1. APUSH
Themes

2. Theme 1: NAT
American and National Identity – This theme focuses on how and why definitions of American and national identity and values have developed, as well as on related topics such as citizenship, constitutionalism, foreign policy, assimilation, and American exceptionalism.
Questions to ask –
How have gender, class, ethnic, religious, regional, and other group identities changed in different eras?
How and why have debates over American national identity changed over time?

3. Activity Create 2 different “identity” groups in the classroom.

4. Examples in History
Unit 1: Natives/ Europeans, British/ French/Spanish/Dutch, Poor/ Rich, Land owner/slave, Women/Men
Unit 2: Poor white/ rich white, Puritan Comm’ity, Protestant/Catholic
Unit 5: White/ not-white
Unit 6: Protestant/Catholic/Jewish, Western European/ E or S European
Unit 7: Culture—Jazz, Mass Culture, Red Scare, ‘Merican,
Unit 8: White (suburb), Black (urban), silent majority/ counterculture, rights advocate

5. Theme 2: WXT
Work, exchange, and technology – This theme focuses on the factors behind the development of systems of economic exchange, particularly the role of technology, economic markets, and government
Questions to ask –
How have changes in markets, transportation and technology affected American society from Colonial times to present?
Why have different labor systems developed in British N. America and the U.S., and how have they affected U.S. society?
How have debates over economic values and the role of government in the U.S. economy affected politics, society, the economy, and the environment?

6. Activity
What is the most important technological innovation of your generation? Why?
Discuss?
How have recent innovations affected how people work & live?
What are the positives & negatives of these innovations?

7. Examples in History
Unit 1: Columbian Exchange, Trade patterns (compare/contrast French, Spanish & English), mercantilism, slavery
Unit 2: Jamestown v MA Bay Colony, conflicts w/ natives for resources, indentured servitude/ slavery,
Unit 3: rise of capitalism, 1st challenges to Slavery
Unit 4: American System, Market Revolution, Cotton Gin, Slavery expands, Lowell System
Unit 5: End of slavery,
Unit 6: Assembly line, mechanization,
Telegraph, unskilled labor, immigration

8. WXT cont’d
Unit 7: Imperialism (markets abroad), 1920s—mass consumerism, radio, entertainment, cars
Unit 8: T.V, malls, Sunbelt, Computers, de-industrialization, alternative energy

9. Theme 3: MIG
Migration and Settlement—This theme focuses on why and how the various people who moved to and within the United States both adapted to and transformed their new social and physical environment.
Questions to ask –
Why have people migrated to, from, and within North America?
How have changes in migration and population patterns affected American life?

10. Activity
How are immigration patterns to the U.S. observed here in Old Saybrook? Connecticut?
Discuss

11. Examples from History Patterns of settlement:
Unit 1: W Europeans to New World
Unit 2: More W Europeans to the New World
Unit 3: New colonies and expansion within U.S.
Unit 4: Massive expansion to West
Unit 5: Expansion to the South (leads to heightened conflict over slavery), Chinese, Irish & German immigration
Unit 6: Massive wave of immigration to U.S. from S & E Europe
Unit 7: Black migration f/ S to N, Imperialistic expansion in Caribbean and Asia
Unit 8: Asian Immigration (Korea, Vietnam) due to wars, Sunbelt, Suburbs, White Flight, Urban decay
Unit 9: Immigration from Middle East, refugees

12. Theme 4: POL
Politics and Power- This theme focuses on how different social and political groups have influenced society and government in the United States, as well as how political beliefs and institutions have changed over time.
Questions to ask –
How and why have different political and social groups competed for influence over society and government in what would become the United States?

13. Activity
Do you see different social groups compete for power at Old Saybrook High?
In Old Saybrook? (observations)
What do you know about politics in the U.S.?

14. Examples from History Unit 1: European Conflict, Native Am v Colonists
Unit 2: Theocracy in MA Bay, emerging democracies, conflict with Crown
Unit 3: Political Parties (Federalists v Dem-Republicans) De-centralized v Centralized Gov’t Who should US support Fr or Br?
Unit 4: Who could vote? Jacksonian Democracy, Whigs, Fed v State Power, Reform Movements
Unit 5: W ward exp & debate over slavery, rise of Republican Party, Election of 1876

15. Pol & Power Cont’d
Unit 6: Challenges to 2 party system, rise of Populists, Socialists & Anarchists
Unit 7: Progressives and expanding democracy (ie. 17th Am, initiative, referendum, primaries, etc)
Unit 8: Democratic party splits, 3rd party runs in 1948, 1968, New Left/ Old left, rise of Liberalism, Conservatism, Nixon & pol corruption, Reagan & the New Right, Clinton “The New Democrat”

16. Theme 5: WOR
America in the World- This theme focuses on the interactions between nations that affected North American history in the colonial period, and on the influence of the United States on world affairs.
Questions we ask –
How have events in N. America and the U.S. related to contemporary developments in the rest of the world?

17. Activity What is the current role of the U.S. in the world?
How have events internationally affected the U.S. (either contemporary or historically)?

18. Examples from History
Unit 3: British & French Wars and impact on colonies
Unit 4: Monroe Doctrine and U.S. hegemony over W Hemisphere
Unit 5: Mexican American War & how Europeans feel about Civil War
Unit 7: European Scramble for Africa & U.S. imperialism (white man’s burden) WWI, WWII
Unit 8: Rise of communism –Guatemala, Cuba, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc
Unit 9: US in the Middle East

19. Theme 6: GEO
Geography and the Environment- This theme focuses on the role of geography and both the natural and human-made environments on social and political developments in what would become the United States.
Questions we ask –
How did interactions with the natural environment shape the institutions and values of various groups living on the North American continent?

20. Activity
Identify two American regions today and identify how the environment impacts the way in which people live there.

21. Examples from History Unit 1: Columbian Exchange
Unit 2: No gold, but tobacco, conflict w/ natives over resources
Unit 3: Rise of cotton
Unit 4: W ward expansion (for more fertile land)
Unit 6: Urbanization, white expansion on the Plains, Conservation (T Roos, Sierra Club)
Unit 7: Dust Bowl & migration due to G.D.
Unit 8: Suburban development, Environmental Movement
Unit 9: Oil

22. Theme 7: CUL
Culture and Society- This theme focuses on the roles that ideas, beliefs, social mores, and creative expression have played in shaping the United States, as well as how various identities, cultures, and values have been preserved or changed in different contexts of U.S. history
Questions we ask –
How and why have moral, philosophical, and cultural values changed in what would become the United States?

23. Activity
What are your core beliefs? If you had to sum up your values in 1 sentence what would you say?

24. Examples from History
Unit 1: Native ideas about ownership v European values
Unit 2: Aristocracy v limited democracy v broader democracy
Unit 4: Equality and how much? Moral regulation (ie. Temperence, prostitution), education for all?
Unit 5: Abolitionists, State’s Rights, segregation
Unit 6: Role of government in regulating business
Unit 7: Social welfare or individualism
Unit 8: Communism v Capitalism & Democracy, Rights for all