HIST405 United States History
Week 1 Discussion
The Cost of Expansion
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 3, 4
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
For the initial post, pick two (2) of the following settlements:
Southern colonies
Chesapeake colonies
Middle colonies
New England colonies
Then, address the following for your selections:
Compare and contrast the settlement patterns.
What forces and ideas shaped their origin?
Examine the influence of religion for those settlements (e.g., Puritanism, Quakers, and the Anglican Church).
 
HIST405 United States History
Week 2 Discussion
DQ1 The American Revolution
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 5, 6
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
For the initial post, pick two (2) of the leading causes of the American Revolution.
The Proclamation Act of 1763
The Navigation Acts
The Stamp Act
The Declaratory Act
The Townsend Act
The Boston Massacre
The Coercive Acts
Then, address the following for your selections:
Analyze the cause and effect of two acts passed by the British Parliament on British North America. Which of your two selections do you consider the most significant and why?
Examine and explain the significance of the Declaration of Independence to the development of the American Revolution.
DQ2 Confederation and Constitution
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 7, 8
Lesson
Link (website): Articles of Confederation (1777) (Links to an external site.)
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post
For the initial post, address the following:
Pick two (2) issues of the Articles of Confederation and describe the main problems that the United States was faced with under the Federation government.
Analyze two major debates (see textbook Section 7.4) by which the Constitution was created in the summer of 1787.
Then, address one (1) of the following to your initial post:
Discuss the ratification process of the Constitution of 1787.
How did ratification lead to the formation of America’s first two political parties, the Federalists and Anti-Federalist?
What were the major differences between the Federalist and Anti-Federalist, and who were the best-known members of each party?
 
 
 
 
HIST405 United States History
Week 3 Discussion
Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War of 1846
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 8 (section 8.3), 11
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
For the initial post, pick two (2) of the following historical events:
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Missouri Compromise
Independence of Texas
Mexican War of 1846-1848
The California Gold Rush
Then, address the following for your selections:
Which of your two selections do you consider most impactful on Westward Expansion during 1800-1848? Explain why.
Analyze the effects of the ideology of Manifest Destiny on the two historical events that you chose from the list.
 
HIST405 United States History
Week 4 Discussion
DQ1 Stepping Stones to the Civil War
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 12, 14
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
For the initial post, pick three (3) of the leading causes of the American Civil War:
The Compromise of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Law 1850
Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852
The Kansas Nebraska Act 1854
The Dred Scott Case of 1857
The Lincoln Douglas Debates 1858
Then, address the following for your selections:
Examine how and why each event you selected propelled the American Civil War in 1861.
Based on the historical facts given in this module, assess if the American Civil War was inevitable.
Analyze if the United States Supreme Court can settle legal and moral issues through judiciary review. In your response, provide a documented example of a modern parallel of a legal or moral issue settled by the United States Supreme Court.
DQ2 Reconstruction and the Compromise of 1877
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 15, 16
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
For the initial post, craft a response comparing the three (3) Reconstruction plans:
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (10% Plan) – Lincoln
Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
Congressional Reconstruction Plan (Congress)
Then, address the following for your selections:
Analyze if the South should have been treated as a defeated nation or as rebellious states.
Explain how the American culture and society changed in the North versus the South during Reconstruction.
Analyze the impact of the Compromise of 1877 that ended Reconstruction on African-Americans.
 
 
 
 
HIST405 United States History
Week 5 Discussion
Industrialization, Imperialism, and America’s Entry Into WWI
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 17 (section 17.4), 18 (section 18.3), 19 (sections 19.1, 19.2), 21 (sections 21.2, 21.4)
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
For the initial post, pick two (2) of the following categories representing minority groups during 1880-1914:
Women’s rights activists
African Americans
Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe
Child workers
Great Plain Indians
Then, address the following for your selections:
Explain the socio-economic status and challenges of your minority groups at the turn of the century.
How did the Industrial Revolution affect your chosen minority groups?
Analyze how the Progressives brought reform to your selected minority groups. Do you find that the Progressives were successful in making government responsive and improve the conditions of your chosen minority group?
Follow-Up Posts
Compare your selections and analysis of selections with those of your peers. If they chose different groups, examine how yours are similar and/or different. If they chose the same groups, build on their posts by providing additional information about the groups that you have not already noted in your own post.
 
HIST405 United States History
Week 6 Discussion
DQ1The New Deal
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 24 (Section 24.4), 25, 26
Lesson
Link (video): A New Deal: Part 5 (Links to an external site.) (7:20)
Link (website): New Deal Programs: Selected Library of Congress Resources: Introduction (Links to an external site.) (Read this introduction before exploring the other links in this discussion.)
Link (website): New Deal Programs: Selected Library of Congress Resources (Links to an external site.) (Explore the links under Sections and Topic for specific New Deal Programs.)
Link (website): New Deal Programs: Selected Library of Congress Resources: Digitized Materials (Links to an external site.) (Explore the links for primary sources including audio recordings, written narratives, photographs, posters, and music.)
Link (website): President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal (Links to an external site.) (Review the documents and interviews on this site.)
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to noted resources)
Initial Post Instructions:
For the initial post, pick two (2) of the following (any program and/or act of the New Deal):
Programs
Acts
Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC)
Public Works Administration (PWA)
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Farm Security Administration (FSA)
Emergency Banking Relief Act
Economy Act
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
Tennessee Valley Authority Act (TVA)
National Employment System Act (Wagner-Peyser Act)
Home Owners Loan Act
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIA)
Glass-Steagall Act (Banking Act)
Securities & Exchange Act
Emergency Relief Appropriation Act
Resettlement Administration (RA)
Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
Social Security Act
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Reflecting over the weekly reading and lesson video The New Deal Coalition (also linked in the Required Resources), address the following for your selections:
Consider workers, immigrants, and African Americans. Explain how minorities were represented by the New Deal.
Analyze to what extent you think that the New Deal effectively ended the Great Depression and restored the economy.
DQ2 World War II
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 27
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
For the initial post, consider three (3) of the following events:
Treaty of Versailles
Rise of fascism, militarism and imperialism
Failure of the League of Nations
Hitler and the Nazi Party
The Lend Lease Act
Japanese expansion and the bombing of Pearl Harbor
Then, address the following and craft a response as a whole for your selections:
Assess if the United States foreign policy during the 1930s helped to promote World War II. Could the United States have prevented the outbreak of World War II? If so, how? If not, why not?
Explain if the United States, despite neutrality, aided the Allies against the Axis powers.
Analyze if the use of atomic (nuclear) weapons to defeat enemies in war is a setback for democracy (President Truman’s decision to drop the atom bomb on Japan).
 
 
 
HIST405 United States History
Week 7 Discussion
American Foreign Policy during the Cold War
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Sections 28.2, 29.1, 30.3, 31.3
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
Pick three (3) of the following American Foreign policies:
Marshall Plan
Berlin Airlift
Containment
Anti-Communist Freedom Fighters
Vietnam (conflict) War
Détente’
SALT I & SALT II
Camp David Accords
Strategic Defense Initiative (nicknamed “Star Wars”)
Then, address the following for your selections:
Explain how each of your choices was an effective policy to thwart international communist expansion.
Based on your selections, analyze if the United States should have feared international communist subversion during the Cold War era (1945-1991).
 
HIST405 United States History
Week 8 Discussion
America and Terrorism in the 21st Century
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 32
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
Consider a few terrorist activities since the 1980s until today. Here is a starting point:
1983: United States Embassy in Beirut and Kuwait is bombed
1988: Osama bin Laden re-organizes Al Qaeda in Pakistan to carry out attacks
1993: World Trade Center Bombing (first time)
1995: Oklahoma City Bombing
1998: United Stated Embassy bombings Nairobi and Sar Es Salaam
2001: 9/11 Bombing of the World Trade Centers
2001: Bio Terrorism begins (anthrax letters and Bill Gates’s warnings on bio terrorism)
2013: Boston Marathon Bombings
2018: Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting
Then, address three (3) of the following and craft a response, as a whole, for your selections:
Explain if you think that global terrorism can be stopped.
Analyze the responsibility of the United States today to be the world’s “policeman.”
Assess if peace and stability in the Middle East are vital to U.S. economy and national security.
If the United States withdrew its troops from the Middle East tomorrow, would the terrorist threat end. Why or why not?
Assess if the use of military force is the only way to prevent terrorism. Are the other possible alternatives? Which strategy is best and why?