COURSE TITLE: United States History to 1860

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  United States History to 1860 is a regular level history course that will study the development of the United States from 1750 to the start of the Civil War.  It will include study of colonial times, and the emergence and transformation of democracy in the United States.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS/REQUIRED MATERIALS: 
Required texts:  A History of the United States, Boorstin and Kelly, Prentice Hall, New    Jersey, 1998

COURSE OBJECTIVES:  The students: 
1.	Will gain an understanding of the European influences in the establishment of the United States.  
2.	Will understand the United States was ultimately the result of the diverse ethnicities and cultures of the men and women who came to this country seeking a new beginning. 
3.	Develop an awareness of the place of the Native American in U.S. History and the destructive forces brought against them by white Americans. 
4.	Will study the history of African Americans on these shores and the relationship between their treatment and current racial problems in the United States. 
5.	Will develop an ability to be critical thinkers, using their knowledge of this country’s development to understand and evaluate the country of which they are a part. 
6.	Will develop reading and writing skills through the use of essay tests and other writing projects.

COURSE OUTLINE:

I.	Physical Characteristics and Landscape of North America

II.	Age of Discovery and Settlement of North America
A.	First Americans
B.	Spanish, French and English colonies and characteristics
1.	Jamestown 
2.	Plymouth

III.	English Colonial Rule
A.	Mercantilism – Navigation Acts
B.	Era of Benevolent Neglect
C.	Colonial Self-government 
D.	British protection 

IV.	Colonial Society
A.	New England colonies and its growth
B.	The Middle or “Bread” colonies
C.	The Southern colonies and the Chesapeake country
D.	Colonial culture
1.	Family
2.	Religion – Puritanism – “The Great Awakening”
3.	Economy
4.	Ethnicity

V.	Road to Revolution
A.	French – Indian War (1754-1763)
B.	Albany Plan
C.	Treaty of Paris – 1763 and it’s significance

VI.	England Tightens Control and Americans react
A.	Proclamation Act of 1763
B.	New Taxes: Stamp Act, Declaratory Act, and Townsend Acts
C.	Colonial Protects and Disobedience
1.	Boston Massacre
2.	“Sons of Liberty” – Sam Adams
3.	Boycotts and demonstrations
4.	Boston Tea Party
5.	Intolerable Acts

VII.	The American Revolution
A.	First Continental Congress
B.	Lexington and Concord
C.	Declaration of Independence
D.	Military Conduct of War
1.	Campaigns and battles
2.	French alliance
3.	Declaration of Independence
4.	Treaty of Paris – 1783

VIII.	Formation of a New Nation
A.	Washington’s Presidency
B.	Hamilton’s Financial Program
C.	Foreign Affairs
1.	Genet Affair
2.	Proclamation of Neutrality
3.	Whiskey Rebellion
4.	Jay and Pinckney Treaties
D.	Origins of Political Parties
E.	John Adam’s Presidency
1.	Alien and Sedition Acts/ Virginia – Kentucky Resolutions
2.	X.Y.Z. Affair
3.	Undeclared war with France
4.	“Revolution” of 1800

IX.	Jeffersonian Democracy
A.	Presidency
B.	Louisiana Purchase
C.	Barbary Pirates
D.	John Marshall and the Supreme Court
E.	Causes of War of 1812
F.	Madison’s Presidency
1.	War of 1812 – “A Comedy of Errors”
2.	Hartford Convention
3.	Treaty of Ghent
4.	Battle of New Orleans

X.	Era of Good Feeling and Growth of Americans Nationalism (1815-1824)
A.	Monroe’s Presidency
B.	Economic Expansion	
1.	Railroads and canals
2.	The Factory system and its effects
C.	Panic of 1819
D.	Missouri Compromise
E.	Cotton becomes Kings
F.	“Purchase” of Florida
G.	Monroe Doctrine

XI.	Rise of Sectionalism
A.	Election of 1824 – “Corrupt Bargain”
B.	North and South – two divergent cultures
C.	Slavery and the “peculiar institution” in the South
D.	Industry, Labor, and Immigration in the North

XII.	Jacksonian Democracy (1828-1840)
A.	Political Reforms
B.	Nullification Crisis – Tariff
C.	Struggle with the National Bank
D.	Trail of Tears
E.	Van Buren and Panic of 1837

XIII.	Manifest Destiny
A.	Texan Annexation
B.	“54-40” or fight in Oregon
C.	California and the missions
D.	James K. Polk and the Mexican War
E.	Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo – 1848
F.	Wilmot Proviso and the question of slavery
G.	Gadsden Purchase – 1853

XIV.	Art, Literature, and Religion in the 1830’s
A.	Humanitarian movements and the “Second Great Awakening”
B.	Reforms: Education, Prison, Temperance, Feminism, and Abolitionism
C.	Religion Revivalism – the Mormons – Utopian experiments and cults
D.	The Transcendentalists – Emerson – Thoreau 

XV.	The Frightful Fifties
A.	Compromise of 1850
B.	Uncle Tom’s Cabin
C.	Kansas-Nebraska Act – 1854
D.	Bleeding Kansas – Lecompton Constitution
E.	Birth of the Republican Party
F.	Weak and Incompetent Presidents – Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan
G.	Sumner-Brooks Incident
H.	Dred Scott Decision
I.	Lincoln-Douglas Debates
J.	John Brown’s Raid
K.	Election of 1860
L.	Lincoln, secession, and Ft. Sumter