Week 1
Lesson 1
Welcome & Introductions; Modern issues that involve federal vs state power
Overview of the creation of the federal system of power in the US, and a look at modern political issues involving state versus federal power
Lesson 2
The Articles of Confederation: not enough federal power
Overview of the timeline of the creation of the Articles of Confederation, how they worked (and didn't) and the realization that they needed to be fixed
 Week 2
Lesson 3
The Whiskey Rebellion: what do you mean the federal government can tax whiskey?!
Does the federal government have the power to create a national bank? What about the right to tax whiskey, or to put down a rebellion amongst its people? Hamilton and Jefferson disagree!
Lesson 4
Federal Power, State Power, and Native Tribes: who is in charge here?
The history of the relationship between Native Tribes and the US government in the early republic; disagreement between the state of Georgia and the Supreme Court in the case of Worcester v Georgia.
 Week 3
Lesson 5
The Hayne-Webster Debate and the South Carolina Nullification Crisis
What happens when a state doesn't agree with a federal law? Does it have to follow it anyway, or can states pick and choose?
Lesson 6
The Road to Civil War is Paved With Disagreements Over Power
Covers the growing sectional crisis and the series of disagreements over power and slavery that lead to secession.
 Week 4
Lesson 7
Post Civil War and Reconstruction: how and why power disagreements continue
Overview of the timeline of Reconstruction, what state and federal government were expected to do, and why reconstruction did not iron out all the issues
Lesson 8
The Gilded Age: how do the wealthy view the power of government?
Andrew Carnegie and the Gospel of Wealth in a time of social, political and economic upheaval
 Week 5
Lesson 9
Brown vs Topeka Board, Little Rock, and Eisenhower
The Supreme Court ruled in the Brown v Topeka Board case that separate but equal was not constitutional. But what happens when a state refuses to comply? We will examine the letters and speeches of the governor of Arkansas and President Eisenhower during the desegregation crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Lesson 10
Analysing the First Big Theme & Introducing the Second Big Theme
Reflection activity on the evolving viewpoints on federal versus state power, and then an introduction to foreign policy and how modern presidents view the role of the US in the world.
 Week 6
Lesson 11
A New Country Needs Foreign Policy Boundaries
Overview of the Neutrality Act, US concerns about the Napoleonic Wars, and George Washington's farewell speech.
Lesson 12
The War of 1812 & the Monroe Doctrine: we will protect our territory
Causes of the War of 1812, and the rhetoric of the Monroe Doctrine as the bedrock fo US foreign policy until 1900.
 Week 7
Lesson 13
Manifest Destiny & the Mexican American War: we will expand our territory
Overview of the concept of  "manifest destiny" including reading from the original text, and a discussion of how the ideology of spreading across the country fueled the Mexican American war.
Lesson 14
Spanish American War: pushing our ideas and territory beyond our borders
Discussion of the differing viewpoints at the turn of the century about America's role in the world, and an exploration of political cartoons at the time to illustrate those viewpoints.
 Week 8
Lesson 15
World War I and the League of Nations: how involved do we want to be?
Overview of the timeline leading to the war, why the US joined, and an analysis of the opposing viewpoints surrouding America's involvement in the League of Nations.
Lesson 16
World War II: balancing divergent viewpoints
Overview of the timeline leading to the war, and a comparison of the differing ideas found in the America First Committee, the German-American Bund, and FDR's Four Freedoms Speech
 Week 9
Lesson 17
The Truman Doctrine and Containment: the US as world policeman
Overview of the concept of containment and how it related to US involvement in Korea, Vietnam, and Guatemala
Lesson 18
The US in the Middle East
Overview of changing US policy in the middle east from Iran through Afghanistan, and the political, social and economic forces that impact the policy.
 Week 10
Lesson 19
Wrapping Up The Second Big Theme
Reflection activity that integrates the changes in US foreign policy over time.
Lesson 20
American Citizenship: what does that encompass?
Discussion of the modern questions about what citizenship in America includes, including the idea of privacy. Overview of how the Supreme Court has become a major force in defining the rights of citizens.
 Week 11
Lesson 21
Roger Sherman and the 3/5 Compromise: who gets counted and how?
Early questions about citizenship were focused on representation, and delegates to the Constitutional Convention had to decide who would be counted, and how. But if you were counted for the purposes of representation and taxation, did that make you a citizen?
Lesson 22
Dred Scott v Sanford: The Supreme Court weighs in on citizenship
The Dred Scott case is one of the most famous pre-Civil War cases, and directly lays out who can be considered a citizenship. Overview of the facts of the case, and discussion of the majority and dissenting opinions.
 Week 12
Lesson 23
Birthright Citizenship: if women are citizens can they vote?
Discussion of the women's rights movement after the ratification of the 14th Amendment, including the Supreme Court case of Minor v Happersett.
Lesson 24
Chinese Immigrants, Birthright Citizenship, and Wong Kim Ark v US
As Chinese immigrants became a focus of anti-immigrant rhetoric, Wong Kim Ark took birthright citizenship case to the Supreme Court.
 Week 13
Lesson 25
Native Tribes and US Citizenship: the evolving treatment of Native Americans
Overview of the changing relationship between the US and Native Tribes, and how some Native Tribes today are working to reclaim identities and land taken from them by the US government
Lesson 26
The Rebirth of the KKK: using exclusion to define citizenship
An examination of the cause of the rebirth of the KKK in the 1920s, and how the KKK leadership defined who could be a citizen in the US.
 Week 14
Lesson 27
1964 Voting Rights Act: voting as a right of citizenship
Discussion of the lead up to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1964, and an analysis of Johnson's speech to Congress about the need for voting rights to ensure all other rights of citizenship
Lesson 28
Return to Today: Stonewall, Obergefell, and citizenship
A discussion of how the Supreme Court has defined the rights of US citizenship since 1965, and how individual states are continuing to define state citizenship rights. Wrap-up of the third theme.
 Week 15
Lesson 29
Historical Noodling: analyze, question, discuss
Group discussion activity that works on historical analysis skills using the topics covered in class
Lesson 30
More Historical Noodling, and Final Project Presentations
Further discussion of analysis done as homework, and time to present projects for those who choose to present