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Module 1: The Americas, Europe and Africa before 1492

• Locate on a map the major American civilizations before the arrival of the Spanish
• Discuss the cultural achievements of these civilizations
• Discuss the differences and similarities between lifestyles, religious practices, and customs among the native peoples
• Describe the European societies that engaged in conversion, conquest, and commerce
• Discuss the motives for and mechanisms of early European exploration
• Locate the major West African empires on a map
• Discuss the roles of Islam and Europe in the slave trade

Module 2: Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492-1650

• Describe Portuguese exploration of the Atlantic and Spanish exploration of the Americas, and the importance of these voyages to the developing Atlantic World
• Explain the importance of Spanish exploration of the Americas in the expansion of Spain’s empire and the development of Spanish Renaissance culture
• Explain the changes brought by the Protestant Reformation and how it influenced the development of the Atlantic World
• Describe Spain’s response to the Protestant Reformation
• Identify regions where the English, French, and Dutch explored and established settlements
• Describe the differences among the early colonies
• Explain the role of the American colonies in European nations’ struggles for domination
• Describe how Europeans solved their labor problems
• Describe the theory of mercantilism and the process of commodification
• Analyze the effects of the Columbian Exchange

Module 3: Creating New Social Orders: Colonial Societies, 1500-1700

• Identify the main Spanish American colonial settlements of the 1500s and 1600s
• Discuss economic, political, and demographic similarities and differences between the Spanish colonies
• Compare and contrast the development and character of the French and Dutch colonies in North America
• Discuss the economies of the French and Dutch colonies in North America
• Identify the first English settlements in America
• Describe the differences between the Chesapeake Bay colonies and the New England colonies
• Compare and contrast the wars between native inhabitants and English colonists in both the Chesapeake Bay and New England colonies
• Explain the role of Bacon’s Rebellion in the rise of chattel slavery in Virginia
• Explain the reasons for the rise of slavery in the American colonies
• Describe changes to Indian life, including warfare and hunting
• Contrast European and Indian views on property
• Assess the impact of European settlement on the environment

Module 4: Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660-1763

• Describe the wars for empire
• Analyze the significance of these conflicts
• Analyze the causes and consequences of the Restoration
• Identify the Restoration colonies and their role in the expansion of the Empire
• Identify the causes of the Glorious Revolution
• Explain the outcomes of the Glorious Revolution
• Analyze the role slavery played in the history and economy of the British Empire
• Explain the effects of the 1739 Stono Rebellion and the 1741 New York Conspiracy Trials
• Describe the consumer revolution and its effect on the life of the colonial gentry and other settlers
• Explain the significance of the Great Awakening
• Describe the genesis, central ideas, and effects of the Enlightenment in British North America

Module 5: Imperial Reforms and Colonial Protests, 1763-1774

• Describe the state of affairs between the colonies and the home government in 1774
• Explain the purpose and results of the First Continental Congress
• Discuss the status of Great Britain’s North American colonies in the years directly following the French and Indian War
• Describe the size and scope of the British debt at the end of the French and Indian War
• Explain how the British Parliament responded to the debt crisis
• Outline the purpose of the Proclamation Line, the Sugar Act, and the Currency Act
• Describe the socio-political environment in the colonies in the early 1770s
• Explain the purpose of the Tea Act of 1773 and discuss colonial reactions to it
• Identify and describe the Coercive Acts
• Explain the purpose of the 1765 Stamp Act
• Describe the colonial responses to the Stamp Act
• Describe the purpose of the 1767 Townshend Acts
• Explain why many colonists protested the 1767 Townshend Acts and the consequences of their actions

Module 6: America’s War for Independence, 1775-1783

• Explain how Great Britain’s response to the destruction of a British shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in 1773 set the stage for the Revolution
• Describe the beginnings of the American Revolution
• Explain the British and American strategies of 1776 through 1778
• Identify the key battles of the early years of the Revolution
• Outline the British southern strategy and its results
• Describe key American victories and the end of the war
• Identify the main terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783)
• Explain Loyalist and Patriot sentiments
• Identify different groups that participated in the Revolutionary War

Module 7: Creating Republican Governments, 1776-1790

• Compare and contrast monarchy and republican government
• Describe the tenets of republicanism
• Describe the status of women in the new republic
• Describe the status of nonwhites in the new republic
• Explain the development of state constitutions
• Describe the features of the Articles of Confederation
• Analyze the causes and consequences of Shays’ Rebellion
• Identify the central issues of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and their solutions
• Describe the conflicts over the ratification of the federal constitution

Module 8: Growing Pains: The New Republic, 1790-1820

• Describe the competing visions of the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans
• Identify the protections granted to citizens under the Bill of Rights
• Explain Alexander Hamilton’s financial programs as secretary of the treasury
• Identify the major foreign and domestic uprisings of the early 1790s
• Explain the effect of these uprisings on the political system of the United States
• Identify key examples of partisan wrangling between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans
• Describe how foreign relations affected American politics
• Assess the importance of the Louisiana Purchase
• Describe the causes and consequences of the War of 1812
• Identify the important events of the War of 1812 and explain their significance

Module 9: The Industrial, Market, and Transportation Revolutions, 1800-1850

• Explain the role of the putting-out system in the rise of industrialization
• Understand industrialization’s impact on the nature of production and work
• Describe the effect of industrialization on consumption
• Identify the goals of workers’ organizations like the Working Men’s Party
• Explain the process of selling western land
• Discuss the causes of the Panic of 1819
• Identify key American innovators and inventors
• Describe the development of improved methods of nineteenth-century domestic transportation
• Identify the ways in which roads, canals, and railroads impacted Americans’ lives in the nineteenth century
• Identify the shared perceptions and ideals of each social class
• Assess different social classes’ views of slavery

Module 10: Jacksonian Democracy, 1820-1840

• Explain and illustrate the new style of American politics in the 1820s
• Describe the policies of John Quincy Adams’s presidency and explain the political divisions that resulted
• Describe the key points of the election of 1828
• Explain the scandals of Andrew Jackson’s first term in office
• Explain the factors that contributed to the Nullification Crisis
• Discuss the origins and creation of the Whig Party
• Explain the legal wrangling that surrounded the Indian Removal Act
• Describe how depictions of Indians in popular culture helped lead to Indian removal
• Explain Alexis de Tocqueville’s analysis of American democracy
• Describe the election of 1840 and its outcome

Module 11: A Nation on the Move: Westward Expansion, 1800-1860

• Explain the significance of the Louisiana Purchase
• Describe the terms of the Adams-Onís Treaty
• Describe the role played by the filibuster in American expansion
• Explain why the North and South differed over the admission of Missouri as a state
• Explain how the admission of new states to the Union threatened to upset the balance between free and slave states in Congress
• Explain why American settlers in Texas sought independence from Mexico
• Discuss early attempts to make Texas independent of Mexico
• Describe the relationship between Anglo-Americans and Tejanos in Texas before and after independence
• Identify the causes of the Mexican-American War
• Describe the outcomes of the war in 1848, especially the Mexican Cession
• Describe the effect of the California Gold Rush on westward expansion
• Describe the terms of the Wilmot Proviso
• Discuss why the Free-Soil Party objected to the westward expansion of slavery
• Explain why sectional and political divisions in the United States grew
• Describe the terms of the Compromise of 1850

Module 12: Cotton is King: The Antebellum South, 1800-1860

• Explain the labor-intensive processes of cotton production
• Describe the importance of cotton to the Atlantic and American antebellum economy
• Discuss the similarities and differences in the lives of slaves and free blacks
• Describe the independent culture and customs that slaves developed
• Assess the distribution of wealth in the antebellum South
• Describe the southern culture of honor
• Identify the main proslavery arguments in the years prior to the Civil War
• Explain the expansionist goals of advocates of slavery
• Describe the filibuster expeditions undertaken during the antebellum era

Module 13: Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820-1860

• Explain the connection between evangelical Protestantism and the Second Great Awakening
• Describe the message of the transcendentalists
• Identify similarities and differences among utopian groups of the antebellum era
• Explain how religious utopian communities differed from nonreligious ones
• Explain the different reforms aimed at improving the health of the human body
• Describe the various factions and concerns within the temperance movement
• Identify the different approaches to reforming the institution of slavery
• Describe the abolitionist movement in the early to mid-nineteenth century
• Explain the connections between abolition, reform, and antebellum feminism
• Describe the ways antebellum women’s movements were both traditional and revolutionary

Module 14: Troubled Times: The Tumultuous 1850s

• Explain the contested issues that led to the Compromise of 1850
• Describe and analyze the reactions to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act
• Explain the political ramifications of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Describe the founding of the Republican Party
• Explain the importance of the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott ruling
• Discuss the principles of the Republican Party as expressed by Abraham Lincoln in 1858
• Describe John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry and its results
• Analyze the results of the election of 1860

Module 15: The Civil War: 1860-1865

• Explain the major events that occurred during the Secession Crisis
• Describe the creation and founding principles of the Confederate States of America
• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Confederacy and the Union
• Explain the strategic importance of the Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Shiloh
• Explain what is meant by the term “total war” and provide examples
• Describe mobilization efforts in the North and the South
• Explain why 1863 was a pivotal year in the war
• Describe the reasons why many Americans doubted that Abraham Lincoln would be reelected
• Explain how the Union forces overpowered the Confederacy

Module 16: The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877

• Describe Lincoln’s plan to restore the Union at the end of the Civil War
• Discuss the tenets of Radical Republicanism
• Analyze the success or failure of the Thirteenth Amendment
• Describe the efforts made by Congress in 1865 and 1866 to bring to life its vision of Reconstruction
• Explain how the Fourteenth Amendment transformed the Constitution
• Explain the purpose of the second phase of Reconstruction and some of the key legislation put forward by Congress
• Describe the impeachment of President Johnson
• Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the Fifteenth Amendment
• Explain the reasons for the collapse of Reconstruction
• Describe the efforts of white southern “redeemers” to roll back the gains of Reconstruction

Module 17: Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion 1840-1900

• Explain the evolution of American views about westward migration in the mid-nineteenth century
• Analyze the ways in which the federal government facilitated Americans’ westward migration in the mid-nineteenth century
• Identify the challenges that farmers faced as they settled west of the Mississippi River
• Describe the unique experiences of women who participated in westward migration
• Identify the major discoveries and developments in western gold, silver, and copper mining in the mid-nineteenth century
• Explain why the cattle industry was paramount to the development of the West and how it became the catalyst for violent range wars
• Describe the treatment of Chinese immigrants and Hispanic citizens during the westward expansion of the nineteenth century

Module 18: Industrialization and the Rise of Big Business 1870-1900

• Explain how the ideas and products of late nineteenth-century inventors contributed to the rise of big business
• Explain how the inventions of the late nineteenth century changed everyday American life
• Explain how the inventions of the late nineteenth century contributed directly to industrial growth in America
• Identify the contributions of Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller, and J. P. Morgan to the new industrial order emerging in the late nineteenth century
• Describe the visions, philosophies, and business methods of the leaders of the new industrial order
• Explain the qualities of industrial working-class life in the late nineteenth century
• Analyze both workers’ desire for labor unions and the reasons for unions’ inability to achieve their goals
• Describe the characteristics of the new consumer culture that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century

Module 19: The Growing Pains of Urbanization 1870-1900

• Explain the growth of American cities in the late nineteenth century
• Identify the key challenges that Americans faced due to urbanization, as well as some of the possible solutions to those challenges
• Identify how each class of Americans—working class, middle class, and upper class—responded to the challenges associated with urban life
• Explain the process of machine politics and how it brought relief to working-class Americans
• Identify the factors that prompted African American and European immigration to American cities in the late nineteenth century
• Explain the discrimination and anti-immigration legislation that immigrants faced in the late nineteenth century
• Explain how American writers, both fiction and nonfiction, helped Americans to better understand the changes they faced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
• Identify some of the influential women and African American writers of the era

Module 20: Politics in the Gilded Age, 1870-1900

• Discuss the national political scene during the Gilded Age
• Analyze why many critics considered the Gilded Age a period of ineffective national leadership
• Explain the difference between the spoils system and civil service, and discuss the importance of this issue in the period from 1872 to 1896
• Recognize the ways in which the issue of tariffs impacted different sectors of the economy in late nineteenth-century America
• Explain why Americans were split on the issue of a national gold standard versus free coinage of silver
• Explain why political patronage was a key issue for political parties in the late nineteenth century
• Understand how the economic and political climate of the day promoted the formation of the farmers’ protest movement in the latter half of the nineteenth century
• Explain how the farmers’ revolt moved from protest to politics
• Explain how the Depression of 1893 helped the Populist Party to grow in popularity in the 1890s
• Understand the forces that contributed to the Populist Party’s decline following the 1896 presidential election

Module 21: Leading the Way: The Progressive Movement 1890-1920

• Describe the role that muckrakers played in catalyzing the Progressive Era
• Explain the main features of Progressivism
• Identify specific examples of grassroots Progressivism relating to the spread of democracy, efficiency in government, and social justice
• Describe the more radical movements associated with the Progressive Era
• Understand the origins and growth of the women’s rights movement
• Identify the different strands of the early African American civil rights movement
• Explain the key features of Theodore Roosevelt’s “Square Deal”
• Explain the key features of William Howard Taft’s Progressive agenda
• Identify the main pieces of legislation that Woodrow Wilson’s “New Freedom” agenda comprised

Module 22: Age of Empire: American Foreign Policy, 1890-1914

• Explain the evolution of American interest in foreign affairs from the end of the Civil War through the early 1890s
• Identify the contributions of Frederick Jackson Turner and Alfred Thayer Mahan to the conscious creation of an American empire
• Explain the origins and events of the Spanish-American War
• Analyze the different American opinions on empire at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War
• Describe how the Spanish-American War intersected with other American expansions to solidify the nation’s new position as an empire
• Explain how economic power helped to expand America’s empire in China
• Describe how the foreign partitioning of China in the last decade of the nineteenth century influenced American policy
• Explain the meaning of “big stick” foreign policy
• Describe Theodore Roosevelt’s use of the “big stick” to construct the Panama Canal
• Explain the role of the United States in ending the Russo-Japanese War
• Explain how William Howard Taft used American economic power to protect the nation’s interests in its new empire

Module 23: Americans and the Great War 1914-1919

• Explain Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy and the difficulties of maintaining American neutrality at the outset of World War I
• Identify the key factors that led to the U.S. declaration of war on Germany in April 1917
• Identify the steps taken by the U.S. government to secure enough men, money, food, and supplies to prosecute World War I
• Explain how the U.S. government attempted to sway popular opinion in favor of the war effort
• Explain how the status of organized labor changed during the First World War
• Describe how the lives of women and African Americans changed as a result of American participation in World War I
• Explain how America’s participation in World War I allowed for the passage of prohibition and women’s suffrage
• Identify the role that the United States played at the end of World War I
• Describe Woodrow Wilson’s vision for the postwar world
• Explain why the United States never formally approved the Treaty of Versailles nor joined the League of Nations
• Identify the challenges that the United States faced following the conclusion of World War I
• Explain Warren G. Harding’s landslide victory in the 1920 presidential election

Module 24: The Jazz Age: Redefining the Nation 1919-1929

• Discuss the role of movies in the evolution of American culture
• Explain the rise of sports as a dominant social force
• Analyze the ways in which the automobile, especially the Model T, transformed American life
• Define nativism and analyze the ways in which it affected the politics and society of the 1920s
• Describe the conflict between urban Americans and rural fundamentalists
• Explain the issues in question in the Scopes trial
• Explain the factors that shaped the new morality and the changing role of women in the United States during the 1920s
• Describe the “new Negro” and the influence of the Harlem Renaissance
• Analyze the effects of prohibition on American society and culture
• Describe the character and main authors of the Lost Generation
• Discuss Warren G. Harding’s strengths and weaknesses as president
• Explain how Calvin Coolidge was able to defeat the Democratic Party
• Explain what Calvin Coolidge meant by “the business of America is business”

Module 25: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? The Great Depression, 1929-1932

• Identify the causes of the stock market crash of 1929
• Assess the underlying weaknesses in the economy that resulted in America’s spiraling from prosperity to depression so quickly
• Explain how a stock market crash might contribute to a nationwide economic disaster
• Explain Herbert Hoover’s responses to the Great Depression and how they reflected his political philosophy
• Identify the local, city, and state efforts to combat the Great Depression
• Analyze the frustration and anger that a majority of Americans directed at Herbert Hoover
• Identify the challenges that everyday Americans faced as a result of the Great Depression and analyze the government’s initial unwillingness to provide assistance
• Explain the particular challenges that African Americans faced during the crisis
• Identify the unique challenges that farmers in the Great Plains faced during this period
• Identify the successes and failures of Herbert Hoover’s presidency
• Determine the fairness and accuracy of assessments of Hoover’s presidency

Module 26: Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal 1932-1941

• Describe the events of the 1932 presidential election and identify the characteristics that made Franklin Roosevelt a desirable candidate
• Explain why Congress amended the U.S. Constitution to reduce the period of time between presidential elections and inaugurations
• Identify the key pieces of legislation included in Roosevelt’s “First New Deal”
• Assess the strengths, weaknesses, and general effectiveness of the First New Deal
• Explain Roosevelt’s overall vision for addressing the structural problems in the U.S. economy
• Identify key pieces of legislation from the Second New Deal
• Assess the entire New Deal, especially in terms of its impact on women, African Americans, and Native Americans

Module 27: Fighting the Good Fight in World War II 1941-1945

• Explain the factors in Europe that gave rise to Fascism and Nazism
• Discuss the events in Europe and Asia that led to the start of the war
• Identify the early steps taken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to increase American aid to nations fighting totalitarianism while maintaining neutrality
• Describe the steps taken by the United States to prepare for war
• Describe how the war changed employment patterns in the United States
• Discuss the contributions of civilians on the home front, especially women, to the war effort
• Analyze how the war affected race relations in the United States
• Identify the major battles of the European theater
• Analyze the goals and results of the major wartime summit meetings
• Discuss the strategy employed against the Japanese and some of the significant battles of the Pacific campaign
• Describe the effects of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Analyze the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan

Module 28: Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears 1945-1960

• Identify the issues that the nation faced during demobilization
• Explain the goals and objectives of the Truman administration
• Evaluate the actions taken by the U.S. government to address the concerns of returning veterans
• Explain how and why the Cold War emerged in the wake of World War II
• Describe the steps taken by the U.S. government to oppose Communist expansion in Europe and Asia
• Discuss the government’s efforts to root out Communist influences in the United States
• Describe President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s domestic and foreign policies
• Discuss gender roles in the 1950s
• Discuss the growth of the suburbs and the effect of suburbanization on American society
• Describe Americans’ different responses to rock and roll music
• Discuss the way contemporary movies and television reflected postwar American society
• Explain how Presidents Truman and Eisenhower addressed civil rights issues
• Discuss efforts by African Americans to end discrimination and segregation
• Describe southern whites’ response to the civil rights movement

Module 29: Contesting Futures: America in the 1960’s

• Assess Kennedy’s Cold War strategy
• Describe Kennedy’s contribution to the civil rights movement
• Describe the goals and activities of SDS, the Free Speech Movement, and the antiwar movement
• Explain the rise, goals, and activities of the women’s movement
• Describe the major accomplishments of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society
• Identify the legal advances made in the area of civil rights
• Explain how Lyndon Johnson deepened the American commitment in Vietnam
• Explain the strategies of the African American civil rights movement in the 1960s
• Discuss the rise and philosophy of Black Power
• Identify achievements of the Mexican American civil rights movement in the 1960s

Module 30: Political Storms at Home and Abroad 1968-1980

• Describe the counterculture of the 1960s
• Explain the origins of the American Indian Movement and its major activities
• Assess the significance of the gay rights and women’s liberation movements
• Explain the factors responsible for Richard Nixon’s election in 1968
• Describe the splintering of the Democratic Party in 1968
• Discuss Richard Nixon’s economic policies
• Discuss the major successes of Richard Nixon’s foreign policy
• Describe the events that fueled antiwar sentiment in the Vietnam era
• Explain Nixon’s steps to withdraw the United States from the conflict in South Vietnam
• Describe the actions that Nixon and his confederates took to ensure his reelection in 1972
• Explain the significance of the Watergate crisis
• Describe Gerald Ford’s domestic policies and achievements in foreign affairs
• Explain why Gerald Ford lost the election of 1976
• Describe Jimmy Carter’s domestic and foreign policy achievements
• Discuss how the Iranian hostage crisis affected the Carter presidency

Module 31: From Cold War to Culture Wars 1980-2000

• Explain Ronald Reagan’s attitude towards government
• Discuss the Reagan administration’s economic policies and their effects on the nation
• Discuss the culture wars and political conflicts of the Reagan era
• Describe the Religious Right’s response to the issues of the Reagan era
• Describe the successes and failures of Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy
• Compare the policies of Ronald Reagan with those of George H. W. Bush
• Explain the causes and results of the Persian Gulf War
• Discuss the events that constituted the end of the Cold War
• Explain political partisanship, antigovernment movements, and economic developments during the Clinton administration
• Discuss President Clinton’s foreign policy
• Explain how George W. Bush won the election of 2000

Module 32: The Challenges of the Twenty-First Century

• Discuss how the United States responded to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
• Explain why the United States went to war against Afghanistan and Iraq
• Describe the treatment of suspected terrorists by U.S. law enforcement agencies and the U.S. military
• Discuss the Bush administration’s economic theories and tax policies, and their effects on the American economy
• Explain how the federal government attempted to improve the American public education system
• Describe the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina
• Identify the causes of the Great Recession of 2008 and its effect on the average citizen
• Describe the efforts to reduce the influence of immigrants on American culture
• Describe the evolution of twenty-first-century American attitudes towards same-sex marriage
• Explain the clash over climate change
• Describe how Barack Obama’s domestic policies differed from those of George W. Bush
• Discuss the important events of the war on terror during Obama’s two administrations
• Discuss some of the specific challenges facing the United States as Obama’s second term draws to a close