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.

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 - 9/2/2025 - Ol Blue Ch 19 Pg 599

  1. Why did the end of the war bring about a great upheaval to American society?

  2. Define Cost of living

  3. Why were people worried by the general strike in seattle?

  4. How did governor Calvin coolidge respond to the police strike in Boston?

Entry 2 - 9/3/2025 -Ol Blue Ch 20 Pg 610

  1. Why did nativism resurge during the early 1920s? What is nativism?

  2. What did the Sacco-Vanzetti Case have to do with nativism?

  3. What is eugenics?

  4. How was the “new” Ku Klux Klan different from the original?


Entry 3 - 9/4/2025 - Ol Blue Ch 20 Pg 612

  1. Why did President Harding sign the Emergency Quota Act?

  2. What did the National Origins Act of 1924 do?

  3. Who did the National Origins Act of 1924 exempt from the quota system? Why?

  4. What is a “flapper?”

    The Charleston Dance

    The 19th Amendment

Make it stand out

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

9/5/25 -1920s WebQuest

  • Complete on separate piece of paper and hand in.

Entry 4 - Ol Blue -p. 615

  1. Define the 18th Amendment, the Volstead Act, Police Powers, Speakeasy.

  2. How did the passage of the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act change the Federal Government’s role?

  3. Why was the 18th Amendment repealed. When and how was it repealed?

Prohibition -TedED

Entry 5 - Ch. 20- pg. 620

  1. Identify Carl Sandburg, Eugene O’Neill, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

  2. Define Bohemian, Mass Media, “heroic antiheroes.”

  3. What was the importance of Greenwich Village during the 1920s?

    Entertainment in the 1920s

    Art, pop culture, and literature of the 1920s

Entry 6- 9/10/25 -Ol Blue Ch. 20 pg. 626

  1. What was the Harlem Renaissance?

  2. Who was Marcus Garvey?

    -Complete in notebook.

  3. Then: Chapter 21 Worksheet -Ol Blue pg. 634

    -Complete on separate sheet of paper and hand in.

Entry 7-9/12/25- Ol Blue Ch.21 pg. 636

  1. Define normalcy, immunity.

  2. What was the Teapot Dome Scandal?

  3. Compare Harding and Coolidge’s presidencies.

Entry 8 - 9/15/25 - Ol Blue pg. 640

  1. Define mass production, assembly line, welfare capitalism, open shop.

  2. What is a consumer society?

  3. How did Charles Lindburgh benefit the newly developing airline industry?

  4. What was the Farm Crisis?

Entry 9 - 9/16/25 -Ol Blue -Ch. 21 - pg. 647

  1. Define supply-side economics, cooperative individualism, isolationism, and moratorium.

  2. What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

9/17/25 - The Great Depression Web Quest

-Complete on a separate sheet of paper and turn in.

Entry 10 - 9/18/25 - Ol Blue -Ch. 22 - pg. 654

  1. Define stock market, bull market, Margin, margin call, speculation, installment.

  2. In what two ways did the stock market collapse contribute to the collapse of banks?

  3. What was the Hawley-Smoot Tariff? How did it contribute to the Great Depression?

  4. According to the graph on pg. 658, what were four causes of the Great Depression?

Entry 11 - 9/19/25 - Ol Blue _ Ch. 22 pg.661

  1. Define bailiff, shantytown, Hooverville, hobo, soap opera.

  2. What caused the “Dust Bowl” conditions on the Great Plains?

  3. What were some of the ways Americans used to temporarily forget about the Great Depression?

America The Story of Us: Bust

Circa 1930s breadline in NYC.

9/22/25 - 9/26/25 : Cinderella Man movie.

Entry 1 - 9/29/25 - Ol’ Blue - Chapter 22 - pg. 668

  1. Define public works, relief, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, foreclose, Bonus Army.

  2. What did business leaders promise Hoover they would do to help the economy? Did they keep their promises?

  3. (pg. 678) Why do you think Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) won the 1932 presidential election so overwhelmingly?

  4. What is the gold standard? Why did FDR’s election contribute to the continuing run on banks?

  5. What did FDR’s policies for ending the Depression become known as?

    Election of 1932 - Hoover vs. Roosevelt (FDR)

    FDR’s “New Deal” (play to minute 2:00)

Entry 2 - 9/30/25 - Ol’ Blue - Ch. 23 pg. 682

  1. How many major acts did Congress pass during FDR’s first hundred days to combat the Great Depression?

  2. What was the Emergency Banking Relief Act? What effect did it have alongside FDR’s “fireside chats?”

  3. What New Deal Programs regulated banks and brokers?

  4. What did the Agriculture Adjustment Administration pay farmers and ranchers to do? What did the ccc, TVA, PWA/CWA, and FERA do?

  5. What was perhaps the most important result of FDR’s first New Deal?

FDR’s First Hundred Days

The Fort Peck Dam: The New Deal in Montana (start at 3min0sec)

A brief history of the Fort Peck Dam

10/1/25 - Ol’ Blue - Ch 23 section 3 and Ch. 23 section 4 worksheets.

  • Complete on separate sheet of paper and hand-in.

Entry 3 - 10/2/25 - Ol’ Blue - Ch. 23 pg. 689

  1. What did the Social Security Act do?

  2. What did the Fair Labor Standards Act do?

  3. Define deficit spending and safety net.

10/2/25 - Post WWI, 1920s, and 1930s Quiz Review


10/3/25 - Post WWI, 1920s, and 1930s Quiz.

-Complete on separate sheet of paper and hand in.

-It is your responsibility to make it up and/or finish it if you need to.

Entry 4 - 10/6/25 - American Government (NEW TEXT!) - Ch. 1 pg. 2 - 7

  1. What is a government? Who is government made up of? What is power?

  2. Define public policies. What kind of things do public policies cover?

  3. What are the three basic kinds of power every government has? Define each of them.

  4. Define constitution. What is the difference between politics and government?

  5. Define state. How is it different from a nation or a country? What are the four defining characteristics of a state?

Aristotle

“Man is by nature a political animal.”

Entry 5 - 10/7/25 - American Government - Ch. 1 pg. 6

  1. Define sovereignty. Are the States within the United States sovereign?

  2. What do the Force, Evolutionary, Divine Right, and Social Contract Theories tell us about the origins of the state?

  3. According to the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution, what is the purpose of government?

10/8/25 - Types of Governments WebQuest.

-Complete on a separate sheet of paper and hand in.

Entry 6 - 10/9/25 - Govt Book CH 1 Pg 12

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

  2. What/Who is the source of the government’s power in a democracy?

  3. What is the difference between an Autocracy and Oligarchy?

  4. Identify the 3 different basic forms of government?

Friday - 10/10/2025

Types of Government Poster

Entry 7 - 10/13/2025 - Government Book - Page 18

  1. What are the 5 basic notions that American Democracy rest on?

Finish posters

Tuesday 10/14/2025

Free Enterprise System

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.


Entry 8 - 10/15/25 - 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?

Entry 9 - 10/20/25 - 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

Entry 10 - 10/20/25 - 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).

Entry 13 - 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

10/28/25 - Bill of Rights Educational Pamphlet.

-Refer to page 771 in your Government Textbook or use online reousrces. Due end of class on Thursday, 10/30/25. USE YOUR TIME WISELY! You will have additional assignments on Wednesday and Thursday.

TEDed Bill of Rights video.

10/29/31 - Worksheet Wednesday!

  • Complete the Constitutional Amendment worksheet (front and back) and hand in.

  • Use American Government text pg. 771 - 779 or online resources.

10/30/31 - Indian Education for All (IEFA) and the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights.

10/31/25 - Review and Quiz.