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MACON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL

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INSTRUCTOR: Heather Watkins Burley

TEXTBOOKS:

Kennedy, David M,, Lizabeth Cohen and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2011.

Heffner, Richard D. A Documentary History of the United States, 7th ed, New York, NY: Penguin Putnam, Inc., 2009.

TEACHER CONTACT INFORMATION: 478-472-8579 (hburley@macon.k12.ga.us)

SCHOOL CONTACT INFORMATION: 478-472-8579 (Fax: 478-6206)

MISSION STATEMENT

Macon County High School will provide a quality life experience and an educational gateway for all students transitioning toward a successful future.

Advanced Placement United States History Syllabus

This course is designed to provide a college-level experience and preparation for the Advanced Placement (AP) Examination in May 2015 (cost to be announced annually). An emphasis is placed on interpreting documents, mastering a significant body of factual information, and writing critical essays. Topics include life and thought in colonial America, revolutionary ideology, constitutional development, Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, nineteenth-century reform movements, and Manifest Destiny. Other topics include the Civil War and Reconstruction, immigration, industrialism, Populism, Progressivism, World War I, the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, The Cold War, the post-Cold War era, and the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This course will fulfill the United States history graduation requirement.

In addition to the topics listed above, the course will emphasize a series of key themes throughout the year. These themes have been determined by the College Board as essential to a comprehensive study of United States history. The themes will include discussions of American diversity, the development of a unique American identity, the evolution of American culture, demographic changes over the course of America(s history, economic trends and transformations, environmental issues, the development of political institutions and the components of citizenship, social reform movements, the role of religion in the making of the United States and its impact in a multicultural society, the history of slavery and its legacies in this hemisphere, war and diplomacy, and finally, the place of the United States in an increasingly global arena. (SC6) The course will trace these themes throughout the year, emphasizing the ways in which they are interconnected and examining the ways in which each helps to shape the changes over time that are so important to understanding United States history.

GRADING SYSTEM & SCALE

|AREA |PERCENTAGE OF GRADE |

|Test/Projects/Essays |55% |

|Daily/Quizzes/ historical |45% |

|Essays | |

|TOTAL PERCENTAGE |100% |

All Document-Based Question essays (DBQs) must be typed (double-spaced) or written in blue or black ink. If handwritten, the student will have get the essay form from the teacher and skip line. Essays will vary in length depending on the topic and are graded on content, use of documentary and outside supporting evidence, grammar, spelling, and evidence of critical thinking. All essays will count as test and quiz grades. The rough draft will count as a quiz and the final draft will count as a test grade.

FALL TERM

All of the following readings should be completed by the beginning of the week during which they will be discussed. Test dates may be rearranged so that all classes can be tested on the same day, but such changes will be announced well in advance.

Each unit also utilizes discussions of and writing about related historiography: how interpretations of events have changed over time, how the issues on one time period have had an impact on the experiences and decisions of subsequent generations, and how such reevaluations of the past continue to shape the way historians see the world today. These discussions are woven throughout the course, but several are explicitly presented below. (SC9)

Week of August 6 - American Pageant: Chapter 1 - New World Beginnings

Pre-Columbian cultures, early explorations, introduction of slavery, Spanish and French claims, the rise of mercantilism (SC3)

Week of August 11-15

American Pageant: Chapter 2 - The Planting of English America

The Chesapeake and southern English colonies, ties with Caribbean economies, British mercantilism

Chapter 3 - Settling the Northern Colonies

New England and the Puritans, religious dissent, colonial politics and conflict with British authority, the middle colonies (SC1) (SC2)

Afternoon tutorials focused on doing the DBQ(

DBQ on Chesapeake and New England Colonies(due Aug 20) (SC12)

Week of August 14- August 22

American Pageant: Chapter 4 - American Life in the 17th Century

Tobacco and rice colonies, African-American culture, colonial family life, dissent in New England and the Witch trials. (SC2)

Chapter 5 - Colonial Society on the Eve of the Revolution

Immigration and demographic change, the Atlantic economy, the Great Awakening, education and culture, colonial politics. (SC3) (SC8)

Historiography: Students will discuss whether it was America that was “Europeanized” or if Europe was actually “Americanized” by reading excerpts from Richard White’s The Roots of Dependency: Subsistence, Environment, and Social Change; G.H. Elliott’s Empires of the Atlantic World and Richard S. Dunn’s Sugar and Slaves. They will be asked to evaluate each historians’ view of how cross cultural influences impacts the Atlantic Rim populations. And write a critique in which they offer their own evaluations of the different perspectives. (SC10)

Unit Test – August 22 - Chapters 1-5

Test format with include both multiple choice and essay questions (SC11).

Week of August 25-29

American Pageant - Chapter 6 - The Duel for North America

Colonial involvement in British imperial wars, consequences of the French and Indian War and the Proclamation of 1763 (SC4)

Chapter 7 - The Road to Revolution

Roots of revolution and the role of mercantilism, end of benign neglect, failure of diplomacy, first conflicts.

Recent scholarship: Causes of the Revolution

Documentary History: chapter 1

Common Sense

The Declaration of Independence (SC10)

Week of September 2-5

American Pageant: Chapter 8 - American Secedes from the Empire

The American Revolution, wartime diplomacy, life on the home front, women and the war, the impact of the war on the institution of slavery.

Chapter 9 - The Confederation and the Constitution

The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, the role of the Enlightenment, slavery and religion in the political process, wartime diplomacy. (SC1) (SC4)

Recent scholarship: The Constitution: Radical or Reactionary?

Documentary History: Chapter 2

The Constitution of the United States

Federalist Number Ten (SC10)

DBQ on the American Revolution (due Aug 30) (SC12)

Unit Test - September 5

Test format during class will be multiple choice. Essays will be completed at home. (SC11)

Week of September 8- 12

American Pageant: Chapter 10 - Launching the New Ship of State

Early national politics and economics, diplomacy during the French Revolution, the making of the office of the presidency(SC1)

Documentary History: Chapters 3 and 4

Federalists and Republicans, The Constitutionality of the Bank (SC5)

Washington(s Farewell Address (SC10)

Weeks of September 15- 19

American Pageant: Chapter 11 - Triumphs and Travails of Jeffersonian Democracy

The (Revolution of 1800,( the Marshall Court, diplomacy of Jefferson and Madison, the Embargo Act, acceleration of expansion west. (SC7) (SC8)

Chapter 12 - The Second War for Independence / Nationalism

The War of 1812, The Era of Good Feeling, The American System, the diplomacy of expansion, forging a new national identity

Documentary History: Chapters 5 and 6

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (SC10) (SC1)

Marbury v. Madison. Chief Marshall for the Supreme Court

DBQ comparing the policies and politics of Jefferson and Madison(due Sept 28) (SC12)

Week of September 22-26

American Pageant: Chapter 13 - The Rise of a Mass Democracy

Jacksonian democracy and the Whigs, national policy toward American Indians, the era of the (common man,( expansion with the Texas revolution, slavery and sectionalism (SC1) (SC7)

Documentary History: Chapters 7 and 8

The Monroe Doctrine

Veto of the Bank Renewal Bill (SC5)

Historiography: Students will be asked to determine just how “Democratic” Jacksonian democracy really was. They will read excerpts from Arthur Schelsinger’s The Age of Jackson, Richard Hofstadter’s The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It, and Daniel Walker Howe’s What God Hath Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848. They will be asked to evaluate in an essay and in a class round table the changes Jacksonian politics and the coming of the market revolution made in American society, looking at people f different class, race and gender. (SC9)

Unit Test – September 26

Test format with include both multiple choice and essay questions (SC11) completed in class.

Week of September 19- October 3

American Pageant: Chapter 14 - Forging the National Economy

The rise of the market economy, immigration and the increase in nativism, women in the work place, the factory system, the transportation revolution, expansion west. (SC2) (SC7)

TeacherWork Day October 8

Fall Break October 9-14

Week of October 6-7, 15-17

American Pageant: Chapter 15 - The Ferment of Reform and Culture

The Second Great Awakening and the growth of reform, women(s roles in reform movements, creation of a national culture, advances in education and the sciences.

Chapter 16 - The South and the Slavery Controversy

Cotton culture, southern society and the impact of the plantation system, the rise of abolitionist movements (SC8)

Historiography: Students will discuss the nature of American slavery and how views of the effects it had on society have changed. They will read excerpts from U.B. Phillips The American Negro Slavery, Stanley Elkins’ Slavery, and Kenneth Stampp’s The Peculiar Institution: American Slavery in the South. Hey will be asked to determine how interpretations of the slave experience have changed over the years since the end of the Civil War, ad then to create their own ideas about how slavery has affected American society and culture today. Students will present an alternative analysis or view to the class for debate and discussion. (SC 10)

Documentary History: Chapters 10 and 11

The first issue of The Liberator

Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions (SC10)

DBQ on the success of reform movements in increasing democracy in American society (due TBA) (SC12)

Unit Test - October 17 - Test - chapters 14-16

Test format will include both multiple choice and essay questions. An optional DBQ will be available on the Jacksonian era. (SC11) (SC12)

Week of October 20-24

American Pageant: chapter 17 - Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy

Expansion under Polk, Manifest Destiny, war with Mexico

Week of October 27 -31

American Pageant: Chapter 18 - Renewing the Sectional Struggle

Popular sovereignty, the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law, the economics of expansion (SC5)

Chapter 19 - Drifting Toward Disunion

Abolition in the 1850s, the impact of Dred Scott, the financial panic of 1857, political crisis in the election of 1860, the coming of the Civil War. (SC8)

Documentary History: Chapters 11 and 12 (SC10)

John C. Calhoun on the (Slavery Question(

William Grayson, (The Hireling and the Slave(

Dred Scott v. Sanford

Week of November 3 - 7

American Pageant: Complete chapter 19

In-class DBQ ( The role of the Constitution in the crisis of the 1850s (SC12)

Unit test- November 7 Will include multiple choice and short essay

Week of November 10- 14

American Pageant: Chapter 20 - Girding for War

Wartime diplomacy, economic changes in both the North and South, women and the war, issues of civil liberties in wartime (SC1) (SC2) (SC8) (SC7)

Chapter 21 - The Furnace of the Civil War

The Peninsula Campaign, the (Anaconda,( the war in the West, Sherman’s March, Appomattox, the Emancipation Proclamation, the legacy of war in both the North and South

Documentary History: Chapters 13 and 14 (SC10)

Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address

The Emancipation Proclamation

The Gettysburg Address

In-class DBQ on a topic that has been studied earlier in the year. (SC12)

Week of November 17-21

American Pageant: Chapter 22 - The Ordeal of Reconstruction

The politics and economics of Reconstruction, experiences of freedmen, the rise of the Bourbon South and the fate of Reconstruction, impeachment politics and the balance of power (SC7) (SC8)

Documentary History: Chapter 15 (SC10)

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

Thanksgiving Break November 24-28

Week of December 1-5

American Pageant: Chapter 22 - The Ordeal of Reconstruction

Chapter 23 - Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age

The rise of Big Business and the role of business in politics, class and ethnic conflict, the rise of Jim Crow, Populism (SC5) (SC7)

December 5 - Unit Test - Chapters 20-22

Test format will include both multiple choice and essay questions to be completed in class. (SC11)

Week of December 8-12

American Pageant: Chapter 23-24

23- Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age (SC1)

24 - Industry Comes of Age

Era of the Robber Barons, the lives of the working classes and the growth of unionism, government and politics of regulation, the United States in the world economy (SC5)

Documentary History: Chapter 16 (SC10)

Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas

Andrew Carnegie, Wealth

DBQ on business in the late-nineteenth century (due Dec. 14) (SC12)

December 12- Unit Test - Chapters 23-24

First Semester Exam December 15-19

Chrsitmas Break December 22- Janurary 2

Test format will include both multiple choice and essay questions to be completed in class.(SC11)

Week of January 5-9

American Pageant: Chapter 25 - America Moves to the City

Urbanization, new waves of immigration, renewed instances of nativism, cultural life in urban America, the (New Woman,( African-American push for expanded civil rights (SC7) (SC8)

Chapter 26 - The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution

The close of the frontier and its impact , (SC8)industrialization of agriculture and political dissent among farmers

Documentary History: Chapter 17 and 18

Frederick J. Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History (SC10)

Samuel Gompers, Letter on Labor in Industrial Society

Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address

William Jennings Bryan, Cross of Gold Speech

Populist Party Platform

Week of January 12-17

American Pageant: Chapter 26 - The Great West and the Agricultural Revolution

Chapter 27 - Empire and Expansion

American expansion overseas, a new age of imperialism, The Spanish-America War, the Open Door, America on the world stage (SC4)

January 24 - Unit Test - Chapters 25-26

Test format will include both multiple choice and essay questions to be completed in class. (SC11)

Week of January 20-23

American Pageant: Chapter 27 - Empire and Expansion

Documentary History: Chapter 19 (SC10)

Alfred T. Mahan, The United States Looking Outward

Theodore Roosevelt, Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

In-class DBQ on imperialism ( January 22 (SC12)

January 23 - Unit Test - chapters 26-27

Test format will be multiple choice.

Week of January 26-30

American Pageant: Chapter 28 - Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt

Progressive reform and the trusts, demographics of urbanization and the resulting political impact, (Dollar Diplomacy,( environmental issues (SC1)

Chapter 29 - Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

The New Freedom versus the New Nationalism, Progressive economic reform, diplomacy of neutrality (SC7)

Recent scholarship: Wilsonianism, Idealism, Pragmatism (SC7)

Documentary History: Chapter 20 (SC10)

Theodore Roosevelt, The New Nationalism

Woodrow Wilson, The Old Order Changeth

Historiography: The students will be responsible for reading the preassigned Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. In addition students will be required to find TWO scholarly historical analyses of The Jungle. The students will use the primary source and the scholarly analyses to analyze the major implications that works such as The Jungle had on the Gilded Age and the Muckrakers of the time. (SC9)

Week of February 2-6

American Pageant: Chapter 30 - The War to End War

Documentary History: Chapter 21 (SC10)

Woodrow Wilson, War Message to Congress

Woodrow Wilson, The Fourteen Points

In-class DBQ on either Progressivism of the Treaty of Versailles - February 1 (SC12)

Week of February 9-13

American Pageant: Chapter 30 - The War to End War

War in Europe and war on the home front, propaganda and civil liberties, the politics behind the making of the Treaty of Versailles and its rejection by the US Senate.

Chapter 31 - American Life in the Roaring Twenties

The (Red Scare( and immigration issues, a mass-consumption economy, the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance, traditionalism versus modernism

February 13 Unit Test Chapters 28, 29, 30. Test format will be multiple choice and short essay to be completed in class

February 16 President’s Day

Week of February 17-20

American Pageant: Chapter 31 - American Life in the Roaring Twenties (SC2) (SC2) (SC7)

Chapter 32 - The Politics of Boom and Bust

Isolationism in the 1920s, foreign debt and diplomacy, the coming of the Great Depression (SC5) (SC8)

Documentary History: Chapter 22 (SC10)

Herbert Hoover, Rugged Individualism

Week of February 23-27

American Pageant: Chapter 32 - The Politics of Boom and Bust

Chapter 33 - The Great Depression and the New Deal

FDR and (recovery, relief, reform,( demographic changes associated with the Depression, cultural changes in the 1930s, the Supreme Court and the balance of political power in government (SC8)

Historiography: Students will read and discuss excerpts from the following historians’ views on Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal: Arthur Schlesinger’s The Vital Center, Carl Degler’s Out of Our Past: The Forces that Shaped Modern America, and William Leuchtenburg’s Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal. They will be asked to evaluate each historian’s view point on the impact of the New Deal on modern society and each will write a short essay choosing the one they feel is most correct. (SC9)

Documentary History: Chapter 23 (SC10)

Franklin Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address

N.L.R.B. v Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation

February 27 - Unit Test - chapters 31-32

Test format with include both multiple choice and essay questions to be completed in class. (SC11)

Week of March 2-6

American Pageant: Chapter 34 - FDR and the Shadow of War

Attempts at neutrality and isolation, diplomacy and economics of the pre-war years, the move to war with Pearl Harbor

Chapter 35 - America in World War II

The war in Europe and in the Far East, the home front, changes for women and minorities during the war, the decision to use the atomic bomb and its consequences (SC3) (SC7)

Documentary History: Chapter 24 (SC10)

Franklin Roosevelt, The Quarantine Speech

Franklin Roosevelt, The Four Freedoms Speech

The Atlantic Charter

March 6 - Unit Test - chapters 33-35

Test format will include both multiple choice and essay questions to be completed in class. (SC11)

Week of March 9-13

American Pageant: Chapter 36 - The Cold War Begins

Postwar prosperity and the Baby Boom, communism and containment, diplomacy and the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, the Red Scare, the United States as a world power (SC4) (SC7)

Recent scholarship: The origins of the Cold War

Chapter 37 - The Eisenhower Era

Consumer culture in the 1950s, the civil rights revolution, McCarthyism, Cold War expansion, the space race, postwar literature and culture (SC2) (SC3)

Documentary History: Chapters 25 and 26 (SC10)

George Kennan, Sources of Soviet Conduct

William Faulkner, Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Prize

Brown v. the Board of education

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farwell Address

In-class DBQ on either America in the 1950s or post-World War II diplomacy (SC12)

Week of March 16-20

American Pageant: Chapter 37 - The Eisenhower Era

Unit Test – March 13 - Chapters 36-37

Test format will include both multiple choice and essay questions to be completed in class. (SC11)

Week of March 23-27

American Pageant: Chapter 38 - The Stormy Sixties

The Cold War continues, expansion of the war in Vietnam, the civil rights revolution and evolution, Johnson and the Great Society, immigration and demographic changes (SC7) (SC8)

Chapter 39 - The Stalemated Seventies

Rise of conservatism, economic stagnation, crisis over presidential power, environmental issues, feminism and the women(s movement, civil rights and affirmative action, foreign policy and the issue of oil

Documentary History: Chapter 27 (SC10)

John Kennedy, Inaugural Address

Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King, Jr, I have a Dream speech

Lyndon Johnson, The Great Society speech

Spring Break March 30- April 6

Week of April 7-10

American Pageant: Chapter 39 - The Stalemated Seventies

Chapter 40 - The Resurgence of Conservatism

Reagan and the (New Right,( the end of the Cold War, Reaganomics, politics and the Supreme Court globalization, war and diplomacy in the Middle East. (SC1) (SC4)

Documentary History: Chapters 28 and 29 (SC10)

NOW Statement of Purpose

Lyndon Johnson, The Power of the Media

Edward R, Murrow, Television and Politics

Roe v. Wade

Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Addresses 1981, 1985

Historiography: Students will explain how the 1960s was both a constructive and destructive era in American history. They will read excerpts from Todd Gilpin’s The Sixties: Years of Hope and Days of Rage, William O’Neill’s Coming Apart, and Sara Evans Personal Politics. They will be asked to evaluate the radicalism of the 1960s in terms of its impact on political issues, as well as gender and minority issues. (SC10)

In-class DBQ on civil rights in the 1960s (SC12)

Unit Test - April 13 - chapters 38-40

Week of April 14-20

American Pageant: Chapter 41 - American Confronts the Post-Cold War Era

The Clinton era, post-Cold War politics and foreign policy, the contested election of 2000, the attack on the World Trade Center and America post-9/11

Chapter 42 - The American People Face a New Century (SC7)

Demographic changes, changes in the family, immigration and related issues, a multicultural society, the high-tech economy, America in a global context (SC7) (SC8)

Documentary History: Chapters 30 and 31 (SC10)

Republican Contract with America

George W. Bush, Washington National Cathedral Prayer Service, September 2001

George W. Bush, Joint Session of Congress, September 2001

Rudy Giuliani, Farewell Address, 2001

April 21-22- EOCT/

April 23- 24 EOCT

April 27-28 EOCT

April 29-30 EOCT

May 1 - go over the first two Review Exams / EOCT EXAMS

May 4-8 - Review Exam I

May 7-8 - Review Exam II

May 9,12 - Review Exam III & IV

May 13- 14 - final review

Wednesday May 15 - AP United States History Exam

SC1- The course includes the study of political institutions in U.S. history.

SC2- The course includes the study of social developments in U.S. history.

SC3 – The course includes the study of cultural developments in US history

SC4- The course includes the study of diplomacy in U.S. history.

SC5- The course includes the study of economic trends in U.S. history.

SC6- The course uses themes and/or topics as broad parameters for structuring the course.

SC7 – The themes are designed to encourage students to think conceptually about the American past.

SC8 – The themes are designed to encourage students to think about historical change over time.

SC9 - The course teaches students to analyze evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship.

SC10 - The course includes extensive instruction in analysis and interpretation of a wide variety of primary sources.

SC11- The course provides students with frequent practice in writing analytical and interpretive essays (FRQs)

SC 12 – The course provides students with frequent practice in writing analytical and interpretive essays based on primary sources such as document-based questions.

AP US History DBQ

A DBQ/FRQ Writing Guide

How the Exam Works.

The APUSH exam consists of two parts. Part 1 is the 80 question multiple choice section in which you have 55 minutes to complete. Part 2 consists of writing a total of three essays. The first essay is called the document-based question (DBQ) because you are given 9-13 documents which should be used to answer the essay prompt. The next two essays are the free-response questions (FRQ). You will be given four essay prompts to read. Two prompts are from pre-civil war era and the other two are from post-civil war era. Test takers are expected to write one essay from each set for a total of two essays. Timing for part 2 of the exam is as follows:

15 minutes - Mandatory reading for Document-Based Question (DBQ) and free-response questions.

115 minute - Essay writing. Which should be utilized in the fashion below.

• 45 minutes - Essay writing for the DBQ

• 35 minutes - Writing free-response to one of the questions in part A

• 35 minutes - Writing free-response to one of the questions to part B

It is important to note that the DBQ is worth more than each of the FRQs, so more time should be spent on that essay. The essays are scored on a scale of 1 to 9. One being poor and 9 being great. These are the characteristics that each essay should have:

The 8-9 essay:

• Contains a well-developed thesis that clearly addresses the nature of the question

• Presents an effective analysis of both sides of the item in question; treatment may be uneven (the better essays try to devote about equal coverage to both sides)

• Supports thesis with substantial and relevant information

• Is clearly organized and well written

• May contain minor errors

• In a DBQ question, a substantial number of documents are used

• In a DBQ question. significant outside information is also included in the response

The 5-7 essay:

• Contains a thesis which addresses the topic of the question (limited development)

• Has limited analysis and exhibits limited understanding of complexity

• Is mostly descriptive

• Deals with only one aspect of the question in some depth or deals with both aspects in a more general way

• Supports thesis with some information

• Shows evidence of acceptable organization and writing; language errors do not interfere with comprehension

• May contain factual errors that do not seriously detract from the quality or argument of the essay

• In a DBQ question, some documents are used effectively

• In a DBQ question, supports thesis with some outside information

The 2-4 essay:

• Presents a limited, confused and/or poorly developed thesis

• Contains little or no analysis and is mostly descriptive

• Deals with one aspect of the question in a general way or both aspect in a superficial way; simplistic explanation

• Has minimal or irrelevant supporting information

• Confusing organization and writing; organization and language errors interfere with comprehension

• May contain major factual or interpretive errors

• In a DBQ question, quotes or briefly cites documents

• In a DBQ question, contains little outside information, or information that is generally comprehension

The 0-1 essay:

• Contains no thesis, or a thesis which does not address the question

• Exhibits inadequate or inaccurate understanding of the question (analysis is absent)

• Contains no supporting information, or only irrelevant information

• Is so poorly organized or written that it inhibits understanding

• May simply paraphrase or restate the question

• Contains numerous errors, both major and minor

• In a DBQ question, exhibits little or no understanding of documents, or ignores them completely

• In a DBQ question, offers inappropriate or no outside information

The Document-Based Question

Now that you know exactly what to expect during the exam lets cover how to write a very effective APUSH exam essay. I like to teach the essay writing in such a fashion that we break down each paragraph into smaller section and ultimately, give you a sentence by sentence guide on how to write the essay. Remember, all complex tasks are simply a series of simpler tasks. In reality, writing a very good APUSH essay is not difficult at all when you break it down. Being prepared and knowing what to expect on the exam is critical to doing well. So let’s get started.

The Five Paragraph Essay

When writing both the FRQs and DBQ you will be utilizing an essay writing style called the five paragraph essay. It is a very common academic essay style (so you might as well learn to write a good essay early!). The five paragraph essay consists of 5 paragraphs of 5-6 sentences each. Each sentence carries out a specific goal. In total your essay will consist of about 25-30 sentences. That shouldn't be too hard. The five paragraphs are as follows:

1. Introductory

2. Body

3. Body

4. Body

5. Conclusion

The next step in this guide we will show you exactly how to write the 5 paragraph essays, step by step, with emphasis on the DBQ/FRQs.

Standard AP US History Essay Template

Here is the template we will be using to explain how to write a very good APUSH essay.

Introductory Paragraph (4 sentences)

1. General Statement that relates to the question.

2. Establish basis for analysis.

3. Roadmap sentence (3 subtopics)

4. Clear thesis statement

Body Paragraph (5 sentences)

1. Topic Sentence (subtopic 1 from Intro)

2. Evidence 1 with significance/explanation

3. Analysis (relate to thesis)

4. Evidence 2 with significance/explanation

5. Analysis (relate to thesis)

Body Paragraph (5 sentences)

1. Topic Sentence (subtopic 2 from Intro)

2. Evidence 1 with significance/explanation

3. Analysis (relate to thesis)

4. Evidence 2 with significance/explanation

5. Expand (relate to thesis)

Body Paragraph (5 sentences)

1. Topic Sentence (subtopic 3 from Intro)

2. Evidence 1 with significance/explanation

3. Expand (relate to thesis)

4. Evidence 2 with significance/explanation

5. Expand (relate to thesis)

Conclusion Paragraph (4 sentences)

1. Remind how thesis was prove.

2. Round Off

The Introductory Paragraph

Sample Question: To what extent did the Civil War constitute a revolution in American society?

1. General Statement. Briefly introduce the reader to the subject.

• Example: “The Civil War, occurring between the years 1861 and 1865, was the most devastating conflict in American history.”

2. Establish your basis for analysis: Using the topic from the question and what you wrote in your general statement, why is this topic worth discussing?

• Example: “In many ways, the conflict forever altered the way Americans viewed their government and their nation.”

3. Provide roadmap sentences that establishes three major sub-topics you plan to discuss.

• Example: "Constitutionally, the war established the supremacy of the federal government over the states. Politically, the war established the supremacy of the Republican Party in national politics for much of the next fifty years. And socially, the war saw significant gains in African American rights."

Writing tip: Remember, the AP US History exam is designed to teach students the social, political, economic and foreign relations history of the US. As such, the AP readers will expect you know to demonstrate this knowledge in your essay. The above example sentence uses two political based arguments (argument one relating to the constitution and argument two relating to political party politics). The final argument is relating to the social aspects of the Civil War. As the writer of the essay, you could also use an economic argument to discuss the social impacts of the civil war. Keep this in mind when writing your essays.

4. Finish paragraph with a clear thesis statement that establishes the purpose of the essay.

• Example: "Therefore, the Civil War did, in fact, represent a revolution in American society."

SYLLABUS AGREEMENT

STUDENT NAME ___________________________________

PERIOD_____________

Course: AP U.S. History_______

Parent and Student Confirmation of Receipt of the Syllabus

I, the student, ____________________________________ confirm that I have received a copy of the course syllabus and fully understand the expectations of this course of study. I understand that I must take an active and supportive part in this course of study in order to be successful in this course. I understand that extended instructional support is available to me before school, after school, and during the enrichment period.

I, the parent or guardian, ___________________________ confirm that I have read this course syllabus and fully understand that I must support the teacher and school to ensure that my child is working diligently at home to meet the standards of this course. I understand that the school and the teacher will be available for parent/teacher conferences at 7:30 AM, during the teacher’s planning period or after school to discuss my child’s academic progress.

Teacher Signature: _____________________________________ Date _______________________

Heather W. Burley

Student Signature: _____________________________________ Date _______________________

Parent Signature: ______________________________________ Date _______________________

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