In this course, which is the second part of a two-year study
of U.S. history that begins in Grade 8, students study the history of the United
States since Reconstruction to the present. Historical content focuses on the
political, economic, and social events and issues related to industrialization
and urbanization, major wars, domestic and foreign policies of the Cold War
and post-Cold War eras, and reform movements including civil rights. Students
examine the impact of geographic factors on major events and analyze causes
and effects of the Great Depression. Students examine the impact of constitutional
issues on American society, evaluate the dynamic relationship of the three
branches of the federal government, and analyze efforts to expand the democratic
process. Students describe the relationship between the arts and the times
during which they were created. Students analyze the impact of technological
innovations on the American labor movement. Students use critical-thinking
skills to explain and apply different methods that historians use to interpret
the past, including points of view and historical context.
United States History II includes that last four units of American history:
starting from after Reconstruction to present-day America:
UNIT I: THE NATION TRANSFORMED
- Identify the factors that contributed to the rise of industrialization
in the 19th century. (Technology & Markets, Social Darwinism, Natural Resources,
Entrepreneurs, Role of Government).
- Analyze factory life and city life during industrialization as it is depicted
through one of the humanities.
- Compare two or more eyewitness accounts of labor unrest, war, living conditions
or working conditions.
- Describe how the acquisition of personal fortune led to improvements in America
funded by philanthropists.
- Analyze the rise of the American labor movement.
- Investigate the struggle of American Labor Unions to win legal recognition.
- Identify the leadership of major political parties and compare their understanding
of government's role during industrialization.
- Illustrate the population shift from rural to urban America and immigration
to the United States. Explain the motives behind these movements.
- Investigate the social and economic impacts of the assimilation and acculturation
process on immigrant groups and America.
UNIT II: FLAPPERS, FAILURE AND FLYERS
- Understand the cultural and social development of the Harlem
Renaissance.
- Identify the tensions associated with the definitions of American democracy
in the Red Scare, the Bonus March, the Ku Klux Klan, the role of government
in economic crisis and the Japanese internment.
- Analyze the struggles for the extension of voting rights to women.
- Examine ways in which language, literature, the arts, traditions, beliefs,
values, and behavior patterns interact to create and maintain the culture of
the roaring twenties.
- Demonstrate that the economic boom of the twenties was accompanied by a change
of standards in Progressive Era legislation.
- Compare the political leadership of Hoover and Roosevelt in the handling
of the Great Depression.
- Analyze the causes of the Great Depression and its effects upon American
society.
- Examine the continued tradition of American volunteerism through the Great
Depression and World War II
- Apply American advancements in technology to the war machine and our involvement
in global conflicts.
UNIT III: CHANGE AND TURMOIL
- Identify the causes and consequences of the Cold War including
the Korean War, conflict over Berlin, Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Describe how the executive branch grew in size and power as a response to
the Cold War.
- Trace the movement of America from isolationism to increased involvement
in the global arena resulting from the spread of Communism and fear of the
Domino Theory.
- Examine the tensions associated with the definitions of American democracy
during the McCarthy Era and the free speech and anti-war movements.
- Analyze the rise of the Right-to-Work movement.
- Link global events with continued American immigration focusing of refugees.
- Trace the struggle for the extension of civil rights to African Americans
and other minority groups.
- Evaluate the conflict between the national and state governments over the
implementation of integration.
- Compare Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the leaders of the Black Panthers.
- Explore the impact of political assassinations on the political and social
culture of the 1960's.
UNIT IV: MODERN AMERICA
- Investigate the Watergate incident and compare it to other
political scandals of the 20th century.
- Determine the impacts of modern era presidents from Nixon to the present
and their impact on American society and national policy.
- Trace the growth of anti-immigrant sentiment from the arrival of the Southeast
Asian refugees to the present.
- Trace the change in emphasis of US foreign policy from the fall of the Soviet
Empire to the War on Terrorism.
- Investigate the impacts of the break-up of the Soviet Block on the United
States and the world.
- Identify the tensions associated with the definitions of American democracy
as evidenced by the reactions to Roe versus Wade, church versus state issues,
the rights of private property versus environmental protection to partisan
politics.
- Analyze the struggles for the extension of civil rights through affirmative
action and gender preference.
- Chart the growth of media influence on politics, campaigns and the shaping
of current event issues.
Offered to 11th-graders only
Also available in Advanced Placement.
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