APUSH Summer Assignment

A Note to Students and Parents:

Over 80 students requested to be placed in AP US History for the 2009-2010 school year. While we are thrilled that so many students are interested in taking the course, we have limited the intial placement of students to those who have above a 3.0 G.P.A. and have scored above the Basic level on relevant California State Tests. Approximately 50 students were automatically enrolled using those criteria, and over half of them will be place in the Fall term. After we get a look at the AP European History Exam scores this summer, we will enroll those students who did not make the initial placement but who passed the exam with a 3 or above into the Spring term.

1. See Mr. O'Connor or click here to obtain a parent acknowledgment/permission form for the course. Return that form and go to the library and check out a copy of the textbook for the course: The American Pageant. Copies of the text will be available in the front office during summer school hours when the library is closed. Questions? Email me during the summer! I'd love to hear from you!

2. Read the first four chapters (81 pages) and complete the study guide questions below for each chapter, due on the first Friday of school. Answers for the study guide must be legibly hand-written in pen. There will be a test on these chapters on the first Friday of school.

Ch. 1-4 Study Guide (PDF)

3. Obtain a copy of "Was the American Revolution a Conservative Movement?" from the series Taking Sides. Read the YES essay by Carl Degler and the NO essay by Gordon Wood.

You can pick up a hard copy of the reading from Mr. O'Connor in Room 851, or you can download a PDF version by clicking here (warning: this file is 8 MB).

Read the arguments presented by Degler and Wood. You might want to read both essays once without taking notes. Then read each one a second time, making note of important evidence that could be used to support your argument or to counter the opposing argument.

Directions: Respond to the question below in the form of a 3-page typed essay. Your essay should be computer generated, with 1-inch margins, double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font. Be sure to choose a side and use evidence from the readings to support your ideas. I want to get a sense of your writing ability, your rhetorical skills (your ability to formulate and sustain an argument), and the sophistication of your vocabulary.

Question:

To what extent was the American Revolution revolutionary? Was this a radical event or was the outcome something that merely preserved the social order with a slightly different group of elites? Using the information in the readings, argue a clear point of view, taking sides with one of the historians. Understand that there is no single definitive “right’ answer; successful essays are those that can state a clear thesis, marshal evidence to support that thesis, and counter opposing arguments with reason and clarity. Due on the first Friday of school.

Extra Credit: Submit a picture of yourself holding The American Pageant textbook somewhere on your summer vacation. The more exotic or unusual, the greater the chance for points! Be creative!