United States History II Syllabus for 2025-2026
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Instructor Information
Instructor
Danny Haney (Curriculum Vitae)Office Hours
Course Information
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Course
HIST-1302-DC007 United States History II
Prerequisites
Course Description
A survey of the social, political, economic, cultural and intellectual history of the United States from the Civil War/Reconstruction era to the present. United States History II examines industrialization, immigration, world wars, the Great Depression, Cold War and post-Cold War eras. Themes that may be addressed in United States History II include: American culture, religion, civil and human rights, technological change, economic change, immigration and migration, urbanization and suburbanization, the expansion of the federal government and the study of U.S. foreign policy.
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
On line textbook: American Yawp
Supplies
Three ring binder (med)\ Pens, paper, pencils. Other supply needs will be discussed in class.
Student Performance
Upon successful completion of this course, students will:
\ \1. Create an argument through the use of historical evidence.
\ \2. Analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources.
\ \3. Analyze the effects of historical, social, political, economic, cultural, and global forces on this period of United States history.
Students Rights and Responsibilities
Student Rights and ResponsibilitiesLog in using the AC Connect Portal
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If you are an active staff or faculty member according to Human Resources, use "Exchange". All other students, use "AC Connect (Google) Email".
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.
\\
Grading: A= 90%, B= 80%, C= 70%, D= 60%, F= 50%
\
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 nece
\ 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/Lectures
\ 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. Textbook: Chapter 16: Capital and Labor: Chapter 17: The West; Chapter 18: Life in Industrial America
\ 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/Lectures
\ i. Agrarian revolt
\ ii. Grange, Farmers Alliances
\ iii. Election of 1896, “Cross of Gold”
\ c. Content/Lectures
\ i. Social and political ills created by industrialization and urbanization and Progressive social and political reforms
\ ii. Muckrakers
\ iii. Social Gospel
\ d. Reading:
\ Chapter 21, “Progressive Movement,”
\ ii. Excerpt from Muckrakers, IdaTarbell The History of Standard Oil, Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities, Upton Sinclair, The Jungle.
\ 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: global expansion
\ ii. International anarchy in an age of hope
\ iii. American idealism and postwar disillusionment
\ b. Content/Lecture
\ 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. Textbook: Chapter 19: American Empire; 21: World War I and Its Aftermath
\ 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 New Era (2 weeks)
\ a. Themes
\ i. Reaction v. idealism
\ ii. Growing prosperity and middle class lifestyles
\ iii. Revolution in manners and morals
\ b. Content/Lectures
\ i. Postwar troubles, “a return to normalcy”
\ ii. The Jazz Age, mass media, consumerism, disillusionment
\ iii. Republican politics and the stock market crash/national and international causes of the Great Depression
\ 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. Textbook:: Chapter 22: 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/ Lectures
\ i. The downward spiral of deflation
\ ii. Franklin Roosevelt, the first hundred days
\ iii. Relief, Regulation, Pump Priming; Keynesian Economics
\ iv. The Second New Deal
\ c. Readings
\ i. Text: Chapter 23, “The Great Depression,”
\ 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/Lectures
\ i.The Nye Commission, Neutrality Acts, and American entrance into the war
\ ii. Harnessing America’s power: The Home front; The Manhattan Project
\ iii. Fighting on two fronts: Defeat of the Axis
\ c. Readings
\iTextbook: Chapter 24: "World War II
i Winston Churchill on the BBC, audio; excepts
ii. Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose
\ 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/Lectures
\ i. The Cold War to the Cuban Missile Crisis
\ ii. The Fifties and the affluent society
\ iii. The Civil Rights Movement
\ c. Readings
\ i. Textbook: Chapter 25: "The Cold War;" Chapter 25 The Affluent Society
\ 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 Sixties and the Unraveling (2 weeks)
\ a. Themes
\ i. The age of hope and disappointment
\ ii. War and protest
\ iii. A divided society
\iv. Trying times: government scandal; economic crisis, international policy crossroads
/v. Triumph of the right
\ b. Content/Lecture
\ i. The Politics of Assassination
\ii. The Civil Rights Movement and the Great Society
\ iii. The Vietnam War
\ iv. Protest and counterculture
\ iv. Abuse of power, The Pentagon Papers and Watergate
\v. Ford and Carter Administrations
\vi. Camp David Accords
\vii. Iranian Hostage Crisis
\viii. The Ascendency of Reagan and the Right
\ c. Readings
\ i. Textbook: Chapter 27: "The Sixties;" Chapter 28: "The Unraveling;" Chapter 29: "The Triumph of the Right
\ii. Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream Speech"
\ iii. Daniel Elsberg, “Interview on the Pentagon Papers”
\ iii. Henry Kissinger, “The Challenge of Interdependence”
\iv. Newt Gringrich, "Contract with American
\ d. Assessments
\ i. Essay: Betrayal of Trust
\ ii. Multiple choice test
\
\ Weeks 17 and 18: XXThe Recent Past
\ a. Themes
\ i. American power: a dilemma
\ ii. Economic realities of the modern world
\ iii. The liberal and conservative debate
\ b. Content/Lectures
\ i. American international interests and policy
\iii. American Foreign Policy: The Middle East
\iv. Desert Storm
\v. The world of 9/11
\vi. Iraq and Afghanistan Deployment
\vii. Technology and a Brave New World
\ c. Readings
Textbook: Chapter 30: "The Recent Past"
\ d. Assessments
Multiple choice, Essay
Additional Information
\ Program: Dual Credit U.S. History is a Junior year class and has no prerequistes.
\ Class size: 25 to 30 students
\
\ Course design:Dual Credit. 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.
\
\
\ Objectives:
\ 1. master a broad body of historical knowledge
\ 2. develop questions, hypotheses pertaining to historical movements
\ 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
\ 4. to understand the basic concepts behind historiography
\ 5. to broaden the students’ work ethic; to maintain the workload inherent in this class
Syllabus Created on:
07/14/25 10:31 AM
Last Edited on:
07/14/25 1:15 PM