Curriculum: American Studies 3 - 1899-1945

Social Studies Department – Chicopee Public Schools

 

Overview: In American Studies 3 and 4, students study the goals and accomplishments of the Progressive movement and the New Deal. Students also learn about the various factors that led to America's entry into World War I and World War II as well as the consequences of World War II for American life. Finally, students study the causes and course of the Cold War, important economic and political changes during the Cold War, such as the Civil Rights movement, and recent events and trends that have shaped modern-day America.

 

Curriculum goals: Grade 9-12 key skills and concepts

 

The students should be able to:

History and geography

1.            Apply the skills of pre-kindergarten through grade seven.

2.            Identify multiple ways to express time relationships and dates (for example, 1066 AD is the same as 1066 CE, and both refer to a date in the eleventh or 11th  century, which is the same as the 1000s). Identify countries that use a different calendar from the one used in the U.S. and explain the basis for the difference. (H)

3.            Interpret and construct timelines that show how events and eras in various parts of the world are related to one another. (H)

4.            Interpret and construct charts and graphs that show quantitative information. (H, C, G, E)

5.            Explain how a cause and effect relationship is different from a sequence or correlation of events. (H, C, E)

6.            Distinguish between long-term and short-term cause and effect relationships. (H, G, C, E)

7.            Show connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical events and ideas and larger social, economic, and political trends and developments. (H, G, C, E)

8.            Interpret the past within its own historical context rather than in terms of present-day norms and values. (H, E, C)

9.     Distinguish intended from unintended consequences. (H, E, C)
10. Distinguish historical fact from opinion. (H, E, C)

  1. Using historical maps, locate the boundaries of the major empires of world history at the height of their powers. (H, G)

 

Civics and government

  1. Define and use correctly the following words and terms: Magna Carta, parliament, habeas corpus, monarchy, and absolutism. (C)

 

General economics skills

  1. Define and use correctly mercantilism, feudalism, economic growth, and entrepreneur. (E)
  2. Explain how people or communities examine and weigh the benefits of each alternative when making a choice and that opportunity costs are those benefits that are given up once an alternative is chosen. (E)
  3. Explain how financial markets, such as the stock market, channel funds from savers to investors. (E)
  4. Define and use correctly gross domestic product, economic growth, recession, depression, unemployment, inflation, and deflation. (E)
  5. Explain how opportunity costs and tradeoffs can be evaluated through an analysis of marginal costs and benefits. (E)
  6. Explain how competition among sellers lowers costs and prices, and encourages producers to produce more. (E)
  7. Describe the role of buyers and sellers in determining the equilibrium price, and use supply and demand to explain and predict changes in quantity and price. (E)
  8. Describe how the earnings of workers are affected by the market value of the product produced and worker skills. (E)

20.    Identify the causes of inflation and explain who benefits from inflation and who suffers from inflation. (E)

21.    Define and distinguish between absolute and comparative advantage, and explain how most trade occurs because of comparative advantage in the production of a particular good or service. (E)

22.    Explain how changes in exchange rates affect balance of trade and the purchasing power of people in the United States and other countries. (E)

23. Differentiate between fiscal and monetary policy. (E)

  1. Explain the basic economic functions of the government in the economy of the United States. (E)
  2. Examine the development of the banking system in the United States, and describe the organization and functions of the Federal Reserve System. (E)
  3. Identify and describe laws and regulations adopted in the United States to promote economic competition. (E, H)
  4. Analyze how federal tax and spending policies affect the national budget and the national debt. (E)

 

WEEK ONE

Strands: USII.6, USII.8

 

  1. The Assassination of McKinley
  2. T. Roosevelt’s political career
  3. American gains from the Spanish American War
  4. War in the Philippines and Arthur MacArthur
  5. The Open Door Policy and Boxer Rebellion
  6. T. Roosevelt and the Panama Canal
  7. Big Stick Diplomacy
  8. Roosevelt Corollary

 

Suggested Primary Source Document:

1.     “The Roosevelt Corollary” by Theodore Roosevelt

 

WEEK TWO

Strands:  USII.5, USII.8, USII.9

 

1.     The Progressives

2.     Consumer Protection and the Trust Buster Roosevelt

3.     Muckraker Journalism: Sinclair, Tarbell, Riis, Baker

4.     Roosevelt’s Conservation Programs and the Newlands Reclamation Act

  1. Pennsylvania Coal Miners Strike
  2. Various Labor Unions
  1. Women and the Progressive Mood

8.     Jane Addams and Hull House

  1. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Carrie Catt
  2. Carrie Nation and the Temperance Movement

 

Suggested Primary and Secondary Source Documents:

1.     “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair

2.     “How the Other Half Lives” by Jacob Riis

3.     “The Niagara Movement Declaration of Principles” (1905)

 

Suggested Thematic Essay:

  1. Progressives believed that greater democracy was the key to solving society’s problems.  Identify 2 problems that the Progressives addressed and, for each, describe a democratic reform that was designed to deal with the problem.

 

WEEK THREE

Strands:  USII.6, USII.8

 

  1. Fighting Bob La Follette’s Wisconsin Idea
  2. Initiative, referendum and recall
  3. Taft’s trust busting
  4. Taft and Conservation
  5. Pinchot and Ballinger
  6. Theodore Roosevelt’s return to politics
  7. Dollar Diplomacy
  8. William Jennings Bryan

 

WEEK FOUR

Strands: USII.5, USII.7, USII.8, USII.9

 

1.     The Taft/Roosevelt Rivalry

  1. The creation of the Bull Moose Party
  2. Election of 1912
  3. Eugene Debs and Socialists in 1912
  1. Woodrow Wilson and his personality
  2. Political goals of each party.

7.     NAACP and Booker T. Washington

 

Suggested Primary and Secondary Source Document:

1.     “New Nationalism” Speech by Theodore Roosevelt

 

Suggested Thematic Essay:

  1. Compare and Contrast Woodrow Wilson’s “New Freedom” approach to regulation with Theodore Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” approach.

 

WEEK FIVE

Strands: USII.7, USII.8

 

1.     The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson

  1. Wilson’s reluctance to go to war
  2. The sinking of the Lusitania and unrestricted submarine warfare
  3. Overview of World War One in Europe as well as American neutrality
  4. Wartime Economy and benefits for women and minorities
  5. Herbert Hoover’s conservation efforts
  6. Sale of war bonds

 

Suggested Primary Document:

1.     “Peace without Victory” Speech by Woodrow Wilson

 

Suggested Thematic Essays:

  1. Assess Woodrow Wilson’s conduct of foreign policy from 1914-1917.  Do you think that he could have pursued a different course that would have kept America out of WWI?  Should he have?  Why or not?
  2. How did German policy from January 1917 onward cause the US to declare war?

 

 

 

 

WEEK SIX

Strands:  USII.6, USII.7, USII.8

 

  1. Map analysis of Europe
  2. The Zimmerman note
  3. The Sussex Pledge
  4. The United States entry into World War One
  5. Alien and Sedition Acts and the Espionage Act
  6. Schenck v. the United States
  7. The First Amendment
  8. Time, place and manner restrictions
  9. Re-election of Wilson

 

Suggested Thematic Essay:

  1. Summarize the impact of American participation in World War I on the national economy, civil liberties, and public attitudes.

 

WEEK SEVEN     

Strands: USII.6, USII.7, USII.8

 

1. Trench Warfare

  1. Discussion of trench diagrams
  2. Life in the trenches
  3. New technology in weapons during World War One
  4. The destruction of Europe
  5. The war at home 
  6. Employment opportunity for minorities and women during World War One
  7. The Russian Revolution
  8. 16th and 17th Amendments

 

Suggested Thematic Essays:

  1. Students will write an essay discussing the increase of opportunity for African Americans and women during World War One.
  2. Assess America’s contribution to the Allied victory in World War I.  Do you think that the involvement of the US was crucial to victory?  Why or why not? 
  3. Assess the influence of America’s involvement in World War I on civil liberties.

             

WEEK EIGHT

Strands:  USII.6, USII.7, USII.8

 

  1. The Treaty of Versailles and its subsequent failure
  2. Wilson’s Fourteen Points
  3. The creation of the League of Nations
  4. The rejection of the League of Nations by the U.S. Senate
  5. The diplomacy of the Big Four
  6. Wilson’s stroke and health issues.

 

Suggested Thematic Essays:

  1. To what extent were Woodrow Wilson’s illness and his refusal to compromise responsible for the defeat of the Treaty of Versailles in the US Senate?
  2. Summarize President Wilson’s Fourteen Points.  Which were substantially obtained as a result of American participation in WWI?  Which were not?  Why?
  3. Why did the US fail to join the League of Nations?  Consider the role of Henry Cabot Lodge and the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

 

WEEK NINE

Strands:  USII.10

 

  1. Describe American thought after World War One
  2. Xenophobia
  3. The Red Scare and Sacco and Vanzetti
  4. The Ku Klux Klan
  5. Struggle for employment
  6. Racial issues and riots due to work
  7. Scientific thought and the effects of the Theory of Evolution
  8. Economic Boom

 

Suggested Thematic Essay:

  1. “Economic growth and an improved standard of living in the 1920’s benefited only a minority of the American people”.  Argue either for or against the validity of this interpretation.

 

WEEK TEN

Strands: USII.10

 

1.  The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge

  1. The Theory of Evolution and Scopes Trial
  2. Immigration Restrictions in the United States
  3. The 18th Amendment and its subsequent repeal in the 21st amendment
  4. The temperance movement
  5. The positive and negative effects of prohibition.
  6. The development and significance of the mafia, bootlegging, and speakeasies.
  7. Coolidge’s foreign policies

 

Suggested Thematic Essays:

  1. Do you think that the “noble experiment” of prohibition did more harm than good or vice versa.  Explain your view by citing specific consequences of the prohibition movement.
  2. It has been observed of the politics of the 1920’s that “less government in business and more business in government” was needed.  Interpret this remark.  To what extent did Republican policies in the 1920’s meet that “need”?  Give examples.

 

WEEK ELEVEN

Strands: USII.9, USII.10

 

1.  An overview of the 1920s

  1. Sports heroes and legends such as Charles Lindbergh
  2. Women’s rights and social gains (The flappers)
  3. Fads and fashions of the 1920s
  4. The mass production and importance of the automobile
  5. Henry Ford
  6. The negative effects of the automobile
  7. The Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance.
  8. Leisure activities

 

Suggested Thematic Essays:

  1. The 1920’s was a time of great “heroes”.  Why?  Explain why Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford were so greatly admired in this decade?
  2. Do you see any hidden dangers in the social and economic life that Americans pursued in the 1920’s for which they would one day have to pay?  What were these dangers and in what way were they potentially threatening?

 

WEEK TWELVE

Strands USII.11, USII.12

 

  1. Discuss the causes of the Great Depression
  2. Black Tuesday and the fall of the stock market
  3. The presidency of Herbert Hoover
  4. The Bonus Army
  5. Franklin Roosevelt’s presidential campaign and election

 

Suggested Thematic Essays:

  1. What evidence indicated throughout the 1920’s that the economy was not as healthy as most believed?  Why weren’t these weaknesses addressed?
  2. Outline the causes of the great crash of 1929.  Why did it come so unexpectedly?
  3. Compare and Contrast Herbert Hoover’s economic policies with those of Franklin Roosevelt.

 

WEEK THIRTEEN

Strands:  USII.12, USII.13

 

  1. Franklin Roosevelt and the Hundred Days
  2. Relief, Recovery and Reform
  3. The creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and bank runs
  4. The New Deal and how it effected society
  5. The National Recovery Act, Tennessee Valley Authority and the Social Security Act
  6. Critics of the New Deal “The Extremists” Huey Long, Father Charles Coughlin, and Francis Townsend.
  7. The Dust Bowl

 

Suggested Thematic Essay:

  1. Select 2 New Deal agencies or commissions and assess how well each satisfied the three R’s of relief, recovery, and reform.

 

WEEK FOURTEEN

Strands: USII.12, USII.13

 

1.  Eleanor Roosevelt

  1. The effects of the New Deal
  2. The shift of voting power of African Americans into the Democratic Party
  3. Roosevelt’s Supreme Court Packing scheme.
  4. The increased importance of the federal government into establishing economic and social policies.

 

Suggested Thematic Essay:

  1. Cite evidence to demonstrate that “the most damning indictment of the New Deal was that it failed to cure the Depression”.  Then cite achievements of value that the New Deal did in fact accomplish.

 

WEEK FIFTEEN

Strands:  USII.14, USII.15

 

  1. United States initial isolation during World War II and its ideas on neutrality
  2. German aggression in Europe and the breaking of the Treaty of Versailles
  3. Japanese aggression in Asia.
  4. Dictatorial rulers of Europe and Asia (Hitler, Franco, Mussolini)

 

Suggested Thematic Essay:

  1. Explain in what way the fall of France, Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, and the attack on Pearl Harbor mark the most important turning points in American foreign policy between 1935 and 1942.

 

WEEK SIXTEEN

Strands:  USII.14, USII.15, USII.16

 

1.  Discuss major World War Two battles that were waged prior to US involvement in the war. 

  1. American involvement in European affairs prior to its entry into World War Two.  Examples include the Cash and Carry Policy, Lend-Lease and undeclared naval warfare against German U-boats which resulted in the sinking of the Greer and Reuben James.
  2. Japanese invasion of Manchuria and China
  3. Italian invasion of Ethiopia
  4. German invasion of the Rhineland

 

Suggested Thematic Essay:

  1. At what point do you think American entry into the war became inevitable?  Explain.

 

WEEK SEVENTEEN

Strands:  USII.14, USII.15, USII.16

 

  1. The bombing of Pearl Harbor and United States entry into the war.
  2. The internment of Japanese Americans
  3. Korematsu vs. U.S.
  4. Mobilizing the economy
  5. Women in wartime
  6. The wars effect on minorities

 

Suggested Primary Documents:

1.     FDR’s “Day of Infamy Speech”

2.     “Four Freedoms” Speech (1941) by Franklin Roosevelt.

3.     Justice Robert M. Jackson’s opinion for the Supreme Court in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette” (1943)

4.     Learned Hand “The Spirit of Liberty” (1943). 

 

Suggested Thematic Essays:

  1. Students can write a five-paragraph paper on Manzanar or Minidoka, which were Japanese-American Internment Camps during World War 2.
  2. Analyze the discrimination of African Americans and Japanese Americans during WWII.

 

WEEK EIGHTEEN

Strands:  USII.14, USII.15, USII.16

 

1.     Principle battles of the war

2.     Eisenhower, Patton and Bradley

3.     Campaigns in North Africa and Italy

4.     D-Day and Normandy

 

Suggested Thematic Essay:

  1. List at least three major turning points of World War II.  Justify your choices.

 

WEEK NINETEEN

Strands:  USII.14, USII.15, USII.16, USII.17

 

1.     Battles in the Pacific

2.     MacArthur and Nimitz

3.     Guadalcanal, Midway, Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa

4.     Truman’s decision to use the A-bomb, Hiroshima and Nagasaki

5.     Discuss how war inspired economic growth and ended the Great Depression

6.     Discuss the Holocaust and Hitler’s Final Solution.

7.     Potsdam Conference

8.     Nuremberg Trials

 

Suggested Thematic Essays:

  1. Students will research the Holocaust or the Nazi Doctors and write a five-paragraph paper on their research.
  2. Argue either for or against this statement: “President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb was completely justified”.

 

WEEK TWENTY

  1. Review
  2. Final Examination

 

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