United States History II

Course Objectives

Apply historical research skills to major themes in American history since the end of the Civil War.
Evaluate how various Reconstruction plans succeeded or failed.
Describe and assess the growth and changes that took place in the South and the West following the Civil War.
Analyze the factors involved in the rise of corporations and heavy industry in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and assess the effects of these trends on American society in general and workers in particular.
Explain the growth of cities in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and assess the impact of this growth on urban life.
Identify the factors that led to the rise of Populism in the 1880s and 1890s and assess the impact of Populism on American society.
Investigate the causes and consequences of American expansionist policy in the 1880s and 1890s.
Explain the development of the Progressive movement and assess the impact of the movement at the local, state, and national levels.
Investigate the causes of World War I, examine U.S. reasons for intervention, and evaluate the consequences of the war and the subsequent peace.
Analyze and assess the social and economic developments that characterized the period between World War I and the Great Depression.
Explain the causes of the Great Depression and evaluate the successes and failures of the New Deal as a response to the Great Depression.
Examine the causes of World War II, describe the course of the war, and assess the consequences of the war for the U.S. and the world.
Explain the causes, events, and consequences of the Cold War, including the Korean War.
Investigate and assess the major economic, social, and diplomatic developments of the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations.
Explain the causes, events, and consequences of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Analyze and assess the significance of the major domestic and international developments of the Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and the first Bush administrations.
Deduce and evaluate the significance of the major domestic and international developments since 1990.
Examine U.S. involvement in Vietnam and assess the impact of the war, the youth counterculture, environmentalists, minority groups, feminists, and gay movements of the 1960s and 1970s on American society.