United States History I                                                                          

Mr. Gober   C 21

jgober@mv.org

Course Overview                                                                                 

Course Description:  This course will introduce students to the cultural, political, economic, and social development of the American people. Topics will range from the Westward Expansion Era to the Great Depression.

Materials and Resources: 

• Textbook: American History Reconstruction to the Present and workbook
• Assignment instructions, copies of articles, primary source documents
• CNN 10
• Selected videos and movies

Civil War & Reconstruction

• The Civil War brought about dramatic social and economic changes in American society.
• The federal government established supreme authority, main goal to preserve the Union.
• Congress opposed Lincoln’s and Johnson’s plans for Reconstruction; implemented its own plan to rebuild the South.
• Reconstruction was an important step in African Americans’ struggle for civil rights.

Westward Expansion

• Cultures Class on the Prairie
• Mining and Ranching
• Settling on the Great Plains
• Farmers and the Populist Movement

Industrialization

• The expansion of industry
• The Age of the Railroads
• Big Business
• The Rise of the Labor Movement

Immigration and Urbanization

• The New Immigrants
• The Challenges of Urbanization
• Politics in the Gilded Age
• New Technologies
• The Dawn of Mass Culture

US Imperialism

• Imperialism and America
• The Spanish-American War
• Acquiring New Lands
• America as a World Power

World War I

• World War I Begins
• The United States Joins the War
• The War at Home
• Wilson Fights for Peace

The Roaring Twenties

• The Business of America
• Postwar Issues
• Changing Ways of Life
• The Twenties Woman
• Education and Popular Culture
• The Harlem Renaissance

The Great Depression

• The Nation’s Sick Economy
• Hardship and Suffering
• Hoover’s Failed Policies