Advanced Placement (AP) uNITED sTATES hISTORY (1491 TO pRESENT)

Mr. Kris Rhinehart

Kristoffer.rhinehart@ship.k12.pa.us 

Shippensburg Area Senior High

AP uNITED sTATES History brief description

AP US History is a full year rigorous, college level course designed to explore United States history from 1491 (pre-Columbian) to the present.  The course will emphasize and focus on the development of analytical and writing skills necessary for success at the collegiate level.  This will be done, at least partly, through the critical evaluation of primary and secondary sources and analysis of historiographical arguments.  The course will require significant amounts of reading and assignments completed outside of class time, as well as the ability to read a college level textbook and write in complete sentences and paragraphs.  The course will emphasize all periods in US history, not giving overdue attention to any periods or themes.  At the end of the course in May students will have the option to take the AP US History exam.  Success on the exam (i.e. scoring a 3, 4 or 5) can lead to college credit, depending on the specific policies of the college they choose to attend.  Course assessments in this class are closely aligned with the assessments on the AP Exam. 

Some FAQ’s about Advanced Placement courses:

Q: What does Advanced Placement (AP) mean? 

A: Advanced Placement courses are designed by the College Board (the SAT people) to challenge students in high school by offering them courses that will help to prepare them for the rigorous challenges of college.  They are designed to be on par in difficulty with a freshman level college course.

Q: What are the benefits to taking an AP Course?

A: There are many benefits to taking AP courses in high school. The three most obvious are:

-- 1) To be better prepared for college level expectations and work => studies have shown that students who take AP courses are much better prepared to adjust to college level work

--  2) To better gain admission to the college of your choice => admissions counselors like to see that students have challenged themselves with rigorous courses in high school

-- 3) To earn college credit in high school => AP courses offer an exam at the end of the course that if passed with an appropriate score can earn you college credit at 1000’s of colleges

Q: Are AP courses more difficult than regular courses?

A: YES. They require more outside work, critical thinking & writing and are paced much quicker.

Q: Are AP courses at Shippensburg Senior High weighted?

A: Yes.  Due to their challenging nature AP courses are weighted at a level of 1.15 => therefore if you earn an A in an AP course it will count as a 4.6 on your GPA instead of 4.0.

Course Textbooks and Readings

Textbook: Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. The American Pageant: A History of
       the Republic. 11th edition:  Boston: McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin. 1998.

Supplementary Texts and Readings:

Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: Harper Perennial. 2005.

Chambers, John Whiteclay, and G. Kurt Piehler. Major Problems in American Military History. Boston: McGraw-Hill. 1999.

Schlosser, Eric.  Fast Food Nation.  Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.  2001.

Loewen, James. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Simon and Schuster.  2007.

Various Articles and Handouts (i.e. past DBQ’s, Review Materials, primary documents from time periods, secondary readings and interpretations)

AP United States History skills and Brief outline

AP United States History focuses on 7 Major themes in US History and seeks to weave these themes throughout major US developments in 9 different time periods.  Each theme is targeted in various ways throughout the course, including Document based Questions (DBQ's), Long Essays, Short Answer Questions, Multiple Choice Questions, readings and class discussions. 

Theme #1: American identity and identities throughout US History

-- Impact of Manifest Destiny, American Exceptionalism & Cold War on American Identity

-- Changing Gender and Ethnic identities

Theme #2: Work, Exchange and Technology

-- 2nd Industrial revolution and market economies in America

-- Labor systems (i.e. indentured servitude, slavery, union labor)

-- Role of Federal Government in economy

Theme #3: Peopling

-- Migration, Immigration

-- US Immigration policy and reactions (i.e. xenophobia, National Origins Act, Chinese Exclusion Act)

Theme #4: Politics and Power

-- American political party systems

-- Impact of Progressive Movement, New Deal, Great Society, Square deal on government policy and involvement in public life

-- Civil Rights, Women’s and other social movements impact on public policies

Theme #5: America and the World

-- America’s involvement in global conflicts (i.e. Cold War, WWI & WWII)

-- America’s connection to global markets economically

-- American Expansionism/Imperialism

Theme #6: Environment and Geography

-- Environment’s impact on settlement and life (i.e. Columbian exchange; economic production; regional identities)

-- Search for resources impact on US policies (i.e. expansionism)

Theme #7: Ideas, Beliefs and Culture

-- Processes and ideas that have led to cultural and ideological change (i.e. conflict, diffusion, synthesis)

-- Cultural movements throughout US History (i.e. Colonial Culture, Second Great Awakening, Women's Rights, Civil Rights Movements, Temperence)

-- 20th Century consumerism in 1920's and 50's

AP United States History Unit Overview

Unit I: Peopling of the United States (1492 –1607)

• Key Concepts

-- Key Concept 1.1: Native Population settlement patterns prior to European arrival

-- Key Concept 1.2: Columbian Exchange

-- Key Concept 1.3: First Contact between Indians, Africans & Europeans

• Time Period: 1 week

Unit II: European & Native battle for Dominance (1607–1754)

• Key Concepts

-- Key Concept 2.1: Patterns of European Colonization

-- Key Concept 2.2: Patterns of conflict between Europeans and Natives

-- Key Concept 2.3: Impact of Atlantic World exchanges on colonial societies

• Time Period: 3weeks

Unit III: The American Revolution &New Republic (1754–1800)

• Key Concepts

-- Key Concept 3.1: Road to Revolution and American Revolution

-- Key Concept 3.2: Establishment of Democratic Republic in the US

-- Key Concept 3.3: US multiethnic and multiracial identity is formed

• Time Period: 3 ½   weeks

Unit IV: Jeffersonian/Jacksonian Democracy and Manifest Destiny (1800–1848)

• Key Concepts

-- Key Concept 4.1: Development and expansion of American political and social culture

-- Key Concept 4.2: Advances in technology, agriculture and commerce and its effects on settlement, regional identity, gender and family and politics

-- Key Concept 4.3: Manifest Destiny and US Foreign policy

• Time Period: 4weeks

Unit V: The Civil War and Reconstruction (1844 to 1877)

• Key Concepts

-- Key Concept 5.1: Manifest Destiny and its impacts

-- Key Concept 5.2: Civil War

-- Key Concept 5.3: Reconstruction

• Time Period: 4weeks

Unit VI: The Industrial Revolution, Western Migration and the Gilded Age (1865 to 1898)

• Key Concepts

-- Key Concept 6.1: The Industrial Revolution and its impacts

-- Key Concept 6.2: Western migration and Immigration

-- Key Concept 6.3: Gilded Age political and social developments

• Time Period: 3 ½   weeks

Unit VII: The Progressive Era, Roaring Twenties, Great Depression and World War II (1890 to 1945)

• Key Concepts

-- Key Concept 7.1: Socio-economic transformation of US society and efforts at reform

-- Key Concept 7.2: Revolutions in communication and transportation lead to mass culture and increased conflicts

-- Key Concept 7.3: World Wars I & II and rise of US as a major world power

• Time Period: 5 weeks

Unit VIII: The Cold War – The 50’, 60s and 70’s (1945 to 1980)

• Key Concepts

-- Key Concept 8.1: Cold War and its domestic & international consequences

-- Key Concept 8.2: Rise of Liberalism and the socio-cultural response

-- Key Concept 8.3: Postwar Economic, Demographic and Technological changes

• Time Period: 4 weeks

Unit IX: Neo Conservatism & the Modern Age (1980 to Present)

• Key Concepts

-- Key Concept 9.1: Rise of Neo-Conservative movement

-- Key Concept 9.2: End of Cold War and new US foreign policy

-- Key Concept 9.3: Social, Economic and demographic changes & challenges

• Time Period: 1 week

Awards and Recognitions

Over the past years, our AP Program at SASHS has been honored in the following ways . . .

Downloads

AP US History Syllabus

Long Essay Rubric

DBQ Rubric

Links

Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History -- Comprehensive Site that discusses all eras of US History and has a short video on each unit.  Also has study cards for each unit. 

AP US Course Homepage -- College Board