AP US History
This course examines the development of the United States from the founding of our nation to the present. This class will appeal to those who seek a challenge of their creative thinking, investigative, reading, and writing skills and to better prepare them for college level work. This course will enable you to “think like a historian” by analyzing people and events and examine reasons why they occurred. This is a rigorous course with the focal point of preparing you to pass the AP US History exam.
Prerequisites: Junior or Senior Status
1 credit
Units
Period 1: 1491-1607
Period 2: 1607-1764
Period 3: 1754-1800
Period 4: 1800:1848
Period 5: 1844-1877
Period 6: 1865-1898
Period 7: 1890-1945
Period 8: 1945:1980
Period 9: 1980-Present
Students will be able to...
1-1: Diverse American Societies
Explain how European economic and military competition led to exploration and colonization of the New World.
Explain how maritime technology contributed to European exploration and colonization.
Explain how new transoceanic methods to conduct trade shaped European exploration and colonization.
1-2: Portugal and Spain Expand Their Reach
Explain how European economic and military competition led to exploration and colonization of the New World.
Explain how maritime technology contributed to European exploration and colonization.
Explain how new transoceanic methods to conduct trade shaped European exploration and colonization.
1-3: The Colombian Exchange
Explain how European economic and military competition led to exploration and colonization of the New World.
Explain how maritime technology contributed to European exploration and colonization.
Explain how new transoceanic methods to conduct trade shaped European exploration and colonization.
1-4: Spanish Colonial Society
Explain how religious ideas and racial, ethnic, gender, lass, and regional identities affected European and American Indian societies in North America before the seventeenth century.
2-1: European Challengers to Spanish North America
Explain the European and North American context that shaped colonization of North America between 1607 and 1754.
Explain how European colonies developed in various ways between 1607 and 1754.
Explain how relations between Europeans and American Indians changed between 1607 and 1754.
2-2: Early British Colonies in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina
Explain how environmental factors affected the development of the Chesapeake and North Carolina colonies between 1607 and 1754.
Explain the similarities and differences between the social development of the Chesapeake and North Carolina colonies between 1607 and 1754.
2-3:Religious Dissent and Colonial Conflicts in New England
Explain how the environment and geography of New England affected colonial development between 1607 and 1754.
Explain how the relationship between New England settlers and American Indians evolved from 1607 to 1754.
Explain how and why social conflicts emerged within the New England colonies as their populations grew and territory expanded.
2-4: The British West Indies and South Atlantic Colonies
Explain how plantation economies based on staple crops developed along the southern Atlantic coast and in the British West Indies.
Explain the reasons for the development of slavery as labor model in the colonies of the southern Atlantic coast and the British West Indies.
Explain how slavery shaped daily life in the Carolinas.
2-5: The Middle Colonies
Explain how environmental factors affected the development of the Middle Colonies.
Explain the reasons different settlers immigrated to the Middle Colonies.
Explain the various factors that led to economic and social diversity in the Middle Colonies.
2-6: The Eighteenth-Century Atlantic Economy
Explain the causes and effects of the transatlantic trade system on the North American colonial economy during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Explain the causes and effects of the transatlantic trade system on North American colonial society during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Explain the effects of British mercantilist policies on its North American colonies.
2-7: Slavery Takes Hold in the South
Explain how the surplus of land, the European demand for colonial goods, and the
lack of indentured servants contributed to the rise of the Atlantic slave trade in the
British colonies.
Explain how the rise of slavery supported the economic system of the southern colonies.
Explain how racial laws supported the slavery-based economy in the southern colonies.
Explain how enslaved Africans and African Americans developed ways to undermine
the system of slavery and maintain their family structures, gender roles, and cultures.
2-8: Imperial Contests in Trade and War
Explain how economic competition led to conflict between European colonial powers.
Explain how economic competition led to conflicts and alliances between European colonial powers and American Indians.
Explain how American Indians resisted European expansion in North America.
2-9: Religious and Political Awakenings
Explain how economic ties between the colonies affected the development of British North American colonial society.
Explain the impact of transatlantic print culture on the development of British North American colonial society.
Explain the impact of Protestant evangelicalism on the development of British North American colonial society.
Explain how the Great Awakening and the spread of Enlightenment ideals enhanced the religious and ideological diversity of British North America.
Explain how traditions of self-government, Enlightenment ideas, religious diversity, and colonial conceptions of British imperial corruption fueled resistance to British imperial power.
3-1: International Conflicts Cause Colonial Tensions
Explain the developments that led to the Seven Years’ War (also known as the French and Indian War).
Explain how the aftermath of the Seven Years’ War raised tensions between British government and colonial society.
3-2: Resistance to Britain Intensifies
Explain how British imperial policies after the Seven Years’ War led to tensions with British North American colonists.
Explain the ways in which Americans revised their ideas about government and individual liberty in reaction to British policies after the Seven Years’ War.
3-3: The American Revolution Begins
Explain the factors that ultimately led the thirteen colonies to move beyond protests and boycotts to declaring independence from Great Britain.
Explain why some British North American colonists supported independence while others opposed it.
Explain the effects of divided public opinion during the early American Revolution.
3-4: Winning the War for Independence
Explain what factors led the Continental Army to win the Revolutionary War.
Explain the changes in American society that resulted from the American Revolution.
Explain how the American Revolution affected other nations.
3-5:Governing in Revolutionary Times, 1776–1787
Explain how colonial governments changed during the American Revolution.
Explain the different ideas about the appropriate structure of government that patriots held during this period.
3-6: Reframing the American Government
Explain how Americans tried to create governments based on the ideas of the American Revolution after 1783.
Explain the ways in which the structure of government both changed and remained the same in the face of new challenges during this period.
3-7:Legacies of the American Revolution
Explain how American culture both changed and remained the same during the second half of the eighteenth century.
Explain how regional attitudes about slavery both changed and remained the same during the second half of the eighteenth century.
Explain the ways in which the American Revolution transformed American society during the second half of the eighteenth century.
3-8: George Washington Unites a Nation
Explain how the Washington administration enacted economic policies to stabilize the federal government.
Explain how different interpretations of the Constitution caused conflict between Americans during Washington’s first administration.
3-9: Political Parties in Years of Crisis
Explain the impact of the French Revolution on American politics.
Explain the factors that led to the emergence of a two-party system.
Explain why the Democratic-Republicans triumphed in the 1800 election, resulting in the first transfer of power between political parties under the Constitution.
4-1: Political and Economic Transformations
Explain the causes and effects of political debates in the Jeffersonian Era.
Explain how technology reshaped both the American economy and the lives of distinct groups of Americans.
4-2: Defending and Redefining the Nation
Explain the causes and effects of the War of 1812.
Explain how and why regional political and economic differences increased during this period.
Explain the short- and long-term effects of the Missouri Compromise and the Panic of 1819.
4-3: Transportation and Market Revolutions Change America
Explain the causes and effects of urbanization.
Explain how the market revolution increased class divisions and changed women’s roles.
Explain how the market revolution impacted various regions and groups.
4-4: The Second American Party System
Explain the factors that led to the rise of a second two-party system of politics in the United States.
Explain the continuities and changes in American politics from the first two-party system featuring the Federalists and
Democratic-Republicans to the beginnings of a second two-party system featuring Democrats and National Republicans, later replaced by the Whigs.
4-5: Conflicts of the Jacksonian Era
Explain the causes and effects of major political controversies in the 1830s.
Explain the causes and effects of the Panic of 1837.
4-6: Slavery and Southern Society
Explain how the geography of the South and the westward expansion of slavery impacted the development of the South.
Explain how the lives of white and black people in the South changed and remained the same in the era before the Civil War.
4-7: Social Reform Movements
Explain what factors contributed to the rise of a new national culture in the first half of the 1800s.
Explain the causes of the Second Great Awakening.
Explain how social reform efforts impacted American society in the first half of the 1800s.
4-8: Abolitionism and Sectionalism
Explain the similarities and differences in the various efforts to limit or end slavery.
Explain how abolitionism and other movements impacted the women’s rights movement.
5-1: Manifest Destiny
Explain how the appeal of manifest destiny encouraged western expansion and settlement.
Explain the causes and effects of the Mexican-American War.
5-2: Compromise and Conflict
Explain how regional attitudes shaped federal policy after the Mexican-American War.
Explain the reasons for similarities and differences in regional attitudes about the role of the federal government.
5-3: From Sectional Crisis to Southern Secession
Explain how immigration shaped American culture from 1844 to 1860.
Explain how arguments over slavery caused tensions between regions in the United States from 1844 to 1860.
Explain the effects of the election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
5-4: Disunion and War
Explain the various factors that contributed to early southern success during the Civil War.
Explain how Lincoln’s leadership affected Northerners’ views on slavery over the course of the war.
Explain the contributions of American Indians, females, and African Americans to the Civil War.
Explain how various groups’ contributions to the war changed during the first two years of the conflict.
5-5: Victory for the North
Explain the factors that led to Northern victory over the Confederacy.
Explain how the strategies and fighting changed over the course of the Civil War.
5-6: Reconstruction Begins
Explain the impact of emancipation on freed people.
Explain the impact of northern efforts on assisting freed people during Reconstruction.
Explain the effects of federal Reconstruction policies on society from 1865 to 1877.
5-7: Reform and Resistance
Explain the causes of resistance to Reconstruction in the South and in the North.
Explain the short-term successes of Reconstruction.
5-8: Reconstruction Undone
Explain the causes that led to the end of Reconstruction.
Explain how and why Reconstruction affected both regional and national conceptions of American identity.
Explain the impact of the Civil War on American values.
6-1: Westward Expansion and American Indian Resistance
Explain the factors contributing to western settlement.
Explain the effects of western settlement on American Indians living in those lands.
Explain the various ways in which the United States sought to forcibly assimilate American Indians.
Explain American Indian resistance to attempts to assimilate them into the United States.
6-2: Industry in the West
Explain how industrialization shaped the economy of the West.
Explain the effects of industrialization on the environment in the West.
Explain the similarities and differences in the experiences of different peoples in the West.
6-3: The New South
Explain the changes and continuities in the South’s economy from the end of the Civil War to the end of the nineteenth century.
Explain the changes and continuities in the lives of African Americans living in the South from the end of the Civil War to the end of the nineteenth century.
6-4: America Industrializes
Explain the factors that contributed to industrialization in the late 1800s.
Explain the impact of industrialization on American businesses and the economy.
Explain the impact of technological innovations on American businesses and the economy.
6-5: Working People Organize
Explain the continuities and changes in the lives of various groups of industrial workers.
Explain how industrialization spurred the formation of labor unions and how the government responded to unionization.
6-6: A New Wave of Immigrants
Explain the factors that led to increased immigration to the United States.
Explain the similarities and differences for why various groups migrated to the United States and the locations those groups generally settled in.
Explain the debates caused by immigration to the United States.
6-7: Becoming an Urban Nation
Explain how the size, demographics, and nature of American cities changed.
Explain how and why city politics changed.
Explain how and why urban reformers attempted to improve living conditions in American cities.
6-8: Society and Culture in the Gilded Age
Explain how industrialization impacted the lifestyles of the wealthy, middle class, and industrial workers.
Explain how industrialization led to changing gender roles for men and women.
6-9: Gilded Age Ideologies
Explain the development of popular doctrines justifying the existing social and economic conditions in the late 1800s.
Explain the development of critiques to the popular doctrines justifying the existing economic and social conditions in the late 1800s.
6-10: Politics and Protest
Explain the similarities and differences between major political parties during the Gilded Age.
Explain the causes of agrarian activism during the Gilded Age.
Explain the impact of the Depression of 1893 on the economy and politics.
7-1: Progressivism and Social Reform
Explain how Progressive Era journalists critiqued political corruption, social injustice, and economic inequality.
Explain how reformers, from the middle and upper classes, including many women, worked to effect social changes in cities and among immigrant populations.
Explain how some progressives advocated expanding participation in government.
Explain how progressives sought to regulate the economy and generate moral reform.
7-2: Progressive Political Reforms
Explain how progressives called for reliance on professional experts to make government more efficient.
Explain how progressives debated immigration restrictions.
Explain how progressive amendments to the Constitution supported progressive ideals.
Explain how preservationists and conservationists supported the establishment of national parks, but disagreed over government intervention regarding overuse of natural resources.
7-3: The Awakening of Imperialism
Explain how imperialists used economic opportunities, racial theories, competing European empires, and the so-called closing of the American frontier to justify expansion of American power around the globe.
Explain how anti-imperialists used American traditions of self-determination, racial theories, and a tradition of isolationism to counter imperialist arguments.
Explain how the arguments that supported the Spanish–American War led to acquisition of territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific, expanded involvement in Asia, and justified the suppression of an independence movement in the Philippines.
7-4: Foreign Policy and World War I
Explain why the United States initially declared its neutrality in World War I and what factors ultimately led the United States into World War I in 1917.
Explain how Woodrow Wilson’s call for the preservation of democratic principles was used to justify U.S. entrance into World War I.
Explain how United States support led to victory for the Allies in World War I.
Explain why the U.S. The Senate failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles or join the League of Nations.
7-5: The Effects of World War I at Home
Explain the controversies resulting from restrictions on freedom of speech during World War I.
Explain how the Red Scare and attacks on labor activism and immigrant culture were a reaction to the end of World War I.
Explain how increased war production and labor during World War I led to migration to urban centers in search of economic opportunities.
Explain why African Americans moved to the North and West during and after World War I, despite finding discrimination there.
7-6: The Transitional 1920s
Explain how after World War I, nativist campaigns led to quotas that restricted immigration in the 1920s.
Explain how the U.S. economy after World War I focused on the production of consumer goods, which contributed to changing living standards, greater mobility, and better communications.
Explain how new forms of mass media spread national culture and greater awareness of regional cultures.
7-7: Economic Instability and Depression
Explain how the United States continued to transition from a rural, agricultural economy to an urban, industrial economy.
Explain why the Great Depression led to calls for a stronger financial regulatory system.
7-8: The New Deal
Explain how the government responded to the economic and social upheaval of the Great Depression by creating a limited welfare state.
Explain how the New Deal tried to end the Great Depression by using government power to provide economic relief, recovery, and reform.
7-9: America Enters World War II
Explain why the Great Depression led many Americans to migrate to urban centers in search of economic opportunities.
Explain how after World War I the United States pursued an “isolationist” foreign policy that used international investment, peace treaties, and occasional military intervention to promote U.S. interests.
Explain why the rise of fascism and totalitarianism concerned many citizens in the United States.
Explain why most Americans opposed military action against Nazi Germany and Japan until the attack on Pearl Harbor.
7-10: Life on the Homefront
Explain why war production and labor during World War II further drew many Americans to migrate to American cities.
Explain how mass mobilization helped end the Great Depression.
Explain how the country’s strong industrial base helped the Allies win World War II.
Explain how women and minorities took advantage of opportunities caused by World War II.
Explain how reactions to World War II challenged civil liberties.
Explain why migration to the United States from the rest of the Western Hemisphere increased during World War II.
8-1: The Early Cold War, 1945-1953
Explain why the alliance between the U.S. and USSR quickly dissolved after World War II.
Explain how developments in Europe led the U.S. to adopt a strategy of containment.
Explain how the U.S. used economic assistance and collective security in its postwar foreign policy.
Explain how the Korean War affected U.S. Cold War strategy and presidential power.
8-2: The Second Red Scare
Explain why the Second Red Scare emerged in the late 1940s.
Explain the measures taken by the government and private organizations in response to the Second Red Scare.
Explain how Senator McCarthy amplified the Second Red Scare and used it for political purposes.
Explain how individual Americans responded to the climate of fear during the Second Red Scare.
8-3: Peacetime Transition and the Boom Years
Explain the political and economic challenges facing the United States as it transitioned from World War II to peacetime.
Explain the factors that contributed to the economic growth of the 1950s.
Explain the causes and effects of the post-World War II baby boom.
Explain the reasons why Americans moved to suburbs and to the Sun Belt after World War II.
8-4: Cultural Shifts in 1950s America
Explain how 1950s popular culture reflected the expanding consumer-oriented economy.
Explain how television, movies, and music shaped American culture in the 1950s.
Explain the factors that led to a revival of religious sentiment.
Explain how mainstream culture reinforced traditional views of women.
Explain how teenagers, Beats, and other groups challenged accepted cultural norms.
8-5: Civil Rights in an Era of Conformity
Explain how the NAACP and CORE sought to advance African American civil rights in the 1940s and 1950s.
Explain the impact of Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the sit-in movement on the struggle for civil rights.
Explain how white segregationists resisted civil rights advancements.
Explain how Mexican Americans, Chinese Americans, and Japanese Americans strived for civil rights in the 1950s.
8-6: The Cold War Expands at Home and Abroad, 1953–1961
Explain how the Eisenhower administration pursued a policy of containment abroad and Modern Republicanism at home.
Explain why President Eisenhower warned against the emergence of a military-industrial complex in his farewell address.
Explain how Eisenhower administration policies affected American Indians and Mexican immigrants.
Explain how foreign policy challenges during the Kennedy administration intensified the Cold War.
8-7: The Vietnam War
Explain the origins of America’s involvement in Vietnam in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Explain how Johnson escalated the conflict in Vietnam into a war, the strategies used by Johnson and Nixon during the war, and why the U.S. was unable to win the war.
Explain how U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War led to a decline in public trust in the federal government.
Explain the successes and failures of Nixon’s approach to foreign policy.
8-8: The Fight for Civil Rights, 1961–1979
Explain the tactics and strategies used by Martin Luther King Jr. and leading civil rights organizations in the early and mid-1960s.
Explain the legislative and legal accomplishments of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and early 1970s and the effects of those accomplishments on American society.
Explain the factors that led to the rise of the black power movement and its impact on the larger civil rights movement.
Explain why the use of forced busing and affirmative action to further racial integration was controversial.
8-9: Liberalism and Its Challengers, 1960–1973
Explain how Johnson’s Great Society attempted to end poverty, expand civil rights, and remedy other social problems.
Explain the factors that contributed to the rise of the New Left, free speech, and counterculture movements and their impacts on American society.
Explain how Warren Court rulings expanded civil liberties and why a backlash emerged to those rulings from conservatives.
Explain how women, American Indians, Chicanos, and gays fought for civil rights in the 1960s.
Explain how the roots of a new conservatism took hold amidst the height of liberalism in the 1960s.
8-10: American Politics in Transition, 1968–1980
Explain how Nixon shaped conservatism and won reelection in 1972.
Explain the Watergate scandal and how it led to Nixon’s resignation.
Explain the causes of stagflation and deindustrialization and how the federal government responded to the economic challenges of the 1970s.
Explain the foreign policy approaches of Nixon and Carter and the successes and failures of their policies.
9-1: The Triumph of Conservatism
Explain why Ronald Reagan’s victory in the presidential election of 1980 allowed conservatives to enact tax cuts and continue the deregulation of many industries.
Explain conservative arguments against liberal policies for fighting poverty and stimulating economic growth.
Explain conservative arguments for traditional social values.
Explain how Reagan raised tensions with the Soviet Union.
9-2: The End of the Cold War
Explain how elevated military spending on the part of the United States, economic stagnation in the Soviet Union, and protests in Eastern Europe contributed to the end of the Cold War.
Explain how the end of the Cold War fostered new diplomatic decisions and debates about the role of the United States in the world.
Explain how President George H. W. Bush tried to transform conservative ideology into “kinder” and “gentler” policies.
9-3: Toward the Twenty-First Century
Explain how debates regarding free-trade, government programs, and the financial system shaped domestic policies during the closing years of the twentieth century.
Explain how debates over immigration policy, diversity, and gender roles shaped political discourse.
Explain how digital communications enabled increased economic opportunities on a global scale.
9-4: The Global War on Terror and Political Conflict at Home
Explain how in the twenty-first century the effects of free-trade agreements, the scope of the social safety net, and growth of the U.S. financial system continued to shape policy debates.
Explain how issues such as immigration, social diversity, gender roles, and family structure continued to shape cultural and political debates.
Explain why economic inequality grew in the early twenty-first century.