Course Overview
This “High School Level American History I” video course covers all of the content covered in a typical high school American History I course. The course will emphasize causation (the relationship between cause and effect) as well as historical thinking skills such as document analysis and categorization of sources and facts. This course covers all Common Core and State standards and goes beyond these standards by preparing students to be successful in future humanities courses including American History II. This course is typically taught in one semester on the block schedule (90 minute classes) but can also be a full year course.
This course includes:
• 12 UNITS
• 43 Graphic Organizers and Note Taking Aids
• 20 Document Based Questions
• 43 Video Lessons!
• 43 Review Videos in which I go over the DBQs and other assigned activities.
• 35 ONLINE QUIZZES
• 35 QUIZ/EXAM ANSWER SHEETS/KEYS
• 12 Vocabulary Activities
• OVER 10 HOURS OF VIDEO-LESSONS!
Course Goals
Upon course completion, students will be able to explain the causes and effects of important events in American History.
Identify, describe and analyze different social and political movements throughout American History.
Analyze and categorize historical documents.
Target Audience
This video-course is primarily intended for High School Students (Grades 9-12)
Course Requirements
It is recommended that students taking this course have completed middle school social studies curriculums including introductory World and European History.
COURSE TOPICS
Social Studies 101
Understand how to analyze historical documents.
Understand the difference between primary and secondary sources and be able to identify them.
Practice categorizing documents and historical facts using the SPRITE tool.
Unit 1: Pre-Columbian America
Identify different Native American groups in North, Central and South America.
Compare and contrast these Native American groups according to SPRITE categories.
Unit 2: The Age of Exploration
Understand the causes of the Age of Exploration.
Identify major explorers, which country they sailed for, where they went and what they did in those locations.
Compare and contrast the colonization patterns of the French, Spanish and British.
Identify and explain differing views of the explorers.
Define the terms Triangular Trade and Columbian Exchange and identify the impact of both on the New World and the Old World.
Unit 3: The 13 Colonies
Understand how and why the original 13 Colonies were founded.
Identify, compare and contrast the three colonial regions.
Identify the causes and effects of major events in Colonial History.
Unit 4: The Road to Revolution
Define, compare and contrast the Enlightenment and Great Awakening. Identify the impact of the Great Awakening and Enlightenment in the context of the American Revolution.
Analyze the causes and effects of the French and Indian War.
Understand the causes of the American Revolution and identify the timeline of events.
Unit 5: The American Revolution
Analyze the Declaration of Independence.
Identify and explain the major turning points of the American Revolution.
Unit 6: The Articles and the Constitution
Compare and contrast the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.
Analyze the debate over the Constitution (Federalist v. AntiFederalist)
Unit 7: The Federalist Period
Understand the importance of George Washington’s presidency.
Identify foreign and domestic policies.
Understand the causes of the original two-party system in the US.
Compare and contrast the original two parties in the US (Democratic Republicans and the Federalists)
Understand the major turning points of the Adams administration.
Understand the major turning point of the Jefferson administration.
Identify the ways in which the federal government grew during the Federalist Period.
Understand the federalism debate during the Federalist Period.
Identify the causes, major turning points and effects of the War of 1812.
Define the Era of Good Feelings.
Unit 8: The Era of Good Feelings
Understand the major turning points of the presidencies of James Monroe and John Adams.
Define the term nationalism and understand how nationalism was developed through art and literature through the analysis of sources.
Identify the causes and effects of the First Industrial Revolution.
Unit 9: The Age of Jackson
Appropriately define the Age of Jackson.
Understand the major turning points of Andrew Jackson’s administration.
Identify and describe major social movements in the Age of Jackson.
Compare and Contrast the ante-bellum reform movements.
Unit 10: Manifest Destiny
Define the term Manifest Destiny.
Accurately map the territorial expansion of the US.
Identify the causes and effects of the Texas Revolution and the Mexican American War.
Unit 11: The Union in Peril
Understand and analyze the social, political and economic issues that divided the US on the eve of the Civil War. (long term causes of the Civil War).
Understand the importance of the Election of 1860.
Unit 12: The Civil War
Identify and describe the immediate causes of the Civil War.
Compare and contrast the Union and the Confederacy.
Identify and explain major turning points of the Civil War.
Analyze the evolution of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and the social and political effects of that evolution.
Understand how and why the Civil War ended.
