Course

Course Summary
Credit Type:
Course
ACE ID:
DLLR-0022
Organization:
Maryland State Department of Education
Location:
Classroom-based
Length:
15 weeks (45 hours)
Dates Offered:
Credit Recommendation & Competencies
Level Credits (SH) Subject
Lower-Division Baccalaureate 3 American History
Description

Objective:

The course objective is to provide students with an introductory-level general course that covers the political, social, cultural and economic history of the United States of America from 1871 to present and to document the development and consequences of the major political, social, and economic movements from the nation's Reconstruction Era to the present and how they combined to form the unique American experience.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Demonstrate knowledge of urbanization
  • Understand the concept of the 'Gilded Age' and the importance of politics in the national consciousness during the period
  • Identify the ways in which African Americans and women were denied full economic, social, and political participation
  • Understand the purposes of the Progressive movement
  • Document America's increased involvement in world affairs through its economic and political interests
  • Identify the major trends in business, government, and culture that combined to form the decade of the 1920's
  • Trace the transformation of the U.S. from its stance of neutrality in world affairs to its declaration of war in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor
  • Identify the issues and conflicts that defined the decade of the 1960's as a period of protest and social upheaval
  • Document the transition from the belief in government's ability to effect peaceful, positive change to disillusionment with government processes by the 1970's
  • Recognize the economic and social influences that contributed to the settlement and development of the American West and created the concept of rugged individualism
  • Demonstrate knowledge of U.S. Involvement in World War I and the effect of that involvement on U.S. Society
  • Document the forces and events that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930's and the New Deal
  • Document the global political philosophies, economic issues, and social stresses that led to World War II
  • Recognize the enhanced position of the U.S. after World War II
  • Identify the issues involved in the development and use of the atomic bomb
  • Demonstrate knowledge of major trends in American society following World War II, such as the widespread fear of Communism and the strong belief in economic progress and its material benefits
  • Understand the ramifications and consequences of the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Communism
  • Recognize the primary influences in American society as it headed toward the new millennium, mainly the exceptional economic expansion and prosperity combined with an extremely volatile political landscape

General Topics:

  • The growth of ranching and farming in the West along with the development of other natural resources, conflict between the Plains Indians and the U.S. Army at Wounded Knee, mechanization and industrialization, labor unions, immigration and urbanization, Plessy v. Ferguson, Populism, the Progressive Era, World War I, civil liberties issues, Bolshevik Revolution, League of Nations, Teapot Dome, stock market crash of 1929, the Depression of the 1930's, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, the Nazi regime in Germany, the Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, the Neutrality Act, Lend-Lease Act, Pearl Harbor, World War II, the Yalta Conference, the Holocaust, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Cold War politics, McCarthyism, post-war baby boom, the Korean War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act, feminism and antifeminism, the Vietnam War, Watergate and Nixon's resignation, the Iranian hostage crisis, Reaganomics, the technological revolution, the impeachment of President Clinton, and the extraordinary economic prosperity of the 1990's
Instruction & Assessment

Instructional Strategies:

  • Audio Visual Materials
  • Classroom Exercise
  • Discussion
  • Learner Presentations
  • Lectures
  • Practical Exercises
Supplemental Materials