Advanced Placement United States History (Ms. Dribin and Mr. McCann)
Summer Assignment for the 2012-2013 school year
· Welcome to AP U.S. History. Please make sure this course is for you. Per the program planning guide, this rigorous course requires significant homework on a nightly basis. Why is there so much work? The College Board determines what needs to be covered to prepare for the AP Exam, and in order to be accredited as an AP course, Methacton must follow the College Board’s curriculum. The test (and thus the course) covers a great deal of material in a very in-depth way. The pace is very fast all year.
· Methods of instruction and grading are collegiate in nature. Independent learning is an important component of this course. The responsibility for learning all material rests with you; this includes significant amounts of material not covered in class. So, you should be self-motivated. A positive attitude goes a long way during the school year, as does the recognition that you have chosen to take this course.
· Summer reading is required for this course. You will be issued a textbook. The books are in good condition, so please cover your book with a paper cover (if there is not already a paper cover on yours) with your name, the book title, and course title written on it, and bring it covered to the first day of class.
· Download and print out the Chapter Guides for chapters 1-6 from Mr. McCann’s or Ms. Dribin’s websites. They will be available online starting during finals week. The Chapter Guides are a reasonably comprehensive list of critical terms, events, and people from each chapter. We will be moving quickly through these chapters but nonetheless you are required to know these items.
REQUIRED READINGS AND ASSIGNMENT:
From The American Pageant 12th ed. by Kennedy, Cohen and Bailey)
· Read Chapters 1 through 6 in the textbook, which examine the colonial and pre-revolutionary eras.
· For each chapter, write identifications for every item listed on the Chapter 1-6 Guides. Identifications should explain the details about the item as well as its significance. Think in terms of addressing when, what, who, where, and why to help you formulate your identification.
· Complete the sample test that you will pick up from Ms. Dribin when you get your text book during finals week.
· You are responsible for the information in these chapters; be familiar with the terms on the Chapter Guides and in the book. This work will provide an invaluable study tool for you.
· All identifications must be handwritten. There are zero exceptions to this. If your work is not handwritten you will not receive credit.
· You will be tested on Chapters 1-6 at the start of the school year so you need to learn and study the material.
NOTE: During Final Exam Week, come to Ms. Drib in’s room, C-250, to receive the text, American Pageant. PLEASE DO NOT COME during an exam session. Come between sessions or during homeroom, or after session 2 each day. It is your responsibility to get your materials before school ends.
Sample Identifications.
The number of each identification you write must correspond to its number on the Chapter Guide. Your work must be a numbered list like this one, although yours must be handwritten to receive credit.
Your assignment may not be a chapter outline or summary. It must be done based on the Chapter Guide list and it must be in the format below. If you do not follow this format you may not receive any credit.
Sample: The first 4 items on Ch. 23’s Chapter Guide are:
1. Ulysses S. Grant / Election of 1868
2. Fisk and Gould- run on gold
3. Tweed Ring / Thomas Nast
4. Grant’s cabinet
So, here are corresponding identifications. This is the format you MUST use.
Ch. 23 Identifications
1. Ulysses S. Grant / Election of 1868: Grant (Republican) vs. Horatio Seymour (Democrat). Grant, Northern hero, and the Republicans ran on a platform of continued reconstruction, included forced. The Democrats didn’t have a solid platform, other than opposition to military Reconstruction. Grant won the election 214:80 and the popular vote 3,013,421 to 2,706,829 – He won in part because he got the votes of former slaves.
2. Fisk and Gould- run on gold:Jim Fisk and Jay Gould were two millionaires who had a plot in 1869 to corner the gold market. For the plot to work, the Treasury couldn’t sell gold. They tried to make sure that Grant didn’t sell gold by trying to influence him directly and through his brother-in-law. Then, they bid the price of gold up. The plot was spoiled when Grant was forced to sell gold.
3. Tweed Ring/Thomas Nast: The Tweed Ring in NYC showed the lack of ethics typical of the age. "Boss" Tweed used any corrupt mean possible (bribery, fraudulent elections) to extort as much as $200 million from NY. His luck ran out when Thomas Nast, a cartoonist, resisted Tweed’s attempts to bribe him and published cartoons in the New York Times exposing Tweed's scheme.
4 . Grant's cabinet: was a mix of scammers and incompetents; was plagued by scandal. Favor seekers tried to bribe Grant by sending him cigars, wines, etc. Even Grant's personal secretary was involved in robbing the Treasury of tax revenue.
Continue in this format until you get to the end of the Chapter Guide……
Note: Some identifications will be longer than others. Just fully explain each term. An average length of an ID, handwritten on lined paper, might be 3 lines. Some will be a bit shorter; some will be a bit longer. Some of yours might be only 1 ½ to 2 lines, but if all of yours are that length, you are not writing enough detail.
Reading Suggestions
If you are interested in doing additional reading on your own about the revolutionary generation, here are some well-respected books to check out. These are some favorites. This is optional.
John Adams by David McCullough
Thomas Jefferson by R.B. Bernstein
His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis – fabulous
American Creation by Joseph Ellis – also excellent
1776 by David McCullough
Other Book Suggestions for later time periods:
Truman by David McCullough
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front During WWII
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris (about Teddy Roosevelt during his presidency)
President Kennedy by Richard Reeves
A Short History of the United States by Robert Remini (a good overview)
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw (about the World War II generation)
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle
Have a great summer. We look forward to seeing you in the fall.