US HistoryQ&A by dot point

Explain the rise of American imperialism: the causes, the Spanish-American War, the acquisition of overseas territories, the debate over imperialism, and policies such as the Open Door and the Roosevelt Corollary (NYS Framework 11.6, geographic reasoning; interconnectedness).

Apply the technique for the Part II Set 2 short essay: describe the historical context of two documents and analyze how the audience, purpose, point of view, or bias of a document affects its reliability as evidence (NYS Framework, gathering, interpreting and using evidence; sourcing).

Explain the 1920s: economic prosperity and consumer culture, cultural change (the Harlem Renaissance, mass media), and social tension (immigration quotas, the Red Scare, nativism, the clash of traditional and modern values) (NYS Framework 11.6, economics; ideas and beliefs).

Explain the World War I home front (mobilization, propaganda, the Great Migration) and the restriction of civil liberties (the Espionage and Sedition Acts, the Red Scare, and Schenck v. United States) (NYS Framework 11.6, civic participation; human rights).

Explain US entry into World War I (neutrality, submarine warfare, the Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson's Fourteen Points, and the rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations (NYS Framework 11.6, causation; interconnectedness).

Explain the Great Society, the Vietnam War and its effects (the War Powers Resolution), and Watergate, and how Vietnam and Watergate produced a crisis of trust in government (NYS Framework 11.9, civic participation; power).

Explain the civil rights movement: the legal challenge to segregation (Brown v. Board of Education), nonviolent protest (Montgomery, sit-ins, the March on Washington), and the landmark legislation (the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965) (NYS Framework 11.9, civic participation; inequality).

Explain the conservative resurgence under Reagan (tax cuts, deregulation, a smaller domestic government) and the end of the Cold War (the arms buildup, detente and its breakdown, the collapse of the Soviet Union) (NYS Framework 11.9, economics; power).

Apply the technique for the Part III A constructed-response questions (CRQs): read each of the 6 documents and answer the short scaffold questions (identify, explain, cause and effect, sourcing) using the document, as preparation for the Civic Literacy Essay (NYS Framework, gathering, interpreting and using evidence).

Explain the broader expansion of rights: the Warren Court's protection of the rights of the accused (Miranda, Gideon), the women's movement, and the rights movements of other groups (Latino, Native American, disability) (NYS Framework 11.9, civic participation; inequality).

Explain the modern era: globalization and the information economy, the September 11 attacks and the renewed security-versus-liberty debate, and ongoing constitutional debates (NYS Framework 11.10, interconnectedness; ideas and beliefs).

Explain the second Red Scare and McCarthyism (loyalty oaths, HUAC, Senator McCarthy's accusations) and how Cold War fear of communism led to threats to civil liberties at home (NYS Framework 11.8, civic participation; human rights).

Apply the technique for the Part III B Civic Literacy Essay: describe the historical circumstances of a constitutional or civic issue, explain the efforts to address it, and discuss the extent of success or the impact, using the 6 documents and outside knowledge (NYS Framework, gathering, interpreting and using evidence; civic participation).

Explain the origins of the Cold War and the policy of containment (the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, NATO) and Cold War conflicts (the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis) (NYS Framework 11.8, geographic reasoning; conflict).

Explain the causes of the Great Depression (the 1929 crash, overproduction, uneven wealth, weak banking, speculation) and its human impact (unemployment, the Dust Bowl, Hoovervilles) (NYS Framework 11.7, economics; scarcity).

Explain the New Deal (relief, recovery, and reform programs, the Social Security Act), the debate over it and the court-packing controversy, and how it expanded the role of the federal government (NYS Framework 11.7, civic participation; power).

Explain US entry into World War II (Pearl Harbor), the home front (mobilization, women and minorities in the workforce, Japanese American internment and Korematsu v. United States), and the United States' emergence as a superpower (NYS Framework 11.7, civic participation; human rights).

Explain the antebellum reform movements (the Second Great Awakening, abolitionism, the women's rights movement and Seneca Falls, temperance and education reform) and their long-term significance (NYS Framework 11.3, civic participation; ideas and beliefs).

Explain Jacksonian democracy (the expansion of white male suffrage, the spoils system, the Bank War) and Indian removal (the Trail of Tears and Worcester v. Georgia) as an expansion of democracy for some and a denial of rights to others (NYS Framework 11.3, civic participation; power).

Explain Reconstruction (the Reconstruction Amendments, the conflict between presidential and Radical Reconstruction) and its failure (Black Codes, the Compromise of 1877, Jim Crow and Plessy v. Ferguson) (NYS Framework 11.4, civic participation; inequality).

Explain the growth of sectionalism over slavery (the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott v. Sanford, and the election of 1860) and how it led to secession and war (NYS Framework 11.3, causation; conflict).

Explain the course and significance of the Civil War (Northern and Southern advantages, the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg) and Lincoln's expansion of wartime powers, including the suspension of habeas corpus (NYS Framework 11.3, causation; power).

Explain westward expansion and Manifest Destiny (the Louisiana Purchase, the Mexican-American War, the displacement of Native Americans) and how expansion reignited the conflict over slavery in the territories (NYS Framework 11.3, geographic reasoning; expansion).

Explain how geography shaped the three colonial regions, how slavery and the Atlantic economy developed, and how early institutions of self-government laid the foundations for American political ideas (NYS Framework 11.1, geographic reasoning; ideas and beliefs).

Apply the Enduring Issues framework and the skill of stimulus analysis: define an Enduring Issue, recognize it in the content, and read a document, chart, map, or political cartoon to answer Part I and constructed-response questions (NYS Framework, gathering, interpreting and using evidence).

Explain the structure of the Articles of Confederation, its successes and weaknesses, and how events such as Shays' Rebellion exposed the need for a stronger national government (NYS Framework 11.1, causation; power).

Explain the ratification debate, the Bill of Rights, and how early precedents and Supreme Court decisions (Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland) defined federal power in the early republic (NYS Framework 11.2, civic participation; power).

Explain the principles of the Constitution (federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, popular sovereignty, limited government), the major compromises of the Convention, and how the framework remedied the Articles (NYS Framework 11.2, civic participation; power).

Explain how British policies after the French and Indian War, colonial resistance, and Enlightenment ideas led to the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War (NYS Framework 11.1, causation; ideas and beliefs).

Explain post-Civil War industrialization (railroads, big business, the rise of monopolies and trusts, laissez-faire capitalism) and the debate over the government's role in the economy (NYS Framework 11.5, economics; innovation).

Explain the response to industrialization: the rise of labor unions and strikes, the new immigration and nativism, and urbanization (tenements, political machines) (NYS Framework 11.5, economics; interconnectedness).

Explain the Progressive Era constitutional and political reforms: the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Amendments, and reforms such as the initiative, referendum, and recall, and women's suffrage (NYS Framework 11.5, civic participation; ideas and beliefs).

Apply the technique for the Part II Set 1 short essay: describe the historical context of two documents and identify and explain a relationship (cause and effect, similarity or difference, or turning point) between the events or ideas in them (NYS Framework, gathering, interpreting and using evidence; comparison and causation).

Explain the grievances of farmers in the late 1800s and the Populist (People's Party) movement, its demands, and its legacy, including early government regulation (Munn v. Illinois, the Interstate Commerce Act) (NYS Framework 11.5, economics; power).

Explain the Progressive movement: the muckrakers, social and economic reforms (settlement houses, workplace safety, antitrust action, food and drug regulation, conservation) and the use of government as an agent of reform (NYS Framework 11.5, civic participation; power).