USA Heritage Academy

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US History II

📖 Focus: Exploring the birth of modern America, from the events of 1812 to the Cold War.

🔹 Course Format:

  • 1-hour weekly live session
  • 3 hours of independent reading, writing, or multimedia study per week
  • Assessment: Essays, readings, discussion forums, quizzes
  • Teacher: Charles Couloumbe, celebrated American author and lecturer.

Weeks 1-5: Post-War of 1812 and Expansion

  1. Aftermath of the War of 1812 – National identity, Monroe Doctrine, and early industrial growth.
  2. The Missouri Compromise and Sectionalism – The growing divide between North and South.
  3. Jacksonian Democracy – Andrew Jackson’s presidency, populism, and Native American policies.
  4. Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion – Oregon Trail, Texas Independence, Mexican-American War.
  5. The Gold Rush and Indian Removal – California’s transformation, forced relocations, and resistance.

Weeks 6-10: The Road to Civil War

  1. Slavery and Abolition – Key debates, major figures like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.
  2. The Compromise of 1850 and Kansas-Nebraska Act – Rising tensions and violent conflicts.
  3. The Dred Scott Case and John Brown – The legal and moral battles over slavery.
  4. Lincoln’s Election and Secession – The Union breaks apart.
  5. The Civil War Begins – Fort Sumter, early battles, and Union vs. Confederacy strategies.

Weeks 11-15: The Civil War and Reconstruction

  1. The War in Full Force – Gettysburg, Emancipation Proclamation, shifting war aims.
  2. The End of the War – Sherman’s March, Appomattox, Lincoln’s assassination.
  3. Reconstruction and the South – Freedmen’s Bureau, Black Codes, and Andrew Johnson’s policies.
  4. The Radical Reconstruction Era – 14th and 15th Amendments, resistance, and the rise of Jim Crow.
  5. The Gilded Age and Industrialization – Big business, monopolies, and urbanization.

Weeks 16-20: America on the World Stage

  1. Immigration and Social Change – Ellis Island, nativism, and the rise of labor movements.
  2. The Spanish-American War – Cuba, the Philippines, and America’s imperial expansion.
  3. Progressivism and the Fight for Reform – Women’s suffrage, Teddy Roosevelt’s policies.
  4. World War I and American Involvement – Causes, impact, and the League of Nations debate.
  5. The Roaring Twenties and Economic Boom – Jazz Age, Prohibition, and the Harlem Renaissance.

Weeks 21-25: Depression, War, and Global Leadership

  1. The Great Depression and the New Deal – Hoover vs. FDR, government intervention.
  2. World War II Begins – U.S. neutrality, Pearl Harbor, and war mobilization.
  3. The European and Pacific Theaters – D-Day, Hiroshima, and America’s global role.
  4. The Home Front and Post-War America – Social changes, the GI Bill, and the baby boom.
  5. The Beginning of the Cold War – Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and McCarthyism.

Weeks 26-30: The Cold War and Modern America

  1. The Korean War and Containment – The U.S. strategy against communism.
  2. The Civil Rights Movement – Brown v. Board, MLK, and the Civil Rights Act.
  3. The Vietnam War and Protest Movements – U.S. involvement, draft resistance, and 1960s unrest.
  4. The Space Race and Cold War Tensions – JFK, moon landing, Cuban Missile Crisis.
  5. Final Review and Looking Ahead – The postwar economic boom, reflections on U.S. history.