Outline

Modern U.S. History Content Outline:

(* = central questions that show how history affects your world)

I. Unit One: Industry and Expansion (1865-1900):

A. Westward migration

• Native Americans: broken promises

• Manifest destiny – from sea to shining sea

• Life in the old west: distinguishing facts from myths

• The railroads and their impact

* History vs. Hollywood: How accurate are Hollywood westerns?

B. Industrial Expansion and Urbanization

• • The robber barons

• Laissez-faire capitalism

• Rapid growth of cities and the resulting problems

* How does big business influence politics in America today?

C. The Labor Movement

• America through the eyes of the workers

• The impact of unions

* What connection is there between labor unions and laws that require you to attend school today?

D. Immigration

• New vs. Old Immigrants

• America: melting pot or salad bowl?

• Discrimination faced by immigrants

• Assimilation vs. cultural diversity

* Should immigration be stopped in our post 9/11 world?

E. The American Farmer and the Populist Movement

• The Grangers

• The People's Party

• The Panic of 1893

• The gold standard

* What can The Wizard of Oz possibly tell us about this period of American History? Does it have a deeper meaning?

II. Unit Two: The Emergence of Modern America (1898-1945):

A. The Spanish-American War

• America acquires new lands (manifest destiny revisited)

• America emerges as a world power

• From isolationism to imperialism

* Should the U.S be involved in the affairs of other countries to the degree that we were in the past century?

B. The Progressive Movement

• The "Muckrakers"

• The Progressive Presidents (T. Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson)

• Women's suffrage

• Temperance movement

* Modern day muckrakers -- Is the pen really mightier than the sword?

C. The Great War

• Causes

• America's entrance into the war

• Wilson's Fourteen Points

• The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles

* How do recent problems in the Middle East and the Balkans have their roots in the Paris Peace Conference?

D. The Roaring Twenties

• A consumer society/technological advances

• The building of a modern, capitalist economy

• Prohibition

• Leisure time/entertainment

• Mass marketing and materialism

• The emergence of pop culture

• The road to the stock market crash

* What affect do pop culture and advertising have on today's teens?

E. The Great Depression

• Causes

• Life in the Great Depression

* Could we face another Great Depression today?

F. FDR and the Legacy of the New Deal

• The first 100 days

• The Second New Deal

• Successes and failures of the New Deal

* Has our government grown too large and powerful since the Great Depression?

G. War Breaks Out in Europe

• Fascism/rise of totalitarianism

• America tries to remain neutral

* How did WWII affect the way that we recently dealt with Saddam Hussein?

H. World War II

• Pearl Harbor

• Americans mobilize for war

• The war in Europe

• The Holocaust

• The war in the Pacific

• The atom bomb

* Was the US justified in using the atom bomb and are we hypocritical to try to stop other countries today from acquiring weapons of mass destruction?

III. Unit Three: The Cold War (1945-1991):

A. The Cold War

• McCarthyism

• Truman's Fair Deal

• The Truman Doctrine and the policy of containment

• The Korean Conflict

* Why does the US still have nearly 40,000 troops stationed on the Korean peninsula today if the war ended 50 years ago?

B. The Contrasts of the 1950's

• The suburbs: Living the American dream

• Minorities and the Civil Rights Movement (how the other half was living)

• Brown vs. Board of Education

* Has institutionalized discrimination been eradicated?

C. Kennedy's New Frontier

• The Bay of Pigs

• The Cuban Missile Crisis

• The JFK assassination

* Who killed JFK? Is our government lying to us?

D. The Nation in Turmoil

• LBJ's Great Society

• The war in Vietnam

• The youth counterculture, anti-war protests, and the continuing struggle for racial equality

* How has the legacy of Vietnam affected your world?

E. A Period of Disillusionment: 1968-1980

• 1968 -- A year like no other

• Nixon's accomplishments

• The Watergate scandal

• Ford: The president who wasn't elected

• The Carter administration

* How did this era affect the way Americans still feel about their government

F. The Reagan Revolution

• Reaganomics

• The Iran-Contra scandal

• Foreign policy and the end of the Cold War

* How did we win the Cold War and how did that change your world?

IV: Unit Four: Contemporary America (1989 to the present):

A. The End of an Era

• George H.W. Bush

• Operation Desert Storm: ". . . Not another Vietnam"

• Ross Perot and the election of Bill Clinton

*How do third parties influence elections in our two-party system?

B. The Clinton Administration

• Successes and failures

• The mid term elections of 1994

• Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America

• Scandals and impeachment

* Should the media report on the President's private life?

C. The Post 9/11 World

• Why were we attacked?

• How has 9/11 changed our foreign policy?

• The War on Terror and how it differs from previous wars

• Was our campaign in Iraq justified?

• Is this a war without end?

* Should the US engage in preemptive strikes against potential foes?