Welcome to American Studies II = History/Government

American Studies II Syllabus

Daily Entries

Expect to have Entry Questions most days. Record these into your notebooks and include the Entry Number and Date!!

I collect entries before every quiz. these are our daily grade and by the end of a quarter or semester account for a lot of points!!

Assignments will also be posted on these pages under the dates they are assigned.


8/28/2026 - How to become an American citizen?

Citizenship Test

How much of the time do you think you can trust the government to do what is right?

  1. Just about always

  2. Most of the time

  3. Some of the time

  4. Hardly ever

Pew Research Center:

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/06/24/public-trust-in-government-1958-2024/

Partnership for Public Service:

https://ourpublicservice.org/publications/the-state-of-public-trust-in-government-2025/


Entry 1 - 8/31/2026 - Government Book - Pg 4

  1. What is government?

  2. What is the process of “politics”?

  3. What are the four characteristics of a State?

  4. Why does Thomas Hobbes say that government is necessary? - Pg 7

Entry 2 - 9/1/2026 - Govt Book - Pg 7

  1. What is the difference between Divine Right Theory and the Social Contract Theory?

  2. What is the difference between a Direct Democracy and Indirect Democracy?

  3. Define Autocracy and Oligarchy

Assignment:

Create a chart that identifies 5 different forms of government.

Name the form of government - list characteristics (How the nation is governed, how the leader is chosen/elected…, how does the economy operate) and list some countries that currently are or at one time were that style of government.

Choose 5 from the list: Monarchy, Republic, Oligarchy, Democracy, Theocracy, Communism, Dictatorship, Plutocracy, Fascism.

Entry 3 - 9/3/2026 - Govt Book - Pg 18

  1. What are the 5 basic concepts of Democracy?

  2. What is the American economic system known as?

  3. How is that economic system characterized?

  4. How does the law of supply and demand work?

Friday - 9/4/2026 - Assignment

Design your own government

Entry 4 - 9/8/2026 - Govt Book - Pg 35

  1. What type of relationship had developed between the colonies and the crown by the mid-1700s?

  2. Why was the Stamp Act resented so much by the colonists?

  3. How did the colonists respond at the First Continental Congress?

Entry 5 - 9/9/2026 - OL Blue Pg 134

  1. What are the four parts of our Declaration of Independence?

  2. Who is the main author?

Declaration of Independence worksheet

Entry 6 - 9/14/2026 - Government Book Pg 44

  1. How was the Articles of Confederation as a government, set up?

  2. What powers did Congress have?

  3. What were its weaknesses?

Entry 7 - 9/15/2026 - Govt Book - Pg 50

  1. Why did the delegates meet in Philadelphia in May of 1787?

  2. What is the difference between the Virginia and New Jersey Plans?

  3. How did the two side compromise?

  4. How were slaves to be considered a part of the population?

Wednesday - 9/16/2026 - Assignment

Constitution Worksheet - Articles I, II, III - worksheets available in class

Entry 8 - 9/17/2026 - Govt Book Pg 56

  1. Who were the Federalists and Anti-federalists?

  2. What were the two main features proposed in the Constitution?

  3. How many states did it take to ratify the Constitution?

  4. Where was the first capital under the new Constitution?

Friday 9/18/2026 - Assignment

Sketching Freedom - Drawing the liberties of our Bill of Rights

Successfully illustrate the Bill of Rights. Use the textbook, and the web to gather information to help you create a small poster that explains each of the first 10 Amendments - PAGE 771

  1. Briefly summarize each amendment

  2. must have a visualization for each

  3. must be in color

  4. must be neat, legible, and organized

Monday - 9/21/2026

Finish Bill of Rights illustration

Counselors also in class today

9/22/2026 - Review - Quiz Tomorrow

Early Government Review

Thursday 9/24/2026 - Entries due

Entry 1 9/24/2026 - Ol Blue CH 19 Pg 599

  1. How did the end of WWI bring “great Upheaval” to American society?

  2. How did Calvin Coolidge respond to the police strikes?

  3. Why were Americans worried by the wave of strikes during 1919 in the US?

Entry 2 - 9/25/2026 - Ol Blue Ch 20 Pg 611

  1. Why were immigrants targeted with prejudice in the early 1920s?

  2. What was the emergency quota Act?

  3. What was the New Morality in the 1920s?

Monday - 9/28/2026 - Assignment

1920s WebQuest

Entry 3 - Ol Blue Ch 20 Pg 615

  1. Why did the government support prohibition?

  2. Which amendment granted the government power to prohibit alcohol?

  3. What is the process of passing a new Amendment? - NOT IN THE BOOK

  4. Which Amendment repealed the earlier prohibition amendment?

Entry 4 - 9/30/2026 - Ol Blue Pg 637

  1. What did Warren Harding mean with his slogan of “Return to Normalcy”?

  2. What was Coolidge’s philosophy of government?

  3. How did the American workers and cost of living change in the 1920s? - Pg 641

  4. How did the automobile impact society in the 1920s?

Entry 5 - 10/1/2026 - Ol Blue Ch 22 Pg 657

  1. What is the stock market?

  2. What is a bull market?

  3. What is meant by buying stocks on “margin”?

  4. What are the causes of the Great Depression?

Friday - 10/2/2026 - Assignment

Great Depression Timeline

25 points

Entry 6 - 10/6/2026 - Ol Blue Ch 22 Pg 659

  1. Explain how the market crash weakened US banks?

  2. Why did bank failures worry so many Americans back then?

  3. How did the Hawley-Smoot Tariff affect America’s own exports?

  4. What were soup kitchens and hoovervilles?

Entry 7 - 10/7/2026 - Ol Blue Ch 22 Pg 663

  1. How did many Americans escape from the hard times during the Depression?

  2. What are public works? - Pg 669

  3. What was the problem with creating those public works projects?

  4. What was the Bonus Army?

Thursday - 10/8/2026 - Assignment

In 1933, newly elected President Roosevelt introduced his plan to help with the relief and recovery from the Great Depression. This plan was called the New Deal. Webquest below deals with that plan.

Write you answers on a separate sheet of paper and hand in before class ends

New Deal WebQuest

Movie: Cinderella Man

Movie Questions

  1. What year does the movie start out in?

  2. How much money does James Braddock win in this first fight?

  3. What happens to Jim at his fight in 1933?



    Day 2 Questions

  1. What type of work does Jim do after he gets hurt?

  2. After work one day Jim and his co-worker, Mike Wilson get a drink and talk about the Depression.  How are their opinions about the Depression different?

  3. What motivates Jim’s wife, Mae to send the kids away?













Circa 1930s breadline in NYC.

Types of Governments WebQuest.

Write your answers on to a piece of notebook paper

Use the government textbook or the Internet to help with this.

Create a Bubble map - look at the image below

  1. In the center bubble is the term Free Enterprise.

  2. In the surrounding bubbles, come up with 5 qualities or characteristics of a free enterprise system.

  3. Below the bubble map, explain how each of the qualities contribute to a free enterprise system.


- Government Book - Ch. 2 pg. 28

  1. What three concepts of English government influenced government in the English colonies? describe them.

  2. What were some of the rights and principles of the foundational English documents of the Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and the English Bill of Rights?

  3. Describe the three types of colonies that the English established in North America.

  4. What is the difference between a bicameral and a unicameral legislative body?

- Government Book - Ch. 2 pg. 34

  1. Define confederation.

  2. What was the Albany Plan of Union? How was it received by the colonies and the government of England?

  3. What were the intolerable acts?

  4. What was the First Continental Congress? What did it do?

  5. What was the Second Continental Congress? In what ways did it serve as our first national government?

The First and Second Continental Congresses

Government Book - Ch. 2 pg. 38

  1. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted? Besides all men being created equal. what “unalienable rights” did it list? According to the Declaration, From where do governments get their power?

  2. Define popular sovereignty.

THEN: Complete Declaration of Independence close-read worksheet (questions 1-3, 6-18) on separate sheet of paper and hand in.

There is a copy of the Declaration of Independence on pg. 40.

Entry 11 -10/22/25 - American Government - Ch. 2 pg. 44

  1. define ratification (pg. 44).

  2. What were the Articles of Confederation? was it an effective form of government?

  3. What was the connecticut compromise, also known as the great compromise, during the constitutional convention?

THEN: Complete the Federalists/Anti-Federalists worksheet on a separate piece of paper and hand in.

Entry 12 - 10/23/25 - American Government - Ch. 3 pg. 64

  1. Define preamble and articles.

  2. How many articles does the U.S. Constitution have?

  3. What do the first three articles outline?

  4. What do the remaining articles deal with?

THEN: Complete U.S. Constitution Principles Bubble Map exercise on separate sheet of paper and hand in.

10/24/25 - Complete The U.S. Constitution Close-Read on a separate piece of paper and hand in (there is a copy of the Constitution on pg. 760 of your government book).

10/27/25 - American Government - Ch. 3 pg. 72

  1. What are the four different ways by which the Constitution can be amended?

  2. How much of Congress must vote to propose an amendment?

  3. What percentage of state legislatures or state conventions are required to ratify an amendment?

  4. How many Amendments to the Constitution are there?

  5. What are the first ten amendments known as?

Paths to Amendment