Welcome to IBUSH. This course will run on B days in 3rd block, opposite AP Psychology with Ms. Ford.
This course is the first year of the International Baccalaureate History course in the Diploma Programme at Southside. This course has an End of Course (EOC) Exam which will be taken in May and satisfies the South Carolina requirements for US History and the Constitution.
During this year 1 of the 2-year IB History programme, IBUSH students will undertake a study of Topic 8 in the IB History of the Americas Paper 3 - regional option content: "Causes and course of the US Civil War".
Course outline and pacing:
1st Quarter: 1491-1800
from pre-colonial contact to the colonial period, through the Revolutionary War.
assignments may include: unit tests, essay, document skills, structured academic discussion
unit tests are on the Mastery Connect Platform
2nd Quarter: 1800-1877
from the Jeffersonian era through the Civil War and Reconstruction.
assignments may include: unit tests, essay, document skills, paper 3 practice exam, structured academic discussion
unit tests are on the Mastery Connect Platform
this quarter includes IB History of the Americas topic 8: United States’ Civil War: Causes, course and effects (1840–1877), and will conclude with a Paper 3-style in-class essay.
This section focuses on the United States’ Civil War between the North and the South (1861–1865), which is often perceived as the great watershed in the history of the United States. It transformed the country forever, but the war created a new set of problems: how would the country be reunited? How would the South rebuild its society and economy? How would the four million freed former slaves fit into society?
Slavery: cotton economy and slavery; conditions of enslavement; adaptation and resistance; abolitionist debate—ideological, legal, religious and economic arguments for and against slavery, and their impact
Origins of the Civil War: the Nullification Crisis; states’ rights; sectionalism; slavery; political issues; economic differences between the North and South
Reasons for, and effects of, westward expansion and the sectional debates; the crises of the 1850s; compromise of 1850; political developments, including the Lincoln–Douglas debates and the presidential election of 1860
Union versus Confederate: strengths and weaknesses; economic resources; role and significance of leaders during the Civil War; role of Lincoln; significant military battles/campaigns
Factors affecting the outcome of the Civil War; the role of foreign relations; the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and participation of African Americans in the Civil War
Reconstruction: presidential and congressional plans; methods of southern resistance; economic, social and political successes and failures
African Americans in the New South: legal issues; the black codes; Jim Crow laws
3rd Quarter: 1865-1945
from the Gilded Age through to the end of the Second World War. (This part is my favorite.)
assignments may include: unit tests, essay, document skills, structured academic discussion
unit tests are on the Mastery Connect Platform
4th Quarter: 1945-present day and exam review
from the Cold War to the present day.
assignments may include: unit tests, essay, document skills, structured academic discussion
unit tests are on the Mastery Connect Platform
the EOC examination for US History will be in May 2026.
Please see the complete syllabus linked below for information on course content, assessment and teaching philosophy. This course strives to deliver IB standards of rigor, to stimulate curiosity and wonder about US History, all while satisfying the requirements for South Carolina's US History and the Constitution credit.
