US History 1877 to Present - Syllabus 2025
1st Six Weeks: Industrialization, immigration, and the Gilded Age (1877-1900)
Key Themes:
Industrialization and the rise of big business (e.g., impact of Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt on the economy and society).
Urbanization and immigration: push-pull factors, challenges faced by immigrants, and the rise of nativism.
Political corruption and reform movements: Populism, civil service reform, and the beginnings of Progressivism.
Impact of technological innovations (e.g., Bessemer process, electricity, telephone).
Social and cultural changes in the late 19th century, including the development of a middle class.
Key TEKS: Focus on analyzing the growth of big business, evaluating the impact of industrialization on living and working conditions, and understanding the causes and consequences of migration and immigration.
2nd Six Weeks: Imperialism, progressivism, and the roaring twenties (1900-1929)
Key Themes:
American Imperialism: Causes and effects of US expansion in places like Panama, Hawaii, and the Philippines.
The Progressive Era: Addressing social and economic problems, including muckrakers, labor reforms, and women's suffrage.
World War I: Causes, American entry, and the impact of the war on the homefront.
The Roaring Twenties: Economic boom, social and cultural changes (e.g., Jazz Age, flappers), and growing tensions (e.g., Prohibition, Red Scare, nativism).
Key TEKS: Analyze causes and effects of social issues like nativism and Prohibition, and evaluate US foreign policy in relation to expansionism versus imperialism.
3rd Six Weeks: The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)
Key Themes:
Causes and effects of the Great Depression: Stock market crash, bank failures, unemployment, and the Dust Bowl.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs: Relief, recovery, reform, and their impact on the role of government.
World War II: US entry, major battles and events, the Holocaust, and the contributions of various groups (e.g., Tuskegee Airmen).
American diplomacy during WWII.
Key TEKS: Explain the significance of the year 1929 as a turning point, analyze the impact of New Deal legislation on the roles of government, and understand the events of WWII and their impact.
4th Six Weeks: The Cold War and the 1950s/1960s (1945-1968)
Key Themes:
Origins and development of the Cold War: Containment policy, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
Postwar prosperity and suburbanization.
Social and cultural changes in the 1950s and 1960s: Rise of television and the youth counterculture.
Early Civil Rights Movement: Key figures, events (e.g., Montgomery Bus Boycott), and landmark legislation.
Key TEKS: Explain the significance of the Sputnik launch in igniting the Space Race, identify key figures in the Civil Rights Movement, and discuss the impact of the Vietnam War and the responses to it.
5th Six Weeks: Civil rights, Vietnam, and the age of protest (1960s-1970s)
Key Themes:
Expansion of the Civil Rights Movement: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Black Panthers, and the impact of the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments.
The Vietnam War: Causes, escalation, Vietnamization, the fall of Saigon, and the responses to the war (e.g., the draft, the 26th Amendment, the role of media).
Other social movements: Women's rights, environmentalism, and the counterculture.
Key TEKS: Trace the historical development of the civil rights movement, describe the responses to the Vietnam War, and discuss the impact of important writings like Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
6th Six Weeks: Modern America (1970s-present)
Key Themes:
The End of the Cold War and Globalization.
US involvement in world affairs (e.g., Persian Gulf War, September 11th attacks, global War on Terror).
Impact of technological innovations (e.g., personal computers, the Internet).
Emerging political, economic, and social issues in the United States.