Skip to content

Chapters

This textbook is organized into 21 chapters covering 450 concepts across the full sweep of United States history — from pre-Columbian civilizations through the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

Chapter Overview

  1. Historical Methods and Analytical Frameworks — Introduces the historical thinking skills, systems thinking tools, and cognitive bias awareness students will use throughout the course.
  2. Pre-Columbian Americas and European Contact — Surveys Indigenous civilizations before 1492 and traces the consequences of European exploration and the Columbian Exchange.
  3. Colonial America (1607–1754) — Examines the thirteen British colonies, regional economies, slavery, colonial governance, and the Great Awakening.
  4. The American Revolution (1754–1783) — Follows the escalating conflict from the French and Indian War through independence and the Treaty of Paris.
  5. Founding the Republic (1783–1800) — Covers the Constitutional Convention, the Bill of Rights, the structural features of American government, and the Washington and Adams administrations.
  6. The Jeffersonian Era and Early Expansion (1800–1828) — Examines Jeffersonian democracy, Marbury v. Madison, the Louisiana Purchase, Jacksonian democracy, and Indian Removal.
  7. Manifest Destiny and Antebellum Reform (1828–1848) — Covers westward expansion, the Mexican-American War, abolitionism, and women's rights at Seneca Falls.
  8. Sectionalism and the Civil War (1844–1865) — Traces the deepening sectional crisis from the Compromise of 1850 through the Emancipation Proclamation.
  9. Reconstruction and Its Aftermath (1865–1877) — Covers the Reconstruction amendments, Radical Reconstruction, the Freedmen's Bureau, and the rise of the Lost Cause narrative as a misinformation case study.
  10. The Gilded Age: Industrialization and Labor (1865–1890) — Examines industrial monopolies, Robber Barons, the labor movement, and waves of new immigration.
  11. Populism and the Closing of the Frontier (1880–1900) — Covers agrarian revolt, political machines, the Populist Party, and Native American conflicts.
  12. The Progressive Era (1890–1914) — Traces regulatory reform, muckraking journalism, constitutional amendments, women's suffrage, and the conservation movement.
  13. U.S. Imperialism and World War I (1898–1920) — Covers the Spanish-American War, U.S. empire in the Pacific and Caribbean, WWI, wartime propaganda, and the failed League of Nations.
  14. The Roaring Twenties, Depression, and New Deal (1920–1941) — Spans consumer culture, the Harlem Renaissance, the 1929 crash, the Great Depression, and FDR's New Deal programs.
  15. World War II and the Home Front (1939–1945) — Examines U.S. involvement in WWII, the home front transformation, Japanese American internment, and the atomic bombs.
  16. The Early Cold War (1945–1960) — Covers containment, the Marshall Plan, Korean War, McCarthyism, and the nuclear arms and space races.
  17. Civil Rights and the Great Society (1954–1968) — Traces the Civil Rights Movement from Brown v. Board through the Voting Rights Act and LBJ's Great Society programs.
  18. Vietnam, Nixon, and Social Movements (1965–1975) — Covers Vietnam escalation, Watergate, and the era's sweeping social movements — feminism, AIM, and the farmworkers movement.
  19. From Reagan to 9/11 (1975–2001) — Examines the Reagan Revolution, the Cold War's end, globalization, and the September 11 attacks.
  20. Contemporary America and the Digital Age (2001–Present) — Covers the War on Terror, the 2008 financial crisis, the rise of social media, and contemporary political polarization.
  21. The Age of AI and Technology Power (2010–Present) — Examines artificial intelligence, semiconductor geopolitics, cyber warfare, drone warfare, and the implications of autonomous systems for national security and democracy.

Course Timeline

How to Use This Textbook

Each chapter is self-contained but builds on the concepts introduced in earlier chapters. The dependency structure has been carefully validated — no concept appears before its prerequisites are taught. Students should progress through chapters in order.

Chapter 1 (Historical Methods) is designed to be read first; the analytical tools it introduces will be actively applied in every subsequent chapter.

Note: Each chapter lists the specific concepts from the learning graph that it covers, making it easy to connect chapter content to the interactive Learning Graph Viewer.