American History
Fall 2009
* Recently updated or uploaded items are marked with a red asterisk. *

Instructor:    Jerry Alan Sayers

E-mail:        School:  sayersd@jcschools.org
               Home:    dusty@sayersnet.com

Course Web Page:    http://www.sayersnet.com/history

Textbook: United States History:  Reconstruction to the Present by Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner et al., Pearson Prentice Hall, Boston:  2009.

Objective: The purpose of this course is to examine the history of the United States from 1877 to the present in so that students may appreciate their heritage, understand their world, and be prepared to be successful citizens as adults.

Evaluation:
    1.    Most classwork and homework assignments count as one grade each.
    2.    Quizzes count as two grades each.
    3.    Notebooks checks count as three grades each.
    4.    Projects and presentations count as five grades each.
    5.    Tests count as five grades each.
    6.    The final exam will count as 15% of the course grade.


Extra credit will not be assigned to improve a grade. 

Work is late if it is not ready to be handed in at the beginning of class (unless otherwise instructed).  Late work will receive a penalty of 5 points per day, and must be submitted within five days of the due date.  Missed tests must be made up within three days of a student’s return to school. Tests may require a full class period, so always be present on test days! 

Notebook:
Each student will keep a notebook divided into five sections:
    1.    Notes taken in class
    2.    Maps
    3.    Worksheets
    4.    Quizzes and Tests
    5.    Miscellaneous Papers

Rules:
1.Be in assigned seat when bell rings.
2.Have class materials ready and personal put away when bell rings.
3.Only speak with permission.
4.Be respectful of others.
5.Turn in work on time.
6.Keep the room tidy.
7.Only leave the room with a hall pass.
8.Quid pro quo  

 
2009 Fall Session

Each day’s topic is followed by the chapter or chapter and section number or numbers in parentheses.  If you miss a day, please read those sections in the chapter.

In case of inclement weather, lecture dates may move back one day for each day missed. 

Reading assignments and quizzes will be announced throughout the session.  Be diligent in reading the textbook.

AUG 6     Welcome
AUG 7     Introduction

AUG 10    Early America (1)
AUG 11    Manifest Destiny (2)
AUG 12    The Civil War and Reconstruction (3)
AUG 13    The Industrial Age (4.1)
AUG 14    The Robber Barons and the Captains of Industry (4.2)  (Presidents Quiz)

AUG 17    The Labor Movement (4.3)
AUG 18    Immigration and Urbanization (5.1-5.2)
AUG 19    The Gilded Age (5.3)
AUG 20    Review
AUG 21    Test 1:  The Growth of America (1-5)

AUG 24    The New South (6.1, 7.1) (States & Capitals Map Quiz)
AUG 25    The Wild West (6.2-6.3)
AUG 26    O Pioneers!
AUG 27    The Populists (7.2-7.3)
AUG 28    The Progressives (8.1) (Physical Map Quiz)

AUG 31    The Women’s Movement (7.1, 8.2)
SEP  1    Segregation and Civil Rights (7.1, 8.3)
SEP  2    The Progressive Presidents (8.4-8.5)
SEP  3    Review
SEP  4    Test 2:  The Age of Reform (6-8)

SEP  7    LABOR DAY
SEP  8    Imperialism (9.1-9.2)
SEP  9    The Spanish American War (9.2)
SEP 10    The Rough Riders (9.2)   
SEP 11    The Big Stick (9.4)

SEP 14    The Philippine Insurrection and the Open Door (9.3)
SEP 15    The Yellow Press
SEP 16    The Great War (10.1)
SEP 17    The Lost Battalion
SEP 18    America Prepares for War (10.1-10.2)

SEP 21    The American Expeditionary Force (10.3)
SEP 22    The Treaty of Versailles (10.3-10.4) and Review
SEP 23    Test 3:  America Becomes a World Power (9-10)
SEP 24    The Business of America (11.1-11.2)
SEP 25    The Business of America (11.1-11.2)

SEP 28    The Business of America (11.1-11.2)
SEP 29    The Roaring Twenties and The Harlem Renaissance (11.4-11.5)
SEP 30    The Dark Side of the Twenties (10.4, 11.3)
OCT  1    Black Tuesday (12.1)
OCT  2    The Great Depression (12.2-12.3)

OCT  5    The New Deal (13.1-13.2)
OCT  6    The Welfare State (13.3-13.4) and Review
OCT  7    Test 4:  The Great Depression and the New Deal (11-13)
OCT  8    The Rise of Totalitarianism (14.1-14.2)
OCT  9    The Rise of Totalitarianism (14.1-14.2)

FALL BREAK

OCT 19    A Date Which Will Live in Infamy (14.1-14.3)
OCT 20    Turning the Tide (14.3-15.2)
OCT 21    The Allied Victory (15.3)
OCT 22    The Holocaust (15.4)
OCT 23    The Post-War World (15.5)

OCT 26    Review
OCT 27    Test 5:  World War II (14-15)
OCT 28    The Cold War (16.1)
OCT 29    The Korean War (16.2)
OCT 30    NO SCHOOL

NOV  2    The Arms Race and the Red Scare (16.3-16.4)
NOV  3    The Baby Boom (17.1-17.2)
NOV  4    A Vast Wasteland (17.3-17.4)
NOV  5    Review
NOV  6    Test 6:  The Cold War (16-17)

NOV  9    The 1960s
NOV 10    Desegregation Begins (18.1-18.2)
NOV 11    Desegregation Begins (18.1-18.2)
NOV 12    Black Power (18.2-18.3)
NOV 13    Passing the Torch to a New Generation (19.1-19.2)

NOV 16    The Great Society (19.3)
NOV 17    The Domino Theory (20.1-20.2)
NOV 18    The War in Vietnam (20.3-20.4)
NOV 19    The Counterculture (21.1)
NOV 20    Richard Nixon (20.5) and Review

NOV 23    Test 7:  Civil Rights and Vietnam (18-21), Feminism and Immigration reading guide due (21.2-21.3)
NOV 24    Primary Sources from the Vietnam War
NOV 25    THANKSGIVING
NOV 26    THANKSGIVING
NOV 27    THANKSGIVING

NOV 30    Watergate (22.1)
DEC  1    Ford and Carter (22.2-22.3) *
DEC  2    The Reagan Revolution (23.1-23.2) *
DEC  3    The End of the Cold War (23.3-23.4) *
DEC  4    The New World Order and the War on Terror (24) *

DEC  7    END OF COURSE EXAM
DEC  8    A Survey of the 1950s and 1960s
DEC  9    A Survey of the 1970s and 1980s
DEC 10    Review
DEC 11    Test 8:  Late 20th Century and the New Millennium (22-24)

DEC 14    Our Nation’s Heritage
DEC 15    Review (Presidents Quiz)
DEC 16    Review
DEC 17    EXAMS
DEC 18    EXAMS

CHRISTMAS

This page last updated 3 December, 2009.