Instructor: Roger Lipelt
Course Overview:
This course is the first year of a two-year survey of United States History. The tenth grade year will explore our history from Pre-Columbian times through the Reconstruction era following the Civil War.
Text, Readings, Materials:
Textbook: The Unfinished Nation by Alan Brinkley, McGraw Hill, 2006
(This book is college level and students will find it challenging
and very complete)
Course Outline:
1st Quarter: 4 Units
9/4-9/7 Geography of North America
9/10-9/14 Map Test
Chapter 1-The Meeting of Cultures
Emphasis on study skills:
#How to read a history text
#How to take notes
#How to answer the study guide
#How to prepare for tests
9/17-9/21 Age of Exploration begins
English explorers arrive
9/24-9/28 Chapter 1 Test
Chapter 2-Transplantations and Borderlands
#Introduce Research Project on Colonies
#Students in computer lab
Jamestown and the Chesapeake colonies
10/1-10/5 The Puritans and New England
10/8-10/12 The Restoration colonies
Borderland and Middle colonies
10/15-10/17 Chapter 2 Test
Chapter 3-Society and Culture in Provincial America
Everyday life in Colonial America
MEA
10/22-10/26 Women and children in the colonies
Colonial economies
Patterns of society
10/29-11/2 Awakenings and Enlightenments
Chapter 3 Test
2nd Quarter: 4 Units
11/5-11/9 Chapter 4-The Empire in Transition
A growing split
Europeans struggle to control America
New policies of Imperialism
11/12-11/19 Stirrings of revolt
Colonies begin to unite
Chapter 4 Test
11/19-11/20 Chapter 5-The American Revolution
Cooperation and identification
11/26-11/30 The Revolutionary War
The War’s impact on society
State Governments
12/3-12/7 The first attempt at national government
Chapter 5 Test
Chapter 6-The Constitution and the New Republic
12/10-12/14 The Constitution
12/17-12/20 Federalists and Republicans
Presidents Washington and Adams
Students will begin research on Hamiltonian democracy
Chapter 6 Test
1/7-1/11 Chapter 7-The Jeffersonian Era
Students will research Jeffersonian democracy
Cultural Nationalism (An American Culture_
Beginnings of industrialization
Louisiana Territory-Lewis and Clark
Expansionism-War of 1812
1/14-1/18 Semester Test
3rd Quarter: 5 Units
1/22-1/25 History of American Folk Music
#Where did instruments originate
#Styles of music and their origins
1/28-2/1 Chapter 8-Varieties of American Nationalism
The West
Era of Good Feelings
The growth of Nationalism
2/4-2/8 John Quincy Adams
Chapter 8 Test
2/11-2/15 Chapter 9-Jacksonian America
Students will research Jacksonian democracy
The rise of mass politics
Calhoun and sectionalism
Indian removal
2/19-2/22 The Bank War
The second party system
Chapter 9 Test
Paper: Compare and Contrast
Hamiltonian, Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democracy
2/25-2/29 Research Project from Chapter 10
Students will select topics for presentations
America’s economic revolution
#Population
#Transportation and Communication
#The work world
#Patterns of society
3/3-3/7 Chapter 10 Quiz
The Oral Tradition of history
Folk Music History
2/10-2/21 Spring Break
3/24-3/28 Chapter 11-Cotton, Slavery and Reform
The cotton economy
Southern white society
Slavery and slave life
3/31-4/4 Chapter 11 Test
4th Quarter: 4 Units
4/7-4/11 Chapter 12-Antebellum Culture and Reform
#Romanticism
#Transcendentalism
#Social Reform
#Abolition
4/14-4/18 Chapter 12 Test
Chapter 13-The Impending Crisis
Manifest Destiny
Texas and Independence
Trails West
4/21-4/25 The Mexican War
The gold rush
Election of 1850
Chapter 13 Test
4/28-5/2 Chapter 14-The Civil War
Secession
Mobilization or the North and South
Map Work to understand the battlefields
5/5-5/9 Civil War Strategy
The Opening campaigns
The Western Theater
The Wilderness
5/12-5/16 The last stage
What Caused the War?
Test Chapter 14
5/19-5/23 Chapter 15-Reconstruction and the New South
Reconstruction Plans
#President Lincoln
#Moderates
#Radicals
5/27-5/30 The South during Reconstruction
President Grant
The end of Reconstruction
The status of Freedmen
6/2-6/6 Chapter 15 Test
Finals
Course Policies:
Grading: Tests:
Both objective and essay---70% of the grade
The objective portion will contain multiple choice,
True-false and matching questions. Short answer and
Essay questions will often be included. The questions are
college level as is the text book. Students may find this
difficult at first. Individual help is available to any student
who seeks it.
Daily Work: Study guides and participation---20% of the grade
Quality of daily work will be judged.
Citizenship, preparation, effort and participation
are the criteria for this grade.
Projects: A variety of research projects ---10% of the grade
Students will do both individual and group research.
Projects will be judged on quality and appearance.