
UNIT 2 Development of the West
Required Readings: Bailey Chapter 26
Excerpts from the Wizard of Oz
Cross of Gold speech - William Jennings Bryan
Key Discussion Topics
- Clash of cultures on the plains
- Government policies toward American Indians
- Farmers and the West
- Prelude to Populism
Assignment
- Reenactment of Cross of Gold speech
- Worksheet and discussion of Wizard of Oz and populist movement
UNIT 3 The Road to American Imperialism
Required Readings: Bailey Chapters 27 and 28
“The Needless War with Spain” Historical Viewpoints
“White Man’s Burden” Rudyard Kipling
Key Discussion Topics
- The Imperialist Arguments
- War with Spain
- Theodore Roosevelt, the Corollary and Panama
- Dollar diplomacy
- Open Door Policy
Assignment: In-class DBQ
UNIT 4 The Progressive Era
Required Readings: Bailey Chapters 29 and 30
The Jungle Upton Sinclair
Key Discussion Topics
- Origins of Progressive reform: city, state and national
- Roles of three Progressive presidents
- Role of women: family, workplace, education, politics and reform
- Social justice
Assignment
- Interpret political cartoons – “Snakes in the Cabinet Room”
“Saluting the Champion”
- Exam The Jungle
Exam Ch 26 - 30
Week Ten through Fourteen:
UNIT 5 World War I
Required Reading: Bailey 31
Fourteen Points
Treaty of Versailles
Key Discussion Topics
- Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism, Alliance system
- Wilson’s foreign policy
- America’s entry into the war
- Wilson’s plan for peace
- Treaty of Versailles
Assignment
- Role play – A chance to remake history. “The Decision to Go to War
- Film clips – “All Quiet on the Western Front”
- Map – Before and after World War I
UNIT 6 Roaring Twenties
Required Reading: Bailey Chapter 32 and 33
Excerpts from The Great Gatsby
Key Discussion Topics
- Red Scare/ Xenophobia
- Mass Consumption Economy
- The “New Red Scare”
- Cultural Liberation – science, arts, entertainment
- Those in opposition of liberation – religious fundamentalist (Scopes Monkey Trial), nativism, prohibition
- Struggle for equality – women and blacks
- Harding, Coolidge, Hoover administrations
- Boom and bust of the stock market
Assignment
- Film clips –“Inherit the Wind”
- Essay – 1997 DBQ
- Stock simulation
UNIT 7 The Great Depression and the New Deal
Required Readings: Bailey Chapter 34
“A Daughter of the Plains Struggles with Dust” American Spirit
Excerpts from the Grapes of Wrath
Key Discussion Topics
- The origins and effects of the Great Depression
- Franklin Roosevelt and the First Hundred Days
- Relief, Recovery, Reform
- Opposition to the New Deal
- FDR and the Supreme court
- Labor in the New Deal
- American society during the Great Depression
- The legacy of the New Deal
Assignment
- Debate – Teams of two (modified cross examination format)
Resolution: “The New Deal did not radically alter American business, but conserved and protected it.”
Students must prepare to argue either side. Teams will flip to see if they will argue pro or con.
UNIT 8 World War II
Required Readings Bailey Chapter 36
Hiroshima John Hershey
Key Discussion Topics
- The rise of fascism, Nazism and militarism in Japan, Italy, and Germany
- Isolationism and internationalism in America
- War depts. And reparations
- Good Neighbor Policy
- Japanese aggression in the Pacific
- War in Europe and Pacific
- Social effects of the war (women, blacks, Japanese Americans)
- Impact of the war on America and the Soviet Union
- Urban migration and demographic changes.
Assignments
- Essay – Compare and contrast U.S. foreign policy after the First World War and the Second World War. Consider the periods 1919-1928 and 1945 -1950. (2002 question 4)
UNIT 9 Cold War Era
Required Reading: Bailey 38
Key Topics of Discussion
- Policy of Containment (Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, NATO, Berlin Crisis
- Relations in China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan
- Policies of Eisenhower and Kennedy
- Red Scare and McCarthyism
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- Societies response to the Cold War
Assignment
In class essay – Students will be given topics to review and will write on one that is drawn by the teacher.
Topics: the Great Depression and the New Deal
Isolationism and World War II
Exam 31-37
Week Fifteen through Eighteen:
UNIT 10 The Stormy Sixties
Required Readings: Bailey Chapter 39
“I Have a Dream” speech Martin Luther King
“Letter from a Birmingham jail” Martin Luther King
Key Topics of Discussion
- Kennedy’s New Frontier
- Quagmire in Vietnam
- The struggle for civil rights
- Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society
- The counterculture
- Three assassinations
- Vietnam
Assignments
Essay: Discuss with respect to TWO of the following, the view that the 1960s represented a period of profound cultural change.
Education, Gender roles, Music, Race relations.
UNIT 11 “ The Seventies”
Required Reading Bailey Chapter 40
Excerpts from “All the President’s Men”
Key Discussion Topics
- Vietnam dilemma
- Election of Richard Nixon
- Black power and the feminist movement
- Defeat in Vietnam
- Watergate
- Ford and Carter
Assignment
In-class essay – Compare the goals and strategies of Black reform movements in the period 1890-1910 to the goals and strategies of Black reform movements in the period 1950-1970. (1982, question 6)
UNIT 25 The Reagan Years
Required Reading: Bailey Chapter 41
Key Discussion Topics
- Election of Ronald Reagan
- End of the Cold War
- Graypower – Baby boomers come of age
- Revolution in technology
- Problems of globalization, environmentalism and terrorism.
Assignment
Students will be given a practice AP exam using the multiple choice portion in a 50 minute time frame.
Exam 38-43
Additional Information
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Ap/Duel Credit U.S. History is a challenging course that is meant to be the equivalent of a freshman college course and can earn students college credit. It is a two-semester survey of American history from pre Coloumbian days to the present. Students should be willing to spend considerable time reading and doing homework in order to succeed in this class.
There is much emphasis placed on analytical skills in writing essays and interpreting primary sources.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1. The textbook should be read carefully and thoroughly. Daily study with note taking to aid student retention is important.
2. Essays will be assigned topics at the direction of the teacher.
3. Oral participation and regular daily attendance are requried as an essential parat of this course.
4. Students will read and review major historical works assigned by the instructor. Supplementary reading will be required n a variety of topics, themes, and people in American History which go beyond the textbook.
5. Identification Terms will be required with each chapter. This is an exercise that requires more of the student than just defining the terms. The definition should answer all relevant questions concerning the term, such as who was involved, what was involved, when did it occur, how did it happen and why did it happen? Once the definition has been given you must tell how it is historically significant.
6. Students are required to maintain a notebook (3 ring binder with pockets) in which they will keep notes and handouts.
7. Students will be given a short quiz of fifteen multiple-choice questions from the assigned textbook chapters. Each quiz will constitute a daily grade.
8. Formal evaluations will consist of multiple choice questions, identification terms, and essays. A two-day testing period will be used, with multiple choice questions given one day and essays given the second day.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
Demonstrate an understanding of issues and events in U.S. History from 1877 to present.
Identify geographic influences on historical issues and events.
Demonstrate an understanding of economic and social influences on historical issues and events.
Understand the effects of reform and third party movements on American society.
Understand the impact of significant national and international decisions and conflicts that occurred in the United States from World War I to present.
Understand the impact of the American civil rights movement.
Syllabus Created on:
11/30/-1 12:00 AM
Last Edited on:
11/30/-1 12:00 AM