Pre-AP US History I

Social Studies Department Pre-AP US History plans

Student example of Progressivism DBQ introduction (contextualization and thesis statement) and body paragraph (use of documents and outside information):

The Progressive Era was a period of history from 1900 to 1920, an important era of social and political upheaval targeted to the improvement of society. Previous to the Progressive era was the Gilded Age, an period of history where industrialization was rising, and big corporations and monopolies were created. In result of that, many reforms had to be made to improve the conditions and ethics of these corporations, especially for the lower classes desperately seeking reform. Although the movements for African Americans were strongly represented, the most effective reforms would include the industry and labor movements as well as improvements in business and trusts.

The improvements of business and monopolies was due to trust-busting. Theodore Roosevelt's trust-busting system targeted the "bad" trusts that weren't providing the proper customer needs while treating the working class poorly. With Roosevelt trampling on the "bad" trusts, significant progressive reform was also used by later presidents like Taft (Document A). (paragraph continues to use 2 other documents and 4 examples of outside information)