This is an OER American History II course designed for lower-division college students. It is in hybrid format, giving students time to use the databases to do their own research for each unit.

This course examines the social, cultural, political, and economic history of the United States, from the Civil War to the present. It uses secondary analysis and primary documents, such as court cases, personal accounts, photographs, and films, to examine some of the key issues in the shaping of modern America, including industrialization and urbanization, immigration, the rise of a mass consumer society, the emergence of the US as a global power, and the development of civil rights activism and other major social movements.

American History II is a survey of United States history from the Civil War era to the present.
Chapter 1: Reconstruction 1865-1877
Chapter 2: Westward Expansion, 1840-1900
Chapter 3: Industrialization, 1870-1900
Chapter 4: Urbanization, 1870-1900
Chapter 5: Gilded Age Politics, 1870-1900
Chapter 6: Progressive Movement, 1890-1920
Chapter 7: Age of Empire, 1890-1914
Chapter 8: Americans in the Great War, 1914-1919
Chapter 9: Jazz Age, 1919-1929
Chapter 10: The Great Depression, 1929-1932
Chapter 11: The New Deal, 1932-1941
Chapter 12: World War II
Chapter 13: Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960
Chapter 14: Contesting Futures: America in the 1960s
Chapter 15: Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968-1980; From Cold War to Culture Wars, 1980-2000

Overview: This course will survey American history from its colonial origins to the end of the Civil War in 1865.
Chapter 1: The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492
Chapter 2: Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492–1650
Chapter 3: Creating New Social Orders: Colonial Societies,1500–1700
Chapter 4: Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763
Chapter 5: Imperial Reforms and Colonial Protests, 1763-1774
Chapter 6: America's War for Independence, 1775-1783
Chapter 7: Creating Republican Governments, 1776–1790
Chapter 8: Growing Pains: The New Republic, 1790–1820
Chapter 9: Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850
Chapter 10: Jacksonian Democracy, 1820–1840
Chapter 11: A Nation on the Move: Westward Expansion, 1800–1860
Chapter 12: Cotton is King: The Antebellum South, 1800–1860
Chapter 13: Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860
Chapter 14: Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s
Chapter 15: The Civil War, 1860–1865

This course provides a basic history of American social, economic, and political development from the colonial period through the Civil War. It examines the colonial heritages of Spanish and British America; the American Revolution and its impact; the establishment and growth of the new nation; and the Civil War, its background, character, and impact. Readings include writings of the period by J. Winthrop, T. Paine, T. Jefferson, J. Madison, W. H. Garrison, G. Fitzhugh, H. B. Stowe, and A. Lincoln.

This course provides a basic history of American social, economic, and political development from the colonial period through the Civil War. It examines the colonial heritages of Spanish and British America; the American Revolution and its impact; the establishment and growth of the new nation; and the Civil War, its background, character, and impact. Readings include writings of the period by J. Winthrop, T. Paine, T. Jefferson, J. Madison, W. H. Garrison, G. Fitzhugh, H. B. Stowe, and A. Lincoln.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Spanish-American War. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This collection uses primary sources to explore American Indian boarding schools. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the American Indian Movement between 1968 and 1978. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This 16-week course examines Native American sovereignty from the perspectives of Historical Studies and Anthropology. It covers the history and unique position of American Indian Nations in relation to American political systems, as well as the politics within these indigenous groups as independent nations. The Historical Studies perspective will focus on understanding the historical context of Indian-White relations, while the Anthropology perspective will explore the variety of Native American perspectives on these relations from within their own cultures. 

This site consists of 59 sound recordings of speeches by American leaders at the turn of the century. Speakers include Warren G. Harding, James Cox, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel Gompers, Henry Cabot Lodge, and John J. Pershing.

An illustrated sheet music cover for a patriotic song by Freeman Scott. The title appears on a striped shield with laurel and oak branches below and a flag, liberty pole and cap, spears, and bundled fasces (symbolic of unity) behind.|Entered . . . 1850 by M. Keller & J. Neff . . . Eastern District of Philadelphia.|Philadelphia Mathias Keller & J. Neff . . . Baltimore W. C. Peters.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1850-3.

This site presents 2,900 life histories from 300 writers from 24 states. These histories describe individuals' families, incomes, occupations, political views, religions, diets, and observations.

This course studies the national literature of the United States since the early 19th century. It considers a range of texts - including, novels, essays, and poetry - and their efforts to define the notion of American identity. Readings usually include works by such authors as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Emily Dickinson, and Toni Morrison.

This module on Colonial Literature explore the essential questions: 1) How does the literature in early Colonial America reflect the customs and beliefs of the Native Americans and Puritans? 2)What kind of literary styles did the earliest writers contribute to American Literature? and 3) How did history have an effect on the types of literature being written? There are audio and visual activities as well as readings.

Short Description:
This book is an anthology OER of American Literatures Prior to 1865.

Long Description:
This anthology of American Literatures Prior to 1865, is organized chronologically into four units, focusing on Colonial Literature, Literature of Native American Perspectives and Discovery, Literature of Nineteenth Century Reform, and Literature of the New Nation. It includes introductions to the many authors included to enhance the reader’s contextual understanding of the chosen texts. This anthology is essential reading for any student or scholar of Early American literature.

Word Count: 299116

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

Students use Library of Congress primary sources to examine 19th and 20th century social life in the United States in order to formulate ideas about the American Dream.

An illustrated sheet music cover for a Whig campaign song, "The American Marseillaise," composed by Benjamin Cahill to mark the July 4, 1844, Boston Clay rally. In keeping with the title and the occasion of the piece the artist evokes the memory of the Revolution, and draws a parallel between George Washington and Whig presidential candidate Henry Clay. Oval medallion portraits of Washington (left) and Clay (right) are suspended by ribbons decorated with wreaths or leaf clusters. From each oval hang the tendrils of a vine. The ribbons are held by an eagle (center) and are labeled "Pater et Fili" (i.e., father and son), referring to Washington and Clay respectively. Below the eagle is a view of Boston and its harbor with the Bunker Hill Monument obelisk (its size considerably exaggerated) surrounded by crowds of troops and people.|Entered . . . 1844 by B. Cahill.|The Library's copy of the cover was deposited for copyright on July 3, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1844-11.

Created by NHPRC Teacher Participant/Creator Kenneth Porter for his Senior Leadership class. We all have different stories, reasons and various paths that we personally took or our relatives traversed to arrive at this nation of ours. This assignment tasks the student with researching the story of a relative/guardian who emigrated to this country. The student will learn the when, the what, the why and the how behind their story, in order to reveal to the student more about their own story.

This site helps teachers and students navigate the vast online collections of primary source materials at the Library of Congress. The links, arranged by chronological period, lead to sets of selected primary sources on a variety of topics in U.S. history.