Introduction to United States History: Reconstruction to the Present

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Subject:

Humanities, Social Sciences

Institution Name:

The Saylor Foundation

Collection:

Saylor Foundation

Grade Level:

Post-secondary

Abstract:

This course will introduce the student to United States history from the end of the Civil War to the present era. The student will learn about the major political, economic, and social changes that took place in America during this 150-year period. By the end of the course, the student will understand how the United States grew from a relatively weak and divided agricultural nation into a cohesive military and industrial superpower by the beginning of the twenty-first century. Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to: Identify the objectives of presidential and congressional Reconstruction following the Civil War and assess the impact of Reconstruction on Caucasian and African-American residents of the American South; Identify the origins of industrialization in the United States and assess its impact on native-born Americans and immigrants in the post-Civil War era; Compare and contrast American settlement of the trans-Mississippi West in the post-Civil War era with American economic expansion into Latin America and the Pacific Ocean in the late nineteenth century; Identify the origins of political and social reform movements in the United States in the late nineteenth century and assess how these movements altered political, economic, and social life throughout the United States in the early twentieth century; Describe how and why America became involved in World War I and assess the impact of American involvement on the postwar peace settlement; Explain how the Great Depression and World War II reshaped American society and politics; Explain how the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement altered America's standing in the global community and reshaped political and social institutions at home; Identify the origins of American military involvement in Vietnam and assess how the war led to social, political, and economic turmoil throughout the United States in the 1960s and 1970s; Explain America's place within the global community and evaluate how political and social trends in the 1980s and 1990s have shaped contemporary life in the United States; Analyze and interpret primary source documents from the nineteenth through the twenty-first centuries, using historical research methods. (History 212)

Languages:

English

Material Type:

Assessments, Full Course, Readings, Syllabi, Video Lectures

Media Format:

Graphics/Photos, Text/HTML, Downloadable docs, Video

Conditions of Use:

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0
You are welcome to share, remix, and adapt this course under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License; however, many linked materials within this course are copyright of their respective authors/owners and may not be openly-licensed. Please respect the copyright and terms of use associated with each resource.

Copyright Holder:

The Saylor Foundation