American History

BEFORE THE NATION (Pre-History – 1607)

The First Peoples

• Origins and Migration Across the Bering Land Bridge
• Diversity of Indigenous Civilizations (Mississippian, Pueblo, Iroquois, Plains nations, and more)
• Culture, Spirituality, and Governance
• Population Estimates and Pre-Columbian Life

European Exploration and Contact

• Viking Expeditions and Early Contacts
• Spanish Conquest and the Caribbean
• Columbus, Cortés, and the Age of Exploration
• French and Portuguese Expeditions
• The Columbian Exchange: Disease, Animals, and Plants

Colonial Beginnings

• Spanish Florida and the Southwest
• French Canada and the Mississippi Valley
• The Failed Roanoke Colony
• Jamestown and the First Permanent English Settlement (1607)

COLONIAL AMERICA (1607–1763)

The Thirteen Colonies Take Shape

• New England Colonies: Puritans, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay
• Middle Colonies: Diversity and Commerce
• Southern Colonies: Tobacco, Rice, and Plantation Culture
• Proprietary vs. Charter vs. Royal Colonies

Society and Culture in Colonial America

• Daily Life: Family, Work, and Community
• Religion: The Great Awakening
• Education and the Press
• The Role of Women

Slavery and the African Experience

• Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade
• The Middle Passage
• Slavery in the North and South
• Resistance, Culture, and Identity

Conflict on the Continent

• Relations with Native Americans
• King Philip's War
• The French and Indian War (1754–1763)
• The Treaty of Paris (1763) and Its Consequences

REVOLUTION AND FOUNDING (1763–1800)

The Road to Revolution

• British Imperial Policy After 1763
• Taxation Without Representation: Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Tea Act
• Sons of Liberty and Colonial Resistance
• The Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party

The American Revolution

• The First and Second Continental Congresses
• Lexington, Concord, and the Outbreak of War
• Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the Radicalization of Opinion
• The Declaration of Independence (1776)
• Key Battles: Saratoga, Valley Forge, Yorktown
• The Role of France, Spain, and Other Allies
• African Americans, Women, and Native Americans in the Revolution

Chapter 10: Building a Nation

• The Articles of Confederation and Their Failures
• Shays' Rebellion
• The Constitutional Convention (1787)
• Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists
• Ratification and the Bill of Rights

The Early Republic

• Washington's Presidency and Setting Precedents
• Hamilton vs. Jefferson: The First Party System
• The XYZ Affair and Foreign Policy Challenges
• John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

THE YOUNG NATION EXPANDS (1800–1848)

The Jeffersonian Era

• The Revolution of 1800
• The Louisiana Purchase (1803)
• Lewis and Clark Expedition
• The Embargo Act and Economic Warfare

The War of 1812 and National Identity

• Causes: Impressment, Trade, and Frontier Tensions
• Major Battles and the Burning of Washington
• The Hartford Convention
• The Era of Good Feelings

Manifest Destiny

• The Ideology of Westward Expansion
• The Missouri Compromise (1820)
• Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal
• The Trail of Tears
• Texas Independence and Annexation
• The Oregon Trail and Western Settlement

The Market Revolution and Antebellum Society

• Industrialization in the North
• The Cotton Kingdom in the South
• Immigration Waves: Irish, German, and Others
• The Second Great Awakening and Reform Movements
• The Abolitionist Movement: Garrison, Douglass, and Truth

CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION (1848–1877)

The Coming Storm

• The Compromise of 1850
• Uncle Tom's Cabin and Cultural Impact
• Bleeding Kansas
• The Dred Scott Decision
• John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
• The Election of Lincoln (1860) and Southern Secession

The Civil War (1861–1865)

• Comparing North and South: Resources, Strategy, and Leadership
• Major Campaigns: Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Sherman's March
• The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
• African American Soldiers and the USCT
• The Home Front: Women, Industry, and Dissent
• Appomattox and the War's End

Reconstruction (1865–1877)

• Presidential vs. Radical Reconstruction
• The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
• The Freedmen's Bureau
• Black Political Participation and Its Backlash
• The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
• The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction

THE GILDED AGE AND PROGRESSIVE ERA (1877–1917)

Industrialization and the Gilded Age

• The Transcontinental Railroad
• Robber Barons: Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt
• Urbanization and Immigration
• Labor Movements and Strikes (Pullman, Homestead)
• Social Darwinism and the Gospel of Wealth

The American West and the Frontier

• The Cattle Kingdom and Cowboys
• Conflicts with Native Americans: Little Bighorn, Wounded Knee
• The Dawes Act and Assimilation Policy
• The Closing of the Frontier (1890)

The Progressive Era

• Muckrakers: Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, Jacob Riis
• Theodore Roosevelt and the Square Deal
• Antitrust Legislation and Regulatory Reform
• Women's Suffrage Movement
• The NAACP and Early Civil Rights Advocacy
• Woodrow Wilson and the New Freedom

American Imperialism

• The Spanish-American War (1898)
• Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico
• The Open Door Policy in China
• The Panama Canal
• The Roosevelt Corollary

WAR, DEPRESSION, AND THE NEW DEAL (1917–1941)

World War I and Its Aftermath

• American Neutrality and Entry into the War (1917)
• The Western Front: American Expeditionary Forces
• The Home Front: War Industry, Propaganda, and Civil Liberties
• Wilson's Fourteen Points and the Paris Peace Conference
• The Senate's Rejection of the League of Nations
• The Red Scare and the Palmer Raids

The Roaring Twenties

• Economic Boom and Consumer Culture
• Prohibition and the Rise of Organized Crime
• The Harlem Renaissance
• Immigration Restriction Acts
• The Scopes Trial and Cultural Conflicts
• The Stock Market and the Road to Collapse

The Great Depression

• The Crash of 1929 and Its Causes
• Unemployment, Hunger, and the Dust Bowl
• Hoover's Response and Its Failures
• Bonus Army and Social Unrest

The New Deal

• FDR and the First Hundred Days
• Key Programs: CCC, WPA, Social Security, TVA
• Opposition from the Right and Left
• Labor Unions and the CIO
• The New Deal's Legacy and Limits

WORLD WAR II (1939–1945)

The Road to War

• The Rise of Fascism in Europe and Asia
• American Isolationism and the Neutrality Acts
• Lend-Lease and Growing Involvement
• Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)

Fighting the War

• Mobilization: Industry, Women, and the Home Front
• The Pacific Theater: Midway, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima
• The European Theater: D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge
• The Holocaust and American Awareness
• The Manhattan Project and the Atomic Bombs

The War's Human Dimensions

• African Americans and the Double V Campaign
• Japanese American Internment
• Women in the Workforce: Rosie the Riveter
• The GI Experience
• V-E Day and V-J Day

THE COLD WAR ERA (1945–1991)

Origins of the Cold War

• The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
• The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan
• The Formation of NATO
• The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
• The "Fall" of China and the Soviet Bomb (1949)

Korea, McCarthyism, and the 1950s

• The Korean War (1950–1953)
• McCarthyism and the Red Scare
• Eisenhower, the Military-Industrial Complex, and the Interstate System
• Suburban America and Consumer Culture
• The Civil Rights Movement Begins: Brown v. Board, Rosa Parks, Montgomery

The Turbulent 1960s

• JFK, the New Frontier, and the Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Civil Rights Movement: Freedom Riders, Birmingham, March on Washington
• LBJ and the Great Society
• The Vietnam War: Escalation and Controversy
• The Assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK
• The Counterculture and Social Upheaval

Nixon, Watergate, and the 1970s

• Nixon's Presidency: Vietnam, China, and Détente
• Watergate and the Resignation of a President
• The Ford and Carter Years
• The Energy Crisis and Economic Stagflation
• The Women's Liberation Movement
• The Environmental Movement

The Reagan Revolution and the End of the Cold War

• Reagan's Economic Policies: Tax Cuts and Deregulation
• The War on Drugs and Social Conservatism
• The Iran-Contra Affair
• Gorbachev, Glasnost, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)
• The Collapse of the Soviet Union (1991)

AMERICA IN THE MODERN ERA (1991–PRESENT)

The Post–Cold War 1990s

• The Gulf War (1991)
• Clinton's Presidency: Economic Boom and Political Scandal
• NAFTA and Globalization
• The Oklahoma City Bombing and Domestic Terrorism
• The Culture Wars

September 11 and the War on Terror

• The Attacks of September 11, 2001
• The USA PATRIOT Act and Civil Liberties Debate
• The Afghanistan War
• The Iraq War and WMDs
• Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and Questions of Justice

The Obama Era and the Great Recession

• The Financial Crisis of 2008
• The Election of Barack Obama
• The Affordable Care Act
• The Tea Party and Political Polarization
• Foreign Policy: ISIS, Libya, and the Arab Spring

Polarization and the Trump Era

• The 2016 Election and Political Disruption
• Immigration, Trade, and Nationalism
• Impeachment Proceedings
• The COVID-19 Pandemic
• January 6, 2021 and Its Aftermath

America in the 21st Century

• The Biden Presidency and Democratic Challenges
• Racial Justice and the Black Lives Matter Movement
• Technology, Social Media, and Democracy
• Climate Change Policy
• America's Role in a Changing World