APUSH Optional Summer Textbook Assignment 2016
Dear Advanced Placement or Dual Credit U.S. History Student,
In order to cover the material and ease your transition into an advanced placement course, I have arranged with Faith West Academy to issue you your access code for the digital textbook The American Pageant 16th edition so that you may begin the first two units. I encourage you to obtain the access code for your textbook and read and outline chapters 1-2 for Period 1 and do the same for chapters 3-5 for Period 2. The first test over Periods 1 & 2 will be September 13. A quick look at the school calendar will show you that we will have 15 class days to cover five chapters of material. Your life will be immeasurably easier if you are not stressed about completing the reading assignments in addition to the other assignments that will be given the first day of class.
If you are not familiar with outlining or taking notes from your text as you read you could consider the key concepts I have attached at the end of this letter. I do not take a grade on the chapter outlines. However, completing the chapter outlines will enable you to participate more effectively in graded class discussions.
Should you have any questions, please contact me by email at
Remember the Biblical principle of sowing and reaping as you prepare for this course. What you receive from this course is in proportion to the effort you put into it.
Have a blessed summer,
Mrs. Reed
Period 1: 1491-1607
1. Examine how different native societies adapted to and transformed their environments through innovations in agriculture, resource use and social structure.
2. Examine how European expansion into the Western Hemisphere generated intense social, religious, political and economic competition within European societies.
3. Examine how the Columbian Exchange and development of the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere resulted in extensive demographic, economic and social changes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
4. Examine how the divergent world views of Europeans and Native Americans regarding issues such as religion, gender roles, family, land use and power led to misunderstandings and conflicts.
Period 2: 1607-1754
1. Compare Spanish, Dutch, British and French colonizers economic and imperial goals involving land and labor that shaped the political and social development of their colonies as well as their relationships with native populations.
2. Identify the regional differences in the early 17th century British colonies developing along the Atlantic coast with respect to their environmental, economic, cultural and demographic factors.
3. In what ways did competition over resources between European rivals and American Indians encourage industry and trade as well leading to conflict in the Americas?
4. Identify how transatlantic commercial, religious, philosophical and political exchanges led residents of the British colonies to evolve in their political and cultural attitudes as they became increasingly tied to Britain and one another.
- English colonies, like other European empires in the Americas that participated in the Atlantic slave trade. Examine how the system of slavery that developed in the British colonies reflected specific economic, demographic, and geographical characteristics of those colonies.