Syllabus HIST 1302 Spring 2011 Course Description and Goals Mrs. Mika Smith Room 501 Email: [email protected] Course Content and Objectives: The objective of this course is to increase the student’s understanding of United States history from discovery to the present with the goal of having each student pass the AP Examination. An emphasis is placed on interpreting documents, mastering a significant body of factual information, and writing critical essays. The course is two semesters in length and will cover the colonial period to the present. Topics include life and thought in colonial America, revolutionary ideology, constitutional development, Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, nineteenth-century reform movements, and Manifest Destiny. Other topics include the Civil War and Reconstruction, immigration, industrialism, Populism, Progressivism, World War I, the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, the Cold War, the post-Cold War era, and the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In addition to the topics listed above, the course will emphasize a series of key themes throughout the year. The areas of concentration include historical, political and economic history coupled with an intense study of cultural and intellectual institutions and their development, environmental issues, components of citizenship, social reform movements, the role of religion in making of the United States and its impact in a multicultural society, the history of slavery and its legacies in this hemisphere, war and diplomacy, and finally, the place of the United States in an increasingly global arena This course is taught at the college level. The major differences between a high school and college history course are the amount of reading and the focus. Most high school courses stress “What happened?’ intending to provide enough background to ensure good citizenship. College courses stress “Why and how” things happen as well as the consequences of actions by examining the ways in which each helps to shape the changes over time that are so important to understanding United States history. Textbooks America: Past & Present (Sixth Edition) Divine, Breen, Frederickson and Williams. Constructing the American Past. A Source Book of a Peoples history 4th Edition Volume 1 and 2 Erik Larson. The Devil in the White City (New York: Crown Publishers, 2003). Various articles and handoutsClass Format: The course is set up in units that last between two and three weeks. Prior to each unit, students will receive a unit study and assignment guide detailing expected reading and work. Each unit will utilize discussions of and writing about related historiography; how interpretations of events have changed over time and especially analyzing how experiences and decisions of the past continue to shape the way historians see the world today. It is expected that all students in the class will have read each chapter more than once, particularly in the early weeks of class. At the end of each unit, students will take an examination containing multiple choices and often a free response or document based essay question. Students will be expected to prepare a thesis statement and write a well organized defense of their thesis in all of their essay questions, whether they be a FRQ or DBQ. The DBQ will be the most challenging section of the AP history exam. When faced with these type of questions on exams students will be expected to construct an essay that integrates their knowledge of the period referred to in the question and their interpretation of various documents such as, charts, maps, cartoon, photographs, and short readings. The DBQ tests the skills needed by serious students of history. It calls for an ability to read primary sources in their historical context and integrate them into one’s understanding of history. Legend: Themes in AP U.S. History 1. American Diversity 2. American Identity 3. Culture 4. Demographic Changes 5. Economic Transformations 6. Environment 7. Globalization 8. Politics and Citizenship 9. Reform :Units and Reading Assignments Spring Term Project: The project for the second semester is a group research paper over a topic from 1877 to present selected by the students. Unit 8: The Gilded Age Chapters: 19, 20 (11 Days) Themes (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T8, T9): 1. Political alignment and corruption in the Gilded Age 2. Role of government in economic growth and regulation 3. Extent of graft and corruption of the last quarter of 19th century 1. Major political issues of era 5. Impact of immigration on American life 6. Impact of the United States on immigrants 7. Forms of protest by farmers 8. Issues of the 1896 election – significance of the election Content: Gilded Age Politics Party Alignment Political corruption and reform Government support and actions Methods, accomplishments, philosophies Changing conditions New immigration Grange, Farmer’s Alliances Populist Party Platform Booker T. Washington’s and W.E.B. Du Bois’s leadership styles and programs Assignments and Assessments: -Short answer questions over reading for homework (Avg. of 2-3 questions/class period). Example: Describe the principle tenets of Social Darwinism and the opposing reform theory. -Students will analyze some of the photos from Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives and then compare and contrast urban life in the 1890’s and now. -The class will analyze some of Thomas Nast’s political cartoons and their effect on the largely immigrant population in New York at the time. Unit 8 Test: Chapter 19-20Multiple Choice with timed FRQ or DBQ. Unit 9: The Progressive Era Chapter 22, 23 (10 Days) Themes (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T8, T9, T10) 1. Origins of progressive reform: municipal, state, and national 2. Progressives were reformers who attempted to rectify problems caused by the Industrial Revolution and government 3. Role of the government in the economy 4. Immigration and Urbanization 5. Political reforms and constitutional amendments 6. Women’s roles: family, workplace, education, politics, and reform 7. Progressive presidents: Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson 8. Key to understanding the nature of reform movements is what they seek to preserve 9. Compare the programs, ideologies, and administrations of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow