U.S. History I: Beginnings to 1877

How historians know what they know: primary and secondary sources, reading a source for its situation, audience, purpose and point of view, dates and periods, and causes and effects.

1. Primary and Secondary Sources
2. Reading a Source: HIPP
3. Dates, Centuries and Periods
4. Causes, Effects and Change Over Time

The peoples of the Americas before 1492, European exploration, the Columbian Exchange and the Spanish empire. AP Period 1.

1. The First Peoples of the Americas
2. Native Cultures Across North America
3. Cities, Confederacies and Pueblos
4. Why Europeans Explored
5. The Columbian Exchange
6. The Spanish Empire in the Americas

Jamestown and the Chesapeake, New England, the Middle and Southern colonies, slavery, conflict with Native nations, the empire's trade rules, religion and the Enlightenment, and colonial self-government. AP Period 2.

1. Jamestown and the Chesapeake
2. Pilgrims and Puritans in New England
3. The Middle Colonies
4. The Southern Colonies
5. Comparing the Colonial Regions
6. Slavery in the Colonies
7. Colonists and Native Nations in Conflict
8. Mercantilism and the Navigation Acts
9. The Great Awakening and the Enlightenment
10. Colonial Self-Government

The French and Indian War, new British taxes and colonial protest, the outbreak of war, the Declaration of Independence, the war itself, the peace and what the Revolution changed. AP Period 3.

1. The French and Indian War
2. New Taxes and Colonial Protest
3. The Road to Revolution
4. Lexington, Concord and Common Sense
5. The Declaration of Independence
6. Patriots, Loyalists and Neutrals
7. Winning the War
8. The Treaty of Paris, 1783
9. What the Revolution Changed

The Articles of Confederation, the Northwest Ordinance, Shays' Rebellion, the Constitutional Convention, the ratification fight, the Bill of Rights, and the first presidents and parties. AP Period 3.

1. The Articles of Confederation
2. The Land Ordinance and the Northwest Ordinance
3. Shays' Rebellion
4. The Constitutional Convention
5. Federalists, Anti-Federalists and Ratification
6. The Bill of Rights
7. Washington Sets the Pattern
8. The First Political Parties
9. John Adams and the Election of 1800

Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase, the Marshall Court, the War of 1812, the Monroe years, the market revolution, Jacksonian democracy, Indian removal, religious revival and reform. AP Period 4.

1. Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase
2. The Marshall Court
3. The War of 1812
4. Good Feelings, Missouri and the Monroe Doctrine
5. The Market Revolution
6. Jacksonian Democracy
7. Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears
8. Revival and Reform
9. The Abolition Movement
10. Seneca Falls and Women's Rights

Manifest Destiny, Texas, Oregon and the war with Mexico, gold and immigration, the compromises over slavery in the territories, Dred Scott, Lincoln and secession. AP Period 5.

1. Manifest Destiny
2. The Mexican-American War
3. How the Country Grew
4. Gold, Immigrants and Nativism
5. The Compromise of 1850
6. Kansas-Nebraska and Bleeding Kansas
7. The Dred Scott Decision
8. Lincoln, John Brown and the Election of 1860
9. Secession and Fort Sumter

The two sides, the war's turning points, emancipation, the home fronts, Lincoln's words, Reconstruction and the amendments, and how Reconstruction ended. AP Period 5.

1. The Union and the Confederacy
2. Turning Points of the War
3. Emancipation
4. The Home Fronts
5. The Gettysburg Address
6. Lincoln's Death and Johnson's Plan
7. Reconstruction Under Congress
8. The Reconstruction Amendments
9. The End of Reconstruction