American History II Outcomes
Classroom Circa 1900

Course Overview: American History II

American History 2 beings in 1877, where American History 1 leaves off, with the rest of the West after the Civil War unit and the ends in Modern times with President Obama. The focus of this courses provides students with a framework for studying political, social, economic, and cultural issues, and for analyzing the impact these issues have had on American society. This course goes beyond memorization of isolated facts to the development of higher level thinking skills, encouraging students to make historical assessments and evaluations. Students will be using a variety of primary sources on a weekly basis to become critical readers and writers. A skill that will help them throughout their lives. 

Outcome 1: SWBAT analyze problems facing farmers and Native Americans in the West in the Late 1800s

P1: Identify the Changes in American policy toward Native Americans

P2: Analyze how those changes impacted Native Americans

P3: Identify the Problems of farmers on the Great Plains

P4: Analyze the effectiveness of the Populist party had in fixing the farmers problems

HP1: Compare the treatment of Native Americans back in the late 1800s to today

HP2: Research problems & issues that farmers face today

HP3: Explain who the Populist party would support in politics today

Outcome 2: SWBAT analyze how the changes in business created social and economic changes in America in Gilded Age (late 1800s)

P1: describe the effect of new technology (electricity, Bessemer process, rock oil, etc) on business and life in the 1800s

P2: Describe the development of big business

P3: Examine the reason and purpose of Labor Unions

P4: Evaluate the effectiveness of Labor unions’ tactics (strikes, negations, etc)

P5:Analyze why and how immigrants came to America in the late 1800s

P6: Examine the new role of immigrants in their new country in the late 1800s

HP1:explain the modern effects of the technology developed during the late 1800s

HP2:Assess whether the rise of Industry was good for America and her people

HP3:Compare the industrialists and workers view of the rise of industry

HP4:research modern labor unions and compare their methods to methods of labor unions back in the 1800s

HP5:Compare Immigration to America in the early 1900s to today

Outcome 3: SWBAT evaluate Progressive Reforms

P1: Describe the different social, political and environmental problems in 1900

P2: Explain the typical progressive and explain what they believed in

P3: Grade the progressives on how well the accomplished their goals at a state & local level

P4: Compare the different approaches that African Americans had to fight for their rights

P5: Grade the Progressive Presidents(Roosevelt, Taft & Wilson) on how well they accomplished their progressive goals

HP1: Analyze a primary source evaluating how Progressives tried to accomplish their goals

HP2: Compare the Progressives and the Social Darwinists beliefs

HP3: Determine if there groups today still carrying out Progressive goals (Who & what are they doing)

HP4: Defend which approach African American should take, in your opinion, that would gain them the most freedoms

HP5: Explain if the Progressives were successful at solving many of the problems they saw in cities

HP6: Explain how the Progressive Reforms still affect us Today

Outcome 4: SWBAT analyze the causes and effects of American Imperialism at the turn of the 20th century

P1: Analyze the arguments for America becoming an Imperial power

P2: Evaluate how the Spanish-American War changed America into an Imperial nation

P3: Compare the foreign policies (and their purposes) of Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson

P4: Compare US Imperialism in different countries including Panama, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Hawaii, and China

HP1: Argue whether America should have become an Imperial power

HP2: Analyze the role of the journalism in the Spanish American War

HP3: Evaluate the effectiveness of the Presidential foreign policies

HP4: Analyze the lasting effects of American Imperialism

HP5: Analyze whether the Progressives would have been for or against Imperialism

Outcome 5: SWBAT analyze the impact of WWI on America socially, politically, and economically

P1: Evaluate the series of events that led to America’s involvement in WWI

P2: Explain the impact of the new weapons and technology during WWI on the soldiers and how the war fought

P3: demonstrate how the American Government used propaganda to influence public opinion

P4: Summarize the different perspective on WWI and their contributions to the war effort

P5: Explain America’s post war foreign policies, specifically the Treaty of Versailles

HP1: Compare the weapons of the Civil War to the new technology of WWI

HP2: Create my own piece of propaganda to influence my peers

HP3: Explain if I would have supported or opposed WWI

HP4: Defend if the United States should have ratified or rejected the Treaty of Versailles.

HP5: Analyze different historians perspectives on WWI

Outcome 6: SWBAT analyze the social, political and economic changes in America during the 1920s

P1: Analyze the postWar social tensions in America

P2: Summarize the government's policies that led to an economic boom during the 1920s

P3: Analyze the social, cultural, intellectual and technological changes of lifestyle

P4: Compare the traditional and modern viewpoint on the social, political and economic changes

HP1: Explain how the cultural changes still affect Americans today

HP2: Explain if you would have been a traditionalist or a modernists in the 1920s

HP3: Summarize the political, social, and economic changes in society

HP4: Analyze how the political, social, and economic paved the way for the Great Depression.

Outcome 7: SWBAT analyze and evaluate the government response to the Great Depression

P1: Rank the causes of the great depression in terms of the most influential causes

P2: Describe the social effects of the great depression

P3: Compare the conservative, liberal and radical government responses to the Great Depression

P4: Identify the 3 goals and programs of the New Deal

HP1: Describe if the Great Depression was inevitable

HP2: Plan how I would survive

during the Great Depression

HP3: Explain how effective the New Deal was

HP4: Take a position if the New Deal truly ended the Great Depression

Outcome 8: SWBAT analyze the impact of WWII on America socially, politically, and economically

P1: Elaborate on the causes of World War II and reasons for United States entry into the war

P2: Describe and analyze the effects of the war on American economic, social, and cultural life

P3: Identify turning points and other significant battles of the war and determine their significance to the outcome and aftermath of the conflict

P4: analyze America’s post war foreign policies and inclusion in international organizations

HP1: Could WWII have been prevented?

HP2: Evaluate if getting into WWII was good or bad for America as a whole

HP3: Should America have used the atomic bomb?

HP4: Compare America's post war foreign policies from WWI and WWII

Outcome 9: SWBAT analyze America's involvement and its effects in the Early Cold War

P1: Compare the beliefs and lifestyles of the US and USSR

P2: Compare the foreign policies that the USSR and US used to gain power and control

P3: Analyze if the methods used to contain communism were justified

P4: Examine how fighting the Cold War affected Americans at home

P5: Analyze America’s role in the Vietnam War

HP1: Analyze if the Cold War could have been avoided

HP2: Explain what other actions America could have taken to prevent the spread of Communism

HP3: Interview someone who lived during the Cold War about their life?

HP4: Should America have gotten involved Vietnam?

HP5: Who is responsible for the Cold War and Why?

Outcome 10: SWBAT analyze the impact of Social Changes in post-1945 America

P1: Examine the reason for the dramatic changes between the cultures of the 1950s and 1960s

P2: Trace and analyze the major events of the Civil Rights Movement

P3: Analyze groups involved in counterculture movement and what changes they were attempting to make

P4: Compare key measures of the domestic programs of presidents such as Fair Deal, New Frontier, Great Society, etc

P5: Analyze the Anti-War movement in America

P5: Trace the impact of new technology on people and businesses

HP1: Find modern examples of how the 50s & 60s influence life today

HP2: Analyze which was the most effective domestic program

HP3: Examine the modern effects of Cold War technology

HP4: explain why it took so long for American Americans to fully get their rights

Outcome 11: Analyze the social, political, and economic aspects of the Modern Era

P1: Describe how the Watergate scandal affect America

P2: discuss the Cold War policies of Ford and Carter

P3: summarize the social, political, economic events of the 1980s

P4:summarize the social, political, economic events of the1990s

P5: summarize the social, political, economic events of the2000s

HP1: Analyze how cold war policy changed over time

HP2: Determine if Reagan was an effective president or not

HP3: Hypothesize what would have been needed to end the Cold War earlier than 1989/1990
