AP US History

Learning objectives

• Compare the economic, social, and political structures of New England, Middle, and Southern colonies
• Analyze the origins and development of chattel slavery in British North America and its regional variations
• Evaluate the role of religion -- Puritanism, the Great Awakening -- in shaping colonial identity and governance
• Assess intercultural relations among colonists, Native Americans, and enslaved Africans
• Identify how colonial self-governance practices laid groundwork for later revolutionary ideology

Learning objectives

• Analyze how the French and Indian War changed British-colonial relations and set the stage for revolution
• Evaluate the ideological foundations of the American Revolution including Enlightenment thought, republican ideals, and colonial experience
• Assess the compromises and unresolved tensions at the Constitutional Convention, including those over slavery and representation
• Explain the formation of the first party system and early foreign policy challenges under Washington and Adams
• Construct a historical argument about the degree to which the Revolution was truly revolutionary for different groups

Learning objectives

• Analyze the expansion of democratic participation under Jacksonian democracy and its limits for women, Native Americans, and enslaved people
• Evaluate the causes and consequences of westward expansion, including the ideology of Manifest Destiny and Indian Removal
• Assess the social and economic impact of the Market Revolution on labor, transportation, and regional specialization
• Explain the origins and goals of antebellum reform movements including abolitionism, temperance, and women's rights
• Connect the Second Great Awakening to the rise of reform ideology and social activism

Learning objectives

• Analyze the causes of the Civil War including slavery, sectionalism, political polarization, and the failure of compromise
• Evaluate military, political, and social dimensions of the Civil War from multiple perspectives
• Assess the goals, achievements, and failures of Reconstruction including the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
• Explain how the end of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow shaped racial politics for generations
• Interpret primary sources from enslaved people, freedpeople, and political leaders to construct historical arguments

Learning objectives

• Explain how industrialization transformed the American economy, labor relations, and daily life
• Analyze the causes and effects of mass immigration and urbanization, including nativist responses
• Evaluate the rise of labor movements, the Populist challenge, and debates over the role of government
• Assess the establishment of Jim Crow segregation and the politics of racial exclusion in the post-Reconstruction South
• Compare the perspectives of industrialists, workers, immigrants, and reformers using primary sources

Learning objectives

• Analyze the motivations and consequences of American imperialism in the Caribbean and Pacific
• Evaluate the goals and achievements of the Progressive movement across economic, political, and social reform
• Assess the causes of the Great Depression and the impact of New Deal programs on American governance and society
• Explain the causes of American entry into both World Wars and their domestic effects on civil liberties, migration, and the economy
• Trace how debates over American global involvement evolved from isolationism to intervention

Learning objectives

• Explain the origins, strategies, and global dimensions of the Cold War including containment, proxy wars, and nuclear brinkmanship
• Assess the strategies, achievements, and limitations of the civil rights movement and its diverse leadership
• Analyze the domestic impact of the Vietnam War on American politics, society, and the anti-war movement
• Evaluate the expansion of the federal government through Great Society programs and the backlash they provoked
• Compare different approaches to social change -- nonviolent resistance, Black Power, feminism, counterculture -- and their interconnections

Learning objectives

• Analyze the conservative political realignment of the 1980s and its lasting effects on American politics
• Evaluate the impact of globalization on the American economy, culture, and immigration patterns
• Assess the consequences of 9/11 for domestic civil liberties, foreign policy, and the War on Terror
• Explain contemporary debates over immigration, inequality, technology, and democratic norms
• Apply historical reasoning skills -- causation, comparison, periodization -- to events within living memory