ASSIGNMENT SHEET - AP U.S. HISTORY
The following are the due dates for required text and outside readings, in class and out of-class essays, and scheduled tests during the first quarter. There will be additional required reading and possible pop quizzes at the instructor's discretion. These dates may be altered as the instructor feels necessary. You would be well advised to keep up with your reading assignments. If you wait until the last minute you may find yourself overwhelmed by the volume of information.
Take home tests sometimes help students improve their reading comprehension. Realizing that it is essential that every student MASTER the information in your textbook, the first take home tests will be mandatory so that you can assess their benefit to you. Following that, virtually all take home tests will be optional. Whether they are optional or mandatory, all take-home tests are to be done individually, without assistance from anyone else. Any violation of the honor pledge at the top any test paper will result in a MINUS 100 points being factored into the student’s quarter grade.
Unit 1 - PRE-COLUMBIAN THROUGH FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR Chp. 1-5 8/27-9/13
Organizing Principle - Between 1607 and 1763, the British North American colonies developed experience in, and
The expectation of self-government in the political, religious, economic, and social aspects of
life.
Topics: exploration, colonization, governmental development, economic development, religious
development, colonial wars, salutary neglect, social development
Date Class topic Assignment due
8-27 Introductions / Administrative matters signature sheets. Journal on Lies by Loewen
8-28 Introduction to AP U.S. History, Themes, Main Idea Kennedy – 4-22 & Main Ideas handout
Discovery, Characteristics of Spanish/French Colonies
Q: To what extent do the Crusades and the Renaissance play in the discovery of America?
8-29 English colonization and Jamestown Kennedy – 25-43
Characteristics of settlement (NE, Middle, South)
Q: How did the colony of Jamestown’s idea of a representative government become ingrained in the political fabric
of the future United States?
8-30 English
8-31 Early Release / Split?
GEOGRAPHY QUIZ
Primary Resources Analysis
9-4 English
9-5 Influence of Puritans Kennedy – 43-65
Attempts at unity and colonial wars
Q: How do the early colonial economic and geographical differences establish the groundwork for the Civil War
of 1861?
Q: Why do early attempts at unity fail?
9-6 English
9-7 Seminar/Split?
Writing Thesis
9-10 Attempts at unity – Colonial Wars Kennedy – 66-105
Test prep
Q: Why are the colonists allied with Great Britain?
9-11 English
9-12 Test Chp 1-5 -45”
Writing & analysis
Mandatory Take Home Essay
9-13 English *Parent Night
ASSIGNMENT SHEET - AP U.S. HISTORY
Unit 2 – REVOLUTION ,TREATY OF PARIS 1763 THROUGH THE CONSTITUTION Chp 6-9 9/14- 9/28
Organizing Principles – Between 1763 and 1776, British attempts to exert control over the colonies led to violent,
organized, successful resistance.
The Articles of Confederation provided a reasonable and workable transition from the unitary
system of British rule to the federal system established under the Constitution.
Topics: British tax policy, colonial reaction, inter-colonial unity, inter-colonial conflict, independence
movement, revolution, revolutionary change, Articles of Confederation, Constitution
Date Class topic Assignment due
9-14 Split/Seminar?
French and Indian War Kennedy – 106-121
Q: Why are the colonist aligned with Great Britain?
9-17 The colonies in 1763 / the end of salutary neglect Kennedy – 122-140
British attempts to reassert control
Q: What is meant by “salutary neglect” and how does this lead directly to revolution?
Q: Varying Viewpoints: Whose Revolution? Kennedy - 139
Q: Why does this Revolution not include all people living in the colonies?
Optional reading comprehension session times TBA
Mandatory Take Home Test Chapter 6-7 – Due 9/19
9-18 English
9-19 Examining documents and writing a DBQ
In Class DBQ
Strengths and weaknesses / The Northern campaigns Kennedy – 141-163
Southern campaigns, peace, and post-war society Kennedy – 164-188
Q: Why is the Declaration of Independence so radical?
9-20 English
9-21 Split/Seminar?
War Summary
Q: Did the Americans win the Revolutionary War or did the British lost the War?
9-24 Articles of Confederation Kennedy – 164-188
Constitutional Convention
Where Historians Disagree / Shays’ Rebellion/
Virginia and New Jersey Plan / Federalist/ Anti-
Federalist Readings / Economic Interpretation of the Constitution
9-25 English
9-26 MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST CHP. 7-9 OUTSIDE READINGS
Essay Writings
9-27 English
9-28 Seminar/Split? changes?
*ESSAY TEST / CHAPTERS 7-9 AND OUTSIDE READINGS
ASSIGNMENT SHEET - AP U.S. HISTORY
Unit 3 - EARLY NATION THROUGH ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS Chp 10-12 10/1 – 10/11
Organizing Principle - Between 1789 and 1820, conflict over the increasing power of the national government created
intensified sectional tension.
Between 1789 and 1823, geographic isolation allowed the United States to pursue a policy of
selective involvement in world affairs.
Topics: federalism, 1st American Party System, Hamilton’s economic plan, neutrality and foreign
policy, Jeffersonian Democracy, Supreme court cases, territorial expansion, freedom of the
seas, War of 1812, convention system, national market economy, industrial revolution,
transportation revolution, agricultural revolution, nationalism, sectionalism
Date Class topic Assignment due
10-1 The First American Party System/Jefferson and Hamilton Kennedy – 190-210
Q: Are TJ and AH the true founding fathers of our 2 party system?
Washington/Adams Foreign Policy
Federalist vs Republicans
Va & Ky Resolves
Q: What is the “compact theory” as given in the Va/Ky Resolutions?
10-2 English
10-3 “Revolution of 1800 Kennedy – 211-232
Q: Can you use the Marshall Ruling in Marbury to justify the statement, “that History does effect the present?’
Jefferson Democracy/Expansion Dilemma
Jefferson Foreign Policy and Embargo
Q: Is the election of 1800 truly a revolution in the sense of political change in the young U.S.?
Optional Take Home Test Due – Chapter 11
10-4 English
10-5 Split/Seminar?
ESSAY TEST 10-11
10-8 War of 1812 and post-war foreign policy Kennedy – 233-248
Harford Convention & Missouri Compromise
Monroe Doctrine
Q: How does the newfound nationalism in the U.S. lead to the final demise f the Federalist Party?
10-9 English
10- 10 MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST 10-12
DBQ analysis
10-11 English
ASSIGNMENT SHEET - AP U.S. HISTORY
Unit 4 – THE AGE OF JACKSON Chp. 13-15 & 17 (skip 16) 10/12 – 10/29
Organizing Principle - During the "Reign of Jackson," politics became more democratic, the power of the
Presidency increased, America became more optimistic and expansionistic, and
sectionalism supplanted nationalism.
Topics: Jacksonian Democracy, 2nd American Party System, democratization, sectionalism,
reform movements, Native Americans, Bank War, Nullification, American
Renaissance, Manifest Destiny, slavery
Important: There will be five pop reading quizzes worth 100 points before the end of the semester. I suggest you keep up to date. When there is not a textbook reading assignment, you should be reading and taking notes on other outside reading that is due.
Be aware of: A History of Women in America, de Tocqueville reading, territorial acquisition, and Presidents test - due dates
Date Class topic ____________________________________Assignment due
10-12 Seminar/Split?
Intro Jacksonian Democracy Kennedy – 256-286
Election of 1824/Election of 1828/Jackson the man
Q: Analyze the impact of territorial expansion on sectional unity from 1820-1848.
10-15 Jackson's program Kennedy – 256- 319
Nullification & the Bank war
Indian removal/Jackson wrap-up
Depression and Revolution in Texas
Q: To what extent was the Whig view of “King Andrew” accurate?
Q: To what extent did Jefferson & Jackson resemble one another w/ regards to: use of presidential power, view of
Supreme Court, feelings about democracy, the nature of the union (states’ rights vs. national power)?
Optional take home test Chapter 13
10-16 English
10-17 Outside reading quiz (A History of Women in America, de Tocqueville), territorial acquisitions quiz,
presidents quiz
Reform movements & utopian communitarianism Kennedy – 320-346
Q: Utopian free thinkers – what changes over time caused this shift from the Puritan values of earlier times?
10-18 English
10-19 Seminar/Split?
European Immigration, Germans, & Irish Kennedy – 294-319
10-22 Nativism vs. Assimilation
Computer Lab for Lowell Mills Girls Research
Q: How does the economic climate of the 1830s-1840s contribute to nativism?
10-23 English
10-24 Manifest Destiny Kennedy – 370-389 (note: reading is in chp 17)
Maine Border, Texas Annexation
War with Mexico
Q: Why is war with Mexico an American history moment that was unavoidable?
10-25 English
10-26 Seminar/Split?
10-29 QUARTER TEST / CHAPTERS 1-17 AND OUTSIDE READING
ASSIGNMENT SHEET - AP U.S. HISTORY pg1
Unit 5 - CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR THROUGH RECONSTRUCTION chp 16-22 (skip 17) 10/30 – 12/12
Organizing Principles - The Civil War was caused by historic economic, social, and political sectional differences that
Were further emotionalized by the slavery issue.
The Civil War effectively determined the nature of the Union, the economic direction of the
United States, and political control of the country.
Topics: sectionalism, abolition, expansion of slavery, apologists, Compromise of 1850, Kansas
Nebraska, 3rd American Party System, emotionalization of slavery issue, economic
development, social development, political development, Civil War [social, economic, political
consequences], amendments, Reconstruction [economic, political, social consequences],
Compromise of 1877
Date Class topic Assignment
10-30 English
10-31 The institution of slavery, Southern society Kennedy – 348-369
Q: How does the invention of the cotton gin change the economics of the South and forever change the status of
slaves in this country?
Abolitionism, anti slavery tactics
Southern response to Northern Abolition
11-1 English
11-2 Workday – No School!
11-5 The apologist view of slavery
California Statehood Kennedy – 390-408
Q: Is this the answer: Popular Sovereignty?
The Compromise of 1850.
Optional Take Home test chp 18
11-6 English
11-7 Politics in the early 1850s Kennedy – 409-432
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas
Sumner-Brooks, Election of 1856, Dred Scott
Q: Why were the Compromise and Acts too late to prevent the civil war?
11-8 English
* Early Release – Report Cards
11-9 Seminar/Split?
Calhoun’s, Clay’s, & Webster’s Last Stand
Q: What are the reasons these 3 powerful men could not prevent the rapidly approaching disunion of the union?
11-12 Veteran’s Day – No School!
11-13 English
11-14 Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Lincoln-Douglas debates Kennedy – 409-432
Harpers Ferry, Election of 1860
11-15 English
11-16 Seminar/Split?
Taney’s decision changes everything
Q: Who was the winner and who was the loser in the Compromise of 1850?
Q: The South promised the same thing in the 1856 election as in the 1860 election, what is the big difference?
Continued on next page
Unit 5 - CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR THROUGH RECONSTRUCTION chp 16-22 (skip 17) 10/30 – 12/12 pg2
Organizing Principles - The Civil War was caused by historic economic, social, and political sectional differences that
Were further emotionalized by the slavery issue.
The Civil War effectively determined the nature of the Union, the economic direction of the
United States, and political control of the country.
Topics: sectionalism, abolition, expansion of slavery, apologists, Compromise of 1850, Kansas
Nebraska, 3rd American Party System, emotionalization of slavery issue, economic
development, social development, political development, Civil War [social, economic, political
consequences], amendments, Reconstruction [economic, political, social consequences],
Compromise of 1877
11-19 Panic in 1857, Lincoln vs. Douglas Debates Kennedy – 409-432
Freeport Doctrine
Republican Victory and Secession
11-20 English
11-21 Early Release
Review
Optional Take Home Test chp 19
Independent Work Sheet for Holidays – Due upon return 11-26
11-22 – 11-23 Thanksgiving Holiday
11-26 Overview of the coming of the war, advantages, strategy Kennedy – 434-451
Review of important battles
Lincoln’s Actions
Q: How did Lincoln’s actions cause the questioning of civil liberties?
11-27 English
11-28 War and the Economy Kennedy – 451-476
The war on civilians
Q; Why can’t the South win the war?
11-29 English
11-30 Seminar/split?
Reconstruction handouts Kennedy – 477-498
Optional Take Home Test chp. 20-21
12-3 Reconstruction Kennedy – 477-498
Q: Why do some historians consider Reconstruction one of the MOST defining periods of U.S. history?
12-4 English
12-5 Congressional Reconstruction and Impeachment Kennedy – 477-498
Military Reconstruction and the Klan
Q: Is it justifiable that the Reconstruction is still affecting our country today?
12-7 Seminar/Split?
The Compromise of 1877
12-10 MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST CHP 16-22 (skip chp 17) and Readings
12-11 English
12-12 ESSAY TEST CHP 16-22 (skip chp 17) and Readings
ASSIGNMENT SHEET - AP U.S. HISTORY
Unit 6 - GILDED AGE THROUGH POPULISM Chp 23-26 12/13-1/17
Organizing Principle - The Gilded Age fostered the consolidation of business, the beginnings of government
Involvement in the economy, and the organization of disadvantaged economic and social
classes.
Topics: Grantism, corruption, politics, rise of big business, agrarian reform, labor movement, Native
American, cattle frontier, mining frontier, agricultural frontier, immigration, urbanization, Social
Gospel, Social Darwinism, changing function of government
Date Class discussion topic Assignment
12-13 English
12-14 Seminar/Split?
Grant & Corruption Kennedy – 500-527
Compromise of 1877
Q: What gave away that allowed corruption at the federal level?
12–17 Depression & Class politics Kennedy – 500-527
Q: To what extent did economics contribute to the ethnic clashes of the 1880s-1890s?
The forgettable presidents
Populism & Politics of Silver Kennedy – 528-556
Q: What takes place in the farming Midwest that allows the Populist mov’t to take place?
12-18 English
12-19 Railroad wrongdoing, Lords of Industry Kennedy – 528-556
Q: Evaluate the term “Robber Baron” as an assessment
Note: Over Christmas break you are responsible for reading Chapter 18 in Kennedy (590-622), completely a mandatory take home test, and reading selected portions of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
12-20 English
12-21 – 1-01 HOLIDAY BREAK – NO SCHOOL!
1-2 Rise of Cities Kennedy – 557-567
New Immigrants, Nativists, Immigration Restrictions
Optional Take Home Test Chp 25
1-3 English
1-4 Seminar/ Split?
Readings Booker T. Washington & W.E.B. DuBois
Compare the philosophies of Washington/DuBois in 1900 to Malcom X/Dr. King in 1965
1-7 Major Quiz Chapter 18 and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Indians, Mining, Cattle, Free Ranges Kennedy - 590-622
Q: Evaluate the gov’t land give away as a “safety value theory.”
1-8 English
1-9 New People’s Party, Wm. Jennings Bryan Kennedy – 590-622