American History I Course Outline
I. Colonial Beginnings, 1492-1690
A. English settlement of New England, the Mid-Atlantic region,
and the South
B. From servitude to slavery in the Chesapeake region
C. Religious diversity in the American colonies
II. Colonial North America, 1690-1754
A. Transatlantic trade and the growth of seaports
B. Colonial governments and imperial policy in British North America
III. The American Revolutionary Era, 1754-1789
A. The French and Indian War
B. The Imperial Crisis and resistance to Britain
C. The War for Independence
D. The Articles of Confederation
E. The Constitution
IV. Transformation of the Economy and Society in Antebellum America
A. The transportation revolution and creation of a national market
economy
B. Beginnings of industrialization and changes in social and class
structures
C. Immigration and nativist reaction
V. The Crisis of the Union and the Civil War
A. Proslavery and antislavery arguments and conflicts
B. Compromise of 1850 and "popular sovereignty"
C. The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the emergence of the Republican Party
D. Abraham Lincoln, the election of 1860, and secession
E. Two societies at war: mobilization, resources, and internal dissent
F. Military strategies and foreign diplomacy
G. Emancipation and the role of African Americans in the war
H. Social, political, and economic effects of war in the North,
South, and West
