American history course

Lesson 1 • Secondary Sources and Historiography

Examines how historians interpret and debate the past. Students learn to compare scholarly arguments and identify historiographical trends.

Lesson 2 • What Is American History?

Defines the scope, purpose, and methods of studying American history. Connects historical inquiry to civic understanding and professional relevance.

Lesson 3 • Chronology and Historical Thinking

Builds skills in sequencing events and identifying causation. Students apply chronological reasoning to construct coherent historical narratives.

Lesson 1 • Conflict, Resistance, and Adaptation

Examines Indigenous responses to colonization, from diplomacy to armed resistance. Connects Native agency to broader patterns of colonial power.

Lesson 2 • European Exploration and Motives

Analyzes the economic, religious, and political forces driving European exploration. Connects Old World conditions to New World colonization patterns.

Lesson 3 • Pre-Columbian Civilizations

Surveys the diversity of Indigenous societies before European arrival. Establishes the complexity of Native cultures as a baseline for understanding contact-era change.

Lesson 1 • Religion and Intellectual Life

Explores Puritan theology, religious diversity, and the Great Awakening. Students connect religious movements to emerging ideas about liberty and governance.

Lesson 2 • Slavery and the Atlantic Slave Trade

Examines the origins, expansion, and brutality of chattel slavery in colonial America. Students trace the economic logic and human cost of the slave trade.

Lesson 3 • Colonial Economy and Trade Networks

Surveys mercantile trade, cash crops, and transatlantic commerce. Connects colonial economic dependence to growing tensions with Britain.

Lesson 4 • Colonial Society and Social Hierarchy

Analyzes class, gender, and race within colonial communities. Students identify how social structures reinforced economic and political power.

Lesson 1 • Road to Revolution

Analyzes the political and economic conflicts that escalated into revolution. Students connect imperial policy to colonial resistance movements.

Lesson 2 • The Revolutionary War

Covers military strategy, key battles, and the role of alliances. Students assess how diverse groups—women, enslaved people, Indigenous nations—shaped the conflict.

Lesson 3 • Federalism and Early Governance

Explores the structure of the new federal government and early political conflicts. Students trace how Federalists and Anti-Federalists shaped American governance.

Lesson 4 • Founding Documents and Ideas

Examines the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and Constitution. Students analyze the ideological tensions embedded in founding texts.

Lesson 1 • Slavery, Economy, and Southern Society

Examines the plantation economy, enslaved people's lives, and proslavery ideology. Students analyze how slavery shaped Southern culture and national politics.

Lesson 2 • Sectional Crisis and Road to War

Traces the political crises of the 1850s that fractured national unity. Students evaluate how compromise failed and war became inevitable.

Lesson 3 • Antebellum Reform Movements

Surveys abolitionism, women's rights, temperance, and education reform. Students connect reform activism to religious revivalism and Enlightenment ideals.

Lesson 4 • Jacksonian Democracy and Its Limits

Evaluates the expansion of white male democracy and its exclusions. Students assess Jackson's presidency as a turning point in American political culture.

Lesson 1 • Emancipation and African American Soldiers

Examines the Emancipation Proclamation and Black military service. Students analyze how enslaved people's actions shaped Union war policy.

Lesson 2 • Home Fronts and Social Change

Explores civilian life, women's roles, and economic mobilization during the war. Students connect home-front conditions to military outcomes.

Lesson 3 • Military Campaigns and Leadership

Covers major battles, military strategy, and key commanders. Students assess how military decisions shaped the war's outcome.

Lesson 4 • Reconstruction: Promise and Failure

Evaluates Reconstruction policies, Black political participation, and the rise of white supremacist resistance. Students assess why Reconstruction's gains were reversed.

Lesson 1 • Labor, Workers, and Unions

Analyzes working conditions, labor organizing, and major strikes. Students evaluate the power struggle between capital and labor in the Gilded Age.

Lesson 2 • Immigration and Urban Growth

Surveys waves of immigration and the growth of industrial cities. Students analyze nativist responses and immigrant community formation.

Lesson 3 • Progressive Reform and Government Power

Analyzes Progressive Era reforms targeting corruption, poverty, and corporate power. Students evaluate how reformers expanded the role of government.

Lesson 4 • Populism and Agrarian Protest

Examines the Populist movement's challenge to industrial capitalism. Students connect rural grievances to broader debates about democracy and economic power.

Lesson 1 • Depression, New Deal, and Recovery

Analyzes the Great Depression's causes and the New Deal's response. Students evaluate how federal intervention reshaped the relationship between government and citizens.

Lesson 2 • Late Twentieth Century to the Present

Surveys Reagan-era conservatism, globalization, and post-9/11 America. Students synthesize long-term historical themes to interpret contemporary challenges.

Lesson 3 • Social Movements of the 1960s and 1970s

Examines feminist, Chicano, Indigenous, and LGBTQ movements alongside Black Power. Students assess how these movements expanded the meaning of American freedom.

Lesson 4 • World Wars and American Global Power

Examines U.S. involvement in both world wars and the emergence of American global leadership. Students analyze how war transformed domestic society and foreign policy.