American History Units
(best viewed in 800x600)
Major Topics will include but not be
limited to the following units:
- Early America
- Expansion, the Rise of
Sectionalism, & the Civil War
- Reconstruction
- The Changing Face of America
- Political Reform & American
Imperialism
- The Progressive Era
- World War I
- Post
World War I: The Roaring Twenties
- The Great
Depression
- World War II
- The Cold War
- The Civil
Rights Movement
- The Vietnam War
- Foreign
Policy at the end of the 20th Century
- Domestic Policy at
the end of the 20th Century
Early America
Major Student Objectives:
Suggested Links:
Expansion
& Conflict
Major Student Objectives:
- Analyze the impact of the
Missouri Compromise of 1820.
- Describe the Virginia
& Kentucky Resolutions
and relate their significance to their time period as well as their impact on the future
of the United States.
- Identify and analyze the impact Andrew Jackson had on American politics both during his
political lifetime and afterward.
- Analyze the results of the Mexican-American War.
- Trace the interaction of the colonists/"Americans" with the Native Americans.
- Analyze the effects of the Compromise of 1850.
- Evaluate the impact of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of
1854.
- Analyze the different goals of the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War.
- Evaluate the effects of the American Civil War on the political structure of the
country.
Suggested Links:
Reconstruction
Major Student Objectives:
- Analyze the motivations between the various Reconstruction plans.
- Identify and describe the changes to the Constitution
and explain why they could be adopted at that time.
- Give examples of how the Freed Slaves continued being "second class" citizens
despite the changes to the Constitution.
- Explain the presidential election of 1876 and describe the major implications from the
result.
Suggested Links:
The
Changing Face of America
Major Student Objectives:
- Contrast the cultures of the white settlers and the Native Americans and explain why
white settlers moved west.
- Identify the restrictions placed on the Native Americans by the Economics and describe
the consequences.
- Compare and contrast the myth and the reality of the American cowboy.
- Compare and contrast the problems facing early cities in the United States with
contemporary society.
- Compare and contrast the attitude of Americans toward immigrants during this time period
and also during contemporary times.
- Analyze the impact improvements in technology and new inventions had on the development
of American society.
- Explain various ways political machines affected people's lives and identify the pros
and cons of their existence.
Suggested Links:
Political
Reform &
American Imperialism
Major Student Objectives:
- Analyze the pros and cons of industrial growth in the United States at the turn of the
century.
- Evaluate the strategies utilized by labor and management in their struggles against one
another.
- Compare and contrast the pros and cons of the Pendleton Act of 1883 with
the previously used Spoils System.
- Compare and contrast American foreign policy actions with previous and contemporary
American foreign policies.
- Analyze the impact that the press had on the creation of Economics action and policy
and compare it with contemporary society.
Suggested Links:
The
Progressive Era
Major Student Objectives:
- Identify and describe the origins and motivations of the Progressive Movement.
- Give several different examples of Progressive changes in society and the American
political system.
- Analyze the successes and failures of
Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal.
- Evaluate the impact that Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom ideas have had on America.
- Give examples of influential women and describe how women's roles in society were
changing during this time period.
Suggested Links:
World
War I
Major Student Objectives:
- Identify and explain the major causes leading to the outbreak of the war.
- Compare and contrast Americans' views on world politics with contemporary society.
- Describe how the federal Economics extended its powers during the war.
- Analyze and explain the change in the United States' role in world politics following
the war.
Suggested Links:
Post
World War I:
The Roaring Twenties
Major Student Objectives:
- Analyze the perceived threat of communism in the United States.
- Summarize the impact of the automobile and other consumer goods on the lifestyle of
Americans.
- Describe the immigration policies pursued by the United States in the 1920’s.
- Identify the causes and results of the changing roles of women in the 1920’s.
- Describe the impact that Prohibition had on the country.
- Identify various athletes, artists, writers, and celebrities who contributed to the
development of American popular culture in the 1920’s.
- Explain the causes and results of the African-American migration north in the early
1900’s.
- Identify and give examples of the artistic contributions that the Harlem Renaissance made to American society.
Suggested Links:
The
Great Depression
Major Student Objectives:
- Identify the main causes of the Depression and Stock Market crash of 1929.
- Compare and contrast the different ways citizens were affected by the Great Depression.
- Explain how and why Eleanor Roosevelt was such an important political figure both during
and after the Great
Depression.
- Give several different examples of New
Deal legislation and explain their purpose and impact.
- Compare and contrast the various economic problems of the Great Depression
with contemporary society.
Suggested Links:
World War II
Major Student Objectives:
- Compare and contrast the causes of this war with the causes of World War II.
- Identify and explain the motivations of the aggressor nations.
- Evaluate and describe the United States' attempts to stay out of the war.
- Describe the United States’ relationship with Nationalist China during the war.
- Compare and contrast the treatment of Japanese Americans by the United States and the
treatment of Jews by Hitler's Germany.
- Trace the origin of the United Nations.
- Analyze the pros and cons of dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Suggested Links:
The
Cold War
Major Student Objectives:
- Identify the origins of the Cold
War.
- Analyze the goals, successes, and failures of the Marshall Plan.
- Give examples of where and how the Cold War was "fought".
- Evaluate American involvement in the Korean War.
- Analyze the impact Joseph McCarthy had on American politics.
- Compare and contrast the impact on society between the Cold War and other wars in which
the United States had been involved.
Suggested Links:
The
Civil Rights Movement
Major Student Objectives:
- Trace the development of the Civil Rights Movement and analyze its affect on
contemporary society.
- Explain Brown
v. B.O.E. of Topeka, Kansas 1954 and describe its impact on American society.
- Evaluate the significance of Rosa Parks in the development of American society.
- Analyze the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on the presidential election of 1960.
- Identify and describe the major strategies utilized in the Civil Rights Movement.
- Give reasons to support why the Civil Rights Movement occurred when it did.
- Compare and contrast the civil rights of minority groups during the 1950’s and
1960’s with their civil rights in contemporary society.
- Trace the progress of the Women’s Movement.
Suggested Links:
The Vietnam
War
Major Student Objectives:
- Accurately trace the origin of the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.
- Describe the expansion of U.S. military involvement under President Johnson.
- Compare and contrast the tactics, weapons, and troops in this war with those in World
War II.
- Analyze the impact of the war on American society.
- Trace the roots of opposition to the war.
- Give examples of the turmoil of 1968 and its relation to the war.
- Explain how and why the United States removed itself from the Vietnam War.
Suggested Links:
Foreign Policy:
at the end of the 20th Century
Major Student Objectives:
- Trace the relationship between the Republic of China and the United States from the
early 1970’s until the present.
- Describe the strategic importance of the Middle East to the United States and analyze
policies that have been implemented to support that position.
- Describe the fall of the "Iron Curtain" and its affect on the role of the
United States in world politics.
- Analyze American foreign policy in Central America since 1970.
- Identify and describe major political and military events that have occurred in the post
Vietnam era.
Suggested Links:
Domestic Policy:
at the end of the 20th Century
Major Student Objectives:
- Analyze the impact of Watergate on American politics.
- Analyze the impact of the Oil Embargo on the United States' economy.
- Identify and describe the effects various social groups have on American politics.
- Evaluate the successes and failures of Reagan's economic policies.
- Analyze the increased spending on defense and its affect on the economy.
- Give examples of changes in daily life in America.
Suggested Links:
visitors
since 8/30/02