United States History

Welcome to the United States History course! This course will focus on the “encounter” of Europeans to the New World. Native American society and culture will be examined in the face of European colonialism and what can only be described as the greatest land theft in human history: The taking of North America for European settlement and profit. The course will then proceed to analyze settlement patterns and colonial economies. The struggle for independence will be covered as will the beginnings of nation building.

As settlers move west and illegally seize Native American lands, Native American resistance will be examined. By the 1800’s the US was transformed into a free-market economy which facilitated even more growth, settlement and development. The status of African Americans and women will also be analyzed as will the persecution of other ethnic and religious minorities such as Germans and Mormons. The growing sectional split between North and South will be examined as will the outbreak and course of the Civil War.

From there on, we will discuss life in the early 1900s as well as both World Wars, the Korean, Vietnam, and Cold Wars. Throughout this entire course, we will be taking a look at each President throughout history and continue onto the 21st century.

Semester I

 * Week 1: The World Before The Opening of the Atlantic (Beginnings - 1500)
 * Week 2: New Empires In The Americas (1400 - 1750)
 * Week 3: The English Colonies (1605 - 1774)
 * Week 4: The American Revolution (1774 - 1783)
 * Week 5: Forming A Government (1777 - 1791)
 * Week 6: Citizenship & The Constitution (1787 - Present)
 * Week 7: Launching the Nation (1789 - 1800)
 * Week 8: The Jefferson Era (1800 - 1815)
 * Week 9: A New National Identity (1812 - 1830)
 * Week 10: The Age of Jackson (1828 - 1840)
 * Week 11: Expanding West (1800 - 1855)
 * Week 12: The North (1790 - 1860)
 * Week 13: The South (1790 - 1860)
 * Week 14: New Movements In America (1815 - 1850)
 * Week 15: A Divided Nation (1848 - 1860)
 * Week 16: The Civil War (1861 - 1865)
 * Week 17: Reconstruction (1865 - 1877)

Semester II

 * Week 18: An Industrial Nation (1860 - 1920)
 * Week 19: The Progressives (1898 - 1920)
 * Week 20: Entering the World Stage (1898 - 1917)
 * Week 21: The First World War (1914 - 1920)
 * Week 22: From War To Peace (1919 - 1928)
 * Week 23: The Roaring Twenties (1920 - 1929)
 * Week 24: The Great Depression Begins (1929 - 1933)
 * Week 25: The New Deal (1933 - 1940)
 * Week 26: World War II Erupts (1939 - 1941)
 * Week 27: The United States In World War II (1941 - 1945)
 * Week 28: The Cold War Begins (1945 - 1953)
 * Week 29: Postwar America (1945 - 1960)
 * Week 30: The New Frontier and the Great Society (1961 - 1969)
 * Week 31: The Civil Rights Movement (1954 - 1975)
 * Week 32: The Vietnam War (1954 - 1975)
 * Week 33: A Time of Social Change (1963 - 1975)
 * Week 34: A Search For Order (1968 - 1980)
 * Week 35: A Conservative Era (1980 - 1992)
 * Week 36: Into the 21st Century (1992 - Present)