If you do well in this course, you will be able to:
- Written/Oral Communication
- Compose an effective narrative that describes and analyzes the history of the United States in response to an analytical question.
- Explain the changing social, cultural, economic, and political structures and development of the United States from the end of Reconstruction to the present through written activities and/or oral presentations/discussion.
- Describe the key events, developments, and people from 1865 to the present through written activities and/or oral presentations/discussion.
- Critical Thinking
- Describe, analyze, and evaluate conflicting historical interpretations within the context of the United States from the end of Reconstruction to the present.
- Differentiate between fact, inference, and opinion as these items pertain to U.S. history between 1865 and the present.
- Quantitative/Graphic Analysis
- Analyze numerical data, graphs, and maps as they pertain to understanding the development of events and trends throughout American history from Reconstruction to the present
- Reconstruction: Suggested Context - Emancipation, Presidential Reconstruction, Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction, The Unofficial and Official Ends of Reconstruction.
- Analyze the diverse meanings of freedom between African Americans and Anglo Americans and how each group sought to shape the emancipation experience.
- Explain the need for the Freedmen's Bureau.
- Articulate what the black codes meant for freed people.
- Describe the actions of the national and Southern state governments during Presidential Reconstruction.
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- Explain the changes Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction brought to the South.
- Discuss the ways in which Reconstruction ended (both unofficially and officially).
- The Gilded Age: Suggested Context - The New South, The West, Industrialization and the Rise of Organized Labor, Urbanization, Immigration, Gilded Age Politics, The Populist Movement.
- Explain the changes that arose in the New South after Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow (de jure) segregation.
- Discuss the causes and impact of settlement in the West on all the groups involved.
- Examine the rise of big business in American and analyze its effect on work and everyday life.
- Describe the growth of American cities and the changes in urban life
- Explain the challenges and contributions of immigrants of the late nineteenth century/early twentieth century United States.
- Assess the mainstream politics of the Gilded Age.
- Analyze the causes of discontent among farmers in the late nineteenth century and the rise of the Populist Movement.
- The Progressive Era: Suggested Context - American Imperialism, Origins of the Progressive Movement, Progressivism, World War I and its Aftermath.
- Discuss the causes of American overseas imperialism and its impact.
- Compare and contrast the Populists and Progressives.
- Describe the origins of the Progressive movement and the guiding forces behind the reform efforts.
- Explain the influence of the different reform efforts that arose from the Progressive movement and who were the progressives.
- Analyze the role the United States played in World War I.
- Analyze the ways in which World War I and its aftermath changed American society.
- The Modern Nation: Suggested Context - The New Industrial Model, Rise of Mass Culture, Reactions to Rapid Changes.
- Analyze the role that changing manufacturing techniques and consolidation played in the growth of American business in the 1920s.
- Describe the new media formats that gave rise to mass culture and the beginnings of the homogenization of American society.
- Discuss the social, political, environmental, economic impact of the Great Depression on American society.
- Describe the New Deal and evaluate the social, political, environmental, economic impact it has on American society.
- The Great Depression and the New Deal
- Review the origin and underlying causes of the Great Depression.
- Identify the ways in which the Hoover administration attempted to deal with the Depression and how black politicians responded to his new deal election.
- Examine connections between European societies and the rest of the world.
- Analyze and evaluate complex historical sources and materials and reach conclusions based on interpretations of primary and secondary resources..
- World War II: Suggested Context - Coming of World War II, The United States during World War II
- Describe circumstances at home and abroad before U.S. involvement in World War II.
- Identify the significant military and political aspects of World War II.
- Evaluate the social and economic impacts of World War II on the home front.
- Discuss how World War II desegregation of the military challenged racism at home in the United States.
- The Cold War: Suggested Context - Origins of the Cold War, American Cold War Diplomacy and the Arms Race, The Impact of the Cold War on American Society
- Analyze the origins of the Cold War, foreign policy developments, the Korean War, and major events of the administrations from Truman through Kennedy.
- Discuss the "Arms Race" and nuclear proliferation.
- Examine and describe the impact of the Cold War on American domestic politics and society in the era after World War II.
- Evaluate how Brown vs Board of Education and desegregation impacted the Cold War Era.
- A Changing American Society: Suggested Context -The Affluent Society, The Struggles for Equality, The Vietnam War, Cultural Shifts, Watergate, The Conservative Revolution.
- Analyze the social, cultural, demographic, and economic changes in the United States during the Cold War era.
- Assess the efforts and impact of groups such as African Americans, women, Latinos/Latinas, Native Americans, disabled, and LGBTQ in their struggles to gain equality.
- Identify the Civil Rights movement as a central element of change in world order.
- Identify primary motives for U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia, key events in the Vietnam War, and the effects of this conflict at home and abroad.
- Describe the cultural changes of the 1960s and 1970s.
- Discuss Watergate and its impact on American political culture.
- Explain why political, social, and cultural upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s led many Americans to want a return to smaller government and conservative ideas.
- A New World Order for America: Suggested Context - The New World Order, America in an Interdependent World, The Information Age, Grappling with Contemporary Problems.
- Discuss the sweeping changes in world affairs in the late 1980s and early 1990s that created a "New World Order."
- Assess increasing global interdependence, the potential for conflict, and the U.S. role in world events in the present and future.
- Evaluate the impact of the Information Age on the culture and society of the United States.
- Identify the major contemporary social, environmental, economic, and political issues, the groups involved, and the controversies engendered by those issues.
- Analyze the impact of 9/11 on American political and social affairs.